Cub and Rainbow 4/4/12

Today, I hit the two grocery stores that are a little farther away, so I have to add Mapquest's estimated gas cost of $7.50 to my shopping trip. I'm not sure whether I am saving money by shopping 10 miles away or not, so I'm curious to see whether it seems like I am really saving any money doing it this way.

I started at Cub Foods today.

24 oz. Vlasik Pickles were 2/$4, and I had two coupons for $.75 off, which made them $1.25 each.

30 oz. Miracle Whip was $2.49, and my coupon was for $.50/2, which made them $2.25 each.

1.5 quart Kemp's Old Fashioned Ice Cream was on sale for B1G1 free, and the first was $5.99. I had a $1/2 coupon, so I paid $2.50 each.

Birds Eye Broccoli Florets were $1 each. I bought two, and had a coupon for $.50/2, for a total of $.75 each.

20 oz. Dole Pineapple Chunks were on sale for $1 each, and I had a $.50/2 coupon, for a total of $.75 each.

The sale on Marshmallows was 4/$5. There were coupons in the aisle for $.50/2, so I grabbed a few and used two. That made the 10 oz. marshmallows come to $1 each.

Asparagus was on sale for $1.88/lb. I had a $1/1 lb. coupon, so I paid $.88.

Strawberries were $1.88/lb. I bought two lbs.

Barilla Rotelli was $1.59/lb. I bought two.

Stove Top Stuffing was $.99, and I had a $.50/1 coupon, so I paid $.49.

My total bill was $27.50. The receipt says I saved $17.76, or $40%. The cashier told me "good job" after I was done checking out.

Next, I went to Rainbow, where it was Double Daze. This means that 5 manufacturer coupons can be doubled.

I bought 4-20 oz cans of Bush's Best Baked Beans, on sale for $1.68 each.

There was a coupon in the circular for $1.50 for 1 lb. of butter quarters.

I bought two Simple Orange Juice, which were on sale for 2/$6. I had two $1 off coupons that I printed online. They were both doubled, so the juices were $1 each. :-)

I got one dozen eggs free with the purchase of two Simply Orange Juice.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese had a coupon sale for $.98 for 1-8 oz package. I bought one.

Birds Eye Broccoli Floret Steamers were on sale for $1, and I had a $.50/2 coupon, which was doubled, so I got them for $.50 each.

Kemps Old Fashioned Ice Cream was on sale for $2.88 each. I had another $1/2 coupon, which was doubled, so I paid $1.88 each. I should have used both of them at Rainbow. I would not have been able to double all of my coupons, but it still would have been better if I had doubled a $1 coupon instead of a $.50 coupon.

There was a coupon for Oscar Meyer bacon for $2.88. I got one lb.

There was a coupon for $.99/lb on ham with a $25 purchase. I got an 8.91 lb ham for $8.82.

Roundy's All Purpose Flour was $1.89 for 5 lbs. That's .38/lb.

C&H Powdered Sugar was $1.89 for 2 lbs. I got two.

Emerald Trail Mix - breakfast blend was on sale for 2/$5.

McCormick Food Coloring was on sale for 2/$4. I had a $.75 coupon, which was doubled, bringing it down to $1.25 each.

My total purchase came to $42.62. My receipt says I saved $44.12. I also have a $.20/per gallon reward that I can use if I happen to get gas in Chaska or Chanhassen in the near future. I almost started to get grumpy in the checkout aisle today, as the checkers at Rainbow are extremely slow. I got in a line with two people in front of me and didn't leave the store until 15 minutes later, and I consider this to be a little too long. However, I thought about how much I was saving, and the fact that everyone there was doing the double coupon thing, so it is going to take longer, right? I set my mind to not being bothered and walked out of the store happy.

On another note, I don't really believe I saved as much as these stores claim on the receipts. For example, there is no way that a 1.5 quart of Kemps Ice Cream is really $5.99. This is a case of raising the price in order to have a B1G1 Free sale. But I still think this trip was worth the $7.50 I spent in gas.

I could have done better on a few of these items. I bought two newspapers, but they were from two different stores, and one was missing one of the coupon inserts. If I had had both, I would have had a few more coupons to use. Also, because I just started up again, there were a few items I paid way more for than I would have if I had been paying attention and stocking up. For example, the Rotelli noodles. I normally do not pay more than $1 per pound on noodles, but I needed them for a salad I am making this weekend, so I had no choice. In the future, I should be able to do better.

I am up to $135.37 for the week. I read recently on another blog site (I think it was MoneySavingMom.com - if not, it was another blog I linked to from her site) that a good grocer budget starting-point is $20 per person per week. I had thought I would try $200 for the family, but after reading that, I thought maybe I could try to do it with $180. If I'm going with that figure, I have $44.63 left for the week. I still need to go pick up baking chocolate for my French Silk pie for Easter, some pepperoni for a noodle salad for another family gathering on Saturday, and some milk. I will go to Kwik Trip for the milk, as it is $1.98/gal this week on sale. I also still have another egg coupon, and I could still stand to buy a little candy for the Easter baskets, and I have all of those RR's at Walgreens and their egg prices are the best right now, so I will probably head over there, as well. I may hit Target, too, as I want to get two laundry baskets to make the mountain that is always being dumped behind the current two laundry baskets to go away.

I need to put my bread in the oven now, so I'll write again later if I get out again today.