JUNE Food Stamp Challenge....Day Five

This post is part of the June Food Stamp Challenge over HERE.

 **WARNING--This is the post where I ramble on about grocery shopping.**

This is the last day of the weekly sales cycle at my local grocery store, Weis Markets, so I headed over to the grocery store to gather some supplies for the month.

Now and again, they run Catalina Deals at Weis.  
For those who don't pay attention to this marketing tool that grocery stores use, a Catalina Deal consists of a special group of items for sale in the store.  When you purchase these items(in a certain combination or quantity and/or in a certain dollar value), the store rewards you with a special coupon called a Catalina.  This coupon is usually good on a subsequent shopping trip.  The store uses this to get you back into their store so you spend MORE MONEY there!

But sometimes, you the consumer, can use this marketing tool to your advantage.  If some of this special group of items that qualify for the Catalina are on sale and you have Manufacturer's coupons, and these items are things you are going to buy anyway, you can pay very little for the items, get the Catalina coupon and then roll the deal.

"Rolling the deal" involves making multiple purchases and using the previously received Catalina to help pay for the next purchases(after applying any coupons and the sale prices of course).  Doing this can help you stretch your food dollars even more as long as you don't succumb to buying products you really don't need/can't use that are qualifying for the Catalina deal.

This is one of the 'tricks' couponers use to maximize our dollars.
I rolled a Catalina Deal 3 times today.  More on that later.

Here is my 1st grocery store food purchase for Saturday....

2 x Hebrew National Hot Dogs on sale BOGO($5.99)=$5.99
2 x Weis Cheese 8 oz. blocks on sale BOGO($2.50)=$2.50
1 x Sara Lee Bread on sale $1.50**Rang up=$2.89
2 x Better Than Ears Dog Treats on sale $2.29=$4.58
1 x 18 Large Eggs on sale=$1.50
1 x Almond Breeze Milk on sale=$2.50
4 x Klondike Ice Cream Bars on sale $2.50=$10.00
1 x Perdue precooked Chicken on sale=$3.50
2 x 1.18lb. Ground Beef special @.99¢lb=$2.36
1 x 1.03lb. 93%lean Ground Beef patties=$5.14
1 x .81lb. Sirloin Tip Steak=$3.47
1 x .92lb. London Broil=$3.67
1 x 1.16lb. Beef Cubes=$3.82
2 x pkgs. Chicken Thighs(4lbs. total)-$4.25 & $4.07 BOGO Sale=$4.25
SubTotal before coupons with sale prices.....$56.17

Coupons Used

2 x .75/1 Hebrew National Hot Dogs manu Q(doubled to $1)=$2.00
2 x $1.50/1 Better Than Ears Dog Treats manu Q=$3.00
1 x $1/1 Almond Breeze Milk manu Q=$1.00
1 x .75/1 Perdue Shortcuts Chicken manu Q(doubled to $1)=$1.00
1 x Ground Beef patties $3.00 Discount Sticker=$3.00
1 x Sirloin Tip Steak $1.50 Discount Sticker=$1.50
1 x London Broil $1.50 Discount Sticker=$1.50
1 x Beef Cubes $1.50 Discount Sticker=$1.50
2 x Chicken Thighs $2.00 Discount Sticker=$4.00
Coupon Total....$18.50

$56.17-$18.50=$37.67+$.28tax=$37.95
And I received a $7 On Your Next Order Catalina for buying the Eggs, Almond Breeze Milk & Ice Cream Bars.


So after coupons....
The 2 packs of hot dogs came out to $2.00 a piece.   Yes, you could buy cheaper hot dogs, but Hot Dogs are marginally nutritional, so if we are going to eat them, I'd prefer we eat 'good' ones.  This is not something we eat all the time but sometimes us carnivores feel the need to pour nitrites into our bodies....if you don't eat them, good for you.  We do, so deal with it. ;-)
The dog treats were $.79 a package.
The large almond milk was $1.50.
Over 10lbs. of raw meat/chicken was $15.28 after sales and Meat Dept. Instant Discounts.**The 2 packs of chicken was awesome because I only paid for 1 pack due to the BOGO sale plus the 2 $2 Discount stickers made that $4.25 pack of chicken cost $.25...4lbs. of chicken thighs for 25¢!

**This is one of my tips on buying meat for less.  Grocery store meat departments generally have a day set aside when they discount meat products.  It's worth asking them what that day is so you can arrange your week to get to the store when they mark down the meats.  Some stores also mark down dairy in this way so check your local stores.  My favorite scenario involves meats that are on sale already(either per lb. sale discounting or a BOGO deal)additionally being reduced since they are coming to the end of their "sell by" dating.  I bring a calculator to the store to figure the per lb. cost after all the discounts are applied to see if the sale price is low enough.  I like to keep my beef purchase price $2 or under and my chicken $1 or under.  I do NOT use this trick to get seafood cheaper.....fresher is better there! ;-) 

And my loaf of bread did NOT ring up on sale as it should have.  Weis store policy is that you get a full refund of what you pay if something on sale does NOT ring up correctly, so I get to deduct the $2.89 refund from my spending today.

In addition, the Perdue precooked chicken has a rebate in addition to the coupon I used, so my $3.50 package of chicken pieces will be free(+ an extra .25¢ since the coupon I used doubled to $1 and the rebate form only takes off .75 for the coupon). **This kind of item is something I don't usually buy, due to the high cost per lb. of meat...I prefer to buy my chicken raw.  But the rebate made it free to me so I got it.
So...the OOP spending on this transaction has become $32.31.
Since the Food Stamp Challenge doesn't include pet food, I'll deduct the OOP for the dog treats(plus the tax on them), so that's another $1.86 off, for a grand total of....$30.45.


Then I took that $7 Catalina Coupon and stocked up on Ice Cream, Eggs and Whipped Cream....


1 x 18 ct. Large Eggs on sale=$1.50
1 x Redi-Wipp Whipped Cream on sale=$2.00
4 x Klondike Ice Cream Bars on sale $2.50=$10.00
Subtotal....$13.50-Minus $7 Cat coupon=$6.50 Out of Pocket & another $7 OYNO Catalina coupon.

And I rolled this same transaction again.....$6.50 & another $7 OYNO Catalina to use next week.

I ended up with 8 more packages of Klondike Bars, 3 dozen more eggs(in addition to my 1st transaction) & 2 whipped cream for an additional $13.00 OOP(=Out of Pocket).

Usually I like to use coupons to bring the OOP down lower but the items that qualified for this Catalina Deal, that I wanted, did not have coupons available.   I could have bought different qualifying products that had coupons available & paid even less but that would not have been smart with the money. ;-)

Grand Total for the day's groceries.....$30.45+$13.00=$43.45 (+that $7 Q I can use on any product next week).
Value of the food if purchased at regular retail without sales/coupons.....$125.31.
That's a savings of 65.33%.
I almost forgot.....for every $50 you spend in one transaction at the local Weis you earn 10¢ in gas rewards at the local gas station.   Today's 1st transaction earned me .10¢ per gallon discount on my next fill-up.
Not that I buy groceries to get the gas discount but it's a small perk I can use.

I am now stocked up with ice cream for the summer, have 12lbs. of protein(counting the precooked chicken and hot dogs)& some whipped cream for the local strawberry crop that will be ready very soon.

June FS Challenge Total Spent to date.....$87.91
Amount Remaining in Budget.....$322.81  

Days Down.....5
Days to Go....25

Sluggy