Pictured above is $127 worth of groceries at full retail price. I paid $29 for all of this yesterday at Rainbow. What is included: 8 boxes Kellogg’s cereal, 6 loaves whole grain bread, 2 Skippy peanut butter, butternut squash, 2 oranges, 3 pounds of pork chops, 3 gallons of milk, 4 multi-packs of yogurt, 6 bags of frozen veggies, Snickers bar, 4 boxes of Kashi cereal, 2 cake mixes, 3 gallons of milk, a quart of half and half.
To top it off a coupon spit out of the machine for a free Timberwolves ticket to select games, no other purchase required. That alone would have been more than $29!
Let me explain how I did it. I purchased my groceries in three separate transactions. That means I got three separate receipts for all this. I completed one transaction, went to my car and dropped the groceries, then went back in and purchased two more back-to-back. I recommend only doing two transactions at a time out of respect for the people behind you in line.
I’ll give you transaction-by-transaction detail.
Transaction 1
I purchased 8 Kellogg’s cereals using all sorts of printable coupons referenced in the Rainbow shopping list to get my out of pocket expense to $8.25 for all 8 boxes. I knew that this would generate coupons for 2 free gallons of milk and give me $5 off my next purchase, but Nate commented on the Rainbow listyesterday saying that he got a third free milk coupon when he bought three boxes of Mini Wheats. I took that to heart and bought 3 Mini Wheats and 5 other kinds my family loves. My pre-coupon total was $20, but my coupons doubled because the shelf price (or full price) of the cereal was more than $25.
Total spent after coupons: $8.25. Total saved: $19.53.
The receipt is pictured below to prove it.
Transaction 2
This was my best transaction. I bought:
1 gallon of milk. Used the free milk coupon I earned in transaction 1.
4 Kashi cereals. These were $3.79 (which is lower than the price referenced in the ad and stated on the Rainbow shopping list) and used four coupons I had been mailed from Vocalpoint. I used two $3/1 coupons and two $1.50/1 coupons. That gave me $4.50 off two boxes that only cost $3.79. The $0.71 difference for each pair was counted as a credit, so to speak, toward the other groceries I purchased.
2 Brownberry Breads. I stock up on these when they are on sale buy one, get one free. First, $1.90 per loaf is a great price and beats Sam’s Club, but the full price of bothloaves counts toward the $25 threshold I need to have my coupons double. (Some readers report that their Roundy’s store does not calculate the $25 this way, but mine does).
2 Cake Mixes. I did the deal referenced on the Rainbow shopping list to get each mix for $0.33. I plan to use them for my daughter’s upcoming birthday.
6 bags of frozen veggies. I don’t normally like to pay anything for frozen veggies, but we were just about out. They were on sale for $1.25 per bag and I found some coupons in the store, near the Parmesan Cheese, for $1 off 2 bags. When that was doubled each bag cost me $0.25. Not quite free, but still a great price.
Snickers Bar. I had one last free candy bar coupon to use up from the Chocolate Relief Act promotion earlier this year (no longer available).
Dannon yogurt multi-pack. I used the newspaper coupons referenced on the Rainbow shopping list to get this free.
Navel oranges. They were on sale for $0.89 per pound so I picked up two.
Half and Half.I go through a lot of this and paid full price for the Roundy’s brand.
On top of those coupons I got $5 off my order because I had purchased $20 in Kellogg’s cereal.
Total spent after coupons: $3.16. Total saved: $45.99.
The receipt is pictured below to prove it.
Transaction 3
I knew this would be my most expensive transaction, but I needed a few more things.
2 Skippy Peanut Butter. I had two $0.75/1 coupons (thanks mom for the extra one!) and got both jars free as referenced on the Rainbow shopping list.
4 Brownberry Breads. I stock up on these when they are on sale buy one, get one free. First, $1.90 per loaf is a great price and beats Sam’s Club, but the full price of bothloaves counts toward the $25 threshold I need to have my coupons double. (Some readers report that their Roundy’s store does not calculate the $25 this way, but mine does).
3 pounds Pork Chops. I buy meat when it is on sale and then rotate through what’s in my freezer during any given week. $1.88 per pound is a good price so I bought two packages. Again, the full price of the pork chops counts toward the $25 threshold, although I was well over that in this transaction. In fact, I could have split these groceries to actually get a fourth transaction, but I didn’t have anything else I needed and my shelves are full enough that I don’t buy stuff just because it’s free.
Bananas.On sale for $0.39 per pound which is Aldi’s price and I didn’t have to buy quite as many as I need to at Aldi.
Butternut Squash. We love orange veggies and I may make a Butternut Squash soup out of this for the freezer and a day I don’t want to cook or may use it as a side dish. We’ll see. I paid full price of $0.79 per pound.
2 gallons of milk. Used the remaining two free milk coupons I earned in transaction 1.
3 Dannon yogurt multi-pack. I used one newspaper coupons referenced on the Rainbow shopping list to get one free. I got the other two packages free when I used $1/1 coupons that the catalina machine at Rainbow (aka the coupon spitter outer) gave me twice recently when I bought Yoplait products.
Total spent after coupons: $17.83. Total saved: $32.59.
The receipt is pictured below to prove it.
Final Tally
All told I spent exactly $29.24. I saved $98.11 which is a 77% savings. To that end I got 2 Skippy peanut butters, a Snickers bar, 4 multi-packs of yogurt, 4 Kashi cereals and 3 gallons of milk free with coupons. Not bad by any measure.
Your turn: How did you do this week?
About Carrie Rocha
You rock!
That’s fabulous Carrie!! Thanks for breaking it out for us. I love to see what people buy and how they save.
I had a fabulous trip at Rainbow this week, here’s how I did:
http://abbyscents.blogspot.com/2009/11/week-of-1108-rainbow.html
Only $1.60 for 10 Kraft cheese, Juice, Bagel Bites, and a Healthy Choice meal. It helps if you save coupons for free products to use at Rainbow to get you to $25!
You are a rock star. I am working my way up, but can’t shop Rainbow on Wednesday’s just yet. In a couple weeks the schedule opens up so I can plan better.
I did my list last night, and between Rainbow and Cub we will save $29.00 in just coupons, not counting the sales. That is huge for me!! Plus, at Target will will save an additional $11. That’s $40!!
How long does it take you to shop typically?
Sarah – Honestly, I am oretty fast. In 40 minutes yeterday I made my lists and cleaned up a ton of old coupons from my desk (all while dinner was in teh oven), then spent just over an hour at the store with my 2 yr old at my side.
I posted my trip breakdown here:
http://momforhim.blogspot.com/2009/11/weekly-shopping.html
My total after coupons was $18.48. My savings was $72.67, for a savings of 80%.
I got these items for free or better than free after coupons: 2 Old El Paso dinner kits (thanks My Blog Spark!), taco seasoning (free with a peelie), 2 Activia yogurts, Danimals yogurt smoothies, 6 Yoplait Delights (raincheck), Pace salsa (won from playing sweeps–better than free because it took off $4), 2 Kashi GoLean Crunch (on sale BOGO and I had 2 $3 off coupons making them better than free). These items were $1 or less: Cake Mate frosting, eggs, 4 packages of Kraft cheese, sour cream, 2 Nestle Cookie dough, Betty Crocker potatoes, butter, cream cheese, and orange juice.
I skipped the cereal deal because we are well stocked, but if I’d known about the extra gallon of milk and $5 off, I would have done it. But maybe my store didn’t have that promotion (it only said 8/$20, get 2 milk coupons).
I got to 63% savings this week. We go to Walgreens and Rainbow at the same time since they share parking lots. Spent $53.47 for $143.66 worth of stuff. Everyone I work with is always amazed with how well I do and think I’m a genius – I tell them you do all the work for me!!! Thanks Carrie.
You are my hero! I work at home and just love seeing you on TV on all the local shows. I feel like I was “hip” to the coupons before you got so famous :)
That is amazing!! I’ve never looked at coupons like that before….thanks for sharing. : )
Amazing!! Good Job!!
WOW…I am taking baby steps…seems a little overwhelming at first. But seeing what you do…makes me want to learn and do more. Thanks for all of your tips!
I’ve never even heard of “Rainbow” supermarket, but it’s nice to see how getting all those groceries breaks down. Now if I could only do that at my local HEB market:)
This is amazing! I am learning so much but Rainbow still gives me trouble. Although I think I did good yesterday it is taking me to much time and frustration. Yesterday I got 3 boxes of Chex cereal ($1off 3) plus Rainbow ad, 3 Mini Wheats (extra milk coupon), 5 boxes of Crackers(4 coupons), buy one get one free tomatoe (2 .75cents off coupons) 2 milk coupons. Payed $13.99 saved $31.49
I just realized I didn’t get the $5 on the cereal because I didn’t buy enough cereal and opted for the crackers but in my frustration yesterday forgot about it. Did I still do alright?
Now Walgreens, Cub and Target I am doing great. At Cub I spent $28 and saved $34. At Target today I got 5 Up&Up brand flushable wipes and 4 cake mixes and spent .42 cents.
Walgreens I spent $12 today but got $8 RR. I walked out with 3 boxes of Kleenex, 2 Libby Pumpkin in can, 9 Holiday Card boxes, 2 Jello mixes, 8 gift bags, 3 Luberderm Lotions, and the honey.
Oh, the Walgreens off Rockford Rd. had the coupon book with the kleenex coupon but we could not stack both Walgreen coupons and the manufacturer coupons. The manager even tried.
I also bought 4 Santa Potatoe Heads at Target for .99cents each with the $5 off haboro coupon so it does work.
I could use some tips for Rainbow though. I just don’t feel like I’m saving as much as I can be. Carrie any tips?
Annette
This was my best week at Rainbow so far – I saved 70%!! I’m still learning so it takes me a long time to figure out what I’m going to do — I know I’ll get faster in time. Thanks for all your help Carrie!
HI CARRIE SO DID IT TOOK $3.00 OFF MILK ,DID IT GIVE YOU OVERAGE?ALSO DIS YOU GOT THE $5.00 OFF OF CEREAL FROM THE FIRST OR 2ND TRANSACTION? AND WHERE YOU ABLE TO USE IT ON YOUR 2ND OR 3RD..JUST A LITTLE CONFUSED.
I passed on Rainbow this week. Nothing of value for me. Yeah free cereal but I have about 25 boxes in my basement. I don’t need yogurt, have 6 boxes in my fridge, don’t need cake mix or frosting, have about 6 ea in the basement. Another great thing about stockpiling is knowing when NOT to shop. It is hard when you are first starting. But as I have been doing this for years I know when I can skip the deals.
Now with that being said CUB has the deals I need this week. HAHA
Anita…
Just a thought for you and anyone else out there who would cosider this. You are so good at saving money and stock piling that I bet you are spending a fraction of what you used to. R rather than forgoing great deals or free foods such as cereal etc. Would you please consider getting it and donating it to a food shelf?
There is such a need for food. Lets share our good fortune.
Hello everyone,
I too am just getting started and am in awe of the savings.
I do have a question about this week’s trip to Rainbow. Where did you all see you got 5$ back for buying the Kelloggs cereal? (Carrie that was transaction 1). I looked and looked in the ad and couldn’t see it.
Which shows I’m a beginning, I can’t find the GREAT deals because I”m new at this!
Thanks everyone for all the great info-
Julie