So, I was at the grocery store today. Safeway did a whole remodel and they're having this month-long grand opening celebration. I got a fresh pineapple for $2.99 (it was $3.99 but I had a dollar off coupon), organic salad mix (I usually buy the whole lettuce but it was on sale and I had a $2.00 coupon), a huge bag of carrots for $3.00, these cute little baby cucumbers (5 to a bag) for $2.00), fresh mushrooms (I can't remember what they were a pound but I don't even think I had a half a pound in my bag), strawberries were a little pricey, but worth it. I got pears, tomatoes on the vine, sprouts, green onions, champaign mangos, bananas, red onions, potatoes and yams. Oh, and a bag of Texas Ruby Red grapefruit...they're really cheap this time of year and have a flavor to die for. The most expensive thing I got was yams...they were 1.29 a lbs.
Then I was off to the meat department. I had 3 $2.00 off coupons to use there. Imagine how shocked I was...Tilapia fish for .99 a lbs. I got 4, they're great for fish tacos or grilled and served with the pear chutney I canned last year. Under $4 for two meals and I hadn't even used my coupons yet! One coupon was for $2 off anything in their full service meat counter. Shrimp was on sale for $2.99 a pound. I bought 2 pounds for about $4. There must be about 80 of them, which works out to be 4 meals, maybe more if I use them as part of a stir fry or something. On my way to the discount meat bin (this is the greatest thing...they take 30 to 50% off and most of the time they're DAYS away from the sell by date) I saw they had these Jenni-O turkey tenderloins for 9.99 a package and were BOGO, you get about 8 servings a package...and I didn't have to kill, gut, or clean anything. Anyway, at the discount bin I got a Rancher's Reserve tenderloin roast, marked down 50%, plus my $2 coupon. Chicken breast strips too. I don't usually buy chicken for obviousl reasons but this was just too good a deal to pass up.
Every aisle I went down...sale! sale! sale! Bob's Red Mill flours, gormet rice blends, Smart Balance butter blend and Peanut Butter, organic milk, cottage cheese, deli counter turkey, yougurt, fat free CoffeeMate, Tropicana not from concentrate orange juice...they even had a coupon for $4 off a bottle of wine from a local vineyard. Sure there's not a lot of convenience foods but I have a crock pot and most of it IS quick to fix. So I get up to the check out counter...they were giving 10% off the total to everyone with a club card and I had a $10 off coupon if I spent over $50, plus an extra 3% off for using my cloth bags (take that Algore)...and there's this unkempt, DUmpy chick with a sour expression and one of those gypsy style skirts that were popular back in the 60's standing with this grey-haired dude with a pony tail and beard (probably her life partner). They were whining and moaning about how expensive everything was. Well no wonder...frozen pizza (not the cheap kind, mind you but the self-rising kind), organic frozen vegetarian dinners consisting of foods I hadn't even heard of, free range chicken (I almost invited the poor thing out to my farm so she could kill her own chicken...mine ARE free range, after all, but my roosters have never seen a moonbat and I thought they might attack), Earthbound Farms salads, Newman's Own Salad Dressing, Nancy's Yogurt, Tim's Organic Potato Chips...good Lord, they even had organic Cheeto's and 2 packs of cigarettes. The checker tried to tell them if they had a club card they'd be able to save a few dollars but (they seemed pretty agitated at this point) she screeched something under her breath about Bush, spying, and the Jooooos and the old grey pony-tail said something like "Oh, you'd like that...fascist corporate hack working for the man, recording our purchases in some big government database...sorry, dude, I KNOW better!" They grabbed their bags and skulked off, muttering about the terrible Bush economy.
As for me...the bonus at the end was with every $50 purchase I also got 20 cents off per gallon gasoline (my Safeway has a gas station). I filled up my truck, went home, put my groceries away, put the roast in the crock pot, and went outside to work in the yard on this beautiful spring day. Funny thing though, as I was pulling into my driveway, this old Volvo passes by with an "I break for Unicorns" bumper sticker on one side and an "Impeach Bush" on the other. I could swear it was DUmpy chick and pony tail guy arguing back and forth and danged if there wasn't this thick black cloud right over their car that actually seemed to be following them. I was kind of hoping God would come down out of that cloud and they would see the light so I could have my very own bouncy story...but I guess God figured he'd probably get so ticked listening to them bitch he'd blast them with a bolt of lightening and they'd just blame Rove.
Cindie
