Comments on: Rainbow Foods, Copps, Pick N Save Shopping List 12/27 – 1/2/10

By: Julie W

Julie W — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:40:33 +0000

I wanted to give a heads up on the Kraft deal, and I apoligize if it was mentioned already. I didn’t see it already but didn’t read word for word.

Rainbow was out of the Kraft cheese I wanted Wed, so I got a rain check to use for a future Wed with the double coupons.

When I was in Rainbow today, I decided on a whim to buy 3 Kraft chunk cheese because of the in store coupon for 1.00 of purchase of 3 (in the flyer). Much to my surprise a catalina printed saying 5.00 off your next purchase if you buy 5 Kraft products between Jan 1 and Jan 24th.

SO, if you use a rain check for 1.49 a piece and buy 5 Krafts during these dates (with the double coupons), you should get the 5.00 coupon off a future order, making the cheese free. It almost seems unethical somehow the deal’s so good! So, if all you have is a raincheck, you can go buy 3 this week with the in store coupon and you should get the coupon to use between 1/10 and 1/24.

So my question to you all, since I am an honest, ethical couponer. Do you think this is “cheating the system” to use the coupon I got today on a rainchecked item in a few weeks, knowing I wouldn’t have been able to use it today if I actually could have gotten the item now when it was on sale?

Carrie any input?

Julie W (I added a “W” because I see another Julie on here!)

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:55:36 +0000

I was shopping at the Chaska Rainbow.

By: Jules

Jules — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:43:43 +0000

Pam- that’s too bad you had a negative experience. They definitely should not be doing it that way. I was new to rainbow a month or so ago, and it takes a little while of trying and learning before you know all the ins and outs, don’t give up! For the most part we all have really good luck.

One tip in case you haven’t heard it yet: If you have more than 5 coupons and want a certain 5 doubled give only those to the cashier first. Then give them the rest of the coupons after they’ve doubled the ones you want. Sometimes if you give them all at once, they wil re-arrrange them and double ones you don’t want doubled. The machine doubles the first 5 coupons it gets.

And I agree, definitely give your Rainbow a friendly call about what happened, or go in to talk to them. It may be a case of the cashier not knowing.

By: Mitzie

Mitzie — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:08:16 +0000

Had my best Rainbow week ever. First run – 4 boxes of free eggrolls, 2 cans of free shave gel, milk (no discount) and bogo texas toast pizza – $23.83 savings, 5.65 OOP. Second run – 8 boxes kellogs cereal w/ raincheck from two weeks ago – made a penny per box and a package of 50% off solo plates – $30.65 savings, 1.68 OOP. Thanks Carrie!!!!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:31:58 +0000

Pam – I would definitely at least call the store tomorrow and ask them about their policy in splitting coupons. That is ridiculous. They shouldn’t be taking a $1/2 coupon and splitting that into two .50 cent coupons. You must have had a cashier that was thinking she was part of the coupon police!! I would call them and explain to them what happened and then ask if you can bring your receipt in to have it adjusted. Good luck and let us know what happens. BTW – which Rainbow location did this happen at?

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:51:28 +0000

I finally tried Rainbow, but was disappointed in the way they seemingly arbitrarily subdivided a larger coupon into smaller amounts and then doubled those. I had a $1/4 soups, two $1/2 parfait and then two others at $.75 that I expected to get doubled. They doubled the soup one, but the parfait they split into $.50 increments and doubled that four times. So I got those fully doubled in the end, but those two coupons took up four spots for doubling so that my $.75 coupons didn’t get doubled. I didn’t like the fact that I don’t know what to expect even when I plan it so carefully. Has anyone else had this experience? I noticed it after I was checked out but didn’t go to customer service because at that point, I didn’t have the coupons any longer – so how would I prove it?

By: Theresa K.

Theresa K. — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:22:44 +0000

I made it to my Rainbow (SLP) twice today. I’ve got a head cold and couldn’t deal with any more math or trips to the store in the cold. As I type this, I’m still fighting the urge for one more trip.

1st trip: I bought 5 California Pizzas (2/$12) and used 5 $1/1 coupons. $30 dollars of good quality pizza for $20 OOP. Not stellar, but good.

2nd trip: Despite planning against cereal, I just could not turn down an offer of free milk and free cereal. I had to clearly explain to my husband exactly WHY I brought home more cereal again. When I explained I was paid $3 to buy 5 boxes of cereal, he smiled. It was such a good deal that I even bought the Kraft cheeses using only 50 cents off each (iow, my $1/2 coupons did not double because they were numbers 6 and 7). $13.xx total OOP

The cheese and the pizza are for a party this Sunday, along with all my crackers and cookies from earlier this month!

By: Mindy

Mindy — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:39:50 +0000

None of these are great deals at Rainbow this week, but could be in the future if these products go on sale (all are on Coupons.com, but I find that site to be not very user friendly as there is no search function). If you use any of these products, I’d print them now and save them for when they are more valuable (all expire mid- to late-January or late February):

BOGOF Special K: http://www.specialk.com/register/offer/

$1/1 any L’Oreal product (you have to go through their little survey and register with the site, but you can get 8-10 coupons for any product this way if you print two of each): http://www.lorealparisusa.com/_us/_en/default.aspx#/#/?page=top{userdata//d+d//|diagnostic|main:diagnosticindex|media:_blank|nav|overlay:_blank}

$1/2 Juicy Juice (you have to register): http://www.juicyjuice.com/Coupon/Print-Coupon.aspx?CouponId=481032d9-9755-4f28-b4cd-a4315976b446

$1/1 Lunchables combination pack with water (all you have to do is promise to put a note in your child’s lunch box :) http://kraft.promotions.com/lunchnotespromise/success.do?e=XZamUJ4U2jtC7wRB%252FFdCGaBied%252BUT4tyqbXtEzcyGMcvtuLWUkZmv8g2CSXtpefX

Various DelMonte jars/single-serve fruit coupons, $1/1 or $1/3: http://www.fruitundressed.com/offers/default.aspx

$1/1 Bagelfuls (I’ve been wanting to try these, if they go on sale before the coupon expires on 1/11, or even if they don’t, I might be able to do that and get $2 off): http://brands.kraftfoods.com/bagelfuls/

Hope this helps!
Mindy

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:40:50 +0000

Scott – What Plymouth location do you go to? I go to the one on 55 and have found that morning or lunch is when they are stocked best. The Customer Service manager that is there mornings and afternoons is great. I believe her name is Renee and she is always fair and keeps in mind the concept of “the customer is right”. I’ve had my fair share of less friendly cashiers (especially when I first started using coupons) but have had great experiences since. My guess is that was cashier specific. I also tend to remember the less friendly ones and if possible don’t go down their lane.

I’ve never been turned down a coupon there unless it was expired. That is definitely worth a polite email to Roundys regarding your experience. Best of Luck!

By: Shauna

Shauna — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:37:05 +0000

Avocado recipes – Jessica Seinfeld has a recipe in her book for chocolate fondue with avocado and carrot as the base. Sounds funky, but is soooo delicious for strawberries, etc. Also, Alton Brown has a recipe for avocado ice cream which I have not personally tried, but i have heard good things about. It makes sense – good fat content, smooth and creamy

By: Scott S

Scott S — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:20:34 +0000

I think I shopped for the last time at rainbow(Plymouth). A few weeks ago we tried to do the cereal/cracker deal and the cheese and they were all out of everything and it took forever to checkout due to 1 cashier at 7:00 on a weds evening. Now today I go over @ lunch to pickup the raincheck items and a few of the sale items and the solo cashier hands me three of my MFQ back and says you cant use these. When i question her she rudely tells me she does not know why but I will have to go to the service counter to find out. Now I doing this on the principal cause she was so rude when i questioned here. After another 10 minutes in line @ the service desk we find out the cashier rangup the cream cheese wrong. I dont think the frustration with that store is worth the savngs no matter how great.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:51:51 +0000

Just finished putting away my groceries. It wasn’t a stellar week for me with savings, but I had some specific wants for some NYE dishes.

I wanted to give everyone a heads-up about the Kraft cheese deal. I used 3 coupons and bought 6 packages of it to make some cheese balls. I just noticed that I got a catalina that says buy 5 cheese products(even includes sour cream, Philly cream cheese, etc.) and get $5 off a future shopping order between 1/1/10 & 1/24/10. They also had coupons on the flyer in the store for $1/3 Kraft cheese that expire on 1/2/10. Wish I’d known that before I got stuff.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:26:19 +0000

Lovely lunch time run today even with the roads getting greasy.

6 boxes of Special K – 3 BOGO Q’s, 3 $1/2 Q’s
2 loaves of bread – on sale 2/$3
1 lb of strawberries – 1 .50/1 fruit coupon
1 lb of tangerines – 1 .50/1 fruit coupon
1 bag of butterscotch chip

I had my $5 from last week’s delmonte to use and it looks like there was a $5.00 off kelloggs that generated on the register automatically.

Total OOP = $3.04, plus the milk coupon for next trip, and they had the toy story cereal bowls when you purchased two kelloggs cereal so I got 3 of those.

Oh and I feel guilty about the 6 boxes so I’ll say right now that I will be handing them out to the family. I also just got a great bar recipe that uses them instead of rice krispies.

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:20:11 +0000

Thank you to all of you for all the information posted here. My husband is impressed with the money I am starting to save!

I was also at the Eagan Rainbow this morning and did three separate transactions – bringing them out to the car and then coming back in for the 2nd, bringing the 2nd purchase to the car and coming back in to shop for the 3rd. It was so quiet there. I had the same cashier for the first two transactions. He was going on break when I was headed to pay for my third – he whispered something to another cashier but nobody said anything to me. I felt uncomfortable by the third time I was at the cash register . . .

I also learned today to hand my coupons to the cashier and not lay them on a product. One of mine was lost under the belt as the products moved forward. The cashier managed to dig underneath and found it, but I will always hand them directly to the cashier from now on.

By: Nicki

Nicki — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:47:56 +0000

It went well today at the Eagan Rainbow! I did three transactions. The cashier was nice at first, but on the third transaction told me that I was ‘probably not allowed to do this.’ I said that we had been doing it for over a year, and that Customer Service said it was fine. She then told me that she wished that CS had told the cashiers differently. I’m not sure if that means that they are telling the cashiers one transaction per customer? As the bag boy was loading up my cart, she discreetly got on her phone to CS and asked if I could do this. They must have said yes, because she hung up and didn’t say anything else :)