I sold my soul and went to Kroger

I have to admit it, I am a Ukrop's snob.  I love Ukrop's, the way the stores are bright and clean, the aisles aren't crowded with pallets and displays, and of course the friendliness and helpfulness of the employees.  I just don't like going to other grocery stores and when I do I moan and groan to myself while I am there about how much nicer Ukrop's is and question what was I thinking by stopping here just because it was closer, a Sunday or whatever the reason may be.

I signed up for The Grocery Game (TGG) about 6 weeks ago.  The real reason why I signed up for it was because I was starting to buy groceries and prepare food for the winter retreat we were taking the college students on the first weekend in January.  (I am hoping to share my menu and what I spent in a future post.)  It is free to sign-up for a 4-week trial period.  I have several friends who use TGG and I thought why not give it a try.  The biggest downside I saw to TGG was that they didn't list Ukrop's as one of their stores.  For our area the only grocery stores they listed were Food Lion, Kroger, and Whole Foods.  They also offered Walgreens and CVS.  I signed up for all 5 available stores and would check my list every week to see what was on sale.  She uses a color coded system for the items on the list, black means only buy it if you need it, blue means stock-up, and green means free.  She does what I was already doing with my Ukrop's deals and matches up the sale price with any available coupons and then calculates your final price.  I have to admit that I wasn't very impressed with TGG in the free 4 week trial.  It is $10 to keep one store and $5 for any additional store for each 8 week period after the trial period.  My friends really find some good deals at Kroger because of the TGG and I thought well, for $1.25 a week I will give it a little bit longer and just keep that store.  I wasn't sure if it was just the time of year that I had signed up or what.  I also knew that around the Superbowl there is a Mega sale at Kroger where I got some good deals on my own last year and thought I would see how well I could do with some help.  So, I checked the list this week and realized I had to go to Kroger.  There were just some things that I really couldn't say "no" to. 

I printed my list with the few things in blue or green that I wanted, gathered the necessary coupons and headed to Kroger with the family in tow.  Steve doesn't go grocery shopping with me on a regular basis so he still thinks it is really neat to watch the final amount drop over and over again and see my final total be a fraction of what it originally was.  (He did note that the cashier (a guy) had a look of amazement when I got to my final total today.)

So enough about it already - what did you get?

(4) Peter Pan Peanut Butter - $1 each

(2) Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls (5 count) - $0.40 each

(6) Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (4 count) - $0.33 each

(1) Halls Cough Drops - FREE

(1) Starkist Tuna Pouch - FREE

(6) Maruchan Noodles - FREE (one is missing because Natalie ate it for lunch)

(2) Celestial Seasoings Tea - $1 each

(5) Tony's Frozen Pizzas - FREE

(1) Large Tide Stain Release Liquid - $2 (I forgot to grab it for the picture)

Bag Credit - -0.15

Shelf price (before sales, coupons, tax, or bag credit): $53.73

Final price (after sales, coupons, bag credit, before tax): $10.65

Total Savings: $43.08 (80%)

I think I can justify my $10 for 8 weeks of TGG.  If you are not already a member of TGG and would like to become one send me a note and I will send you my e-mail address to use as a referral.  If I continue to keep TGG it will help me get free weeks.  You know how much I like "free".  :)