March Madness!

So today is the last day of the Kroger ad week, although I do believe this "March Madness" Mega sale is continuing another week. I went after my hubby got home last night to stock up on several items. I have to admit, since I started watching other people's kids here 6 days a week, I have gotten lazy with the cutting. I also cancelled my newspaper back before Christmas because they kept not putting coupons in it, or they would be missing certain inserts and ads. I just got tired of it, and decided to cancel and just buy it at the drugstores. Well, since then, they have started only having coupons in the delivered paper, and that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon, so I have been meaning to get the delivery started up again. Anyhoo, I have been really busy with homeschool and taking care of all the kiddos around here, haven't even updated my personal blog much. But, I have been working on something that I think you guys are going to like. I've been writing a coupon how-to guide, that can be purchased on amazon for your kindle or android e-readers. I'm hoping to make some extra cash, but also to help you guys have a straightforward guide that gives you clear cut answers to the things you've been wanting to know. Expect to see that in the next month or so, as I am nearly done, but still need to proof read it! Now, that being said, I have been asked to do a write up of the shopping trip I posted last Night. I paid just $105 for a cart full of groceries. While that may not sound like much of a savings, let me just say that $40 of that was produce and fresh meat. I got a couple large pork loins, for only $8-10 each, because they were on sale for nearly half off this week..I also got some chicken and some fruits/veggies. I am actually meaning to make a trip to Aldi for more produce, since we are not eating as much processed foods as we used to-this trip was just more quick meals and snacks.



Oh! I almost forgot to tell you guys, since I don't think I have blogged about coupons since we found out. Jacob had a sudden wheat allergy pop up almost 2 months ago, and we were puzzled by it, because he kept having more and more severe reactions, and we finally determined that it was due to wheat and other grains. This lead us to discover that he is very likely suffering (in addition to, as it is not related to the allergy that we know of) from Celiac's Disease. I won't go into all the details, so as not to bore you all who follow my personal blog and have already heard the whole ordeal, but basically, Celiac's disease is an auto-immune disease that is caused by the body not tolerating gluten in foods. Gluten is found in most bread and bread-type products and processed foods. Basically, we have to avoid anything that is wheat, barley, rye, etc. This is hard because it is in MOST things, even things you wouldn't think about. I won't say it's changed the way the rest of us eat, but I do have to be cautious when I am cooking things for everyone that nothing he eats touches our gluten-laden foods. I am also trying to eat healthier and cook fresher, and I buy much more fresh produce than I used to. Most of what we eat is lean meat, brown rice, salads, and fresh cooked veggies. However, I do still have 3 picky kids to feed, plus the two kids during the week that eat here. So I do still buy plenty of ready to eat food for lunches. You will see, the trip I did last night is mostly kid friendly food-crackers, hot dogs (gosh, those things are the worst, too!!) Lots of kid cereal (and some gluten free cereal!!)as well as cheese, eggs, and milk. So yeh, just because you see the super savings on this trip, and it is "junk" to some of you, don't assume that you can't save money with coupons if you don't eat any of this. I have posted about that before, but it just so happens that this particular trip was a stock up trip for things for the kids' lunches for the next several weeks.

Ok, so here goes: Non-mega sale items:



2 Hostess Twinkies, B1G1 free (1 @ $4.29) use 1 $.75/1 coupon for chocolate creme filled variety, printable (It does not let you use a coupon on the free one, since the sale is BlG1 free)

4 family size boxes of Kellogg's Fruit Loops (17 oz size, be sure not to buy the mega sale fruit loops, as they are more)ringing up $1.50 each, unadvertised sale!!

3 famiy size boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Shredded Mini Wheats, ringing up $1.50 each, unadvertised sale!!

2 blocks of Kroger cheese, 1 1lb @$2.99each

1 Kroger sliced American cheese, 24 count $2.99

18 ct. Kroger Eggs, $1.88

2 Kroger Milk, @ $2.78 each

2 Ortega Seasoning @$.89 each use $.50/2 any ortega product coupon

1 Got2be styling hair gel $3 use $3 off any 1 got2be full size product

1 Mentos Up2U gum, $1 Use $1/1 coupon, any up2u gum

1 tray of St. Patrick's Day cookies, @$.99 Originally $6.99 on mark down in the manager's special bread shelf. This is one of my favorite places to check in the store. I can't justify spending a ton on bread now that Jacob can't eat it, and I don't bake much anymore now either. So this is a great place I can score great deals, and then freeze them. Just as a note though, I have no idea who would pay $6.99 for a tray of about 20 cookies with sprinkles, but maybe it's just me.

*Mega sale items* You need to buy 10 participating items (not 10 of the same item, can be mix/match) to get the price listed. The price listed is the final price you pay before coupons. The way the mega sale usually works is, when you use your Kroger card, you will get the sale price, and then when you buy 10 items from the Mega sale, you will get $5 taken off, that breaks up as $.50 per item.



3 boxes of Kellogg's Gluten Free Rice Krispies cereal (10 total Kellogg's cereal so far, including Mega and Non Mega) Use two $5/5 Kellogg's -not available anymore, but it was available two separate times a few weeks ago and expired yesterday. There are still $1/3 and $1/2 coupons out there to print, if you look for them.

2 Planter's Peanut Butter @ $2.79 each use $.50/1 coupon or $1/1 coupon (there are printable and insert coupons out there

1 French's Spicy Brown Mustard @$.99 use $.30/1 coupon

1 Vlassic pickles, $2.89 use 1 $.50/1 coupon

2 Kraft Velveeta Cheesy Skillets $2.19 each use $1/1 coupon, from the Velveeta Cheesy Skillet's Facebook page

5 Oscar Meyer Weiners @$1.49 each Side note: These were $1, as were the bologna, just a few weeks ago at Savealot. I really wish I would have bought a freezer full, as both freeze well, and keep a long time in the fridge as well. However, this $1.49 is still a great stock up price.

2 Oscar Meyer Bologna $1.49

4 boxes of Wheat Thins, @ $1.99 each Use 2 $1/2 coupons, from the Kraft super bowl recipe book (I had several of these, I got from family and friends)

4 boxes of Ritz Crackers, @ $1.99 each Use 2 $1/2 coupons from the Kraft super bowl recipe book

3 Bumble Bee tuna Premium pouches @$.79 each Use $1/1 printable coupon (I think it was from the Bumble bee Facebook page) and Use $1/2 printable coupon (not sure where I got that, sorry)

1 Palmolive dish liquid, 25 oz. $1.99 use $.50/1 coupon from Coupons.com

4 Kraft Salad dressing @$1.69 each

3 Kraft Fresh Take Cheese and Breadcrumb mix, @1.69 Use 1 $1/2 any Kraft cheese, Philly cooking creme, or fresh takes and Use $1/1 Kraft Fresh Take from inserts **There should still be coupons available on coupons.com. I also saw on the larger packs of boneless skinless chicken breast there was $1/1 coupons to go with it, if you bought chicken and fresh takes together.

3 Kraft Philly Cooking Creme @$2.79 Use 1 $1/2 coupon from insert and use $.55 cents of

1 Frank's Hot sauce, $1.99 Use $.75/1 coupon

1 Yakisoba Noodles@ $1, U use $.50/1 coupon that doubles