Many grocery stores do a promotion in which if you buy a certain number of participating items, you get a certain dollar amount off. I hit one tonight at Ralphs and topped my personal best — 53 items ($132 in groceries) for $11! But there are secrets to working these type deals.

Here are some tips to make these type sales easier on you:

And, finally, here is a short video to show how you can net a steal at Ralphs/Kroger/Frys using this deal. I got $132 in groceries for only $11! That’s 91 percent off!

Menu planning is a four-letter word for many. They have visions of sitting down once a week and writing out everything they will eat for the next seven days. It doesn’t have to be that way, when you use just a few coping skills.

My strategy is always “the simpler the better,” so I use primarily three tactics when ensuring I have something to serve for dinner:

That’s it!

There is no written plan, but every day when I wake up I have at least two — and more likely, three — options for dinner that night.

The variable is how much time I have to make the meal. Sometimes I feel like cooking, but, being self-employed, often I’m slammed in the afternoon and have only about 30-45 minutes to get something together. And frankly, sometimes I am in the mood for one thing more than another.

The planning comes into play when using what you have in the fridge, freezer and pantry. Last week, I got steals on several types of vegetables, so this week, I’ve been heavy on casseroles and pasta. Tonight, I am trying a new recipe for black bean burritos I found on allrecipes.com. I have absolutely every ingredient on hand, so there will be no running to the store.

And that brings me to my greatest menu-planning tip — focus on what’s on sale that week or what you stocked up on. The fastest way to desecrate a food budget is to say at 2 p.m., “I’m going to make a roast chicken tonight,” or any other specific entree. Sure, that chicken would be fine if you bought when they were on sale for say 77 cents a pound and paid $3.50, but on another week, you could pay $8 or more!

For example, I already mentioned the great veggie deals I got last week; this week, cheese was a steal at 32 oz. for $3.99. I also paid 38 cents for a box of pasta last week, so I know that sometime this week, macaroni and cheese will be on the menu. I even got the tomatoes for on top for 20 cents a pound!

My final point on menu planning is that you need to keep a pantry or cabinet stocked with basics. Very simple items like potatoes (fresh, frozen or dried), rice, veggies (fresh, frozen or canned) and basic cooking items, such as mayo, oil, salt, pepper, etc.

My suggestion is to just try thinking of two to three dinners you can make each day, and soon menu planning will become a habit that will save you time and money. Wishing you happy, stress-free cooking!
 

This is a deal anyone can do through Tuesday at Vons — $12 in absolutely free merchandise! The secret is combining a sale, Internet printable coupons and adding Ecoupons to your Vons card (all are listed below). It’s that easy! Print, load and shop!

I was tipped off to this deal through my favorite blog for Vons — This Frugal Life. Each week, Jess tells you the specials and the matchups, and she always highlights super-duper deals, like this one on Campbells soup. I used her scenario, and added in one more freebie from her regular Vons list (the tortillas) and the Chunky Soup for a quarter and still walked out with everything for free!

Well, that’s not entirely true, I went through one of my favorite, cool coupon-friendly cashiers, and he gave me $1.75 in change! That means, I got paid $1.75 to buy everything!

If you want to know how I work Vons so well, I always use the sale and coupon list Jess posts every Tuesday on her blog. You have through till this Tuesday to do this deal (all free!):

Here is how you can do this deal directly from the post on This Frugal Life:

Campbell’s recently made some big changes to the label on the condensed soup line, and in celebration they are offering $5 in new printable coupons!

• Save $1.50/3 Campbell’s Condensed Soup (excludes Chicken Noodle, Tomato & “Great for Cooking”
• Save $1.50/3 Campbell’s “Great for Cooking” Soup
• Save $1/3 Campbell’s Condensed Healthy Kids Soup
• Save $1/3 Campbell’s Healthy Request Condensed or Condensed Light Soup

Plus, over on Shortcuts the same coupons are available to load as e-coupons to your grocery store loyalty card!

Here’s how to snag 6 cans for FREE this week at Vons:

Buy (3) Campbell’s Condensed Soup | $1.00
Load: $1.50/3 Campbell’s Condensed Soup (excludes Chicken Noodle, Tomato & “Great for Cooking”
- $1.50/3 Campbell’s Condensed Soup (excludes Chicken Noodle, Tomato & “Great for Cooking”
Final Price: All 3 FREE!

Buy (3) Campbell’s “Great for Cooking” Soup | $1.00
Load: $1.50/3 Campbell’s “Great for Cooking” e-coupon
- $1.50/3 Campbell’s “Great for Cooking” Soup
Final Price: All 3 FREE!

Buy (3) Campbell’s Healthy Request Condensed or Condensed Light | $1.00
Load: $1/3 Campbell’s Healthy Request Condensed or Condensed Light e-coupon
- $1/3 Campbell’s Healthy Request Condensed or Condensed Light Soup
Final Price: 34¢ each

You’re going to want to make sure you are paying super close attention to what the labels say, these are easy deals, but also easy to mess up if you don’t pick up the right product. Check out the rest of the deals at Vons this week here!

Literally, this guy tries to spam my blog upwards of 100 times a month (of course, all his “comments” are blocked), so for fun, I am going to post his full contact information! Feel free to pass it along to *anyone* you may know! (I wonder if he will spam his own post?) Feel free to write Vlad. I hear he loves Viagra, porn sites, and ways in which to improve his sexual drive. 

FYI — you can find out this kinda info out by Googling “IP whois,” once you capture his IP address, and it will take you right to the site where you can find his contact info.

Without further ado, meet Vladimir:

Person:         Vladimir Ovchinnikov
Address:        04210 Ukraine, Kiev, Obolon
Phone:          +380674622760
E-mail:         vovao@vovao.kiev.ua

My pal Lisa said what astounds her on my shopping trips is when I get paid to buy items. And tonight was such a deal — and an easy one to boot!

Vons has Scrubbing Bubbles for $2.50, but there is a blinkie coupon box at the display for $2 off 2. I picked up six bottles. Why? Because when you buy $15 worth, you get a $5 off Catalina off your next order. But it gets even better! There is an overlapping Catalina when you buy two Scrubbing Bubbles products, you get $2 off your next order.

As they say in school, let me show you my work:

Even after sales tax, I made 69 cents and got six cans of Scrubbing Bubbles. This should last us about six months. One great deal — and thanks to This Frugal Life for tipping me off about it Friday!

The results are in! The challenge I took on several weeks ago was to see how far could I make a $100 gift card go at Vons, using sales, store coupons, paper coupons and Ecoupons. I am very proud of how much in free groceries I got by just being a smart shopper.

I won the contest — sponsored by Ecoupon company Cellfire.com — through my pal Traci’s great blog Southern Couponbelle. When she laid down the challenge to see how much in free groceries I could net, I knew I was up for the task!

Now, of course, I had some help, and that is the great Vons deals list compiled weekly by my pal Jess at her great blog, This Frugal Life. She details every item that is the best price this week at the store, and tells you which coupons to match up, until you are absolutely sure you are getting the best advertised — and sometimes unadvertised — deals.

Want to see how much I saved? Watch this short 1.50 minute video, and you will get the final — and I what I consider — darn good final amount of groceries I bought for only $100. Thanks again to Southern Couponbelle and This Frugal Life for all your help — be sure and “like” them on Facebook!

It’s not often one walks out of the grocery store smiling, but I did this week, when I left Vons with the 28 items pictured — $102 in merchandise — for $6.91! That’s 96 percent off! But what’s great to know, is it is so simple nowadays — with Ecoupons, Internet printable coupons and blogs that tell you each week the best deals! You can score big, too!

This post also chonicles how well I am doing with the $100 Vons gift card I won from Southern Couponbelle, and I am happy to report that in three weeks, I’ve purchased $312 in groceries, but paid only $47 — that’s 85 percent off! And I still have $53 left on the gift card I won!

It’s really quite simple to net big savings at the grocery stores:

Finally, those nice bloggers out who chart the deals at your grocery store — and save you so much time — are paid a small amount every time you redeem Ecoupons, so be sure and load yours through the web site that explains the best deals to you each week. It’s a nice way to say, “thank you” for all their efforts.

So I am up to $312 in products on my gift card, I can’t wait to see how much further I can make it go!

Thanks to the Southern CouponBelle blog, I won a $100 gift card to Vons, sponsored by the Ecoupon company, Cellfire.com. But I was given a challenge: How far can I make that gift card go, using store specials, paper coupons and Ecoupons?  Let me tell, I am off to a great start! I just walked out this evening with $50 in groceries for only $10! That’s 80 percent off!

I have become a great believer in Ecoupons. The reason is not only because of their simplicity (you just load then to your club card), but you may also combine with paper coupons. The best part is you can stockpile Ecoupons, where multiple ones are deducted! This doesn’t net you savings — this is when you are paid to buy items!

For instance:

You see how great Ecoupons combine to make incredible deals?!

By the way, I also got the Gold n Soft margarine and Land o Lakes spreadable butter for free, too! Just used store and/or manufacturer coupons for those.

Of course, I didn’t figure these deals out all by myself. I used the great Vons list provided each week at This Frugal Life. She is the best for Vons coupon matchups and makes it so easy each week. My savings in coupons, alone, was $24! That means if I had not used coupons, I would have paid $34 for what I ended up paying $10.

Thanks to Southern Couponbelle for teaching me the joys of Ecoupons, and now thanks to the gift card I won, I’ve begun to see how far I can stretch a C note. I think I am off to a good start — $50 in groceries and only used $10 of my gift card.

Let the tally begin!