Ok guys, this is why I Coupon AND why I pay to get 5 Copies of the Sunday Paper for the Coupons! Sales like this come around every once and a while and you really can stock up!
**These deals were at my local Smith’s Grocery Store (a Kroger Affiliated Store)- MANY of the Kroger Affiliated Stores should be having the “Buy 5, Get $5.00 Back” Promo Going. So just check your local ad. You should be able to get VERY similar deals if your store is participating too!
My own transactions included items like:
- Betty Crocker Cake Mixes
- Betty Crocker Frosting
- Betty Crocker Mac and Cheese
- Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks
- General Mills Cereals like Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Trix
- Old El Paso Taco Kits and Shells
- Tuna Helper
- Hamburger Helper
- Nestle Chocolate Chip Morsels and More!
Transaction #1: It ended up being $99.24 after coupons- and that includes Taxes! Plus, I received 12 $5.00 Smith’s Coupons to use right away.
Transaction #2: I used the 12 $5.00 Smith’s Coupons from Transaction #1 ($60). So after those and my manufacturer coupons, my total including taxes was $20.62! Plus, at the end of that transaction, I received another 10 $5.00 Smith’s Coupons to use ($50!!)
Grand total out of pocket was $119.86, BUT I still have $50 to spend this next week on anything I want at Smith’s! So, pairing that money with even more Manufacturer’s coupons and sales will be awesome come next week!! Total cost including that Smith’s money I have to spend was only $69.86!! And, I purchased 120 Items! That works out to be $.58 per item!! SCORE!!
IMPORTANT: Not a couponer??? No worries!! There are a bunch of deals that don’t even need coupons! You can see those deals in the Smith’s Weeky Deals Matchup here.
***Just a quick reminder about this sale. All Kroger Affiliated stores participating in this promo (like Smith’s) will have different inventory. So if your store is really low on stock, please don’t take everything and leave nothing for anyone else. Just ask when their truck is coming in with more items and you can head over then. Or, you might want to drive a little further to a different location to have a better variety of what is in stock still.
Meagan
This is great (awesome job!) but my husband and I try to eat healthy and, unfortunately, it’s more difficult to get this good of a deal that way.
Dee Ann Cottam
The smith’s match up link isn’t linking….??
michelle
how did you get the smiths $5?
Melea Johnson
They will print out of the register after you pay.
Amy
This was an awesome deal this week! There have not been good deals like this for a while. I paid 143.00 after coupons and ended up with 17 $5 coupons at the end! Crazy good!!
sarah
healthcare costs are way more if you eat like this just to save money.
Shannon E.
Thanks for sharing! I have been low on a lot of these items and need to stock up. I really appreciate it!
Does anyone know when Smith’s re-stock? It seems like when they have a good sale and I can’t go until later in the day, everything is gone and you only have one choice with cereal, etc.
I know I can go to Walmart and price match, but I run into the same problem there and my Walmart is so so slow with lines .
Julie n
Is it a $5 Catalina that can be used on anything in the store (diapers?) or do you have to use it in GM deal again??
Kate
It can be used on diapers! I think the only restrictions are that you can’t use them on alcohol, tobacco or prescriptions.
Julie n
Thank you Kate!!
Leticia Chetty
I know the Smiths in Orem restock on Monday night or Tuesday. Usually, when I go on Tuesday morning they have everything I need. You can always ask one of the workers about when they restock.
Amanda
For those of you commenting on the health/quality of the food items purchased, please know that it is possible to combine some processed/convenience food with other foods and still maintain health.
My husband had a heart attach last year at a very young age (hereditary) and we have re-learned how to cook. I do make most things from scratch; however, I also combine some pre-made convenience items. Taco shells…I don’t make these…I buy them. They are part of this sale/catalina offer. Cheerios (in the yellow box) are part of this sale and my husband and 18 month old daughter eat them. My husband stays within the serving portion for breakfast with skim milk and my daughter uses them as a snack and loves them. I will make enchiladas and make the filling myself with all fresh ingredients, but will occassionally use canned enchilada sauce to help boost my sauce.
Not part of the GM 5 sale…they are also offering canned beans at a great price…and even better with a coupon that is out right now. I use these in a lot of our meals. I buy low-sodium and still thoroughly rinse them before using. It’s a great way to get protein and bulk in a meal…and healthy.
Can you buy ALOT of junk food with coupons? Absolutely! Can you make healthy choices while couponing? Absolutely! Why not save on what items I can so that I have more to spend on fresh chicken and fresh produce?
Just my opinion.
Michelle
I like your opinion!! Way to go!!
Steph
Couldn’t agree more!
And what’s up with all the negative comments? She is sharing how she saved money in hopes that others can do the same. I love a great deal and alot of the items she posted are staples at our house and we still eat healthy.
Thanks for the amazing work you do!!! And PLEASE keep posting things like this 🙂 It helps save my family so much money!
Ashley
Cound’t agree more. It is fine to have these things on hard to eat once in a while. Thanks Malea for putting these deals together. You are wonderful!
Nicole
Do you have to buy 5 of the same item, or can you mix and match products?
Kate
You can mix and match to get the lowest out of pocket cost!
saber
Can i do 1 transaction with cereal and then use that $5 for more cereal and get another printoff, or is it like walgreens rr where you cant use the catalina to get another of the same product to have more RR printed?
Kate
Yes, you can do many transactions and just use the one from before to pay for the next transaction. I did a total of 7 transactions. My total OOP was $7 for 35 items, plus I still have 1 $5 catalina to use sometime this week.
Michele Larkin
Don’t forget to save all those Box Tops and send them to a local school before they expire! Last year our school raised over $1500 just by collecting Box Tops. It means so much to the school and the kids who benefit.
Nicole
Exactly what I thought. Plus our school does the Smith’s Earn & Learn program, so not only do we get money from the BoxTops, we’ll get a percentage of the money actually spent on the products!
Jaysa Hursa
Wow, this is so amazing! I wish I could bring myself to learn how to coupon well… I’m learning step by step.
Nicole
Just FYI, ask your store if you can get multiple catalinas at once. My husband bought a bunch of things and when the transaction ended they only gave him one catalina instead of seven, insisting it was manufacturer rules (which, reading the post, I think it was just the store management rules). They said he had to buy 5 things, check out then buy 5 more things, check out, etc; so that each 5 things had to be done in separate transactions. He went to customer service and they worked it out for him just giving him actual cash back, but said they usually only let one buy 5 get 5$ be done per transaction.
Kira
I had that happen once so they gave me cash back. Thank you-then I don’t have to worry about forgetting about a Catalina and letting it expire!!!
Jenn V.
Can’t you roll the catalinas?
I always rolled them and did several transactions so I didn’t end up with a ton of catalinas left over. I miss having a Smiths.
Rachel
I went to our Smith’s store today and got the same great deals. I paid around $15 with tax for my 60 items- so around $.25 and item. I would have saved more money but I used coupons printed at home along with my manufacture coupons and they only allowed me to to use two identical printed coupons for my shopping trip. I wasn’t aware that this was a rule. We have multiple computers in our home and have at times printed the same coupon on different computers and have never had a problem like this at other stores. Also-will Walmart price match deals like this where money is saved from catalinas offered after the transaction? I went this morning and the cake mixes were completely gone but luckily they were re-stocking right after we showed up. It would be nice to price match at Walmart in the case that the shelves are cleared again in the future.
Rachelle
You are so good at this!! I am unfortunately in a coupon rutt and have taken a break for awhile! but luckily we are using the stuff I got stocked up on until I can hopefully get the drive to do coupons again.
Julie n
Just got back from Smiths and got pretty much everything I wanted!!! 70 items for $43!! Amazing!
Kelly Huddleston
I’ve often thought about couponing like this, but I am curious what your weekly time committment is. How long do you spend, on average, each week, searching/clipping/organizing/planning? How many different stores do you visit? Thanks!
Laura
Sales like this aren’t the norm, but when they come around it is like Christmas for those of us who coupon. Cutting coupons takes about an hour a week, then organizing them can take some time too. But when you factor in how much you save, it pays WAY better than my part time job!
Hannah S
Yay for good deals. Cheerios are healthy.
I went to 4 different Smith’s (not out of my way….on the way to various stores I was going to anyway) in the SLC area, and could not find any cereal boxes with the free movie ticket offer. Did anyone else have better luck? It’d be a better deal with those free movie tickets thrown in!
Ashley
I went to 3 different ones also in SLC and couldn’t find any movie tickets either.
Brittany Humphrey
I went today and at my smith’s they are limiting the amount of $5 off coupons to four per person. I am not sure if it is at all the smith’s but they did not like me when we went there. They even had a letter from corporate saying that they can limit how many $5 off coupons then can give. Just to give you all a heads up they may start to crack down at your Smith’s. Also they wouldn’t let me roll them. They once again said corporate changed its policy. I guess I went on a bad day!!
Erin
Well, you just went after word got out–not to mention all the greedy people! I read where one woman rolled one Cat into 65 boxes of potatoes and 45 boxes of mac and cheese. It made my stomach turn because people like that ruin it for everyone. Some people will argue that there is no difference between rolling one Cat 22 times versus rolling several one time as Melea did, but there is a huge difference to GM and Smith’s bottom line. When I saw this post, Melea, I wanted to thank you for showing couponers how to shop deals like this ethically.
Kay
That’s exactly what happened to me today. The ad didn’t say limit 4 catalinas. I called the corp office and they said the limit was 4. Not happy about it.
Elisa Apo
Thanks so much for posting this! My trip to Smith’s this morning netted me 98 items, all for $53.28. They had tons in stock of everything listed and the cashier was amazing helpful. I sure appreciate your posts!
Nicole
I had a terrible experience with this sale today. I spent a couple hours planning my trip, to roll my first order over to pay for my second. However, after figuring it all out getting in line and sorting it correctly, I am told that they are only allowing 4 coupons to print per order and then I can’t even use them on my next order! I was so mad! They told me that because so many people were clearing the shelves they couldn’t allow so many in a day anymore. I got very upset because I am on a limited budget and I had it all figured out so I wouldn’t have to spend much money today. After much persuasion, I convinced the manager to let me this time, but I don’t want to do this again. It’s not worth it to me! I’m sick of how so many couponers take advantage and don’t leave enough product for the rest of us and make the store change their policy as a result… and those of us that just want to get a few things, aren’t able!
Tiffany
I’m sorry some of you guys have been having bad experiences! I also went today and saw a sign that limited 4 Catalina’s per transaction so I split my purchases into 4 transactions and was able to get 118 items for under $60 with Catalina’s to spare. But I really wanted to post and tell you about an offer I found on totinos pizzas. There is a specially marked box that says when you buy 4 pizzas, you can go online an submit codes for a $5 rebate that can be mailed in 4-6 weeks or transferred to your PayPal in 3-6 DAYS!!! They are included in the Catalina deal and are on sale for $1.25. After the rebate, these are a 75 cent MONEYMAKERS! I love the pepperoni ones and I don’t mind getting paid to buy them 🙂