Publix Deals - August 9th

I have just gotten back from Publix where I cut my grocery bill almost in half.

Most of my $16.17 total was from the Publix "Buy Theirs Get Ours Free" specials. I bought Nabisco graham crackers, Planters cashew halves and pieces, and Nutri-Grain breakfast bars, and got Publix brand graham crackers, cashew halves and pieces, and breakfast bars for free. Even though I didn't have coupons for any of these items, it was the same as a BOGO so it was a great way to stock up on some snacks.

I got great deals on Yoplait yogurt, Luigi Italian ice, and a Publix frozen pizza. Yoplait yogurt is normally .70¢ a container, but it is on special right now at .50¢ a container. I had two coupons - one for .50¢ off six and a second for .40 off four. Since Publix doubles coupons for .50¢ or less, I got $1.80 off my $5.00 purchase reducing the cost of the yogurt by 55% to .32¢ a container. I even can't buy store brand yogurt that cheaply.

Luigi Italian Ice is a BOGO right now. The regular price is $2.99 each. Since I was buying two boxes I was able to use both of the coupons that I had. After Publix doubled the .50¢ coupons, I purchased both boxes of Italian Ice for .99¢ - that's an 84% discount!

The Publix frozen pizza is this weeks .01¢ mystery coupon. The pizza's are normally $4.69. I don't need to break out the calculator to figure out how much I saved on that one.

The items that I picked up from Publix today aren't sufficient in themselves to feed even one person for a week, much less two. But when combined with other food items that I have stockpiled from previous shopping trips as I have been able to purchase at rock bottom prices, I have enough groceries on hand to feed me and the roommate three nutritious meals a day plus snacks for nearly three weeks without needing to buy anything else. And at $76.33 in total food cost for two weeks, I have stayed below my $40 average weekly grocery goal. This also frees up my $40 a week for the next couple of weeks to stock up on some of the more expensive things like meat and produce.

How much are you spending on groceries? How much can you save by using some of my budget stretching strategies? Give it a try. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to make your food dollars go further.