My Trips

May
04

FREE Redbox Codes in select Totino’s

So guess what arrived in my mailbox today? Yes, my Fred Meyer Rewards! I’d been promising my kids a movie night, so I thought we’d hit up the Redbox there for the movie and use the rebate for some treats.

My daughter chose the cheese Totino’s pizza – which was $1.39. Guess what? It had a FREE Redbox rental code inside! My son and I each picked up a couple other treats and after our Fred Meyer Reward, paid $0.13 out of pocket.

And yes, I *might* have ripped open the pizza box right then and there to use the Free Redbox code too….

If you end up looking for this deal, you might want to consider using the $0.75/3 coupon from 2/26 SmartSource.

Don’t you love it when the stars align for a good deal?

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May
03

Today’s Farmers Markets Trip: a ton o’ greens, raw honey, and maybe some treats…

I was excited about the season opening of the Tacoma Farmer’s Market on Broadway today – there was no way I was going to miss it! I thought I’d share some of my favorite tips for navigating the market along with what I found.

First tip for my locals: take the Link! You can park for FREE at the Tacoma Dome station. The Link is also FREE and runs every 10 minutes. We get off at the Commerce Street exit and you’re only a couple blocks away.

Bonus: the kids think it's fun!

We didn’t mind that it was a little drizzly today – after all, we’re Washingtonians aren’t we?

The first tent that really caught my eye was Terry’s Berries. I love these guys! You may have recalled I’ve posted about visiting their Puyallup Farm in the past.

They are super friendly and had such a beautiful selection of organically-grown greens today. I took the opportunity to pick a couple new treats: sunchokes and dandelion greens. If you end up going to the Tacoma Broadway Market – make sure to stop by Terry’s Berries tent. Or, visit them at their farm. They are a local farm worth supporting!

A visit to the Farmer’s Market wouldn’t be complete for us without picking up a jar of local, raw honey. Honey is one of those things that’s especially beneficial to buy local. Apparently it can help those that suffer with allergies – did you know this? At $11 a jar, it’s not your cheapest options for buying honey, but it’s a splurge I’m happy to make!

The gal at the Sweet Maiden Honey tent was so nice and helpful to chat with. That’s the vibe you get at the market – people are genuinely happy and interested to talk to you, share with you about their food and the care that goes into producing it.

My son chose the wildflower honey, which I’m told is a lighter flavor. He actually ate a big spoonful when we got home. He told me it’s quite good!

I just love taking my kids to the Farmer’s Market! If you’re ever looking for a family-friendly thing to do, find one near you and spend an hour or so.

Piper's been watching too much Next Top Model

We caught the Link back downtown for a quick treat before going home…

Have you ever been to Hello, Cupcake? If not, stop in sometime! It’s one of my kids’ favorite places to go.

After a fun-filled afternoon, it was time to catch the Link back to our car….

And then home so I could put all my treasures away.

I paid $17.50 for all the produce, and $11 for the honey. I think that’s a fair deal considering most everything is organic! I ended up with:

  • 3 pounds of pears (I love using these in my smoothies)
  • sunchokes
  • dandelion greens
  • collard greens
  • rainbow chard
  • pea greens
  • cilantro

Remember, when you go to the farmer’s market, you get what’s in season. You won’t find any berries, tomatoes, or cucumbers just yet! This is the fun and beauty of buying local – you are buying food that’s fresh! I am inspired by all these greens and plan on making a few extra green smoothies this week and had an idea on the way home of making bean-stuffed collard leaves. We’ll see how it goes.

Any ideas for the sunchokes? I was thinking of roasting them. Hmmmm.

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May
03

Erica’s Trip to the Bread Outlet

Erica had a chance to visit the bread outlet yesterday. Here’s her story:

I love the Franz Bread Outlet in Kent! They carry regular priced products in addition to their mark down racks. I just have to say though, their mark down racks are where it’s at! I typically take a turn around the small store to scope out the best priced rack before I start filling up my cart. Here’s what I got today for $12:

Here’s the breakdown:

Regular loaves of bread were 5 for $5 ($1 each).
English Muffins were 6 for $2 ($0.33 each).
The rest (3 loaves of sourdough, 3 bags of bagels, and 1 bag of sandwich thins) were on a 7 for $5 rack ($0.72 each).

These amazing prices are due to the fact that everything is near the pull date. I plan to throw everything that we won’t use this week into our chest freezer. I love stocking up on cheap bread stuffs! You can find the closest Franz Outlet to you here!

Do you ever shop the bread outlets? Other places to find bread for cheap?

 

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Apr
30

My Fred Meyer & Albertsons Doublers Trip (found: $0.19 Aquafresh, FREE Snapware!)

I did a pretty sizable grocery shopping trip last week and still have quite a bit of food (particularly produce) on hand. So this week, I’ve decided to largely to eat up what we already have and just did a quick trip for a few essentials (and quite frankly, a few treats!). Then I’m hoping to hit up the Broadway Farmer’s Market this Thursday to replenish any produce we need.

All told we spent $27.05 today between both stores and saved $36.69 (or 58%!). This figure might actually be a conservative one as Fred Meyer’s savings are not always easy to decipher.

At Albertsons, I spent a whopping $5.99 (tax included) on the following:

Here’s how I did it:

(2) Starbucks Refreshers $1.25
(2) Bailey’s Irish Creamers $2.79
(8) beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce $0.59 – $1.19
(2) Aquafresh kids toothpaste $2.19
(2) Easter basket grass – 90% off!! (on freezer aisle of Milton, WA store)

Coupons used:

(2) FREE Starbucks coupons from 4/29 Moments to Save
(1) $1/2 Bailey’s blinkie coupon found at store
$0.50 each in-ad store coupon for the beans & tomatoes
(2) $1/1 Aquafresh coupons from 4/15 Red Plum
(3) Twice the Value coupons
Bottom line: $5.99 out of pocket! WOOT! 

More Albertsons Twice the Value deals spotted….

Aquafresh Kids Toothpaste $2.19
$1/1 coupon from 4/15 Red Plum
Use a doubler
Bottom line: $0.19

Tabasco Sauce $1.85
$0.60/1 coupon from 4/29 SmartSource
Use a doubler
Bottom line: $0.65

Nestle Single Serve Candy Bars $0.69
$0.60/3 coupon from 4/29 SmartSource
Use a doubler
Bottom line: $0.29 each

Cheetos $2
$1/2 coupon from 4/29 Moments to Save insert
Use a doubler
Bottom line: $1 each

Belvita Crackers $2.99
$1/1 coupon from 2/26 SmartSource (exp 4/30 – TODAY!)
Use a doubler
Bottom line: $0.99

Buddig 2 oz Meat Packages $1
$1/4 coupon from 4/22 SmartSource
Use a doubler
Bottom line: $0.50 each

For more ideas, visit my Albertsons Twice the Value post from this weekend.

At Fred Meyer, I found some pretty sweet unadvertised deals, too:

Snapware as low as $1.69
$2/1 coupon from 4/29 SmartSource
Bottom line: As low as FREE
(I bought the $2.49 priced ones as I prefer that size)

So Delicious Coconut Yogurt $1.79
$1/1 coupon from 4/22 SmartSource
$1/1 coupon from 2/12 SmartSource (exp 4/30 – TODAY!)
$1/1 coupon from 3/25 SmartSource
Bottom line: $0.79

Bear Naked Granola $3.99 (reg. $5.29)
$1/1 coupon found in Naturally Preferred Magazine (found in natural section)
Bottom line: $2.99

Pepperidge Farm Cookies (both distinctive & soft baked) $2
$0.50/1 coupons from 3/11 SmartSource
Bottom line: $1.50

Vlasic Relish $1
$0.55/1 coupon from 4/1 Smartsource
Bottom line: $0.45
(Previously reported deal)

If you’re planning a trip, check out Fred Meyer and Alberstons deals this week!

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Apr
26

Tacoma Boys Produce = Fuji Apples $0.50/lb, Inexpensive Veggie Starts

I dropped into Tacoma Boys today on 6th Avenue. Have you ever been?

They also have a sister store in Lakewood called H&L Produce and they offer great deals on produce, meat, and more. I wanted to share a few things I found today:

Gallon-size tomato plants for just $2.50 each. They looked really healthy!

Pack-size veggie starts $1.50 each – they had tons of different varieties including lettuces, chard, tomatoes, and more.

They also are selling small bunches of local daffodils for $1 this week, but I didn’t take a picture. (Sorry, you’ll just have to trust me on that one.)

I ended up with this:

It’s about 22-24 pounds of Fuji apples for $10! They are not perfect looking and I had to hunt a bit, but they will be fantastic for some applesaucing I plan to do today.

If you like Tacoma Boys, I recommend you follow them on Facebook. They frequently post deals there you won’t find anywhere else. For instance they might say, “for our Facebook fans, ask for <<insert deal here>> at the butcher’s block today only.”

One of the most beautiful produce displays in town. HANDS DOWN.

You can also find their ad online. A few notables:

  • Lettuce for $1/head
  • D’anjou pears for $1/lb
  • Cauliflower for $1.50/each
  • Broccoli for $1/lb

Do you like shopping at Tacoma Boys/H&L Produce? And if you’re not local, do you have a similar local market you like to shop at?

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Apr
23

My Ultra Big Shopping Trip: Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer, WinCo

I hadn’t gone shopping in two weeks given that I was out for the count last week becoming Bionic woman. (An aside here – thank you to my dear friends Carmen, Cassandra, and Kerifor supplying my family with beautiful meals delivered to my home while I was recovering – you guys rock!)

Terry and I recently upped our grocery budget to $400 a month as we’re making an effort to eat more organic produce, whole foods, and reduce our eating out costs. So far, this seems to be working well for our family of four. I took $100 cash out today and started my trip at WinCo:

I spent $10.21 on everything pictured above – just bulk items! I refill our Quaker Oats bin about twice a month with the old-fashioned oats from bulk at WinCo ($1.32 to refill it!). A few other notables:

  • Pinenuts for a pesto: $1.23! Buy in bulk, buy just what you need and pine nuts will not break the bank!
  • Forbidden rice for $2.06! I’ve seen this for some time and have been curious to try it. I’ll be using it in this Forbidden Rice Salad recipe I pinned. (It’s vegan and GF for my specialty diet followers.)
  • Raw Sugar for $1.74! Another inexpensive way to save on a specialty item.

I then proceeded to hit up Trader Joe’s and Fred Meyer for the remainder of my whirlwind shopping:

It’s hard to see everything here, but I’d guess a good 60-70% of what I bought today was produce, and at least half of that was organic. I also purchased some organic meat for my family (though I won’t be eating it), along with tons of greens, pizza dough from Trader Joe’s, cereal, stuff for my son’s lunch, and a few treats to boot.

The grand total was $104.87, which is exactly $4.87 more than I wanted to spend this week. I’ll cut back a bit next week to even things out.

Here’s my meal plan this week:

I also bought plenty of smoothie fixins’ including some new greens I’m excited to try from Trader Joe’s. I’m also thinking of trying a strawberry-basil concoction later today.

I know some of you are thinking that $100 sounds like a lot of money, so let me explain how this is actually pretty affordable for my family:

  • We eat out less these days and made small cuts in other areas that add up.
  • I have worked to avoid those middle of the week shopping trips – this is SUCH a money zapper if you’re not careful. Seriously, folks. Try focusing your shopping to one day per week and be amazed by the savings.
  • Every item has a purpose. I always start with a meal plan these days and then break the meals down into ingredients. I still work to sort through ads/coupon deals to see what could be built around those items for cost savings. For instance – the chickpeas were $0.50 last week at Fred Meyer. Perfect, I just added chickpea tacos to the menu this week!

I will say that given how much fresh greens we now eat, I am all the more eager for our garden to start growing, growing, growing so we can start saving, saving, saving! For more on how and why I’m eating this way, check out my recent post on my diet.

Did you do any shopping today? Have you moved to more healthful eating and if so, how have you offset any jump in cost?

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Coming this Friday: Best Prices day at JC Penney!

April 18, 2012

I wanted to remind everyone that this Friday April 20th, JC Penney will be having another “Best Prices” Friday! These happen the first and third Fridays of every month and you’ll find deep discounts in nearly every department. I had the opportunity to check out the last sale and I found items for as low [...]

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Possibly FREE Easter Cookies at a QFC near you!

April 15, 2012

Check out this HOT deal I found today at my local QFC: Nestle Easter Cookies on clearance for $0.89 $1/1 coupon from 3/25 SmartSource Bottom line: FREE If you don’t have a QFC near you, you might want to keep those Nestle coupons handy – I bet you might find similar discounts at stores near [...]

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Unadvertised finds at Fred Meyer = Hostess, Relish, Olive Oil, Tea & more!

April 13, 2012

I popped into Fred Meyer this morning with the Shopping Princess. The car cart is much more fun when we don’t have to share it with brother. We found some deals we’d like to share with you today. Hostess Mini Donettes $1 $0.50/1 printable coupon (Coupons.com) Bottom line: $0.50 Twinkies $2.50 $0.50/1 printable coupon (Coupons.com) Bottom line: [...]

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My JC Penney trip: 63% saved on boys & women’s clothing!

April 6, 2012

I thought I’d hit JC Penney up today for their Friday Markdown sale. I’ve been hearing about this, but hadn’t gone yet. I’m glad I did! Here’s what we ended up with: I bought (2) boys pants ($4 & $7), one pair of Adidas running shorts ($5!), one Adidas t-shirt ($5!), one cute woman’s sweater [...]

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