Deals This Week (or the lack there-of)

Well, I just checked the Jewel ad and the Kroger ad that both start tomorrow and I did not see anything worth driving there for -- in either store. Sure they both have a few decent deals, but unless a scenario arises that I don't forsee I will not be doing any grocery shopping this coming week.

The IGA has a few sales this week that aren't too bad:
IGA cream of soups are 2/$1. That is a really good price for cream of soups (better than Dollar General even) -- I got mine last week at Kroger & Walgreens for free or 0.30 so didn't buy any at IGA.
They also have a 3-day pumpkin sale this weekend. I am a sucker for pumpkin donuts, but won't promise it's a great deal (they're good though) :)

Also, I believe there is a shortage on pumpkins again this year which would make it worth while to hunt down a field pumpkin or two, cook & puree them yourself to make sure you have enough pumpkin to get through the holiday baking! Just a thought . . . . .

FINALLY some formula samples!

After a long, LONG time there are finally some formula samples available.

GO HERE and you can sign up for three formula samples by Parents Choice (walmart brand) of formula.

And get a free sample of Earth's Best Organic formula when you "like" them on Facebook HERE

Well, that's all i see for now. I am going to go eat some apple crisp w/ice cream now! :0) I love fall.

$1.50/3 Campbells Coupon

There are a few spots that have Campbells q's right now -- good ones too!

GO HERE for a selection of $1.50 off 3 cans (varieties different on each coupon)
OR HERE for a slightly different selection of $1.50/3 q's (these include cr of mush etc)

Then you can go to Kroger or Walgreen's for FREE or almost free (0.29/can) cans of Campbell's soups.

While you're at the first link, also print the q for $1 off any can of Camp. Select soup. It is on sale at Kroger this week for $1.25 making it only a quarter. (hit your browser back button 3 times to print it twice)
Kroger has their cream of soups for $1, so if you load e-coupons on shortcuts.com and cellfire.com (more $1.50/3) AND use the printed coupon, you will get them completely free.
Or head over to Walgreens where they have an in-ad coupon @ 0.79 each, minus the coupon = 0.29 per can. Soups tend to be the cheapest in November, but with a sale this good I am going to stock up and buy mine now. The coupons I printed expire 11/09 so I don't want to risk wasting them if another sale doesn't pop up before then.

Sorry this post isn't very organized, but I'm getting ready to head out shopping myself so am posting the coupons while i find them. and i know i haven't written anything the past couple weeks, but again i only post when i find deals worth buying. so no posts from me means i am not doing any shopping myself (or only the milk, bread, eggs type stuff that probably isn't on sale anyway).

$0.50 Green Giant coupon

There is a new coupon available for $0.50 off ANY one Green GIant veggie. This could easily make for free veggies if used at Kroger or Meijer (stores that double) or at least cheap ones at other stores.

The boxed versions often sell for $1 on sale. I will keep my eyes open to see what we can get with this.

GO HERE to print your coupon (scroll to the bottom of the page and check the right corner). Coupons for vegetables are among my favorites!! I love getting healthy stuff with my coupons :0)

Tips for Buying Produce

I meant to write this post earlier in the summer, but just never got around to it. I have a few suggestions/guidelines for buying produce:

1. I almost never pay more than 0.99/lb for any produce (except blueberries!)


2. When I do buy my blueberries I buy in major bulk from a provider so they are a little less (and fresher) than ones you would buy at a store.


3. For apples, pears and other produce that can be grown locally, ask around to see who doesn't use all of the "fruit" from their own tree -- you will be amazed at how willing people are to share their extra bounty. For example, Nathan & I love to press our own cider each fall, but we do not own even one apple tree (something I hope to change). But for now we decided to see what we could acquire from other people's extras. One year Nathan called an orchard and asked to pick up their drops - they said yes, so he did. They apples weren't the greatest (quite bruised), but it was a place to start. So then he took a drive around Secor spotting some nice-looking apple trees, went up to the door and asked the owners about their apples. 3 trees were owned by an older couple who use all of one tree themselves for canning & sauce, but usually had the other 2 trees go to waste. They said they didn't like having all the apples fall to the ground making a job for them to pick up so they were very happy to let us pick them. We provide them with some of the cider we press as a "thank-you" and have developed a nice relationship with them now. Same goes with a local pear tree. Nathan spotted it during harvest, waited until one day someone was outside the house so he stopped and asked. They said they never-ever picked them & we could take what we wanted. They might say "no" and that's fine!! but you don't know until you ask - and often you will find them very willing to share. Nathan also has an uncle with a small apple orchard who has been amazingly gracious letting us pick apples for sauce-making (takes a nicer apple than cider does). So I have never had to buy apples for sauce either.


4. Take advantage of the season!! Each season has its own produce so obviously those items will be cheaper at that time of year. Strawberries in the spring, blueberries in mid-summer, grapes usually in summer (varies), pears in late summer, apples throughout the summer & fall, melon in summer & fall, citrus in the winter.

I try to keep all of those things in mind when shopping for produce. I do occasionally spend more than $1 per pound at the store, but not very often. My kids love clementines, but they are always cheapest in November-December so that's when we get them. For a special treat in the summer I might buy a 3-lb bag for $5, but not on a regular basis. Why would I spend $5 for clementines when I have 2 fridge drawers full of FREE sugar pears and 2 bushels of FREE apples in the garage that they can eat to their little hearts content?? Variety eventually comes, it just has to wait its turn when you're on a tight budget.

IGA 09/12-18

As usual, not many great prices at IGA this week, but there are a couple worth mentioning:
pork chops $1.39/lb
Azteca tortilla shells 2/$3 (not a great price, but beats driving 20 miles to save 0.20 - & i need some tortilla shells!)
Brooks chili beans - 0.99 (you can get chili beans cheaper than this, but not this brand)
IGA canned fruit - 0.99

now this is kind of an odd thing for me to put on here, but Friskies Party Mix (cat food) is on sale 4/$5 and there is a $1/1 coupon HERE making these only 0.25.

Then there is a 3-day sale from thursday (16th) to saturday (18th):
milk @ $2 is a great price
Purex - $1.99 (there was a Q in the newspaper recently too -- sorry I can't remember which week)
P.F. Ice Cream 1/2 gal - $1.99 (use 0.50 Q from tearpad in the store)
iceburg lettuce 0.88/head
Westpac vegetables - 0.69 (14-16 ozs) - my STOCK-UP price is usually 0.50 for 16 ounces, but this is so close I will buy some in case they don't hit 0.50 this year - especially peas, mixed veggies & a few others I don't grow in my garden.

The other items are either a bit pricey for a "3-day sale" or are items I do not buy at grocery stores.

we got a couple bushels of apples today and are getting a couple more tomorrow so I might not post much next week -- i think i'll be up to my eyeballs in apples/sauce/cider !! not a bad place to be though :0)

Jewel 09/09 - 09/15

Most of the Kraft freebies are over, but Jewel still has some pretty good deals this week.
3-day sale thurs, fri & sat

• 1.88 veg. oil (remember, anything less than $2 is a good price here)
• 1.88 sugar (i prefer $1-$1.25, but I bought some since I'm about to make applesauce and the other stores are more right now).

Regular rest of the week sale:

• 2.66 milk

now i saved the best for last -- I love scenarios like this one where you can stack deals & coupons

Green Giant boxed veggies are on sale 4/$5 - but if you buy 10 you get $5 off your order automatically - and there is also a CAT on these for $3 when you buy 8. Then use a few coupons and suddenly you pay $0.27 each! A VERY good price for these veggies. I bought 10 today and wished I had more coupons (though it is still a good deal w/o them - 0.45 each).

For the coupons, redplum.com and coupons.com have 0.60/3 so you can use 3 of them.

There are other sales and deals at Jewel this week too, but these are the items I thought stood out and are what I bought. Also, since I have mentioned bread recently -- their bread is 0.99 (standard price) but is a good quality unlike IGAs bread. So I bought two loaves of wheat bread too.

Free Cool Whip @ Jewel too

I forgot to post this with the other Jewel freebies, but you can get 5 (or more!) containers of Kraft Cool Whip for free at Jewel right now with NO COUPONS NEEDED.

Cool Whip is on sale for 5/$5. It is also a Kraft CAT participant, so when you buy 5 you get the $5 CAT - making them free.

Just make sure you buy 5 at a time, do NOT buy it in the same transaction as the cheese or the hot dogs (they all produce the same Kraft CAT) and send me any recipes you have that involve cool whip :0) Actually, you can combine them -- just make sure the total is 5 items -- not five of each.

I splurged and bought some oreos so I can make Emily Sauder's yummy oreo ice cream dessert w/the Cool Whip and I will also make Jamie Dill's lemon-blueberry tapioca jello. I must be hungry -- is it supper time yet??

My Jewel Trip (labor day)

I didn't think the free cheese was enough to warrant a trip to Bloomington, but then over the weekend I heard I could get free hot dots too so we packed up the kids & went to Jewel yesterday to see what we could get.

Nathan took the kids to Abbie's apartment then a park so I could go alone. Here is what I got:
This took 9 separate transactions (i know, it's a lot -- but w/o the kids & a great cashier it really went pretty fast).

1. 5 pks of 8 oz Kraft cheese $2/4 - used one $5/5 coupon. PAID $5.10 and got a $5 CAT back.
2. 5 pks of cheese - $5/5 Q - gave $5 CAT from #1. PAID $0.10 OOP and got a new $5 CAT
3. 5 pks Oscar Mayer hot dogs - used five $1/1 Qs - gave $5 CAT from #2. PAID $0.10 OOP & got a new $5 CAT
4. 5 pks of cheese - $5/5 Q - gave $5 CAT from #3 - PAID $0.10 & got new $5 CAT.
5. 5 pks OM hot dogs - five $1 Q's - gave $5 CAT from #4 - PAID $0.10 & got new $5 CAT
6. 5 pks cheese - $5/5 Q - $5 CAT from #5 - PAID 0.10 and got new $5 CAT.
7. 5 hot dogs - same as the others.
8. 2 shredded cheese & 3 Kraft singles (2/$5) - gave $5 CAT from #7 - PAID 1.62 OOP and got a new #5 CAT.
9. bought milk, bananas, bread, smoked sausages & sour cream. Stuff we needed. Gave last $5 CAT - PAID $3.24 OOP and was DONE.

TOTAL OOP for the trip was $9.04 and I got 25 8-oz pks of Kraft cheese, 15 pks of O.M. hot dogs, and the other groceries.

Now there were 2 times during this "check-out" that someone came up behind me so I let them go through between transactions. Just some stock-up shopping courtesy. For the hot dog coupons, go to coupons.com and use zip code 33313, couponbug.com (use 33313 again) and also go to Oscar Mayer's website - meaning you can print SIX per computer making this trip possible for us. Coupons.com also has $1/2 coupons which would still make for a great deal. On my computer the $1/2 Q was on the first page and the $1/1 Q was on the third page - so don't give up right away.

ALSO, this morning I read that Jewel has Ice Mountain Aquapods (8-pk) ringing up for $1 each (double check that if you do this). There is also a CAT running if you buy 3 Aquapods you get a $3 CAT back - FREE AGAIN. You can combine the water deal with either the cheese or the hot dogs, but you cannot combine the hot dogs & cheese b/c both those CATs are from Kraft. Make sense?? If you happen to get a newspaper, there was an Aquapod Q in the 08/29 red plum insert for $1.50 off 2 which would even turn you a profit after the CAT. Just a thought :0) Happy shopping!!

FREE CHEESE

I try not to let my people down so here it is ----- FREE cheese when you use the $5/5 Kraft coupon from my previous post.

Jewel has Kraft cheese on sale 2/$4 starting tomorrow (09/02) ending 09/12. They are also running the buy 5 Kraft products get a $5 CAT deal that Kroger had last month.
So here is what you do:

Buy 5 Kraft Cheese @ $10
Use $5/5 Kraft printable coupon
Pay $5, Get $5 CAT
Final Price: 5 Free!

Then just turn around and do it again with your second coupon! But this time pay for the order with the CAT you got the first time around. $0 out of pocket and still get your $5 CAT at the end. Oh, this reminds me -- don't forget that you can hit the "back" button on your browser 2-3 times to print another coupon on almost every website, so you should get 2 q's from each computer. So you're really in luck if you have multiple computers!!

If you cannot get to a Jewel store, WalMart also has Kraft cheese on sale for $2, making it $1 each after this coupon. $1 is usually my "buy it now" price for cheese. Although this summer I was able to get it for WAY less.

ONe last thing then I'm really done --
If you do get to Jewel you might want to check out the soda sale. All brands are $1.88 per 12-pk when you buy 4 (limit 8). This is also a "BUY IT NOW" price if you're pop drinkers. So if you buy the cheese first, you walk out of there with 10 bags of kraft cheese & 4 12-pks of soda for $7.50 OOP. That is some pretty thrifty shopping!! Have a great week :0)

$5/5 Kraft Cheese coupon

I was not going to post anything tonight, but when I found this coupon i just HAD to post it.

GO HERE to print a $5/5 Kraft cheese product -- includes Breakstone sour cream, cottage cheese & Velveeta.

With the many Kraft sales lately, this should make for a great deal somewhere -- I will keep my eyes open and let you know if I see a good one.