I Mega Hauled the Mega Event at Kroger and why

It's been awhile since I did a store trip. VG's changing their policy back to 50 cents and only 1 like coupon has me looking at my other options. And basically I'm reliving the past. When I moved out here in March of 09 I was used to stores being less than a mile away. The nearest Kroger was 4 or 5 miles away and other stores were all closer. I had dollar doublers and Save A Lot all closer. So I didn't go to Kroger unless I was getting something for my Dad. Kroger did help me out a bunch one time. I drove all over trying to find some puffed wheat or rice cereal. I couldn't find it anywhere and finally found it at Kroger in the Kroger Value brand bags. So I moved out here and the closest stores were Kroger 2 miles one way 2.5 another, Hollywood Markets about 4 miles each for 2 different, a few Meijer stores 5+ miles and then VG's 4 miles and 2 miles the other side of the 2 mile Kroger. And then there's Aldi that I'd never been to but I knew it would be a decent place having been to Save A Lot so often.

So when SIL was out of town a few times we needed a few items like milk, coffee, and bread. At the time the coffee prices were like they are now so I was looking for anything decent. I went to VG's and they had cans of coffee for like $12 so I didn't get it. I went to Aldi and got some stuff but the next time I went there they were out of bread so I figured I'd try Kroger. At the time I did not have a Kroger card. I go in and they had bread for $1 or less, milk was $2, and they had coffee for $5. So to the counter I went to get the card. Six months later I'm still trying to find a job and in order to do the app for Kroger you have to take their online quiz for each location. I start filling out the quiz for one and I get sidetracked and it times out. When I come back I start the quiz for a different one, finish it, and then start to redo the first one. I don't remember if I finished it or not but only 10 minutes after I finished the first one the phone rings and its Kroger. I go in to the interview the next day thinking I'm there for a night stocking position. Turns out the guy who does the floor cleaning has to quit for health issues and they needed someone fast. I was a janitor before but it was a dirty tool and die factory type shop with oil and coolants all over and grinding dust. I wasn't supposed to make the floors shine just keep em swept and dry. But I needed the job and I wasn't going to spit in fate's eye so when she said "We've got a few more interviews to do but we're probably going to call you" I was happy. So I got the call and luckily Jim, the floor tech was nice enough to show me the ropes for his last few days. For 13 months I did my best to make the world shine one aisle at a time. Before Jim left he told me that to his knowledge our store was the last one to not contract out the floor cleaning. But alas 13 months in it was and luckily one of the guys in the meat department was leaving for the Air Force so I am now 10 months into being on the day shift and actually helping people. And it turns out that the store I got my card at is the same one I work at. And now I also have an employee discount attached to it.

So if you are reading this to read about store trips I did not forget about you. I have all these 3 papers per week worth of coupons to use up so I need places that take multiple like. To my knowledge that rules out VG's and Hollywood. Meijer takes 2 likes. But once again Kroger to the rescue. Thanks to Coupons Equal Cash for confirming for me that Kroger accepts 3 likes. So I spent the past few days looking at the Kroger matchups on Coupons Equal Cash and Bargains To Bounty and also checking a small card that I grabbed from work that has a list of all the items and going through all my coupons. And today I put them and my binder to use.

For those that may not know Kroger and some other stores have what are known as Mega events. They put sale prices on a wide range of items, and then if you buy a combination of 10 of any of those items you get a certain amount off such as $3 or $5 thus taking 30 or 50 cents off each item. So Kroger has some of the items mentioned in the ad but many are not so you need to look in the store for the special 3 way tags. The upper corner is a white section with the regular price and then in a yellow section below it is the sale price. Then on the right side is the special price you pay if you buy 10 items and get the 30-50 cents off. So regular price is $3, sale price is $2, and then Mega price $1.50.

The current Mega is a 10 item take $5 off. The hard part about doing this with coupons for me is getting things in groups of 10. Because some coupons say off 1 item others say 2 or 3 and some I used said off 5. So I have to make groups of 10 with multiple like coupons that all have different quantities and stay organized. Plus try to find any other items that might be Mega tagged. And try to keep the mega items separate in the cart from the non mega. Forgot my watch too. It was about 12:30 when I was on my way and 3:30 on my way home. I mega'd 3 times.

I went to a different Kroger than the one I work at. So I started off with the SpaghettiOs. I had 2 printed coupons that said $1 off of 5. I only grabbed 5 to start with since I didn't know what other Mega items I was getting. By the way rather than me typing out all the prices and such you can save some time by going to the 2 blog links I mentioned. Then just check the matchup's they worked hard on. They'll tell you what's got a match and where the coupons are. Also it appears that Kroger is going to continue the Mega event next week.

Next it was over to the mexican items to get my non mega Chi Chi's Tortillas. The coupon was about to expire. The sale price was $1.50 and double a $1 coupon to make them 50 cents.

Next I went to get some Advil but its not on sale so I grabbed the store brand for now.

I started looking at the frozen items but remembered from the last trip that its not good to do the cold stuff till the end. And so over to the soap aisle. I got some of the Suave for my Mom since it was mega for 89 cents. No coupons though. But that's for the 22 oz so its a good price.

They had Dial hand soap non Mega for 88 cents and a doubled 35 cent coupon would make it 18 cents each. But They also had the large 52 oz refill bottle for $2.80 Mega price or $2.10 after coupon. Now sitting here at home I have time and concentration to do the math and if the small bottles were 9 oz at 18 cents then it would take 6 to fill the 52 oz. So 6 x 18 cents = $1.08 making the smaller bottles the better deal. But I don't have 6 coupons. I used 1 of my 3 so I still have 2. I can get some small ones at work later this week with my other 2 coupons. My thinking was that I saw a bottle of a store brand around here a few weeks ago that said $1 on it so when I saw the big bottle for $2.10 it made sense. And it would if not for the small ones being on sale. So now I'm Dialed in.

Faygo 2 liters (a Detroit based soda) were $1 each. All the other non store brands were 3 or 4 for $5 so I got some Faygo. They were out of Big K diet cola. And I'm sorry but this is getting rediculous. They now want $4 for a 12 pack of Pepsi or Coke. Not from my wallet. I saw in the coupons last week that Coke will be having either 1.25 or 1.5 liter bottles soon. Great so they'll be charging $1 for those instead of their 2 liters.

I need to get to bed soon so I'll have to try to speed this up.

Mega items I got

10 SpaghettiOs - got 5 more at the end and used both my printed $1 off 5.
2 Suave - 1 S & 1 C

1 Dial 52 oz - Mega but not in ad
2 Keebler cookies

5 cans Del Monte Tomatoes - No coupon but .49 ea
2 Kelloggs Rice Krispies using the $1 off Any coupon

3 Kelloggs Cereals, 1 Corn Pops, 2 Frosted Flakes using the $1 off 3 that included them.
3 Jimmy Dean - Jimmy D's using 3 coupons for 75 cents off ea.

9 Kelloggs Pop Tarts - 3 coupons for $1 off 3. I almost got the store brand instead because the aisle was bare except for the low fat that weren't mega. But I found an end cap (end of aisle display) that had them.

6 Kellogg's Nutri Grain bars - 3 coupons for $1 off 2

3 Sunny Delight 64 oz - 3 coupons for 50 cents doubled to make them 49 or 50 cents each

1 Betty Crocker Cake Mix - 99 cent mega price
1 Betty Crocker Frosting - Not in ad but had mega tag for $2.09
Used 75 cents off Both coupon to get the pair for $2.33
According to the last time I bought the pair I paid $1.75 for them at Meijer.

2 Lysol sprays - 2 coupons for $1 off - Mega but not in ad

So if that's right I should see 30 items.....

LOL - Ok so I did the Mega 5 times
Guess I Mega Hauled more than I even thought. But I did get the groups of 10 right. Guess that helps make up the 3 hours a bit better.

I also got 3 boxes of Barilla Piccolini and used my coupons to get them for 69 cents ea.
And I got a Sure deodorant for 67 cents.

The Renuzits were $1 each and I used a buy 2 get 1 free. Or 3 for $2

The Kroger Receipts don't show a before coupon total so luckily I caught the screen before she started scanning coupons. I believe the total was $174. I also had 2 Kroger coffees, 1 bag of Old Yeller dog food, and a pack of Energizer Lithium batteries using a $1 off coupon. So that shot the total up a bit. Plus my 2 sunday papers for $3 and 2 boxes of Kroger brand granola bars. I didn't want to use my Nature Valley coupons until a better price and store brand & my discount beat it.

$174
$125.84 after scanning.
Receipt says I got 72 items

It says
Manufacturer coupon savings = $22.25
Bonus coupon savings = $2.60 which I believe is for my employee discount on the store brand items
Store Coupon and Card Savings = $58.69

That's where it gets tricky because I think all the doubled halves of the coupons went into that store coupon total and that's mixed in with all the sale prices and mega prices. Anyway I know that register was up to 174 at least so whatever way it works out it was $50 less than I would have paid without the coupons.

Since the Mega deal is continuing maybe I can go pick off what's left of my matching coupons now that I'll be able to have less to deal with.

Thanks for reading.