I’ve had a headache all day long, so I really didn’t want to leave the house, and yet ground beef was the daily special at Safeway today. Not that the ground beef is the end-all. At 80% lean, it wasn’t even great ground beef. Still, I thought about hamburgers this weekend and taco meat, etc, and then I factored in the loved/hated $10/$50 coupon that came out this week and decided to brave it. With 2 obnoxious boys. At the dinner hour (although we had already eaten). Insane. Don’t do this.

I did end up with some pretty sweet deals:

Here’s the breakdown:

The ground beef is on sale today for $1.99lb = $12.20

My store was out of the bread that was on the in-ad coupon (with the $10/$50 coupon), so I picked up the next best thing @ $2.29.

Milk was $2.59. I’m still buying $8/gal raw milk, but we can’t afford 2 gallons a week!

Flour was $1.99. I just needed it.

Cottage Cheese was $1.99. Again, I just needed it for a recipe!

The bananas are 65¢/lb = $1.63

Onion was 48¢/lb = 54¢

Red Bell Peppers are $1.25 each. I’m making Jamaican Jerk Nachos this weekend! YUM!

The Tostitos tortilla chips were $2.49.

Cilantro was 59¢.

That right there is a total of $27.56, but let’s keep going, shall we?

There is a Buy 4/Save $4 promo on selected cereals which makes them $1.99 each. Kelloggs is having a promo where boxes marked with the Cars 2 logo will contain a code that you can enter on their website. Collect 4 and get a $5 Visa gift card! SO, the 4 boxes pictured totaled $7.96 after promo savings, plus I used a $1/3 MC (which doubled) and a 70¢/1 IP for an extra $2.20 off. I paid $5.76 and have already entered the codes and selected the gas card, so I’ll be getting $5 back! Wahoo! SO, after all is said and done, the 4 boxes of cereal will have cost me 76¢.

BUT WAIT! It gets better than that! Last fall I bought some cereal that had peelies on them: Buy 2 boxes of select cereals and get $1 off fresh fruit. I used 2 peelies to take an additional $2 off my fruit!

Which is a good thing, because that 3lb box of grapes was $4.99 after in-ad coupon, which breaks down to $1.66lb. I’ll go for that!

Oh, AND I was able to use the $1/$5 produce coupon that shows up every once in a while at Safeway. I confess that I grabbed a few brochures when I saw them last. A moderate amount, mind you!

The Deli Fresh lunchmeat was free after using a FREE product coupon that was sent to me in the mail. I think it was Vocalpoint.

The Sweet Potato Fries were free after using a FREE product coupon Ore-Ida sent me. I think it was a Facebook offer!

The Lipton tea was free after using a FREE product coupon! I can’t remember where I printed this, but I know it is gone now. Possibly Facebook.

The Hidden Valley Farmhouse dressings were free after using the in-ad coupon and the $1/1 Hidden Valley Farmhouse Dressing or Salad Kit 5/15/2011 SS Insert and a Safeway doubler. A commenter over at Frugal Living NW tipped me off to the deal, but that coupon expires tonight. However, tonight Hidden Valley released a $1/1 IP on their Facebook Fan Page, so I think I’ll go back and get some traditional ranch tomorrow. By the way, NOW is the time to stock up on free dressing!! Definitely don’t pay more than 75¢ (and that is just if you LOVE it), but make sure you check the expiration dates and plan accordingly. I accidentally bought one that expires in August, so that will be the first one we use!

The Lays Potato Chips were BOGO, and I had a FREE coupon that I probably got from a Facebook promo, so I ended up getting both bags for free! I love free chips for camping season and BBQs!

The crazy thing is that my total reached over $70 before we started scanning coupons, but after using that lovely $10/$50 coupon and all the rest, it dropped all the way down to $24.89 Out of Pocket. AND, after that gift card comes in the mail, this trip will end up being just $19.89! Hee, hee!

I think I did pretty good considering my ginormous headache that refused to go away (despite 2 Tylenol every 4 hours) and the presence of two rascally little boys who would NOT stop hugging one another and laughing uproariously the entire time we were in the store. You think that sounds cute, but it totally wasn’t. Grr.

Can I brag a little? When we got home from the store one of Grant’s friends invited him for a sleepover (um, yes, please!) and Cole is having a playdate at his friend’s house tomorrow. HEAVEN! I’m going garage sale-ing (sailing?) by myself in the morning. I might even hit up Rite Aid! Aw, yeah, baby!!

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