Some Non-Grocery Bargains

So, it has been a while since Black Friday! We haven't been buying a ton of groceries lately- sales have been a little lackluster and we have a ton of stuff at home (the purpose of having a stockpile after all!). We have picked up some things here and there, but nothing super exciting. In the time that we haven't been spending on couponing, we've been making some home improvements:) We live on campus, which means that our apartment is pretty small and also that we cannot make any permanent changes like painting. During my break from work during Thanksgiving I worked on cleaning and decluttering our house some and now we have been getting some things to spruce it up.

 

That is a picture of what our bedroom has looked like for a while. The apartment was built for and came with a queen size bed. The bed was super uncomfortable and husband's mom offered us this awesome king size bed. The only problem was that the bed is just about as big as the room:) I cannot tell you how much I hated having the bed shoved up against the wall and being unable to make the bed. A couple of weeks ago we decided to try moving the bed, and I can't tell you how happy I am about this:) Here is the after picture-




We finally got the bed away from the wall! We got this great comforter set and now I can make the bed every day. Since the bed is essentially the whole room, once the bed is made the whole room looks clean:) We also just went an got a shower curtain that pretty much matches this set and it looks great in our bathroom.



Lastly, we got this awesome table and chairs today. Our apartment originally came with a table and two chairs. It was nice, but it was pretty big, I'm not sure how it was supposed to fit in here. So, we have been living tables-less for almost four years. It really isn't that big of a deal, but we have been wanting a place to sit and eat lately- trying to cut up a pork chop on the couch isn't that easy:) I saw an ad on craigslist for a small restaurant table and two wood chairs for $35. I really wanted it- husband called, we emailed, we even stopped by the place, but nothing! We decided on our day off today to go check some of the local thrift stores, and success! They had some sets, but they were way too big for our tiny space. We got this small but adorable table and these two really nice chairs for only $45. It has some scratches on it, but we got some cheap placemats at Walmart so you can't even tell:)



Ok, one last non-grocery updated:) Check out all of the fabulous shoes we got- for $40!!! My three pairs were on sale for $10 each, husband's was $25 and I had a coupon for $15 off of $50, that is a great bargain:)

Black Friday Deals

I have been MIA for a little while. I went to visit my parents and when my car took a turn for the worse I wound up with my mom up here with me for a week. We did some shopping while she was here, and she walked away with way more than me, but pictures were not taken. But, I'm back in full shopping mode now! I really didn't do any Black Friday shopping, but I did make some time for CVS and their amazing deals this week. CVS did their ad in two parts- one that started Sunday and one that started Thursday. This is from the Sunday venture, that my mom was also a part of, we were able to double up on a couple of deals because she has a CVS card too. Everything here (with the exception of the gummy bears that my husband picked up) was free with ECBs! I paid about $8 for all of this and still walked out with close to $7 in ECBs.

This is from the deals that started Thursday, but we didn't go until Friday evening, I was shocked they still had many of these deals. It is hard to see what the little package is, but it is ear buds. They were $6.99 and I got $6.99 back on them, the CVS batteries were the same type of deal. The cereal was $2.87 with $2 ECB back and I had a 60 cent coupon, making it just 27 cents for a box of cereal- that is awesome! The best deal was the milky war bars. They were supposed to be 75 cents each with 75 cent ECB back. I also had a buy 2 get 1 free coupon, so that would have been a good deal. But, it got even better because for some reason they rang up for 50 cents each, and my coupon rang up the full redeemable value of $1.29, that means we paid $1.50 for 3 bars, got $1.29 off of that and then got $1.50 back. It is always nice to make money on candy:) I also bought husband a candy bar, but it didn't make it all the way home with us.

We also made a quick stop at Publix. I went to go get a cereal and milk deal, but they didn't have the kind of cereal I wanted, oh well. I got all of this for just under $20. The best deal was the toothpaste, I had a coupon from Kroger for a free Colgate toothpaste with no max value, so I got a $3.50 tube of toothpaste for free!!! The yakisoba noodles were also a good deal- they were on sale for 50 cents and I had a 50 cent coupon that double so moneymaker! The rice-a-roni was bogo making them about 80 cents each, and so were the old el paso dinner kits. We still have burrito kits left from when we bought a ton of them, but we picked up a couple of gordita kits. The finish dishwasher packs were bogo and with a coupon we got the box for $2.50, which is a good deal. The toaster strudel was also bogo, $2.89 and I had $1/2 coupons, making them a little less than a dollar a box. The lettuce is for dinner tonight (shrimp remoulade, yum!), and the flowers were bogo making them only $2 for the bunch.

Lastly, I will leave you with a look at our Thanksgiving dinner. Shocker- I got this on sale too!!! Husband and I love roast, but it is usually so expensive. We were just going to suck it up and go to Walmart and grab a roast since we only make it once a year for Thanksgiving. But, before we went I noticed that Winn Dixie had some kind of roast on sale bogo. We went to look at it and it seemed like a good deal, but was not the cut of meat we usually buy. My thrifty nature told me to give it a try and I am so happy I did! Now, since it was Winn Dixie, where they have true bogo instead of half-price bogo like Publix, we did have to buy two roasts. We found two that were pretty close to the same price and got two roasts, which were each almost 4 pounds each, for just $20!!! I was a little worried that the roast wasn't going to fall apart like our other cut of meat, but as you can see I was wrong. We ate this for dinner, I had it for lunch yesterday, and we still have plenty of leftovers, plus I still have another roast in the freezer. I am going to take it out next week to defrost and see how it does. I think we can have roast a little more often now:)

Love to Shop Here, Love to Save Here

That is the title of the Publix button that husband was kind enough to get me and is showing off here in the picture. It's the Publix slogan and it is so true:) Here is our shopping trip for today, which cost about $43 total. It is hard to see but those bags in the front are frozen cheesesticks and they are so good! I had a raincheck for them from a couple of weeks ago when they were on sale and they were out. These are usually pretty expensive, but my raincheck made them bogo and I had $3/2 coupons, making them $1.50 each. I also had a raincheck for the campbell's bowls. I was kind of annoyed that they were out when we bought all of our other soup, but I'm actually happy I had to wait. Publix put out a $2/3 chunky soups coupon, I had two of those, plus five $1/2 manufacturer's coupons; that made each bowl about 35 cents each, that is crazy good! I also got some Progresso soup, which was bogo and I had some coupons that made them a little less than $1 each. The little pizzas were $1.25 each, but I had a $1/3 coupon and a b3g1 free coupon, making them about 68 cents each. The salad dressings were about 30 cents each and the cereal was about 90 cents each after coupons. Some of the shampoo is for me and some for my mom, and after coupons they worked out to about $1 each, which is pretty good because the bottles are huge and the Tresemme is generally pretty expensive. Finally, the toilet paper and paper towels were a decent deal, I got both for $8.50, which isn't fantastic, but is pretty good.

Soup!

I love fall for so many reasons, mainly for the cooler weather; but it is also a good time to stock up on soup! Publix had the Campbell's Chunky soup on sale this week and there were some amazing coupons to pair with the sale. They were bogo $2.49 and there were coupons out for $1/2 and $1/3, making them between 75 and 92 cents a can, which is an amazing deal! Also, I had some $2/3 cans Publix coupons, which made for an even better deal- paired with my manufacturer's coupons that made some of them 25 cents a can! I actually got more than this, but didn't take a picture. I had a little trouble this week in buying it all, because one of my Publix stores is now limiting you to 10 of the items that are bogo. I knew this, but had been told that it was 10 items of each type, so I thought if I bought different types of soup that would be ok, but apparently not. Fortunately, the cashier was nice enough to ring me up in separate transactions. I wound up getting a rain check for the bowls because they didn't have very many at the store, so husband and I will be eating soup for a while:)

I was able to get some other good deals in the past couple of weeks, but neglected to take pictures. One of my favorites was the Jennie O Turkey sausage, it was on sale for $1.99 this week and there were $1 off coupons, I think $1 for meat is always a good deal. Here are a couple of other good deals I got today. We use mayonnaise to make our dressing for shrimp remoulade, so this should last us a while. They were bogo $4.99, and I got some coupons from recycle bank (you take quizzes and answer questions for points that you can redeem) for $2 off two Hellman's products, making them $1.50 each. There were also a combination of Publix and manufacturer's coupons for the laundry detergents. The Surf is a huge bottle and after coupons we got them for $1.99 each, and the All is about half the size of the Surf and we got those for $1 each after coupons. Laundry detergent is sometimes hard to get cheap, so I try to grab a few bottles when they are cheap and this will last us a long time.

Shopping Update

This is kind of a random post. We have gotten some super good deals lately, but just haven't had the time to post them. So here are some of the highlights from the past couple of weeks. Now, where to start? Ah, how about the massive amount of Mountain Dew husband got?

So, that is 36 12-packs of Mountain Dew, which is a Pepsi product. Publix had Pepsi products on sale buy-two-get-two free. For about two days that sale coincided with a yellow flyer coupon for buy two get one free. They were $5.49 each, so buy getting them in multiples of 12 husband was able to do the following:

12 packs @ $5.49 each= $65.88

6 packs are deducted immediately (b2g2)= $32.94

4 packs are deducted by coupon (b2g1)= $10.98

12 packs for $10.98= 92 cents per 12 pack OR 8 cents per can!

That is definitely a stock up price, so stock up we did:) Here is what our soft drink stock pile looked like after we added our Mountain Dew to our Dr. Pepper:

 That should last us a while:) Now, how about some amazingly cheap lunch meat for sandwiches? These 10 containers of lunch meat (9oz each) cost us 77 cents a pack!

They were part of the Kroger mega sale and after mega savings they were $2.77 each. A coupon came out for $1 off each pack and there is also a Catalina deal for buy 10 participating Kraft items and get $10 off you next purchase. In essence we paid $1.77 per pack, but got a $10 coupon back that we used on other items. I am super shocked that Kroger turned right back around and is doing another mega sale with this exact same item, pricing and the Catalina is still valid. We will be eating sandwiches for lunch for quite some time:)

 Finally, this was a Publix trip that husband made today. All of this, including tax, was only $30! That is pretty excellent considering this is going to pretty much make 20 meals for us:) It is hard to see but that is 12 packs of the Kraft Fresh Take, we actually have a few more coupons but are saving those to use on a new variety of Fresh Take- Smokehouse BBQ, which we have only seen at Walmart so far. These were $2 and we had $1 off coupons. We also got 8 of the burrito kits, which are pretty much a whole meal since they come with rice and beans. They were b1g1 $3.19, making them $1.60 each, and we had coupons that doubled to $1, making each kit only 60 cents each! The Magnum ice cream bars were also a great deal. They are really expensive normally, so we only buy them when on sale. Today they were b1g1 $3.99 and we had $1 off coupons, making each box only $1. Now you only get three bars per box, but they are pretty delicious, so 33 cents each is fine by me:)

Finally a Great Sale at Kroger

For the past few months sales at Kroger have just been really blah, maybe a good price on milk or chicken, but nothing super exciting. However, this is the second week of a great mega sale! The mega sale is buy 10 participating items and get $5 off instantly, this also coincides with some great coupons and catalinas (buy a certain number of products and get a coupon for an amount off of your next purchase). I had to do this shopping trip in 3 transactions to get the most out of the catalina offers, but it was worth it. We got all of this for about $40 total. The pup-peroni is for my mom and was a really good deal. They are part of the mega sale for $1.99 and I had a couple of coupons for $1.50 off one and $1.25 off one. Right now if you buy 3 or more you get a catalina for $2 off. This is why I had to break up my items, if I would have bought all 7 in one transaction I still would have only gotten $2, but since I put them in two transactions I got another $2 off coupon. I didn't know it but there is also a catalina when you buy Kraft products and that includes the lunch meat and hot dogs, I was surprised when it printed a $2 off coupon. I was already planning on sending husband back later in the week to get some more stuff, but I was really excited when we got home and found that there is a $1 off of lunch meat coupon available to pair with the sale and catalina, I am already formulating a plan:) Those glade misters were also a good deal, they are $3.45 as part of the mega sale and I had $3 off coupons, plus for every one I bought I got $1 back (also part of why I had to do three transactions, I was only about to get $3 back, but that still makes them free). The Dole smoothie shakers were supposed to print a catalina for 75 cents, but it isn't always a guarantee and I was not going to fight for 75 cents.

And of course, everyday at Publix is a great day! That Mott's applesauce to go stuff is great for husband, he works with the mail, so it is nice to have a snack that you don't have to eat with your hands. They are on sale for $2 each right now and I had $1 off coupons. When we got home we found that they have now also put up a bogo coupon, so we will be getting some more:) There are 4 in a pack, so 25 cents is pretty good for a snack. The grits were also a great buy, quaker products are 50% off this weekend and I had a coupons that made each box about $1 each. I thought I had a coupon for the waffles also, but apparently I dreamed that, but I decided to get them anyway, they were only $1.25 per box. The green giant veggies were a good deal, they are bogo right now and with coupons I got each one for 30 cents each. I am not sure what the Jingos are, I am guessing a new product, they look like snack crackers, with coupon they were only 50 cents for the box, so we will give them a try!

Thanks Publix- We Love the Dr. Pepper Sale!

A few months back husband found a great sale on Dr. Pepper. I thought at the time it was a fluke and wouldn't happen again, but happily I appear to be wrong! In our area Dr. Pepper is bottled by Coke and right now Coke products are on sale buy two get one free. In the new yellow flyer there is a coupon for buy two get one free. Apparently you can combine both of these, basically meaning you buy one and get two free! They are $5.29, which means that each pack is $1.75!

We also picked up a few other things while at the Publix. The cereal was about $1.20 each after sale and coupons. The soup wasn't a great deal, but was on sale for $1.50 a can. Those bags are cat treats, no I do not have a cat, but I made $1 buy buying them and my mom has a cat back home.

We also made a stop at Kroger today. They finally had a decent sale and we got all of this for less that $50. They have a mega sale where when you buy 10 participating items you get $5 off, basically meaning each item is 50 cents off. The laundry detergent was $2.49 and I had a 75 cents/2 coupon. The dishwashing gelpacs were $2 each after coupon. The lunch meat was a good deal- $2.77 each. The chex mix was also a good deal, 50 cents each after coupons. The mashed potatoes were also about 50 cents a box and there are two pouches in each box. I have some more coupons for chex mix and potatoes, but wanted to hold on to see what else is included in the sale. Sadly Kroger won't just tell you all of the included products, but fortunately there are couponing blogs out there that will go to the store and find all of the participating items.

More Deals at Publix

I can't believe I dragged myself to the store today! We moved in residents this morning, so I have been up since a little after 5am. But, I had some coupons that were expiring today and I have to work all this coming week anyway, so why not:) This was $40 at Publix, and yes that is more cereal! Husband wanted some of this kind last week, but I didn't have good enough coupons. These boxes were 2/$5 and they are huge, plus I found a coupon that made each $1.50, I usually try to stick to about $1/box, but these boxes were so big that it was a really good deal. We all know that I love my bob evans mashed potatoes, these were $3 each and I had a coupon for $1.50/2, which made these a decent deal. I was able to get some good vegetable oil coupons that made each of those $2 each. The applesauce (its actually pear sauce, that's why its green!) is a good deal and I may try and get some more before they go off sale. They were $1.67 each and I had a coupon for $1.10 off two, plus a Publix coupon for free grab and go applesauce, which basically looks like applesauce is a pouch, when you buy two applesauces, so I got all three things for $2.25. I got some more of the crisco cooking sprays that we got last week with the b1g1 coupon. The peanut butter was pretty much the most expensive item we bought, even though it was a bogo item it was still $4, but it is huge, like 2 and a half pounds of peanut butter! I think $40 for 30 items is pretty good, especially considering that we got some fairly expensive items.

Breakfast Deals

Well, late July/early August is always a crazy time of the year for us. I have been in the midst of staff training and gearing up for resident move-ins, which doesn't leave a ton of time for couponing. However, last week we found some really great deals, here is a look at what we got:

This was a great week at Publix, everything here for $33! As we were getting ready to head to the store husband mentioned that we should be on the lookout for some cereal deals, between Publix and CVS I got him 12 boxes:) All of the cereal here was bogo $3.99, with coupons I got 4 boxes for $1 each and 2 boxes for $2.50 each. The ziploc bags were also a great deal, these boxes were $1.50 each and I had a manufacturer's $1/2 coupon and a Publix $1/2 coupon, making each box 50 cents each. That is a great deal on something we use a lot, I think I am going to get some more this week. The crisco spray had a Publix coupon for b1g1, making it $1.45 each.

CVS also had some great breakfast deals this week! Husband loves pop-tarts and I was going to get him some at Publix, but found a better deal at CVS. They had a deal for Kellogg's products, which were $2 each, that when you buy $15 worth of product you got $5 ECB. I also had coupons for $1/3 pop-tarts and $1/2 Raisin Bran cereals. After ECBs I spent about $17 plus tax for 15 items, that is a good deal! The dawn soap was also on sale for 99 cents each. I had some coupons for between 25 and 50 cents off each and I was going to buy three, but when I got to CVS the awesome coupon machine gave me a coupon for $1 off 5 dawn soaps. So four of these were 50 cents each and one was 75 cents.

Ok, I have no idea why this picture is sideways, I have been trying to fix it and cannot. Anyway, this is from Winn Dixie. While they are super expensive on most things, they have some of the best meat deals. These pork chops were b1g1, this was $19, making each about $4.

Eight Easy Meals, Under $10!

Ok, so four of those eight meals would be spaghetti, but there's nothing wrong with that:) This was a trip to Publix this morning. I wanted to go today since the ad started today and I knew if I waited the voila meals would be gone. I also thought since it is the 4th of July that the store wouldn't be crowded, but I was sadly wrong about that. The Bird's Eye Voila! meals were definitely the best deal here. They released a $3 off coupon on Facebook about a week ago. That is an amazing coupon because these frequently go bogo at Publix. They are on sale this week and they are bogo $5.49, since I had four coupons I got all four of them for free! The Barilla was also a good deal. They have coupons out on some of the jars right now for $2 off of $6 in Barilla products. Both the sauce and spaghetti are bogo, so we got two jars of sauce and four boxes of pasta for $4.13 after sale and coupons. I consider that a pretty good deal. I think I will send husband back later in the week to get some more. I had a coupon for the dixie plates that made them $1 for 45 plates, and I had a coupon for the newtons, they were still a little over $3 for the two packs which I think is expensive, but husband loves them. Total we paid about $9.50 for this trip, including tax:)

I also wanted to share a picture of a yummy cheap dinner we had this week. We bought a box of the old el paso gordita kit a while back and I have been hesitant to make it because it has a ranch like sauce I was afraid I would not like. However, it was totally delicious. Husband cooked some chicken according to the directions and we added some cheese, tomato, rice and the ranch sauce with some black beans on the side.

French Fried Yumminess

It has been quite a while since I have posted, things have been a little hectic around here. I went home for a while and then some crazy stuff has been going on at work. So, we have gotten some good deals lately- case in point, 10 bags of salad for just the tax on Friday, so we have been eating a lot of salad the past few days:) There just hasn't been a lot of time to document our triumphs. Today we made a trip to Publix to get lots of ore-ida potatoes. This is 6 bags of fries and 3 bags of potatoes o'brien (potato chunks, onions and peppers). They are on sale this week 2/$6 and Publix had b2g1 free coupons, making them $2 each. You can get a better deal on these if there are also coupons out for them at the time, but that is still a really good price. Sorry my picture is a little fuzzy, it is from my phone. There are also magnum ice cream bars- they are delicious but super expensive, but they put out $2 coupons and they were on sale for $3 this week, making them $1, which was a great price. We also got some cookies, pasta sauce, sour cream and croutons, all for about $1 each. In total this was a little less than $30 for everything.

Great Deals at Several Stores

I am getting ready to head out of town for a week in the morning (don't worry, husband will be sticking around to catch all of the great deals- oh yeah and work!), but before I left I wanted to grab some of the great deals that were available this week. This is from Publix, a little less than $50, which is fairly expensive for us but this was a lot of stuff. I also got 16 pounds of dog food that didn't make it into this picture to bring home to my mom. Cheese is something that goes super fast in our house, so anytime there is a decent price we try to stock up. We got 8 bags for between $1.50 and $1.75 each. As you know from the blog, the Kraft Fresh Take is something that we really enjoy. We got 8 of those for between $1 and $1.25 each. You can't really see it in the picture, but we also got some imitation crab meat, this looks decent and should make a good salad, they were on sale and with coupon we got them for $1 each, which is good enough to at least try it. The humus was an amazing deal- They are bogo this week and with coupons I got three of them for $1 each and one of them completely free. The temptations were also a fabulous deal. If you haven't tried these yet you should, with coupons we got these for about $1 each. Finally that pack of drumsticks was $3.50, I wasn't going to get it because I had a $1 off coupon that I forgot at home. Fortunately husband was there to keep things in perspective and that it was just a dollar!

Speaking of frozen treats, we got some good deals at Kroger too! The ice cream was on sale and with coupons they were only $1.50 each. We haven't tried these flavors before- chocolate brownie and reese's peanut buter- but they look really good. The popsicles were only 50 cents each after coupons. The onions were also a good deal- 5 pounds for only $2. We also got husband some essentials for while I am out of town.

Lastly, husband made a quick stop at Winn Dixie this morning. I really only shop there for the bogo meat deals. The little hormel pork roasts are a great dinner solution. All you have to do is throw it in the oven for 75 minutes, you don't even have to turn it over! With the sale and a coupon these were only $2.50 each. Pork chops were also on sale bogo, making them around $3 per pack.

I also have to take a moment to praise husband for his increased interest/skill in couponing! As you may have saw husband got a great deal on the dr. pepper drinks last week. He also scored a great deal on some snacks, chips and drinks were only $5!

Why Yes, We Do Enjoy Dr. Pepper!

I can't take credit for this one, this was all husband's couponing find! I asked him to make a stop at Publix and while he was there he found this great deal. Coke products (Dr. Pepper is a Coke product here) were B3G1 free- they were on sale making them 3 for $12 and get one free. There was also a coupon in the Publix Yellow flyer for $3/2 12 packs of Dr. Pepper. I would have thought that they would not let him use it because you are getting one free, but they did:) That meant we got 4 12 packs for $6 or $1.50 each! That is an amazing deal on soft drinks, which is how we wound up with 20 of them:) Husband also found some coupons on pepsi next. They were $1.79 each, b2g1 free and there was a yellow flyer coupon for $1 off, which they also let him use on the free one, plus he found manufacturer's coupons at Publix for $1/3, making them better than free!

We also stopped in at Publix this week for some non caffeinated items:) Pop-tarts were a great deal, on sale for $2 a box and there were 50 cent off 1 coupons, which doubled, that came out this week. That is a really great coupon for pop-tarts since they are usually off 3 boxes. So I got these for $1/box. Trash bags were also a pretty good deal. They were $4, but we had $1.85 off coupons, making them $2.15, not bad for 24 trash bags. The coupon was actually pretty cool, it was a $1.35 off coupon and you got a bonus 50 cents for watching a video. I thought it was going to be long, but it was seriously like 10 seconds. I wish more companies would do things like that. 

BOGO Chicken at Publix

Publix has several buy-one-get-one items each week, but one that they never have is on their meat. Well, that changed this week and I certainly hope it stays that way! This week their chicken (boneless, skinless chicken breasts) are on sale bogo. They are $4.49/lb, but if you buy the larger pack it is $4.29/lb, making it $2.15/lb. That makes it just a little bit more than I generally pay for chicken- $1.79-$1.99/lb. But, it is totally worth it because Publix chicken is delicious. We thought you had to buy two packs, but actually, just like all of their other bogo sales, it really just rings up half price. So, we got almost 10 lbs of chicken for about $20, I am planning to go get a little more before it goes off sale on Wednesday. They also had rice-a-roni bogo this week, making it about 80 cents a box, which is a good price. I can sometimes find it cheaper, but Publix is the only store around here that sells the chicken fajita flavor which is great with our fresh take chicken. The lunch meat was also on sale and made it about $2.15 for the pound. Finally, I got those pans for free after a very long ordeal. They were advertised bogo for $1.99, they would not ring up correctly. After several people checked them, an argument about what was actually advertised, and a manager finally telling them I was correct, they rang them up for bogo $1.99, I had two $1 off coupons, so I got two for free and then they insisted on giving me a free one, which I tried to turn down several times, because it rang up incorrectly. This is why I love Publix, even when they get things wrong, they do everything they can to correct it:)

What Can You Eat for 75 Cents?

Back in my pre-couponing days, 75 cents would not have bought an awful lot- some ramen, maybe a can of condensed soup. Yesterday this was my lunch, and it cost me 75 cents, it was easy to make, delicious and super cheap. It was a chicken stir fry Viola meal, and here is how I paid 75 cents for it...

Husband went to the store for us the other day. They had the Viola meals on sale for bogo $5.50, making them $2.75 each. These are actually really good, so I normally would have thought about getting them for that price, but we have really been trying to watch what we spend this week, so I decided to pass. Then, a $2 off printable coupon appeared online the other day- making them 75 cents each. Husband also grabbed us some of these Bob Evans mashed potatoes. Apparently Bob Evans is also a restaurant, and I have to tell you, if there were one anywhere near me, I would be there. The potatoes are expensive, but absolutely delicious. They were on sale this week for $3 each. I had bogo coupons as well as 35 cents off coupons, which doubled to 70 cents, making them $1.15 each, which is more than what I would like to pay for some mashed potatoes, but really, they are amazing!

We also made a quick trip to Kroger this week. This 8 pond bag of potatoes was only $2.88, which is a steal! We have already used some for chicken skillet, and are making beef stew this week. Kroger also had a promotion for buy $10 worth of participating items and get $2 off your next order. The sausage was included and was $2.50 each, which is already a good price for sausage.

My last tip for the day- buy meat that is close to it's expiration date. You really can save a lot of money by doing this and you won't notice any difference. I have been wanting some cheese burgers lately, especially since we tried them with the Kraft Fresh Take, but ground meat can be really expensive. We have been trying to find some discounted at Kroger because they generally have pretty good prices on their discounted ground meat, but we haven't been able to find any lately. Husband decided we should try Walmart this morning, and I am really glad we did. We found this 5 pound pack of ground beef on discount for $9.09, making it $1.82 per pound. I promise you will not find that kind of price anywhere. It takes a little more work because you have to divide it up (trying to defrost 5 pounds of meat is not a good idea), and freeze it the day you buy it, but if I would have bought this same ground meat at Kroger, it would have been almost $14, and would have been even more at Winn Dixie or Publix. All you need to do is freeze it before the sell buy date and then defrost it on the day you plan to make it.

Why You Should Check Coupons Everyday

I really don't spend all that much time couponing, especially when you consider all the great deals I get. But, I do make sure that I check my favorite coupon sites everyday. While most online coupons come out at the beginning of the month or on Sundays with the paper coupons, there are also coupons that get added everyday. This Wednesday I got up and checked my sites and found great coupons to go with my Publix ad that just started this week. With those coupons I got everything here for a little less than $25. The best deal was the salad dressing, which was actually a moneymaker, of about 50 cents a bottle, so I got paid like $2 to take home this dressing. The ragu was about 30 cents a bottle, and the mayonnaise was $1.67, which is a great price. There are actually some pretty expensive items here, like that rootbeer was $3 and our hummus was $2 each, but that is a good price for hummus. We have been buying pita bread to go with it, but we got some of those flatbread crackers to try with it and they are really good. I did get a good deal on deoderant for husband, the new Publix put a lot of them on clearance, and with a $1 off coupon I got those for 72 cents. The rice is actually from Winn Dixie, they were bogo so we got both bags, which are 3 lbs each, for about $3, which is pretty good.

We also went to Publix and Kroger today, this was about $15. I was able to sign up for the "Savings Club" on coupons.com for a free year, apparently they usually charge $3 per month. It gives you access to some higher value coupons, like th eone I found this morning for $1.50 off an Edward's pie. These pies are delicious, as well as expensive, but Publix has the 50% off this week, making them $4, and I got them for $2.50 with coupon. The steamfresh thing was about 30 cents after coupon. At kroger we got the corn and tomatoes. I prefer the corn at the farmer's market, but it is still relatively expensive and I got this for $2, as opposed to the $4 I paid last week at the market. The tomatoes were on sale bogo, making them less than $2 each.

Can't Get Enough Fresh Take!

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted! Things have been crazy at work, so even though I have gotten some good deals I haven't had time to post about them. Here are the great deals we got today.

This is from Publix and only cost $22! Those things in the front are the new Kraft Fresh Take. I have been getting a ton of these for two reasons- 1. they have been either free or super cheap with coupons and 2. they are delicious! It is a packet of seasoned breadcrumbs and cheese, shake it onto chicken, pork or fish in the bag it comes in and bake. So easy and so good! I highly recommend the cheddar jack and bacon and southwest varieties. The trash bags were also a good deal. They were on sale for $4 each and I had $2 off coupons that made them $2 for a 22 count. The potatoes are actually for my mom, with coupons they were 50 cents a box. They also had a coupon this week for a free pack of paper towels when you buy bbq sauce. With coupons I got both the sauce and the paper towels for $1. This trip was a little over $50 before coupons, so over 50 % savings!

Now, proving that you don't always have to have coupons to get a good deal is our trip to Kroger. This was about $12. They have these bags of lettuce on sale for $1/bag. These will make great lunches along with some sandwiches. We found bread on special for 49 cents a loaf, it expires at the end of the week, but we have been eating sandwiches pretty much everyday (I got a good deal on lunch meat at Winn Dixie last week!). The pepperoni was $1 each and so were the buns. Milk was on sale for $2.99, which is pretty much the cheapest we can find it.

I wasn't expecting to go to Walmart today, but I had some coupons for this hormel roast that I really wanted to use. These are a great deal when they go bogo, but I haven't been able to find it in the past month. These roasts are $5.99 at most stores, but we found them at Walmart for $4.98 and I had $1 off coupons. These are super easy to make, you just stick it in the oven and bake it, and they are delicious, so $4 for a main dish isn't too bad in my book. Husband also wanted to tuna while we were there to go with our sandwich bread. We also made a quick stop at the Farmer's Market for some corn and tomatoes, which were about $6. So all together we spent about $60 for a ton of groceries, not a bad day:)

I Love New Products!

So when companies come out with new items they generally put out high value coupons for it so that people will want to try it. Well it has certainly worked on me for this new Kraft Fresh Take stuff, especially since I got mine for free. It is a bread crumb and cheese mixture that you put on chicken, fish or pork and bake it. It comes in quite a few flavors and looks really good. Husband and I will be trying the southwest variety this week. Publix had these on sale 2/$4, plus there was a $2/2 Publix coupon that paired very nicely with my $1 off one manufacturer's coupons, making them free! The rice was also on sale for $2 and I had coupons to get them for $1 each, it is about a pound, not the cheapest I have gotten rice, but a fairly good deal and I had a lot of coupons. The Marzetti simply dressed dressing is delicious and I got it for about 80 cents, I wish I would have had more coupons! I got the breadcrumbs for my mom for about 75 cents and just a few more veggies. I have some more coupons for the fresh take stuff that I am going to send husband back for this week.

We also made a stop by Kroger today. We got more than I intended, but got some great deals. The chicken was on sale for $1.79/lb and they had some great smaller packs. They also had that 8 lb bag of huge potatoes for $3. We are going to use them to make some twice baked potatoes this week that will hopefully go well with our southwest breadcrumb chicken. We got the sour cream and bacon bits to make that. The hot dogs were a good deal, $1 for the pack and $1 for the buns; husband will eat that for lunch this week.

New Publix Opening and Viva Italia

They just opened a new Publix in my town last week. I was able to go in to work a little later that day, so husband an I got to go their first morning. They gave us an insulated reusable bag, a flower and some free samples from the pharmacy. They also had $5 off of $30 purchase coupons. I was a little disappointed because I was thinking they would have some great grand opening sales, but they just had the same sales as the other Publix, plus they did not have the in store coupons to go with the sales. So this is a mix of new store and old store. They were having their Viva Italia sale, which is definitely the best sale of the year. The cheese was a decent deal at about $1 per bag. The salad dressing was about 30 cents per bottle with coupon. The canned veggies and beans were between 40 and 60 cents a can. This was just the first day of the sale, husband went back several times to get us some more, including lots of veggies for my mom too.

We also got all of these cans of tomato sauce for 20 cents each. These are the perfect size for our taco soup that we make.

On top of the Viva Italia sale, Publix also had a cereal sale with all Kellogg's cereal 50% off. This happened to coincide with a new coupon that had just come out for $5/5 boxes of cereal. Each of these boxes were a little over $1 per box.

Cheap Pizza- Yay!

Husband and I love these little pizzas, they make a great lunch or dinner option with a salad. They used to be super cheap, but lately the price has been rising. This week they are part of the new Kroger mega sale, buy 10 participating items and save $3 instantly and get a coupon for $2 off your next purchase. With the $3 savings the pizzas were $1 each and I had coupons for 20 cents off each, making them 80 cents each. I'm trying to think about what big items in my freezer we can eat soon so we can go buy some more. Husband also likes the pizza rolls, they were 95 cents, and with coupons I got those for 55 cents, not a bad price for a lunch:) We also grabbed a dozen eggs for $1.28, all together this cost about $16, plus we got $4 off our next purchase.

We also made a quick stop at Publix. This was a little more expensive than usual, but I think still a good deal. I had a rain check for the cereal. We also bought about $10 in meat, some for stew that we are making tonight and some that husband just thought looked good. We also got some fancy refrigerated pasta, it was on sale bogo $3.99 and I had $1 off coupons. It looks pretty good, although not a very big portion. Rice and pasta roni were also bogo, making them about 80 cents each. This was about $35 all together.