Okay, I’m the kind of person who always checks things out and I’ve now gone to other Jewels – they do NOT have the black dot on the Nabisco to-go shelf tags and I’ve had two asst store mgrs check their “books” or whatever it is they call it where they order from.  The to-go Nabisco products show as active, not discontinued.  I will be meeting with the Lisle people tomorrow, straightening this all out.  If it’s an active item, we will all be able to benefit.

Another Jewel that encourages special orders is the Lombard Jewel on Roosevelt.  The asst mgr I spoke with said that they deal with many organizations that place large orders.  I reminded him that our orders always include coupons and his response?  That’s fine, we get reimbursed for all those.  So coupon-friendly and willing to take special orders?  Oh, and they also prefer that you pay upfront for those special orders.  It’s a hat trick, I tells ya!

So we wait until tomorrow and I’ll see what transpires – – or I’ll have the warehouse make a direct drop to my basement…

A reader tried this at Dominicks:  It didn’t work, but that was okay because they only had expired product on the shelf…

The $4 catalina promotion is still working on the to-go cups of Chips Ahoy.  Although I “knew” that the other varieties wouldn’t work (Oreos, Teddy Graham & Nutter Butter), I tested it justincase.  Nope.  The good news is that it’s still working – the bad news is that this is a black dot item – in other words, the shelf tags have black dots on all the Nabisco to-go items, indicating that they are being discontinued by Jewel.

The national catalina promotion for Chips Ahoy (Buy 1 get $1…) is working on the little to-go cups. And since the little cups are $1, you are buying four and getting back a $4 cat, which you can roll, since this is Jewel. So you pay food tax on each four. Enjoy!

I had a rain check for 80 of the Better Oats, where the sale and promo brought them down to 75¢ a box before the .75/2 coupon.  I waited a few weeks to redeem these – – until the store cats were a’runnin’. So, since I was ostensibly buying lots of groceries, I was able to use three FREE EE cereal cats, two FREE veggie cats, one $5 off cat, a $2 off bananas cat and a couple of $1 OYNOs that PITA found.  The ham was $13.25, so used the $10 in-ad coupon.  I still have a few of those store cats for more cereal and fruit.  Go PITA!  You don’t see 80 boxes of oatmeal because I’ll wait for it to arrive – Lisle prefers that you pre-pay special orders.

Between all the coupons and cats, I brought the total down over $160 – – ended up paying 86¢ OOP.  (savings of 100%) go Goddess.

Stopped at Starbucks to redeem the $10 Groupon. (Get a $10 Starbuck gift card for only $5 with this Groupon.)  I honestly don’t like SB, but MUM is nuts for the stuff, so I bought this French Roast for her.  There’s a promotion going through Sunday the 24th, where you get a $5 gift card when you purchase one pound of whole bean (the only type they sell – they grind it for you).  Note that the way it works is that you have to actually pick out a $5 card so they can add it to your bill.  The $5 is automatically subtracted by the register and you end up paying $1.95 plus tax.  Not a bad little promo!  Make sure you do this before the end of this weekend or you’ll be SOL.

Here’s a link to the February 2012 list of freezer coupons, if you want to compare – I see the same Better Oats and DiGiorno ones...

Lisle Jewel dropped the price on their chest freezers to $99.99 today – it’s now a great deal, since you’re getting the $200 in FREE coupons and you can turn around and sell the freezer for $100 or $125 easy (I’ve done it!).  Here are the coupons, if you are interested at all.  Note that they all have 6/30/13 expiration dates, so plenty of time to redeem them.  While I have to quibble over their assigned values, I can’t argue against their being worth more that what you’ll pay for them – ZERO.

Today only, you can buy as many Pantene shampoos and conditioners are you can cram into your stockpile and pay only high tax.  How?  I’m glad you asked.  Starting today, Jewel has their Buy $25 and Get a $5 OYNO store catalina promotion going on and Pantene is part of it, selling for $2.99 each.  The February P&G insert that has that lovely Olay coupon also has a $3/2 Pantene products.  You will need eight of these coupons and eight of the BOGO Pantene coupons from that single-page P&G flyer that came in the 2/17 paper.  I prefer to run the two $25 transactions together, so here’s what I did:

8 Pantene shampoo, 8 Pantene conditioner and 1 Crest Pro-Health brings you to $55.06 with high tax and no coupons.  Crest has a 75¢ coupon in the same February insert.  Using the 16 Pantene coupons (as per Jewel coupon policy) and one Crest coupon brings you down to $2.67 plus high tax of $3.72, or $6.39.  Pay and out pops two $5 store cats.  Store cats reduce the taxable amount, so if you don’t have enough coupons to run this multiple times, use the $10 and pay much less in taxes.

Remember, you can always run Jewel deals without any coupons and just return within 60 days with them to get your money back.  Expired by then?  No problem, since they were valid on the date of purchase.  So buy the $3 coupons from WeClipUSave for .07 each – I don’t see the BOGO ones there – and return with cash.  Your $50 purchase also gives you one more nickel towards cheap(er) gas AND you can submit the entire $50 receipt for this P&G $15 MIR.  This is the newest P&G rebate and runs through 4/30.

The Lisle Jewel prefers that you pay for your special orders upfront, which works to our advantage here, since you HAVE to run the deal while the 2/28 coupon is valid!

Picked up ten boxes of the Better Oats that are part of the Buy 10 and get $5 instant savings at Jewel this week.  Use the .75/2 from today’s Smart Source and you’ll get all ten for $3.88.  While I adore FREE, this is something we use almost every day so it’s worth paying less than 40¢ a box.  Lisle Jewel has bumped up their orders, so if you’re looking for any quantity, head on over.

Well you do know it’s us against them, don’t you?  So far I have run approximately 375 Fiber Choice transactions – whew!  Here’s more of what works best for me – and possibly you, too.  Note that the amounts I’ve quoted always include one Fibre Choice (that’s 4¢ tax).

1.    1/2 pound packs of EE butter for $2.12.  You end up spending $1.22 for a pound of butter.  I have a case (36) of unsalted coming in.  Butter freezes incredibly well – probably set for a year.

2.   Bumble Bee solid white albacore tuna with one EE chunk light costs 24¢ for both.  Expiration dates are 12/2017 – seriously, 2017!  Will you not use this product within almost five years?!  I have a few more cases ordered and already paid for.  If we suddenly develop tuna allergies it will all go to a very good cause – our local food pantry.

3.   Lots more stuff added to clearance sections – I found four boxes of Beneful baked doggie treats at a buck each (was $4.39) – there’s a $1 coupon in 2/10 S.  And free works for me (and the dogs, of course!).

4.   If you long to treat your feline to Fancy Feast Appetizers but your budget runs more toward not-so-fancy brands, rejoice!  You have $1.51 in overage and this product is $1.52!  I have quite a few – ahem.

5.  Clorox wipes are 2/$5.  Each one works out to $1.21 (after high tax).  No coupons out there, and it’s something I use all the time.

6.   Lots and lots more 1/2 gallons of EE bleach in various scents.  It’s 31¢ a bottle with tax and since the bottles at my dollar store are no longer gallons, I’m thrilled to get full gallons for 62¢ with tax.

7.   You can buy the DiLussa meats and cheeses and use the $1 coupon in 1/13S.  Make sure to get no more more than 1/2 pound.  If it’s not that important to you, pick up packs of the EE deli-style sliced or chunks cheese for 2/$5.  Works out to be about $1.08 with tax.

8.   I also picked up a few (yes, just three) dozen expensive eggs – makes PITA happy, so why not spend a little extra.  Is it worth it?  Well, we used to raise a few chickens and yes, the difference in quality is apparent.

A quick update on my Jewel-ing so far: Didn’t get home until after 11 last night. 11 pm is the witching hour – anyone running cat deals after that is playing Russian Roulette (that’s when Catalina Marketing starts routine maintenance).  What has worked well so far?

1.   Both the Progresso soups and tuna transactions are a thing of beauty.
2.   Individual Pub Burgers gives you 49¢ burgers.  You’ll pay more for buns!
3.   Butterfly pork chops on sale are great as single chops.  Use this $1 pork coupon to get them even cheaper.  Sign up at the top left and you’ll get a link to coupons.com  – you can print two.
4. Picked up cans of corn, tomatoes, greens – products where there really isn’t that much taste difference between frozen and canned.
5. Lots of Diet Coke and Perrier.
6. My store had a cartload of those big bags of little packets of pistachios they had around Halloween on clearance for 98¢.  Buying two made them 55¢ for both.  Clip the packets and put the nuts in a big mason jar to scoop as wanted.  Much easier. You should check out your clearance section, too. Remember, you can always return with a coupon within 60 days.
7.   LOTS of 1/2 gallon bottles of scented EE bleach. I’m also considering sandwich bags and dish soap and other non-food items.
8.   The fancy boxes of tea (English Breakfast, Chai, etc.) will be about 85¢, a pretty fair price.
9.   Got a few of the smaller (10 ct) packages of hash browns and the EE frozen vegetables that are on sale, since we’re clearing out space in the pizza freezers!
10.  Oooh, I almost forgot! One of the freezer endcaps has clearance lobster and crab bites (three varieties) for $1.99 (down from $5.99!).  Don’t bother looking at Lisle…
11. Keep your eyes open for clearance meat with the $X peelies on them.  You can get some awesome deals this way.
12.  There were EE deli slice of cheddars and jacks on 2/$5, so $1 a package.  $2 a pound is pretty decent!

Ran about a hundred Fiber Choice transactions – – so I have a little idea about possible filler items.

If you like tuna for warm weather salads, use one EE and one Bumble Bee solid white albacore with your one Fiber Choice.  Your OOP will be 24¢.  I did this one an obscene number of times because one tuna salad for my house requires ten cans of tuna alone!  Normal price on the Bumble Bee is $1.89, but it’s on sale for 88¢ this week.  We prefer the chunk light, but they only had the EE water packed – I was able to get the Bumble Bee in oil, so I’ll do a half and half salad.

Sponges are high tax and expensive at 45¢ each.  I stocked up (took 12 in total) because it’s something that won’t go bad and we seem to go through a lot of.  Which I don’t understand because we’re not that clean.

Pub burgers!  Yeah!  Have them wrapped up in singles and you’ll pay 49¢ for each.  and since it’s been some time since a decent wine tag, i’ll take ’em at that price.

Butterfly pork chops work well, too, if you don’t go for the mammoth ones.  Grab a half-pounder and since they’re on sale for $3.99/lb, you’re looking at 50¢ a chop.

I have a bag of Glory brand seasoned collard greens and Glory sensibly seasoned tomatoes & okra – we like greens in this house and the tomatoes & okra will go very well in a gumbo.  Also took a few cans of no-sodium added corn, since EVERYONE likes corn.

The ramen noodles are expensive Annie Chun’s for quick meals – they’re not the dried noodles.

I have more bags somewhere, those with Diet Coke and Perrier.  And heads up:  Perrier is taxed the same as Diet Coke!  That sure throws a monkey wrench into my plan for healthy living…

Well, that’s it – I’m sure you’ll find lots more things to stock your pantry.