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.

Super Bowl Sunday Savings

I had very little interest in watching the Super Bowl last Sunday, but it does always make a good day for deals! I meant to post this earlier, but I was sick most of last week, so here is some of what we got:

Our best deal was this from Chipotle. They just opened a store by our house and we were able to go eat free one night for my job. Husband really liked it, but I wasn't totally sold. They had a great deal on Sunday that I figured we could try. The burrito boxes are usually a little over $8 per person, but for Super Bowl Sunday they were half price, you had to buy at least 6 burritos, but for $4 each I thought that was a fantastic deal. It came with chips, salsa, guacamole, etc. They were delicious, warmed up really well, and made a few meals for us. If you have a Chipotle near you I highly suggest the barbacoa burrito!

We also made a couple of other stops, including this one to CVS to get husband some shampoo. This was about $5 after I used a $5 ECB and coupons, plus I got back $4 ECB.

Catching Up on Shopping

Well obviously with our cruise we haven't had much time to worry about couponing, and honestly who cares about couponing when you are on vacation!!! Well sadly it is time to get back to everyday life. We went shopping today and here is what we got:

This was Publix today, clearly there was a good deal on cereal:) The Kellogg's cereals are bogo $4.29 and I also had $1/2 coupons. That made each box $1.65 which is a good deal. I tried to get some cocoa krispies at Winn Dixie this week because it is the only cereal that I eat and they also had it on sale, but some insane reason they had regular rice krispies on sale but would not include the cocoa ones, I hate shopping there. Anyway, we also got a box of cinnamon toast crunch for $1 using a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon. The rice mixes I got for 50 cents each. We got all of this for $38, not too bad!

We also went to Kroger today. This was about the same price as what we paid at Publix. They have a mega sale going on right now- buy 10 products get $5 off. The easy mac is included in that and after sale they are 50 cents each. They are great to take to work as part of lunch. We also got some lunch meat for lunch for $2.79 a pack. The kleenex was free. Sadly the trash bags, mayo and eggs were not on sale, but I needed them, that was about $10 right there.

Lastly we made a stop at CVS this morning. This is my guilty pleasure, but I wait until I can get them for a decent price. They are on sale for $5 per pack and when you spend $15 you get $5 ECB, so that makes this $10 or about $3.33 each. That is pretty good considering these are $5-$6 regular price.

Our Amazing Cruise!

Husband and I just returned from a fabulous cruise about a week ago. If you have never been on a cruise, you are missing out! This was our second, we went on a Norwegian cruise for our honeymoon three years ago. Around the beginning of October I started thinking about what I could get husband for his 30th birthday and also something fun we could do for our three year anniversary. I looked at cruises and found a great deal- a 4 day Carnival cruise and it cost us just a little over $600 total, and that included taxes, gratuities, everything.

This was our room, which I got an amazing deal on. After reading some reviews I found out that I could get a porthole room for the same price as an interior room, which does not have a window. They have fewer porthole rooms, which is why I assume it is cheap. Not only did we get the two portholes that let in a bunch of light, but because of where these rooms are in the boat the room was huge! Probably at least 4-5 feet of room on each side of the bed. On the last day on board we looked at some of the ocean view rooms, which have a small window and were much more expensive, and our room was actually much bigger.

Now we were a little worried about going on a Carnival cruise because we went on Norwegian for our first and most people think of Carnival as the bargain basement cruise. Let me tell you- it was fabulous! The food was much better than Norwegian and oh my goodness there was soooo much of it. Husband and I couldn't even try everything that was on the boat. Also, there was this amazing adults only deck on the back of the boat. Husband and I spent most of our time there reading and relaxing. Our only port on the trip was Cozumel. We have been there before and last time we went snorkeling with Stingrays (highly recommended!) and this time we decided to go scuba diving (not so much recommended). This cost us almost an extra $200, and it was a nice one time experience, but not something I would be interested in making a hobby out of. The tanks were so incredibly heavy and the change in pressure seriously hurt our ears. But it was a cool experience to have. We loved our cruise so much and are hoping to make it an annual event!

Couponing in the New Year

I have been out of town for a while. Since I work at a university we get a huge break in between semesters, so I went home to New Orleans for two weeks. Husband had to stay here and work, so he has been grabbing a couple of random deals, but no great sales over the holidays. This week Publix definitely made up for the lackluster sales they have been having lately.

This was our first trip to Publix this week. This is probably the most expensive Publix trip I have had in a long time. This was about $75. Boneless, skinless chicken breast is on sale for $1.99/lb this week. We can actually get chicken a little bit cheaper, $1.79/lb at Kroger, but this chicken tastes a lot better. So that is over $20 in chicken right there. There is also a great deal on chips and salsa this week. The chips, which is a huge bag, are bogo $4.99, and there were coupons for a get a free jar of salsa when you buy two bags. That means that for $5 I got two big bags of chips and a jar of salsa. It makes a great snack and I also take it to work for lunch. Which is also why we got those lunchables, which were on sale for $1 each. We also got some tomato sauce for 25 cents each. The old el paso kits were bogo $3.29. We also grabbed some tomatoes for salads.

We went back this morning for a second trip to Publix. The chunky soup is a great deal right now. It is bogo $2.49, so about $1.25 per can. That is already a good deal, we price checked it at Walmart today where it is $1.78 per can. On top of that I had some great coupons for $1 off 4 cans, which made them only $1 per can. Husband and I love these for lunch. We also grabbed some lunch meat. It was on sale for $3 per pack, and I had $1 off coupons. It isn't a great deal because it is a small package, but it will work for lunch. The pudding was 70 cents each after sale and coupons. The veggies are a great deal. The ones we got on our first trip were all bell peppers, this trip we got some more peppers and some stir fry veggies. They are a 1 pound bag and they are $2.59, this week they are half off and I had coupons for $1 off three bags. That made them a little less than $1 per bag. We also grabbed some more chicken while we were there.

We also made a stop at Winn Dixie the other day and went back today. The lettuce is bogo $2.99 this week and we found some coupons for 75 cents off each bag, making each bag only 75 cents. This chicken was also a good deal. It is bogo $3.75, these make great lunches.

Lastly, we made a stop at CVS this morning. I had an ECB that was about to expire and I couldn't really find anything I wanted until a deal was posted this morning. The finish gel pack dishwasher detergent is on sale for $3.50 for 20 packs. I had a $2 coupon that I used, so that was a great deal. It is pretty good deal without a coupon, so we went back and got another pack with a 50 cent coupon. The milk was $3.89 and got $1 ECB back. The candy was basically free, it was 75 cents and you get back a 75 cent ECB.