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!

.49 cents cat food at Freddy's!

Fred Meyer is quickly becoming one of my favorite stores to shop.  It's already in my blood, since I grew up in Alaska and although we didn't have Target, K-Mart or Wal-Mart ( at the time), we DID have Fred Meyer.  Now there are a million Fred Meyer's near where I live, so I find myself there several times a week.

Last weekend while picking up a few groceries there was a lady doing a demo of the new Purina One Beyond cat and dog food.  Now, you should know that I am kind of a pet food snob.  Since first getting my cat Pepper, I have always tried to feed my cats the best food.  I believe that it is an important part of being a pet owner and taking good care of your animals.  I currently feed my cats Wellness, which they seem to like and keeps them healthy.  But, as you all know, I'm on a budget ( if you can call being perpetually broke a budget).  And Wellness is not cheap.

The lady was giving out $2/1 Manufacturer Coupons, and the 16oz boxes were on sale for  $2.49 - making them only .49 cents after coupon.  I decided to have a box on hand just in case I ran out of their regular food and was unable to get more right away.  I took it home and put it on their food shelf.  And, for some reason, they were obsessed with it.  It must smell good, because later they kept getting up there and trying to get into it, even though their bowl was full of their regular food.  I even found it on the floor with little bite marks on it!  I finally gave them some, and they wolfed it down like it was the best thing they had ever eaten.  Hmmm.  Probably because it was different. but most cats turn their noses up at a new food.  I decided that since I am on such a tight budget, I would try this food out for awhile, so I went back to Fred's and stocked up on a few more boxes. ( The demo lady let me take a bunch of extra coupons!).

5 boxes of food (16oz each) - $2.45 at Fred Meyer!  I also understand there was a $3/1 coupon in last week's paper, 3/13. ( I didn't get it).
I also found a $2/1 Target Coupon HERE that could be a combined with an MQ for even better savings if you are interested in trying it out.  I don't know what the regular price is at Target, but chances are it's on sale, so I would imagine you could get a pretty good deal.

*UPDATE:  Not sure if this is going to work out.  Sebastian, our mascot, barfed right after eating today.  Hmm.  This is abnormal, so I will be keeping my eye on him and if it keeps happening I will need to switch him back.  Somethings are worth paying more for!