Grocery Savings - Week One

I don't know if I'll post about all my savings adventures but since this was my first time in years really trying to use coupons I thought it would be fun to share.

First I started out by printing coupons directly from Coupons.com and Mommy Gets Paid (there's a little overlap but I did find some different ones on MGP). It took less than 5 minutes to find the coupons and get them printed out. I really like that Coupons.com lets you print all the coupons on one page instead of one per page.

Then I started my grocery list and identified which items I had coupons for. I printed out some coupons that I knew I wasn't going to use on Sunday but will use them later. I don't know how often the coupon offerings change so I wanted to have them just in case. They don't expire until June.

On Sunday morning after agility training with Trooper I stopped at the corner store and bought a paper. I don't read the paper and think it's pretty much a rag but Sunday coupons are worth $1.50. Again I didn't find a ton that I would use for this trip but will use later.

And then I was off! I left around 1 p.m. and was home around 3 p.m. That's pretty much the same length it normally takes me to get our groceries. Plus I went to two stores.

At Top Foods their receipt tells me exactly how much I saved with coupons as well as the On Sale items. I saved a total of $24.88 with coupons and sales. The best deal was the Darigold butter. It is normally$3.99 and was on sale for 2/$5 and I had a coupon for 2/$4. I bought two even though we don't need them right now. They are in the freezer. :)

Tomatoes were on sale - regularly $2.99 a pound - for $1 a pound! I don't even eat tomatoes but hubby likes them.

Even organic milk was on sale...though some of you will cringe at the price. Ready? :) I normally get one full gallon but the half gallons were on sale for $2.99 each. I know. It's expensive but organic milk is something that I pretty much insist on nowadays. It's regularly $3.49 each half gallon.

Hubby's cereal was hugely on sale. It's normally more than $5 per box (Kashi Strawberry Fields) but Top had it on sale for 2/$7. That's a $3 savings for two right there. And I bought two because he goes through it fast.

One thing that for some reason totally slipped my mind is that I do NOT have to buy premade juice. Duh! Of course I did this time but next time I'm going to get the frozen and make it myself. As Tonni points out it will save me over $1,000 a year!!! Holy Crap!

Next I ran to Fred Meyer because I had several really great coupons - $3 off a meat department purchase and $3 off a seafood purchase. I got a pound of Roast Beef for $2!!!!!! It was normally $7.99, on sale for $5.99 and then my coupon. We're having yummy French Dip Sandwiches this week (on whole wheat buns - never seen those before and I got the last bag).

I also got some fresh cod for about the same price - actually only $1.81 for a whole pound. It's in the freezer now and we'll have it this week or next.

One of my coupons was for $1 off three C&W frozen vegetables. They were not on sale at Top Foods but Fred Meyer had them 2/$4, regularly $2.59 each. So that's 3 for $5.

And since hubby was having his endoscopy thing today I got him a piece of cake - for FREE - with another coupon.

So at Fred Meyer I saved over $13 for a grand total of $38 savings on our groceries.

I'm so proud of myself. It really didn't take any extra time - maybe 15 total to really sit down and think about what we needed plus printing and cutting the coupons.

What's your favorite savings deal? And it can't be 30% off from your favorite jeweler. *giggle* =)