Last week was my first experience with “triples” since I started couponing.  It was quite an experience, and I learned a lot by the time it was all over with.  And not only did I learn a lot, but I saved a LOT!  My final tally was $386.66 worth of groceries for $130.60.  That totals out to a savings of 67%.

Some of the items I got included:

• Betty Crocker fruit snacks for 80¢ a box
• 32 oz jars of Welch’s Concord Grape Jelly for FREE (and I got 4 of them!)
• 6 oz cups of Dannon yogurt for 15¢ each
• Colgate Total for 25¢
• GUM toothbrushes for FREE
• Jell-O for 14¢ a box
• Bounty paper towels for 64¢ a roll
• Betty Crocker Warm Delights for 17¢
• Kix cereal for 74¢ a box
• Red Baron Singles pizzas (box of 2) for 75¢
• Dawn Dishwashing Liquid (which I use to strip cloth diapers!) for FREE
• Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice FREE
• Wishbone Dressing FREE
• 3lb bag of Mahatma white rice FREE
  

And the list goes on and on.  Obviously I got multiples of a lot of these items.  I had 2-3 of each newspaper coupon, as well as some printed off the internet.  I knew that I if I had 5 of one internet printable coupon, I could only use 2 at a time.  I knew that only the first 20 coupons under 99¢ tripled.  And I knew that they might run out of things so that even if I planned ahead, I might find that flexibility was the key to a successful shopping trip.  I also learned about how I could better plan ahead so that the next time they run triples I can save even more!

Here’s the math…

My kids love fruit snacks, but they’re expensive at $2.89/box.  They are each allowed one package a day, so we go through a box of 10 in less than a week.  This gets expensive, so when they go on sale for $2/box, we stock up.  Except this time was triple coupons and I had a whole stack of 40¢ coupons for BC fruit snacks!  This knocked an additional $1.20 off each box, bringing us down to 80¢.

• $2.89 each (or about 29¢ per individual package)
• minus 89¢ = $2 each sale price
• minus $1.20 for manufacturer coupon = 80¢ total for each box (or 8¢ per individual package)

For the jelly, I found coupons online and printed them.  The regular price is $2.59 per 32 oz jar.  They were on sale 2/$4, which made them $2 each.   I had a 75¢ off coupon that tripled to $2.25, which made these completely free.

• $2.59 each
• minus 59¢ = $2 each sale price
• minus $2.25 for manufacturer coupon = FREE!!!

Remember my post about making the whole chicken in the crockpot?  Well, I did as Susannah suggested and froze the leftover broth in ice cube trays and they’ve come in handy a couple of times now.  There wasn’t a ton, but what I did get has been delicious in things like rice and pasta dishes.  YUM!

And since a whole chicken is way too much for my family to eat at one meal (unless it’s tiny) we were treated to plenty of leftovers.  To date, I’ve:

• used them in a chicken sandwich.
• mixed them with leftover pasta (we ate all of the spaghetti sauce last night, but had extra cooked pasta) and diced tomatoes and a bit of Italian dressing for a super delicious and quick lunch.
• put them in a quesadilla.

I think I finally finished them up today, but that was a fairly small chicken (less than 10 lbs) and I got an entire family meal out of it, as well as several lunches and some delicious stock that we’ve used in different meals.  With whole chickens being so inexpensive (I’ve seen them as low as $.69/lb, so the one we have would have been less than $7 at the store on sale.) this is a great way to stretch your food dollar but still include healthier meats like chicken in your diet.

Next time I see them on sale for $.69/lb I’m going to buy several and freeze them, then make one every couple of weeks so that we have stock and leftovers available regularly.  I think they’ll be a great Sunday dinner…just toss one in the crockpot before we leave for church, add some mashed potatoes or green beans, a salad, and some rolls, and we have a great meal on a day that is typically rather chaotic.  Plus some really versatile leftovers!