Loves me some grocery bargains: 3/21/09 trips

Practically every major store in my general vicinity was having awesome deals of some sort this week. This is NOT always the case. Some weeks are really lame around here...especialy with the lack of double coupons and such. BUT...not anymore! Recently Albertson's has been dabbling into the doubles every so often and its been so fun! Safeway and QFC had some great mix N match promotions too. This is more than I would normally spend in a week, but I won't be shopping this weekend due to travel/abnormal stuff (such as working for 2 days:)!

Albertson's and double coupon madness: total under $5 for all (cute toddler not included):
Best deals-yogurt was all free after doubles, extra dark chocolate (a must for pregnancy sanity) $0.29, beech nut kids meals $0.70 overage, and free french bread. I got tomato paste to make homemade ketchup, mustard and store brand whip topping all without coupons.

Fred Meyer $15.98: nothing exciting here, just some things the other stores didn't have on sale for lower prices: ww flour, bananas, grapes, margarine, reduced bread, syrup, maple extract so I can start making homemade syrup!!!, brown sugar

Target $24.62 (not pictured is my new nursing bra $12.99): whoo this was a fun trip. Thank goodness because Target can be a pain with coupons sometimes. Found the secret is to find a teenage guy that doesn't take himself too seriously and who doesn't want to embarass himself by questioning every single coupon. Not to say I try to "pull something", but for some reason older cashiers will sometimes panic when you use a store/manu coupon together and cause a state of emergency situation over nothing. Or the coupon has a picture of a different product but clearly states its for a range...OR the coupon beeps! So much drama for little coupons. But I knew this cashier was THE ONE when he picked up a fake lemon centerpiece and held it up (with the customers in front of me) and said :whoa are these real"?! in a surfer dude manner. :) So that was a long story but all in all I got some great deals. I spent about $12 on everything pictured including yummy dunkin donut coffee, two applesauces ($0.14 each after coupons), $0.50 a box on various Quaker bars, 3 packs of huggies wipes, and some much needed thank you notes.

Safeway #2 (in reverse order) about $15: mix n match promo deals: Salad, soda, fuze drinks (many not pictured...M carried them off) for our labor bag, whole grain rice a roni, tartar sauce (free!), dole fruit cups, and petite cut diced tomatoes (used $0.40/1 coupon)

QFC $8.09 and Safeway #1 $2.50: QFC had powerade at $0.50 each when you buy 10 participating products (wanted lots for labor bag) and I had some Quakes coupons that created overage. The strawberries(4 lbs not pictured) ended up being $1.25/lb so that was $4.99 of my total!. At Safeway I got the Ronzoni pasta for $.25 a box after mix n match promo and blinkie coupons!

Walgreens $3.04, but use $12 RRs from previous trips and received $7 in RR back.

Grocery Cart Challenge and Money Saving Mom host oodles more shopping trip saving stories!