Shaw's has some GREAT sales this week. Good enough that I am planning on ordering some coupons from Dede to take full advantage of this sale and stock up on some yummies!

My favorite match ups are all part of the "Buy 10 participating items and Save $5 Instantly" promotion:

Prince Pasta on sale for $1.29/box comes down to .79¢/box when you buy 10. Or mix and match, which is what I did to fill in on some of the other sale items.

Ragu Pasta Sauce is on sale for $1.79/jar becomes .88¢/jar when you use the $1.25/3 coupon and combine with the in store promotion. I only had one of these coupons, for some reason, but I definitely plan on getting more of them before this sale ends on Thursday.

Wish-bone Dressing on sale for $2.49 becomes .99¢/bottle when you use the .50/1 coupon from the 1/29 RP insert and you combine with the "Buy 10" promotion.

Pace Picante or Salsa is on sale for $1.49/jar. Use .75/1 coupon with this sale. The coupon doubles and the final price in combination with the promotion is only .24¢/jar. I plan on stocking up on this, too!

Chex Mix is a favorite with my 11 year old. This week it is on sale for $2.49. I used (2) printable coupons for .60¢/1 to bring the cost to .79¢/bag. Chex Mix is on sale at Rite Aid until tomorrow for $1.49/bag. I could have used the coupon there to make them .89¢/bag, but it made more sense to use Shaw's policy for doubling coupons instead. I bought 2 bags, though I had other coupons for $1/2.

Kraft Cheese- blocks, shredded, and American cheese slices are all on sale for $2.99/package. Use the $1/3 coupon from Sunday's insert with the promotion to make any variety $2.16/package.

Planters Peanuts are on sale for $3.49/jar. Use the $1.50/2 coupon from Sunday's inserts and combine with the promotion to make them $2.24/jar when you buy at least 2 of them and of course, a total of 10 items qualifying for the promotion.

I really LOVE these types of promotions. It fits the way I shop, stocking up, in advance and it saves me an appreciable amount of money along the way. Today, I purchased:

(2) jars Pace Salsa, (3) jars Ragu Pasta Sauce, (5) boxes Prince Bow Tie Pasta, (1) Boursin Cheese, (3) Kraft Cracker Barrel Block Cheese, (3) Kraft Shredded Cheese, (2) American Cheese, (2) Chex Mix, (4) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, (2) Baby Carrots, (2) Fresh Express Salad Mix, (4) 2 lb bags Onions, (2) bunches Celery, & (2) boxes Prince Linguine. The only item not on sale was the Boursin cheese, but I bought some as a splurge to enjoy in tomato halves with my husband tonight. The produce was all on sale for only $1/bag, so though I did not have a coupon for them, they were still at a really great price! And, the cream cheese was on sale for Buy One/Get One at $2.79 for 2 of them. ($1.40 is not a great price for these, but I am making a cheese ball tomorrow for a party this weekend and it was worth my time to pay the pennies more than search another store and spend the extra gas.) All in all my purchases rang up to over $93.00 and my final cost was less than $43.00 for a saving of around $50 and 54% savings today. Had I not splurged on the cheese, my total would have come to only $37.00. I can live with that.

Happy Saving,
Sonja ♥

On the bright side... pickles ♥

One of the unexpected "bright sides" of still having to drive my son and daughter to their jobs is that I am able to swing by the community center to glean some fruits and veggies a couple of times each week. These must be eaten and/or preserved immediately or else the goats and hens find me extra generous with their treats.

Originally, I had planned on buying a couple dozen canning jars to put up some of the veggies from our garden. But, my sister was given about six dozen jars, which she did not need, so she kindly passed them on to me. Free is the best "coupon" of all! My plan is to "put up" salsa, marinara, apple pie filling, and dilly beans. I am also going to freeze some apple cidar to enjoy through the winter months.
I was hoping to find more green beans today. The batch of dilly beans I made last week did not come out so well. Upon closer investigation, I strongly suspect I forgot to add the canning salt to the first batch so currently, my 10 year old is the only one willing to eat them. Having tried them myself, she is more than welcome to them!

I did not find green beans, but I did get enough pickling cucumbers to make 7 quarts of dill pickles. I decided to use my Grandfather's recipe for the beans, slightly modified to accommodate using cukes. My husband and I prepared them together. I tasted one slice from the first jar before sealing them; it was absolutely delicious. If they are as yummy completely processed, I will share my recipe with you all.

I like the feeling of putting up foods in the basement cupboard. I like how they look; all in delicious rows, just waiting to be opened and enjoyed. I like the thought of following time honored traditions of preserving foods to care for my family. I like smell of dill and of apples in the house. ♥

Once again, I froze all of the breads for a later use- except the blueberry bagels my husband will be eating for breakfast tomorrow and possibly Saturday. I am planning on adding the green peppers and tomatos to those I grew in my garden this year as the main ingredients of some homemade spicy salsa. Can't wait!

♥ Sonja