Breaking the Code: The Real Deal

About a month ago I started a series titled "Breaking the Code" to help you save money at the grocery store. The first topic centered around helping you figure out what actually is a deal at the grocery store.  The second topic was all about coupons, where to find them, how to organize them and how to use them effectively.  Today I will marry the two together and show you how to use a great deal at the grocery store plus coupons to get The Real Deal.

DEAL #1: CEREAL
A local grocery store is running the following deal on select boxes of General Mills cereal.

To get the deal you have to use the following store coupon.

This alone is a great deal because the boxes normally cost $2.25 each.  With the store coupon alone, you're already in the ballpark to save $1 a box.  But why stop there, when you could use a manufacturer's coupon too?  I only had one General Mills cereal coupon in my collection which was $1 off 2 boxes.  There are always cereal coupons on the web though so I took a stroll around Coupons.com to see if I could find any more.  There I found coupons for $0.50 off one Chex cereal, and $0.50 off one Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  That's a double bonus because Tuesdays are double coupon days so the grocery store will double all coupons $0.50 and under.  That means I get $1 off the Chex ceral and $1 off the CTC.  

SUMMARY:

                                            Original $     Sale $      Store Cpn       Mfr Cpn        Final $       Total Savings

Cheerios (8.9oz)                     $2.25        n/a           - $1.00           - $0.50         $0.75         $1.50

Cinn. Tst. Crunch (12.2oz)     $2.99         n/a           - $1.00          - $1.00          $0.99         $2.00

Honey Nut Chex (13.8oz)      $3.28         n/a           - $1.00          - $1.00          $1.28         $2.00

I saved a total of $5.50 and walked out with 4 boxes of cereal for $3.77 (+ tax).  **I have to admit that I broke my cardinal rule because Cinnamon Toast Crunch is not a cereal that I normally buy, but I bought it because of the great deal.  I also knew it would earn me some brownie points with Papa J so I caved.**

DEAL #2: RITZ CRACKERS

Here is the advertised deal at the grocery store.

I've seen Ritz for as low as $1.88 so this is not the best deal but in combination with a coupon and double coupon day it turned out to be a great deal.  I had a coupon for $0.50 off one box of Nabisco crackers.  This coupon came from Coupons.com a couple of weeks ago.  Remember, the coupons on that website have a printing limit so once they reach their limit they are no longer available, or even visible.  I looked today and the coupon was no where to be seen.  The good ones go fast but the coupons refresh on the first day of the month so be ready to click & print come April 1st.

SUMMARY:

                                        Original $     Sale $      Store Cpn       Mfr Cpn        Final $       Total Savings

Ritz Crackers (13oz)         $2.88          $2.00       n/a                   - $1.00         $1.00         $1.88

The sale and coupon brough the price down to $1.00/box.  That is $1.88 off the original price.  I saved a total of $3.76 because I had two coupons and bought two boxes of Ritz.  Baby J loves Ritz so these are essential to keep on hand in our house.

DEAL #3: POPTARTS

Here is the advertised deal at the grocery store.

This is a pretty good deal on its own but as soon as I saw Kellogg's I thought to myself, "I wonder what coupons they have for Poptarts in the Kellogg's rewards program?"  I found two coupons in the rewards, $0.75 off one Poptarts (500 points) or $1.50 off one Poptarts (1,000).  I had 2,000 points in my account due to a St. Patrick's Day bonus and two extra bonus codes (EARNSWEETREWARDS and HOLLYJOLLYCOSTCO --> use them while you can!) so I splurged on the $1.50 coupon.  After printing once, I hit the back button in my browser, then refresh and amazingly it let me print the coupon twice.  I know, I know, it pinged my conscious to be able to use the coupon twice so the second box of Poptarts I bought are going to the local food pantry.  It's the Robin Hood theory, steal from rich (= Kellogg's) and give to the poor (= food pantry).  

SUMMARY:

                                  Original $     Sale $      Store Cpn       Mfr Cpn        Final $       Total Savings

Poptarts (13.5oz)        $2.18          $1.48       n/a                  - $1.50         +$0.02       $2.20

Believe it or not, they (whoever "they" is) paid me $0.02/box to buy these Poptarts today.  Again, this is not a product I always buy but when I am going to get paid to take home Poptarts, then I won't argue.  Plus I get to turn around and use the rewards points towards more Kellogg's Rewards and donate to the food pantry.

DEAL #4: SEATTLE'S BEST COFFEE

Here is the advertised deal at the grocery store.

 This alone is a not a good deal.  For example, Walmart sells the same bag of coffee for $5.88.  This grocery store has a gas rewards program though (the red circle in the upper right), so when you take that into account the amount you save on gas ($0.05/gallon and up to 20 gallons = $1 off gas), it brings the cost down to below Walmart's price (~$5.49).  What really makes it a good deal though is what I stumbled upon by chance.  Seattle's Best is giving away a free sample of coffee through the Facebook page.  Once you sign up for the free sample, they email you a coupon for $2 off one bag of coffee.  Again, using the back button, refresh method, I printed the coupon twice (hey, they're handing out free coffee, what's another $2 going to hurt?).

SUMMARY:

                                              Original $     Sale $      Store Cpn       Mfr Cpn        Final $       Total Savings

Seattle's Best Coffee (12oz)    $?               $6.48       n/a                  - $2.50         $4.48         $2.00+

All in all it was a good day at the grocery store.  Along with a few other deals and coupons that I didn't write about, I saved a total of $18.00 in coupons and even more in the sales of the week.  Just as I warned you before, don't be deceived by the advertisements.  Just below the Seattle's Best coffee, there was an advertisement for Tostito's chips.  This is NOT a deal.  Although it is a discount from the original price (which is crazy high!), the best sale is usually 3/$6 and it comes around every few months.