Happy Ad Wednesday!

This week I’ve perked up the Facebook and Twitter end of Cheepie. Follow up is adding some more info to the actual blog–clearance rack locations, the Actual HEB Names list, and a start on my price point list for certain items.  

If there’s something you’d like to see here let me know, and if I think you’re a reasonable person I’ll consider it. If I think you’re one of the people that sent 200 comments that landed in my spamcatcher, I will simply pity you from afar. If you’re thinking sweet talk like, ” But how good is one to two pillow cases of standard size, fitted sheet, and flat sheet. It is suitable under leaf layers can result in many fungal diseases for your lawn;”** is going to get some play with Cheepie, you’ve got another thing coming.

Nothing is super striking this week. It’s likely the last of decent peaches for under a buck, those are everywhere. Red bell peppers are 50c, and if you like color in your food you can buy a bunch, eat some,and freeze others for later.

The weekend sale at Fiesta lends itself well to a party. If you’ve been thinking you should

This was a sad, sad day.

This was a sad, sad day.

have 30 people over on a Sunday afternoon, but worried about spending too much on food, go shop on Saturday. For $40 you can likely feed them all–pork shoulder, watermelon, pineapple (grill it!), and tortillas is the basics, and fill in as you see fit. They’ve also got the cheapest BlueBell I’ve seen since the re-issue.

Pork shoulder, 78c/lb at Fiesta. 1.99/lb at Randalls. Make of that what you will.

Also, gummi bears are $1.99 in bulk at Sprouts. Just making a note of that for you. You know I like to help you. With candy.

Sprouts 

yellow or white peaches                                                   98c/lb (DD)

cucumbers                                                                            50c/ea (DD)

pineapples                                                                            98c/ea (C15)

red or green bell peppers                                                50c/ea (DD)

Earthbound Farms organic salads, 4-7oz                         B1G1

boneless chicken, any size                                               50% off

Fiesta

Key Limes, 2lb sack                                                         97c/ea

large peaches                                                                    99c/lb (DD)

lemons                                                                                20c/ea

Blue Ribbon long grain rice, 3 lb.                             $1.49/lb

Bluebell                                                                             $4.99/ea

Sat/Sun ONLY

  seedless watermelons                                                $1.99/ea

  Gala apples, 3lb sack                                                 $1.99/ea (DD)

  pineapples                                                                       99c/ea (C15)

  beef back ribs, family pack                                         99c/lb (Fiesta limit)

  mixed pork chops, family pack                                   99c/lb (Fiesta limit)  

  pork shoulder, 4-8lbs                                                      78c/lb (Fiesta limit)

HEB

white seedless grapes                                                         87c/lb (DD)

tomatoes on the vine                                                           67c/lb

organic Gala apples, 2lb sack                                          $2.98/ea (DD)

HCF split chicken breasts, value pack                              $1/lb

All More Grackle Only:

  boneless pork loin, sold whole in bag                                $1.97/lb

  ground pork                                                                           $1.97/lb

  HEB boneless skinless chicken thighs for fajitas                $1.97/lb

Randalls

half pork loin, whole in bag                                               $1.79/lb

bscb or boneless thighs                                                      $1.99/lb

Wheatsville

Smart chicken drums and thighs                                      $1.99/lb

organic Russet potatoes                                                        $1.29/lb (DD)

Don’t forget Double Ad Wednesday at Sprouts–a great chance to score deals and meet like-minded food shoppers!  

As usual, Central Market and Whole Foods are holding their ad until late, so I’m not including either today. CM had been earlier recently, so I’d been able to check, but not this week.

Shop strong, Cheepsters.  And stay tuned, I’ve got a fun giveaway coming up!

Cheep Cheep!

Weekly Flyer Links

**An actual quote from email in my spam filter. I’m not sure how these things originate or propagate, but I think this is how the dialog for Two Broke Girls is developed.***

***Footnotes! On Cheepie. This is a happy day, people. Go forth and rejoice. 

Happy Ad Wednesday!

It’s all hatch chile peppers all the time this week. Randalls is even offering free roasting if you buy 20lbs, when normally they’re a refuge for people that don’t want to smell like a garden burnt down around them.  

Aside from peppers, pork loin is a great deal at Fiesta. I haven’t seen in this cheap in a while.  They’ve also got sugar on the cheap. Grapes, peaches, cantaloupe and cauliflower are all at cheap summer prices, so stock up and freeze while we’re at these low prices!

Fiesta 

nectarines                                                                            99c/lb(DD)

whole pork loin roast                                                          99c/lb (Fiesta limit)

fresh chicken tenders                                                         $1.99/lb (Fiesta limit)

Fiesta brand sugar, 4lb sack                                               99c/lb (limit 2)

Goya Canilla rice, long grain or parboiled, 3lb               99c/lb (limit 2)

Randalls

hatch chile peppers, fresh                                            77c/lb (DD)

bscb or thighs                                                               $1.99/lb

HEB

white or red seedless grapes                                         87c/lb (DD)

Gala apples                                                                     97c/lb (DD)

strawberries, 1lb                                                              $1.17/lb (DD)

hatch chile peppers, fresh                                               78c/lb (grackle only)(DD)

organic peaches or Pink Lady apples                           $2.48/lb (DD)

County Post bscb, value pack                                       $1.99/lb

Sprouts

peaches                                                                             49c/lb (DD)

cantaloupe                                                                          49c/ea (C15)

cauliflower                                                                           88c/ea

Fuji apples or Bartlett pears                                             88c/lb (DD)

organic red or green seedless grapes                          $1.88/lb (DD)

Earthbound Farm organic salads, 1lb                            $4.98/ea

It's mail, it's mail, it's flat, it's paper, it's good!

It’s mail, it’s mail, it’s flat it’s paper, it’s good!

And look what came in the mail! People with me for a while know that my mail is erratic. This is two weeks in a row that my circulars showed up on Tuesday, just like they’re supposed to. Just like they did until I started this blog, and the universe decided my mail was not a priority.  I’m not getting my hopes up for next week, but would like to thank the universe for these two weeks of normal mail.

Weekly Flyer Links

Happy Ad Wednesday!

Cheepie is back on patrol!  

If you’ve been celebrating summer with friends, your freezer might be looking a bit sparse. Have no fear–Fiesta is here to fix that with sales on ground beef, pork chops and chicken drumsticks. They’re all on stock-up Fiesta limit prices, so even if Fiesta isn’t on your usual shopping rotation you might stop by this week. They’ve also got potatoes for the goofily cheap price of 10c/lb!

Two good buddies, both on sale!

Two good buddies, both on sale!

Nectarines and grapes are on sale all over, so those are great choices this week. 50 cents for a cantaloupe is a good reason to hit Sprouts. Randalls has london broil for $2.49/lb, which is an excellent price for that cut of beef.  Lots of tasty things on sale this week!

HEB

nectarines                                                           88c/lb (DD)

organic Gala apples/green grapes/peaches    $2.48/lb (DD)

Pink Lady apples                                                98c/lb (DD)

green pears                                                        98c/lb

spinach or kale bunch                           98c/ea (grackle only) (DD)

pork butt steaks                                         $1.97/lb (grackle only)

Sprouts

red grapes                                    98c/lb (DD)

avocados                                       49c/ea (C15)

canteloupe                                     50c/ea (C15)

nectarines or peaches                   98c/lb (DD)

bscb                                               $1.88/lb

ending today:

strawberries, 1lb                           98c/ea (DD)

mangos                                         33c/ea (C15)

Fiesta

pineapples                                        99c/ea

white potatoes, 5lb sack                   49c/ea

red grapes                                           99c/lb (DD)

Bartlett pears                                        25c/ea

pork sirloin chops,family pack            96c/lb (Fiesta limit)

ground beef, 75/25, family pack        $1.99/lb (Fiesta limit)

drumsticks, large sack                        49c/lb (Fiesta limit)

Randalls

large seedless watermelon                              $2.98/ea

london broil                                                  $2.49/lb

fresh baguettes                                          50c/ea

Gatorade, 32oz                                            59c/ea

Sabra hummus, 10oz                             buy one get one free

Wheatsville

organic red grapes                                       $2.49/lb (DD)

organic Pink Lady apples                            $1.99/lb (DD)

organic celery                                          79c/lb (by the lb, weirdos)(DD)

Weekly Flyer Links

Happy shopping–Cheep Cheep!

$10 Dinner, Mostly Happy & Very Healthy

This meal is from a while back, but the sales it’s based on roll around pretty regularly. My basic formula of meat/fruit/cooked veg/raw veg/starch is still how I tend to think about pulling a meal together, since 2/5ths of the family would very much prefer foods not touch.

(I Daydream of Casseroles.  That’ll be the name of my parenting book.  Chapter titles include: Shoes: How to Keep Track of the Suckers, Snot and the Removal Thereof, What’s that Smell?, and How to Poop Alone. )

IMG_2857

Kid Meal

IMG_2858

Normal Person Meal

  • peaches                   $1.55
  • pasta, 16oz.             $0.99
  • blueberries               $0.88
  • 2 cloves garlic          $0.12       (~70c/bulb, 12 cloves/bulb)
  • tomatoes                  garden!
  • basil                         garden!
  • butter, 2 T                $0.22        ($3.49/lb for 32T)
  • half an onion            $0.11        (8 onions, 3lbs, for $1.79 = 22c/onion)
  • chicken, 1 lb.           $1.99
  • spinach                    $2.50     (half of a 1lb box for $5)

Grand Total:                  $8.36

Clearly, not everyone has a garden, so the extra spent there would but you right about $10.  This meal had everyone happy with the pasta, chicken and fruit, the kids not excited about sliced tomatoes with salt or the steamed spinach, and me glad to have a healthy meal in about 30 minutes.

Stay tuned for the next $10 dinner! Cheep cheep!

Happy Ad Wednesday!

This week is thin on the ground.  I’m not sure if stores are saving their deals for a big July 4th bbq push, or if we’re in a spring turning summer lull, but there aren’t a lot of deals to report. I’m not gonna sneeze at 25c avocados, though!

A few readers that pointed out that 3.99/lb for pork tenderloin wasn’t really a great price when I listed it a few weeks back have been proven correct.– This week it’s at $2.97/lb at HEB.  I’ll adjust the goalposts for this one.

Grapes hit a new low for the year at 77c/lb.  I can’t remember them getting this cheap last year.  This is the price point where I buy some to let the kids put them on trays out in the yard to become raisins. It’s nutritious! It’s science! It’s cooking! It’s seriously cheap snacks!

Fiesta is the big leader this week, with potatoes (17.6c/lb) and chicken drums (39c/lb) on Friday and Saturday, watermelon for $1.99, and a decent set of sales for the week.

Fiesta

avocados                                                                                     25c/ea

pineapples                                                                                   $1.49/ea

yellow onions, 3lb sack                                                                 99c/ea

Skinner pasta, 12oz                                                                      50c/ea

Challenge butter, 1lb                                                                   $2.49/ea

Sat/Sun ONLY:

seedless watermelons                                                 $1.99/ea  

Come on! You know this is summer in a green package!

Come on! You know this is summer in a green package!

Gala apples, 3lb sack                                                  $1.50/ea

russet potatoes, 5lb sack                                               88c/ea

Key limes, 2lb sack                                                          99c/ea

Fiesta brand canola oil, gallon                                       $4.99/ea

jumbo bag chicken drums                                                 39c/lb  (Fiesta limit)

Eckrich brand smoked sausage, 39.5-42oz                  $3.99/ea (Fiesta limit)

Randalls

red seedless grapes                                                               77c/lb

$5 Friday:

Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Cheerios/Cocoa Puffs              $1.67/ea

raspberries, 6 oz.                                                                      $1.67/ea

Pop Tarts or Nature Valley chewy granola bars                $1.67/ea

Sprouts

whole seedless watermelon                                          $1.98/ea

bscb or boneless thighs                                               $1.88/ea

organic nectarines, peaches and green grapes         $2.50/lb

HEB

cherries                                                                               $1.87/lb

County Post bscb                                                            $1.99/lb

pork tenderloin                                                                $2.97/lb

Happy Shopping!  And as always, let me know if you spot a deal, and follow me on twitter and Facebook to keep up with on-the-spot deals that I find.

Cheep Cheep!

Weekly Ads:

Happy Ad Wednesday!

This week has some new produce sales spreading.  Cherries are in many stores, but Sprouts has them cheapest.  Peaches, are all over as well, those are cheapest at HEB.  Grapes are under $2/lb at all the chains, but Randalls wins at $1.49.

Avocados are 25c at Fiesta, so maybe I’ll finally get around to the Avocado Math problem I’ve been wanting to solve.  Randalls has large avocados for 99c, and while I do usually avoid their produce, for the sake of science I can give them a pass.

In the meat sections, pork butt and split chicken breasts are $1.27/lb at HEB,

Mamey? Huh?

Oh, Fiesta. Why do you have made-up food on sale?  

Sprouts

cherries                                                                                    $1.98/lb

organic grapes                                                                      $2.98/lb (DD)

organic peaches or nectarines                                            $2.98/lb (DD)

boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs                 $1.99/lb

HEB

peaches                                                                             77c/lb (DD)

red bell peppers                                                              48c/ea (DD)

organic kale                                                                         78c/ea (DD)

boston butt pork roast, bone in                                       $1.27/ea

HCF split breasts                                                                 $1.27/lb

Fiesta

cucumbers                                                                33c/ea (DD)

Hass avocados                                                          25c/ea (C15)

pineapples                                                             $1.49/ea (C15)

tomatoes                                                                    49c/lb

large Anjou pears                                                      99c/ea

pork blade steak, family pack                                $1.29/lb (Fiesta limit)

Eddy brand rope smoked sausage, 2.5lbs          $5.99/ea

bscb, family pack                                                       $1.99/lb

chicken drums or thighs                                            99c/lb

Randalls

red seedless grapes                                             $1.49/lb (DD)

Safeway brand chicken drums or thighs         99c/lb

Wheatsville

organic green grapes                                         $2.49/lb (DD)

organic sugar plum tomatoes                          $1.49/ea (DD)

Flyers this week:

That’s it for this week, Cheepsters! Try to stay dry, turn around don’t drown, and remember the liquor stores close at 9pm.

Happy Ad Wednesday!

If you didn’t stock up on cheese during the Sprouts sales, Randalls has got 20oz packages of sliced cheese for $2.50, which is equal to $2/lb, and already helpfully sliced! They also have 2 lb bricks and bags, but those are $3/lb, and thus for chumps that don’t do math.

Dryer’s ice cream is on sale at both Sprouts and Fiesta. I’m such a Blue Bell purist that I don’t even know if they are good sale prices, so I don’t have them on the list. If you’re looking for some ice cream, you could start there.

Berries are $1.50 at Sprouts for today only, and all week you can get them for a penny less at Randall (but not strawberries, if you need those hit Sprouts today).Screen shot 2015-05-13 at 12.10.15 AM

I’ll be stocking up on chicken legs and rice from Fiesta, bacon and apples from HEB, and cereal from Randalls.  

Here’s the round-up–

Fiesta

beef brisket, whole                                                         $2.99/lb (Fiesta limit)

chicken drumsticks, jumbo bag                                     49c/lb (Fiesta limit) 

country style pork ribs, family back                                $1.99/lb

pineapple                                                                        $1.49/ea (C15)

mangoes                                                                          25c/ea  (C15)

Gala apples, small                                                           25c/ea  (DD)

Fiesta brand vegetable oil, gallon                                    $4.99/ea

Mahatma Jasmine rice, 2lbs                                             $1.99/ea

Blue Ribbon brand long grain rice, 2lbs                             99c/ea

Randalls

blackberries or raspberries, 6oz                                          $1.49/ea

organic celery                                                                            $1.50/ea (DD)

organic bell peppers, orange/red/yellow                              $2/ea (DD)

organic strawberries, 16oz                                                     $3.99/ea  (DD)

bscb                                                                                               $1.99/lb

Quaker Life or Crunchberries cereal, 13oz                           $1.99/ea

Lucerne sliced cheeses, 20oz.                                                $2.50/eaScreen shot 2015-05-13 at 12.14.27 AM

HEB

cantaloupe                                                                                   87c/ea  (C15)

Pink Lady apples                                                                         88c/lb  (DD)

organic Red Delicious apples, 2lb sack                                  $2.47/ea  (DD)

HCF drums or thighs                                                                       $1/lb

HCF bacon 12oz.                                                                            $2/ea

Sprouts

blueberries, 6oz                                                                                 98c/ea

jumbo navel oranges                                                                        48c/lb

avocados                                                                                             77c/ea (C15)

red or green seedless grapes                                                           $1.88/lb  (DD)

kale                                                                                                           88c/ea (DD)

walnuts, halves and pieces                                                                 $4.99/lb

bscb or thighs                                                                                             $1.99/lb

boneless pork sirloin chops                                                                 $1.99/lb

bulk butter toffee peanuts                                                                    $1.99/lb

Sprouts gingersnaps, 14oz                                                                  $1.50/ea

Wheatsville

organic strawberries                                                                            $3.99/ea (DD)

Links to weekly flyers:

Happy Ad Wednesday!

Mother’s Day has flowers on sale in volumes not normally seen at the stores.  Screen shot 2015-05-05 at 9.54.48 PMHEB’s roses and Randalls tulips are the deals here.  Mom wants you to think of her AND save!

New York steak is $5.99/lb at Sprouts, and t-bones are at Fiesta for the same price with a Fiesta limit. Not cheap, but for steak that’s pretty good. The photo in  the Sprouts ad looks like a NY Strip steak, and I’ve never heard anything else called a New York steak, so I’m figuring that’s what it is. Use your monkey brain, though–if it doesn’t look like a strip don’t buy it!  5 oz lobster tails are also $5.99 at Sprouts, so if your mom is hoping for surf-n-turf, that might be your store this week.

I’ll be stocking up on the split chicken breasts at HEB, which I debone and vacu-seal for the freezer. Watermelon and corn are also on my list, and I’ll get a few dozen mangoes to dice for the freezer for smoothies/freezy pops.

Sprouts

(don’t forget double ad Wednesday, last week’s specials still on!)

large Hass avocados                             $1.50/ea  (C15)

whole seedless watermelon                $3.98/ea

organic large Roma tomatoes              98c/ea 

bulk coffee                                                $6.99/lb

French vanilla almond granola             $1.99/lb

red seedless grapes                                $1.98/lb (DD)

organic Fuji or Red Delicious apples    $1.50/lb (DD)

pineapples                                               $1.98/ea (C15)

boneless skinless chicken thighs          $1.99/lb

Fiesta

bscb                                                    $1.79/lb (Fiesta lmit)

boneless pork loin chops              $1.99/lb

medium live crawfish                     $1.99/lb

Ataulfo mangoes                               25c/ea  (C15)

Sunkist mandarins, 2lb sack          $1.99/ea

Cameo or Braeburn apples             99c/lb  (DD)

HEB

largeHass avocados                      $1.50/ea (C15)

Fuji apples                                         98c/lb  (DD)

pineapples                                        $1.98/ea  (C15) 

HCF split chicken breasts               $1.27/lb (older)

dozen roses                                         $7.87/ea (newer)

Boston butt pork roast, bone-in       $1.47/lb

Randalls

corn                                                         6/$1  (C15)

mini personal watermelon            $1.47 ea (limit 2)

boneless pork sirloin chops         $1.99/ea

General Mills cereals                    $1.99 ea  (12.25-oz. Honey Nut Cheerios, 13-oz. Reese’s Puffs, 11.25-oz. Cookie Crisp or 12.2-oz. Cinnamon Toast Crunch.)

10 stem tulips                                $5

Wheatsville

organic Gala apples, 3lb sack                $3.99/ea  ($1.33/lb) (DD)

organic grape tomatoes                          $1.99  (size/wt unknown, but likely pint)(DD)

Enjoy the sales, stay out of the rain, and if you’re going to have a crawfish boil get on that because they won’t be here too much longer!

Cheep Cheep!

Flyers:

$10 Dinner, Coming Up

Summer is my favorite season for meals. It’s so easy to just…not cook. Most of the summer we grill meat and I chop some vegetables. Maybe.  Not that I don’t love me some soup, casserole, and the occasional complicated thing from Marcella Hazan, who doesn’t?

Summer meals can have a certain simplicity that I look forward to as the days warm up.

 Cheep, Easy Summer Dinner!

Cheep, Easy Summer Dinner!

For example, this meal involved boiling corn, grilling chicken, and slicing a few things.  A twenty minute meal that costs $10 (seriously, it’s exactly $10. I triple checked) and feeds the five of us and has leftover chicken? 

Cheep Cheep!

  • chicken             $5.52
  • blackberries      $1.54
  • avocados          $0.84
  • corn                   $0.60
  • tomatoes           $1.50

All of this was from one store, HEB, except the basil which was from the front yard.  Everyone had things they liked, and I’ve got chicken bones and skin for future projects.

What, you don’t render chicken skins sometimes when you’re bored? Just me? Ok. I’ll just be over here bagging up chicken skin.

If you’ve got a cheap summer meal you love, please share! I love hearing what other folks are eating.  When DH and I are apart, if he’s eaten a meal the first thing I always end up doing is a food quiz. Where did you eat? What did you order? Was it good? Did anyone else have something good?

Poor guy. I should probably work on my people skills.  In the meantime–did you make a good dinner? What was it? 

Cheep Cheep!

Grocery News–New Trader Joes is Open, and BIG sale at Whole Foods

The Seaholm Trader Joe’s is opening today, right on schedule.  They’ve got specials and balloons, according to reports, so I don’t see how you can resist.

In unrelated news, Whole Foods is having a sale at their downtown location.  Today only you’ll get 20% off any of their 365 Everyday Value products.  

Screen shot 2015-05-01 at 10.56.59 AMThese products range from almond butter to granola bars, vitamins to frozen vegetables. Even organic milk! So this is a pretty broad sale.

Stock the pantry up and enjoy the price wars!