Learned a bit more about Meijer store policies…I already knew that if a shelf tag read “price drop” you were not able to get a rain check on that item.  Now I learned that only items appearing in the sale flyer are eligible for rain checks; which means all those 50% off sales popping up aren’t going to do you any good if/when they don’t have the item in stock.

Case in point, today:  No Bestlife buttery spread (don’t ask and I won’t tell), no pancake mix on shelf (associate found one case in back), no Nivea (although I could have gotten a rain check on these, didn’t bother) and only a few of the Frying’ Magic (or Bakin’ Miracle) breading mixes with the .75 peelies.  Also no Purina chew sticks (at .96 with a $4/4 mfr coupon).

Ended up getting 28 Mentos gum which is not even for me (Rachel, of Mashupmom infamy is an addict – hey, rachel, when did I turn into your bitch?  Oh, right, you will whine “But I never asked you to get them for me!”  Just kidding here folks, I love Rachel, she’s my bud (at least until she pays me back for the high tax) and this is not the forum to defend other sites/people.  Not likely that those worshippers with the Jill Cataldo home altars will be checking out deranged.me.

To recap:  28 Mentos ($1/1 q 10/3 S); 12 pancake mix ($.25/1 hangtag on 8 bottles and four $1/3 Meijer Mealbox coupons); 6 Fryin’ Magic ($.75 peelies and two $1/3 Meijer Mealbox).  Note that they still have a few boxes on the breading mix on the shelf, but these did not have the .75 peelies, so even at 50% off, it wasn’t that great a deal.  Using only Mealbox coupons you’d pay about .64/each box, less for each peelie you can find.

My total OOP was $3.06, of which $2.46 was tax; $2.36 was GUM TAX.  I consider gum part of a food group, why can’t the legislators?  Oh, right, if they had their way, they’d consider bread, milk and eggs as high tax items.  I honestly don’t mind paying high taxes since I know they will spend my money in a responsible and judicious manner. snort!

Many, many thanks to all those posters who contributed to these deals:  CW, The Coupon Artist, Meijer Madness.