28 Items at Publix = $12!

So with my dislike of Kroger growing all the time I am so happy for Publix! Not only do I save a ton, but the store itself is just so great- people always happy, smiling, asking how your day is; it is just the best store ever. On today's trip we got some great deals. Sadly, the only ronzoni pasta on bogo that I had coupons for was the quick cook, so I wasn't able to stock up too much, but we did get 8 boxes for 20 cents each. They didn't have any super cheap vitamins, but we still managed to make about $3 on vitamins. The mustard was free and the deodorant was about 20 cents. The cooking creme and crescent roles were about 50 cents each and the humus was a great deal for $1 each.

Shopping Update

So it has been a little while since I have posted. I had my mom in town for a week over Spring Break, which was a lot of fun. I was able to get in a little bit of awesome coupon shopping while she was here and also find her some good deals. Her trunk was stocked full of canned veggies, pasta, and dog treats when she left. Here is an update on some of my great deals this past week:

Husband went to Walmart to snag me some good deals. The deodorant and purex laundry sheets were free. The Gain dryer sheets were a moneymaker, now that Walmart's coupon policy has been changed to allow overage.

 While my mom was here she decided to get some of the items from the Kroger Mega sale, so I got a couple of things while I was with her- free pasta and the mustard was 19 cents each.

Husband also had a chance to use this amazing coupon we had- $4 off the purchase of 4 chex mix bags. The coupon was a printable and it was gone by the next morning, but I do have one more:) We paid $1 total for these 4 bags.

Everything in this picture- 14 boxes of pasta, 2 containers of dip, a mustard, and 2 16ct cheese slices- cost me $1.19+tax! Love that Ronzoni coupon! I had run out of them, but I decided to break out my laptop to print a few more. It was no small feat, since it took about an hour for it to boot up, but worth it in the end:)

After my mom left husband and I went to Kroger, where they have now updated their coupon policy so that you cannot use a digital coupon and a paper coupon together. Supposedly this has been policy for a while, but there was no system in their register to catch it. Well now it beeps and will not allow you to use the paper coupon, so you have to use the ecoupon, which does not double. I told the nice guy that checked us out that he could keep the cereal in that case. Why would I use your 50 cent ecoupon when I could use my 50 cent paper coupon that will double to $1, smart decision Kroger. In any case, we did get some good deals there- the Philly cooking creme was $2 and we had $1.50 off, plus $1.50 off chicken when you buy it. The chicken packs were on sale for about $3, so for $2 we were able to get a cooking creme and almost 2 pounds of chicken which = dinner! Hot sauce was free, pasta roni was less than $1 per box, the sauce was $1 each and I had a coupon for $1 off beef when you buy it, so that was a good deal too.

My best shopping trip of the week was definitely at Publix- loving it more every week. Everything in this picture- $7!!! I had a cashier who had clearly just started working there and she rang up my order, "that will be $53", um, no it won't. She was able to learn how to ring up all kinds of different coupons:) I love these vitamins, I am going to be so sad when I can't fund my shopping trips through vitamins! While I had the ole laptop fired up I printed out some more of the $3/2 coupons, so we made about $7 off buying these. The worcestershire sauce, philly creme, and yogurt were free. The pasta sauce was on sale for 99 cents and I had a coupon that doubled to 90 cents, so those were 9 cents each. The zatarains was a great deal- 50 cents a box and unlike Kroger last week they included the pasta variety, which is usually more expensive. The fish was about $1.75 for the bag. We haven't tried it before, but for that price I am happy to give it a try. The rest of the stuff in the picture was $1 each. My new cashier was super impressed and the bagging lady asked if I could teach a coupon class:)

Another Publix Trip

Another good trip to Publix today. I love that now that my stockpile is growing I can be more selective about the stuff that I buy. I got everything in this picture for about $9 (28 items for $9= about 32 cents per item!). I found some more of the Sundown vitamin coupons so I made a couple of dollars off of those and a little bit on the yellow rice. By far I got the best deal on the Philly cooking cream- it was on sale for $2, which is the lowest I have seen it for- I had $1.50 off manufacturer coupon and $1 off store coupon, so I bought 5 and made $2.50, love it! I went to Winn Dixie and got some more of the coupon books there so I could use my b2g1 deodorant coupon. I got these for about $1.69 each, not as good as the deal I got last week, but still a good deal. The butter is a small container, but they were only 35 cents each. I got the shampoo and conditioner for 50 cents each again this week.

I have my mom in town this week and I wanted her to see me in my full shopping glory, so I got her some good deals too. Those potatoes we got for 50 cents a box and the ragu was b1g1 for $2.19. She got those beggin strips- I don't get to have a puppy since we live in the residence hall so I have no idea how much these usually cost, but apparently they are expensive. We got 2 bags of them and some other dog treat thing for $3.50, which I guess is a good deal.

Best Receipt Ever

Here is a scan of our receipt from our trip to the Kroger today, 20 boxes of assorted pasta for 58¢. That comes out to a little less than 3¢ per box. You can also see at the bottom of the receipt where the cash register just rounded the whole transaction up and called it a 100% savings.

20 Boxes of Pasta= $0.58!!!

Today was an amazing shopping day!!! Kroger has another buy 10 items and save $5 instantly deal and the Ronzoni pasta is included. It is on sale for 99 cents, and when you count in the $5 discount if you buy 10 participating items that makes it 49 cents a box. I had coupons for $1 off 2 boxes making it FREE! If you want the coupons check the Living Rich with Coupons database (http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/lrwc-coupon-database). So the cashier at Kroger rang up our 20 boxes of pasta for 58 cents!

Next we headed to Publix. They had the deodorant on sale for $3.89 and I had a buy 2 get 1 free coupon, 2 $1 off manufacturer's coupons, and 3 $1 off store coupons; so I got all three from $2.98, or about 92 cents each (they are a little over $4 regular price!). They also had a 50 cent off Suave Publix coupon, making each of these bottles 50 cents each.

Next we went to CVS. Originally we went there for some shave gel, however, when we got there I realized half my coupons I was going to use were for the wrong brand and the other half were expired, oops! We decided to grab a couple of things anyway- they had the body wash for $3 and you get $2 back in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs), plus I had a coupon for it. I also had a coupon for a free candy bar, hence the giant Kit Kat. We needed some new toothbrushes, so I put the $2 ECB towards that and we spent about $4 on this stuff. Finally we stopped at Target. We were heading out to Dinner at the Olive Garden (where we paid for our meal in coupons and gift cards!) and husband was starving so he almost killed me, but I have been looking for these Shout wipes. They are travel sized and cost $1 each and I had $1 off coupons. We got two and rang up at the Target for 16 cents, which we paid for on a gift card, the lady looked at us like we were insane:) So grand total for everything in this picture is a little over $10 for $73 worth of groceries!!!

We bought so much pasta I had to change which cabinet I keep my rice and pasta in, so here is my new pasta and rice stockpile.

 

Made over $7 buying vitamins at Publix!

This is all from our Publix trip today. We paid $5.92 for all of this! The best part about this trip was those vitamins. We don't really use them, but they had Publix coupons for them and manufacturer coupons and so we made $7.40 that went towards our total by purchasing them. The yoplus yogurt and the sargento cheese were all completely free. The steamfresh veggies were 44 cents each and the dressings (which are usually over $3 a bottle) were 75 cents each. It was a great day at Publix!

We also made a quick trip to the Kroger. I have these amazing coupons- $1.50 off the philly cooking creme and $1.50 off chicken when you buy philly cooking creme. We went to use some of them because today is the last day of the Kroger chicken sale. The bacon was also pretty cheap (less than $3 which is pretty unheard of for bacon). So everything here (which includes almost 8 pounds of chicken breast) was $17!

Today's Awesome Shopping Trips

Three stores today- Target, Publix, and Kroger- and all of this for under $25! I usually don't shop at Traget, but today they had some deals that I just couldn't pass up. They had shampoo for 84 cents along with a 75 cent off coupon, so they were 9 cents (they only had 2 of the small bottles so husband got me a couple of the bigger ones for 64 cents). The ibuprofen was $1 with a $1 off so free! They also had a coupon for that orbit gum, so all of this for $2!

Then we ventured on to Publix. I had a coupon for $1 off 2 pasta roni and they are bogo for $1.49 this week, so we got those for 25 cents each. I had coupons for 50 cents off cough drops (my Publix doubles) and they were bogo for $1.49, so I made 50 cents off of those. I had coupons for the pierogies, so this cost us $2.50.

Our last trip of the day was Kroger. I was watching a youtube video last night of people's stockpiles and this woman was talking about how she doesn't buy cereal for more than 50 cents a box and I thought how on Earth do you get a box of cereal for 50 cents a box?!? Then looking through the Kroger ad I found that I could get a box of rice chex for 68 cents! The Tide stain release was $5.99- I had a $3 paper coupon and a $3 Kroger ecoupon which made it completely free! I'm not even sure what it is or does, but any free Tide product is fine by me. The frozen green giant veggies were a great deal too- I got 2 of them for 3 cents each and the other 2 for 53 cents each. I had good coupons for the Philly cooking cream and chicken- buy both and get $1.50 off cooking cream and $1.50 off chicken, so I got the cooking cream and 2 lbs of chicken for $3.50. Everything else in the picture was under a dollar a piece.

My fledgling stock pile

So like I said I have only been couponing for about six weeks, but I have already built a pretty nice stockpile. Husband and I were figuring out our menu for the next week and we realized we only need some cans of rotel and some green peppers to make dinner for the whole week. So here is some of my ever growing stockpile.

This is my cabinet where the majority of our stuff is. You can't really tell but the cabinet is pretty deep because it is a corner cabinet. This used to be our pots and pans cabinet, but as the stockpile grew we had to re-purpose it. My favorite part about it is the top shelf that we moved to house our pasta and the bottom shelf which is absolutely filled with canned goods- soups, veggies, chef boyardee, etc.

Then I have this small cabinet over our stove that we are using for more pasta and rice. Publix had an amazing deal on this ronzoni pasta a couple of weeks ago. It is "quick cook" and it literally cooks in 3 minutes and is super tender. We also just acquired a bunch of rice and pasta roni on sale at Publix and the zatarain's rice mixes that were a great deal at the Kroger.

 Then there is my overwhelming abundance of corn, my favorite veggie. I got so much of this at the Publix sale for so cheap, I just couldn't pass on 15-cents-per-can veggies. There are 45 cans in this cabinet and probably another 25 or so in the other cabinet.

And then of course there is the freezer, a main source of contention. Some of the best deals I find are in the frozen foods section, but our freezer is pretty small. Since we live in the residence hall it isn't really possible to buy a separate freezer or anything (not like I could afford one now anyway). We have a bunch of those totino's pizzas that I got for around 20 cents each and we have been stocking up on some really cheap chicken this week at Kroger. A lot of the other stuff in the freezer is stuff my mom makes for us and we freeze and bring back home, which is really awesome. So now I have to decide- really cheap chicken or mom's home cooked food?

Southern Chicken Skillet

This recipe, which has now become a favorite in our house, happened on accident. On the night I first made this dish I was scheduled to make fried chicken sandwiches. However, when I went to start on them I realized I was missing a key ingredient in the frying process: oil.

So I decided to improvise. I took stock of some random ingredients around the kitchen and threw together something simple but awesome. If you'd like to make this yourself it is easy and requires little preparation. You will need:

1 pound chicken breast
1 medium yellow onion
1 green bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic
4 or 5 medium Russet or baking potatoes
1 cup Cheddarjack cheese
Salt
Pepper
Lemon Pepper
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

Start with the potatoes since they need to be cooked separately and longer than the rest of the ingredients. Preheat your oven to 450º. Wash the potatoes and dice them into bite-size pieces with skin on. Grease a baking pan with butter and transfer the diced potatoes into it. Season with salt, pepper and Tony Chachere's, mixing them as you do to try to get as even a coat as you can manage. I throw another small teaspoon or so of butter on top before putting the pan in the oven, but this is optional. Cook the potatoes for 40 minutes, stirring every 10-20 minutes to keep the bottom layer from burning.

Next, prep by slicing the chicken breast into around 1 inch strips, chop the onions and bell pepper into large pieces or strips and mince the cloves of garlic. Lightly grease a large pan (I use a fairly big 12 inch pan) with butter or vegetable oil. Once the potatoes are around halfway done, throw the onion, bell pepper and garlic into the pan at medium-high heat. Saute the vegetables until they become soft, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning. Add the chicken breast strips and season with a teaspoon each of salt, pepper, lemon pepper and a tablespoon of Tony Chachere's. Continue to stir regularly until the chicken is completely cooked.

Once the potatoes are finished transfer them into the pan with the vegetables and chicken, mixing them together thoroughly. Stir in the cheddarjack cheese and remove the pan from the burner. Let it cool for a minute or two and serve!




Enjoy!

Our Sunday Tradition

Since I have been couponing we have a new Sunday tradition- getting up early to buy papers and McDonald's coffee. Since we live on campus we can't get a paper delivered, and even if we could it wouldn't really matter because the local paper doesn't carry coupons:( So we have to get up super early (before all of the thieves steal the coupons out of the papers) and go buy some of the neighboring town papers from the newspaper machines. I'm not the hugest coffee fan, but I have occasionally enjoyed the Starbucks, but no more! The McDonald's McCafe coffee is amazing (mocha frappe yum!). So it costs us a little each week to coupon, but I think we more than make up for it on the grocery bill:)

Some of my couponing adventures

Since the blog is called couponing junkie I thought I should start with some of my couponing conquests.

This is from today and is a combined Publix and Kroger trip. I spent about $50 for everything in this picture (if you are counting that is less than $1/item). I actually made money off of the body wash and the cough drops and the yogurt (which you can't see really well) and bottles of worchestire sauce were free. I still have a hard time believing that I can legitimately go to a store and not only get something for free- but actually have them pay me for it! By the way, $10 was spent just on the chicken in the picture, so you can really see how cheap I got everything.

I think this was one of my favorite trips- Walgreens and Kroger. I got this the first day of the Kroger "Deal of the Day" promo, before anyone really knew what it was about. Imagine my surprise when I logged in and they told me I could download a coupon for a FREE bottle of Tide! I paired it with a $1 off coupon and made it even better! My cashier realized that I was getting a $1 back on it and I was afraid he was going to say something about it, but rather he seemed impressed!

This is from the Kroger Cart Buster sale. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but I know I got that pack of toilet paper for $2!

So I hadn't really shopped at Publix until about 2 weeks ago. They opened a store in my area about a year ago, but I thought it was way too expensive. After reading about Italian Days on some of the couponing blogs I decided to give it a try. I spent about $10 for everything in this picture and I became a Publix lover!

And this by far is my favorite trip to date! Kroger and Publix- about $70 but so worth every penny! There are 100 items here- including progresso and campbell's soups, lots of frozen pizzas, 3 boxes of cereal, chicken, and beef. In total I bought about 120 cans of veggies from the Italian Days sale (for about $18+tax!!!). It was so cheap I even bought some for my mom to bring back home with her when she comes to visit this month. I think I found the perfect time to become a Publix convert!

Getting Started!

Well, I started couponing about 6 weeks ago and I love it! My husband suggested that I start a blog to archive all of my awesome adventures. I'm hoping he will get involved and post to the blog too. He really loves to cook and document the process so I thought that would be fun for him. A little bit about us...

This is us on our wedding day. We have been married for a little over two years now. We are originally from Louisiana, but we live in Alabama now. I moved here about six years ago to graduate school and about two years ago I got a full time job here. My job is in residence life and because of that we live in a residence hall (or dorm for those of you not familiar with residence life lingo). A lot of people think that is weird or don't understand and think we live in a little room with twin beds...false. We have a pretty cool, if somewhat small apartment with a dishwasher and everything. Our interests include couponing (me), cooking (husband), watching tv (mostly me), and gaming (definitely husband).