The roads finally cleared of snow enough for me to venture to the store today, so I headed to Dillon’s with Kaitlynn. Here’s what we got:
7 cans of tomatoes — on sale for $0.49 each when you buy 10 participating items, used 2 $0.80/3 coupons,$0.26 each after coupon
10-lb. sack of potatoes — marked down to $1.79
Quart of Silk soymilk — marked down to $1.49
1 tube Colgate toothpaste — on sale for $0.98, used $1/1 coupon, free after coupon
1 8-oz. block of Cheddar cheese — $1.77
1 Dannon 4-pack smoothies — marked down to $0.99, used $1/1 coupon, free after coupon
1 Yoplait yogurt — used free coupon
1 organic Mango — $1.79
1 4-pack of Activia yogurt— on sale for $1.88, used $1/1 coupon, $0.88 after coupon
Gallon of milk — $3.18 (Ouch! Anyone else noticing high milk prices recently?!)
Balance Bars — on sale for $0.50 each when you buy 10 participating items, used $1/3 Balance Bars coupon, $0.17 each after coupon
My total, after coupons and the Mega Event discount, was just shy of $15.
Just an idea for those of you (including myself) that are bothered by milk prices. My local Kroger has a milk policy that discounts milk the is due for expiration within 10 days. So far they always have some, and it’s still got a week until expiration. My 2 boys go through alot of milk, so we buy 2 gallons for them and 1 skim for me. It is usually discounted to $2.00 but sometimes I can get it for $1.00 (for a whole gallon!). If you don’t see it marked, go ahead and ask the manager. And if you don’t see a sticker on more than 1 and you’d like to buy more, be sure to check the dates of other milks, and if you find one that is within the 10 days, but hasn’t been marked, talk to the manager.
Many times convenience stores (7-11, Casey’s, etc.) and Dollar General, Family Dollar, etc., will have cheaper milk than the grocery stores. When we use to live in Muncie, IN, we always bought our milk at the closest convenience store. It was consistently almost a whole dollar cheaper than the grocery store.
We live in Kansas now and raise our own milk animals, but when we don’t have any animals producing, we go to a local dairy and get milk that is literally minutes old. We can only go during the evening milking time and the milk is pumped through a cooling system and into a large holding tank. Using the honor system, we walk in, put our $2 per gallon in the round tin on the table and pour our own milk from the tank. It is not organic, but it is raw (non-pasturized, non-homogenized).
My Kroger only sometimes takes coupons on manager’s specials. (Like when the cashier happens to not notice.) I don’t know what to say when they hand the coupon back and say, “Sorry this doesn’t work on a manager’s special.” Any words of advice?
I would (politely) ask for them to please get a manager (and throw in that you’ve used coupons on managers specials before without any problem if that’s the case – which it is for me).
I have never once left our local King Soopers (and our town has four stores) without being able to use a manufacturers coupon on a managers special – BUT I HAVE had (I guess misinformed) cashiers tell me they can’t – UNTIL I ask them to either check with or get a manager.
Now, I can see where it could get sticky if your coupon is for more than the price is marked down to (say the coupon is $1/1 but the price of what you’re buying is marked down to $0.50/1), but most people seem to have luck at most stores asking for the coupon’s price to be “adjusted down” to match the managers special price so that there isn’t any “overage” (meaning the extra from the coupon [in the above case, $0.50] would go towards bringing down the rest of your total [or refunded to you in cash if there wasn’t enough you still owed on the bill]). I know that our local King Soopers do not allow overage – so if no one – not even the manager – knows how to “adjust down” the coupon – you might have a problem there (but hopefully not!). Good luck to you though!! HTH
I miss milk in Florida! Here in NC If I’m lucky I can find it for $2.79 gallon. we only have 1 kid, but she still drinks a gallon a week!
Paid $3.75 for a gallon here in PA…gotta love state milk pricing control 🙂
Luckily I had a coupon for a free gallon (Catalina coupon after I bought 4 boxes of cereal one day) so it ended up costing me nothing.
I live in WI, where you’d think Milk would be pretty darn cheap, right? Not really. For whole, we pay about $2.85/gallon of the store brand and for skim it’s about $2.25.
Went to Aldi tonight and milk was $2.42!!!
We just got back from Hawai’i where milk is $5 a gallon. $4 a gallon at Costco. (This is regular milk not organic.) Since everything is shipped in, their costs are sky high. Now that I’m back in California, everything seems so cheap, especially the produce.
Our Aldi in KY sells milk for $1.49 a gallon. I went friday and got a weeks of groceries for $59.00. There are 3 of us in our family with one on the way.
We buy our milk at Aldi’s….SO much cheaper than any other place!
I was curious in how much snow you received?
Our Rite Aid and CVS usually have milk cheaper than either WalMart or Kroger, so I tend to go to one of those for the milk for hubby and me. We buy organic for our 21-month-old, and Kroger is cheapest for that, although last night I noticed it wasn’t on sale — $6.59 for a gallon of pasteurized (as opposed to the ultrapasteurized, which is a bit cheaper). That hurt. It’s been “on sale” for $5.99 for almost a year prior to now.
Our Aldi’s milk is usually around $2.89 for a gallon. I ran out to get some after we ran completely out during the storm. To my VERY pleasant surprise, there was a sign on the door in front of it that they were marked down to $1!!!!! I had to rub my eyes and look again, but I ended up picking up four gallons (plan to freeze for cooking use), and shortly after, they pulled the sign off the door. But it surely made my day!!! Yes, the simple things! 🙂
I was actually noticing the opposite in the DFW area in TX. Target has had their gallons for 1.49, Kroger for 1.99 but you might even find it lower, close to $1 sometimes!
my walmart tells me they will only price match the exact same brand as is advertised somewhere else…..
Our kroger usually has milk (incld. chocolate) for $1.99 a gallon, anywhere else its at least $2.49
As some others have already commented, here in PA milk is price controlled. I sure wouldn’t be “ouch”ing at $3.18 per gallon. I guess the good thing about it is that milk is pretty much the same price everywhere. So when I just need a gallon of milk (which is fairly often with two small kids who can’t get enough of it) I don’t have to worry that I’m paying more when I stop at the local convenience store as opposed to driving to Aldi.
That’s one reason I keepmy Costco membership, milk is $3.99 for two gallons and bread is also $3.99 for two 2lb loaves. I rarely can beat those prices at the gorcery store. Oh and the gas is competively priced and my husbands says he get better milages out of it. The better mpg for gas alone pays for our membership, the rest is gravy. 😀
I have been sticking to $50 per week for food and it is hard with milk. There is one store in town that has markdowns and that really helped this week! We don’t use as much milk as we used to. I have tried making different things for breakfast that end up being cheaper than cold cereal with milk. Using powdered milk in cooking helps. Costco has a pretty good price on milk compared to other places.
If I see milk for 3.19 I grab as much as I believe we’ll use (we don’t care for milk that’s been frozen) before exp date. Believe it was $4.19 last time at the store, then add in tax. ugh
I live in Louisiana, and milk is routinely over $4/gallon for generic. Sam’s will sell it for about $1 less. No double coupons either. It’s hard to be frugal!
Ok prepare yourselves everyone! I came from Hawaii where milk can *literally* be $6.99/gallon when it’s not on sale. We shopped at the commissary bc we’re military but those spontaneous trips to a regular Hawaii grocery store like FoodLand would KILL our pocketbooks!
So yeah, I tend to not blink at $3.18/gallon if I see it 😉 but I also buy organica and the managers specials at Frys/Kroger etc really help. Yesterday I got 2 1/2 gallons of Horizon Organic for $1.99 bc it had to be sold by the 5th.
My husband and I got married on Maui in 2006. We rented a condo on the beach, with a full kitchen to save money by preparing many of our own meals. Talk about SHOCK, when we went to do our grocery shopping. We made a quick stop on the way to the condo from the airport to get coffee supplies, and breakfast/lunch the next day. Just those few things cost close to $100. A few memorable prices: the $7 dollars/gallon milk, and the $12 chicken breasts (pack of 3)!
Our Aldi sells a Gallon of Milk for $1.50 here in Louisville, KY. Its the cheapest price around compared to $3.00 or more at Kroger.
I was wondering if you got snow down there. We’re up to our necks in Chicago! But I walked to the store on Wed. to get the newspaper w/ grocery ads and five boxes of free-after-coupon Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta. Can’t stop me from couponing!
KCMO~I can get a gallon of 2% at Target for $3.24 with grocery stores being about $3.79. I hate going to Aldis because you don’t know what the price is going to be and sometimes they are very close to date! We had problems years ago with milk “turning” before the date and it just kinda turned me off on going there. I guess the Aldis hassle is not worth saving $1.50 minus the extra gas. Feels great to say it!
I’m in PA and our milk is price-controlled. There are very few deals on milk, only with coupons. We recently went back to purchasing mostly organic milk after purchasing locally-produced for the last year. Thankfully the price of cheese is not regulated.
Minimum milk prices are set by a state board here in Pennsylvania. Last week a gallon of 1% store brand milk was $3.29, the lowest it’s been in a while.
Milk at Braum’s is 2.79/gallon plus it doesn’t have hormones in it.
wow, i can’t believe the cost of one mango. very expensive to me.I live in Florida where the mangos fall off the trees here when in season. I think buying frozen mangos would be more economical for me.
I was thinking the same thing. 😉 My husband’s parents live in Homestead, and they have all the mangos & avocados they’ll ever need on their trees LOL We live in CO though and the prices for mangos – conventional – let alone organic – are ridiculous – and NEVER ripe 🙁 0.99/pc is the best I think I’ve ever seen, and we rarely buy them b/c even when you let them set, they still don’t taste ripe. Just a side note for anyone who follows/is looking to follow The Clean 15 – conventional mangos are on that list – so you can skip buying them organic if you don’t have the money in the budget that week. 😀
Wow guys sorry about the price of milk there I was just gripping because I had to pay $2.29 a gallon. Speaking of Milk does anyone use the powder milk? I’ve seen recipes using it but am scared to try it. Whats a good brand? Is it decent to drink or just for baking with? What about cooking with it?
Morning Moos is a really good powdered milk.
It is great to bake/cook with. We sometimes have it when we run out of milk and it taste just fine.
Also, eggs are the cheapeat there at Costco too (in CA anyhow) if you buy the 5 dozen pack at $4.99. I do enough baking to help use up the 5 doz which have about a 3 week exp.
I read an article by the “egg people” that said you can use eggs 30 days past the date printed on the carton. That makes eggs last a really long time! I’ve followed their guidelines since and have never had a problem. We could definitely go through 5 dozen eggs in plenty of time at my house 🙂
You can always do the “egg test” too to make sure the eggs are okay. Put the egg in water–if it sinks, it’s good. If it floats, it’s bad. (This is b/c eggs have a tiny hole in them that starts out very small but as the egg ages, the hole gets bigger, thus making the egg float.)
We use Sam’s club where milk is $2.00/gal- and right now milk is on sale at Safeway or Vons (same place) for $1.99/gal. And eggs have been about $1/doz when you buy the 3doz pack at Sams- oh and this is in Colorado
I buy milk at Costco (in CA). It is the cheapeast around at $3.99 for 2 gals. You have to buy the 2 pk though but it works for us. I also buy all our flour/sugar/ there too. Works out to be cheaper if you bake your own bread etc and you don’t mind storing it.
Not that anyone has complained but I just want you to know it is not the dairy farmers getting the profit ( my dad is one) so somewhere in the middle man limbo is where all that money goes to. I am going to hate to move from the dairy I alone can go through 1 1/2 gallons a week and add on my 2 kids and Hubby and then we go through at least 3 if not 4 a week. Good thing it is free for us right now!!!!
The cheapest I’ve seen it around here (Hampton Roads, VA) has been like $2.75/gallon at Target of all places. Costco was $2.80, and the grocery stores seem to range from about $3.40-$3.65/gallon. Eggs are expensive too. I haven’t checked the Commissary to see if milk is cheaper there.
It is really fun to read about all your deals. We are lucky here in Alaska if we can get milk for $3.29 a gallon. I shop the military commissary where items are about half the price of the regular grocery store. I am also using coupons. But it is amazing what a family of four can spend here on groceries…
Milk is definitely fluctuating here. We go through about 4 gallons a week and a month ago I was able to get it on sale for $2.50 a gallon- with the normal price being $2.89. Today at Kroger it was $3.49 a gallon and Aldi had it $3.30 a gallon.
Luckily, I went out before the storms hit and got two gallons of milk at Walgreens for $1.79 each! I have noticed that many times when milk goes up, eggs go down! How much are eggs right now?
Yes I have noticed that. Ours is still way cheaper than yours but it has been going up. During the summer, it was $.99/gallon at most stores here at regular sale (you know where it is “on sale” but at that price for weeks on end, goes off sale for one week then back on lol). And if I got it on manager markdown at Kroger, $.79/gallon or $.49 per 1/2 gallon. Now it is $1.99 most places so we are lucky if we get it on sale for $1.69. I am still lucky enough to find it on manager markdown at Kroger for $.99/gallon and $.69 to $.79/ half gallon but it is less often than during the summer.
Wow–what state do you live in?
I used to buy 16 gallons of milk every 2 weeks BEFORE my husband and I had children. We like milk 🙂 A lot, obviously. And we weren’t using it on cold cereal–just drinking it.
For the last 5 years milk has been a luxury. I would love to just have my own cow!
wow 8 gallons per week for 2 people? You guys must REALLY love milk. I live in the Dallas, TX area 🙂
I was in Krogers on Tuesday and they had 1/2 gallon of whole milk clearanced to $.69. I’m kinda curious now to see which days they mark down the milks and if Tuesday is a normal day for my store.
All stores are different obviously but with my store it seems completely random (like whenever they are slow they go around to do markdowns while restocking). I usually go grocery shopping with my dad on Friday afternoons and they are usually in the process of doing them. I have been known to stand there by the yogurt section while the guy is restocking and doing markdowns lol. They usually go to $.99 for 4packs and $.15-$.19 each for single cups (got some Weight Watchers stuff free with a $1/3 coupon). But I have also been late on Wednesday night and they were doing them then and midday on a Sunday and same.
Not sure the reasons why milk is going up, but I hope some is trickling down to the farmer. We have good friends who operate their small family dairy farm, and it usually costs them more to produce the milk than the processors pay them for it. 🙁 Times have been tough for them. I’d rather drink milk from their farm because its clean and the cows live quality lives on pasture than perhaps the cheaper stuff where the quality may not be as good.
It usually goes along with gas which has also been going up so sadly no, they probably are not seeing any more
I think this is one of the few times where food prices are actually cheaper in California – you can get 2 gallons of milk for 4.99 (and that’s for whole – skim and 2% are cheaper).
I was at Tom Thumb in the suburbs of Dallas yesterday during an icy outing to pick up some milk and eggs. Hardly anything was on the shelf due to the icy conditions here. Got the last gallon of organic milk for $4.99. Then noticed a dozen eggs by Eggland’s Best (also last of the eggs) for $3.49. However, one egg was cracked and I asked the nearby worker if he could mark it down. Boy did he! I got 11 eggs total for 99 cents. I love Tom Thumb’s customer service in my town.
I can always get a gallon of milk at $1.99 here in Lansing, Michigan between Kroger and Meijer!
Ladies try not to forget that Walmart will price match this too ! As I said our milk is priced at just over $5.00 at $5.29.
I have just started buying milk at Braum’s as it is $2.79-$2.89 a gallon.
we LOVE Braums milk! Most non-organic milk hurts my husbands stomach but Braums does not! I’m thankful for their milk 🙂
Oh my goodness! I’d LOVE to pay only $2.00 or even $3.00 for a gallon of milk! Around here its $3.99 for the cheap stuff! If you want Hood milk it’s going to be at least $4.29. I live on Cape Cod in Mass.
I live on the Cape too! I get Garelicks Farm milk for 2.59 @ the 7-11. Check it out if you have one near you!
thankfully we have an aldi’s much closer now so i get milk for $2.19/gal.
Kinda like seeing milk go up. Makes our $3/half gal of organic milk seem like a better deal. 🙂
Unfortunately, the price of organic milk has also gone up in the last few weeks, at least where I live!
So far ours is staying steady. I don’t think it’s local, though. This is when it stinks that local farmers can’t get deals with their local stores… We all would win!
Our milk has even been over $5.00 so I have been paying special attention to the Organic often the organic is on sale with a coupon I can get it as low as $1.00 per half gallon much better price than just over $5.00 for a full gallon. I almost always buy regular and dillute it with water then I feel that is the same almost as 2% and I end up with a better price.
I feel so blessed. Here at our Aldi in the Dallas area, we can get milk for 99 cents a gallon. And eggs are 69 cents a dozen (or less). I LOVE TEXAS! :o)
Wow, .99 a gallon milk. That’s impressive!
Yes I live in Dallas also. When our Aldi opened up here the milk and eggs went down everywhere. The 99cents only store around the corner from our Aldi usually keeps theirs at .89 just beat Aldi. It is great! I love Aldi!
hey i think that is great getting it for 99cents!
i love to see other people get blessed!
ps. i love texas too been there many times
it is about 2.99/gallon here in tennessee
The price of milk often compares to the price of gasoline. So, yes, the price of milk is up… and the price of fuel is up above $3 per gallon too. Ouch in both grocery and fuel budget lines!
I saw that you bought the Dannon Smoothies that were marked .99 and you used $1 off coupon. Every time I have tried to do this at Dillons with Managers Special items the coupon won’t work because it is more than the price of the item. The only time this happens is with Managers Special items. Do you ask them to adjust the coupon down or am I having bad luck at my store?
Yes, you usually have to explain to them how to mark it down. Rarely do I have a problem if I’m prepared and polite.
Would you mind telling me how you explain it so that I may do the same?
The coupon usually beeps when they scan it. When it does, explain that the item is marked at .99 and the coupon is for $1 and that is the reason for the beep. Sometimes they will override the beep and use the full $1 coupon. If they resist, explain to them that they can adjust the coupon amount down to $.99. If they still resist, I would politely ask for a manager to get a “further explanation of the store’s coupon policy.” If you do all those steps you should have your coupon processed. Hope that helps. Happy couponing!
We normally buy our milk at Aldi’s. They are normally $1.99 – $2.29 per gallon!
Wow–our Aldi milk here in K.C. is $2.80!
In DFW, it’s still 99 cents.
Milk is usually around $3.35 in Philadelphia. Any less and I resist the urge to buy two!
Yeah, the legal milk minimum thing hits us hard! My family goes through about 3 gallons per week and that’s a HUGE chunk of our grocery budget.
Do you have an Aldi around? In South Florida they definitely have the best prices with $1.99 for a gallon of milk. My biggest problem is that I have three lactose intolerant sons and 1 lactose intolerant husband, and they only drink very expensive lactose free milk (reg. price $3.69 for 1/2 gal) or soy milk. I do my best to get the price down with coupons and the once-in-a-while sale, but still….milk takes up a lot of the budget.
JR
The Aldi Spot
Here in PA there is a state minimum for prices of milk. It’s nuts! They even have the stated divided into 6 districts and each district has a minimum selling price for wholesale and retail that changes monthly. They’re all within .10-.15 or so but it’s insane. We used to live in FL, so we weren’t used to paying state income taxes or local taxes either, so it’s been a pretty big adjustment. We’re managing, thanks to sights like MSM!
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/
she just did a post on how to make your own lactose free milk.
Milk has been skyrocketing around here too for the last 2 months or so but seems to finally settling back down.