Supermarket Sweep

This post is dedicated to Gray and any other blog-stalking mothers out there . . .

Is there anything scarier than walking into Publix and seeing a life-size Cut-out of Michael Chiarello staring you down and ready to attack???

That is what the LOML and I ran into last Sunday while making our weekly trip to the grocery store. But this wasn’t any normal trip mind you . . . this was our first trip since my wife began THE GROCERY GAME!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

If you aren’t familiar with the Grocery Game (I was not, until this past week, and I’m trusting none of the dudes in the audience are either), it’s basically a HUGE DATABASE you (pay to) join and it lists what grocery deals are going on that week and whether or not you should take advantage!!

Well, gee-wilickers TMF’H, why don’t you just look in the Sunday paper and see what’s on Sale yourself???

My thoughts exactly, except when you put in your Zip Code, it has catalogued every Coupon/Sale from the last 6 weeks or so and compares it to the Regular Price, the current Sale price, and any available coupon price to get YOU the best deal possible. So if there was a coupon in January’s paper for X product, and this week, that product is Buy One Get One Free at Publix, the GG will list it out, and advise you whether or not you should stock up.

For instance, the GG told us we could find a $5 off coupon inside Publix, that we would NEVER have seen if we didn’t know where to look (ironically, Michael Chiarello was holding it). And since the coupon was only good for certain items that were already on sale that week, the GG said we should stock up (Cans of Black Beans, Green Beans and Corn ended up costing $.42 and I think they usually retail for around a buck).

The one downside (if you ask the accountant) is you should probably start saving all your coupons for 4-6 weeks before actually joining (if you really want to get the most out of your membership). Other than that, I think the membership fee will basically pay for itself!

In addition to the Grocery Game at Publix, we also started with the CVS ECBs or the “Buy a Bunch of Stuff you Wouldn’t Normally Buy to Get Credit for your Next Purchase” game. I think this is pretty popular with the Mommy Blogging set and this past week we bought $20 worth of stuff we normally wouldn’t buy, like EXTREME 6 HOUR ENERGY SHOT!!!

BUT we also got about $20 back in ECBs which we can use to buy more stuff next time. I think the key is to always find items that get you the same amount (or more) of ECBs and then you never really have to spend any more money after the initial purchase. The ECBs do expire, so we’ll see how well we keep up with everything . . .

Wow, I need to take a couple shots of Jim Beam after typing up that femi-post! Where’s my copy of Vulgar Display of Power when I need it??