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So, I heard about the Kraft deal, swung by a local (but not my regular) Safeway store to grab some $1/1 peelies (coupons that you peel off the package), and then last night I rocked it. This is what I bought at Safeway for $5.31:

Oh, yeah. I took advantage of the ice cream deal, too!

I did this in two transactions. Here are the highlights:

First, I did the cheese deal. I used my coupons and my doublers, then paid $2.95 out of pocket and earned a $5 Catalina (coupon that printed at the register, thus making my cheese purchase free + a $2.05 moneymaker).

Next, I bought:

• The Breyers (followed the scenario) for only $1.37 each.
• The Suddenly Salad (my summertime staple!) for 65¢ each (MCs and ecoupon).
• The Yoplait to make 21¢ (yes, by buying it, I made money due to ecoupons and a MC)
• And the dressing was free (but it COULD have been a moneymaker if my cashier hadn’t noticed that it would have been making money to double the coupon).

The total for the second transaction was $7.36, but I paid with the $5 Catalina, so I only spent $2.36 out of pocket. The teenagers behind me were VERY impressed!

Today, I did my regular grocery shopping trip (with kids. snort.).

Looks like nothing special, except that you have to consider this:

The avocados were priced at 78¢ each, for a total of $3.12. However, I used a coupon + a doubler and paid $1.12. I really need to share my guacamole recipe. It is AMAZING! Notice we’ve been buying a lot of chips lately!! LOL!

The dressing made me 50¢ and the cheese cost me 50¢, so I came out even there.

The Classico is kinda a fun one. (First off, I’m weird. My favorite spaghetti sauce is the Hunts in the can, which is usually around $1 or so.) Our family discovered that we like the sun dried tomato Classico sauce (plus I wanted to try the other red sauce), and since there was a $1.50/2 MC in the Albertsons ad, plus Classico is on sale with an in-ad coupon for $1.49 at Safeway, I went for it. I ended up paying 49¢ a jar. I might go back this weekend for more.

Of course, I shopped for in season produce (aka - the cheap stuff). I honestly don’t know why people freak out about how there are no coupons for produce. #1 - yes there are (obviously, because I use them), and #2 - stop buying expensive out-of-season produce and you won’t break your budget! Because, honestly: Are you really going to freak out because spinach is 99¢ a bag (last week) or mangos are 2/$1? And yet, I see soda in your cart. Priorities, people. I’m done.

Now, the meat is what makes this trip special. At first, I didn’t really care about the meat section of the ad. I mean, there is a Buy One Get One Free sale on the meat right now, but I wasn’t terribly impressed at first. THEN, I actually did the math. The chicken thighs were $1.69/lb (I think . . . pretty sure), and the bone-in breasts were $1.99/lb. Eh. Not too impressed. But then, I thought about it, and if you can find another package (for the BOGO deal) that is right around the same price, then essentially the thighs are now 84¢/lb and the breasts are 99¢/lb. Time for me to buy!

I asked the meat dept. to work their magic (read the comments of that linked post for thoughts on that). I had them split one of the packs of thighs up and add FREE pineapple teriyaki sauce to one and fajita sauce to the other.

THEN, when I acted like I was gonna have them add some FREE seasoning to the chicken breasts, the gal just DUMPED a ton of dry seasoning into a bag for me. Seriously. I think it is more than a cup of seasoning, and I only really needed a few tablespoons. Score! Other people pay for this seasoning at Costco.

When I got home, I skinned the rest of the chicken (because, come on. FAT!!) and then put the chicken into meal-sized portions, complete with seasoning or marinade. I did leave a couple of bags seasoning-free, though. AND, by the time I took the following picture, I already had one meal’s worth (okay, two meals worth) of chicken in the crock pot.

Side note: I made chicken salad sandwiches (with curry, grapes, celery and green onions) and homemade pita bread for dinner tonight. It was the first time I have made pita bread and it did not disappoint. I can’t wait to make it again!! And, we had so much leftover chicken that I made up a second batch of chicken salad for a meal later this week.

Ahem. Back to the chicken. This is what I put into the freezer:

Six (or more) meals worth of chicken, all ready to pop into the crock pot or thaw (and continue to marinade) in the refrigerator until it is time for the grill. Genius.

Another side note. I was all granola-mama today. While my homemade pita bread dough was rising, I went to the farmer’s market and purchased a big ol’ jar of honey. Paid $12 stinkin’ dollars for this thing. It had better last. However, I DID have money leftover (and still do!) in my $50/week grocery budget, so I could afford to splurge!

Continuing on the granola-mama streak - I came home and made up some dough for homemade hamburger buns in my breadmaker. We had some for dinner Tuesday night and my husband just LOVES them, so I simply had to do it! I made the dough, formed it into balls, and it is now in the freezer. Hopefully, I can just take them out of the freezer and let them rise for a quick prep! Aw, shoot. I just realized that I should have shaped them into bun-shapes. Argh. Well, I’m sure I can salvage them.

Anyway!!! Thought I’d brag a little. I’m sure you don’t mind!

Tell me about your deals!!