Fab Finds....

I'm still on a high from the Con Agra sale a couple of weeks ago. I was just talking to my brother about how it took 6 trips to get everything home from the store...now THAT was an amazing deal!! It's hard to live those kind of sales down because nothing seems like a good deal after that. Albertsons' put the Con Agra products like Chef Boyardee and Healthy Choice on sale last week at 80 cents a can. Who wants to buy it at that price anymore? 56cents for 12 cans still sends shivers down my spine :)

There's a couple of great finds at Safeway this week. On the back page where the store coupons are, they have a couple of things that add up to a great idea. The Betty Crocker fruit snacks are 99cents a box. If you layer coupons on that--stock-up worthy for those little ones. And with Halloween coming, it's a cheap way to satisfy those little trick-or-treaters, too. There are some coupons floating out there for $1 off Frito Lay multi-packs. That makes the 22ct pack at $4.49 a pretty good deal. That beats Costco any day on the per bag price!

I don't need spaghetti sauce. I don't, I don't, I don't. But Ragu is on sale $5 for 4 jars. That's $1.25 each. If you get some of the 50 cent off coupons from ebay or some other coupon sources...that makes them 75 cents a jar. AND...I could use some of the Ragu Alfredo sauce that is available on the same sale. Gotta love the flexibility in merchandising similar products at the same time.

Safeway has Red and Golden delicious apples for 58 cents a pound. Another hot buy is the Sara Lee bread and milk combo. I just ordered coupons from ebay that are save $1 on milk when you buy 1 loaf of the Sara Lee Soft & Smooth bread--which is $1 a loaf when you buy 5 of them. Milk is $1.99 a gallon--so you can get a loaf of yummy bread and a gallon of milk for $1.99. We go through a lot of milk, so the bread will be a free bonus for what I'm already having to buy. There are also coupons for the bread (55cents off) if you can snag some of those...then it's a tremendous deal. Just remember--are you allowed to place ONE coupon for every ONE item. The coupon for the bread would satisfy the bread. The second coupon is actually for the milk--so don't fall into the trap that implies that you are "doubling" coupons on one product...you're not!

Safeway had a deal going on that is a combination sale for Coca-Cola 12-packs and Nabisco crackers. When you buy 2 twelve-packs, you get an additional 2 twelve-packs and 2 boxes of Nabisco crackers for free. OK. Where to start? If you went to http://www.ebay.com/, you could get coupons that were for $2 off every set of a Coca-Cola 12-pack and Nabisco cracker. And you are allowed to apply coupons to the supposedly "free" items, because there is still a positive balance at the register, even when you only are "technically" paying for the original 2 twelve-packs. So here's how the transaction would work: Buy 2 Coke products at a total price of $13.98. Get 2 more free and 2 boxes of crackers. Buy 2 additional boxes of crackers at $2 a box for a purchase price of $17.98 before sin taxes. Then you are able to lay 4 of those $2 off coupons on the transaction, saving $8!! That brings the total down to $9.98+tax for 4 cases of pop and 4 boxes of crackers. Not too shabby. If you did the sale as the ad outlines with 4 cases of soda and the 2 crackers, you'd only be able to use set of the $2 off coupons...and the results are the same at $9.98+tax--but you only get 2 boxes of crackers. I think that the best strategy would be to use 4 coupons and get 2 extra boxes and pay the same. This is just an example of how working through a sales' deal might actual result in a pretty good find on other items that are so-called "free".

Happy hunting for the deals this week. Just remember that the last 4 months of the years get the most manufacturer's coupons and the baking sales and bulk sales' events are coming up with the Holiday season. Time to match the coupons up with the sales' items that don't usually go on sale and make sure that you get enough to get you through till the next sale. Remember that canned goods are good for at least 1-3 years out. Check all expiry dates on products. Tip: Products that are in the front of the shelf usually have the oldest dates.

There's a great deal going on with McCormick Salt and Pepper seasonings at Fred Meyer and other Kroger owned stores (Smith's, QFC, etc). They are on sale this week for 10/$10; normally $2.69 a bottle. These are the grinder bottles with the sea salts, pepper berries, garlic and seasoning combos, etc. A buck's an so-so price, but you wouldn't go crazy or anything, right? But there's a Catalina for them as well. When you buy them in combinations of 3, you get a $3 OYNO Catalina that prints. Did you do the math yet? $1 a bottle x 3 bottles=$3.00. Give them the Catalina coupon and they are free. The totally gratifying sense of "YES! FREE?! YES!" comes when you get another Catalina at the end of the free transaction. So--needless to say, I'm the proud owner of some yummy peppers, sea salts, and herbal blends. I almost want to drive around eastern Washington to buy some more...because the cutest idea came to me as I was purchasing my small grundle today. Wouldn't they be darling with a cute little note attached that said "Seasonings Greetings!" for quick, (ultra-cheap) neighbor, teacher, and all-around easy holiday gift? Man!! I love that kind of find!!