It is apparently cereal week around here. Every single store has cereal on sale for a good price! (For me this is under $1.25 per box, after coupons and discounts, or preferably $1 or less per box). I took the opportunity to restock our cereal supply.
I feel the need to point out that although I bought 14 boxes of mostly sugary and not particularly good-for-you cereal today, cereal is not the basis of our diet. The kid is allowed one small bowl per day, which he mostly throws to the dogs while laughing hysterically at how they jump and spin. 14 boxes of cereal will last for probably six months. Yeah, it's true that one long, tiring, frustrating day this week we had frozen mac & cheese, frozen peas, and frozen fries for dinner. (I felt fairly horrified even as I was falling asleep cooking it, if you can actually call sticking frozen food into the oven and heating it "cooking." Can you hear my arteries hardening from where you sit?) But another day we had curried wheatberry salad with spinach and pineapple, along with eggs. A couple of days we had burritos made with refried beans, peppers, and tomatoes. Tonight I'm making a spicy West African influenced collard green stew, served over rice. (Or maybe millet, although I think I might be out of millet. Am I? Hmm, will have to check.)
Since I am stockpiling foods by buying them when they're at a low price, sometimes my shopping results look kinda... not good. Unbalanced, yeah. But all that food is coming home to share space in a kitchen that is bursting to full with grains, dried and canned beans, canned whole tomatoes, and fresh and frozen veggies. I am a vegetarian and I cook almost all our food from scratch, although I have an enduring love of french fries and I freely admit that I drink way way way too much diet cola. I like it, I am addicted, I get sad without it, I am not going to apologize, sue me! Okay, defensive interlude over.
So! First I went back to Acme, $3.5o OYNO cat in hand. I PROMISED Mr 3 that I would get him his favorite cereal, Strawberry Frosted Mini-Wheats. I am pretty sure it was the only reason he agreed to get dressed and leave the house at all. When I got to the store, I discovered that they were not included in the sale. Oh no! I had to buy a box anyway (at full price, minus coupon value), or else I think he would have cried for the entire rest of the day. It is not pictured, because he fell asleep hugging it in the car, and I couldn't carry in both him and the cereal.
Acme: $6.48
Savings: $25.13
five boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats
one box of Strawberry Frosted Mini-Wheats
two bags of Malt-o-Meal Golden Puffs.
The Malt-o-Meal is a freebie! Click here to print a coupon for 75c off. It's on sale for $1.49 and Acme doubles, so both bags were totally free. I wish they'd had some slightly healthier choices (which they did in the ad), but the Golden Puffs were the only ones that I could find that were on sale for $1.49. I got a catalina for $1 off two packages of Frosted Mini-Wheats, ha ha.
Pathmark: $32.79
Savings: Something is wonky with my receipt. It says I saved $31, but I added it up and I saved $41.10
four boxes of Barilla whole grain pasta
four boxes of Barilla Piccolini pasta
two boxes of Honey Combs
two boxes of Alpha Bits
two boxes of Waffle Crisp
two boxes of Cheez-Its (total impulse buy! augh! husband will probably inhale them all in one sitting, too)
four 2 liters of Diet Pepsi
two 10 oz packages of mushrooms
2.5 lbs bananas
1.5 lbs pears
2 lbs broccoli
2 lbs collards
dozen eggs
20 pack of Duracell batteries
A 20 pack of batteries! It was on sale for $4.97, and I had a $1 off coupon, which made it $3.97. I actually thought it was a misprint in the ad, but apparently not. Oh, and all the Post cereals triggered another cat for $4 OYNO, which is going to be great when I go back midweek for more fruits and veggies.
I could have saved a lot more if I hadn't had the Frosted Mini-Wheat issue, but that aside, I am still averaging 63% savings this week, and I haven't plundered CVS yet. It's shaping up to be a great week out here in bargainland.
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