Doing the Math with Shop 'n Save's Deals

I've saved a ton of money on groceries by shopping at Shop 'n Save on $10 off $50 Thursdays and taking advantage of Catalina Coupon offers.

A common Catalina offer is to buy $25 of participating products and save $10 on your next shopping trip. This is a 40% savings (before coupons) on any item in the offer. Combine this with saving 20% by shopping Thursday's $10 off $50, and you quickly save 60% on the these products. 60% is before coupons. If you have some great coupons, they almost pay you to purchase the items. And since the products in the offer are usually on sale, you're saving a ton of money.

There are a few things you need to keep in mind to maximize your savings.

1. Spend at least $50 to get the $10 off but, keep your total as close to $50 as possible.


2. Buy at least the dollar purchase requirement. If the offer is buy $25, a $24.99 purchase will not print a Catalina Coupon.


3. If you need to purchase more than the dollar requirement, consider purchasing the offer twice. $20 off $50 is a lot better than $10 off $40.


4. You can roll Catalina Coupons. This is different from Walgreens's Register Rewards. With Catalina's at the grocery store, you can use the Catalina to purchase the offer a second time and still get another Catalina.

I crunched the numbers on this week's ConAgra Catalina Coupon offer I wrote about in Shop 'n Save's deals this week. I calculate the Catalina savings not on my next purchase, but on the products that produce the coupon. Assuming you stay as close as possible to the $50 total purchase and $25 ConAgra purchase, and use the coupons mentioned, here are the net prices for these products:

Healthy Choice - .50
Egg Beaters with Yolk - .20 money-maker
Egg Beaters - .80
Pam - .65
Hebrew National Franks - .46
Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn - .59
Hunt's Snack Pack Pudding or Gels - .40
Van Camps Pork & Beans - .24
Chef Boyardee Pasta, can or microwave - .40
Hunt's Tomatoes - .40
Ro-Tel Tomatoes - .40
Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce - .40
Marie Callender's Pot Pies - .80
Banquet Meals - .40
Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce - .40
Peter Pan Peanut Butter - .80
Kid Cuisine Meals - .80
Hunt's Ketchup - .40

Questions? Leave a commet or email me