Photo: SXC

Here are the deals I saw in this week’s Martin’s ad:

Strawberries 16 oz package buy one get one free

Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish buy one get one free

Progresso vegetable classics soup 10/$10

Coupon Day Deals

Giant brand boneless, skinless chicken breast $1.69 a pound

Free Giant grade a large eggs when you buy 2 Maxwell House or General Foods International Coffee 2/$5

Giant russet potatoes $1.49

Giant fresh white mushrooms 99 cents

Giant deli thin sliced lunch meat 2/$4

Jumbo simple peel shrimp $5.99 a pound

EarthGrains thin buns 2/$4

Sargento shredded cheese 2/$4

Klondike bars 2/$4

Brawny 8 roll towels $4.99

(There are a couple more deals, too, but they didn’t look that great.)

Instant Savings Deals

Buy any 6 and save $3 instantly.

Pompeian red wine vinegar $1 each

Danonino children’s yogurt $1.69 (Look for a $1 off coupon in your Sunday paper. I had one in mine.)

Giant toaster pastries 2/$3

Giant apple sauce 6 pack $1.49

General mills cereal 2/$5 (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs)

Aunt Sue’s honey $3.69

Nabisco Cakesters 2/$5

Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bars 2/$5

Deer Park Aquapod 8 pack 2/$4

And a few others that aren’t that great a deal. There’s also a buy any 4 save $3 instantly deal, but the deals don’t look that great to me.

Fill Up Your Freezer Deal

Spend $25 get $10 off your next shopping order or spend $15 and get $5 off.

This deal is a good one if you are planning to but some of the items anyway. I was after Lean Cuisine pizza and sandwiches.

Ben and Jerry’s or Starbucks ice cream 16-17.6 oz $2.99

Dole Frozen whole strawberries 2/$5

Red Baron 12 inch family style pizza 2/$9

Mama Rosie’s cheese lasagna 10/$10

Turkey Hill ice cream 2/$5

Stouffer’s lean cuisine 5/$10

Smucker’s uncrustables sandwiches $2.29

On-Cor traditional dinners 2/$4

T.G.I. Friday’s appetizers 3/$9

Bertolli frozen entrees $5.99

Aunt Jemima pancakes 2/$4

SuperPretzel soft pretzels 2/$4

Weekly Grocery Budget of $50

I went to Martins. The trip was supposed to happen tomorrow, but I was right there, so I decided to go today. Luckily, I hit the clearance mother lode and only spent $34.29. I got:

5 containers of juice (apple, V-8 Splash, etc.)

4 Gatorades

4 packages of cookies

Brownie mix

3 packs of gum

Granola bars

3 packages of natural fruit snacks

2 packages of cat treats

2 loaves of bread to freeze so I don’t end up rushing out to buy un-reduced bread again. (I didn’t even have time to use my bread machine to make a loaf, because my brother had meatballs hot and ready to eat and wanted a sandwich.)

A dozen donuts for tomorrow’s family breakfast (Very unthrifty. $5.99. I think next time I will bake a breakfast bread of some sort.)

So, I could have spent more time planning my trip and my menu to save even more, but this kind of trip shows how you can be somewhat thrifty even if you do everything wrong before you head to the store. Just look for bargains, compare weight and pricing info and take advantage of deals like the buy 6 items get $3 off instantly Gatorade/cookie deal I bought today.

Keep in mind that my list may seem a bit quirky, but I have a stockpile, I have a big basket of fresh fruit on the counter and my freezer is stuffed with meat.  Once you begin to build up a stockpile of your own, you can really spend less on your weekly trips.

Also, I will write more on this later, but you’ll notice I bought a lot of juice and sports drinks today. That is because the prices were good and my stockpile was low. I have enough juice to last at least a month now and will buy a lot of something else that is really on sale next week. When you shop this way, you’ll spend $10 or so for juice for a month all at once. It is probably more than you usually spend on juice in one grocery trip, but keep in mind that this is instead of paying $3.79 a jug each week because you need it whether it is on sale or not.