Kimberly-Clark $25 gift card fiasco

Hey, my mom got one of those Jewel cards – postage was $5.54.  Multiply that by the 600 cards that were mailed out:  $3,324.  Which means they could have pissed off 133 fewer people had they used regular mail.  just sayin…

By now you’ve all read about the incredible spend $25 (no coupons) get a $25 Jewel gift card deal that wasn’t…All the promotion and in the Jewel Spotlight for a deal that only started with 600 gift cards!  Well, 1700 people sent in their receipts, which makes for 900 losers.  i’m one of them… Actually, I only know one person who received a card.

I called Kimberly-Clark to complain about this rip-off and in yesterday’s mail I received a letter of apology and four $5 coupons.  Would much preferred the gift card, of course, but it was at least a nice gesture.

I’ve been reading that more cards are showing up in the mail.  Not Jewel gift cards, but $25 American Express cards.  which we can then use at Dominicks.  hahahahahaha cough, cough, cough

Jewel freezer preview complete list (whew!)

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I’ve received many questions about the time the freezers will be available for purchase.  This varies with each store, but fact is that even if the freezers are available for sale, the coupon envelopes are stored separately (since they are considered cash) in the Coop, the bottom drawer of the safe.  This drawer is automatically locked between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am (in my store, others vary).  NO ONE, not even the store director can access that drawer until the timing mechanism allows.  So please call your stores and not only ask about the time, ask when the coupons will be available.  your stores thank you…

UPDATE:  Here is the complete list of freezer coupons from the $160 deal at Jewel on the 27th.  The way it works is you buy your freezer at the register and the cashier notifies CS to bring over the envelope.  At this point you can either take the freezer and coupons and head on home or, if you are planing on redeeming all the coupons at once:  Fill up the cart with all your “free” items, then stop at the CS desk and tell them you are using all your freezer coupons.  This will allow them to dedicate one cashier to your check-out, as it normally takes about 45 minutes to complete the order.  Your Jewel peeps will thank you.  Any mistakes on this list are purely mine because I’ve just realized that I seem to have lost the ability to type error-free…

FREE up to $7.99 on any President Specialty Cheese.
Save $5 off any Artic Shores Shrimp 2-lb bag
FREE up to $5 on any 1 pk of Energizer Max brand batteries (sizes AA/AAA-4, C/D-2, 9v-1)
FREE up to $5.99 Kitchenmate Ice Cream Scoop 1 count
FREE up to $10.49 Sylvania 13 watt CFL 3 pack
FREE up to $4.69 Betty Crocker Parlor Perfect topping 9 oz.
FREE up to $6.99 any one 1.75 quart Blue Bunny premium ice cream
FREE up to $9.99 one Hormel Snack Tray
FREE up to $3.99 McCain Purely Potatoes, good on any one McCain Purely Potatoes
FREE up to $4.99 Culinary Circle cake:  Chocolate Molten; Caramel Blossom; Pineapple Upside Down
FREE up to $6.99 any one Galbani fresh mozzarella product
FREE up to $5.49 one Fisherboy item 9 oz or larger

The following are the new additions:

FREE up to $1.50 Jose Ole Burrito or Chimmichanga 5 oz
FREE up to $3.49 one package of Kelloggs Eggos Waffles any flavor 5.3 oz or larger
FREE up to $2.29 any one variety of Old Orchard 12 oz frozen juice concentrate
FREE up to $3.29 any Rhodes warm and serve rolls
FREE up to 2.39 any one package of Pict Sweet deluxe steamables
FREE up to $4.79 Gino’s East single serve flatbread pizza 7.1 oz to 7.25 oz
FREE up to $2.99 Reames flat egg noodles 12 oz package
FREE up to $9.99 Uno deep dish or flatbread pizza
FREE up to $2.99 Floresta frozen pasta 11-13 oz
FREE up to $6.99 1.5 quart of Dean’s churn ice cream (BOGO 2/24-3/2)
FREE up to $3.99 One On-Cor Entree 28-32 oz
FREE up to $2.69 Hot, Lean, Croissant or Side Pocket 2-4 ct, 6.5 to 11 oz
FREE up to $3.99 WW Smart Ones Breakfast Item
FREE up to $4.49 Ore-Ida Sweet Potato Fries Product 19 oz
FREE up to $3.99 Lean Cuisine Casual Cuisine Spring Rolls 8 oz
FREE up to $8.49 Palermo’s pizza hand-tossed style or naturally rising (BOGO 3/31-4/6)
FREE up to $3.99 Orv’s Tasty Topping Pizza 15.8-17.1 oz
FREE up to $2.29 any flavor Totinos pizza rolls 15 ct
FREE up to $3.49 DiGiorno small pizza or flatbread melt 5.9 to 10 oz
FREE up to $6.99 Home Run Inn 12″ ultra thin or 10″ classic pizza 16.5 to 20 oz
FREE up to $6.99 Breyer’s Ice Cream 48 oz
FREE up to $2.79 Kid Cuisine Entree

Note:  All coupons show expiration dates of May 31, 2011.

Goddess Gourmet

A friend once gave me a small sign which read:  “If we are what we eat, then I’m either cheap, fast or easy.”  I’ll take all the above, Alex.

In keeping with that sentiment, I’m going to show you what we’re having for dinner tomorrow.  Within the past six months or so, Jewel has started having a clearance meat section.  This is probably the only decision of old Craig’s with which I heartily concur.  The three packages of country ribs and one steak cost (after clearance stickers) less than ten bucks.  The country ribs have already been dumped into the slow cooker, together with some free barbeque sauce, some Hunts diced tomatoes, Wesson oil and a large onion.  ETA tomorrow (on low heat).  Tonight’s meal is tacos, using leftovers from a  clearance pork loin, slow cooked to fall apart.

For me, it’s easier to run meals this way than picking up something to go.  And if PITA and THE BOY want snacks, well, luckily we have a full basement of Fresh Mixers from Jewel and Smart Ones from Target.

Sundrop giveaway

heard a rumor, so naturally had to stop my freezer coupon update and drive over to confirm.  And it’s true!  On Saturday, February 26th only, Jewel will be handing out 2L bottles of Sun Drop, a citrus soda from 7Up, which will be free after coupon (attached to the bottles and/or displays).    While I don’t know the exact number of bottles other stores will be receiving, the store manager at the Lisle Jewel assures me that she will have plenty.

hint:  so if you can’t find any by you, head on over to the store on Rte 53…

Taste my salty nutz?

Well of course I’m talking about the great deal on Fisher nuts at Jewel.  What did you think I was talking about?   what! pervs…

Picked up another 9 packages of the Kraft string cheese (they had mozzarella and twists) for $2.74 each.  I’ve told the Lisle Jewel to stock up on the Fisher nuts because the price is just fantastic:  2/$5, less the $1 coupons in 2/13 S for 10 oz cans.  So you see pictured here 9 cheese and 10 cans of nuts.  I’ll return tomorrow with the Fischer coupons and pick up some more cans.  The total was $40.53, but I used three of the Con-agra cats, leaving me with the ability to use nine coupons.

Note: Beware of the smoked and the cinnamon sugar almonds:  they are an unmarked clearance, ringing up at $3.99 which is more than the sale price.

New Jewel coupon booklet

This is what the new $10 coupon booklet from Jewel looks like.  I’m too lazy to type out the various coupons, especially since MUM has done such a bang-up job of it.   Expiration dates range from 4/11 to 5/31/2011.  now to put them in my cool new holders…

Jewel clearance

Peeps have been asking me how I’m going to use up the rather sizable number of Con Agra cats I’ve accumulated (remember, I was rolling the expiring Neuragen RRs).  Trust me, it’s easy!  During a quick wt reconnaissance at Jewel, I came across these Kraft Twists for $2.74.  Picked up eight and lo and behold, there were $1/1 coupons in the 1/23 S.  So paid $1.74 for each and used up a cat.

Note: These are not manager’s special clearances, but the orange tag ones that should mean chain-wide clearance.  Check your local Jewel to see if they’ve been marked down yet.  Each store runs clearance on a different day/night, but usually all within a few days.  Expiration dates have been March 19 and March 26, 2011.

Jewel tripping

Before I start on my pictured deal, I want to make sure that everyone has been able to get their stockpiles filled.  My Lisle Jewel on Rte 53 has stocked up on all the best Con Agra products (well, for our purposes, anyway!).  The end caps are filled with Wolf chili and Healthy Choice soup in addition to the regular shelf spot.  They also have Pam, Swiss Miss, Hunts snack packs, Snapple 6 pks and Peter Pan pb.

Pictured here are three transactions broken down as follows:

One:  2 Wolf chili 1 Poppycock, 1 Snapple, 4 Swiss Miss.  $1 Snapple coupon, $3 wt and $10 RR.  OOP .52 and got $10 cat.

Two: 1 Snapple, 5 Gulden’s spicy brown mustard, 4 Swiss Miss.  $1 Snapple coupon $3 and $10 RRs.  OOP .52 and got $10 cat.

Three: 1 Snapple, 2 Wolf chili, 1 Poppycock, 4 Swiss Miss. Used $1 Snapple coupon,  .75/2 Wolf’s chili coupon, $3 and $10 RRs.  OOP $2.77 and got $10 cat.

DH sees the pile on the dining room table and says “Ah, jeez, more Swiss Miss?!”  I actually wanted to roll some RRs that were expiring today.  Even though there weren’t coupons out on the mustard, it’s the kind of thing that it makes sense to stock up on when it’s a deal.  Like mustard is ever going to go bad…

Another quick Jewel run

Honestly!  I was on my way to somewhere else, when I said to the PITA “Let’s just run in to Jewel for few quick cats.”  and so we did. Ran 4 con-agra cats, then remembered that the Nature’s Farm milk goes off BOGO on the 13th, so figured I’d throw four of those in as well.  Here’s what I got:  20 boxes Swiss Miss (.36); 4 Nature’s Farm (.14); 8 Wolf chili and 24 cans of Hunts tomatoes ($4.45).  So total OOP was $4.95.  Actually, on one of the chili cats, I was at $3.45 and was planning to just pay with cash, but the cs person was horrified.  “You can’t pay money; use up one of your Register Rewards!” so I did… apparently I have a reputation to defend.

Jewel quick run

Had to make sure “my” Jewel had enough of the free Swiss Miss, so did a quick run – picked up a few items…OK, so I ran four transactions.  Boom, boom, boom, as follows:  3 runs of 10 Swiss Miss – so 30 boxes (no coupons); 12 cans of Wolf Chili (.75/2 1/23 s), 2 Garden Delight pasta and 3 Sobe (free coupons for all).  Kept exchanging the $10 Neuragens with 2/13 exp dates for the Con Agra cats with 2/24.  Also felt a couple of the Kraft food & family coupon booklets fall into my purse.  Not such good coupon values, but the expiration dates are 12/31/2011.

Total OOP was $1.74.  Just think of how much better I’d do in a state with no food tax (and palm trees out my windows)…

The Jewel on Rte 53 in Lisle has, at present, 15 cases of Swiss Miss and can get more in quickly, so if you’re not finding it by you, please stop in and stock up.  They’ve also got lots of the Wolf Chili.  The chili without beans actually has a higher ring price, but since my family would be horrified at the thought of it, the regular had to do…