I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
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I went to Kroger on Friday to pick up some deals that had popped up in the past few days and to spend the $32 I still had left in our grocery budget for the week to spend.
I had a l-o-n-g list of things I was hoping to buy. And I didn’t have a lot of time to shop.
I also knew that I was going to be doing multiple Buy 5 Participating Items, Get $5 Off deals. Because you can mix and match items, but you also need to have exactly 5 items. And our store was out of or didn’t have certain items I had planned to buy (or maybe I just couldn’t find them?)
Then, while I was shopping, I checked my e-coupons that I had loaded to my account and discovered that at least 5 of them that I had thought were on there weren’t loaded anymore (I’m guessing maybe they had expired?). So that changed what I was going to buy, too.
Because of these hiccups and because I had to revamp my list of what I was planning to buy in the store, it took me at least 30 minutes to shop — which is about twice as long as usual!
Then, I got up to the self-checkout and realized that I probably had more items in my cart than was really “acceptable” for self-checkout. I mean, they don’t say there’s a limit for self-checkout, but they also don’t offer a lot of space to put groceries after you’ve rung them up.
(I usually always use self-checkout because it allows me to take my time and double-check the screen carefully to make sure that all of my e-coupons came off and that all of the specials/sale prices were correct.)
I decided to just bag my groceries and stick them in the cart as soon as I rang them up. This worked well and everything was going to smoothly… until I needed to ring up my coupons and rain checks.
The Kroger employees are usually so kind and helpful and gracious, but I think that this woman was just overwhelmed and had a lot on her plate because she acted like I was a big inconvenience.
I tried to be as gracious and kind as possible, but she was upset that I had a rain check and I had already rung up the items on the rain check (I haven’t used a raincheck in a long time and haven’t used one at self-checkout so I didn’t know I should just wait and have them ring the items up individually.)
And then she was upset when she also discovered that the rain check was for the 4-day sale items. She told me in no uncertain terms that I was not supposed to have gotten a rain check and she needed to “train her employees better”. Clearly, you all were right about saying that they shouldn’t have given me a rain check on the 4-day sale items! Live and learn.
(Note: Our store hasn’t had signage on the 4-day sales that says “while supplies last” nor have they posted anything about “no rain checks” on the 4-day or 1-day sale items. But it appears that this is likely the direction they are going based upon what she said and based upon what the rest of you have told me.)
She said that since they had written me a rain check, she would honor it. But then she had a really hard time voiding the five items and re-ringing it up correctly. She finally got it to work, but I could tell she was really frustrated.
Again, I just tried to be grateful — and I was also grateful that I only had a few other paper coupons in addition to the raincheck! I’m not sure what she would have done had I had a big stack of coupons!
One thing I learned: it’s honestly so much easier to do the smaller trips. I know some of you have commented about how that seems like so much more work and how you can’t imagine going to the store multiple times per week.
But truthfully, I realized that it’s so much less complicated to only go in and buy 8-12 items and use 1-2 coupons + a few e-coupons, then to have purchased 30 items, have a raincheck for 5 items, a coupon for a free item, a few other coupons, multiple e-coupons, plus 4 different Buy 5, Get $5 off transactions.
Whew! So I survived the shopping trip and I got some great deals, but I wanted to share the details of this trip with you to encourage you that not every shopping trip is a home run for me!
I was super excited to find this deal in store — and I’ve not seen anyone post about it elsewhere so I wanted to call attention to it here. The Santa Cruz drinks (lemonade, raspberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, and more!) are on sale for $0.99 when you buy 5 participating items.
I was already considering getting some of these because they are organic and so delicious. But then, as I was looking at them, I discovered that some of the bottles had hangtag coupons on them for $1 off 2 bottles!
So I ended up getting 4 bottles — for just $0.49 each after the coupon! Definitely check your store to see if you find these coupons, too!
Friday Kroger Shopping Trip
- 2 boxes of Cheerios — $1.48 each when you purchase 5 participating items
- 3 packages of Goldfish crackers — $0.99 each when you purchase 5 participating items
- 1 Gillette shave gel — $0.95 when you purchase 5 participating items
- 1 Palmolive Dish Detergent — $0.99 when you purchase 5 participating items, used $0.50 e-coupon (no longer available) = $0.49
- 1 package Kleenex wipes — $0.79 when you purchase 5 participating items, used $1/1 Kroger digital coupon = free + overage!
- 1 package Nature’s Own hot dog buns — $1.49 when you purchase 5 participating items
- 1 box Outshine Fruit Bars — $2.49 when you purchase 5 participating items, used $1/1 coupon that Kroger mailed to me = $1.49
- 6 Greek Yogurts — marked down to $0.49 each
- 1 Yogurt Mix-Ins — marked down to $0.39
- 2 bags of apples — marked down to $0.99 each
- 1 bag of clementines — marked down to $0.99
- 2 cantaloupes — marked down to $0.99 each
- 1 gallon milk — $2.69
- 4 bottles of Santa Cruz lemonade — $0.99 each when you purchase 5 participating items, used 2 $1/2 hangtag coupons = $0.49 each
- 1 box Cascadian Farms cereal — $2.49 when you purchase 5 participating items, used $1/1 Kroger Digital coupon = $1.49
- 1 case of DeerPark Sparkling Water — used FREE coupon
- Total with tax: $32.01
This Week’s Totals
Total spent this week: $69.45! (I can’t believe how close I got it to $70 this week!!)
Rebates: $0.25 for submitting a receipt to Ibotta, I also earned the equivalent of a few dollar back from Fetch Rewards in points for scanning my receipts. I had three receipts that qualified for points + the 500 bonus per receipt (because of the BBQ sauce I bought last week and the Oscar Mayer lunchmeat and Goldfish Crackers I bought this week).
Plus, I earned 200 points per receipt for scanning a few other receipts that had no qualifying items on it. I think I earned the equivalent of about $3 total! If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points (worth $2).
Note: 1,000 points = $1 in gift cards on Fetch Rewards.
And I’m still loving Fetch Rewards, but I’ll keep you posted. I’m curious to see if I can actually earn $5+ in Amazon gift cards every month just for scanning my receipts and buying things I’m already planning to buy! You can read some of my initial thoughts here.
Do you want to take better control of your grocery budget? If so, you’ll want to read my newest eBook, 5 Days to a Better Grocery Budget!
This eBook will give you all the tips, tricks, and practical advice you need to create a grocery budget tailored to your family’s needs that you can actually STICK to (because that’s the key!)
In this eBook, you’ll learn:
- How to create a grocery budget that fits your family’s needs and your finances!
- New systems to help you keep track of what you spend at the store!
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- Ways to save up to $50 off your grocery bill THIS WEEK by using the 10 simple strategies outlined in this eBook!
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[better_budget_form]
Is Kroger still doing the Friday free item? Is that what your case of water was from?
I believe we will start shopping at aldi. Kroger Southport rd Indianapolis no longer takes printed coupons, no rainchecks on fri/sat items they are out of a lot of times eve n on friday. Sale items on shelves not stocked. Coupon only taken if item matches picture on coupon even though coupon says any variety. Flavor has to be same as picture that’s crazy. Our family has shopped krogers for over 40 years they are making it too difficult and don’t care about what their customers say anymore.
You must live by a large Krogers they usually have better deals on organic items I went today and the e-coupon was acting very glitchy it didn’t start working until I got in-store which threw my plans off and I ditched a lot of things. 🙁
Okay, I am sitting here shaking my head. I don’t know you you deal with all these Know-it-all Nancys. A woman a few weeks ago saying you weren’t giving your kids enough milk. Two people today commenting on how many starches you eat and how much protein you should have. My goodness, people, focus on your own lives and chill out. Crystal isn’t a dietician and has never claimed to be a professional meal planner. If you read the other posts, you’ll see she buys stuff and freezes it all the time. She’s obviously buying what she gets good deals on and then mixes and matches. Not to mention that she POSTS THEIR MENUS every week! Alrighty, off my soapbox about that.
I also prefer going to the store more often than having huge orders. Our stores are only a mile or two away, though, so it isn’t far and our kids are old enough to stay home for the 20-30 minutes while I run to the store. It drives me crazy to have food go bad and we eat mostly perishable foods so they don’t keep very long.
Catching up on your posts…A Man Called Ove…oh my goodness I LOVED that book. I figured I would dislike it but I so fell in love with his character and his sad heart. Glad to know you liked it too. A lot of my bookclub gave it a thumb down.
Just an FYI…it plainly states on the ad that those special sale items are while supplies last. As an ex-employee of Kroger, I can tell you that hEr frustration could have been a full shift of situations exactly like yours and even though she should have been polite and kept her opinions to herself, it sometimes does get the best of you. It’s not always an easy job by no means.
Please let me know where to find the Sparkling Deer Park. I have the coupon, but can’t seem to find it anywhere.
I found it in section where water and carbonated water was.
I’m confused, so $70 for a family of five a day? It looks like you are living off goldfish crackers and Cheerios.
So, you said you had to run grab these deals, did you get them cuz they were cheap, because they aren’t healthy choices.
Your money would be better spent in the produce aisles than just stocking up on sugary drinks and refined carbs.
If you follow along with $70 grocery budget series, you can see what I’m buying and what we’re making and eating. It’s $70 for our family of five per week:
https://moneysavingmom.com/tag/my-70-grocery-budget
I have never met Crystal but I find your comment exceptionally rude, Nat. Crystal is offering you and others a FREE service of scouting and sharing deals. It’s none of your business what her family eats and I doubt you’d like everyone looking at your family’s choices and offering their critiques of your diet, your exercise, how much your kids read or don’t read, what sorts of shows you watch, etc. You do you, Nat, and worry about yourself and your family.
I just visited this site and read 2 posts. I too am a frugal shopper. I see you use Ibotta. I don’t know if you use the app Shopkick but you will get points for walking in to a store, scanning items, and buying certain items. Just walking in and scanning items can be worthwhile. Trade points for gift cards. Do some research and see if it’s right for you. Some gift cards cost less points than others (2250 for $10 eBay instead of 2500 for other $10 cards).
Yes! I think Shopkick is another great app to check out! Thanks for mentioning it!
I LOVE KROGER❤
I totally agree that self check out is the way to go to make sure the price rings up right. I usually have too many items in my cart and use the cashier. My Kroger/Fred Meyer won’t let me combine my mail coupons with e-coupons. I guess no doubles allowed? Overall Kroger is my favorite store.
Right, you can’t use an e-coupon + a paper coupon on the same item.
That is so frustrating that happend to you! I’ve worked for kroger for over 17 years and can say I think it is awesome to see how much people can save!!! As for rainchecks, we are actually advised as long as we know the item will be back in stock, to write a raincheck. I am so sorry that you had a bad experience! I hope you know we are all like that. 🙂
Thanks for the Kroger shopping trips! I love Kroger! I also signed up for the fetch rewards app:)
PS It’s funny to see another “Janell”. It’s not a very common name:)
QFC and Fred Meyer are both Kroger-owned. They’re part of over 30 “banner” stores all across the country and internet.
What city is this? Our Kroger prices are at least double even with sales, buy 5 save 5 deals, digital coupons, regular coupons, and Ibotta. Maybe I need to move.
We live in the Nashville area.
I used to do several shopping trips a week when we lived in another state and the stores were located closer to my home. I don’t do it in our new town as much because we live on a peninsula, and the stores are just not as close by as they were in our previous town. I just do a big shopping trip once a week or so now. I wish I could do smaller shopping trips like I used to, I think it depends on where you live.
I have been shopping at Kroger for a while and purchase the 5 for 5 items when I find things I want.
But, last week I had a bad experience at Kroger’s, that was totally my fault. I didn’t pay enough attention to what I bought 5 for 5. Chicken in Deli Dept., was 5 for 5 (mixed PC’s).
So, my mistake was to ask for leg & thighs. I put the other 4 items in cart. And realized my mistake at checkout. And it really made a difference, I didn’t have 5 items only 4. So, I paid regular price.
After I did the math at home I spend $15 to $20 more, then I should have. If l had discovered my error at checkout I could have got my 5th item (Kleenex for .99cent) and saved $15 to $20.
Lesson learned, don’t be in such a hurry. Take time and study your shopping procedure.
Costly mistake!
I’m a kroger shopper and recognize all your deals. but looking at how you spent your $70 budget, I would like to see your 7 day meal plan. maybe too many crackers and not enough meat or protein?
I post my meal plan every Monday or Tuesday. 🙂 This is mostly stuff that I’m buying ahead for the next few weeks — not what we’re just eating from for this week. 🙂 If you follow along with all of my grocery posts, it will start to make more sense how I make balanced menu plans out of what I buy. I hope that helps!
Kroger stores for the most part are very nice stores BUT for the most part they are extremely short on real customer service.
I get very discombobulated when I have that much stuff. i especially when I get to the other side of they store and they don’t have the last item I need. “okay, I can add this, this, or this to make 5 or I can take these 4 out.” really wish they would just give us the sale price. I place my items on the belt in groups of 5. By the time I get out of the store I’m headed into a full panic attack.
And I have to also watch them when they scan sometime they get going and skip coupons and I don’t get my credit.
I also found out this week there are some Kroger stores that allow unlimited points discounts on gas. This girl bought gas for.099 a gallon. She purchased Carnival Cruise gift cards at 4X points and thengot some really cheap gas.
I get very discombobulated when I have that much stuff. i especially when I get to the other side of they store and they don’t have the last item I need. “okay, I can add this, this, or this to make 5 or I can take these 4 out.” really wish they would just give us the sale price. I place my items on the belt in groups of 5. By the time I get out of the store I’m headed into a full panic attack.
And I have to also watch them when they scan sometime they get going and skip coupons and I don’t get my credit.
I also found out this week there are some Kroger stores that allow unlimited points discounts on gas. This girl bought gas for.099 a gallon. She purchased Carnival Cruise gift cards at 4X points and thengot some really cheap gas.
My local Kroger is horrible! Shelves are never stocked, doesn’t matter when you go. I have taken numerous photos and sent them to Kroger Corporate, but empty shelves are still the norm. Clerks are rude, lines at the few checkouts they have open are long, and I get discharged at least once per visit. One time 4 out of 12 items were incorrect. We are fortunate to have Wegmans right down the road, so they have 95% of our grocery budget. I only shop Kroger for their super deals.
I don’t like to spend time in my local Krogers so I now use their Click List it’s so handy I do it the nite before an schedule pick up the next day.
We don’t have these stores in New Zealand but I have to say I hate self-checkout. I find it very stressful.
My preferred way to shop is online and then pick up. That way I can also be 100% sure of the cost AND stick to a budget by making substitutions if required. Shopping on line reduced our grocery bill by over 40%.
I think there was something funky going on Friday with the digital coupons….some of mine disappeared and today they were back on my account?!?
It can be very frustrating when you’re trying to get 5 things when they are out of a specific item I want!!
Hey guys i am a employee at kroger. And just want to let you guys know that we try real hard to keep the store stocked day to day. We try to ordee truck to truck to keep the customers with the the best dates and freshest items available. Just remember if its not on the shelf always ask for assistance because sometimes we may have it in a different location in the store. Especially if its a mega event sale. Buy 5 save 5 deal
Thank you I will be on a very tight budget. I appreciate you sharing the info. Krogers will always be my favorite store.
I am sorry to hear that about your Kroger store. I personally love these stores & never have an issue in my store. I go thru self check out with a full basket. I shop in Conroe, Texas or The Woodlands, Texas without ever having an incident. By the way I ring up rain check items without grief @ my stores. Thanks for your post, I really appreciate it & will pay better attention to those sale items.
Sincerely,
Lise Mueller-Goodrum, BSN, RN
I usually LOVE Kroger (as evidenced by my many posts about them!)
Looking at most of the items that you bought, why don’t you go with store brand instead? We always get store brand items. They taste as good as regular brand, but a lot cheaper.
I buy store brand if it’s less expensive, but when there are great deals and I can get a deal that is less expensive than store brand, I’m totally going with the brand name! 🙂 I always just go for what is the best deal and don’t worry about what brand it is (unless it’s a brand we’ve tried and didn’t like — which has happened a few times but it’s pretty rare!)
Very helpful post and comments–thank you, Crystal and everyone!
Crystal, I may have missed this, but I’m wondering what time(s) of day or evening you’re typically finding such great deals. Thanks!
I’ve found deals at all times of the day, but I prefer to shop in the mornings before 9:30 or in the evenings after 7 p.m. because the store is quieter then and it’s easier to get in and out more quickly! Plus, I find that the cashiers and staff are usually more helpful when the store is quieter!
Hi. Kroger employee here! I’m a self checkout cashier to be more specific.
First of all, I am sorry your cashier got frustrated. I am not going to excuse her behavior, but if your store is anything like my store, employees are overworked, with not enough hours for the store to give adequate employee coverage.That puts a lot of stress on us. It should not spill over to the customer, but we are just as human as the next person and sometimes we are not perfect.
There is not any specific signage about 4 Day sale rainchecks, but it is correct that we don’t give rain checks for special sales. It really should say sorry, no rain checks, along with saying while supplies last.
The official Kroger coupon policy states that we cannot take a coupon if it will make the item free or if it would give overage, which means giving money back to the customer. Different stores do different things, but that is the official corporate policy. And I am not allowed to do it even if a customer complains that such and such store let them. If we don’t follow coupon rules, the coupon companies do not reimburse us.
I do all of my shopping at Kroger because I love the mega sales too! And if you ever have a digital coupon that did not seem to come off, just ask the cashier about it. They will check your coupon to make sure that it was the right size and type, and if it is, we can fix it for you. If you have already paid, and you spot a mistake, the customer service desk can help you.
I hope this sheds some light on some common occurrences at Kroger and makes your shopping trips better!
The Kroger I shop at always has 10+ people in the customer service line, all doing Western Union. If I get overcharged or count wrong on the mega sale items, I would be waiting 30+ minutes to get it corrected. I have complained about it to the store manager and corporate. It almost seems like they do that on purpose. And there’s a bank right next to Kroger, I never understand why people transferring money don’t do it at a bank? I mean, I wouldn’t go to the bank for food, so why go to the grocery store for financial transfers?
Many people where I live don’t have bank accounts, especially people from other countries. In my area, they use Western Union to send money back home. It’s a trust issue for some and once a certain system works, that’s what they stick to.
P.S. I do a monthly shopping trip for most all of our needs, plus a quick weekly just for perishables or something I find I don’t have for a recipe. I spend about $100-125 on the monthly trip (for all household needs including cat food/litter, health/beauty, small hardware/paint, etc.) and maybe $15-20 weekly on perishables and great sales items, not counting rebates, so don’t do as well as you do, but much better than I used to. Could cut that if I was willing to do several shopping trips a week all month, but ugh!
I just take an afternoon or evening (seems quieter at those times) and go do it all for the once a month trip–starting at the dollar store for what I can get there cheaper and then progressing to other errands and stores. All of our fixed income arrives in the 3rd week of the month and then that’s it, so that’s part of why I do it that way! It was a tough adjustment!
Our local smaller grocery store often has marked down meats and produce, but I usually only see meat once in a while at Walmart or elsewhere. I’ve had an M-Perks coupon disappear on my saved coupons at Meijers but be there when I got home and checked (the service desk kindly honored it and refunded the $1.25 as I had a written list of items and their coupon savings–printer is dead). I’ve had a few rude cashiers, but more so rude customers behind me in line! I always let people with only a few items in ahead of me and they usually do it for me if I’m in a hurry. But now, I warn the rest that I have coupons to verify and some will jump to another line.
I’ve also taken to putting all the coupon items on the belt last so we don’t have to dig through multiple bags if one won’t ring up. At our Walmart they won’t ring them up till the end, even if I have the paper coupon sitting on top of the product. I also post my receipts to Walmart Savings Catcher and use SavingStar but it’s a pain because I don’t have a smart phone so have to enter the info and post a photo of the receipt. It can be a bit of a trial, but the savings are worth it! I like Aldi’s a lot too for their super bargains, if they have what I need that week. I need to check out Fetch Rewards now too and see how hard it is without the smart phone! Thanks!
Those are so confusing for me. I make a list and then they’re out of something and it throws my totals off. I had a Eureka moment the other day. If I’m mixing and matching I put the items in my child seat area of the cart. Then when I get five Items I put them in the regular cart. That way I have a visual of whether or not I bought five things. Then I don’t get to the checkout and realize I only bought four and don’t get the discount. Just a thought?
Ooooo…what a great idea! I’m going to copy you. ?
I do this too! Makes it soooo easy to keep track
I do something similar! And then I group them together in the cart and double check before I check out that I have groups of 4 or 5 or whatever the sale is. It makes such a difference!
Great idea!!!!!!!!+
How can you find out which 5 mix and match items go together? I always thought you had to buy 5 of the same thing.
It’s ANY items that are tagged with the Buy 5, Get $5 Off sale tags! You can mix and match all of them!
That’s a good idea. I managed to mess up my buy 5 participating by talking myself out of the 16 oz Kroger shredded cheese because I had it together and somehow miscounted at checkout. Other than that I will try it next time.
I think you got my bad shopping trip luck! My luck reversed today for once. I went shopping at Kroger early this morning by myself, because my kids are out of school for the summer, and there’s no way I’m taking all three of them in there! It was not busy (for once!), my cashier was nice and quick, my items were packed well and I found what I wanted. I did spend a lot, but I expect to now that my kids are home. I found some good markdowns today, including $.49 for home sense aluminum foil, .69 for Mom’s best oats and .49 Kotex. Even though I had a full cart and got 88 items, my trip only took one hour from door to door! Yay for shopping without kids! I then took my 5 year old to a local fiber festival. We had a fabulous time. I brought my cash spending money to stay on budget. The event was indoors and had a fountain (my kid likes to throw coins in, and she brought her “goofus” coins (aka, Canadian coins that we find)). It also had an indoor playground, so she got most of her energy out. We even had a lunch date at the mall’s Panera, and she chose a seat next to a mom, dad and 3 year old girl. They got along like peas in a pod!
It sounds like you had an AMAZING day! And way to go on your savings!!
I can’t stand when stuff like that happens with the rude cashier. It makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong! We mainly shop at Aldi now and I haven’t shopped Kroger in awhile.
I shop only QFC and they take the store coupons fred Meyers sends to me and I only go thru self-checkout the clerks know me and treat me like a queen..I use digital coupons and get $5.00 off $25.00 every other week..I don’t shop fred Meyers the clerks are all rude, the more mature clerks retired, they have this thingie you can use and it loads it to a list & you pay, they took away many jobs for this thingie..I will never shop there..No aldi here but do have a winco but their fruits and veggies pretty crummy meat as well.. Safeway is great and I use the 10 off 50 all the time, get rainchecks for anything and the clerks will have someone go and get you items if at the checkout line..no problem, if I get the wrong amount on the receipt I take it to customer service and no problem and doubles what is not to like friendly service, and food bagged correctly..I would never go into freds they totally took the jobs of many people with no regard how to live..QFC is a Kroger company but they treat their employees well and it is a small store with nice people..
That’s AMAZING that you get a $5 off $25 coupon every week!!
Wegmans also has $5 off $25, and if you shop carefully it is as cheap as the big chains. Customer service is much better, and you never have to wait in a line longer than one person. They have a dynamic system of opening registers as crowds grow.
I agree with you re QFC! That’s my favorite store, and I always shop the specials and use QFC and Fred Meyer coupons. Any day I save 25% or more is a good day!
I actually work for Fred Meyer and that thingies is called scan bag and go. Installing that program has doubled our number of self checkout and although express checkouts have been eliminated most SCO (self check out) attendants will gladly assist you with your purchases if you aren’t able or comfortable doing it yourself and don’t want to wait in a long line. As for eliminating jobs, we have actually increased our staffing to include baggers at every checkstand who will also be more than happy to assist you and your purchases to your car. We have also added more staffing for our click list shopping option which is a fantastic service for those who don’t want the hassle of negotiating the aisles of the grocery store or who are time poor or just maybe don’t feel up to par and still need groceries. Just select your items online and choose your pickup time and they bring your bags out to you and load them into your car. You don’t even have to get out of your vehicle! I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience, but hopefully you will give us another chance and see how much good these changes have done for our great company!
I LOVE clicklist! And I’m so glad Freddie’s now does the buy 5, save $5 sales. My fred Meyers have great employees.
QFC and Fred Meyer are both Kroger-owned. They’re part of over 30 “banner” stores all across the country and internet.
My Kroger will not take off coupon if the item costs less than coupon is for.I’m glad it worked for you but doesn’t usually for our store.I love their sales and now shop at Kroger much more than Publix.
I was super surprised that the digital coupon came off. I had heard that it would, but I still was surprised!
They should because they get reimbursed for the face value of the coupon.
As far as shopping at multiple stores goes, I used to do that all the time when I was newly married – as many as 5 stores if the deals were really good (but really, saving money was my job at that time of my life). Right now, I have 3 little children and I have scaled back to mostly 1 store per week. I think once my baby is 1 or 2, I’ll start hitting more stores per week.
I had the same thing happen to the digital coupons I had loaded. They disappeared for most of the day yesterday but they were back today. Maybe they were working on the system. I’m just grateful that they came back.
Regarding the rain checks. Here in the PNW on the digital coupon, on the newspaper grocery ad and on the shelf display by the product they all have printed While supplies last “.
So interesting! And one of my coupons that didn’t show up (the Palmolive) actually came off my total. So who knows what happened??
I have also had them disappear and show back up. If you call the 1-800 number they will normally credit you for a coupon worth whatever the amount was on your next visit. Just have your receipt to give them the code on it and they can see what you purchased. There also used to be a way on the actual website that you could see your expired coupons, but I don’t think they have that anymore.
Wow! Seems like you always find marked down foods, and lots of them. Maybe it’s a Kroger thing? I keep my eyes peeled for mark downs, but they’re few and far between. I would totally run in to check for mark downs during the school year after dropping kids off if I could actually count on getting at least a few things. But usually there are zero markdowns to be had, so not sure if it’s worth my time!
It’s definitely a Kroger thing. Though I used to find great markdowns at our little local health food store in KS!
I get Alot of good produce@fred Meyers (a Kroger store)and I buy tons of produce at grocery outlet and H Mart (local Asian grocery)I am amazed at the freshness and regularly low prices ,worth a run thru every ten days or so.
Markdowns, check the bakery bread rack and frozen food, look for closeouts and most meat depts do theyre mark downs early. I know this, i work in etail
The Kroger in my neighborhood has a small three shelf unit in.produce where everthing except bananas is 99 cents. Its all normally bagged, I buy all my onions and potatoes here. There are always anywhere from 3-5 of that item per bag and all in good shape. Just enough for hubby and I.
After a shopping trip like that I kind of just retreat and shop at Aldi for weeks. Lately I have had Publix digital coupons disappear and I had checked them to be sure they were there just the day before and they were not expired. But, I have pretty much only been shopping at Aldi and Wise Buys Outlet and not doing any complicated deals at all and it is soooo nice and easy. The outlet is not at all quick since it is kind of a treasure hunt but my husband enjoys going there with me and we have a good time looking for deals.
I have enjoyed your Kroger post and I’m so envious that you have a Kroger near by to shop at. I agree that when using coupons and trying to take advantage of special store deals that the best way to make sure that everything rings up correctly is to make smaller trips. I learned this the hard way with CVS. It’s so much harder to catch the register/cashier mistakes when you are buying a lot of items. I am fortunate to have 3 CVS stores in my small town, so I spread the love, as to not have the cashiers get too aggravated with me!
That’s so fantastic that you have 3 CVS stores in your small town!