Fresh Foods at Fred's!

OK, so people are always saying that you can't buy healthy foods when you coupon.  It's true that often there are great deals on junk food.  I have been struggling with my food budget lately, and although I have some things stockpiled ( Like pasta and spaghetti sauce) I don't have things like meat, fruits, veggies and cheese.  (Of course, I COULD live without cheese, I guess, but what kind of a life would it be??).

It's true that you will rarely find coupons for fruits, veggies and meat.  But couponing has taught me how to watch the sales, and when to recognize a "stock up" price.  Instead of blindly buying things no matter the cost, I often will wait for a good sale and then buy as many as I can to get me by. 

This week Fred Meyer had some great deals, and so I decided to hit them up.

The whole chicken was only .88 cents/lb, which seems to be a pretty good deal.  I actually have never bought a whole chicken before!  So, trying something new.  There were also peelies on the chicken for $1.50 off chicken wyb Philly cooking creme.  The cooking creme was $2.50 and there was a tear pad there for $1.50 off - combined they made the cooking creme free and took an additional .50 cents off the chicken.

Foster Farms Whole Chicken - $4.49
Philly Cooking Creme - $2.50
- $1.50 off chicken wyb Philly
-$1.50 off Philly cooking creme tear pad
=Free cooking creme and chicken for $3.99!

4x Tillamook Shredded cheese - $1 each with in ad coupon
This is a rock bottom price, and the cheese is good until June or July unopened!

Strawberries - $1.50
Lemon - .59 cents
Celery - .26 cents
Broccoli - .73 cents
2 onions - .49 cents ( they were very small)
Carrots - .25 cents

Total - $11.77
Coupon savings: $9.50
Fred Meyer doesn't tell you what you saved on sale prices : /

I should be able to get a few meals out of that chicken - I'm off to search for recipes!