I have been couponing for about 2 months now and today was my best shopping trip yet! I was so excited when I returned home and sent Ronnie a text message telling him about it. He asked me to send him a pic at work so I did. He posted this pic on facebook and it has lead to lots of questions about how this all worked. This is my attempt to break it down.
Kroger is having a great mega savings event this week featuring over 120 items. This means that if you buy any 10 participating items you will get $5 deducted off your total (or 50 cents off per item). You can do multiple mega deals in one transaction, for example today I did 3. Its important to note that the Kroger circular that you get in the mail or view online does NOT list all the participating items. I found out about most of the additional ones at
southernsavers.com.
I planned out my list carefully before going. It helped me to list them out in groups of 10 so I could keep things straight. Then when I shopped I also grouped them in my cart this way. This isn't necessary by any means, but I am visual and it helped me. This was my plan:
(note- the price in parathesis is the sale price when you buy 10 participating items, but without any coupons deducted yet)
Mega Deal12 bags of Chex Mix (1.49)- both were free as I combined printable coupons from coupons.com with ecoupons loaded to my Kroger card from cellfire and shortcuts
5 cans Del Monte Tomatos (.49)- I had a coupon for $1 off of 5 making them .29 each
2 cans Dole Mandarin Oranges (.50)- this was actually a money maker since the 2 coupons that I had doubled for more than the price of the cans
1 box Betty Crocker mashed potatos (.99)- free by combining printable and ecoupon
Mega Deal 22 Sunny D Smoothies (.89)- this was also a money maker. I found the coupons on the Sunny D site and again they doubled to more than the sale price. I have never tried these, but hey I am willing when I am making some money off my total to do it!
4 cans Carnation Evaporated Milk (.69)- these ended up being .19 each as I used printable coupons from coupons.com
3 Birdseye Steamfresh Veggies (1.49)- these were .49 each as I used coupons.com coupons that doubled
1 Colgate Toothpaste ($1)- didn't have a coupon but we just need it :)
Mega Deal 33 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks (1.99)- combined printables with ecoupons again and got 3 for 3.27 BUT it printed out a save 1.50 catalina!
4 Uncle Ben's Wild Rice (1.29)- these were .79 each with printable coupons
1 bag Fritos (1.49)- i didn't have a coupon but Ronnie will like these in his lunch.
2 more Evaporated milks- needed 2 more items to round out this deal and since they were so cheap I opted for these. I have some good recipes that call for this so it should come in handy.
Finally- I purchased non mega sale items that we just needed like milk, bread, baking powder, produce, paper towels and napkins. I was able to save money on these buy using some coupons and using some catalinas that I had from previous purchases. (Catalinas are little rewards that print when you buy a certain amount of a particular product. Last week I bought 4 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats and it printed out a $3 one.) Today I had 6.50 worth of these. They scan just like a coupon and deduct the amount from your total.
You might look at this and think this is a random assortment of food- no meat for example. This is because I have stocked up on meat and other various things other weeks when there have been good sales. Essentially, I am not shopping for just a week's worth of food but for stocking the pantry and freezer. I am spending way less now but we have a great stock already. My freezer is almost bursting with frozen veggies!
Now for the numbers:
Total Spent- 24.73
Total Saved- 62.35
Total items- 41
Average price per item- .60
Hope that was helpful to those that were wondering!
PS- check out the southernsavers.com site for a much more detailed listing of coupon amounts and where exactly they can be found.
The table was set with all the finery :)
