If I gave you $15.00, out of the blue, and sent you into the supermarket with the task of bringing out the largest quantity assortment of actual, usable groceries (4/$1.00 candy bars and $0.50 bags of cheese curls being forbidden), what would your be able to purchase? Generally speaking, you could probably walk out with a decently full bag. A head of cabbage, bagged salad, some ground beef, a loaf of bread, a bag of frozen veggies, some eggs......you get the idea. Probably enough items for a delicious, filling dinner for 4.
Now, what if I gave you $15.00 AND the following grocery list?
*2 - 1.5 lb. Hormel pork roasts
*1 - 2 lb. boneless ham
*12 boxes macaroni & cheese
*5 lbs. potatoes
*2 bags World Classics Trading Company shredded cheese
*1 package American cheese singles
*1 pint heavy whipping cream
*2 boxes Cavendish hash brown patties
*2 bags Fresh Express Garden salad
*1 box Cheerio's cereal
*1 box Golden Grahams cereal
*2 Uncle Ben's microwavable rice pouches
*12 English muffins
*1 loaf Arnold oatmeal bread
Would you think "Oh yeah......no problem." Or would you look at me like I was a few cards short of a full deck?
I'm guessing that, if you do ANY sort of regular shopping, you would pick the latter. And, while I normally am missing a club or diamond on any given day, you would be right to think I was being ridiculous. The purchase price for that list before tax is, if purchased at my neighborhood grocery store, $84.99. Well, my friends, I'm going to let you in on how I did, in fact, purchase everything listed above for a whopping total of $14.75.
$14.75 is what everything in this photo cost me. Yes, coupons were involved. But not as much as you probably are thinking. No, more than anything, research, preparation, and methodical purchasing was the key to my overall success.
Before I get into the details of my shopping trip, let me first let you know that the above photo does not include everything I purchased in my shopping trip. And $14.75 was not the receipt total. It really is what I spent on the groceries shown, but keep in mind that I purchased some items to get more in return. Like an investment, if you will. But, I will get into that at a moment.
The town I live in has two options for purchasing groceries: Walmart and Big Y. Each store has pros and cons, in my opinion.
Walmart generally has lower daily prices and an overall larger selection of goods, but is generally full of loud, obnoxious people. It is also a very large store, especially when you have to walk front to back, isle to isle just to get what is on your shopping list. Walmart does accept manufacturer's coupons, but does not double them. They also will match competitor's prices on identical items. Walmart does not (at least, to my knowledge) offer in-store coupons or offer any truly significant sales on items.
Big Y generally has higher daily prices and a less varied selection of
stock. The store is smaller and easier to navigate. Big Y accepts manufacturer's coupons, doubling coupons up to $0.99. They also offer in-store coupons, and they are generally on products such as eggs, milk, cheese, butter, etc. Big Y has big sales frequently, and also have a Silver Membership card you can purchase for $20.00 per year which lets you score premium savings. The best part is the card tracks how much money it has saved you, and if you do not save more than $20.00 over the course of the year, Big Y will refund your entire membership fee.
One of my favorite sales that Big Y has is a Buy 1, Get 2 FREE. After watching sale ads, I have come to find they run these sales close to twice a month, on alternating weekends. During those sales, they tend to alternate the types of items included during each sale. For example, they might run a sale next week with extreme savings on boneless, skinless chicken breasts, frozen shrimp, and bagged bagels. Two weeks later, they will probably have another B1G2 sale, but this time with Polish Kielbasa, 5-lb bags of flour, and store brand peanut butter as the "big ticket items".
**I should probably let you all know now, or the sake of less confusion, that I keep a store / item cost sheet in Excel. Using my receipts, I keep an updated list of how much items cost at each store I purchase them from. This allows me to see which store sells the items at a lower cost, as well as to know if an item on sale at store A is a better deal than the daily price at store B.**
Once a week, I get online and check the new weekly ad. I make a list of anything that catches my eye, either as being something I need to re-stock, or as a huge sale item. Then I check those items and prices against my cost sheet (explained above), my pantry, and several coupon databases (
coupons.com, Facebook pages, manufacturer websites, etc.).
As a general rule, I check to see if the item:
A) Is something we currently need
B) Is something we use frequently and worth stocking up on
C) Is priced at a significantly lower cost (NOT just a few cents )
D) Will have room in my freezer, pantry, etc.
E) Has any store or manufacturer coupons that will lower the cost further.
For this past shopping trip, I found the following sales:
Buy 1, Get 2 Free (of equal or lesser value)
*Hormel Pork Roasts
*World Classics Trading Company Shredded Cheese Packages (8 oz.)
*Cavendish Hash Brown Patties (10 ct.)
Buy 1, Get 1 Free (of equal or lesser value)
*Big Y Brand American Cheese Slices (16 ct.)
*Arnold Country-Style Oatmeal Bread
*Big Y Brand Boneless Quarter Ham
*Big Y Brand White Potatoes (5 lb. bag)
General Mills cereals were on sale at 4 / $10.00.
Big Y Heavy Whipping Cream (pint) - $1.67
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Pouches - $1.79
Big Y Mac & Cheese (12 pack) - $2.98 w/ Gold Coin
Big Y English Muffins (12 ct.) - 1.78 w/ Silver Coin
One thing I would like to point out, that I hope most of you already know, is when a sale says "of equal or lesser value", you really want to try to hit as close to the "equal" as possible. Stores are going to charge you the highest price, and the lower priced items will be "free". The stores want to MAKE the most money from the sales as possible. You, should be trying to GET the most from the sales.
Lets talk about those pork roasts. Here, I only have John and myself to cook for. We don't eat a whole lot of meat, but the fact of the matter is that we DO eat it, and I'd rather have free pork sitting in my freezer for a little while than pay full price for fresh pork frequently. When I do cook meat, it is either a small portion I have pieced out from one large "hunk" I purchased, or it is a larger piece which I then make multiple meals out of.
Looking at it in this manner, I search for a larger sized roast. They are all relatively similar in size, so the larger ones are going to be about 2-3 dollars more expensive. The one I decided on was priced at $9.50 (roughly $5.77 / lb.) Now, to maximize my savings on my two "free" roasts, I found two more that were closely priced - one for $9.50, and one for $9.26. Three roasts, totaling around 4.9 lbs, for $9.50 (or roughly $1.94 / lb.). Had I not checked the weights of my two free roasts, I could have easily gotten smaller ones. While it may have only been a dollar or two different on each roast, the total price adds up.
Instead of two 1.63 lb. roasts, lets imagine I got a 1.30 pound roast and a 1.18 pound roast. Still a descent size, but you're getting over three-quarters of a pound of free meat (1-2 meals worth, depending on your family), bringing your overall cost to $2.31 / lb.
It's the same principle for the boneless ham quarter. I bought a 2 pound ham for $11.12 and got another 1.98 pounds free. All of the meat went directly into the freezer. I will use the roasts in the crock pot, and then use the leftovers in several other dishes. The ham, I can cube and put in potato soups, beans, casseroles, etc. Each one will make multiple meals, and I'm sorry, but free tastes SO MUCH BETTER!
With the items like cheese slices and bread: I make my husband's lunch every day, and he always prefers two turkey sandwiches with cheese. This equates to 10 cheese slices and 20 bread slices per week. I have tracked Big Y sales long enough to know bread and cheese typically go on a B1G1 or B1G2 sale more frequently than other items, so I opt to buy those items in bulk, rather than on a strictly as-needed time frame. And, because my husband takes his lunch every day, it ensures the items get used before they go bad (and that we are not spending money on fast food every day).
Potatoes - I'm Irish & potatoes are cheap. Seriously, growing up, it was rare to NOT have potatoes with dinner. I always think of the conversation from Lord of the Rings:
They are filling, they are super-easy to prepare, and the possibilities are endless. Plus, as a bonus from mother nature, they keep an incredibly long time if stored in a cool, dark space. They also freeze beautifully. You can chop them, dice them, make wedges for steak fries, and then pop them in the freezer. Whenever you need them, they are already prepped for you. These are something I love to stock up on! Other veggies I love to stock up on are squash, onions, carrots, bell peppers, and pretty much any root vegetable. Most all of them will store well in the refrigerator / freezer.
Normally, my husband and I aren't huge breakfast eaters. However, since we have moved so far away from family, and happen to have people coming to visit for several days, I wanted to make sure we had items on hand. The hash browns and cheese are great to stock up on for quick breakfasts accompaniments (cheese omelets w/ hash browns, anyone?) and both can be stored in the freezer until you need them. I also picked up some English muffins to have on hand. They have an incredibly long shelf life, and they were having a pretty good sale on them. Normally, the Big Y brand is priced at 2 (12-count) packs for $5.00. They had a special sale for Silver Membership card holders (the one I mentioned earlier in the post) / Silver Coins, making each 12-pack $1.78 (a mere $0.15 per muffin). Again, this is not an item I tend to "stock up" on, but since we are having company, I wanted to have them on hand, and getting them at a sale is better than not.
*I forgot to mention the silver / gold coins. They are little tokens you can get by "winning" them at the cash register, or for buying certain item combinations listed in their weekly sale ads. You can redeem them for deep discounts on varying items.*
One sale I almost missed was on the Big Y mac & cheese. For me, mac & cheese is nastalgic. It reminds me of being a kid. Sure, it has next to zero nutritional value, and is probably full of artery-cloging, fake-cheesy goodness. Oh, and my husband HATES it. But, I love it, and I like to have it in my stockpile. Usually, I will pick up a couple boxes every couple months. (You can tell we don't go through a lot of it.) I noticed that Big Y had their store-brand mac & cheese on sale for $0.50 each. I checked my price sheet and found Walmart's store brand mac & cheese is the same price. I thought I would pick up a few boxes while at Big Y, and then I wouldn't have to pick any up on my next trip to Walmart. After making up my shopping list, I did a final scan over the sale lists, and I discovered something big I had missed. Big Y was indeed listing individual boxes of mac & cheese for $0.50 each, but they also had 12-packs with Silver and Gold coin discounts. With a silver coin (or a Silver Membership card), the original price of $6.99 per 12-pack was dropped to $4.98. With a gold coin, the 12-pack price was $2.98 (or $0.25 each). While I had not planned on picking up 12 boxes, I had a gold coin in my coupon stash from a previous shopping trip. Since Walmart's store brand was already at $0.50 each, and their prices don't generally drop significantly, I decided to take advantage of this sale and boost my stockpile.
The last three items I purchased are the only items I used coupons on.
-You see, I TOLD you I coupons didn't make the most difference in this trip!-
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice microwavable rice (specifically Jasmine & Basmati) is something I like to keep on hand. It has a much different taste and texture than regular rice or Minute Rice, and is perfect for days that even boiling water is too much of a hassle.
You know those days.
They are normally (per my trusty price sheet) $1.89 per pouch at Walmart. Big Y had them on sale for $1.79 each. Already a savings to buy them at Big Y (since I would normally buy them anyway.) However, I did some searching online and found coupons for $1.00 off the purchase of 4 pouches. The coupons did not prohibit the use of multiple coupons in a single transaction, so I used two. The eight pouches which I would have normally picked up at Walmart for their every day lower price cost $1.54 after coupons. So, by the very little effort of simply checking sales and printing off two coupons (MAYBE 2 minutes worth of effort) I saved $2.80.
Something I keep on hand often is heavy whipping cream. I love to make - shocker - whipped cream, butter, or add it to recipes to give it a velvety, rich flavor. Big Y normally sells their brand for $2.59 per pint. The sale price this week is 1.67. I searched through the Big Y in-store coupon book and discovered at $0.75 coupon for a pint of their heavy cream, which brought the total cost down to $0.92 per pint, or 62% off. Again, this is something I would typically buy anyway - taking advantage of a discount is just smart shopping.
Finally - cereal. This is the most interesting item of my shopping trip, because it utilized several different savings. While I don't normally eat breakfast, as I have said many times earlier, I do actually like cereal. Usually for lunch. And usually not the "adult" flavors like Fiber and Bran. No....the sugar-laden deliciousness that is drowned in milk. Sans marshmallows though, because they make the milk taste funny. But I digress. Cereal is very shelf-stable and is another staple in my stockpile. But, especially brand name cereals, can become pricy if purchasing a lot at once.
First, Big Y had their General Mills Cereals listed at 4 / $10.00 for Silver Membership cardholders. Normally priced between $3.19 - $3.35 each, this is already a savings of $0.77 per box.
Next, General Mills had a promotion (not to be confused with a coupon) going on that with every purchase of 4 General Mills cereals (Only certain brands and sizes qualified), you would receive $4.00 off at the register. This brought the price to 4 / $6.00 or a savings of $1.77 per box.
Lastly, I searched online and found a printable coupon for $1.00 off the purchase of 3 General Mills cereals matching the ones allowed under the sale AND promotion. This brought the total cost of cereal to 4 / $5.00, or $1.25 per box, which is cheaper than I could have purchased the generic brand bagged cereal for.
So, now to recap all this information and mash it into a more manageable bit of knowledge.
Hormel Pork Roasts - Normally $5.77 per pound
3 Roasts (4.9 lbs.) B1G2 = Purchase price of $9.50 ($1.94 / lb.) = Savings of $18.76
WCTC Shredded Cheese Packages (8 oz.) - Normally $3.69 each
3 packages B1G2 = 3 / $3.69 = Savings of $7.38
Cavendish Hash Brown Patties (10 ct.) - Normally $3.99 each
3 packs (10 ct.) B1G2 = 3 / $3.99 = Savings of $7.98
Big Y Brand American Cheese Slices (16 ct.) - Normally $3.84 each
2 packs (16 ct.) B1G1 = 2 / $3.84 = Savings of $3.84
Arnold Country-Style Oatmeal Bread - Normally $3.99 each
2 loafs B1G1 = 2 / $3.99 = Savings of $3.99
Big Y Brand Boneless Quarter Ham - Normally $5.55 per pound
2 Quarter Hams (4 lbs.) B1G1 = Purchase price of 11.12 ($2.78 / lb.) = Savings of $11.07
Big Y Brand White Potatoes (5 lb. bag) - Normally $3.99 each
2 bags B1G1 = 2 / $3.99 = Savings of $3.99
General Mills Cereal - Normally $3.31 per box
Sale = 4 / $10.00 + Promo = 4 / $6.00 + Coupon (-$1.00 / 3) = 4 / $5.00 = Savings of $8.24
Big Y Heavy Whipping Cream (pint) - Normally $2.59 each
1 Pint Sale = 1 / $1.67 + Coupon (-$0.75 / 1) = $0.92 = Savings of $1.67
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Pouches - Normally $2.49 each
8 Pouches Sale - 1 / $1.79 + 2 Coupons (-$1.00 / 4) = 1 / $1.54 = Savings of $7.60
Big Y Mac & Cheese (12 pack) - Normally $6.99 each
1 Pack (12 ct.) Sale = 1 / $4.98 + Gold Coin (-2.00) = $2.98 = Savings of $4.01
Big Y English Muffins (12 ct.) - Normally $2.50 each
1 Pack (12 ct.) Sale = 1 / $1.78 = Savings of $0.72
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That adds up to a savings total of $79.25! And, all I had to do was a little homework before I went shopping! If you have 20-30 minutes, once, twice, or more per week, you can certainly make a dent in your budget in a similar fashion!
For my overall shopping trip, my original total cost came to $249.52.
After SALES, COUPONS, PROMOTIONS, and my MEMBERSHIP CARD, the final total came to $154.32.
A total savings of $95.20.
While a 39% savings is not the 98% they may show on Extreme Couponers, it is still nearly $100 saved. And what's more, it is all practical groceries we can use well, as opposed to 200 packs of gum and 458 packs of Ramen Noodes.
Not to say you can't use those items, but in my personal opinion, Ham Steaks and Mashed Potatoes sounds a heck of a lot better than Spearmint-Shrimp Flavored Noodles.
Would you agree?
