Grocery store deals without a coupon

Want to save money on groceries but don't want to bother with coupons? No problem! Check out the great deals I got on these products without handing over a single coupon.


How did I do this? Check the markdown section! My Kroger has a few bins in the back where they keep marked down items. Sometimes you get lucky and get there right after they fill it up.

The total list price for all of these items would have been $21.34. I paid $10.12. That is a savings of >50% and I didn't use a single coupon!

I always recommend checking out the markdown section just to see what is there. Often there won't be anything interesting, but every once in a while there are some great deals!

February Grocery Budget Challenge: Update

So it has been 2 weeks since I started my $20/person/week healthy eating challenge. So how is it going?

Well to be honest, not great. I think it is probably possible for me to spend only $80 for the entire month, but it would require me to cut back on my grocery shopping. Since I am trying to be realistic and spend as I normally would, I don't think it is realistic in the long run for me to stick with the $20/person/week budget.

I am going to continue with the challenge to see how far I get. I'll post another update at the end of the month!

Food Lion Deals

So I am typically not a Food Lion shopper because in general I haven't been impressed by their prices or their customer service.

However, Hip2Save alerted to me to a great deal on Kraft cheese so I decided to head over. Well...I still can't say much for the customer service but the deals may get me back there every once in a while. I ended up getting 5 packages of cheese and about 6 lbs of chicken for $11.80. The cheese ended up being $0.40/package and 2 packages of chicken were marked down to about $2.50/package. The third package was the regular deal this week which was buy 1 pound, get 1 pound free.

Unfortunately my cashier experience wasn't great. The cashier grumbled when I asked for a paper bag and scanned my coupon in wrong. He did not seem please when I asked him to check the coupon although he did correct the mistake. So - the deals were good, the customer service was so-so, but I wouldn't turn down a trip in the future.

Grocery deals!

I was in the mood for some bargain shopping tonight so I grabbed my coupons, consulted Hip2Save and Southern Savers and headed to Target and Harris Teeter.
I think I did pretty well for a spur of the moment shopping trip!
First up is Target:

I got:
2 packages of Eggo Waffles
2 BBQ Sauces
1 Salad Dressing
1 Brownie Mix

Total OOP: $5.36
Total Savings: $5.72
Best deals - the BBQ sauce was $0.25 each and the salad dressing was $0.76. I didn't have a coupon for the brownie mix but it was regularly priced at $0.77 - SCORE!

Next up was Harris Teeter:
I got:
1 Jar of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
2 Taco Seasoning
1 Chex MIx
1 Coconut Milk

Total OOP: $4.23
Total Savings: $5.80
Best deals - the taco seasoning was $0.40 each and the chex mix was $0.29

So my grand total was $9.59 for a decent amount of stuff! Not too shabby!

Harris Teeter Super Doubles!

Today was the first day of super doubles at Harries Teeter! I like to get in on day 1 because if you wait too long a lot of the good stuff is gone. People must get up at 5am to be at the store!

Anyway, it was a pretty successful trip. I don't have the receipt in front of me but the pre-coupon total for the below goodies was around $16.50. I paid............ $1.99 for a savings of around 88%. WAHOO!

Of note - the Halls and Floss were all free. The tomato sauce was less than $0.50 but I can't remember how much exactly. The Pasts was $o.35 per bag. The tuna fish was $0.50. The rice was $0.45. All in all, not too bad! I plan on heading back at least once more during this round of super doubles because they were already out of things when I was there.

Harris Teeter Triples

I did pretty well at Harris Teeter this week. I ended the month with a decent amount of $$ left over in the grocery budget so I decided to use it to stock up a little. Below is what I got using coupons. I also purchased some meat and produce to stock up for May.

For everything in the picture I spent $5.54. Yep, less than $6 for all of that! I am pretty excited about everything I got. I probably could have passed on the toothpaste (with the amount of toothpaste I have, I should probably brush my teeth a lot more often) but it was almost free so...I'll donate it if I end up with too much.

I didn't take a picture but I also got a great deal on the chicken I like. It is expensive chicken - normally $6.99 a pound - but it was on sale for $4.99/pound and I had 2 $1/1 coupons so I purchased nearly 4 pounds of chicken breasts. That should last me for a good while!

Recent purchases

I haven't had too much time to post about my good deals recently. I've been doing a good job of keeping under my grocery challenge budget for the month which has been awesome. I've had some unexpected purchases but have otherwise kept everything to a minimum. It is hard to pass up some deals though so I've still been doing a little shopping! Above shows a recent trip to CVS. I spent $0 OOP and got back $2 in ECBs. Thee was another piece of candy too which I ate at work one day.

Total Value: $9.83
Total OOP: $0.00 (I don't know why I didn't get charged tax...)

Total savings: 100%




I was in a shopping mood last Friday so I decided to give myself $5 to spend at Target. I went over but I think it was worth it.

The skittles were free! The Kotex were each $0.09. The other exciting news is that my Target now carries produce. WOO HOO!!

Total value: $11.31
Total OOP: $5.80

Savings: 49%

Plus, I have $45.07 left in the grocery budget for the month (which is almost over!!)

Farmer's Market Deals

I was really excited to learn that a Farmer's Market opened up just down the street from my house. Unfortunately it is only open on Tuesdays which is the day of my Fall class so we'll see how often I am able to go. Anyway, I spent $4 and got some green beans, a cucumber, some peapods, and 3 apples! I also got a loaf of bread but I am counting that as part of my 'hospitality' budget since I purchased it to bring to a dinner where I was asked to bring bread. It was definitely worth every penny and I have some leftover in the freezer!

The apples are absolutely delicious. Very few things beat a fresh from the orchard apple. I can't wait until apple season is in full swing so I can pick a whole bunch and make a pie!

Grocery shopping, Week of 8/9

Ok so technically I already went grocery shopping this week but I found out that Harris Teeter is running triple coupons this week and I am going to be on vacation for almost the entire promotion. I love the challenge of finding some good deals with the triple coupons so I gave myself $5 to see what I could come back with. Well - the answer is $5 goes a long way with triple coupons!!

I got 3 frosting containers at $0.49 each which will go nicely with the cake mixes I have. I think I need to make some cakes!

The rice was $0.34

The Warm Delights were $0.17 each. Never would purchase them normally but for $0.08 per serving I think they will make for some awesome snacks!

The toothbrush was free :) and the shave gel was $0.54.

The pasta was also a great deal since I am almost out of it at home. It was $1.68 for both.

Total value: $26.09
Total OOP: $4.68
Total savings: 82.1%

Total left in the $100 grocery challenge: $64.12! I am definitely on track to come in under my challenge amount! YAY!

Grocery shopping, week of 8/9

No photos of this shopping trip since it happened in a few parts. First off, I went to Kroger while I was down in NC and they were having a sale on peppers that I could not pass up! It was one red, one yello, and one green bell pepper for $3! At my Harris Teeter, green bell peppers are usually $1.50, and red and yellow peppers are each $3. I love peppers so this was an extremely exciting find. Yet another reason to love North Carolina :)

I only picked up some necessary items this week at Harris Teeter - milk, bananas, advil, and Irish oatmeal. I didn't have coupons for any of these items so nothing exciting to report. I spent a total of $13.70 on groceries this week.

Tomorrow I am going to the new Farmer's Market in town so I might pick up some more produce depending on what they have!

Total remaining grocery budget for my $100 month challenge: $68.80.

Grocery shopping, Week of 8/2

I made a really quick trip to Harris Teeter on my way home today to pick up some produce and take advantage of the sale on dish detergent. Nothing too exciting to report here. The strawberries were really cheap - only $1.25 for the pound so I chopped them up and stuck them in the freezer. The 3lb bag of onions was also a good deal - only $1.97. All in all I spent $14.26 and saved $4.74.

That brings my total grocery bill for August to $17.44 ($82.56 left for the month). I shouldn't have any additional grocery purchases this week so that sets me up nicely for the next week!

August Grocery Challenge!

Over the past few months I've been able to generate a pretty decent stockpile of food, toiletries, and other products. In an effort to use what I have and also to put a little extra money towards savings this month, I am challenging myself to spend no more than $100 this month on groceries, household needs, and toiletries. I usually budget a little more than this in order to build up my stockpile but that isn't necessary spending so I think I should be able to meet this goal.

My rules:
1. No cheating. When $100 is spent, there are no further funds, unless it is an emergency.
2. This does not count eating out which comes from a different part of my budget. So I can still eat out if I have room in my "fun budget" to accommodate it.
3. I will not eat only cereal and peanut butter sandiwches all month. The plan is to eat healthfully and normally all month. In order to prove that I can do this, I will periodically update with menu plans, successful meals (and likely some not so successful ones as I try to creatively use what I already have...), and pictures.

That's it! Today was a weird food day for me so I am not sure it counts in the whole "eating normally" all month. I helped my sister paint her new house and we got caught up in our work and didn't eat anything other than banana bread until about 4pm when we shared a pizza from Dominos. Then since I am going to a baby shower in MD tomorrow morning, I am staying at my parents house tonight. They aren't really around much this week so it is slim pickings in the food department here. So I had Rice Krispies for dinner. I'd say we are not off to a great start on this month but things should be back to normal once I head home tomorrow. :)

Ashley experiences Harris Teeter Super Doubles!

Ashley was in town this weekend and when I told her about Super Doubles at Harris Teeter, she had to experience it for herself. So on Saturday night we picked up a newspaper for her and that night we clipped coupons together (we are very exciting, obviously). Surprisingly, there were a good number of coupons for items she used and needed so those combined with a few printables made for a pretty successful shopping trip for her. She got the following items for free: 2 boxes of Success Rice, 2000 Flushes, 2 whiteout products, and 2 candy bars. The toothpaste was $0.89. I don't remember what everything else cost but it all worked out to be a great deal.

Ashley's summary:

Total OOP: $24.11

Total value: $71.68

Total savings: 66.4%

Ashley was very impressed by the power of super doubles. We had a great time bargain shopping!

Grocery shopping, week of 7/26

It is still Super Doubles time at Harris Teeter so I picked up some deals and a couple of staples. I am pretty well stocked right now so I only grabbed a few things. The 2000 flushes was free which was cool. So were the 3 candy bars! I never buy candy bars so that will be a nice treat one day! I put them in the freezer. The whiteout was also free. I will probably put that in my school supply donation pack. The jello ended up being $0.67 for all 3 of them. The chicken was not on sale but it is the brand I like (I like to buy 'happy chickens') and since I have plenty of room in the gracery budget this month, I went ahead and grabbed some ($7.69).

Total OOP: 14.75 ($7.69 of which was the chicken)

Total value: 31.21

Total savings: 52.8%

Total savings without the chicken: 70%!

Grocery shopping, Week of 7/19

Ok so technically I've already had my grocery shopping trip for the week but Harris Teeter is having SUPER DOUBLES this week and last time I waited too long and they were out of a lot of things (even though the week started today they were already out of some stuff). Plus I'm about $17 ahead in my grocery budget for the month so I figure I have a little room for stocking up on these great deals.

Anyway - it was an awesome trip. I am particularly pleased with the Kotex purchases - I got each of the packages for $0.50. Also notable - the rubber gloves were free, the shave gel was $0.50 each, and the air freshened was $0.79. The shampoo is for men - so I might end up smelling like a man but for $0.27 for shampoo I'll deal with it. The face wash was not cheap - $3.39 each but better than paying nearly $7 each. I now have 4 of those stockpiled so I should be good for a while. I can't seem to get them cheaper than $3 something so it was worth it to pick them up.

So here is the run down:

Total OOP: $12.37
Total Value: $41.96

Total Savings: 70.6%

Most of that OOP cost is for the face wash. If I eliminate that from the tally, I saved 81%! I am pretty happy though because I got all that useful stuff for the cost of what I would have paid for the 2 face washes alone. Not bad at all!

Grocery shopping, Week of 7/19

Not a great week for me with grocery shopping because I was rushed and didn't go to my usual grocery store. I usually shop at Harris Teeter but was out running errands in a different part of town and ran into Safeway to pick up some fresh produce. They were running a good promotion on the freezer bags ($1.50 each) and my favorite bread was 2/$5, a decent deal considering it is usually $3.99/loaf. I have very few brand loyalties, but I don't mess around with my bread.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Total OOP: $26.06
Total Value: $37.20

Total Savings: 30%

Not too bad considering I wasn't trying hard :)