Wednesday Ad Picks, holy late edition, 9/22-9/28

I just realized I hadn't posted this, sorry guys! I'm going to blame my oversight on the total lack of exciting sales!

Safeway

• 12oz Raspberries are $2.99, I got super excited for a second because there's an e-coupon for raspberries here, but it's only for the smaller sized containers. Boo. Still that's not a bad price, especially since they're out of season.
• Fresh Express bagged salads are still $1, when I was in the store last I thought the pickings were pretty slim.
• Lucerne cheese is $4.99/2 lb, block or shredded, this is an okay price if you need it, but I wouldn't buy it just to throw in the freezer.
• Campbells Select Harvest Soup is $1 per can, so free after coupon here or here.
• 18 eggs are $1.99 with the in-ad coupon, not a great price, but better than $1.59/dozen.
• Jif peanut butter is still $1.49/18oz with in-ad coupon.
• Silk Soy Milk is $1.99 with in-ad coupon, so only .99 after .75 off coupon here (must register), which will "double" to $1 off. You know how I've harped on you to try almond milk? Well, I've never tried soy milk, does anybody have anything to say about it?

Haggar's

• Bananas are .33/lb.
• Celery is .59/bunch.
• Jonathan or McIntosh apples are 3lb bags for $2.
• Squash is .59/lb.
• Green peppers are .60/ea.
• They're having a Mega Meat Sale, which sounds pretty rad, right? I didn't see any mind blowing prices though. Chicken quarters are .59/lb, which is okay. Chicken tenderloins are 1.99/lb, again just okay.

Don's

• Onions are .69/lb.
• Oranges are .69/lb.
• I haven't mentioned the store coupons that they update every week for a while, you can always find them here. They haven't had anything good for a while though!

Wednesday Ad Picks, 8/15-8/21

Safeway

• I've read that the Scrubbing Bubbles deal I talked about here is going on until 9/21, but I can't confirm that. If I do it again I'll let you know if it's still working, but really I think I'm done. 12 cans is a lot for our household, I'm actually a vinegar and baking soda kind of girl, BUT I don't do bathrooms, so my darling husband will be using this!
• There are a handful of produce deals; CO peaches are .99/lb, potatoes are still 10lb for 1.99, pears are .99/lb.
• There's a buy 5, save $5 promotion that will make for a decent price on 2 things I need, Nabisco saltines will be .99, and Maxwell House coffee will be $1.99 for the 10-12oz cans, plus there is a coupon here for $1 off 2. There are probably lots more items included in this sale, but only a few are included in the ad, so look for the special tags in the store to see if there are more good deals to be had. And don't go crazy buying Saltines, they don't keep as long as other crackers!
• Kraft cheese slices are 2.49, and if you want to buy 5 (or a combination of these and other Kraft cheese products), the coupon that I mentioned a couple weeks ago, which you can still print here, would save you $5 total. Not bad, sliced cheese (other than nasty Singles type stuff) is expensive, and it keeps fine in the fridge.

Haggar's

• Lot's of good prices on produce; green grapes are .99/lb, broccoli is .99/bunch, cauliflower is $2/head, oranges are 4lb for $3, pears are .99/lb, asparagus is 2.99/lb. Something tells me I'm going to spend most of my budget for the week at Haggar's.

Don's

• Flour is 1.29/5lb, which is the best I've see for a while. I just bought 25lb at Sam's for $7.54 out of desperation.
• Oranges are .69/lb, the best so far for the season.
• Green peppers are .59/ea.

Wednesday Ad Picks, 9/8-9/13

Safeway has lots of in-ad coupons this week! Remember, you CAN combine a Safeway store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon.

• 7-Up 6 packs are $1.49 with in-ad coupon. Just a heads up, I was going to pick some up today (a splurge, usually I only buy soda if it's free), and the 8th Street store does not carry them. I guess I didn't really need it!
• Mission chips are $1.29 with the in-ad coupon, and there are e-coupons at Cellfire for any Mission product. If anybody ever finds the MDA booklet, there are .55 off coupons in there that will double to make these only .29/bag, but again I didn't spot any of the booklets, bummer.
• Welch's Healthy Start juice is $1.99 with the in-ad coupon, and there are coupons on coupons.com for $1.50 off, so only .50! I use this in smoothies all the time.
• Hormel Lunch Meat is $1.99/8 oz package with the in-ad coupon from the smaller Safeway pull-out ad, and there is a coupon here for .55 off, which will double and give you a price of .99. I plan to buy a few of these, it's tough to get lunch meat in quantity, so while this isn't a mind blowing price, I'll still stock up. These usually have a sell-by of at least a couple of months out, so they'll be fine in the fridge for a while. There are also blinkie coupons in the 8th Street store for .55 off, but I can tell you these WILL NOT double. If you want to use them, just go to customer service after you check out and they'll reimburse you (I prefer to avoid the hassle)
• Broccoli and cauliflower are .99/lb.
• Sandwich bread is $1.25/loaf for the whole wheat, this seems to be the best price they're offering lately.
• Frozen chicken breasts are $7.96 for a 4lb bag, and there is an e-coupon you can load here to take off $2. Remember, the e-coupons that you load from Safeway are notorious for not coming off, so if you choose to do this, I would definitely print your list of loaded coupons and be prepared to go to customer service. I'm not sure I want to deal with the hassle, but I can tell you these are really convenient; I used to be kind of snotty about frozen chicken (I honestly have no idea why, I sincerely doubt it's any different than the fresh stuff, maybe even better since it's not been frozen and thawed like the "fresh" stuff usually is), but I am a convert. I just used some of this tonight for Greek Chicken (no, that was not the menu plan, a deviation was required). Very handy!

Haggar's has some great produce sales!

• Onions are 3lbs for .98, God bless you Haggar's! Paying .99/lb for them has been chapping my rear.
• Pears are .99/lb, as are Gala apples.
• Red potatoes are 1.48/5lb.
• Gronions are 3 for $1.
• Carrots are 2lbs for .99.
• Cabbage is .29/lb.
• Split chicken breasts are .99/lb.

Don's didn't really impress me, some decent produce prices but nothing I'd make a trip for. Haggar's definitely has them beat this week!

Family Thrift is on my list. And I don't mean my shopping list. Remember the pasta and pasta sauce prices I posted here? Well I printed the coupons, and you actually save .50 on 2, not 1. So price is .75 each, nothing special. I really found this to be misleading in the ad, and even on the coupon page on-line, it said nothing about buying 2 until you actually print the coupon. Grrr!

Wednesday Ad Picks, 8/18-8/24

Safeway has some sales again this week, though nothing as mind blowing as the sales with Catalinas last week!

• Sargento cheese slices are $1.99/package with the in-ad coupon, combine that with the MF coupon you'll find in the MDA booklet and you'll pay .99/package after the MF coupon doubles. I also have a couple of e-coupons saved for this stuff. There is a limit of 3 and a minimum purchase of $10 to use the in-ad coupon, remember that minimum is pre-MF coupons, so always give the store coupons first at Safeway.
• Jumbo Raw Shrimp in a 2lb bag are on sale for $9.98, and I'll use the $2 coupon from the Get out and Grill cookbook to pick up a bag of these.
• 93% lean ground beef is 1.99/lb, that's not bad if you prefer lean beef.
• 3lb clamshells of grapes are $2.99. Remember the produce coupon from the Serve up a Sandwich pamphlet!

I was in Target yesterday to pick up a script that I forgot to pick up the day before, when I made a trip specifically to pick up a script. Grrr. Anyway, they have a fair amount of clearance, including Glad brand garbage bags and Target brand frozen fruit. If you're going, check it out, those are items that you don't get for free, so clearance is nice!

Wednesday Ad Picks, 8/11-8/17

Safeway
• If you watched my video, you know I told you the General Mills promotion would come around again, and it's here already! The basics on this one are not very basic. Really these can be kind of complicated to put together, because there are so many different items involved, all of which are not listed in the ad, and there are also some Catalina offers to consider. Catalina's are the coupons that print for a certain amount off your NEXT purchase. Here's the overview; if you buy 4 or more (up to 20) General Mills fruit snacks or cereal, you will get $1 off per item The promotional pricing then, assuming you buy 4 or more, is .99 for fruit snacks (like Fruit Roll-Ups and Gushers), 1.49 for granola bars and cereal (Nature Valley, Fiber One, Cheerios, etc.). The wording is not clear, but you DO NOT have to buy in multiples of 4, I purchased 5 items today and it took the $1 off each of them. The Catalina's are for $3 if you buy 5 of the fruit snacks, and $3.50 if you buy 5 of the granola bars, can be the Nature Valley or the Fiber One bars.

o So here’s a sample scenario. Today I bought 5 of the fruit snacks, at .99/box. I used 2 paper coupons for .50/2, which double to $2 total. I also had 2 e-coupons which took off a total of $1. My total out of pocket was $2, and I got a $3 Catalina for my next purchase. If you haven’t already been loading e-coupons, there is probably only 1 available, so that will be a variable for you. You can find the paper coupons here. This would be a simple introductory transaction to help you figure this stuff out.

o The next transaction I do will probably be along these lines. I will buy 1 box of Cheerios at 1.49, minus e-coupons and paper coupons those will be free. I’ll also buy 5 granola bars, probably a couple of the Fiber One, and some of the Nature Valley, so I can take advantage of more e-coupons, and paper coupons here, and get the $3.50 Cat back. I’ll also buy another 4 of the fruit snacks, so I’ll get a $2 Cat for those, rather than $3, but I don’t have any more e-coupons for them, just paper coupons, and that will still make them free when you consider the Cat. I’ll use the $3 Cat I got today to pay for these items to bring my out of pocket cost down even more. I know this is confusing as all get out, but you’ll just have to trust me that once you learn the ropes, this is a ridiculous deal.

 One more note on this deal, there are signs up in the store that if you buy any cereal and refrigerated almond milk (I think it was Blue Diamond brand, but please double check), you’ll get another $3 Cat. This is awesome, because the almond milk is $2.99, so basically you can try it free! I love almond milk, and I bet some of you are skeptical, give it a shot!

• Wow, let’s see if I can be more brief for the rest of this post! Bone-in chicken breasts are .99/lb, definitely a buy price for me. I know people are intimidated by boning meat, but boning chicken breasts is sooo easy, it’s the perfect way to try your hand at it. Plus you have the bones and skin to use to make stock, which is a bonus to me!

• Whole wheat bread is $1.25/loaf, I try to pay $1, but it’s been quite a while since they had it on sale. If you aren’t particular about whether it’s whole wheat or not, you can pick up the butter top bread for only .39/loaf, with the coupon in the Serve up a Sandwich booklet. I found these in the packaged lunch meat section at the Westside store today.

• There’s an in-ad coupon for store brand pasta, .59/lb, limit 6. This is the best price I’ve seen in months, they had it at .50/lb last winter, but nowhere near that since.

• Pillsbury Sweet Moments are a new item, in the same area as the biscuits in a can and all the stuff of that genre. They are ridiculous looking desserts, like chocolate caramel brownie bites and brownies that you heat in the microwave. I have been resisting bringing them in my house, but you can get them for free with the in-ad coupon, the MF coupon here, and the e-coupon here. Heaven help me.

• Plenty of yummy produce deals to be had, Colorado peaches are .99/lb, black grapes are too. When you find the Serve up a Sandwich booklet, you’ll score an awesome find, $1 off any produce; minimum purchase of $5 (does NOT have to be $5 worth of produce). My warning on this is that I have now used 2 of them, and neither has deducted, so be prepared to go to customer service. Worth it to me though, produce coupons are super rare.

After all of that yapping, I really don't have anything to say about other stores! If I see anything good, I'll post separately. Happy shopping!

Wednesday Ad Picks, 8/4-8/10

Okay, I just realized that I didn't post last Wednesday (started to, but didn't finish), or Sunday (started to, but didn't finish). This is not impressive, feel free to yell at me. I am forcing myself to post the Wednesday picks ON WEDNESDAY for once, and then I'll feel better about myself. Huh.

FTC Wednesday short ad

• 16lb lug of peaches for canning is $12.99. I LOVE peaches!

Don's

• Cabbage is .27/lb.
• Broccoli is .99/lb.

Haggar's

• Plum's are .88/lb.
• Chicken tenders are 1.99/lb. I used to buy these all the time when we had an Albertson's store, but haven't bought them since as I never see them at Safeway for this price. They are really convenient for chicken strips, or anything that you're going to cut the chicken up even more, like stir fry.
• This one is up for interpretation, but the Haggar's ad has a rebate form from Kellog's Fuel for School. Buy 10 items and you get a $10 rebate. I do not see anywhere on the form that you have to buy the items from Haggar's (though it does have an Affiliated Foods logo on the top) so I would say you can purchase them from another store and submit the rebate. See the Safeway post below....
• Cabbage is .29/lb.
• Colby Jack is 2.99/lb in the deli, I try to pay less than $2/lb of shredded or block cheese, so that's a good price for slices.

Safeway

• Corn on the cob is 6 ears for $1, SAT/SUN only
• Whole chickens are .79/lb.
• I understand there is a new pamphlet in the store that will correlate with several of the items on the 3rd page of the ad, I haven't seen it yet, but make sure and look for it. There were a bunch of bonus Cellfire coupons released this week that match up with some of this stuff too, so make sure you load them!
• There's a Kellog's promotion right now, buy 10 participating items and get a coupon for $10 off your next purchase at Safeway. So for example, if you bought 10 boxes of Pop Tarts at 1.99 each, you'd pay 19.90, get the $10 coupon, and submit the rebate from the Haggar's ad to get $10 back. You could really stretch this one by looking for the Pop Tarts with the Rewards logo on them; they have special codes inside, and if you buy 10 different flavors you could enter all the codes and get 2 free movie tickets. (I doubt that Safeway carries 10 different flavors, but I really don't know.) There are lots of other items included in this promotion, but I wanted to throw the Pop Tarts idea out there since it would be simplest to use as an example and would net you the most stuff in return!
• There is one other scenario that I came up with from this ad. Hellman's mayo is on sale SAT/SUN only for $2.49, which is less than impressive to me. But, there is a .75 cent coupon here, click on Prizes and Coupons in the upper right, fill out the form, and you can print the coupon twice. So that brings it down to $1.49/bottle after the coupon doubles. Still not mind blowing to me. So then, throw in the manufacturer's coupon from the current FTC ad for $2 off deli or lunch meat with the purchase of 2 Hellman's mayo's, and now you have my attention. To maximize this one, I would go the deli and pick up slightly over $2 worth of lunch meat. If you do this one, you'll pay $3 for 2 jars of mayo and the deli meat, which is not bad at all. If you aren't completely confused yet, there is also a Cellfire coupon for .50 off one jar of the mayo, and that brings your total down to $2.50. Now we're talking my language!

I realize that I threw somewhat more complicated scenarios at you with this Safeway ad, so tell me if you have questions!

Wednesday Top 10, 7/7-7/14

Oh dear, the deals continue to be weak. Here's what we've got;

Safeway

• Whole roasting chickens are .79/lb
• Welch's juice cocktails will be .99 with in-ad coupon and manufacturer's coupon here.
• Green grapes are .99/lb
• Green onions and radishes are 3 for $1

Family Thrift

• FTC always has a Wednesday ad in the paper, even though their sales cycle runs Sunday to Saturday. Sometimes the prices are from their big Sunday ad, but sometimes they have some new sales too. This week they were advertising a "truckload produce sale", which I will not be attending. I didn't see anything worth stopping for!

Don's

• Eggs are .79/doz, not bad if you need them.
• Gronions are 3 for $1 here too.

Haggar's

• I don't have a copy of their ad yet, if there's anything good I'll let you know.

Wednesday Top 10, 6/30-7/6

I'm not sure I'm going to find 10 good prices this week, I'll give it a try!

Safeway

• Corn on the cob, 5 ears for $1
• Cherries, 1.48/lb!!
• Top Sirloin, 3.99/lb (I don't usually cover meat prices, but top sirloin is my fave steak, and that's not a bad price)

Don's Valley Market

• 10lb potatoes at 1.99
• Graham crackers are 1.99/box (I hope you picked some up at FTC for .90/box last week, but if not you need them for smores this weekend!)

Prairie Market

• Store brand butter is 1.49/lb with coupon here

Haggar's

• Ground beef is 1.79/lb

I think that's all I've got, sorry guys! A good week to skip shopping and hang with your fam.

Top 10 6/23-6/29

Safeway

• Safeway Select Artisan Fresh Bread is .99, load the e-coupon here and it should be free! Once you load the e-coupon, you might want to print the list of what you have loaded just in case it doesn't come off. The e-coupon is not very specific as to what is included.
• Gorton’s Large or Value pack selections at 2.49 when you buy 2 on SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ONLY with coupon here.
• Red, yellow or orange bell peppers are $1 each.
Haggar’s
• Red or green grapes, .99/lb
Don’s
• Broccoli, .99/lb
• Cauliflower, 1.69 each!
• 1 doz eggs, .79
Family Thrift (ends 6/26)
• You already know how excited I am about the $3 off 5 store brand products coupon in the ad, so I’ll just remind you of my top 3 picks for that! These prices are assuming that you buy 5 items. Pick up extra coupons to use next week!
• Brown rice, .35/lb
• Butter, 1.29/lb, limit 2
• Dried beans, .49/lb

Top 10 6/16-6/22

I thought I would try to post my favorite sales for the week at local stores, no coupons, or only coupons that you can find really easily. I know not everyone collects coupons like I do, but you don't have to in order to save money on groceries. So this list will include only in-ad coupons, or those currently available to print. Here we go!

Haggar's
• 10lbs potatoes for $2

Safeway
• 1 gallon milk for 1.98, no minimum required purchase!
• Red grapes, .99/lb
• Fiber One yogurt, $2, plus load e-coupon here and use paper coupon here to get it free! This is a perfect way to try e-coupons for the first time.
• Frozen Safeway brand veg, 1.25/bag with in-ad coupon. Usually for corn, peas, etc. I will only pay $1/lb at most, but this should include other things, like the bell pepper strips, which is waaay cheaper than buying fresh peppers.
• Starkist tuna, 5oz/.44 each, 6/19 and 6/20 only.

Don’s
• Peaches, 1.39/lb (I know it’s too early for them to be good, and that’s not a great price, but I need a peach tart in my life!)
• Deli American cheese, 2.99/lb

FTC (I already mentioned these, but their silly ad schedule puts them off kilter from everyone else; these prices end 6/19)
• Eggs are .49/dozen, must buy 2 dozen, with coupon here, that's only 4 cents/egg!
• White vinegar is .99/gallon with coupon here

Wednesday, Wednesday

So I look forward to Wednesday like some people look forward to Friday. Wednesday is my day to work outside my home, you know like where I actually get paid for the work I do? So, on Wednesday morning, I drop Junior off at Grandma's (I know I'm ridiculously lucky, my mom in law watches my kiddo), and then I stop at the gas station for 2 fabulous things; gas station cappucino (I'm not a Starbucks kind of girl, plus if you get a punch card you get your 10th one free!), and the Wednesday paper.

Just to clarify, I look forward to Wednesday not because I go to work, but because the grocery store ads come out! The anticipation is brutal, I'm telling you. But some weeks, the coffee ends up being the highlight, and this week is one of them. There are only a small handful of sales that I'll be taking advantage of, and I definitely won't be using too many coupons.

Safeway;
Sanderson Farms Whole Chicken; .79/lb (I just pulled a chicken out of the freezer from the last good sale, .69/lb in Feb.)
Green Peppers; .50/each (I stick with frozen pepper strips, unless I'm making stuffed peppers, and this is a decent price)
Fresh Express salad mix; 1.00/bag, and there's an e-coupon that I think you can still load here.

I was really hoping for a good sale on grapes or strawberries, but it wasn't to be. Don's didn't have anything I was excited about, and FTC has a couple of things I'll pick up, but again nothing fab. I think this is a good week to stop at Sam's for produce, since I won't be spending much of my grocery budget otherwise! That's why I stockpile, so that when there aren't any good sales, I can minimize my shopping and eat from the stash.

One thing I am definitely excited about is that Walgreens should have milk at 1.99/gallon starting Sunday. I try to plan for this, and hopefully be about out of milk on Sunday, buy 2 gallons for the week, and then stop in Saturday and buy 2 or 3 gallons to last the next week and a half or so. I don't like to freeze gallons of milk because it takes up so much space, but planning to buy as much as possible when it's on sale definitely helps stretch the budget.