Returning Bad Food

I don't know what it was this week, but I had the curse of the bad food or something. On Sunday evening I stopped at the produce stand and picked up a watermelon. When I cut it open Monday it was rotten and moldy inside. Then on Wednesday morning I stopped at Starbucks and got a tea and scone for breakfast and my scone was moldy. Naturally I didn't discover this until I was several miles down the road and if I went back to return it I would be late to work.

Unfortunately I didn't have a receipt for either item. At this point a lot of people probably would have just thrown the moldy food away and been done with it. I figured it was worth trying to return them though. So hubby went back to the produce stand and they were good enough to give us a new watermelon. And Thursday morning I took the scone back to Starbucks. They gave me a choice of getting a new scone or my money back. I opted for my money back. I think it's going to be awhile before I get any of their baked goods again.

So my Frugal Friday tip is that even if you don't have a receipt, if they item you were sold isn't any good, you should at least try to return it. Most retailers will work with you if you have a legitimate problem and make a reasonable request. It won't work in every case, but what are you really out by trying?

For more Frugal Friday, head over to Life As Mom.

Grocery Spending

Last night I did a bad thing. I needed to stop and pick up some graham crackers so I went in to the grocery store without any coupons. My plan was just to get the graham crackers and get out. Well, I wound up spending $33.26. It's crazy how that happens. I know better and yet I still do things like this. Planning is everything when it comes to saving money on groceries.

Oh, and to top things off, one of the items I picked up was a bottle of Pom Pomegranate Blackberry Tea because I was thirsty. Well, apparently Pumpkin was thirsty too because she drank almost the whole bottle. She left me a very little bit. If I'd have known she was that thirsty I would have bought something in a larger bottle. The stuff is good, but she could at least leave a little more for the person who paid for it.

And yes, I realize that there is nothing frugal about buying single portion drinks while you are out, but believe me, it's better for everyone if my daughter and I don't get thirsty. Just ask my husband.

Eating From the Pantry Update

Last month I participated in an Eating From the Pantry Challenge and stated that I planned to continue that challenge into June. Since then I haven't been as good about posting updates. Here we are over half way through June and I haven't updated even once.

I have been doing great with staying out of the grocery stores. I have had so much going on that I haven't managed to track my exact spending. Since we stick with cash I know I stayed under budget so that is a good thing. This week I wound up spending $60 on dairy and produce. That's what happens when I don't even glance at a sale paper before going shopping. For some reason we don't get the grocery sale papers anymore and I just didn't have a chance to go online and check them.

Our freezer and pantry are starting to get a little room in them. Since we're hoping to move by the end of summer my goal is to have our pantry and freezer basically empty by then. As long as we have food in there I will keep going with my pantry meals. I have to say that I'm rather enjoying not running to the grocery store every week. I have been doing quick runs for dairy and produce, but they are nothing like a normal shopping trip. It has been very nice. Once we're in our new house I'm going to have to figure out a way to limit our grocery shopping to once or twice a month.

How has your grocery shopping been going? Do you shop every week or less often? I'm curious how other people do their regular grocery shopping.

Eating From The Pantry - Week 4 Update

It's hard to believe that we're almost at the end of May and that we've basically reached the end of the Eating From the Pantry Challenge. During the month of May my goal is to eat more from our pantry and cut my grocery and household spending to $160. At the end of week three I had already spent $230.95 which put me $70.95 over budget.

This week I didn't do as well as I had hoped I would. We wound up spending about $40 at Costco on milk and produce. Then we spent about $10 at the grocery store on soda for a cookout we went to. Sorry I don't have the exact figures, but I can't seem to find the receipts.

So my end result is that I went approximately $120.95 over budget for the month. I obviously didn't do as well as I had hoped to, but since I did spend about $39.05 less then my regular monthly budget I didn't completely fail. My pantry and freezer both still have a ton of food. Since we are selling our home and buying a new one, I really need to work on eating from our stockpile. This is mainly so that we don't have to move it all. Plus it will allow us to save up some money for those unexpected expenses that seem to crop up when you move. So my plan is for us to continue eating from our pantry and I'm going to cut our weekly food budget down to $20. I know that this is a tight budget, but I do feel that it is reasonable when you consider the amount of food in my house. I will continue to post updates on our grocery spending until we get our house sold. Once we're in a new house our challenge will be rebuilding our stockpile, but that is a worry for later. For now I'm going to concentrate on the task at hand - cutting our grocery spending to the bare bones.

Head over to Learning The Frugal Life to see how she is doing with the May Eating From the Pantry Challenge and to find links to the other participants in this challenge. Do you think you're up to the challenge of eating from your pantry this month? If so, join us.

Eating From the Pantry - Week 3 Update

Sorry this post is so late. I should have had it up on Friday. Well, we have now completed the third week of May's Eating From the Pantry Challenge. During the month of May my goal is to eat more from our pantry and cut my grocery and household spending to $160. At the end of week two I had already spent $229.83 which put me $69.83 over budget.

This week I was very good. We only stopped at the grocery store once and that was because we were out of bananas. Pumpkin needs her bananas so we had to go. At least we only got bananas and spent $1.12. Finally, a good week.

For week 4 I'm already over budget. I was bad and went to Costco again. Ugh! I need to stay out of that place until next month. Since we are now working on selling our home and buying a new one, I really need to work on eating from our stockpile. This is mainly so that we don't have to move it all. Plus it will allow us to save up some money for those unexpected expenses that seem to crop up when you move. It looks like it's going to be an interesting summer for us.

Head over to Learning The Frugal Life to see how she is doing with the May Eating From the Pantry Challenge and to find links to the other participants in this challenge. Do you think you're up to the challenge of eating from your pantry this month? If so, join us.

Eating From the Pantry - Week 2 Update

Well, we have now completed the second week of May's Eating From the Pantry Challenge. During the month of May my goal is to eat more from our pantry and cut my grocery and household spending to $160. At the end of week one I had already spent $72.46 and had $87.54 remaining.

This week I completely blew my budget. When I went to Costco I spent $157.37. That leaves me $69.83 over budget. Not good. And sadly, I know I can do better. There are two weeks left to this challenge and I need to stay out of the grocery store. I will pick up milk and produce if we need it but that is it. I must resist all sales! (Easier said then done)

On a more positive note, this week is the first week I can remember actually following my meal plan completely. So far we have eaten everything I planned and even had it on the night I planned. I was very tempted to just order a pizza yesterday because I really didn't feel like cooking, but I resisted and hubby even got home a little early and made dinner so it was almost ready when Pumpkin and I got home. He's such a good hubby! Tonight we're having dinner at my parent's house so I don't have to worry about cooking.

So, my goal for next week is going to be so stay out of the grocery store and to once again stick with my menu plan. If I can do this, we will be in good shape.

Head over to Learning The Frugal Life to see how she is doing with the May Eating From the Pantry Challenge and to find links to the other participants in this challenge. Do you think you're up to the challenge of eating from your pantry this month? If so, join us.

Eating From the Pantry - Week 1 Update

Well, we have now completed the first week of May's Eating From the Pantry Challenge. During the month of May my goal is to eat more from our pantry and cut my grocery and household spending to $160.

This week we really didn't do as well as I had hoped. We had a crazy week where we wound up eating out one night and getting some snacks out another night ($18.57) and we did do some grocery shopping ($30.87). Plus I picked up some diapers for Pumpkin ($23.02). Our total household spending this week was $72.46 which only leaves us with $87.54 for the rest of the month. I'm thinking we aren't going to make this. We're one week in and I've already spent almost half the budget. Ugh!

Tomorrow I will be going to Costco and I'm thinking that after that trip we will only venture to the store for milk, bread and produce. If I can stick with that we just might make it. Of course I'll also need to make sure that we don't exceed our 2 gallon of milk a week limit. Last night we spent $3.49 for a gallon of milk which I can get at Costco for approximately $2.29. It killed me, but we were completely out of milk.

I have to say that I am amazed at the price differences I am finding between Costco and the local grocery stores. I know that there are still some items that I could get cheaper by buying them at the grocery store when they're on sale and I have a coupon, but that got to be such a hassle. We no longer have the grocery ads delivered to our house so I have to check all the sales online. We have 6 different grocery stores within a 5 mile radius of our house. It takes way too much time to check all those ads online. Then factor in time to match up the sales to coupons and then finally deciding which store to hit. It just isn't worth it. So for the rest of May I'm going to try sticking with shopping at Costco, the produce stand and drug stores. We'll see how it goes.

Now I need to go work on my menu plan for the rest of the month. I need to figure out just what items we need before I hit Costco tomorrow.

Head over to Learning The Frugal Life to see how she is doing with the May Eating From the Pantry Challenge and to find links to the other participants in this challenge. Do you think you're up to the challenge of eating from your pantry this month? If so, join us.

Eat From the Pantry Challenge

Sara over at Learning The Frugal Life is having an Eat From the Pantry Challenge in May. My pantry is getting a little out of control so I've decided to join in the challenge. I tried to do this in April and it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. Although I will say that I did less grocery shopping in April. I'm trying to get to once a month shopping and I'm having some difficulties adjusting to that. At least I'm not hitting all the stores every weekend any more. That gets old after awhile. Besides, how much free shampoo does one family really need?

Ok, this is supposed to be about eating from my pantry. Since I have a VERY well stocked freezer and pantry it should not be that difficult to come up with good meals using our stash. My biggest challenge will be keeping out of the stores. I'm so afraid that I'll miss a deal. So my goal is to only do one run to Costco this month and one small grocery store run each week for milk, bread and produce. Our normal household budget would be $320 for May. That is for diapers, soap, food, cleaning supplies and so forth. For May I want to cut that down to $160. That's half our normal amount. I can do this.

During the month of May I will be posting weekly updates. I will try to do this every Friday, but it is possible that my posts may not get done until the weekend. It depends on just how busy I get. And yes, I realize that I have not posted my April monthly summary yet. I promise that I'm working on it and will try to have it up by Monday night.

If you'd like to join in the Eat From the Pantry Challenge, head over to Learning the Frugal Life and join in.

Weekend Shopping Summary

This weekend we had to hit the warehouse club to stock up on green beans for our dogs. Since we were there, we also stocked up on various items for us humans. We try to only hit the warehouse club once a month. It's just so much easier that way. As usual they had items there that were good deals and plenty of items that weren't. I did stock up on nuts for baking and got some more cheese from the deli. They are also the only ones that have the chicken sausage that my daughter loves. So of course we had to pick up some of that. It was a bit of an expensive trip, coming in at $130, but it is just once a month and I didn't have to go to the grocery store this week.

I've read posts at various blogs where they talk about doing a major grocery shopping trip once a month and then weekly they will just pick up things like milk and produce. In the past I've resisted this because I always felt like I would miss a good deal. Now I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't something to it.I'm very tempted to give it a try myself. If I see a deal that's that great I could always pick it up when I'm getting my small weekly items. I would love to be able to avoid trips to the store. The way I see, the fewer times I go to the store, the less money I spend.

I'm curious, how often do you grocery shop? Do you go once a month? Bi-weekly? Weekly? Several times a week? How well does your system work for you?

Grocery Shopping - Week of Febraury 28

This week I was able to hit the triple coupon weekend at Super Fresh and also take advantage of the $10 off of $50 Safeway coupon. It was a great weekend for grocery shopping for me. We are within our budget and I was able to score some great deals. Since I was off Friday I was able to plan out my shopping and hit several stores this week. I loved it. The only store that I'm listing the deals I got out for is Safeway. This is mainly because I don't want to bore you all with the details of all my shopping trips.

Without further ado, here are the details of my Saturday Safeway shopping trip:

• 2 liter Pepsi - $1.69 (was supposed to be Free with Safeway coupon)
• San Georgio Lasagna Noodles $1.99
• Raisin Bran $0.99 (forgot to use my $0.70 coupon)
• 2 Cascade Rinse - Free with Home Made Simple Coupons
• Lucerne Butter - $0.99 with Safeway coupon
• 2 Tai Pei Frozen Meals - $3.00 ($2.50 each less 2 $0.50 coupons, doubled)
• 2 Huggies Diapers $13.98 ($9.99 each less 2 $3.00 coupons)
• Suave Shampoo ($1.01) ($1.99 less free coupon they input as $3.00)
• 4 Smithfield Smoked Sausage $4.58 ($4.49 each, BOGO sale less 4 $0.55 coupons, doubled)
• Salad $1.98
• Less $10 on $50 coupon
• Less $8.00 in Ragu Catalinas

Total out of pocket was $11.61 which included $1.42 in tax. If I had noticed that they didn't scan my free Pepsi coupon and remembered to give them my Kellogg's coupon it would have only been $8.93. I will also get a $1.50 rebate for the Huggies from Caregivers Marketplace. I'm annoyed about the missing coupons, but I still didn't do bad, so I guess I should just let it go.

Grocery Shopping This Week

So far this weekend I've hit three grocery stores and we still need milk. I know, I know, I said I was only going to go to one store a week, but I couldn't resist the triple coupons at Super Fresh and the Weis was right around the corner, and well, you get the idea.

Friday night I decided to hit Super Fresh to take advantage of their triple coupons up to $0.99. (Note: this is only running through Monday) They were already sold out of most of the stuff I wanted, but here is what I did get:

• Red Seedless grapes $1.20 (on sale for $0.99/lb)
• 2 Packs Shady Brooks Farm Ground Turkey $6.00 (Sale 2 for $6)
• Friendship Cottage Cheese $2.00
• Friendship Sour Cream $2.00
• Del Monte No Salt Diced Tomatoes $1.39
• Simply Orange with Pineapple $3.00
• Total Before Coupons = $15.59

Coupons:

• Del Monte No Salt Tomatoes $1.39 ($0.55 tripled to item price)
• Friendship cottage cheese/sour cream $1.00 on 2
• Simply Orange $1.00

Total Spent at Super Fresh $12.20 - This was a little more then I wanted to spend, but I needed the sour cream. I was hoping to get the Daisy, but they were sold out of it. On the first day of their sale. Big surprise, that seems to be the norm around here. Put out a few of the free items and they're gone early the first day of the sale and too bad for everyone else. By the way, I got the last can of the Del Monte tomatoes. I could have gotten another one free if they would have had it.

I also stopped at Weis Friday night since it is literally right around the corner from Super Fresh. I wanted to get some of the Heluva Good cheese that was on sale 2 for $4 since I had coupons to match up with it. But again, they were sold out of the flavors I liked, I did manage to get two extra sharp, but I prefer the sharp or even jack.

Today, against my better judgement, I decided to stop at Safeway. My recent experiences there have left a lot to be desired, but I decided to go for it since they're doubling coupons up to $0.99. I will say that it went much better then my last few visits although I did still have to stop at Customer Service to get them to correct the price on an item. They always have something ring up a few dollars too high. Anyway, here is what I picked up at Safeway:

• Banana Nut Cheerios $3.49
• Ragu Spaghetti Sauce $8.91 ($0.99 * 9 jars)
• Mango Juice $1.59
• Muir Glen Stewed Tomatoes $4.98 ($2.49 * 2)
• Muir Glen Tomato Paste $3.10 ($1.55 * 2)
• Cottonelle Ultra 24 pack $15.99
• Cascade Crystal Clear Rinse $9.98 ($4.99 * 2)
• Jello Sugar Free Rice Pudding $3.50
• Horizon Single Serve Milk $3.58 ($1.79 *2)
• Windex Antibacterial $3.50
• Colgate Weekly Clean Toothpaste $2.49
• Red Delicious Apples $0.94 ($0.99/lb)
• Yellow Sweet Onions $1.35 ($1.00/lb)
• Bosc Pears $1.95 ($1.00/lb)
• Broccoli Crowns $1.47 ($0.99/lb)
• Fresh Express Salad $1.00
• Total Before Coupons $67.82

Coupons Used

• Banana Nut Cheerios $1.50 ($0.75 doubled)
• Ragu $3.00 ($1.00 on 3 * 3 coupons)
• Muir Glen $6.00 ($0.75 doubled * 4 coupons)
• Cottonelle $6.00 (catalina coupon)
• Cascade Rinse $9.98 (2 free coupons from Home Made Simple)
• Jello Sugar Free Rice Pudding $3.50 (free coupon from Kraft First Taste)
• Windex $1.10 ($0.55 doubled)
• Colgate Weekly Clean $3.99 (free coupon from Vocalpoint, the cashier keyed in the regular price instead of the sale price)
• Safeway $5.00 off $50.00 coupon from my Entertainment book

Total spent at Safeway $27.75 + tax. My coupons saved me over $40. Yeah! All in all I was happy with my trip to Safeway. I'm still not crazy about their customer service or policies, but I did well enough there this week that I would go there again if the deals were right.

This weekend I spent $47.29 on groceries which leaves me $32.71 in my weekly grocery budget. Since I still need milk and didn't get much meat that is pretty good.

Oh, and the picture is from Safeway today. They had samples of the Right Way pudding out and my daughter rather enjoyed the chocolate pudding. She and hubby naturally stopped to sample while I was shopping.

Edit: I just realized that I received three $2.00 catalinas for the Ragu I purchased at Safeway. That means that all my spaghetti sauce was FREE! I love it. Now I have to decide if I want to go back and get more since I do still have a couple coupons.

Frugal Friday - Grocery Shopping

I am one of those strange people who actually enjoys grocery shopping. I love planning out my shopping trip, checking the deals and pulling my coupons. It's a blast to see how little I can spend on the food we need and want. For me, it's all part of the grocery game.

For a quite a while I was running around to several of the grocery stores in my area every week picking up all the good deals at each store. That got to be a little too time consuming for me. So now, I check out the sale papers for all of my local grocery stores and decide who has the best deals that week. Then that is the one store I shop at. It's still possible I will hit another grocery store if I'm nearby and they have a really great deal on something we need, but it doesn't happen often. Right now this method is working very well for us.

Here are some tips I use to help limit my grocery spending. You can use these tips whether you shop at one grocery store or several of them. These tips work for me no matter which store I shop at.

• Plan your meals out before you go shopping. The meals should be based on what is on sale and what you already have on hand.
• Make a list and stick to it.
• Pull the coupons you know you will need before you go. This allows you to have the coupons you are most likely to use readily available so that you can make sure you are buying the correct item. I like to clip my coupons to my list.
• Take all your coupons with you to the store. Sometimes when you're at the store you will come across an unadvertised special of a product you use. If you also have a coupon, you can maximize your savings by combining the sale and coupon.
• Keep all the coupons you know you are using together in your cart. Once I check my coupon to make sure I have the correct item and put the item in my cart I then put the coupon in a "coupons being used pile." This saves you from having to pull your coupons right before you check out and possibly missing one.
• Check the meat and dairy sections for "manager specials." Most grocery stores mark down items that are close to their sell by date. If you find these items and they are something you will use or freeze before that date, buy it if the discount is a good one. I have seen items on manager special that I can still get cheaper at other stores, so watch the prices.
• Know the prices of items you buy regularly. This helps you know when to stock up on items you regularly use. I keep most of these prices in my head, but other people create price books. Use whichever method works for you. You do not need to track prices of every item you buy, just stick to those items that you buy and use frequently.
• Know your stores coupon and pricing policies. Know if your store doubles coupons, accepts Internet coupons, allows you to combine store and manufacturers coupons, and so on. Many stores have these policies posted. If they don't, stop at customer service and ask BEFORE you shop. Knowing the policies can help avoid problems when you're checking out. Also find out what your stores does if an item rings up at the wrong price. Some stores will give you one of the item free and some will just give you the item for the posted price.
• Keep an eye out for coupons around the store. You can find coupons in the blinkie machines and on tear pads around the stores. If these items are also on sale, you just may be able to get a good deal. Even if you aren't going to get the item today, you can grab a few of the coupon if it is for an item you use. If the coupon is a manufacturers coupon you can even use it at another store if they have the item for a better price.
• Get rain checks when sale items aren't in stock. Also find out what the store's rain check policy is. At some grocery stores the rain checks don't ever expire. At others you only have a few weeks to redeem them. If you aren't sure, ask when you're getting the rain check.
• Be friendly to the cashier. You can accomplish a lot more by being friendly if a problem comes up. Most cashiers are good people who want to do a good job, but if you make them mad, they will be much less likely to try and help you.

As you can see, there are lots of ways to cut your grocery bill. This list just covers some of the ways, you can probably come up with even more. Just keep your eyes open and watch for the deals. And the biggest tip I can give you for avoiding problems is to be aware of your store's policies and sticking to them.

If you have any of your own tips that you would like to share, feel free to post them in the comments section.

For more Frugal Friday tips, visit Biblical Womanhood.

Super Fresh Triple Coupons

Well, I have now made three trips to Super Fresh this week to take advantage of their triple coupons. They limit you to 3 of the same coupon when they triple to I had to make several trips to maximize my savings. I think I did pretty good on the deals there this week. I love it when they have triple coupons. Here are the details of my transactions:

Trip #1 on Friday:

• 2 Daisy Sour Cream (small) ($1.60)
  ($1.00 * 2 less 2 $0.60 coupons tripled)
• 1 Daisy Sour Cream (medium) FREE
  ($1.67 less $0.60 coupon tripled to value of item)
• 2 Stash Tea Bags $1.00
  (2 for $4.00 less 2 $0.50 coupons tripled)
• Hormel Pepperoni $1.85
  ($3.50 less $0.55 coupon tripled)
• 3 Wispride Cheese Spreads $3.12
  ($2.69 * 3 less 3 $0.55 coupons tripled)
• Beech-Nut Baby Juice ($0.10)
  ($1.19 less $0.75 coupon tripled to regular price of item)
• 3 Argo Corn Starch $0.45
  ($1.50 * 3 less 3 $0.45 coupons tripled)
• 3 Fiber One Pastries $1.47
  ($2.59 * 3 less 3 $0.70 coupons tripled)
• Total Out of Pocket $6.19
  Coupon Savings $26.51

Trip #2 on Saturday:

• 3 Daisy Sour Cream ($0.40)
  3 for $5.00 less $0.60 coupon tripled
• Gallon of Milk $3.99
• 5 Stove Top Stuffing $1.76
  ($0.75 * 5 less coupon buy 4 get 1 free, cashier input as $1.99)
• Reynold Baking Cups $.014
  ($0.89 less $0.25 coupon tripled)
• Stash Tea Bags $0.50
  ($2.00 less $0.50 coupon tripled)
• Hunger Donation $1.00
  (Hubby added this)
• Total Out of Pocket $7.02 (includes $0.03 tax)
  Coupon Savings: $9.64

Trip #3 on Wednesday:

• 2 Half Gallons of 8th Continent Soy Milk $3.00
  ($2.50 ea less 2 $1.00 coupons)
• Daisy Sour Cream ($0.13)
  ($1.67 less $0.60 coupon tripled)
• 3 Fiber One Pastries $1.47
  ($2.59 * 3 less 3 $0.70 coupons tripled)
• 3 Hormel Pepperoni $5.55
  ($3.50 * 3 less $0.55 coupon tripled)
• Total Out of Pocket $9.89
  Total Coupon Savings $15.05

Super Fresh Totals For the Week:

• Total Out of Pocket $23.10
• Total Coupon Savings $51.20
• Percentage Savings 69%

I think the savings from their triple coupons worked out very well for me. We have more then enough corn starch, pepperoni and sour cream to last us awhile. My fridge is even packed full. The picture above is what my fridge looked like before the last trip to Super Fresh. Crazy, isn't it?

I also took advantage of the triple coupons at Shoppers. They were only good last weekend so that deal is over now, but I expect they will be running it again. And when they do I just may have to visit them again. I really do love my coupons. Did you find any good deals on groceries this week?

It's Triple Coupon Week Apparently

It looks like it is triple coupon week since both Shoppers and Super Fresh are running triple coupon specials. Shoppers started theirs today and Super Fresh starts their tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to get some good stuff cheap with these promos.

First up: Shoppers

They triple coupons up to $0.50 and double coupons up to $1.00. This promo is running from Thursday November 20th through Sunday November 23rd.

They are also running a promo where you can instantly save $10.00 on either a fresh Shady Brooks Farm turkey or a frozen Butterball turkey when you buy $25.00 in participating Kraft products. Remember that the $25.00 is before coupons. Check your ad for more details. Participating products in my ad include:

• Stove Top Stuffing $1.67
• Kraft Salad Dressing $2.00
• Cool Whip $0.99
• Oscar Mayer Bacon $3.00
• Kraft Chunk Cheese $3.00
• Kraft Shredded cheese $2.50
• Philly Cream Cheese $1.25
• Nabisco Crackers $3.00
• Miracle Whip $3.00
• Maxwell House Coffee
• Planters Nuts
• Crystal Lite Beverages
• Kraft Dry Packaged Desserts

Super Fresh is running triple coupons up to $0.99 from Friday November 21st through Thursday, November 27th. Keep in mind that my Super Fresh only allows you to triple 3 of the same coupon. So if you want more then 3 of the item you will have to make multiple trips.

I plan to hit Super Fresh tomorrow morning and possibly Shoppers. I will post this weekend letting you know what I was able to get super cheap or even free.

Frugal Holiday Baking

I love to bake for the holidays and often give homemade goodies as gifts. When I was in college I made tons of different cookies throughout the month of December and gave tins of them away. Every year I looked forward to December and baking new unique cookies. I no longer have that much time to bake so I just make a few "classics". It's still fun and keeps me from completely stressing out during the holidays.

Anyway, if you plan to do any baking this holiday season, now is the time to stock up on your supplies. There are all kinds of sales on flour, sugar, baking chips, butter, cornstarch, spices, cream cheese and so forth. By combining the sales now with coupons you can save a significant amount of money on your holiday baking.

Safeway This Week

Safeway has some decent deals this week so I stopped in this weekend and picked up a few things. Here's what I got:

• 3 Pepsi 2 liters $2.07 (with Super Coupon)
• 2 Pepsi 20 oz $2.98
• 3 Pop Tarts $3.00 (with Super Coupon)
• 3 Progresso Soups $2.97
• 4 Nabisco Crackers $7.52 (weekend special)
• Coke Fridge Pack $3.50
• 3 Birthday Cards $2.97
• 2 Oscar Meyer Bacon $6.00
• Spiral Sliced Ham $16.68
• Bananas $1.15 (not on sale, but hubby wanted them)
• Fleishmann's Yeast $4.50
• Total Before Coupons $53.34

Coupons Used:

• Buy 3 Cards, Get Coke ($4.39) cashier input regular price instead of the sale price
• Pepsi BOGO lid ($1.49)
• Pop Tarts ($1.00) on 2
• Nabisco Crackers ($2.00) 2 * $1 on 2 coupons
• Yeast ($2.75) 3 * $0.45 coupon, doubled
• Progresso ($1.10)
• Progresso ($1.00) $0.50 on 2, doubled
• Total Coupons ($13.73)

Total Out of Pocket $40.10 (includes $0.48 tax)
Earned $1.50 off next purchase for purchasing the yeast (3 * $0.50)
Also earned another $0.10/gallon off gas purchase. Now if I could just get their stupid gas pumps to accept my card.

I would have liked to get some more Progresso soupo, but when I was there they only had 3 flavors left and I didn't like 2 of them. The service at the Safeway I stopped at also leaves a lot to be desired. I really need to try to get to the other Safeway instead or just not go. Yes, the service was that bad. It wasn't our first bad experience at that Safeway either.

Cheap Cream Cheese

For those of you that have a Weis Markets near you, there is cheap cream cheese to be had there this week. They have the Philadelphia Cream Cheese bricks on sale for $1.25 and there was a coupon for $1.00 off 3 in the paper a week or two ago. They are also running a catalina deal on the Philly Cream Cheese bricks. You get a coupon for $$ off your next order depending on how many you buy.

• Buy 5 get $2.00 off your next order
• Buy 6 get $3.00 off your next order
• Buy 7 or more get $4.00 off your next order.

When I ran various scenarios, the best that I came up with was buying 7 @ $1.25 for $8.75, use 2 $1.oo off coupons making your out of pocket $6.75. You'll get a coupon for $4.00 off your next order. So the net cost of each block of cream cheese is $0.39.

I did this deal yesterday and the cream cheese I got was dated for February. That makes this a great deal for those of you who will be using cream cheese during the holidays. Think cheesecake and all the other baking you can do with it.

This deal is only good through Wednesday, November 19th and is limit one per transaction.

Enough Cereal?

For some reason, my husband thinks that we have enough cereal. The bad part is that this isn't even my whole stash of cereal. I have about 5 more boxes on another shelf and 3 open boxes in the kitchen. Thanks to the great Kellogg's coupons and the deals at Target, Weis and Safeway, I've been able to stock up. I don't think we'll be needing any more cereal for awhile. But if you hear of any good deals on milk, let me know. Something tells me we will be going through some milk.

What's really bad is that I really want to go back to Target to take advantage of their buy 5 boxes of Kellogg's get a $5 gift card offer again. I have 5 more $1.00 Kellogg's coupons and it is so hard to resist using them. I mean, come on, cereal lasts for a year or so as long as you don't open it. And I'll get 10 points in my My Points account for each coupon I redeem. So don't be too surprised if you see me at Target soon.

Have you taken advantage of any good sale and coupon combinations to build up your stockpile recently?

Super Fresh November 5th

Yesterday I posted about triple coupons at Super Fresh going on right now. Well, tonight I took a stack of coupons up there and decided to see what I could get. Here is what I wound up with:

• 2 Pkgs Kraft Singles $7.00
• 3 Beech Nut Juices $3.87
• 2 Betty Crocker Whipped Frosting $3.00
• Trident $1.29
• 2 Gerber Graduates Pasta Pickups $2.38
• 2 Gerber Graduates Entrees $3.98
• Curves Granola Bars $3.39

Total Before Coupons $24.91

Coupons:

• Kraft Singles ($2.25) tripled $0.75 on 2
• Beech Nut Juices ($3.87) tripled $0.75 (I had 3 of these)
• Betty Crocker Frosting ($3.00) tripled $0.50 (I had 2 of these)
• Trident ($1.29) tripled $0.55
• Gerber Pasta Pickups ($2.25) tripled $0.75 on 2
• Gerber Entrees ($2.25) tripled $0.75 on 2
• Curves Granola Bars ($2.25) tripled $0.75

Total Coupons $17.16

Total Out of Pocket $7.79 (includes $0.04 tax)

I don't think I did too bad on this considering I only spent about 10 minutes pulling coupons and 20 minutes running through the store. I didn't even take my coupon box with me because I was making this a quick trip.

Super Fresh Triple Coupons

Tonight I had to run out to the grocery store to pick up some snacks for my daughter to take to daycare with her tomorrow. She has been eating like crazy for the last two days and she ate all the snacks I had on hand. There are three different grocery stores very close to my house so I debated on which one to stop at. I wound up selecting Super Fresh since their lot is the easiest to get on and off of.

When I ran in I was happy to see that the Gerber snacks were on sale. I had some coupons that Gerber just sent me so I selected two snacks for her and headed to the register. I was expecting my total to be about $3.50 so I was suprised when the cashier said my total was $2.81. When I got home and checked myreceipt I saw that they tripled my $0.75 coupon. This was a suprise. Since we no longer get the grocery ads delivered to our house I find it hard to keep up with all the different grocery stores in the area. Now that I know they are running triple coupons up to $0.99 this week I will have to make a return trip.

There are usually at least a few items you can get free or very cheap when they run their triple coupon specials. So if you have a Super Fresh near you, it's definitely worth checking them out. Triple coupons run through Thursday at my Super Fresh.