Hauling Food for Less Than $6

If you've been reading my blog since my first couponing adventures at CVS, you'll notice that the items I get nowadays have changed drastically. Since we're well-stocked on shampoos and soaps, it gives me plenty of time to focus on couponing for food! Now that we have the Target right by the supermarkets, it's especially easy to stop there for good deals instead of just being limited to Stop & Shop and Pathmark. 

This past Saturday, Howard and I stopped by Target before heading to my parents' house for my dad's birthday dinner. This is what we were able to pick up for just $5.69 out of pocket! Isn't that awesome? The 5lb box of Cuties clementines is $7.99 regular price and was on sale for $5.99, so the fact that we paid less out of pocket for the entire haul makes me an extremely happy camper because frugal is the name of the game.

I'm so glad I did all the "homework" ahead of time because we had to limit ourselves when we were in the store because we also had to stop by Mother Mousse before heading over. Here's the breakdown of what we got.

As stated above, the Cuties clementines was the 5 lb box. The $7.99 item was on sale for $5.99, but it was an even sweeter deal because I used a $1.00 off fresh fruit Target mobile coupon. I was excited to get these because when we have fruit at home, Howard and I usually have to split it because it's too much acid for me at once. Now I can just eat one or two when I'm craving fruit or just want a snack. Huh, I just noticed the box says California Mandarins, haha. Is there a difference? Anyway, they're a bit tart but not too bad. I just know they're not sweet enough for my mom yet. I wonder if they'll improve as this is just the start of the season.

The Nutella was on sale for $2.99 when the original price was $4.19 each. I had printed out a "buy one, get one free" coupon maybe about a month ago and was waiting for a good deal. The even better thing was that on a quick shopping trip to a grocery store, someone had left a Nutella hangtag coupon in the basket for $1.00 off for the 13 oz jars too, so that meant extra savings for me! The coupon could have autodeducted, but the cashier plugged in $1.00. I had caught it and said that $2.99 should be taken off instead, and he just went back and deleted one of the jars, which I'm pretty sure was not a good thing since I was taking a jar out of the store. But in terms of price, that meant I paid only $1.00 for each jar. That works for me because now that I typically stay away from peanut butter, I use more hazelnut things instead.

The 4 packages in the front are a strange buy, I know. They're the Oscar Mayer P3 Protein Power Packs. I got the turkey, chicken, and ham, which is basically one of each. It's basically just cheese, nuts, and the meat in a little plastic package, but I figured it would be a good thing for Howard to take to work since once in a while, he doesn't have the chance to grab lunch. Each packet is normally $1.79, which I personally think is ridiculous. I wouldn't even pay $0.25 for a pack considering I pay for CVS hauls with my precious quarters. But these were on sale for $1.50 each with a 50% off Cartwheel offer and a $0.75 manufacturer's coupon. So that means I had to pick them up because you know my policy of "If it's free, I can't leave it in the store!"

The little magnetic paper clips were on clearance for $1.58, but I used a 20% off Cartwheel offer and a $1.00 school supplies coupon to pick them for just $0.46. They were originally $3.19 and not something I would really pick up, but I clip my coupons together when I prepare my shopping trips, and I liked the idea of having the magnets since sometimes the regular paper clips annoy me. There are 8 in the pack, so I'm happy with the purchase.

The final deal includes the 3 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of waffles. Target was having a deal where you get a $5 gift card when you buy 5 breakfast items. The cereal was $2.75 per box and the Eggo was $2.25. These are not purchase prices for me, but with coupons and the gift card deal, it was worth getting. The better deal would have been to get 4 boxes of waffles and just 1 box of cereal, but we just don't have that kind of room in our freezer! Thankfully, I didn't go to the store earlier because the day I was supposed to go, Kellogg's Family Rewards emailed a $1.00 off 2 boxes coupon. Yay! That meant each box was $1.75. Then I had $0.50 coupons for the cereal, so each box was $2.25. The total amount of the 5 items was $10.25. But the fantastic thing was that I knew I was going to use a $5.00 Shopkick gift card on it and get the $5.00 back, so the only money that I actually had to pay was $5.25 for all the items! That's a GREAT deal on these breakfast items especially since we were running low on cereal.

I did actually use my other gift card from the Shopkick app too, so thanks so much, Shopkick* for paying for 2/3 of my Target haul! The sales associate said to me, "You came prepared!" and I said that it took a good amount of time doing my homework ahead of time, but it was just SO worth it. Hooray! I don't mind paying for fruit and vegetables because you can't really coupon for those things, but I appreciate the mobile coupons from Target to save $1 here and there on fresh food. That's why I like seeing this haul as paying for the fruit and getting everything else for FREE! Free, my favorite word.