I've recently started following the weekly sales and coupons more closely. Pretty proud of today's shopping trip. I got:
* 4 3/8 gallon containers of ice cream,
* 4 pounds of cheese,
* 12 cans of fizzy water (got mint in the CSA this week and want to make some mojitos),
* 3 50-yard dental flosses,
* 2 pounds of frozen potatoes,
* Some weird milk made out of pea protein (I'll try anything if you pay me to take it out of the store),
* a loaf of bread,
* a dozen eggs, and
* a candy bar.
Net cost: $12.85 after coupons and scanning my receipt with the ibotta app, plus I got a $2 coupon for my next trip.
That's a pretty great grocery bargain! Did you manage to get the ice cream for free? Getting 4lbs of cheese along with a bunch of other stuff in a $13 purchase is some fine sales-catching!
ETA: This was at Fred Meyer, wasn't it?
It was QFC, same corporate parent as Fred Meyer.
The ice cream was a 99¢ Friday/Saturday only deal, limit 5. I wasn't sure my freezer could hold all five, so I only bought four. In hindsight I probably could have bought the fifth one. ibotta gave me 25¢ back on the first ice cream.
The dental floss was
this deal: $1.99 normal price, but part of the "buy 5, save $5" promotion, making them 99¢ each if you purchase participating items in multiples of five. Printable coupons get $1.00 off the first floss and 75¢ off subsequent flosses, bringing the cost for three down to 47¢. Then if you buy three or more the cash register spits out a coupon for $2 off your next shopping trip, meaning they're paying you $1.53 to take home some dental floss. I'm happy the Kroger Krazy blog exists to tell me about these things because I would never spend the time to put the pieces together on my own. It's fun when it works out!
The cheese was also part of the "buy 5, save $5" promotion. I bought two two-pound packages to round out the discount from the dental floss: a brick of colby jack and a bag of shredded mozzarella. They ended up being $5.49 each. Seems like they mess with the price of cheese every week at QFC. Sometimes one size will be on sale, making bigger sizes less cost-effective. Sometimes they'll put Tillamook on sale, leaving the store brand more expensive. It makes no sense. We go through a lot of cheese in our house and my rule of thumb is to replenish our supplies when it's $3/pound or less, skip it otherwise.
The candy bar was the "Free Friday" promotion they run every week where they give you some little thing free for signing into the store coupon app on Friday. You don't actually have to go to the store that day, but I did anyway.
The pea protein milk and frozen potatoes had ibotta rebates making them free, or slight money makers after factoring in the credit card points.
I paid full price for the fizzy water, bread, and eggs (minus 25¢ from ibotta for the eggs).
Bringing the total down farther was a $5 off $25 coupon QFC sent in the mail, and a $2 coupon the cash register spat out the last time I went to the store.