Is everyone else's pantry full of cereal like mine after the Albertsons sale last week? Phew – that was fun, but I may well take this week off of shopping.
Readers Julie and Amy sent me pictures of their trips last week and I wanted to share!
Julie did a number of trips and transactions. Here's her first picture:
And then her second:
So Julie writes that all told, she ended up with 24 boxes of cereal, 2 cans of cat food, 1 box of crackers, and a canister of Lysol wipes for just $5.01 out of pocket! She did this by doing multiple transactions at three stores. The best part? She still has a $4 off-her-next-order coupon she earned for buying the cereal! If you factor that in, her bottom line was just $1.01 for all this food! AWESOME!
Amy also had fun with the Albertsons sale:
After coupons, doublers, Catalinas, and the hot Post sale, Amy only spent $3.50 for all the food pictured – plus she writes that cost included a few other grocery items not pictured here! NICE!
Now I understand…some of you might be reading this, shaking your head going, "what on earth will these ladies DO with all that cereal?" Let me remind you one of the KEY principles to couponing: buy items your family needs and uses when they are at a low price and stock-up as much as you reasonably can. Then you will avoid paying full price just because you need the item. Still perplexed? You might want to read the post I wrote last October on rethinking how and why you shop.
While everyone else goes off to the store and spends $3 -$4 for a box of cereal each week, Julie and Amy will avoid this cost, and instead, head to their pantry to feed their family.
Nice work, ladies!!
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I’d also like to add that the key component here is that the earliest expiration date on any of my boxes is December . . . yes a full 9 months away! My son and I have cereal for breakfast every morning and I like to have a tiny bowl of the chocolatey stuff at night as a dessert (it’s more nutritious than straight chocolate and satisfies my cravings). If I find that we’re not nearing the end of our stash in a timely manner, I’ll donate unused boxes to a food pantry.
Thanks for the tips on the sale Angela!!! I wouldn’t have known to do the math on that one without your blog.
It is nice to be able to pay it forward also. We were well stocked on cereal this time so the 8 boxes that I picked up are in the trunk of my car ready to go to the church food bank.
Not only can be eaten for breakfast or the occasional late nite snack (me too, Julie!)-you can make cocoa krispy treats with it or fruity pebbles treats, etc. the list goes on! I even saw on the box that they recommend trying it with Honey Bunches of Oats, which sounds super yummy to me. Not to mention nearly free since marshmallows are so cheap!
I have 11 children still living at home (two are out of the nest). I bought 89 boxes of Post cereal during this sale, over several days, never more than 3 transactions in a row. The last 3 transactions I did on Saturday, I spent 8 cents for 17 boxes. AND, I have three $4.00 Catalina’s still to use. Score!