More Price Matching

Food Basics Jan 31-Feb 6 
Stewing Beef $2.88/lb
Black Diamond 500g $4.44
Fresh Co Jan 30-Feb 5
Catelli Garden Select sauces 640ml $1
Gay Lea Spreadables 227g $2(coupons and Ch51)
 Gay Lea Real Whipped Cream $2
Tostitos Chips 220g-320g $2
 Tostitos Salsa 394ml - 430ml $2
Coca-Cola or Pepsi 2L $1
Lay's Stax 155-163g $1
Prime Whole Chicken $2/lb
 Highland Farms 31-6
bananas .49/lb
asparagus $1.99/lb
 

Price Matching....No Frills, IGA and Giant Tiger

Lots of deals to Price Match again this week. I will probably need to do several posts in order to touch on all the deals. How's price matching Canada Wide going for you?????
No Frills Jan31-Feb6
10lb potatoes $1.67
Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $2.77/lb
Armstrong Cheese or Saputo 500g $4.33
roma tomatoes .87/lb
pears .87/lb
Unico beans or diced tomatoes 540-796 ml .88
Imperial Margarine 1.36 kg $2.97
Giant Tiger 29-4
bananas .49/lb
IGA 30-5
Mushrooms 227g .99
Broccoli Crowns .99
Green and red cabbage and rutabagas .59/lb
Fresh Chicken breasts $1.99/lb
Fresh Chicken Legs back attached .99/lb
 

Inexpensive Meat Only Till Friday!

This is a good one to price match at Walmart! You'll have to hurry the sale runs until Friday! 
Fresh Pork side Ribs .99/lb 
Chicken Wings $1.69/lb 
Chicken drumsticks $1.69/lb 
Red,Yellow, or Orange Peppers $1.49/lb 
Sweet Onions 3lb bag .99

Stamps on Sale Before the Increase

  The price of stamps is set to significantly rise in the upcoming year. By March 31 stamps bought in a 10 pack will cost $8.50 plus tax. Individual stamps will cost a $1. Even though we mail less and less, we still find we need stamps. How about you? We mail birthday cards, MIRs, and our health plan receipts need to be mailed in, just to mention a few things I can think of off the top of my head.
  This week Rexall is offering stamps at 10% off (starting Friday). When I talked to Rexall they said that all permanent stamps have been taken off the market until stamp prices increase!(However, Shoppers still has them.)  So, if you were to buy non permanent stamps this week a book of 10 would cost you $5.67 instead of $6.30(plus tax). This works out to one free stamp per pack. However, if you could get these as permanent stamps it would save you $2.83 come March 31! Even spending full price on permanent stamps right now will save you $2.20/pack come March 31. 
1. The best deal for your dollar right now would be to be able to get the permanent stamps at 10% off at Rexall. However, this probably isn't possible(check anyway if you are near a Rexall). 
2. The next best deal is to buy the 100 pack at Costco for $59.99(not permanent)this will save you $25.00/100 come March 31. This is going to be some hassle come March 31 when you have to buy $25.00 worth of stamps to bump each .63 stamp up to .85!
3.Buying permanent stamps at Shoppers or wherever you can find them will save you $2.20/10 pack come Mar 31, without the hassle of buying extra stamps and without having to lay out $60. If you do buy these at Shoppers they are not in the post office but at the front tills. Remember to buy a Shoppers gift card getting points on your Optimum card and then paying for the stamps with your gift card.See explanation here.
  Here's a final thought. It might be a good idea to keep the permanent stamps you have now and buy the on sale ones at Rexall to tide you over until the increase. Say a book of 10 .63 stamps will last you till March 31, use them between now and then, keeping your permanent ones for after March 31.

 This may be the last time you can get stamps on sale before the increase.

More Canada Wide Price Matching

Here's a few more flyers for you Walmart price match this week!
Concord Food Centre 24-30 
Broccoli .99
Cantaloupe $1.99
Farm Boy 23-29 
Romaine lettuce .88
Freshco 23-29 
Celery $1
Thrifty Foods 22-28 
Blackberries 170g $1
Green Peppers $1/lb
Sobeys 23-30 
Pork side ribs $1.99/lb
Mourelatos 23-29
Head lettuce .49
Apples McIntosh, empire, spartan .49/lb
Loblaws 23-29
Cucumbers .79ea
IGA 24-30
Oranges .59/lb
Cauliflower $1.69ea
Jean Coutu 23-29
Kraft Peanut Butter 500g $1.99 limit 3
Lalumiere 20-26
Tomatoes .79/lb
Pork Ribs $1.99/lb
Foodland 24-30
Robs $1.97/lb

Canada Wide Price Matching in Pictures

This week's shopping was extra fun as my sister in law joined me. She is awesome to shop with. She's patient and organized! We had a blast!Our teller was Donna, recommended by the floor supervisor. Once again we shut down a till. My sister in law and I had our order very organized. We even arranged it on the belt in order of it's appearance on the list and iPad photos! Donna was so efficient and professional! We heard some talk in the meat department about Walmart not taking flyers that weren't in English. Upon further investigation we learned that Walmart wasn't taking the flyer Seasons as there was a flyer that offered pork ribs for .09/lb!!!!  I kind of figured so when I saw it! Grand total for all the lovely fruits, veggies, chicken, pasta, yogurt and eggs $39.92!!!!
The breakdown:
3 Pasta .98 each
2 Europe's Veg 500 g .99 ea!!!!
3 Bunches of Bananas .39/lb
Grapes .99/lb
Chicken $1.44/lb
6 Tomato Paste .38 ea
2 Salt .50 ea
3 Eggs $1.44 ea
2 Cucumbers .99 ea
6 Yams.38/lb
Cauliflower $1.49 ea
yogurt $1.44
9 Peppers .99/lb
4 Lemons .25 ea
Pineapple $1.44
Romaine .88 ea
Broccoli .99 ea
6 Roma tomatoes .69/lb
Celery .97 ea
This is really helping reduce the cost of groceries! Thanks Lynn for making shopping more fun and organized!!!

Price Match Flyers Jan 23-30

I thought I would get a bit a start on upcoming flyers. Here's what I found so far. 
Super C 23-29 (Montreal)
 Large eggs $1.44
 Danone Yogurt 650-750g $1.44
Chicken Whole Fresh $1.44/lb(3.17kg)
 Pineapples $1.44
Potatoes 10lb $1.44
 
 Starsky 16-29 (Miss,Ont) large cauliflower $1.99
 Farmer Al's Food Market 22-24!
 Mini Black Forest ham .99/lb
Fresh Pork Ham .99/lb
Dinner Ham .99/lb
Fresh Mushrooms $1.49/lb
 Peppers Red Yellow Orange .99/lb  
Atlantic Superstore 23-29
Country Harvest Bread $1.99
 23-25 Pork chops .99/lb 15 lb potatoes $2.99 
 
Maxi 23-29  (Montreal)
Chicken Breasts Skin on $2/lb
 Pork Ribs $2/lb
Minute Maid Juice 4/$2 3lbs Carrots or onions 2/$2
 

Print and Price Match????

So, I have been thinking about this price matching thing, and about how I could make it simple for others to do. I may have stumbled upon something....let's see if it works. If you don't have time to go through the flyers or have a smart phone or tablet, but would be interested in trying this price matching thing, maybe you could print this page? I tried it and it does work. You need to be sure to click on the post title first so that it doesn't print the entire blog! Then you could just take it into the store? As long as you can read the sizes of the items it should work. Here's a few deals from this week. Please note a few end on the 21st!(I don't know when you will get this in your mailbox if you subscribe)
I have just given a small snapshot this week. I am already seeing the flyers for next week in my Rebee app! (Hopefully on Friday I will have a new long list....just a few things I am seeing for next week....eggs, chicken, pineapple and potatoes!)
Jean Coutu 17-23
 Alymer soups 4/$1(not positive that Walmart carries this brand)
Giant Tiger 15-21
Cantaloupes $1.47
Cataldi 16-21
Red globe grapes .99/lb
Iceberg lettuce .99
Nations Fresh Foods 17-23
Fresh Chicken Thighs with back attached .79/lb
Sweet Potatoes .59/lb
Highland Farms 17-23
Broccoli .99
4lb Mac or Red Delicious apples $1.99(.50/lb)
1lb bag of kiwis $1.99
No Frills 17-23
Blackberries 170g $1
Broccoli $1
Grape Tomatoes pint $1
Chunky Soup 540 ml $1
Food Basics 17-23
Lean Cuisine Selections $1.88(CH 51 has $1 cash back)


   

Gluten Free(or not)Sweet and Sour Pineapple Pork

I have been really enjoying using Pinterest as my idea center for menu planning! This past week when I got the Dole pineapples for $1 by Canada wide price matching at Walmart, I was happy to find a yummy stir fry recipe with which to use my pineapple! It's called Sweet and Sour Pineapple Pork,the original recipe is here. All I did was make a few changes....If you've read my blog for awhile, you may remember my husband was diagnosed with celiac disease last summer. This means no gluten..flour..etc. So, I adapted this recipe to make it gluten free. If you don't need to just use the regular flour.
This is now a family favorite! I don't usually have pineapple juice on hand. It just so happens I had bought some at Christmas time! I separated the left over juice(I had one litre to start and froze it  in 1 1/3 cup portions so that we will have it on hand so I can make this again soon!)

Pineapple Pork
1 small pork tenderloin, cut into large cubes (about 3/4 pound to 1 pound)
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Bob's all purpose gluten free flour
Olive oil, for shallow frying pork

Put the egg, pineapple, salt and flour into a bowl. Whisk combine and set aside.
Pour some olive oil in the bottom of the wok. Heat to 350. Toss pork in the coating, cook in wok in small batches until browned on both sides and cooked, about 3 minutes. Place pork on paper towel.

Sweet and Sour Sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar(or honey)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. molasses
2 tbsp. cornstarch
Whisk to combine and set aside.

Assembly
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 small onion cut up in slices
1 small pepper of whatever color you have, thinly slice
1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks 
Steamed rice
Add 1 Tbsp oil to wok over med heat. Once oil is hot add peppers, garlic, onion and pineapple chunks. Stir fry 2-3 minutes. Add sweet and sour sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until it starts to thicken, about 1-2 minutes. Add pork and heat through.
Serve over steamed rice.

This Week Price Matching at Walmart

Well, another new week of flyers is upon us! I had such fun pouring over them to find the best deals across Canada. Again, I had a great experience, customer service wise. I spoke with the manager in regards to price matching eggs and milk as the brands are all different at different stores. She said no problem, I just needed to buy their main brand, the eggs are Great Value and the milk is Dairyland. This time my teller was Rocelyn who is awesome at her job. 
Below, the first two pictures show all I bought. The second two are just close ups of the meat. I buy for a food coop that's why I have so much. All of this food was $69.93!!! Here's a breakdown of the price I paid and the store I price matched. In brackets is the total price I would have paid at Walmart's price.
Bananas .39/lb(Bonaza Lalumiere) $7.92($46.32)
Cantaloupe $1.47(Giant Tiger)$4.41($8.97)
Honey Dew $1.99(Blue Sky) $1.99($2.99)
Pork ribs .99/lb(Atlantic Superstore)$9.16($46.04)
Chicken Thighs .99/lb(Bonaza Lalumiere)$16.43($52.93) 
Natural Selections Meats 175 g .99(Bonaza Lalumiere)$7.92($46.32) 
Kiwis 6/$1(Bonaza Lalumiere)$1($3.42) 
Eggs 18 $3(Price Chopper)$9($14.91)
Milk $3.99(HMart)$3.99($4.59)
Yams .59/lb(Nations Fresh Foods)$1.84($3.02)
Tomatoes .59/lb(Bonaza Lalumiere)$1.17($1.96)
Gluten Free Catelli Pasta 2/$4(Sobey's)$4($4.94)
I paid $69.93, if I paid Walmart prices I would have paid $236.41.

The chicken thighs pictured above I paid $4.28 instead of $11.04. The pork ribs were $1.65 instead of $8.29!

Update Your Shopper's Profile for 2000 Points

Starting Saturday Jan 18 you can get free points just for logging in and updating your Shoppers Optimum profile. Just go to the Optimum website here . Log in to your account and make sure your address and email are correct. Then enter the code 0114 and you will get 2000 optimum points! We have 4 cards(one for each person in our family, so that's 8000 points!) I like getting the weekly emails from them because the offers personalized to me can be quite good. How much are 2000 points worth? Well, if you wait to cash in until 95000 points are worth $220. Then these points are worth $4.63....not bad for a few minutes work!

Mail in Rebates

There are a few new mail in rebates right now. 
1.The Pepsi Tostitos $20 Super Bowl Coupon Booklet can be printed here. It is a Spend $20 on Pepsi/Tostitos products and get a $20 Coupon Booklet. Purchases must be made between Dec 23,2013 and Feb 9.2014.
2.There is also this one from Activia.The offer is until Feb 10,2014. You attach 5 UPCs from any Activia pack and you get a $10 gift card.
At Superstore in the coupon zone I found these 2. 
3.One is for a free Lysol No Touch hand soap system. You can purchase it anywhere(not just Superstore). MIR is for up to $17.56 to cover cost of product, taxes and postage. This offer is good between Jan 8 and March 31, 2014.
4.Then there's the MIR  for a $10 PC gift card when you spend $30 on the products listed on the form. Offer is good Dec 25, 2013- Jan 24, 2014.  

Canada Wide Price Matching at Walmart

So, here's my report about price matching Canada wide at Walmart. Last night I spent hours pouring over the rebee flyers. I put in my location as Toronto, Ontario and found the selection awesome! I scrolled through the pages and took screen shots of the pages I wanted to price match. I made sure I tapped on the flyer so the name of the store and the date popped up on my iPad(I didn't know it did this...so helpful!). I didn't limit my search to Ontario, I went to big centers across Canada. At first, it was a disorganized mess, but after awhile I figured out a way to keep it neat. I made a written list of all the deals. I included it below for those of you who are a bit strange like me and find this kind of thing fascinating. Allow me a little rabbit trail....our Korean home stay asked me years ago, "Sue, don't you find this annoying????" No, I still don't..this is fun for me! I wanted to be as organized as possible, but I learned of ways to do better next time. 
1) I will write beside the item where it came from. For example: if the ad says from the USA on the ad for grapes I will make note of that so that I can price match without looking it up while at the store.
2) I will figure out the price per kg and write it on my list as the cashier needs that more than price per pound.
3)Someday I might goes as far as organizing my list by the store layout....
When I got to the store I went straight to customer service to confirm what the customer service lady told me on the phone was happening. Customer service knew nothing about price matching Canada wide....that's what I figured....she called her manager. She knew about BC wide price matching, but was unaware of Canada wide price matching. She called her manager. She was very pleasant, by the way. It was confirmed. Now, I have jumped through grocery hoops long enough to know that that's not where it ends! I asked the manager how the teller would know to do it. She said to use her name, Jo, and tell her to shut down her till and only serve me! When I was finished shopping, Jo just happened to be by the tills and directed me to a cashier that could handle my situation! The till was shut down and so there was no pressure of people behind me feeling grouchy! Shannon was very professional and kind! She handled the situation like it was nothing! Below are my purchases in pictures. Here's the money tally.
12 Old South frozen orange juice .50 each    $6
2  10 lb bags of potatoes                $2 each     $4
3  2 L Chapman's Ice cream        $2.99 each   $8.97
12 Catelli Spaghetti sauce              $1 each     $12
2 Blackberries 170 g                        $1 each     $2
2 Dole pineapples                        $1 each     $2
2 3 lb bags of carrots                    $1 each     $2 
2 3 lb bags of onions                     $1 each     $2
1 Astro Yogurt                              $1.88 each $1.88
2  Gluten free PF Chips                $1.99 each-.50Ch51  $3.48
1 Hershey's whole nuts                $3.48-$2 coupon-$2CH51=+.52
1 NHL candy cane hockey set     $1 each      $1
4 3 PC Garlic                                .25 each     $1
Broccoli Crowns                            .79/lb         $1.79
2 Green Grapes                            .88/lb          $3.76
1 Celery                                       .99 each        .99
3 Bunches Bananas                     .39/lb          $2.79
2 Stewing Beef                          $2.99/lb       $7.67
1 Chicken Breast Club Pack     $2/lb            $8.19
1 Pork Picnic Roast                    $1/lb          $4.42
1 Pork Tenderloin                        $1/lb         $2.24
3 Breton Gluten Free Crackers   $2 (wrong price so one free) $4
2 Red Cabbage                         .50 each        $1
Grand total $83.06
Will you try it????

50% Off at Value Village and Canada Wide Price Matching at Walmart!

It's 50 % Off at Value Village tomorrow.
Valid in Canadian stores only. Super Savers Club Card required to redeem this offer. Sale excludes new merchandise (red tags), jewelry, books and items tagged housewares or furniture. Not valid with any other coupon or discount. The Super Saver card is free but I think you need to apply for it on-line.
Also, very exciting news...... I was talking with my friend, Lee,
 today and she asked if I knew about Walmart's Canada wide price match guarantee! They will price match any store flyer in Canada! I thought it too good to be true, but she had tried it and it worked. I phoned my Kelowna Walmart and they said yes indeed, they would price match any advertised price in Canada. What is so fun is that they will do it from your smart phone or tablet! So, using the Rebee app is really going to pay off!  I have often looked at No Frills and Sobey's flyers and wished we had those stores in town. This could definitely really help the grocery budget! All it takes is a little patience to flip through those on-line flyers, but after that it's a one stop shop! 
Some highlight deals.....
Blue Sky Market (Toronto, Ontario) bananas .39/lb
Best Value Food Mart(Toronto, Ontario) Pink Lady apples .19/lb!!!!!!
Grade A Seedless green grapes .88/lb!!!!
Nations Fresh Foods(Toronto, Ontario) Red and Savoy Cabbage 2/$1
Fortinos(Toronto, Ontario)Rooster Brand Instant noodles 400g .58
Thanks so much for the tip Lee! I will try it out tomorrow and let you know how it goes

This Week's Sales

This week there are some deals to help you slash your grocery budget!
 Safeway
 3 Day Sale
 Pork Ribs $1.99/lb(this is one of my PC plus items so I will price match at Superstore and save .20/$1 spent)
 Bananas .60/lb
 Be sure to check your PC plus items before you shop. I am finding mine to be more and more tailored to what we buy!
 At Superstore
3 Day sale
PC Cheese bars $4.77 for 500g limit 4
 6 Pita  $1 limit 4
 Bag of 4 green or red peppers 2/$3
 All Week
 Extra Lean Ground Beef $2.88/lb(limit 4)
 Club Pack Celebration Nut mix 1Kg $6.48(limit 4) I used to love having this on hand but unfortunately it all has wheat added last I checked!
 NN Beans or Chickpeas 540ml 5/$4(.80 each)
 NN Club Pack Frozen Vegetables 2Kg $3.68 (limit 2)
Andy Boy Romaine $1.96 as shown below. If you use the Cart Smart app they are offering $1 off this romaine. That makes it .96 for 3 romaine hearts!

Fresh Fruits and Veggies for Healthy Eating!

I've said it before, I'll say it again....I love that we have access to fruits and veggies at good prices year round here in the Okanagan! Here are the deals for Quality Greens and Lakeview Market. Time for some healthy eating after all that Christmas sugar!

The Other Money

I thought we needed a happy sunny picture!
I hope you had a great Christmas!
Happy 2014!
I am part of a forum called The Other Money.The Other Money is money that comes from a source or sources other than your regular income. It has inspired me to do better with keeping track of my Other Money. You might be surprised to find all the different areas you can make money. I thought I'd share mine for 2013.
Shopper's Points $767.92 worth of free stuff(spent $454.53)
MBNA cash back $600(2% on gas and groceries 1% on everything else)
Sold stuff on castanet $386.16
Checkout 51 $362.25 cash back (I haven't done a good job of blogging the deals but I am still using this app regularly)
Mail In Rebates $326.57
PC Points $280
Gas Bucks $128.75
Air Miles cash $80(used for gas at Shell)
Costco rebate $15.55
Scene card 2 free movies
That's a grand total of $2947.20!
Where does your Other Money come from?