Harris Teeter Shopping Trip for a Turkey

I was on search for a turkey deal but there weren't that many good ones available this year and I felt like they took longer to come out.  Sadly there weren't a lot of deals this year but I wanted to get a turkey to have for Christmas dinner.  I know from the last three years that the only deals for turkeys were around Thanksgiving and then you see only deals on hams through the rest of the year.  I dislike ham a lot!!!  We usually do a turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas but this year we are not going to be a chicken for Thanksgiving since it is going to be just the immediate family and I didn't have a chicken either.

I had a rain check to get whole chickens for $0.69 per pound (limit 4 chickens) and another one for $0.99 per pound (limit 3 packages) for split chicken breasts which I was planning on using so that I would get my total up high enough to only need a few more things in order to get to the minimum $40 order before turkey in order to get the turkey on sale for $0.57 per pound.   I added up the cost of the chicken items and it was a little under $30 so I was pretty close to getting the turkey sale price.  I also had one rain check left for the Dixie Crystals sugar for $1.87 and there was a printable coupon so it was $0.37 for the 4 pound bag.  I wasn't sure if the $40 total needed to be before or after coupons and in my excitement, I went a little over board!

We were totally out of turkey lunch meat so that was first on my list to get. The Oscar Mayer had a $1 coupon on the front of it and it was $0.50 cheaper then the Land O Frost so I bought two of them and one Land O Frost because it had a longer date so it should make us through all of December but I am not holding my breath.

There was a deal on the Kashi Go Lean cereal on my evic specials so I got two limit $1.97 and used the $1 printable coupon off each plus got the $1 evic zvr coupon so they were $0.47 each.  A super good deal on a really expensive cereal so I was excited to get something special for myself since no one else eats that around here.

I grabbed the Tetley tea which after coupon was $0.29 per box.  I also got a total impulse and not necessary biscuits (two packages in case you can't see them) because I had the $1 coupon so they were only $0.50.  My rule is usually that we don't buy biscuits unless they are free or a money maker but I really wanted to make doughnuts while my husband is home for his mini-vacation so I guess we will be making them now that I splurged.

My second splurge was the Werther's carmels which I really didn't need but I thought would be good to make some blondie brownies that my mom found a recipe for so we will see if they stick around long enough to be used for the brownies or if they are eaten instead.

I don't know if you can tell but I was up and down aisles as things occurred to me and didn't really do the best job and getting things in order but I got everything in the cart and still had a few coupons to spare so I added a few freebies that I had on my list like the Mentos gum, Kikkoman soy sauce, Molly McButter and the Diamond Crystal Sea Salt.  On the way down one of the aisles, I saw the yogurt I needed for my son because he declared that morning that he didn't like blueberry yogurt and only liked strawberry which we were totally out of so in the cart and it was on sale and there was a coupon so it was only $1.

Then, I went down the aisle to get the Angel Soft tissues and the Kleenex (because it was supposed to print a catalina for $1.50 off my next order).  I realized that I had 19 coupons that doubled and only one coupon left to use so I added the Cottonelle to my cart which had the cart piled to the top and I was started to get a little afraid but I made my last stop to pick up the Harris Teeter and Vintage seltzer because they were under $0.20 each.....probably didn't need 5 bottles but I was already over board.

Total OOP $62.17- $2.53 cash back for missing catalina and zvr coupon= $59.64

Total Savings $92.48 + $19.01 chickens + $20.29 split chicken + $3.64 Dixie Crystals +2.53 Cash= $137.95

This might be the most that I have saved in a long time without super doubles or triple (maybe even with them) but I got a lot of great deals and although it was an overwhelming trip with so much to plan for and so many things to get.  I had the great use of three rain checks to get my total to what I needed for the turkey sale.  It did save me an additional $5.70 to spend the total and get the turkey for Christmas but I think that I might have still gone a little overboard.  Especially because I didn't have that much left in the budget and we did need milk, pepperoni and some more Cranberry Juice to finish out the month.  I guess we will see where this month ends up :)