Thrifty Thursday--Grocery Edition

You probably know how much I love CVS, but I like to save money at the grocery store, too!  Thing is, when I get through buying those things that spoil each week--milk, eggs, produce--or that I simply don't have the space to store a six week supply of--meat, etc.--I barely save 40% after sales and coupons.  That's not too bad, but no where near the 95% I'm accustomed to saving at CVS.  This week was an exception: I didn't NEED much of anything except milk and fruit, so I was able to buy a six week supply of grocery items at their rock-bottom prices (40% or BOGO, also see Jenny's "Buy Price" for grocery items).  Weis wasn't impressing me this week, so I decided to go to Food Lion and Martin's.  I try to keep it to 2 grocery stores a week while I'm getting my stockpile.  Once I have a good stockpile, I should only need to shop at one grocery store a week to get a 6 week supply at it's rock bottom price (every item has a rock-bottom price).  I actually didn't have that many coupons this week--about a half dozen--but I bought my items anyway because most savings came from the sale, not the coupons.  I spent less than an hour matching coupons using my two favorite sites--For The Mommas and Southern Savers--and one hour shopping both stores (they were across the street from each other). I spent a total of $51.44 and saved $53.96, or 51%!  Fifty percent is what I strive for at the grocery store each week, but I have rarely succeeded in that goal.  It was like I got paid $25/hr. for my time in savings!  Completely worth it to me!

Here's what I got:

At Food Lion, I got:
6 bags Tostitos (BOGO)
6 2-packs of baby food ($0.39 ea.)
6 Powerade
3 Pkgs. whole grain pasta (free with coupons)
4 lbs. 93% lean ground beef
1 Cantalope
2 Bananas
Spent: $37.62
Saved: $26.07

At Martin's I did two gimmicks.  One was $6 off instantly plus $4 off milk on your next order when you buy 4 boxes Kellogg's cereal and $2 off your next order when you buy two different Scott products.  I did these in one transaction and used the catalinas they produced for the second transaction.

Transaction #1:
5 boxes Kellogg's cereals (avg. price: $3.25.  I had a $5/5 any kellogg's coupon, which covered the extra box)
1 single roll Scott TP
1 single refill Scott flushable wipes (I had a $0.50/1 coupon that doubled to $1 and made both free + profit)
Paid: $7.63
Saved: $12
Got back: $6 in catalinas

Transaction #2:
1 Brownie mix
1 Frozen Waffles
1 box fruit bar Popsicles
1 box Italian ice
1 Almond Breeze milk
1/2 gal. milk
1 block Colby cheese
1 block Muenster cheese
Paid: $6.19
Saved: $15.89

The best part is, this LOOKS like a solid $85 worth of food to me (back when I was buying store brands), but I paid $50 for name-brand items!