Shopping Trip – March 27th

I had to run over to the next town for (yet another) visit to the podiatrist today. There is another Safeway near the doctor’s office, so I stopped by after my appointment to see what kind of deals I could get. I did alright, although I goofed up on one of my scenarios.

I got $28.27 worth of groceries for $2.27, and I have one $2 catalina left:

My first transaction:

Total spent: $2.00, and got $8 back in catalinas
Total before coupons: $22.00
View receipt

I was hoping that this Safeway would also have the $1/1 Bertolli blinkie machine, but it was nowhere in sight. I still had 4 blinkies left over from my last trip, so I used those in conjunction with some other items in the promo. I had read on Hot Coupon World that there was a catalina deal on the Aquapods, but I messed it up – I thought that I would spend $1.50 per 8-pack, and get a $2 catalina back for every one purchased. But I was mistaken – the promo actually gives you a $2 catalina for every two 8-packs that you buy. Oh well!

So here’s what I got:

4 pouches of Bertolli pasta sauce – $1.50 each after the “Save $5” promo, used four $1/1 blinkies. Final price: .50 cents each, and I received $4 in catalinas back for the purchase.
1 bottle of Kraft salad dressing – one of the “Save $5 promo” items. This was $1.50 after the promo discount, and I had a $1/1 coupon that another customer had left on the shelf. Final price: .50 cents
5 eight-packs of Aquapod water – on sale for $1.50 after the “Save $5” promo; I received $4 back in catalinas for the purchase.

I then used the $10 in catalinas that I had earned on my last trip, bringing the total down to $2 and receiving $8 back in catalinas. Not the greatest use of my catalinas, since I misunderstood the promo and thought I’d be getting $14 back, but hey, the water will be good for my emergency stockpile.

Once I got back home, I ran over to my local Safeway to see if I could do better. Sadly, the blinkie machine there has been removed! I’ve heard before that these machines get rotated out about once a month, so I’m guessing that they’re changing the marketing around since March is almost over. This would explain why my readers have had such a hard time finding these!

But I still needed a few things, and since it looks like I won’t be able to roll these catalinas, I decided to spend them:

Total spent: .27 cents
Total before coupons: $6.27
View receipt

Got:

2 gallons of milk – milk is normally $2.49 a gallon, but if you buy two gallons at a time, you save $1. We always need milk, so this seemed like a good investment. Final price: $1.99 each.
1 quart of half and half – price: $2.29.

I then used three of the $2 catalinas from the last trip, bringing the total to .27 cents; and I have one $2 catalina left over for next time.

Did anybody else manage to get in on the Bertolli deal before the blinkies disappeared?

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