Deals this week....

You may be wondering, why should I trust her and her advice on where to shop? Well, that's a good question. I've been a master grocery shopper since I was in college. My dad would give me $25 a week for spending money and I'd be darned if I was going to spend my hard earned money on groceries! Spending his money, of course, was perfectly acceptable so I learned to scour the ads, use coupons, and NEVER spend more than $25 a week on groceries. The lesson stuck. I don't spend more than $200 a month to feed the four of us (and the way those kids eat, there might as well be 12 of us). Even when my friend and her son were living with us, I didn't go over $200.

I have a gift for grocery shopping. I can look into my cart and tell you, within a couple dollars, what my total bill will be. I have a photographic memory for coupons and know whether I have a coupon for an item or not. When I used to have my hubby stop on his way home from work, he would tell me the total and I would ask him what he bought that wasn't on the list. Drove him crazy, thus, I now do all the grocery shopping.

I regularly go to 5 different grocery stores: Rainbow, Cub, Mackenthun's, Market Place, and Coburns. I keep a notebook with price information so I know what is a true sale price, a price in bold print designed to make you think its a sale price, and a buy whatever is left in the store price (and believe me, I've done that). For example, I haven't paid for toothpaste in a couple years - I wait until its on sale for a dollar a tube and use my dollar off coupons. I keep records of the absolute lowest price I've ever paid for an item so I know when to buy. Why? Mostly because I'm a nerd and love grocery shopping, but, if it saves me (and you) lots of money on groceries, you can tip your hat to me and call it a day.

Rainbow:
I'm not super excited about the deals at Rainbow this week, but the ad is worth picking up. They have several manufacturer's coupons printed inside, which means you can use the coupons anywhere. They have also started advertising dollar days again.

Strawberries 2 lbs/$3
Chicken Drummies/Thighs are .88/lb
Sweet Corn 4/$1 (cheapest price this week)
Barilla Pasta .88/box (limit 2)
Westpac veggiets .98/box
Bic pens 2/$1.48 plus there is a dollar off coupon in the Sunday paper - double the coupon and they pay you to take the pens

Mackenthuns (Waconia, MN):
Before you say, Waconia? WTF! Let me tell you that Mackenthuns dollar days rock and if we ever move, I will be driving to Waconia for the sole purpose of dollar days. Although, it is not dollar days this week, they do have some pretty good deals.
Hormel, Bone-In Pork Ribs .99/lb (my experience w/their bone in ribs is there is very little bone)
Ken's Salad Dressing BOGO - use the $2 off coupon in the Sunday paper to get 2/$1.45
Ramen 10/$2 cheapest price I've seen in a while and my hubby has been craving his Ramen, Hot Dog, Potato Soup (GROSS!!)
Bar S Corn Dogs 3 lb packages are a BOGO (save $8.49)
Fun Dogs 3/$2 (probably going to buy some for my sister's Christmas present. She's a fan of fun dogs)
Cruz Corn Tortillas are .88 and gluten free
Flavorite Stir Fry veggies 2/$3
Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and/or Cinnamon Toast Crunch (family size) are 5/$10, which is a good price. Use coupons from the Sunday paper and coupons.com to reduce your cost further. My family loves cereal (I get crabby if I don't have at least one bowl of cereal a day) and I'm not a big fan of generic cereal - give me Big G or Kellogg's any day, but my rule for cereal is if its over $1 a box, I don't buy it. If its under $1 a box, I buy it. I once owned 37 boxes of cereal. Cereal sales generally go in cycles - about every 6 weeks. If you don't stock up when its on sale, you'll have to buy at a less desirable price.


Cub:
My friends at Cub (except that crabby old lady who glares at my children) have teamed up with the good people at Kraft to offer $25 worth of "free" groceries. You spend $25 on certain Kraft products, you get a coupon for $5 off your next order, plus a mail in rebate for $20. Kellogg's is doing their back to school rebate again this year; buy 10 Kellogg's products, get a $10 mail in rebate. I've never had problems getting my $10 from Kellogg's. This is the first year for the Kraft rebate, I'm hoping it is as easy as the Kellogg rebate. The products on rebate are things I would probably buy if on sale and I had a coupon anyway, plus there were Kraft coupons (very rare) in the Sunday paper this week.

For the rebate, I will be buying the following:
2 Deli fresh lunch meats 2/$6 + $1 off coupon
2 Kraft Singles 2/$5 + $1 off coupon (if I could kidnap the dairy fairy, I would. My kids LOVE the singles)
2 Philly cream cheeses 2/$3.32 + $1 off coupon
4 boxes Mac & Cheese 4/$2 + buy 3 get 1 free coupon
4 Velveeta Mac & Cheese cups 4/$4 + 2 buy one get one coupons
3 Kraft Cheese 3/$5 + $1 off coupon
Which brings me to $25.32 pre-coupons

Grapes .97/lb (cheapest price this week)
Post Cereals are 4/$10 buy 4 and get $4 off (coupon in ad)
Colgate toothpaste 10/$10 use $1 off coupons to get for free

Kellogg's Rebate:
Keebler Chips Cookies, Pop-Tarts, Special K Bars, and selected cereal are $1.97 a box - This is the one time of year Kellogg's puts out coupons, so look around. I have lots of $1/2 coupons I'm willing to share.
Kellogg's fruit snacks are $1.67/box
Purchase 10 and get a $10 by mail in rebate.