Saturday, May 19, 2012

Couponing Grocery Results

So for May I went the coupon route, perhaps against my better judgement but still got caught up in the game and actually my whole family found it fun.....duh of course they did, it was a lots of food I never buy!

I got $700 worth of groceries and spent $500 on them...........this was a combo of price matching then using coupons on the items I already brought down from price matching. I got treated nicely by one cashier but another time treated worse that folk on food stamps use to get treated 30 years ago! Ouch so you need a steal cold personality and not care how much you may or may not piss off the cashier.

A few items were purchased due to us needing them so no coupons or sales AND it looks like hardly any veggies or fruit cause I already had these on hand and it wont be long before I am picking greens from the garden!

So broken down it goes like

$700 food
$100 savings from price matching
$100 savings from coupons

$500 paid

Now I am aware getting this down would be a prime goal and in order to do that, it takes experience and lots of looking, searching, printing and planning........not to mention have a budget and not go over my food budget!

What did I get for the $500?  Well while I may forget some things as it has been a busy month and not sure if I can find all the reciepts here it goes...........from memory.

Meat

10# boneless skinless chicken breasts ( no sale, no coupons)
5 pkgs Smithfields Bacon
5 pkgs smoked sausage
4 pkgs beer brats
2 pkg sweet italian sausage

Breads

3 pkgs hot dog buns
3 loaves bread
4 boxes Entemans mini cakes
2 pkgs Tortilla shells

Snacks and Beverages
6  12 packs of Sierra mist
5 2 liters of Sierra mist
2   6 packs peach snapple teas
2 bags Doritos ( no sale or coupons hubby wanted to make Chicken Cheesy Nachos)
10 protein bars
Peanuts ( no coupon or sales)

Dairy and Cold stuff

5 gallons milk ( no coupons or sales)
4 1/2 gallon Silk protein fruit smoothie drink
Chicken Cravers Coating
2   4 packs Jello Mouse Desserts
4 boxes Gogurts
4  pillsbury ready cookie dough
4 pillsbury sweet rolls
Sour Cream (no sale or coupon)
3 boxes of Milk Bites
8 ounce Mozerella cheese ( no sale or coupons for daughter birthday dinner request Pizza Omelettes)
pepporoni
4 Dozen Eggs
4  can't believe it's not butter
4 large country crocks
1 real butter


Canned and Boxed

Large Velveeta Cheese ( no coupon or sale)
5 cans campbells soups
3 campbells healthy choice soups
3 Select Harvest Soups
2 boxes of 36 pkgs Ramen ( no coupon or sale)
2 hormel microwave compleat meals
2 hormel microwave kids compleats
6 cans hormel chili
1 box breakfast on the go
6 boxes pop tarts
14 boxes of Cereal
4 cans tuna
3 cans white chicken meat
Betty  Crocker Cookie Mix
Coffee (no sale or coupon)
5 lbs Sugar (no sale or coupon)
tomato sauce
2 boxes Lipton herbal teas
1 box decaf black tea
Bag of hickory smoked chips ( for barbecues)
lighter fluid


Frozen

4 Dijourno Pizza
1 Jacks Pizza
4 boxes Morningglory vegetarian meals
2 bags Sweet potato fries
2 bags broccoli
2 bags green beans
3 kashi steamers
5  pocket meals ( cant remember  the name but were cordon bleu, jalepeno bacon and cheese, a sausage and veggie thingy's)


Produce

Carrots
5 mangos
3 Strawberries
10 pounds potatos
3   3lb bag apples

Pets

20 cans Alpo canned food ( thought it may come in handy for camping trips
3 lb bag of cat food (cat wont eat homecooked meals LOL)
3 cans cat soft food

Personal and Cleaning

4   green works dishsoap
2  colgate toothpaste
fructis shampoo and conditioner
6 Dry Idea Deoderants
Aleeve
Bottle of Purex Laundry Soap
2 bottles of Whisk laundry soap
2 containers of Scotch brite disinfecting wipes
2 glade oil scented candles
2 Scrubbing bubbles Anibacteria Bathroom Cleaners
1 Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower foam cleaner
2 Windex multi surface anitbacterial cleaner
1 Armstrong floor cleaner
Codliver tablets









3 comments:

  1. I find to get the best deals with coupons I need to shop every week doing coupon matching along with whats on sale. It takes a lot of time but worth the effort.

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    Replies
    1. yeah that is pretty much what I did, this list was off of a 3 shopping trips done weekly.

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  2. I couponed hard-core for about 6 months. I stopped for a few reasons, the main one being that we were eating way too much processed food. Plus the amount of packaging we were bringing into our house made me uneasy, even though we reuse and recycle everything we can. And I got a little addicted, checking for new deals daily and not being able to handle missing a single score. We still have months worth of HABA items, and I do miss me some cheap TP, but I will definitely not be going back to it.

    In the last year we've focused on eating healthier, using real, fresh ingredients. I meal plan each Sunday for an hour instead of spending half the day getting, cutting and organizing coupons. One day a week I go to the farmer's market and then Safeway, where I price-match from two other stores and use their Just 4 You program, which I love. I use their site to see what is on sale and load any coupons or personalized deals right to my club card and I'm done. Having gone 'green' in several other ways, I also love that I'm not spending the gas to run to town 3-4 times a week, plus we also focus a lot on zero food waste now, both of which really save a LOT money (especially with gas prices right now!). The time and energy I save by NOT couponing gets used on having fun with the kiddos now. They like going to the park several times a week rather than being dragged to grocery stores. In general everyone in the house is happier and eating much healthier, and I actually spend less money overall (about $400 a month for 2 adults, 2 school-age kids and 1 toddler, which includes all diapers, laundry soap and other household items).

    Ashley S

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