Want To Go On A Date With Me?

Oh-ho, cheeky monkeys!  Did you think I was talking about a romantic-type date?  Well, you’re a few years too late for that.  Mark beat you to the punch there, the lucky fella!  I’m talking about a coffee and shopping date with me!  I was headed out this morning to do my usual morning running around and thought to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be cool if you had friends a way to take everyone with you so they could see where you get the good deals each week?” And so I decided to show you my morning routine today!  Where I shopped, what I got and what I spent.

Ready?  Buckle up, isn’t my Volvo the best?  S70 Turbo..15 years old and flies like the wind.  (Or at least that’s what I’m told by other people who speed, because I do not.  I’m lynig.)  Go ahead and hit power on the stereo, I’ve got Def Leppard in the CD player!  Wooooo!  Ok, here we go!  Nope!  Hang on, over-active bladder..one more potty run. (Sadly, there are many of these) NOW we’re off!

First stop after dropping Little Miss off at school @8:30 is Shaw’s on Main Street.

First stop!

Now let me say this.  Before I started couponing back in July, I wasn’t really a Shaw’s shopper at all.  But with them doubling coupons, it became my go-to store and even if you don’t use coupons, there are lots of great deals to be had..look, I’ll show you.

First we wipe the handle of the buggy. Yes, this is a must for me. The whole germ thing..*blegh*

Mark eats a salad every day for lunch, (Did I mention that he’s one of those really healthy eaters?  No sugar-no processed-no nothing good and fun and yummy eaters?  Yah, he is, but I love him regardless) so I was buying all kinds of pre-packaged salads each week, usually the iceburg/carrot stuff, since that was cheapest, between $1.99 and $2.99 a pop.  And when you get into the organic and mixed greens, the prices can go way up, not something that I wanted.  But then I found that in the bagged salads and greens section in Shaw’s, they almost always have clearance items out in the mornings!  Spinach, baby greens, chard, all kinds of good stuff for super cheap.  You have to look carefully, because the marked down bags and boxes are still on the shelf with the regularly priced items, but they are almost always there.

Mixed greens, marked down to $1.25, get in my buggy!

Sweet Butter Lettuce, marked down to 79 cents, where ya been all my life?

Then we move down the row a little bit, and look what’s on clearance for the kids!

Family sized bags of sliced and peeled red apples on clearance for 55 cents each! What? That’s crazy talk! Into the buggy..lunchbox snacks!

Now make sure you’re looking at the use by/sell by dates..they are usually only a few days away.  I have never had a problem with anything being too close to it’s date to last out the week, but always look.  No point in trying to save money if you have to throw something away.

Now we meander up towards the bakery at the back of the store.  There’s always a rolling produce clearance shelf here, too, back in the back right hand corner of the store.

Produce clearance stop #2

This one can be hit or miss.  Some of the items are pretty soft and squishy, but there are some good finds, too.  There are almost always 5 lb bags of potatoes for a buck or so and lots of fresh herbs, too.  Ooooh, what have we here?

Hola, my little steamed with butter, salt and pepper side dish! A whole head of cauliflower marked down to 75 cents!  Not sure why it’s labeled as seafood.  For 79 cents it could be labeled dog food and I’d buy it.

Isn’t this fun?  Look at all of the healthy food we’re getting for cheap!  Now let’s go find the Little Debbies! our next Shaw’s hot spot!  Down in the back between meat and the sandwich meat, there are two double doors.  Here are the bakery clearance as well as the dumping ground for regular store clearance, some food items and some not.

Mmm…bakery goods.

We should try to avoid this one, because I have no will-power it’s dangerous!  Cookies, cakes, breads, rolls, muffins, donuts, bagels..oh my!  All for super marked down prices.  Although today what’s that?

Toasty, buttery goodness.

One lonely little loaf of boring and why bother whole wheat bread from the bakery marked down to 85 cents!  My 10 year old Mad loves this for toast in the mornings…super crispy with lots of real butter…oooh…shopping hungry is a mistake!

Still with me little chickens?  Good, because we have much shopping to do!  Vamonose!  (God, I hate Dora)  Now we’re going to stop at a relatively new clearance area here at Shaw’s.  Remember how there used to be a tiny, open freezer for dairy clearance at the end of the freezer aisles?  I have gotten the most amazing deals there in the past..but they’ve moved the dairy items to a tiny clearance section on the dairy wall, near where the ricotta cheese and sour cream are. .  I used to load up on Yo-Baby yogurt tubes for 50 cents, heavy cream, flavored coffee creamers, OJ, all for a buck or under and toss them right into the freezer at home.  And as far as I can tell, it’s been empty for 2 weeks.  Not sure what’s up with that, but I wish the old freezer was back.

Nada.

Now as we make our way up front to go to the bathroom again check out, I spot something marked waaaay down.

What the what?

Quaker chewy granola bars, a 28 count box on clearance for 75% off?  You know why?  Because they have stupid little orange sprinkles on them and are now considered Halloween clearance.  Originally they are $3.99.  I grab two.  See this?  See the savings and we haven’t used one coupon!

OK, now to check out!  Places to go, deals to find!  Grand total for all of our cut-rate goodness?

There goes the college fund! Hahahaha…you actually thought I had a college fund!

That’s right!  $6.77 for all of it.  The Quaker chewy bars ring up for a dollar each, so I actually go back to get two more.  28 x 4= 112 bars for less than 4 bucks and the expiration date is in 2014.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Phew!  One stop down and lots of fun still to come!  But first…

Yeah, Baby. Sing me the song of my people.

So how about tomorrow we continue our quest for 80’s music, an open sunroof, more iced coffee and the next awesome deals in line?  I’ll turn on the seat-warmers for you.

 

 

 

 

Allyson Sorenson

About Allyson Sorenson

Bangor mom. BDN blogger. Volvo lover. Coffee drinker.