Another Victory at the Grocery Store

Wow! Oh what fun my shopping trip with mom was today!

Let's see....we hit up Acme first. But, let me tell you about the trip to Acme on Saturday! I STOCKED up on meat that was marked down! I found EIGHT packages of ground turkey on sale for 2 for $5.00 WITH a $1.00 off coupon on each of them! WHOO HOO! I won't be buying ground turkey for awhile. I also picked up two packages of pork chops - each with $1.00 off coupons! I love discount meat. After today, I won't need meat for awhile.

So, let's chat about today. Acme has a great deal on Coke and Tombstone Pizza. Mike and I tried some Tombstone Pizza yesterday (it's currently 4 for $10 at Acme - it's usually $5.79 each). It was quite tasty for a $2.50 pizza! So, I bought four more. OH, and I had a $1.50 coupon. So, my pizza was $2.12. That's a cheap dinner! We enjoyed ours with a bottle of wine from the Kortonick Cellar and some salad (yuck) last night. And, I'm lovin' the 5 for $4 Coke deal. I grab a circular each time I walk in. I now have 15 bottles of Diet Coke in the house. Pathetic, but that's a 2-week supply!

At Acme, I picked up our Roast for the Pot Roast I want to make on Wednesday. It was $4.19/lb - more expensive than the Shoprite deal, BUT, it had a $3.00 off coupon making it $12.29.

I picked up 7 bottles of Coke - the first 5 were $4.00 and the second 2 were $1.00.

I hit the clearance freezer for some single-serve Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Fro-Yo for $.50 each - a savings of $.75 each!

I picked up 2 cans of Cooking Spray. Its originally $3.99 each. It was on sale 2 for $5.00 and I had a coupon that was expiring for $1.00 off of 2. So, I got mine for 1/2 price!

And, the deal of the week is a SUPER buy at Acme - Quaker Chewy Granola bars are 3 for $5.00 (a $2.32 savings EACH). I picked up 3 boxes Saturday and 3 more today.

SO, I bought:
7 Bottles of Coke
4 Tombstone Pizzas
4lb Beef Round Roast (or something)
2 Ben & Jerrys Single-Serve Fro-Yo
3 Boxes Quaker Granola Bars
2 Cans Pam Cooking Spray

My total bill? $37.21 It's not the biggest savings of all. But, I keep reminding myself that I had a $3.00 off coupon, that $12+ hunk of beef really tipped the scale.

My total savings at Acme today was $38.13 - or 51%! I aim to save at least 50% on each trip. Success!!!

Now, onto Shoprite!!! That's where the big savings were gonna be found. I had $24 in coupons plus 8 free re-usable shopping bag coupons from the previous 2 weeks trips. So, here's what I did. I had to split my order into 2 because you can only use 4 of the same coupon per order - and I wanted to keep my Munch Mania stuff separate because it's a business expense!

Trip #1:
2 cans of Tomato Paste for $.59 each (not on sale, but I needed it for my Pot Roast and picked up an extra just to have on hand because it's the second time this week I've needed tomato paste since I'm cooking more)

3 cans of Olives for Mike (yuck) but last night he told me he likes them in his salads and he realized they were on sale for 3 for $4. So I picked up 3 cans.

4 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix - hello comfort food! It's $.89 for 2. Always a good deal, and with Pillsbury not on sale, we like our bread with dinner. And, I think corn bread muffins will go great with my Pot Roast!

3 pound bag of Yellow Onions for $2.49 ($.50 savings) - again, we usually buy our onions individually - but this seemed like a better deal than buying them one by one. And, mom tells me onions keep for awhile!

Carrots f0r $1.49 - not on sale but need them for Pot Roast

Fresh Thyme $1.99 - not on sale but splurged for the Pot Roast - I really want to grow my own herbs and saw potted ones at Shoprite. Maybe I'll buy some with next week's coupons.

Garlic for $.60 - not on sale but needed it for the Pot Roast and it's always good to have Garlic!

Beef Broth - $2.49 (saved $.50) - I was REALLY torn. I had a $1.00 off coupon off of another brand but I'd need to spend close to $10 to save that $1. I don't use broth that much - but I did just use Chicken Broth last week. I chose to buy just the one that was on sale - and with it being $.50 cents off, I guess it was better than using 1/3 of a $1 coupon!

Stroehmans' Bread - $1.99

Rice - $1.49 (not on sale). Maybe I'll stock up on a larger bag in the next couple of weeks with my next big savings

Back to my sale stuff.....
Kens Vidalia Onion Dressing $2.99 ($.70 off) - LOVE THIS STUFF. I was thrilled it was marked down a little. Mike keeps making me eat salad but I didn't have a coupon.

Pork Chops - $2.63. Wasn't happy that I had to buy them. I forgot to defrost some last night, but it was on sale for $.44 off.

Polly-O Jalapeno String Cheese - YUM-O! $3.89 (plus there were $1.00 off coupons sitting next to them)

Egglands Best Eggs - 1 Dozen - On Sale for 2.49 plus I had a $.70 coupon

Box of Gorton's Shrimp Scampi (1/2 price) and a box of Fish Fillet (1/2 price) plus $1.00 off coupon

Box of Chicken Cordon Bleu (1/2 price)

3 containers of Skinny Cows for $1.99 - not on sale (they're usually close to $4 but mom shared her rain checks with me)

4 re-usable bags ($3.96 but cost me $0)

Are you keeping up? That's $71.38 in groceries. Are you ready to hear what I paid??? $21.82!!! That's right! I saved $49.56!!!

Okay...just one more....now for the second Shoprite order. This one was a business expense - well, most of it is. AND, it's all stuff that will earn me a $5 coupon for each of the next 4 weeks.

4 boxes Kraft Mac & Cheese - on sale for $.89 and I had a coupon for $1.00 off
2 boxes of Triscuits - on sale for 3 for $10 and I had a coupon for $1.00 off
4 pouches of York Peppermint Patty Pieces - on sale for 2 for $5.00 and I had $4.00 in coupons!
3 bags of Hershey Kisses - on sale for $2.99 and I had a $1.00 coupon
2 boxes of Jello Temptations - on sale for $2.79 and I had $2.00 in coupons.
4 re-usable bags - would have been $3.96 but mine were free

Did you do the math? That's $48.62 in groceries that I spent $27.29 on. OH, but I received $21 in coupons on future purchases!!! Um, that's like spending $6.29!!! I don't like to think that it cost me $6.29 - because next week I'll be celebrating when I actually save!

BUT, the Triscuits, Hershey Kisses, and York Peppermint Patty Pieces are all business expenses because I'll use them for my May Open House and for door prizes!

But wait, there's more!!! We found SO many coupons around the store today! I got a mini cookbook for free from Pillsbury, $1.00 off coupons for Polly-O, $1.00 off Philadelphia Cooking Creme - I really want to try this stuff but I'm hoping it goes on sale, $1.00 off 3-Musketeers coupons, $1.00 off M&Ms coupons, and $1.00 off crackers/soup coupons!!!