Frozen Food Fun at Publix

So I've decided that I don't really care for Walgreens and their Register Rewards program. I have gotten a couple of good deals, but their RR expire about 2 weeks from when you get them, as opposed to CVS' Extra Care Bucks, which you can use for up to a month most of the time. This gives you more time to shop sales and wait for a good deal to come along. All that to say that I had a $4.50RR that was expiring today. We each got an ice cream and some gum, paid about $2 out of pocket for this. We also took a short trip to the Kroger where they are having a mega sale, but obviously the appeal of buying free things has been lost on me. When I couldn't find the things I wanted for the mega sale I left my 4 things of free toothpaste there rather than wait in line to check out. I have become a lazy couponer:(

No couponing trip would be complete without a stop at the Publix, where frozen food was on our list! French fries are b2g1 free right now and I had a $1.50/3 coupon, making them about $1.67 each, which is a great price. I have not tried the tai pei frozen food yet, but they were also b2g1 free and I had $1/1 coupons, making them 86 cents each. The toaster studel is for husband, it was bogo and I had coupons they were about a dollar each. We also bought some of these egg scramble things. It looks like frozen scrambled eggs, potatoes, peppers, and cheese sauce. I'm pretty wary of scrambled egss, but they were bogo and I had good coupons. They were 44 cents each, so I will try it for that price. The pam was $1.50 and the taco bell kits were bogo. The chicken is leg quarters and they are 99 cents/lb this week. Total for this was a little less than $30. 

I Love Sunday Shopping

We started the morning at the drugstores. I normally do not shop at Walgreens, but I had a Register Reward from last week's toliet paper purchase and a really good coupon to make this razor free. The candy is for husband, I let him pick out a filler item (you need as many items as you have coupons and unlike CVS they count their Register Reward as a manufacturer's coupon) and of course he had to pick out expensive candy, whatever. Then we went to CVS. They had the almay products for $5.99 with $4 ECB. I had a $1 coupon, which makes it only 99 cents. I planned to get some mascara, and when I got there they had this bonus pack that included eyeshadow, for the same price. I used a $5 ECB to pay, got a $4 ECB back and paid 54 cents out of pocket. CVS is awesome.

We also hit Winn Dixie today. Not one of our usual stops, but these little roasts were bogo and I had $1 off of each coupons. That made them about $2.50 each. This expensive shampoo is actually for my mom. They put out bogo coupons the other week that are going to expire before the next time I go home. They were on sale for $3.49 and the cashier actually put down the full price $4.49, which made them an even better deal!

Of course there had to be a trip to the Publix because it is the best store ever. Great deals, friendly people, and samples of sirloin steak, what more could you want from a grocery store? Now, as I have said before, I do not have a dog, but my mommy has several, so I bought her some dog food. These are 4 pound bags and they were bogo $4.99, which made the $2.50 each and I had $1.50 off coupons. I would say $1 for 4 lbs is pretty good. Our jambalaya was on sale and with coupons we got those for 50 cents each. The pillsbury stuff was good deal. This is the pizza crust and a french loaf. They are normally pretty expensive. They were on sale this week for $2 each and I used a $1/2 store coupon and a 50 cents/2 coupon that doubled, making them $1 each. That yogurt I got for free. Then there was the impulse buy of this roast. It is some kind of pork roast, it looked yummy and it was only $1.99lb, and a little over $6 for the whole thing. We decided to give it a try.

Wanchai Ferry=Amazing!

So earlier this week we went to Publix and got some Wanchai Ferry meals. We hadn't tried them before, but last night we needed something for dinner and gave this a try. They were so good, like way, way better than I thought they would be. We went back and got some more- only $2.75 each! I also had some good coupons for the shampoo that made them about 60 cents each. The frozen veggies (risotto actually) was only 30 cents. We also got some light bulbs that were bogo, which was great because our 3 way light bulb in the living room just blew out yesterday (there were sparks, it was pretty epic). A little less than $20 for this, not bad considering this will make 4 dinners:)
Today we also made a stop at the Kroger and got all of this stuff for only $11! The newspaper had coupons for free Dr. Pepper 10, so both of those were free (actually they paid us like 34 cents for each bottle because the cashier rang us up weird). The mashed potatoes were also free because of a coupon that printed last time we were at Kroger. The schick razors were almost free. They were on sale bogo this week and I had an awesome $6/2 coupon, so it was 23 cents for both. Rice was also pretty much free and the buns were like 60 cents each.

I sent husband to Walgreens yesterday to get this toilet paper deal. It is a 12 count and they are $5 each, I had $1 off store coupons and 75 cent off manufacturer coupons, so it was about $6 for both plus I got back a $3 Register Reward (what they call the money back coupons at Walgreens). Husband also got some free gum!

Who Loves Publix? Me!

I have this thing for marine life, so when I walked in and saw this octopus themed reusable shopping bag I had to have it, big plus it was only $1! This week at Publix they have some great deals. Pasta is bogo $1.50 and of course I had some coupons! Last week I found a blinkie (a coupon dispenser near the product, usually it blinks) for $1/2 and I grabbed some since I knew sooner or later it would go bogo. I was completely shocked to see that they still had the blinkie there this week, thus my 24 boxes of pasta. With my coupon it made each box 25 cents! The macaroni grill and wanchai ferry are also bogo $8.49. I had $1.50 off wanchai ferry and $1 off macaroni grill, plus Winn Dixie put out a store coupon for $2/2 macaroni grill and my Publix accepts as a competitor, so that made them $2.25 (macaroni grill) - $2.75 (wanchai). Cough drops were 25 cents each after bogo and $1/2 coupon. My butter was a good deal too. I usually try to just buy a bunch of the small containers when they go bogo, but this big container was on sale for $3, and then there was a $1 Publix coupon and I had a 40 cent coupon that doubled, making it $1.20, so not too bad.

CVS Success

Great trip to CVS today! Starbucks frappuccino was on sale for $5, buy $15 worth of pepsi products (this counts) and get $5 ECBs. I had 3 $1/1 coupons, which made each pack about $2.33 after ECB. They also had cover girl make up on sale buy one get one 50% off, plus there was an $8/2 coupon in the paper this morning, making it about $5 for both of these powders. I also had some great coupons and ECBs to use. CVS put out a $4/$20 coupon, I had a $2 ECB that I got online for pledging not to throw away ECBs (CVS is doing a campaign for this right now), the coupon machine printed out a $1 ECB for me, and I had close to $10 ECBs, so we paid $2.06 out of pocket for this and walked out of the store with $5 ECB in hand. If you haven't tried CVS yet, you really should. It is a little more complicated than just regular couponing, takes some extra strategizing and some quick thinking sometimes, but it is totally worth it. According to my receipt today I have saved over $400 this year at CVS and I doubt I have spent even a quarter of that out of pocket so far.

Do You Like Mashed Potatoes?

If so hurry up and get over to Publix! Bob Evans mashed potatoes, ever heard of them? They are amazing, I am really picky about mashed potatoes and I promise these taste exactly like homemade. You can find them in the refrigerated section. Right now they are $3 each at Publix. But, when you sign up for their email you can get a "buy one get one free" coupon, you can still use one other coupon and right now they have a $1 off coupon available now. So that means you can get each container for only $1 right now, which is a great price. They are refrigerated products, so they expire in about a month from when you buy, but they also freeze very well as long as you reheat on the stove.

Ok, enough about mashed potatoes! This trip was about $20, making everything a little less than $1 each. I had a raincheck on those bugles, they were about 30 to 80 cents depending on the coupon I used. They are a pretty big bag, so good deal. Taco dinner kits are always a great deal at Publix! Right now they are bogo $3.19, making them $1.60 each. Old El Paso put out some great printable coupons last week for 50 cents off, which doubles to $1, making each kit 60 cents, talk about cheap dinner! More in the mood for cheap breakfast? Aunt Jemima frozen breakfast items are bogo right now, which made them $1.35 a box. I had a $1 off coupon which made the box 35 cents, so that box will make 3 breakfasts, I think 12 cents per breakfast is pretty great! I also got some more of the toaster strudel for husband while they are still on sale for about $1.40 a box. Finally, the pie is on sale at 50% off this week, which made the pie $1.80 and then I had a $1 off coupon. It was a pretty great day at the Publix (even though I did have 3 separate people who got in line behind me leave for another line because it took my cashier a little while to ring them all up, I'm used to it now!).

Most Recent Deals

In case you haven't noticed I have been away for a while. Husband and I ventured out of town for a week in the middle of September and I have been playing catch up since we got back. There haven't been an awful lot of amazing deals lately, but it has been ok. Here are some of my latest bargains.

Let's start with these, they were a great deal! They are a new product called Velveeta Cheesy Skillets. When they first introduced them there were $1/1 coupons in the paper for them. Winn Dixie, which I very rarely shop at because I find them too expensive, had them on sale bogo for around $3, which basically made these about 50 cents each after coupons. We were also able to get some at Walmart for about 70 cents each. It is a whole meal minus the meat (chicken or beef). I'm not sure what better price you could ask for to make dinner. So far we have tried the broccoli chicken flavor and it was good. Using it, plus some $1/lb Earthfare chicken we made dinner for 2 for under $2, that is excellent!

We made a quick stop at Publix before we left to go home. There were manufacturer's and Publix coupons for the TGI Fridays thing and it was basically just about free. However, when I ate it for lunch yesterday I wasn't totally thrilled. It is supposed to be a cheesy chicken with potato, broccoli and red pepper. While it was easy to make and pretty good, probably half the pack was cheese. Obviously from some of the groceries I buy I'm not the most healthy eater, but there were seriously 3 pieces of broccoli in the bag (really, I counted them!). I don't think I will be getting that again. The homestyle mac and taco kits were bogo. I had coupons for the taco kits that made them less than $1, another super cheap easy dinner option. The trash bags weren't super cheap, but they were on sale and we had a coupon. They are the febreeze kind and they actually do smell pretty good.

This was CVS the day that we left to go out of town. I always have problems with calculating my CVS deals and deciding if they were a good bargain. I think this was pretty good. I used a $10 ECB on this, got $12 in ECB back and spent about $11. One thing you have to be careful of at CVS is the limits on the ECBs, I forgot that lesson and wound up over spending a little. The soft soap body wash was about $3 and you got $2 ECB, I had a 75 cent coupon, making it about 25 cents. However, I forgot that the deal was limit 1 ECB, and wound up paying over $2 for a body wash, which is ridiculous because I have a ton of them. I went back and returned it today. Probably the best deal we got was that pack of newton thins, which husband really likes. The awesome CVS coupon machine (make sure you scan your card every time you go and you scan it until it tells you that you have no coupons left!) printed out a coupon for a free pack. We thought it would be small, but when we checked the coupon size it was for this full sized product, awesome! The dawn dish soap was about 25 cents each and there was a deal for buy so much in lysol products and get $10 ECB back, I can't remember how much I had to buy, but I had great coupons that made it almost free.

When we got back home we made a stop at Publix. There were manufacturer and Publix coupons for the toaster strudel, and it made each box about 50 cents. That sale is still going on, so I plan to go back and get some more for husband. The eggs were $1 and the yogurt was 75 cents. The rest of the stuff was an ok price. That large yellow thing there- that is a spaghetti squash. I had heard that you cook it, scrape out the insides and it is like spaghetti, but squash. Sounded great, well not so much. It certainly looked like spaghetti, but that was about where the similarity ended. Oh well, at least we tried.

We also stopped by the Kroger mega sale that was going on for the last 2 weeks. The easy mac/velveeta was 50 cents, the red peppers were $1 each. We have been buying our peppers when they are cheap, chopping them up and freezing them, which has been working well. They had the Carolina Pride products on sale bogo, $4 for the sausage, and I had a 50 cent coupon that doubled, so $1 for sausage. We used the grilling beans to make a side dish where we mixed it with rice and cheese, and baked. It actually turned out well. We went back to Kroger Friday and grabbed a few more mega items, including bags of steam fresh veggies for 49 cents each.

Finally, here are today's deals from CVS. Schick put out some really high value coupons this week, including one for $5 off Schick Quatro razors. They are on sale this week for $8.99 and you got $4ECB, making it free. The thermacare wrap was $3.79 and then you got $3.79ECB, so again free. I had a $10 ECB I wanted to use and I wanted to get the excedrin that was advertised (8 count for 99cents, get 99cents back), but they didn't have any, actually the store employees said they had never seen an 8 count before. Apparently the employees are a little coupon shy, this other lady I was talking to was also looking for the excedrin and asked the guy at the counter and he was like all panicked, like "I've never seen that before, I don't know anything about it". Ok dude, it was just a question! So, I needed something else to make my $10. They had milk for $3.89 with $1 ECB, which is cheaper than the regular store this week. I paid $3 cash for this and got back $4 ECB, $3.79 ECB, and $1 ECB, not bad. On a funny note, this old guy who was checking us out told us that he was really happy his replacement had gotten there so he could leave because he has a customer with "the coupon binder from hades", where she has all of the store policies printed out ("I don't know what website she got that from", uh duh, your store website where they list all of the coupon policies) and that she buys several Sunday papers and prints coupons online. Um, hi guy, did you notice I came and asked you about the stuff that was on sale this week, used a printable coupon, paid in ECBs and then got a whole bunch of ECBs back? What do you think I am?