Getting Caught Up On Publix Trips

I have a couple receipts that I haven't logged yet.  I don't really know the coupon matchups for these, since the receipts were just lying randomly in my purse.  I'll do my best to remember.  I should be mostly okay, since one of the transactions was just yesterday.  Here goes:

From 3/19:

4 Betty Crocker potatoes -- $1 each
Used 2 $.50/2 blinkies
Paid: $3 for all 4, or just $.75 each

2 Sundown Naturals vitamins -- total of $9.58
Used $6/2 Green Advantage flier
Used 2 $1/1 insert coupon
Paid: $1.58 for both, or just an average of $.79 each

2 Mueller's Corkscrews -- BOGO -- 2 for $1.39
Used 2 $1/1
Paid: FREE for both, plus $.61 overage!

4 Colgate toothpaste -- $1 each
Used 4 $.75 insert coupon
Paid: $1 for all 4!
(A great price for a donation to a summer missions trip!)

12 Propel waters -- 2 for $1
Used 6 $1/2 insert coupon
Paid: FREE for all 12!

Total paid: $5.72
Total saved: $40.79
Percent saved: 87.7%

From 3/14:

2 Pedigree Dentastix -- BOGO -- 2 for $3
Used 2 $2/1 insert coupons
Paid: FREE for both, plus $1 overage!

2 Maruchan ramen -- $.34

4 Sundown Vitamins -- total of $21.86
Used 2 $6/2 Green Advantage flier
Used 4 $1/1 insert coupon
Paid: $5.86 for all 4!

Total spent: 5.43
Total saved: $23.10
Percent saved: 80.9%!

Menu Plan -- 3/19-3/25

I varied quite a bit from last week's plan.  We still ate most of the things I planned, but completely out of order.  And we did eat out a little.
I'll hope for the best with this week's plan:

Saturday: breakfast -- pierogies, turkey sausage, and muffins -- yummy!
               lunch -- sauteed beef and basil-pesto pasta
               dinner -- out?

Sunday: breakfast -- egg casserole
             lunch -- ham and rice
            dinner -- frozen pizza

Monday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
              dinner -- Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Tuesday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
               dinner -- Talani's honey-mustard ham

Wednesday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
                    dinner -- beef/bean burritos

Thursday: breakfast -- out
                dinner -- Wanchai Ferry frozen meal

Friday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
           dinner -- salsa chicken

We will probably have rice with 5 out of the 7 dinners, cuz that's how we roll.  And with so many frozen veggies in our freezer, we'll have something for every meal with little effort.  I wish I had time to make bread or rolls or biscuits.  And I'm currently obsessed with http://www.ourbestbites.com/ and really want to try some of their recipes, such as the creamy chicken taquitos for Monday night. 

Publix, 3/18 -- 71% Savings!

I got all of my info from http://www.iheartpublix.com/, http://www.mysweetsavings.com/, and http://www.addictedtosaving.com/.  You can see those websites to check out what coupons to print/use to make these deals for yourselves.

Here's what I got:

4 Philadelphia cooking creme -- $2 each

4 Zephyrhills 3-liters -- $.89

2 Mueller's corkscrew pasta -- BOGO -- 2 for $1.39

4 Mrs. T's pierogies -- $2 each

8 Propel waters -- 2 for $1

2 Breyer's 1.5 qt ice cream -- BOGO -- 2 for $5.49

I used coupons for:

Philadelphia cooking creme

Mueller's

Mrs. T's

Propel

Total spent: $14.74

Total saved: $37.12

Percent saved: 71.6%

Publix, 3/15 -- 99.5% savings!

What a fun, spur-of-the-moment trip!  We were on our way home from Krispy Kreme having celebrated Dianna's good report card with some free doughnuts, and I asked if we could pop in so I could check to see if they had a few items.  I left the family in the car for like 20 minutes while I "quickly" checked.  See, they ended up having the items I was checking on, which meant I had to find things to buy to cover the overage that my coupons generated.

Here's what I got:

4 Maruchan ramen (fillers) -- $.67

4 Sundown Naturals vitamin D -- $2.99 each

Used 4 $1 coupons (from a recent insert)

Used 2 $6/2 Green Advantage Flier coupons

Paid: FREE for all 4, plus $4.04 overage!

2 Loving Care Natural Instincts hair color -- clearance priced at 2 for $3.99

Used 4 $1 Publix coupons from the Save $29 one-page flier

Used 4 $2 coupons from a recent insert

Paid: FREE for all 4, plus $4.02 overage!

Thanks, Faith, for the info to make this deal work!

1 pkg. beef chunks (I love these for chili) -- $4.47 (I think they are $3.99/lb. right now.)

1 New York sliced garlic bread -- $2.50

(I think I missed a $.55 coupon that I could have used.  boo.)

Total paid: $.18

Total saved: $35.97

Percent saved: 99.5%!

WOO HOO!!

Weekly Meal Plan, 3/13-3/19

Sunday -- corned beef and rice
-- frozen pizza

Monday -- chicken nuggets and pasta

Tuesday -- Not-sagna pasta toss

Wednesday -- Marie Callender's meal

Thursday -- beef and bean burritos

Friday -- chicken and rice

Publix, 3/12 -- 52.8% total savings!

What a fun trip today!  I was amazed with the deals I was able to find, considering how many I found sold out last night.  Here's how I did:

First of all, the gas cards . . .

I bought 3 $50 gas cards and was able to use 3 $10 off coupons, making my spending on these gas cards $120, a 20% savings.

Plus, all these groceries for just $17.15 more . . .

4 assorted Sundown Naturals vitamins -- $17.96 total

Used 2 $3/2 printable coupons

Used 2 $6/2 Green Advantage flier coupons

Paid: FREE for all 4, plus $.04 overage

3 Excedrin Migraine, 100 ct. -- $5.99 each

3 Excedrin Extra Strength, 100 ct. -- $5.99 each

Used 6 $1.50 insert coupons

Used 6 $3 Target printable coupons
Paid: $8.94 for all 6, or just $1.49 for each bottle!

2 Pompeian olive oil -- BOGO -- 2 for $6.59

Used 2 $1/1 printable coupons

Paid: $4.59 for both, or $2.30 for each 16 oz. bottle

5 Voskos Greek yogurt -- $1 each

Used 2 $1/1 printable coupons

Used 3 $.75 printable coupons

Paid: $.75 for all 5, or just $.15 each!

6 Birds Eye steamfresh veggies -- $.89 each

Used 3 $1/2 Yellow Advantage flier

Used 2 $1/3 printable coupons

Paid: $.34 for all 6, or just $.06 each!

2 Yoplait Yoplus 4-pks -- BOGO -- 2 for $2

Used 2 $1 printable coupons

Paid: FREE for both!

4 Sargento pepper jack shredded cheese -- $2 each

Used 4 $1.50 printable coupons

Paid: $2 for all 4, or just $.50 each!

10 Maruchan ramen (for the fillers) -- $1.67

My total percent of savings, gas cards included, is 52.8%.

My totals apart from the gas cards are as follows:

Amount spent: $17.15

Amount saved: $117.25

Percent savings: 87.2%

Can You Tell Which Pocket Is for Publix Coupons?

Publix, 3/11 -- 38% Savings

Yes, you read the title right -- just 38% savings.  Needless to say, things did not go the way I had hoped, but I forged ahead anyway. 

Transaction 1:

1 brocolli -- $2

Corned beef -- $10.59

1 Voskos yogurt -- $1 each

Used 2 $1 printables

Paid: FREE! for both!

1 Publix hydrogen peroxide -- $1.89

2 Pompeian olive oil -- BOGO -- $6.59 for 2

Used 2 $1 printable coupons

Paid: $4.59 for both!

1 pkg. Publix bandages -- $2.79

$50 Chevron gas card -- $50

Used $10/$50 in-ad coupons

Paid: $40!

Transaction total: $61.86

Transaction savings: $26.92

Percent savings: 30.3%

Transaction 2:

8 Pedigree dentastix -- BOGO -- 2 for $3

Used 8 $2 coupons purchased from mycouponhunters.com

Paid: FREE for all 8! plus $4 overage!

4 Butterball turkey sausage -- BOGO -- 2 for $3.49

Used 4 $.55 coupons

Paid: $4.78 for all 4, or just $1.20 each

1 CLR septic treatment -- $4.19

$50 BP gas card -- $50

Used $10 in-ad coupon

Paid: $40!

1 knee brace -- $12.99

Transaction total: $59.18

Transaction savings: 47.98

Percent savings: 44.8%

Total spent: $121.04

Total saved: $74.90

Percent saved: 38.2%

I know that my percent of savings is terrible, but I'm thrilled with the $100 in gas I purchased for just $80!

Tonight's Frugal Dinner, 3/10

I made pancakes (from a boxed mix) flavored with vanilla, allspice, and cinnamon.  I used the rest of a box that I bought so long that I don't remember buying it!  I served them with strawberries ($.17 at Publix), butter or peanut butter or syrup, and the Butterball turkey sausage patties pictured.  They were bought at Publix this week (sale still on through Tuesday, 3/15).  They were $3.49 for 2, plus I had $.55 coupons on each.  That makes each box just $1.20. 

My best guess about the cost of this meal is $3.00.  I did cook the pancakes with coconut oil, which is a pricier ingredient.

My New "Pantry" in my Garage!

The beef and bean mixture for our dinner

Tonight's Frugal Dinner

I'm working on a recipe I got from http://www.afewshortcuts.com/.  Here's the link to the recipe: Beef and Bean Burritos.  I made this once before, following the recipe very closely, and it was an enormous success!  The meat and bean mixture was wonderfully flavorful and somehow entirely different from plain old ground beef.  This time, I didn't have garlic or onion, so I used garlic and onion powder instead.  Instead of tomato sauce, I used some V-8 tomato juice that I had in the fridge from the last time I made chili.  I also used some broth, just because.  And, instead of refried beans, I used a can of black beans that I slightly mashed before putting them in the crockpot.  I even substituted the roast I used.  I got a small roast yesterday at Publix using a $1 coupon (wyb Uncle Ben's rice).  It's been cooking since around 10:00 am, and just now, a little after 5:00 pm, I went in to do the second half of the preparation and to shred the meat, and it just didn't fall apart like I expected.  I'm not sure why it's not tender, but I just stuck it back in the crockpot on high after adding the black beans.  After a bit I'll go see what I can do.  As I was working on it, I remembered that the last time I made this meal I put about half of it in the freezer.  I guess now I'll have two freezer beef and bean burrito meals ready in the freezer! 
I plan to use a Taco Bell taco dinner boxed meal for serving.  It has sauce, crunchy taco shells, and soft flour tortillas.  I might make some rice, too.  Cheese and sour cream, of course. 

Let's see if I can come up with a cost analysis for this meal:

beef roast -- $4.58
onion powder and garlic powder -- $.05 (I think that's a high estimate for the tiny bit I used out of the giant bulk containers from Sam's Club!)
V-8 juice -- $.59
broth -- $.25
black beans -- $.17
Taco Bell boxed dinner -- $.66
Cheese -- $.50
Sour cream -- $.40

Total for this dinner: $7.20

Plus, I'll have enough beef and bean mixture to make into another meal, which will cost just an additional $1.56!

So I have two meals at a total of $8.76, or just $4.38 each!

Our $5 Lunch

I made Rachael Ray's Not-sagna Pasta Toss again today (I think this is the third weekend in a row!). I estimate that it cost us $3.50. I made a steam-in-bag veggie that cost $1. I used up the rest of the cookie dough I had made earlier this week. Even with the added butterscotch chips, the dough cost no more than $.50!

Can You Tell How Full My Cart Is? Publix, 3/4

Oh, my! We got a whole lotta stuff tonight!  Our percent of savings wasn't the best -- just 64.3% -- but I am still pleased with the trip. 

6 Uncle Ben's boil-in-bag brown rice -- BOGO -- 2 for $2.29

6 packages of beef (1 small roast, 5 pkgs of steak) -- total $22.78

Used 6 $1/1 beef wyb Uncle Ben's (2/13 RP)

Paid: $6.87 for the rice and $16.78 for the meat!

2 Ritz crackers -- BOGO -- 2 for $3.69

Used $1/2 Target coupon

Used $1/2 from 1/30 SS

Paid: $1.69 for both!

4 New York bagel chips -- BOGO -- 2 for $2.69

Used 4 $.75 printable coupons

Paid: $2.38 for 4 bags!

6 Crystal Light 10 or 12 qt canisters -- BOGO -- 2 for $3.99

Used 2 $1/3 Target coupons

Paid: $9.97 for all 6!

2 Zephyrhills 3-liter water bottles (I miss my distiller!) -- $.89 each

Paid: $1.78 for both!

2 Stouffer's family sized entrees -- $3.99 each

Used 2 $1 printable coupons

Paid: $5.98 for both!

4 Quaker chewy granola bars, 10 pk -- $2 each

Used 2 $1/2 peelies

Paid: $6 for 4 boxes!

1 Post-it highlighter -- $1.35

2 Hall's cough drops -- BOGO -- 2 for $1.69

Used 2 $.50 Target printables

Used $1/2 from 2/6 SS

Paid: FREE for both, plus $.31 overage!

6 Diet Mt. Dew 8-pks (12 oz bottles) -- BOGO -- 2 for $4.29

Use 2 $5/3 Pu blix Shopping Spree coupons from March Good Housekeeping

Paid: $2.87 for all 48 bottles of soda!

4 Milkbone dog biscuits -- BOGO -- 2 for $3.69

2 Milkbone Soft and Chewy treats -- $2.99 each

Used 2 $1.50/2 coupons from 2/6 RP

Used 2 FREE Soft and Chewy treats coupons from 2/6 RP

Paid: $4.38 for all 6 packages!

Used $3/$30 Publix coupon

Paid: $59.11

Saved: $106.67

Percent saved: 64.3%