Cereal!

I was so excited to see the sale and coupons on the Frosted Mini Wheats cereal! It is our favorite cereal and I don't think it's been at such a low price in almost a year. I know seventeen boxes may seem a little excessive, but we have already finished one box... and it's only been one week. I was also able to purchase a lot of produce this week. The vanilla yogurt with fresh chopped strawberries and the granola that I purchased last week make a yummy dessert. Now all I need is some milk for all that cereal! How did your week go?


Total before sales and coupons: $465.91
Total paid, including tax: $55.13

17 Frosted Mini Wheats
2 Honey Bunches of Oats
1 Krave, cereal (excited to try this new cereal)
1 Fruit Loops
1 Apple Jacks
1 Quaker oatmeal (wasn't on sale, but my little ones LOVE oatmeal with strawberries)
1 grits
1 loaf italian bread
4 mac and cheese
2 bags marshmallows (won't be cold enough for campfires much longer, so we have to make them special with roasted marshmallows, right?!)
6 Kettle Brand chips
8 Uncle Ben's rice
2 cream of mushroom soup
6 (28 oz.) Hunts diced tomatoes (will use these larger cans to make homemade marinara sauce)
5 (6 0z.) Hunts tomato paste
1 Hurst bean soup
1 (5 pack) Ramen noodles (not part of my shopping list, but my boys asked very nicely if they could please have "Oodle Noodles", as they call them)
12 cans Green Giant vegetables
1 honey bear
4 Enfamil (will be donated)
15 Sundown vitamins (B6 and Folic Acid - purchased at multiple stores on multiple shopping trips. NO shelf clearing - one store had over 25 bottles of the B6 on the shelf.)
6 Cover Girl nail clippers (no matter how many nail clippers I buy, they always seem to vanish... I think they run away with our socks!)
4 Cover Girl nail files
6 (5 lb.) Science Diet dog food
6 Science Diet dog treats
2 energy star light bulb (on clearance - two lights in our house had just gone out, so the timing couldn't have been better for these to clearance... plus I had a coupon!)
2 pkgs. seeds, green beans
5 lbs. strawberries (I love this time of year when the local strawberries are so cheap)
3 lbs. apples
3 lbs. oranges
1 lb. asparagus
6 (4 ct.) Yoplait kid's yogurt
2 Kraft sliced cheese
3 dozen eggs (free after coupon wyb Kellogg's cereal)
1 ricotta
4 Hot Pockets Snackers
11 lbs. chicken quarters (this will make several meals - BBQ chicken, fried chicken, chicken soup, chicken salad and maybe even a chicken casserole)

Pasta, Cheese, Produce, Formula and Much More!

Bought a lot of pasta and cheese this week, as well as a fair amount of produce. Just goes to show that you really can save on FOOD using coupons. Even some organic foods can be a part of my budget now! The Viva Italia sale at Publix isn’t as good as it was last year, but I am still finding some good deals. The BOGO lasagna noodles are probably my favorite. I think I will pick up a couple more boxes before the sale ends. Wait, maybe the cheese is my favorite deal… yeah, the cheese at $1.50 per lb. is pretty great!

Total before sales and coupons: $291.50

Total paid, including tax: $43.77

Here is what I purchased:

4 Muir Glen organic tomato paste

8 Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes

4 boxes macaroni and cheese (2 boxes already eaten)

1 (8 ct.) hot dog buns (some eaten)

1 (8 ct.) hamburger buns (most eaten)

2 cans kidney beans

1 pkg. chili seasoning

1 lg. can corned beef and hash

12 Kettle Brand chips

6 Mueller’s penne pasta

4 Mueller’s angel hair pasta

2 Mueller’s lasagna

2 Bear Naked granola

1 loaf whole wheat bread (over half already used to make the many PB&J’s my 2 yr. old requested)

6 Enfamil formula, concentrate (will be donated)

12 (8 oz.) Kraft cheese

1 (8 oz.) Walmart brand cheddar cheese (needed this earlier in the week, before the sale at Publix started… I paid full price for this bag – so sad)

4 (4 ct.) Yoplait kid’s yogurt

1 Kraft Parmesan cheese

10 Tyson Any’tizers chicken wings

4 Acai berry organic juice

4 ½ lbs. bananas ($.39 a lb – my boys have already eaten all of them!)

2 lbs. strawberries

½ lb. mushroom (already eaten)

1 lb. asparagus

2 Method dish soap

2 (32 ct.) Finish dishwasher detergent

6 Sominex

8 Tampa Bay Times newspapers (had the $5 off $30 Publix coupon – newspapers already recycled)

$36.13 for the Week - Saved 86%

Kind of a slow week for shopping. My plan was to really stock up on some ground beef from Sweetbays (I had a raincheck) and purchase at least one of the spiral cut hams (priced at only $.99 lb.). That made up the majority of my expenses this past week, too, since I had a $10 Publix gift card to cover my groceries there. The gift card was from last week’s deal – spend $100, receive a $10 gift card. I didn’t calculate the gift card into last weeks total, so it counts this week like any other coupon. I actually still have $1.44 left on the card! I also picked up a few things at Walmart that we were running low on. I was actually down to only 4 more loads worth of dishwasher detergent! I bought some… no sale, no coupon. It was horrible – I really hope there is a good sale soon, because I just don’t think I can bring myself to pay full price again. I might just wash all the dishes by hand… okay, maybe not. :)

Total before sales and coupons: $263.67

Total paid, including tax: $36.13

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (one not pictured)

1 loaf whole wheat bread (mostly eaten)

1 can Red Gold tomatoes (free product coupon from facebook promotion)

2 packs Valentine M&Ms (special treat for my boys – and only $.14 each after coupon)

1 sour cream

9 ½ lbs. ground beef 80/20 (2 more packages not pictured - 3 lbs. each)

9 ½ lbs. spiral cut ham

4 boxes Tyson Any’tizers chicken wings (will be submitting the receipt for the $10 sporting goods MIR – my 4 yr. old really wants a basketball)

2 (2 ct. each) Barber Food chicken cordon bleu (my husband’s favorite easy meal!)

4 (4 ct. each) Trix yogurt (made with real sugar… NO artificial coloring!)

4 Sambazon organic juice (already drink one - these are delicious)

1 bunch fresh basil (had to make a big pot of homemade marinara sauce and my basil plants just weren’t ready to offer enough leaves)

1 ¾ lbs. yellow onions (forgot to get these in the picture)

8 Breathe Right nasal strips (these are the greatest thing when you have a stuffy nose)

1 dishwasher detergent

2 packs Huggies GoodNites

2 Phazyme

6 Sominex (didn’t just buy because it was a MM – know someone who is very thankful I can get this product for them… free)

3 Beyond One dog food

4 Pedigree puppy food

18 Temptations cat treats (all free – will be donated)

Under $50 for Everything!

Yes, I know I bought cereal last week and we really don’t need anymore, but free is just too good a deal to pass up (there was a HUGE display and I was shopping on the last day of the sale, so no shelf clearing). I will be donating all the Fiber One cereal and the 18 jars of baby food to a local food shelf. Coupons mean that I can purchase enough food to take care of my family and bless others, as well.

There were some other great deals this week, too. The Bird’s Eye veggies were 50% off at Publix - making them roughly $1 each before coupons. I had (11) $.50/1 manufacturer coupons on the Chef’s Favorites variety and (8) $1/2 store coupons on any Bird’s eye, so I only paid about $2.50 for all 16 packages! We also purchased plenty of yummy bacon! We made a big breakfast dinner last night: eggs, bacon, tomato gravy and grits and homemade blueberry muffins! Of course, the bacon was the prized item on the table. Yum Yum!

Total before sales and coupons: $379.72

Total paid, including tax: $47.76

Here is what I purchased:

10 Fiber One cereal

4 Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

20 boxes Barilla pasta

2 Starkist tuna

2 Pepperidge Farm goldfish (my boys convince me that we needed to buy some more)

1 box fruit snacks

2 cans refried beans (1 already used)

18 Beechnut baby food

2 Cascadian Farm granola bars

1 cream of mushroom soup

20 chocolate Valentine candies

2 UP2U gum

4 Dean’s dip

8 oz. cheddar cheese

2 Skinny cow ice cream (already eaten… special treat and they only cost $.22 each!)

12 packs (1 lb. each) Smithfield bacon

4 packs Johnsonville Italian sausage (these are the best Italian sausage!)

16 Bird’s Eye Steamfresh (11 Chef’s Favorites and 5 vegetable)

10 lbs. grapefruit

6 Ocean Spray juice drinks

2 Trop50 orange juices (one already opened, not pictured)

4 Purina One dog food

1 rope bone dog toy

4 bags Kingsford charcoal

2 sponges

2 Breathe Right

1 Vaseline lotion

11 Bic pens (some black, some multi-colored… my boys love the different colored ones)

Note: I didn’t have to buy much for veggies this week, because we have lots fresh broccoli and lettuce in the garden right now. I have a good bit of frozen veggies, too.

Oh, yeah, I also have a $10 Publix gift card from purchasing $100 worth before coupons. The gift card promotion is still going through Wednesday. I may try and get another one. I have not used the $10 gift card yet, so that will be calculated into next weeks totals.