well, since i have about 20 minutes until i get the girls from school and prepare them for girl scouts, i just thought that i'd make a list for my readers who are interested in saving some money.
because i have already tried these items (and my taste buds are on POINT, meaning that if something is nasty i'll be honest about it and if i say it's good you can trust me on it), you'll be taking much less of a risk when you shop.
in my part of the country, these are the stores that i shop at regularly: shoprite, pathmark, extra supermarkets and rite aid. so if you don't shop at any of these stores, then this little blog won't aid you at all, unfortunately.
but if you do shop at any of these stores, you're in for a treat.
ok. first, i have noticed that as far as brand names go, pathmark has by far surpassed the competition concerning taste, quality, and packaging of their products. so about 50% of the items i buy are pathmarks namebrand, which USED to be pathmark until about 2 months ago. A&P food chains have brought out pathmark, so although pathmark will retain it's name, it's brand is now America's Choice. which is still the same item, simply packaged under a new name.
some pathmark brand items i do NOT leave the store without because their quality and/or taste is just as good, if not better than, and save big bucks over versus the big name brands:
light bulbs (1.00 for a 4 pack versus GE @ 3.00 for a 4 pack)
syrup (2.50 for 36 ounces versus aunt jemima @ 4.49 for 36 ounces)
pancake mix (1.69 for 1 box versus aunt jemima @ 3.79 for 1 box)
spring water (2.79 for 3 gallons versus poland spring @ 5.00 for 3 gallons)
now. shoprite has a disgusting tasting storebrand, so i refuse to purchase ANYTHING by shoprites brand unless it is their canned goods. their Can-Can sale is unbeatable. i usually pay on average 1.00 for 3 cans of vegetables...the cheapest in the city. HOWEVER, shoprites prices on NAMEBRAND items cannot be beat. on average, without a sale, their items are priced anywhere from 5-10% cheaper than pathmark or any other grocery chain. that adds up to big bucks when you don't have coupons or sales going on.
now extra is a store only found in the northeastern part of the country, namely nj and ny. i go there and get all of my meats because they are good cuts and fresh. and most of all, they are affordable. now extra's store brand is Parade. i have nothing but good things to say about Parade products--they are of a great quality. some parade brand items that i buy regularly are (and yes--they save me tons of money and are just as good, if not better than, their namebrand competitors):
waffles (1.00 a box compared to eggo @ 3.50 a box)
peanut butter (2.29 a jar compared to JIF @ 3.79 a jar)
frozen vegetables (1.39 a bag compared to Birdseye @ 3.99 a bag)
now i have to add as also, that extra here in my city sells alot of ethnic foods, especially for hispanic and carribean cuisine. so they also carry alot of ethnic names such as goya, iberia and vitaroz. i LOVE iberia's snack crackers...they are better than ritz (1.09 per box of 4 packs compared to ritz 4.19 per box of 4 pack), and i only buy vanilla wafers from vitaroz because they taste great(.99 per box compared to nabisco @ 3.99 per box). now goya i'm not too thrilled about because goya has decided that they were going to up their prices since they are so popular. but when i do purchase from goya, i love their spices...which you can grab on a good sale for about 60% off the regular price. not only that, but extra sells Malt-O-Meal cereals, which my kids LIVE by. they are about 65% cheaper than any name brand cereal and they are JUST AS GREAT TASTING--i PROMISE. my kids wouldn't eat them if they weren't. i buy by the bag their cinnamon toast crunch (2.99 for 24 ounces compared to General Mills @ 6.49 for 24 ounces), their fruit loops (2.99 for 24 ounces compared to Kelloggs @ 4.79 for 24 ounces), their honey nut cheerios (2.99 for 24 ounces versus General Mills @ 4.79 for 24 ounces) and their apple jacks (2.99 for 24 ounces versus Kelloggs @ 4.79 for 24 ounces).
on to rite-aid. alot of people do not believe that rite-aid offers anything of value, but for the coupon savvy person, rite-aid offers many things for free. the only irritating thing about rite-aid is that because they are in the speciality of drugs and not groceries, you have to catch their sale on the day the sale starts if you don't want to be waiting for 4 months for another shipment of that item to come in. rite-aid has EXCELLENT sales weekly, but they are only truly excellent if you have accompanying coupons. if you have a coupon (or a ton of them like i do), rite-aid will happily give you for free the following items (these are things i never pay for--well except tax and that's 0.03):
colgate toothpaste (3.49 reg.)
lady speed stick 24/7 (3.49 reg.)
irish spring 3 pack (3.49 reg.)
bic ink pens 10 pack (3.00 reg.)
these are items i get a real steal on with coupons:
softsoap handsoap: .75
iams dog food (8 lb. bag): 3.00
G.U.M. toothbrush: .50
always pads: 1.00
tampax tampons: 1.75
friskies cat food: .15 per can
so the tips i can offer today for those living in the NE part of the country, namely NY, NJ, CT and the surrounding states are:
1. pathmark for their store brand items--excellent quality and excellent pricing compared to name brand items.
2. shop rite for their name brand items and their storebrand vegetables. do not purchase shoprites storebrand for anything else unless you like a chemical or greasy aftertaste in everything you eat.
3. extra for their meats and their ethnic items and their bagged cereals...especially the Malt-O-Meal brand.
4. rite-aid for their super sale items (which are usually priced at 1.00 for alot of great things) with coupons. although the coupons don't usually double, if the item is very cheap and the coupon is a good one...you're getting it free (colgate palmolive ALWAYS have coupons for 1.00 off an item and rite-aid sells those items for 1.00).
i will post more later but the girls are home now and it's time for Mommy Duty. LOL.
enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment