I’ve been power couponing for a few years now. With fairly good stock piles, along with having learned how much of various items we can actually use up, I haven’t really had to work too hard at it for a while and frequently go a few weeks between shopping for anything other than perishables.

On my recent vacation my sisters and I visited the largest grocery store chain on Cape Cod: Super Stop & Shop. We were very happy at the variety and quality of the foods, but having not paid shelf prices for a while, I suffered major sticker-shock (being in a tourist town didn’t help!). It got a good refresher on how important menu planning and building up a stock pile are to frugal living.

In any case, my sticker shock motivated me to head out to Harris Teeter for the last day of ‘super doubles’ and to Farm Fresh, mostly to take advantage of the General Mills deals.

Compared to the cost of making penne pasta with pesto sauce — at over $20 for a meatless entree for four: The $19.54 I spent today brought a smile to my face.

The Oreos, 2 half gallons of ice cream, and the candy will bring a smile to my kids’ and hubby’s faces, too!

As announced on a post this morning from The Coupon Consultant:

Today on The Hampton Roads Show, Tropical Smoothie Cafe announced a Hampton Roads Show Special good TODAY ONLY (Labor Day)! If you text ALOHA to 89074 you’ll receive a special message. Bring your phone to any Tropical Smoothie Cafe and get a smoothie for only $0.99!! Happy Labor Day from Tropical Smoothie Cafe and The Hampton Roads Show!

Happy Savings!

Thanks, Lori, for the great heads-up!

I finally sat down and looked at the advertising circulars in today’s paper and noticed that Bloom is doubling coupons up to 99¢ this month. While that just makes them competitive with Farm Fresh and Harris Teeter, it is nice to have another option for a few weeks.

Standard limit of 20 coupons per visit, per day apply. Now I’m gonna have to go through the circular and see if there are any deals worth grabbing.