Shaw's Trip 10/25

Total Before Savings:  $67.12

Total Preferred Savings:  $26.48

Total Coupons Used:  $31.39 ($18 in CATs)

Cash OOP:  $9.25

1.89 lbs banana - $1.30

2.38 lbs Chicken Breast - $4.47

3.08 lbs 80/20 Ground Beef - $5.79

1 Argo Baking Powder - $1.79 (.30/1 MFC DOUBLES) $1.19 (note:  no generic counterpart to Baking Powder!  Argo was the cheapest option.)

2 Hunt's Ketchup - $1 ea ($1/2 MFC) .50 ea

3 Hunt's Diced Tomatoes - $1 ea (.75/3 MFC DOUBLES) .50 ea

5 Shaw's Canned Vegetables - 5/$3 ($1/5 Shaw's Coupon) 5/$2

1 Peter Pan Peanut Butter - $2 (.50/1 MFC Doubles) $1

1 Crayola Crayons - $2.29 (Buy Peter Pan PB, Get a box of Crayola Crayons for FREE!) FREE!

12 Yoplait Yogurts - .50 ea (2 $.50/6 MFCs Double, $1/10 Shaw's Coupon) .25 ea!

2 Over the Moon Milks - $2.50 ea (2 $1/1 MFCs) $1.50 ea

2 3 Musketeer Bags - $2 ea ($1/2 MFC) $1.50 ea

-  Overall, good trip.  I like to use my Catalina coupons as soon as possible.  I always have a weird fear that I will forget about them and they will expire. 

-  We desperately needed baking powder.  If I divulge the expiration date that was on the one that was just sitting in our cabinet it would shock most people.  To give you an idea, some how, some way, that container of baking powder survived 3 moves with us BEING EXPIRED!  It might very well have been the only container of baking powder I ever bought (and there was still about 3/4 of the container left) since being married.  The funny this is baking powder is actually very cheap.  I should use it more often. 

-  If you are really into baking and holiday cooking, really start looking for bargains now.  The sooner you stock up on baking essentials, the less stressed out you'll be come Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Also, it might be good to take some inventory of your own cabinets to see what basic things you might have to buy fresh - kind of like my baking powder.  Things like flour, sugar, food coloring, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, oatmeal, chocolate chips, confectioner's sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, canned pumpkin, yeast (if you are adventurous) - are all sort of holiday "essentials".  Keep an eye out for them.  For instance, this week, Hershey's Chocolate Chips are on sale at Shaw's for $2.50.  There was just a $1/2 MFC for them in the paper.  $2.00 is better than paying $3.50 a pack.