Ralph's/Albertsons Trip 7/16/11
I will be posting a few recent couponing trips I've made over the next few days! This one is from this past Saturday. This was just a small grocery trip with two transactions at Albertsons and one at Ralph's. Let's start with Albertsons!
Albertsons
I had a two-transaction trip planned here. For my first transaction I purchased 4 boxes of cereal (Reese's Puffs, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and Cocoa Puffs). They were on sale 4/$6.46 and I had 2 $1/2 coupons so I paid 4/$4.46 or $1.11/each. They also had a special where if you buy any 4 boxes, a Catalina coupon for $2 off your next purchase would print, AND a Catalina for a free gallon of milk up to $4.50.
Next, I picked up 3 boxes of Pop Tarts, on sale 3/$4. I had a $1 off coupon so that brought it down to 3/$3, or $1 each. They were running a special - buy 3, and a $1 off your next trip Catalina prints.
So we checked out and paid $12 for $25.43 worth of food, a savings of 53%.
Transaction #2 we purchased 4 cans of S&W beans which were on sale for $1.25 each. I had a $1 off coupon, bringing the price down to $1 each. I picked up a gallon of milk for $3.89, and two packages of Tyson grilled chicken breast strips, which were on sale B1G1 free. Time for checkout! I used my $3 off in Catalina coupons that had printed from my first transaction, plus my free milk up to $4.50 coupon, which scanned for the whole $4.50, so they actually paid me 61¢ for the milk! My total came down from $18.34 to $4.38, for a savings of 76%!
Everything went very smoothly at Albertsons, so onto Ralph's it was.
Ralph's
At Ralph's they were running one of my favorite deals: mix and match any 10 of the selected items and receive $5 off your bill! I always look for items I have coupons for to maximize the savings. This trip, I planned to buy 5 tubes of toothpaste and 5 boxes of Pasta Roni. I had coupons that would make the first toothpaste free (they double one of each "like" coupon) and the other 4 tubes would be 49¢ each. I didn't have coupons for the Pasta Roni, however it was only 75¢/box and the perfect thing to fill out my 10 items as it was something I was needing.
However, at the checkout the checker stated we could only use 3 of one "type" of coupon, so I could only buy 3 tubes of toothpaste (99¢ isn't cheap enough for me for toothpaste! ;)). I put back 2 tubes and picked up 2 more boxes of Pasta Roni. In the end I got 1 tube of toothpaste completely free, 2 tubes of toothpaste for 49¢ each, and 7 boxes of Pasta Roni for 75¢ each! I got $24.02 worth of food for $6.19, a savings of 74%!
Overall, I was very pleased with this trip! It is a little trickier to save on groceries than at the drugstores, but with a little time and effort, it can definitely be done! I feel a realistic savings at the grocery store in CA is 50-80%, depending on the trip, and this definitely hit that target! Of course there are the times you can get 90-100% deals, but on a regular basis, 50-80% is very realistic.
Let me know in the comments what good deals you've scored at the grocery store lately. :)
Albertsons
I had a two-transaction trip planned here. For my first transaction I purchased 4 boxes of cereal (Reese's Puffs, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and Cocoa Puffs). They were on sale 4/$6.46 and I had 2 $1/2 coupons so I paid 4/$4.46 or $1.11/each. They also had a special where if you buy any 4 boxes, a Catalina coupon for $2 off your next purchase would print, AND a Catalina for a free gallon of milk up to $4.50.
Next, I picked up 3 boxes of Pop Tarts, on sale 3/$4. I had a $1 off coupon so that brought it down to 3/$3, or $1 each. They were running a special - buy 3, and a $1 off your next trip Catalina prints.
So we checked out and paid $12 for $25.43 worth of food, a savings of 53%.
Transaction #2 we purchased 4 cans of S&W beans which were on sale for $1.25 each. I had a $1 off coupon, bringing the price down to $1 each. I picked up a gallon of milk for $3.89, and two packages of Tyson grilled chicken breast strips, which were on sale B1G1 free. Time for checkout! I used my $3 off in Catalina coupons that had printed from my first transaction, plus my free milk up to $4.50 coupon, which scanned for the whole $4.50, so they actually paid me 61¢ for the milk! My total came down from $18.34 to $4.38, for a savings of 76%!
Everything went very smoothly at Albertsons, so onto Ralph's it was.
Ralph's
At Ralph's they were running one of my favorite deals: mix and match any 10 of the selected items and receive $5 off your bill! I always look for items I have coupons for to maximize the savings. This trip, I planned to buy 5 tubes of toothpaste and 5 boxes of Pasta Roni. I had coupons that would make the first toothpaste free (they double one of each "like" coupon) and the other 4 tubes would be 49¢ each. I didn't have coupons for the Pasta Roni, however it was only 75¢/box and the perfect thing to fill out my 10 items as it was something I was needing.
However, at the checkout the checker stated we could only use 3 of one "type" of coupon, so I could only buy 3 tubes of toothpaste (99¢ isn't cheap enough for me for toothpaste! ;)). I put back 2 tubes and picked up 2 more boxes of Pasta Roni. In the end I got 1 tube of toothpaste completely free, 2 tubes of toothpaste for 49¢ each, and 7 boxes of Pasta Roni for 75¢ each! I got $24.02 worth of food for $6.19, a savings of 74%!
Overall, I was very pleased with this trip! It is a little trickier to save on groceries than at the drugstores, but with a little time and effort, it can definitely be done! I feel a realistic savings at the grocery store in CA is 50-80%, depending on the trip, and this definitely hit that target! Of course there are the times you can get 90-100% deals, but on a regular basis, 50-80% is very realistic.
Let me know in the comments what good deals you've scored at the grocery store lately. :)
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