So, I know we all look forward to Mavis’ Double coupon post, but it’s been a while since we’ve had step by step instructions on how to shop at Albies. (EDIT: this is a how to post to show people new to couponing how to roll transactions/catalina’s for the most profit.) A quick note: I get 9 papers, so I had 27 doubles to play with. If you get 5, I suggest leaving off 1 of the Totino’s Pizzas transactions and 3 of the Soup/Pizza Rolls Transactions.
Also, I FORGOT 
all my printed coupons at home, and was SHOCKED to find 3 doubles instead of 2, so I had to re-do my list on the fly. This is what I came up with:
What I bought, and the Original Prices:
20 Boxes Totino’s Party Pizzas 2/$3
12 Totino’s Pizza Rolls $2.39 each
3 Hot Pocket Snacker, $2.79 each
20 Boxes Hamburger Helper, $2.39 each
38 Progresso Vegetable Classics Soup $2.79 each
4 Dreyers 1/2 Gallons of Ice Cream $6.99 each
3 Snickers Bars, $.89
Total: $251.50
How I did it:
Transaction #1:
10 Boxes Hamburger Helper
$23.90
Preferred Savings: $13.90
Used 3 $.75 off 3 HH Coupons 7/16 SS ($2.25)
Doubled all three ($2.25)
Total: $5.50
Received $2 Cat and $5 Cat, and 35 box tops
Transaction #2
10 Boxes Hamburger Helper
1 Snickers
$24.79
Preferred Savings: $12.61
Used 3 $.75 off 3 HH Coupons 7/16 SS ($2.25)
Doubled all three ($2.25)
Used $7 in Cats from T1
Total: $.08
Received $2 Cat and $5 Cat and 35 box tops
Transaction #3
10 Totino’s Party Pizzas
Total: $15
Preferred Savings: $2.50
Used: 2 $1/5 Totino’s Coupons from 8/7 GM ($2)
Doubled 2 ($2)
Used $7 cat from T2
Total: $1.50
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops
Transaction #4
10 Totino’s Party Pizzas
Total: $15
Preferred Savings: $2.50
Used: 2 $1/5 Totino’s Coupons from 8/7 GM ($2)
Doubled 2 ($2)
Used $5 cat from T3
Total: $3.50
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops
Transaction #5
I was in a hurry for this one, threw it up last minute, and messed it up!! GRR, so frustrating, but, it does happen to everyone!! So after checking out, this I went away (to my favorite pet food isle), and re-organized everything.
6 Progresso Soups
4 Totino’s Pizza Rolls
$26.30
Preferred Savings: $16.30
Used: $1/4 Progresso Soup coupon from 8/7 GM and 2 $.40/2 Totino’s Pizza Rolls 8/7 GM ($1.80)
Doubled: 3 ($1.80)
Used $5 cat from T4
Total: $1.40
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops
Transaction #6, 7, 8, 9 (This is what I wanted to do with T5… it took me 20 minutes to figure out why I had 2 extra cans of soup, and was missing 2 Totino’s Rolls!)
8 Progresso Soups
2 Totino’s Pizza Rolls
$27.10
Preferred Savings: $17.10
Used 2 $1/4 and 1 $.40/1 (8/7 GM) ($2.40)
Doubled 2 $1/4 coupons ($2)
Used: $5 Cat from previous transaction
Total: $.60
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops
Transaction #10:
4 Dreyers Ice Cream
$27.96
Preferred Savings: $15.96
Used 2 $1/2 Dreyers from 6/12 SS ($2)
Doubled 2 ($2)
Used: $5 Cat from T9
Total: $3
Received: $4 cat
Transaction #11:
2 Snickers Bars
3 Hot Pocket Snackers
$10.15
Preferred Savings: $.20
Used $1/1 Snackers coupon from 6/26 SS ($3)
Doubled 3 ($3)
$4 cat from T10
Total $.05 MM!!! (I love my Albies Cashier!!!)
Final Breakdown:
Total Pre-Savings/Coupons: $251.50
Total Amount Paid: $17.43 or 6.9%
Saving: 93.1% or $234.07
I LOVE rolling Catalina’s!
It all began on October 8th, 2008. Cathy and Monica started this coupon blog to help friends and family learn about their new money saving hobby couponing! Since then they have taught thousands of women (and men) 
Were you able to do this at one store? Is the three transaction maximum per store per visit still the rule? I would need to go to four stores to accomplish your version of Albies shopping. Great job. I enjoy seeing how others shop the deals. It’s inspiring.
Most Albies in Idaho allow you to do as many as transactions you want, so long as you only do 3 in a row if there are people in line.
Yes, it was all in the same store. It took about 2.5 hours
You know it’s interesting. A few weeks ago they were all about making you go to the car and back and all that. This time around they were very accomodating. They opened a special stand just for me – like they used to – got all my transactions done (13 of them
) and away I went. Easy Peasy!
When buying frozen food, how do you keep it from thawing? I always wait until just before checking out before grabbing the frozen stuff, but half your stuff was frozen and you were in the store for 2.5 hours. I’ve seen those special bags you can buy, do you use those?
I’ve used them before, and they work well. I did similar transactions, 15 of them, and then drove home for 45 minutes, and everything was cold and fine. I called ahead, and the manager ran my transactions (and my coupon buddies’ who also had 15 transactions) and we were in and out of the store in 90 minutes. Whew!
Translation, please.
Is the “preferred savings” their club card? And what is a cat?
And, ditto on the limit of transactions per store. I have a great store that doubles all manufacturers coupons every day, so that is awesome.
However, I life in an apartment, so I’m curious to know from you and other readers if this can be done successfully on a smaller scale, as I don’t have room to stock up too much.
Great job!
I live in an apartment too!!! Check out my Small Space posts!
http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2011/07/couponing-in-a-small-space-part-3.html
http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2011/05/couponing-in-a-small-space-part-2.html
http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2011/05/couponing_in_a_small_space.html
Thanks for the reply. This is actually great information, as it looks like my apartment is about the same size as yours. Main problem: no pantry.
But, I’ve been looking at your ideas and trying to figure out how I can work it.
Whoops!! It’s super helpful if I actually answer ALL of your questions, huh?
Preferred Savings-Club Card
Cat-Catalina (Coupon good on next purchase)
Hello ladies I live in idaho falls. I got my double coupons in the paper but it says you can only double 2 per transaction, is this true? Thanks for your help.
You can do how ever many you have on a sheet… so if there are only 2 on your sheet, you can only use 2. If there are three, you can use all three, and I’m guess it’s just a typo.
I asked about this at the store today. Sounds like they forgot to change that from the last round. Maybe they added 3 on the fly this time after all the complaining?
We had a great day at Albertson’s today too!! We did the same first transactions as you did but when we used the catalina’s on the next 2 General Mills transactions, the catalina’s and box tops didn’t print. Luckily Customer Service just gave us $5 back per transaction for the catalina. We had a few more transactions planned but I wanted to come home first and find out why the catalina’s weren’t printing. I wanted to make sure that the catalinas would print if I used a General Mills catalina on another General Mills transaction. By the looks of your post, they did! I didn’t want to keep having Customer Service give me $5 back each transaction if it wasn’t supposed to work that way. So glad to see this post!
Ya, that happened on ONE out of the 11 transactions… but they just fixed it. The manager said it had been happening randomly all week… AND, it was one of the ones in the middle, and the rest printed just fine
Such great news!!! I had this amazing list of transactions and when the catalina’s weren’t printing I was so bummed!! Thank you, you just made my day!! Now, how do I get the box tops if they aren’t printing? Am I just out of luck on those?
What they did with mine was force a dummy transaction, and I got to keep those
Does Twin Falls not get the GM insert? I didn’t receive one, sniff, sniff. I’m trying to plan some double transactions for camping this week….if you have any ideas let me know.
Last week was the first one I saw in over a year…
But no idea if you got them or not ;( So sorrY!
Wow, super impressive. A heads up for Nampa, ID shoppers, though — don’t even bother with planning on the Progresso deal at the “new” Albie’s on 12th & Greenhurst. The shelves were wiped clean by 6:30AM. I was there at 9AM and there was TONS of the other stuff, though.
Also, wanted to point out one of my fave deals @ Albie’s this week that no one’s mentioned: Kettle Chips are $3/bag, and when you buy 2, you get a free Culinary Circle dip (there was Spinach and Parmesan/Jalapeno/Artichoke at my store). Double the $1/1 bag of chips from a week or two ago, and get 2 bags of chips PLUS dip for $2! Perfect for our upcoming BSU season opener party!
Cathy, I didn’t recognize you with your brunette hair to match Your New Husband, Mr. Brawny. He’s a cutie.
This was one of my best couponing days yet! Ended up with 30 HH, 24 Progresso soups, 3 pouches of tuna (free), 4 Dreyers and a few freebies from coupons I got in the mail. I am glad I was at Albie’s at 6:30 or else I would have missed the soup, it went fast! My only letdown was that the Tillamook coupons weren’t scanning, so no cheap cheese. $180 of groceries for $7 though. Not too shabby
That’s awesome Nicole!!! Way to go!
They let me use my Tillamook, but I guess they suspect they’re counterfeit. They’re missing one of the barcodes. But the coupon is advertised on their website…hmmmmm.
I contacted Tillamook and they sent me new coupons and the coupons they sent are still not scannable as they are missing the UPC. I’ve let them know that UPC is still missing and I’m waiting to hear back.
I contaced them as well, mine had the UPC missing. the rep. from tillamook told me it’s the new Gs-1 databar, and its supposed to be like that. I know winco was talking about coupons changing to this newer format, but it seems like stores can’t scan them… if you look at the caress soap coupon from last weeks insert, it has a single barcode as well. I am wondering if it will scan?
Hi, I also could not get my Tillamook to scan at Albertsons. I contacted Tillamook and they asked what store it was. But that was all I heard from them.
About couponing in small apts and small spaces. I have been a couponer 40 years. Lived in all types of small spaces with no storage. Found ways to compress and disguise my stash. Now I live full time in an RV. Now that has been a challenge. But I still coupon. And even more than ever! A retiree budget you know.
While I was excited to see the deals….I had to step back and think…..will I really eat hamburger helper? We don’t usually in my house.
I think this is one of those deals where I shouldn’t get caught up in the savings vs. what I should eat.
Anyone doing a healthier deal than soup n Hamburger helper? What items did you score?
I’m in the same boat MamaLala. I am not sure what to use my doublers on this week. I don’t usually do hamburger helper, the type of soup on sale this week, or the tostinos pizzas.
I have been thinking the same thing, only AFTER I bought 20 of the Hamburger Helpers . LOL We don’t usually eat that in our house either, but I was just so excited to get all those boxes for virtually nothing. I think most of them will be donated to the Food Bank, since right now in our area their shelves are virtually empty.
I’m not a processed foods fan either, so none of this was appealing to me either. AND I still have some progresso soups from the last great deal left over, so none of that was needed. I am a big fan of greek yogurt, though, which is usually at least a $1 for a single serving size. This morning I loaded up on the Activia Greek yogurt cups that are 10/$10 and used $1/3 Activia Selects 8/7/2011 SS Insert with doubles. That makes them 3/$1.00, which, in my book is a great deal!
I also got a couple of the V-8 fusion tea jugs for free using the coupons listed in the match-ups. And the cheap Dreyer’s ice cream…there are a ton of reduced-fat, fat-free ice creams, frozen yogurts and sorbets to choose from in the deal. YUM!
I skipped the hamburger helper even though it’s technically a moneymaker because the thought of hamburger helper makes me ill and I don’t have “extra” doubles as the Dreyer and Cereal deals are something we actually use in my house. I think if I had some extra doubles I’d do it and donate it. I sure wish I had 27 doubles to work with!!! Way to go!!!
I got 40 boxes of Hamburger helper today and they all went straight to Food Bank…..
Thank you for those of you that don’t use HH for not buying it, because it kept it on the shelves for those of us that do. I bought 10 on Thursday, gave 2 sets of coupons to friends who also did the deal and I will go back tomorrow and buy 10 more. We use/like it and at 10cents a box is great for those of us struggling to survive. I say if you are not going to use it please don’t buy tons just to donate because it is cheap.
amen
I don’t buy “box food” either. I’m with you,girls
There is coupon by meat counter on pork ribs ($1 off) in yellow booklet. I love ribs,so I double it.
I didn’t receive my double coupon inserts in my sunday paper. ): Am I able to still get one from the store or what? I’m in Corvallis Oregon. This stinks, why didn’t I get one?! D:
The stores aren’t giving them out… I would call the paper and ask.
The Register Gaurd has them. The Oregonian didn’t last time and I didn’t even buy an Oregonian and see this time. What paper are you getting?
What does “gm” stand for. For example totions pizza rolls coupon form 8/7 gm
GM = General Mills Insert
The General Mills insert. It’s technically a Smart Source one, but not THE Smart Source one from that weekend as it’s got all General Mills on the cover and throughout.
Did you leave any for me?? Thats quite a haul. I just wanted to do 2 transactions with doubles.
I special ordered!
You can add some green beans/corn and sour cream to the tuna/chicken helpers to make them more “healthy” my kids love them that way.
Aren’t the pizza rolls 10 for $10? Wouldn’t your instant savings be $5 not $2.50? I’m just making sure I have my calculations right lol.
It’s not instant savings… It’s a $5 catalina that prints out…
The preferred savings is the amount they were on sale from regular price
Ok I am a salty snack person but my Husband has been eating ice cream. Since he is the only one how long can I keep it in the freezer unopened? Thanks
The ice cream I purchased today says “best if purchased by 2/22/2012″… you usually have at least a month after that date
No best if used by date on it.
what are box tops and how do you get them and what to do with them? thanks
They are catalina looking slips, that have a code on them. You go to the website listed, log in/create your account (which has your choice of school) and punch in the codes. Every point is worth 10 cents, so a 25 point slip is worth $2.50 to the school!
They are SO awesome!! Schools collect them, and turn them in several times a year. Then General Mills send them a check! I have 500+ box tops for when my cousin goes back to school! They always have a contest to see who can bring in the most that first week. He also get the ones on the products I purchased to, but that will take a while!
So, my 500+ boxtops are worth more than $50 to his school!! It’s AMAZING the difference it makes. I worked with a private school for a while, and their goal was $800 in box tops a year… it provided ALL the money they got for their library and play equipment.
It’s it’s so easy to just snip or tear them off the package, put them in a jar, and save ‘em up!
Good Job! With that said, I don’t mean to be negative but when you get these items at mass quantities (progresso) do you stop an think about the other shoppers? I know some pre-order stuff but I also know that a lot of us don’t. I went to Alb’s today at 0800 and the progresso’s were all gone. With the way you guys are posting I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one person that cleared the whole shelf….not cool.
Becky did pre-order, she did not clear a shelf. We make a point to tell people if they want more than a few of any particular item then they need to pre-order.
Placing an order is so easy, I wish more people would place orders with their store managers. Unfortunately we cannot control people who go in and clear a shelf…
What stores do this? I’ve heard most don’t.
In Boise, Overland and Orchard does for sure!! Meridian and Nampa I’ve heard is not so much.
I think the Orchard and Vista stores (on Overland) are in a competition with each other to find out which one can be more coupon friendly!
Becky, I hope you also included some healthier foods in your shopping this week.
Sorry, but I’m disappointed in this post. You said “it’s been a while since we’ve had step by step instructions on how to shop at Albies” and then went on to detail 11 transactions worth of processed junk food! Really, is that what you’re recommending to your readers? I mean, I don’t care if people buy hamburger helper. It’s been around for ages so obviously a lot of people consume it. But I have coupons for dairy, meat, and vegatables in my stash, so I’m sure you do too. Why not use some of your doublers on healthier foods and fewer on hamburger helper and frozen cardboard pizza?
My family stockpiles. We are in a maintain mode. Let me explain:
I, like Mavis, live on a strict monthly food budget. My husband and I decided what would work for us, and I make it happen! I include diapers, wipes, and (when it was necessary) formula, and all our toiletries on our $200 a month budget.
Included in that is $63 ($15 a week, and a admin fee) for the Bountiful Baskets that we get every week. So, I don’t have to purchase fresh fruits or vegetables at a store, I get them in my basket every Saturday, which usually includes about 20-30 lbs of fresh produce. Not only does this make sure we have fresh produce in the house, but we get to try cool new things I would never have touched like Kale. And, you can’t meet or beat those deals in the store! At least not that I’ve found!
Also included in my budget is money we set aside every month for Zaycon, (for when they come through) or for the butcher. We have a freezer stocked with meat, and a fridge stocked with so much fresh produce we can’t eat it all.
My family goes through 4-5 gallons of milk, so we buy those at Walmart, Winco, or Costco when needed, and use the coupons (if we have them) there, because much of the time, even after a coupon with no double, it’s cheaper there.
As for Dairy, do you remember a few months back when there was a huge sale on Yogurt at Albies? I ordered my coupons, I ordered my yogurt, and my freezer still has a TON of it in it. Also in there is cheese. Lots of cheese I got on a stock up price months ago. It freezes great! In my fridge, we have all kinds of other dairy.
We are in a “Maintain” mode on our stockpile. What that means is we have tons of just about everything that is shelf or freezer stable. We have 2 freezers at our house, and if a really excellent deal comes along, access to several others! We buy when it’s cheap, and eat it as we like. We “Shop our Pantry” instead of the store. So, when I can get cheap or free deals on Soup, Pizza, Hamburger Helper or anything else that my family likes, I buy it! It’ll take us till well into 2012 to eat what I bought, but that’s the point of a stockpile!
Great answer, Becky!! I am very impressed with the tone of your reply in what could have been interpreted as a hostile question! Shopping the pantry is my favorite part of being a couponer!
Thank you Becky. My comment was certainly not intended to be hostile. It was a sincere questions, and I appreciate the sincere answer. You and I have gone back and forth via comments enough that I hope you know that I think you’re awesome and I really appreciate how much time and and effort to put into contributing to this blog.
Two reasons I ask … you’ve blogged about stockpiling while living in a very small space, and I thought you once mentioned wanting to get a freezer. So I had visions of you having just the small freezer in your kitchen, which won’t hold much Zaycon meat, milk, yogurt, veggies, etc. I obviously am not remembering correctly, or maybe you’ve since invested in a freezer.
Secondly, and I mean this sincerely, it was your “step by step instructions on how to shop at Albies” comment that I scratched my head over, wondering what you meant by that. Albertsons carries all kinds of foods, and there are coupons for all sorts of foods out there in circulation. So I read your post as “here’s what Albertsons is good for, processed junk food.”
Yep, I’m still in my tiny apartment, and yep, one of my freezers is a small one, but I do have access to several other peoples freezers, and that’s where some of this went.
Plus, my Honey worked in a shipping department for years! When we go on a trip he can get the two suitcases I thought I packed very tightly down to one! He’s freaking amazing at making things fit! He’s the type that can look at the trunk of my car, see the 6 suitcases i’ve got stuffed to the gills in there and the three on the ground, and make them all fit, with room to spare!
Freeze yogurt…really??? Never thought of that…how long do you think it will last? Does it get “watery” when you thaw it? I mean I freeze milk, cheese, but never thought of my little greek yogurt cups. This could be a game-changer for me Becky as we LOVE yogurt and are always having to use it up before or just on the exp date. Do tell…!!!
It does get a tiny bit watery, but I just stir it up, and the water goes back into the yogurt, and it tastes the same!! I think it’s brilliant! My honey does too, because he can come home after a long hard, hot day at work and instead of eating a bowl of ice cream, he can just have a frozen yogurt! I’ve kept it it up to a year before
It’s awesome, refreshing, and SO MUCH healthier than ice cream! Plus, we have a zero tolerance sugar policy for our daughter (meaning no sweets, of course she gets fruit, yogurt, etc that has it naturally), so if we want a “Dessert” she see us eating a yogurt, not a bowl of ice cream or a piece of cake.
Awesome tip thank you for the information Becky! I love that you have a zero sugar policy as its something that we strive for in our home with our young daughter too…we have a few slips every once in a while, but on the whole we do it. Our friends think we are nuts—and you know what…that is just okay!
Off to try and find a corner of the freezer for those babies—I have a lot of Athenos to shove in there from a recent stockpile purchase and I was sweating the dates, but not anymore!
I freeze yogurt in “dollops” on wax paper and then place them in a ziploc containter. My kids use them in their smoothies. Just like the Yoplait frozen smoothies for pennys on the dollar!
I went on vacation before we could eat up the last round of free yogurt and had to freeze it whole so I am glad to hear that it works great!
Becky – you are so classy!
p.s. can I come over for ice cream!?!? YUM!!!!
You will get some at the BBQ
But, yes!!! Any time!
Well, anytime my daughter is napping, cause she doesn’t get to see mommy and daddy eating it!
I watched the movie Food Inc. and now I can’t buy very much of this processed food anymore. (Darn you PBS). I don’t think that Becky is trying to recommend this type of food to her readers she is just stocking up on things that she uses. But I guess what I am saying is that this is the food that many Americans eat so I am sure there are lots of people who really appreciate her going through the steps to show them how to get it. I was at the store the other day and there were so many people loading up their carts with tons of “junk” style food and I thought to myself that most of them are spending way too much for it. So if people are going to eat junk they might as well get it for way cheap right?
Good points Amanda. Yes, these foods have been around for ages, so it’s obvious that people eat it. If no one was buying it, manufacturers wouldn’t keep making it.
One of the downsides of couponing — for me anyway — is that we started eating a lot less healthfully when I started couponing. I was spending mere pennies on groceries, but we were not eating well, and I was not feeling good. After a few months (this was a year and a half ago), I came back around to eating more healthy foods and less packaged food, and I feel a lot better. I do save a lot on groceries by shopping sales, using coupons, and stocking up during a good ale, but I won’t stock up on junk food. Yes, I buy it and we eat it occasionally, but not on a regular basis. But that’s just me.
Yep! We have to remember that we have new readers coming to this site every day, and they may not know how to roll catalina’s. That was what I meant by “it’s been a while since we’ve had step by step instructions on how to shop at Albies”… It was simply a post to encourage the newbies that they can get a LOT of food for a deep discount! Even if they are new, because none of the coupons I used were even a month old
.
As a mother of 4 I do buy a lot of these types of food…Because my 19 year old eats like it is a sport….I fix 3 very health meals each day but kids demand a filler and these products are perfect for that. I think its funny to watch the comments people make passing judgement on others in a blog like this and we wonder why there is bullying at schools…think about it people…whats ood for one might not be good for you…no need to bad mouth one another.
I hope you didn’t think that I was bad mouthing people who eat that kind of food. It was my attempt to be sarcastic. Sometimes tone can be hard to convey over the internet.
I think that ALL the time tone is hard to convey over the internet!! When I see someone’s comment that rubs me the wrong way, or gets my hackles up (not that yours did), I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume they didn’t mean it the way the voices in my head read it.
That saves a LOT of hurt feelings and keeps the bad feelings to a minimum 
One other thing anti “junk” food people should remember is just because we are eating hamburger helper doesn’t mean we aren’t eating it with a huge salad, a glass of milk, and some fruit (or whatever). It’s easy to make assumptions about people based on weight and what you see in the shopping cart (or shopping pictures), but sometimes what’s on the outside isn’t the whole picture, and I think we ALL need to remember that!
Becky I think that you took this way too personally. I mean who is saying anything about someone’s weight? Aren’t all you fabfrugals skinny minis anyways?
I know it’s hard when people say hay you just bought a bunch of junk food. But seriously I think that we all have at one time or another come home with groceries that look like that. My point was that there really is not much if anything that is nutritionally beneficial in any of the food in your pictures. I was merely commenting that if there is nothing that benefits you in a food then why are people spending so much money on those products when they could be doing like you did and spend well next to nothing. I wasn’t judging you or anyone else who eats that style of food, I was trying to say that like it or not Americans eat this food and in turn they pay way to much for what they are getting. It is a personal choice of what you eat and I don’t care what other people want to feed themselves it is their business. I think that you perhaps in your last comment were making assumptions about what “anti junk food people” are thinking about you. In my case you were very wrong.
Sweet score…I did really well there today too…..I got 26 hamburger helpers, 4 totino’s pizza rolls, 2 jamba juice smoothies w/ 2 apple juices, 2 V8 fusion juices, 8 boxes of lancer crackers, and 2 boxes of cocoa puffs all for $11.53. I still have 2 more sheets of doubles that I need to use plus $7 in cats to burn….
That’s awesome!!! I’ve still got to crack open my inserts from this weekend, and see if there’s anything else in there I can’t live without
I think saving money is geat, too. But I do not let my family eat all that processed food. That can’t be good for you. I like waiting until there is the free milk deals, or granola bars.
I am saving money for Zaycon, too. I also buy the meats when they are affordable, prepare them for dinners and put them in the freezer. That way I have dinners ready to go every day. I had a great time with the 88 Cent chicken thighs and legs last week. And the pork chops are all stored away, too.
Thanks for the great tips!
Nice! I’m really shocked you didn’t grab the free V8 Fusion w/Green Tea! I used as many coupons as I had and got 4 FREE…. whoohoo!
My aunt is hooking me up with her doublers today and it’s totally on my list!! That’s one thing people have to remember, is that this is ONE shopping trip and couponers usually do several a week, or at several a month.
Also, I agree with Mary, I usually avoid buying processed food even if its free (unless it’s a digiorno pizza)
Thank you so much for lining this out for me – I am a beginner and boy did I mess up yesterday! I am going to go try again using your method. Thanks again for the help!
No problem Brenda!!! I know it’s hard to get started couponing, but keep at it, and you’ll get it down!!
my advice is to pick one store, get really good at it, then add another.
I had a friend who’s been couponing for about 6 months now talk to me yesterday… she was stunned Albies didn’t have the same “limits” as like Rite Aid or Walgreens. But she would have never known without this post, because she didn’t want to risk trying it.
Welcome to the couponing club! Feel free to ask us any questions! We try to be a pretty helpful bunch
Brenda- it is ok that you “messed up” because you probably still saved money. I have been doing this for about a year. My regular store is Winco. I only go to Albertsons or Ralphs for got to have deals. I dont get doubles unless someone gives them to me. I am still saving money-I mess up and pass deals all the time. Just keep at it and one day we will be like these fabuless ladies!
Even us “professionals” mess up (just like I showed you in the shopping trip above)… we ALL do it! I don’t think I’ve ever have a perfect “big” shopping trip like this one
Just keep on going!!
And if you miss a deal you really wanted, just remind yourself that it’ll be back in 3-4 months
I can’t find these snackers anywhere…what Albertsons do you shop @??? I know were close but unsure if we shop the same one….
I was at the Overland and Orchard one… they are in the “top right hand corner” of the stores in the freezer case…. (from the back of the store, facing front)… I think they were in like the third case in… but not along the wall with the eggs/butter
My favorite thing about fabulessly frugal is that it teaches us “newbies” how to coupon one step at a time. It’s always inspiring to see a success story, but I really appreciate Becky (and the rest of the team) taking the time to show us how to it. I especially love the coaching before the deal is over and there is still time to try it out. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So happy to help Jenny!!! And if you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask
Are the $5 and $2 catalinas still printing today for the Hamburger Helpers? Montana got skipped yet again for double this week so I’m trying to figure out ways to save money! Really beginning to dislike Albertsons!
Yes they are, I went back before work and bought 10 more. I also bought the Torilla stuffers that are on sale for 2/$5.00 used a dollar coupon for each one (today it was 7) and my catalinas from the HH. I did the same deal on Thursday. I didnt want to do it all in ine trip, 20 HH and 15 Tortilla Stuffers because I felt I wouldn’t be leaving any for other people.
Thank you SO much for posting this!! I would have NEVER figured this out on my own!! I had so much fun today at Albertsons using some of these same transactions!!
I’m so glad!!! That’s what we are here for!!!
Well I sure hope there is still some of the list left. I have 4 children that love HH..But with some buying 20-40 boxes for the food bank,I am kinda aggravated..Hope there is still some on the shelves
None left in my store..
There are tons at the Eagle Als if that helps you, also the one one Eagle and McMillan