Kroger and Publix deals

Hi, all!

I finally went grocery shopping to get real food. As in, things other than evaporated milk and ice cream. We can't really subsist on those, sadly enough.

Believe it or not, at Kroger I used absolutely no paper coupons. *gasp* The only thing I used was a Shortcuts coupon for $0.45 off of Kroger cheese. The bag of shredded pizza cheese I got was on sale for $1.67, so I got it for $1.22. Not bad.

Where I REALLY racked up the savings was on the Manager's Specials in the meat department. I got some nice looking pork chops and an expensive cut of angus steak, both for about $3.40/lb. For less than $10, I have at least four meals-worth of good meat (meals for two). That's about $1.25 per individual meal, so I consider that a good deal. I plan on splitting up the cuts into dinner portions (for two), adding some marinade to the baggies, and popping them into the freezer. That way, when I pull out a dinner portion to thaw in the fridge, the meat will soak up the marinade as it thaws. Saves some time and effort.

I made a run to Publix while I was out (I'm thankful that they are within a few hundred feet of each other), and caught some great deals. Celery for $0.89, Jimmy Dean sausage rolls for $1.50 (sale price $2.50 minus $1 Mfr. coupon from Publix flyer), Uncle Ben's wild rice for $0.46 a box (sale price $0.80 minus $1/3 coupon from insert), and the best deal of all...Green Giant low-salt canned vegetables for -$.15 each (sale price $0.45 minus doubled $0.30 coupon = less than free)!

Since I got a $5/$35 Publix coupon in the mail this week, I tacked on some other things, like Dr. Peppers (on sale for $3 each) and got my total up to just over $35. Why is it that I can easily drop $60 at Publix on any other day, but when I have a $5/$35 coupon I struggle to spend enough?

God bless Publix and their $/$$ coupons! Whoever says Publix is too expensive just isn't paying enough attention. I've found that Publix produce is of much better quality than Kroger, and they always price their lettuce heads at least 20 cents lower than Kroger (today I got Green Leaf lettuce at Publix for $1.99, instead of $2.29 at Kroger). And you can't beat their BOGO deals, coupled with coupons. You can always find something to get for free or almost-free. Why, Publix is where I got Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes for less than free a few months ago!

Anyway, it was a good grocery run. I spent about $58 between both places, but considering that included about 3 or 4 months-worth of sodas and enough meat to last a month, I'm happy.

Now I'm off to portion up the meat! (It's odd that this stuff makes me so happy...)