Earthfare Deals & what to do with unwanted candy

I confess I haven't made it to Earthfare in awhile, but since I was in the neighborhood today, I stopped in for a few deals. Before I go, I always check the match-ups that Hannah at Frugally Farming Family does. She's a mother of 7 and still finds it in her budget to go to Earthfare. You go, girl!

She notes the best deals at the top of the list if you want to look quickly. However, my favorite deal wasn't advertised:

• Back to Nature select crackers, including their version of Cheez-its: $2 a box! That's half price for Earthfare and much better than the typical sale at Kroger: $3. I watch this product closely because it's my kids' favorite snack. Once you taste how good these are, you'll never go back to that neon orange excuse for a cracker. Tip: If you don't see them on the shelf near the cheese, check on the end cap, where they put some of their best deals.

I also bought:

• bulk sliced almonds for $5.99 / lb (savings of $2/lb)--great for holiday cooking / topping casseroles.
• Glee Gum, 18 ct: $.75, use B1G1 coupon makes them $.38 each. This is a great stocking stuffer or donation to Christmas charities.
• bag of organic apples: $5.99 (not a great price but this is one of my dirty dozen I only buy organic)
• bag of organic potatoes: $5.99 (again, not a great price but this is one of my dirty dozen I only buy organic)
• I contemplated the Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen deals, but I think I can find them cheaper elsewhere.

Finally, they're having a promotion, Trick or Trade In, through Nov. 5 where you can turn in Halloween candy in exchange for healthier goodies. No coupon necessary. I chose the 1-50 piece option that gets you a goody bag. Inside was a huge apple, $1.50 of coupons for Earthbound Farms good for 8 months, and a coupon for one free itty bitty bites meal (value: $3.99). You can get this to-go and feed it to your kids the next day if it's not lunch or dinner time. Offer valid through mid November.

The Take the Boot Challenge is for natural ant-acids. If you have Rolaids in your medicine cabinet, you could trade those in for a better alternative.

Every Thursday night, kids eat free with at least one adult meal worth $5 or more, 4-8pm.

And if you homeschool or are an educator, you could save 5% with ID.

Go green, save green!

Earthfare: $44.16 of goods for $11.54

Today was a great shopping day at Earthfare! They are so generous with their freebies and willingness to work with us crazy couponers. I just got $44.16 of goods for just $11.54 (and that includes tax). For the best savings, make sure you shop TODAY, 2/14.

Here's what I bought & how I saved:

• 1 all natural whole chicken ($7.67; FREE with dinner promotion expiring 2/16)
• 1 16oz bag of baby carrots ($2.49; FREE with dinner promotion expiring 2/16)
• 1 container of mashed potatoes ($5.34; FREE with dinner promotion expiring 2/16)
• 1 box of organic chocolate truffles ($5.98; FREE with coupon expiring 2/14)
• 1 box Nature's Gate toothpaste ($4.99; on sale for $3.99; FREE with take the boot challenge coupon)
• 2 bags Cascadian Farm edamame ($2.69 each, on sale for $2.19, used 2 $.75 printables=$1.44 each)
• 2 cans Muir Glen tomatoes with chilis ($1.68 each, on sale for $1.50, used 2 $.75 printables=$.75 each)
• 2 bags Arrow Head puffed cereal ($1.99 each, on sale for $1.50, used 2 $1/1 printables=$.50 each)
• 1 16 oz container organic strawberries--our treat for tonight's chocolate fountain--$4.97

Total after coupons: $10.35; $11.54 with tax. Since you had to spend $10 to get the free dinner items, that's about as close as you get. Go green, save green!

For all the links to printable coupons, check out Hannah from Frugally Farming Family.

Great Earthfare Deals (good through 11/30)

First of all, many thanks to Hannah at Frugally Farming Family for taking the time to do the monthly Earthfare match-ups. She has 7 kids and still finds time to help all of us save on healthy foods. The November deals are already up and will be good through 11/30.

Here are the deals I got today:

• 1 3lb bag of organic honeycrisp apples: $5.99--FREE with this coupon through 11/2.
• 1 tub of sliced almonds: $2.00 (receipt says I saved $5.99 but I don't think that's right; I believe they are a savings of $3/lb)
• 2 Cascadian Farms organic peas: normally $3.19, on sale for $2.00, used 2 $.75 printable=$1.25 each. Tip: If you're new to Cascadian Farms, you can print a $1/1 coupon.
• Dagoba chocolate bar: normally $2.49, on sale for $2.00, used $1/1 coupon from Mambo Sprouts mailer. Tip: Ask one of the clerks if they have any Mambo Sprouts / Earthfare coupon books. I forgot today.
• 2 Muir Glen 28 oz canned fire roasted tomatoes: normally $2.54, on sale for $2.00, used 2 $.75/1 printables=$1.25 each. Check Hannah's list for several places to print this coupon.
• 1 Green Genius bio-degradable kitchen bags 45 count: normally $8.99, on sale for $7.99 through 12/31 (this is one of the environmental products I'm willing to pay more for.)
• 1 bag of onions: $3.49 (not on sale, but I needed them).

Total Spent: $21.46

Total Saved: $20.93 (though that may be inflated with incorrect almonds savings)

If I were willing to go back later today, I could save another $5 off $20 from the stamp on my receipt, but that's just not practical for me. Go green, save green.

Great Earthfare Giveaway

Hannah at Frugally Farming Family has orchestrated an awesome give-away from Earthfare. How she does anything extra with a newborn and six other children (yep, seven kids) is beyond me! Go to her site to find out three ways to win $25 of groceries from Earthfare and a pantry make-over: total value is $40-$45! Cha ching! You have til October 1.

The winner must be local to Knoxville and available to take a tour of of the store with Mike Newman of Earthfare. Personally, I'd love a guided tour. I'm sure I'm missing all kinds of great goods.

And Hannah is also the one who does the monthly match-ups of coupons with Earthfare's sale items. So be sure to enter today! I will be.

Wild Salmon: Impress on a Budget

I recently had some friends out for dinner and served wild salmon. They seemed impressed, but it really was an economical meal. After reading this article, we've sworn off farm raised salmon. Besides, farm raised salmon is $.8.88 a pound at Sam's Club this week, and wild salmon is $3.99 a pound at Kroger. Now I don't know my salmon and which types are superior to others, but our family has enjoyed this salmon at a great price. When we cook salmon, we cook it once and make three meals out of two pounds of fish.

The first is quite simple. We marinate it in a store bought Teriyaki marinade (usually on sale for a buck) and grill it. It pairs nicely with wild rice or pasta and something green like broccoli, asparagus, or spinach. A couple of nights later, I flake the leftover salmon into a pasta dish with veggies--whatever I have on hand.

Tonight I tried this recipe and really liked it. It uses ingredients I've been able to get for very little lately (ketsup, pasta, and sour cream); fresh chives and tomatoes came from our garden. I would suggest cutting the ketsup way back (by 1/3) or adding more sour cream so that it's not too sweet. I added steamed spinach into the dish because we had it. I also topped it with fresh grated parmesan cheese because everything is better with parmesan! I doubled it and had enough for dinner and leftover lunches tomorrow.

One final note: when I posted about "the new dirty dozen"--the foods you should try to buy organic--a local reader suggested I buy salmon from her brother, a fisherman in Alaska. I'm still considering it, but the cheapest variety was $7.99 a pound, and I'd need to buy a lot of it. I'm sure it's superior in taste and quality, but I'm having trouble justifying the cost.

What do you think? How do you prepare salmon?

Saving 35% at Earthfare

If you've shied away from Earthfare because of the prices, I have proof that you can save the same percentage here as at Kroger if you're willing to shop the sales and use coupons. Thanks to Hannah at Frugally Farming Family, I learned about some sales and where to find specific coupons through March 30. For the weekly deals and best freebies, sign up for Earthfare emails. They usually come out on Wednesday.

Today was the last day for the free pizza dough and fresh mozzarella with purchase of red sauce. Using that coupon alone saved me $7.16 ($4.19 for cheese, $2.49 for dough, and $.48 on sauce on sale). I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

I saved $5 on 2 packs of Organic Valley sharp cheddar cheese because they were on sale ($1.50 off each) and I used a $2/2 coupon found on the back of the children's activity book Three River Market was giving away at the coupon fair. Organic Valley usually has lots of good coupons and is a good foot in the door if you're looking to try organic foods. You can also find them at Kroger occasionally on sale.

I was pleased to see Eden beans were on sale. I've read they're the only canning company that doesn't use BPA in their lining. They're a winner in my book.

Frontier Fair Trade Organic Vanilla Extract was $2 off a bottle. Since I still have two holiday Earthfare coupon books, I saved an additional $2 (bring my total to $6 savings on 2 bottles).

Earthfare pasta was 3/$5, saving me $.64 on two pounds of pasta. I'm noticing a lot of pasta companies are switching to 12 or 14.5 oz packages; so watch your comparisons.

The Rice Selects risotta was $1 off and I had a $2/1 coupon found here, bringing more than 2 pounds of organic rice to only $3.

I got 2 cans of Muir Glen organic soup for $1 each through a sale and 2 $1/1 coupons found here.

I paid full-price for organic apples and potatoes but since I bought the 3 and 5 pound bags, the potatoes were just over $1/pound and the apples were $1.76 a pound. After reading this article, I've decided these are the two produce items I'm willing to insist are organic. We've also switched to only wild salmon as well.

Total spent: $49.85, total saved: $26.28, giving me a percentage of 35% savings (my typical savings percentage at Kroger). I admit I'm paying more than what non-organic counterparts at Kroger would cost, but you can save and splurge at the same time when organic matters to you.

FREE or Nearly Free Kroger Finds

Looking back over my Kroger receipt today, I realized I had 7 items that were free or nearly free; regularly they would have totaled $17.71 but I only spent $.46 for all 7! Deals are through Saturday, February 6 if you're interested in adding a few bargains to your list this week.

First of all, you need to decide on 10 items that qualify for the "Buy 10, get $5" sale. The plus side of this sale is that you get to pick from a lot of different items. The trick with this sale is that you must get exactly 10, 20, 30, etc. items to get the savings. If you buy 9, you save nothing; if you buy 10, you save $5; if you buy 11-19, you still only save $5. So I advise you to keep track of how many of these items you purchase by adding marks to your shopping list as you put them in the cart. And if you're coming up a couple short towards the end, treat yourself to one of the tastier sale products this week: Edy's ice cream (and don't forget the $1 coupon for Edy's in the paper a few weeks ago).

Most of my coupons were IPs that you can probably find on coupons.com, and all my e-savers happened to come from Cellfire. That said, here are my 7 best finds at Kroger this week:

1. Chex Mix 8oz: $2.48 regular, $1.99 on sale, $.50 savings Cellfire, $.50/1 coupon doubled, $.50 B10,G5 deal savings; Final Cost: -$.01.

2. Nature Valley Nut Clusters 5oz: $3.79 regular, $2.69 on sale, $1 savings Cellfire, $1/1 coupon, $.50 B10,G5 deal savings; Final Cost: $.19.

3. French's Honey Mustard: $2.19 regular, $1.69 on sale, $.50/1 coupon doubled, $.50 B10,G5 deal savings; Final Cost: $.19.

4. Betty Crocker Frosting: $1.59 regular, $.50 Cellfire savings, $.50/1 coupon doubled. Note: This is a deal you can get often if you buy them one at a time. You might even make money if it's on sale. I just saw a recipe that uses this to make molten lava cake; yum! Final Cost: $.09.

5. Halls Cough Drops 30 count: $1.39 regular, $1 on sale, $.50/1 coupon doubled; Final Cost: FREE

6. Fresh Selections Bagged Salad 8oz: $3.28 regular, $2.50 on sale, Buy 2 Ocean Spray Craisins ($5 total), get salad free. If you don't like dried cranberries, then this is not the deal for you, but I was going to buy them anyway. Final Cost: FREE

7. Private Selection Organic Chocolate Milk half gallon: $2.99 regular, $2.79 on sale. By going here, you can get a coupon for 1 free half gallon of chocolate milk when you buy 2 gallons of white milk. I was going to buy the white milk anyway; so this was just a bonus. I was able to print 2 coupons for the chocolate milk a few weeks ago and just now, I printed one for a free gallon of white milk with $100 grocery purchase; no problem! Final Cost: FREE

I'm sure there are more deals to be had, but they weren't on my list. What were you able to get for free this week?

Organic Deals 1/17-1/23

I'm always looking for deals, especially organic deals. Yes, organic is usually pricier, but if you're patient and willing to wait for sales and gather coupons, you CAN get some good deals. Here's what I've found this week.

I visited Earthfare yesterday to get my free bag of frozen blueberries (coupon expires 1/19). While there I noticed Muir Glenn canned tomatoes were on sale for $1.50 each. If you snagged a $1/2 printable that was out there awhile ago, that's $1 a can--much cheaper than Kroger sells them right now.

But Kroger does have a few organic deals this week. Kashi frozen meals are on sale for $2.99 each. Target had some $1/1 printables awhile back that you can use at Kroger or you can pull $3 of savings off Kashi cereals nearby; one is a $1/1 frozen item. That brings your total to $1.99 each (normally $4.69).

Wolfgang Puck organic soups are also on sale for $2.50. You can load $1/1 savings onto your Kroger card from Shortcuts and pay only $1.50 a can (normally $3.09). If you can find a printed coupon, even better.

I also got a FREE half gallon of Private Selection organic chocolate milk: Value: $2.38. Right now the first 125,000 people to enter the free milk for a year sweepstakes here will be able to print a coupon for a free half-gallon of chocolate milk when you purchase two gallons of milk. Private Selection organic half & half is also $.20 off.

Kroger is worth visiting today and tomorrow for some good deals on Tyson chicken breasts and tilapia (both half price) and pork loin ($1.69 /lb). If the shelves are empty, ask them if there's more in the back. They're not organic but good deals.

Finally, Coupon Katie just alerted to some good organic coupons that only come out three times a year from Mambo Sprouts by going here. I've also been impressed with all the good coupons distributed by Organic Valley. Some of these items do go on sale at Kroger and Earthfare, making for some great deals.

So what organic deals did I miss?

$20 of FREE Organic Groceries

I have to admit when I saw the Good Morning America feature on the mom who scored $267 of groceries for $.01, I was skeptical and a little bitter. Does she not buy produce or fresh meat? This could not have been a “typical shopping trip”! You have to pay SOMETHING! Nothing in life is truly free!

That’s before I heard about the new Earthfare pantry makeover deal. You can bring in practically empty containers of items containing high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils and they will give you a healthier and often organic alternative for FREE. The items in their promotion include cereal, salad dressing, peanut butter, jelly, and soft drinks. Sad to say I had items in all those categories in my fridge or pantry; so I couldn’t resist my chance to taste the alternatives. Tip: If you choose to bring unopened items, they will be donated to Second Harvest.

Thanks to tips from Knoxmoms and Coupon Katie, I learned Earthfare was not only having a special Halloween event for the kids; they were giving away 3 pound bags of organic apples through October 31. Armed with my coupons, I brought my oldest son Bobby for a fun outing and chance to save some serious bucks.

We first grabbed the apples (worth $6). I’m going to turn those into baby food; so check back in for details in a future blog. Bobby then decorated one of the cloth bags I use for grocery shopping and gathered a few goodies through a scavenger hunt around the store. We then went on another “scavenger hunt” for the free pantry makeover items (cereal: $2.49, peanut butter: $3.79, jelly: $4.99, salad dressing: $2.19, and vitamin water: $1.25). The total for all these goods would have been $20.70 before tax. Total cost to me: $ZIPPO. And the fact that most items are organic is a huge plus in my book.

While there, I also picked up two six packs of Annie’s organic mac n’ cheese--a staple in our house. On sale, it worked out to $1 / box—a price you can’t find cheaper anywhere. I also used two in store coupons on items already on sale and saved a total of $7. The holiday savings books have over $42 in coupons, can be found on most aisles, and have coupons that are usually good through January. Tip: make sure the coupons scan ok; some registers are having trouble reading them.

All told, I spent $18.81 for goods that retail for nearly $50. Once again, this proves you can Go Green and Save Green.