My Shopping Trips and Meal Plan Monday Menu....Rambling Post

Not that this will help anyone directly,l but I just have to post about it since it's the closest to a honest-to-goodness Grocery Deal I've done in ages!  We bought other stuff but I wanted to mention this deal in case stores near you were going to run something like this one in the near future.

Our local independent chain stores--each one is independently owned, but they share an affiliation(shurfine brand markets), so they share the same weekly deals/sales--had a double dip opportunity I just found out about on Sat. morning.  The bad news was their deal was ending that evening. 8-P

This past week they were running a General Mills sale/deal.....buy 12 participating items(most of which were on sale as well and there were coupons in circulation for these items)and get an instant $5 off your bill.  Other chains may run this as a Catalina deal instead of an Instant Discount deal.  Among the included General Mills 'brands' were Green Giant, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Yoplait, etc.

Included in the participating items were the small, boxed Green Giant veggies, which were on sale for $1.25 each.  This chain is also participating in a nationwide Green Giant Catalina through Oct. 3rd--Get a $1 Cat WYB 4 boxes/Get a $2 Cat WYB 6 boxes/Get a $3 Cat WYB 8 boxes or more, making this a great Double Dip Opportunity!

I've got no pic of all the items we bought but here's a shot of some of the frozen vegs...

So I bought.....
8 Green Giant veggies @ $1.25=$10.00
2 Betty Crocker Taters @ $1.25=$2.50
2 Coco Puffs Cereal @ $2.00=$4.00
SubTotal....$16.50

Coupons Used
2 x $.60/3 IP Green Giant Qs(1st identical Q doubles to $1)=$1.60
1 x $1/2 BC Taters IPQ=$1.00
1 x $1/2 GM Cereals IPQ=$1.00
Coupon Total...$3.60

$16.50-$3.60=$12.90
Minus Instant $5 off Bill for buying 12 items $12.90-$5.00=$7.90 OOP
And I received a $3 Catalina for buying the 8 Veggies, so after figuring in that, the 'OOP' is $4.90.

I brought Hubs along and at another register he bought....

8 Green Giant veggies @ $1.25=$10.00
3 Hamburger Helper @ $1.00=$3.00
1 Cheerios Cereal @ $2.00=$2.00
SubTotal....$15.00

Coupons Used
2 x $.60/3 IP Green Giant Qs(1st identical Q doubles to $1)=$1.60
1 x $1/3 Hamburger Helper IPQ=$1.00
1 x $.55 Cheerios IPQ=$.55(didn't double)
Coupon Total...$3.15

$15.00-$3.15=$11.85
Minus Instant $5 off Bill for buying 12 items $11.85-$5.00=$6.85 OOP
And I received a $3 Catalina for buying the 8 Veggies....$6.85-$3.00=$3.85
AND as an unexpected Bonus, Hubs received a $1.50 WYB  Beef/Chicken/Tuna Catalina(for buying 3 Hamburger Helpers)....$3.85-$1.50=$2.35 'OOP'

 $7.90 + $6.85=$14.75 OOP for 24 items(16 veggies, 3 cereals, 5 boxed taters and helpers)& $7.50 in Catalinas to use next trip, since I didn't use Cat from Transaction #1 in Transaction #2, as they were done simultaneously.

 The bad thing is that I have to go to this particular Shurfine affiliated store to use them and I can't use them at the store here in Teeny Tiny Town.
But I drive the 5 miles to go to that affiliated store anyway since they DO take internet coupons!

Other items purchased were 2 gallons of milk, 9 white eggplant, 5lb potatoes, 1 lb. red peppers, 1 lb. broccoli, 1lb. peaches, 6lbs. apples, 1.39lb. bananas, bottle of dipping mustard, 2 packages of Oreos, 9 lbs. of chicken & a pie that was on clearance.
We spent $53.11 combined($14.75 of that was on the GM Cat deal).
Reg. retail of all items was $116.06
Savings of 54.25%


We also went to Weis Markets on Saturday and picked up more groceries......have I mentioned I haven't gone grocery shopping since last month?lol


4 x Perdue bags of chicken tenders(for #2 son on band nights) on sale $4.00=$16.00
3 x Weis shredded cheese on sale 3/$5=$5.00
5 x Weis cream cheese on sale $1=$5.00
1 x 3lb. Jennie-O ground turkey=$5.99
2 x 8 oz. fresh oysters on clearance $3.59=$7.18
1 x iceberg lettuce on sale=$1.50
2 x fresh pears on sale=$.83
3 x fresh limes on sale=$.60
1 x celery on sale=$1.50
3lbs. sweet italian sausage=$6.05
SubTotal....$49.65

Coupons Used
4 x $1/1 Perdue chicken ManuQ=$4.00
1 x $3/1 Instant Discount Q for Sausage=$3.00
Coupon Total....$7.00

$49.61-$7.00=$42.65
Reg. retail $80.53
Savings of 47%

Grand Total spent for all shopping....$95.76
Total value of items....$196.59
Savings of 51.30%


Ok, so I bet you are asking yourself, "self, why did Sluggy buy this particular stuff?".
Glad you asked!! ;-)

To analyze the purchases....
*The Cat deal stuff is obvious--veggies for the freezer, helper & instant potatoes for quick fix nights, 1 cereal for me and the chocolate stuff for #2 son snacks.
Other items bought at Gerrity's Shurfine....
*2 gallons of milk--we were totally out of milk
*2 packages of Oreos--tried to use the free Oreo/milk Q but they wouldn't take it so I bought Oreos anyway for #2 son snacks(they were on sale at least)
*9 white eggplant--great price for this so Eggplant Parmesan is on the menu this evening
*5lb potatoes--cheap price for this
*1 lb. red peppers--ditto, I'll slice and freeze these for use this winter
*1 lb. broccoli--for dinner this week
*1lb. peaches--great price
* 6lbs. apples--ditto
* 1.39lb. bananas--ditto...daughter is on a fresh fruit binge lately
* bottle of dipping mustard--had $1 off coupon so got it for $1.25. #2 son likes this with his chicken tenders
* 9 lbs. of chicken--great price on boneless chicken breast so I stocked up some
* a pie--Hubs wanted this and with the $2 off instant coupon stuck to it, I said ok!lol
*4 bags of Perdue chicken-#2 son is in the midst of Marching Band season so he needs easy meal protein most nights since he isn't here for dinner.  It was $2.99 a bag after coupons so I bought as many as I had coupons for.
*3 Shredded Cheese-on sale for $1.66 bag and I still needed some in the stockpile.
 *5 Cream Cheese--stock up price so I did.lol
*Ground Turkey roll--Daughter needs easy meal protein some nights as well due to her part time job schedule. I divided this roll into burger patties for her.
*Fresh Oysters--50% off on something we hardly ever buy.  At this price, we splurged and had fried oysters for dinner last night. ;-)
* Lettuce-good price, we were out.
*Pears--sale price, daughter wanted
*Limes--sale price, I wanted for my iced tea
*Celery--good price, we were out.  I'll make clam chowder this week, plus use some for raw veggie sticks for snacks.
*3lb. italian sausage--with Instant Meat Dept. Coupon this was $1 a lb....half of any sale price around here so I grabbed it.  Many uses for this item....in spaghetti sauce, in meatloaf, in various other casseroles or just grilled and eaten on a bun.

My Meal Plan Menu so far for this week....
Sunday--fried oysters, fried potatoes, fried crabcakes, sauted yellow squash
Monday--eggplant parmesan, steamed broccoli
Tuesday--leftovers
Wednesday--grilled chicken, potatoes and onions, tbd fresh veggie-all on the grill
Thursday--spaghetti & meatballs, salad
Friday--Game night so Hamburger Helper, assorted  steamed veggies
Saturday--clam chowder and sandwiches or leftovers again

I'm using some of what I bought this week but I'll have chicken, chicken tenders, potatoes, ground turkey, italian sausage, cream cheese and the shredded cheese, along with most of the GM items from the Cat deal left for next week's meals.

Have you found any good Deals lately?

Sluggy