Lately my biggest goal when it comes to mealtime, is using up what we have in the canning cupboard. So this past week started off like any normal week…
The plan was to open and use up all the jars I had set out on the counter the previous Sunday. And with the exception of one jar {pasta sauce} we managed to empty them.
Here’s a look at the meals I served last week:
Home canned beef stew. {We only have 1 jar left! Note to self: This summer, can at least 24 jars.}
Home canned split pea and ham soup. {I want to can more of this too!}
Copy cat Panera tomato soup {I didn’t can this but a week rarely goes by without me eating this at least once for lunch}.
Turkey pot pie with pressure canned carrots.
Pasta salad with pickled peppers and pickled asparagus. I also used a jar of zucchini relish in some tuna salad I whipped up last week as well.
I didn’t use any canned goods here, but I still have 5 dozen eggs I need to use!
Quesadillas with home canned salsa and homemade tortillas.
And then St. Patrick’s Day rolled around and The Kiln Guy and The Chef joined us for lunch. 🙂
And so we served corned beef, cabbage and potatoes along with an Irish apple cake {that was just okay} and then I had them sample the meat pies and pasties and sticky toffee pudding I had made at the King Arthur Baking School.
I think we all agreed the sticky toffee pudding was the best. {Recipe coming soon.}
For leftovers the next night we had corned beef and glazed {canned} carrots.
Then leftover over corned beef with potatoes. And that was it for meals.
Now on to the exciting part. 🙂
Every week when the sale flyers for Shaw’s and Hannaford arrive, I give them a quick glance before ultimately deciding there aren’t any deals worth leaving the house for and then tossing them into the recycling bin.
But this time around there actually WERE a few good deals, enough to get me excited for the first time since we’ve moved to New England {nearly five years ago!} to sign up for one of those dumb chopper cards.
Was my sign up information accurate? No. Because seriously, why on earth does a grocery store need to know your email address or phone number in order for you to BUY FOOD from them? Bottom line: They don’t.
Yada yada yada.
Here are the deals I picked up.
Shaw’s $17.64
$3.26 Corned Beef Brisket {$1.27 lb w/ digital coupon}
$4.07 Corned Beef Brisket {$1.27 lb w/digital coupon}
$1.06 6.24 lbs Cabbage {$0.17 w/digital coupon}
$3.94 {2} 5 lb Bags of potatoes {1.97 ea. w/digital coupon}
$1.97 3 lbs onions {$1.97 w/digital coupon}
$1.67 1lb Frozen Peas {not a deal but see below}
$3.88 1.91 lbs Granny Smith apples {$1.77 lb} {not a great deal but see below}
$1.49 O organic black beans {not a deal… BUT see below}
-$1.00 off any O organic product {beans}
-$1.00 off any produce item {apples}
-$1.00 off any frozen food item {peas}
————
$17.84 after deals/coupons
Then, the new ad came out on Friday {St. Patrick’s Day} and Shaw’s was having a “one day sale” on corned beef, potatoes and cabbage.
So I hopped online to see if there were any new coupons to “clip” and see if I wanted to accompany the HH on his Friday errands so I could score a few more grocery deals.
Well, as it turned out, there were a few new online coupons to clip so I clipped them and then penciled out a deal and went with the HH to the store.
Shaw’s $20.47
In a nutshell, the sale priced corned beef was “out of stock” {at 9 am} and none of the digital coupons I had clipped an hour earlier came off when it was time to check out.
But I was calm and the cashier was calm and so I showed her the ad and told her the digital coupons I had clipped and someone came over and manually typed the coupons in and I left with everything {except the corned beef} that I had planned on getting.
Here’s what that deal looked like:
$1.09 6.42 lbs Cabbage {$0.17 w/digital coupon}
$5.91 {3} 5 lbs potatoes {1.97 ea. w/digital coupon}
$7.94 {2} 24 oz Italian sausage {$3.97 ea. w/digital coupon}
$1.49 O organic beans
$1.50 Oui yogurt {I LOVE this stuff!}
$3.99 Bagged avocados
$3.94 {2} General Mills cereal {$1.97 ea w/digital coupon}
$1.62 Pears
$1.99 8 oz Cheese
– $1.00 off O organic product {digital coupon}
– $1.00 off any yogurt purchase {digital coupon}
-$1.00 off bagged avocados {digital coupon}
– $1.00 off {2} General Mills cereal {digital coupon}
– $5.00 off any $25.00 purchase {digital coupon}
———
$20.47 after deals/coupons
I told the HH the only other thing I plan to buy this month is a gallon of milk. Unless of course, another really awesome deal comes along. And I mean it would have to be pretty awesome for me to leave the house again.
One thing I know for sure, there will be a lot of potatoes and cabbage on our dinner plates for a while. 🙂
How did you do at the stores this past week? Did you find any deals?
~Mavis
Total Spent This Past Week on Groceries $38.11
- Total Spent on Groceries in March $54.79
- Total Spent on Groceries in February $101.14
- Total Spent on Groceries in January $167.33 {this includes buying groceries on Fair Isle}
- Total Spent on Groceries in 2023 $323.26
Mallory M. says
Hi Mavis! As a fellow Mainer and die-hard Market Basket lover, I do have to give Shaw’s a nod with their digital loss leaders, they help us save a lot. It can be a tricky game to play, but I like that you can pair most of the digital coupons with their clearance priced items as well. I’m surprised you didn’t snap up the Challenge butter, Shaw’s tends to have it on sale for under $3-4 per pound every few months. There used to be coupons in the box that would double to take another $1 or more off per pound, but they recently changed the coupons to apply to the spreadable butter only… boo!
Rosemary Calhoun says
Wow! Those are great deals! We don’t have a Shaws where I live . . . and the cheapest corned beef I could find was 4.58 per lb. (One of our main grocery stores had it for 10.00 per lb. which I thought was outrageous – so the 4.58 per lb seemed like a great deal.) It seems like the supermarkets here don’t compete with each other (like in the good ole days). Sigh . . . .
J in OH-IO says
I chuckled at not giving the grocery store your correct information. A long, long time ago, I wanted a shopper card to get deals. My husband called me at work one day to say he had signed us up with names from a favorite tv show including middle initials! Very funny! Now I am contemplating getting a grocery app for the online coupons, but haven’t yet. Your prices and savings are making me give it a second thought. Also appreciate you explaining you have to follow through with the digital coupons if they don’t work the first time! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Mavis Butterfield says
I didn’t sign up for the app. You can clip the coupons online. Maybe you can with your store too.
Susan says
I so wish that our store had a shopper program that didn’t require giving out one’s cell number. The only way to access the extra deals is through the phone at the check out. Grr…
Elle says
Eggroll in a bowl! So good I could eat it for a week 😉
Great buys Mavis.
Holley says
WOW! Amazing prices and good game to you! I would have also snatched up the ground beef/turkey for $1.97 a pound! I’ve not seen those prices in my area in years now!
Jennifer says
Publix emails me $2/$5 or $2/10 coupons every month or two as well as a free cake or ice cream half gallon on my birthday and half birthday. Kroger mails coupons to my house, including free items. Food Lion emails me when I’ve completed a Shop and Earn and have free money for my next order. My phone number is how each of these stores applies the discounts to my order.
I have no problems giving my accurate info because I’m getting much more out of it than whatever they would do with it. Now, I guess I could’ve signed up with a throwaway email, but I’ve been using these store cards for 10, 15, maybe 20 years and other than some spam in my email, which can even come from banks, utilities, nothing bad has happened. That’s just me though. 🙂
Brianna says
I am frustrated with people who do not use ‘correct’ information on grocery/retailer shopper reward cards. I have tried to sign up at a few grocery stores in the past for rewards and my phone number is already in use (not by me and never has been) and I do not have an alternate phone number. It has been my number for 20+ years and before most of those shopper cards came out. I understand that my phone number has several repeating numbers and is ‘easy’ to remember, but it really irks me. I personally hate that I have to have a special card to get a special price.
Bonnie in GA says
Those are awesome deals! A thought about the Cabbage and some of your tomato sauce….you can make some stuffed Cabbage rolls if you have some ground beef or pork or something. Lol. I want to try making that.
Linda Goudelock says
you can make meatless cabbage rolls using Spanish Rice. We love it!
Lana says
We got and butter for 1.73 at Lidl and 5/$5 boxes of cereal plus strawberries for 1.79. Publix netted two free Heinz ketchup and Town house crackers for 2/1.88 and cabbage was .49 a pound which was the lowest price in our area but I was happy to get it. Aldi had Halos for 2.49.
Mary says
Shopped Shaws yesterday for the same deals! They are my favorite- no market basket here and price chopper does not chop prices at all!
Susan says
Those are GREAT deals! I would stock up, too!!
Safeway has cabbage for .09 lb but you can only get 4 lb. (which I did)
Planters peanuts are ,67 – First 4 I bought 4. Had 41/2 coupons so .17 each!!
And pork chops and pork roasts for .77 lb!!! I got a roast and a package of chops. Were no t big on pork, but the sale isn’t a digital coupon so you could go every day and buy 2 packages- since it’s a limit of 2 packages (daily)
Got a corned beef for $2.99 lb at Fred Meyer. Your $1.27 lb price was a giveaway!! NICE!!!
Laura says
And here I was all excited to get cabbage at 69 cents a pound at QFC. Ugh to Seattle area prices.
Ginger says
Same!! Prices here in the Seattle area are intense!
Jeri says
Agreed! Groceries are so much more expensive here!
Laura Z says
I hope you got a rain check for the corned beef! The loss leader items sell out quickly, but I always ask for a rain check and ask the clerk to put the maximum quantity I’m allowed to buy.
Sue S. says
That’s what I was going to ask? Boy you really cleaned up.
Ashley Bananas says
This past week I got a free box of grocery store brand cereal at Winn Dixie. Once a month I get a freebie by having a store card with them. I got their frosted flakes with ‘red berries’ aka dehydrated strawberries. It was really good. I dont buy a lot of cereal lately, we just dont seem to go through it a lot anymore. I dont mind giving them my number and email, they never call, and the emails aren’t overly persistent. Good grocery deals are really hard to find here in SWFL. The stores aren’t competitive with each other…and the deals are a bit dry. We did get free glazed donuts at Krispy Kreme for wearing green this past week. The store did it the day of and day before St. Patrick’s day. It was fun. I gave my donut to my son.
Sue D says
I usually brine my own brisket for corned beef and pastrami, but didn’t this year. Corned beef was running around $5/lb here. I got cabbage the week earlier, .59/lb at ALDI. Last week, it was selling .69-.79/lb. Waiting to find brisket on sale, and I’ll brine a couple.
I give my actual info, never my mobile number for the cards. They can track my purchases all they want-only buying the loss leaders. Years ago, when Kroger bought out a local store chain, my son and his friends saw the great grand opening deals, and signed up for their cards. Like me, they only shop the loss leaders.
bettina says
I would love to know what all you tossed into that pasta salad. I recognize most of the ingredients – but would love to know everything you put in there!
Mavis Butterfield says
I added bow tie pasta, salami, pickled asparagus, pickled red peppers, black olives, cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.
Heidi N. says
Excellent deals, Mavis! Especially the cabbage – here it was 49 cents per lb. Eggs made it down to $4.19 a dozen, which is the lowest we’ve seen them in months. I love the Oui Yogurt too! Yum.
Susie says
I know you do your marathon canning in the fall, but maybe you should can some of those potatoes and cabbage (sauerkraut?) since you have so much.
Nancy D says
This post reminds me of how I found your site years ago when you were couponing! (And living on the west coast …. Before Lucy!!)
Marcia says
Pasta salad looks so good! Do you think you could share the recipe? Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
I added bow tie pasta, salami, pickled asparagus, pickled red peppers, black olives, cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.
Terry McA. says
*Drumroll please!* Tada! I spent $0 last week! Hooray! I guess during the day-long shopping spree the Friday before, I remembered EVERYTHING! Please know, I am doing a happy dance in my head, as my Fibro Fog usually has be forgetting a lot, and even forgetting to add it to my list!
Last week, we ate Honey-Mustard Salmon, Onion-crusted chicken, Bacon-wrapped pork medallions, and Reuben sandwiches on St. Patty’s Day. Breakfasts revolved around lox and bagel skinny, Ham salad on bagel skinny, or scrambled eggs, lunches were salads, creamy garlic chicken soup, or leftovers. I am down another 5 lbs, which brings me to 20 lbs lost in the last month!
I absolutely love Egg Roll in a Bowl, we’re having it tonight for dinner (and leftovers for lunch tomorrow). I only give my phone number because it is a way for them to look up your account (shoppers account thing) and I don’t have to carry the card or keytag anymore!
Look forward to what you’re going to post next week!