King Soopers deals: January 28-February 3

Here’s some good-to-great deals that I see at King Soopers this week:

Strawberries $.99 (16 oz) – No clue where they’re picking these strawberries from right now, but this is a fantastic, buy-alot-and-freeze-them type of price.

Cameo Apples or Rio Star Grapefruit $3.99 (8 lb bag) – A good price for fruit at just under $.50/lb.

Kiwi, buy one get one free – They’re $.59 each, so that would mean you’d get two for $.59 with this sale.  I never see kiwi on sale so this is a decent price (my store actually had them marked 4/$1 as an in-store special last weekend).

Hillshire Farm Cocktail Smokies $2.50, buy two and get a FREE Hillshire Farm Cooked Links – Use $1/2 coupon to get two packages of Smokies for $4 total and get the Cooked Links free.

This is where I give you a little of my super-secret grocery shopping strategy: my rule of thumb for shopping at stores like King Soopers is that I need to save 50% off their every day price to meet or beat WalMart’s every day price on equivalent non-perishable grocery items.  (Though not always, often a little more than half-off of King Sooper’s every day price on a name brand beats even WalMart’s store brand price.)

So, when I’m looking at the grocery ad, I like to make note of what it says below the item description – it often says “save up to $x.xx with card” which gives me a clue what their regular price is.  In the above case of Cocktail Smokies, it says “Save $2.19 each with card” so I know that a price of $2.50 minus $.50 of manufacturer’s coupons is even more than 50% off their every day price – plus you get the Cooked Links free!

BallPark Meat Franks $2.50 – Use $1/2 to get for $2 each when you buy two. You should be able to get these cheaper during summer BBQ sales.

Pepsi 2 liters $.88 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only) – I’m a Dr. Pepper fan, in case you ever need to know that. :)

Colorado Proud Milk $2.49/gallon – This is the every day price, but it’s the lowest in town. (WalMart’s Great Value milk was over $3 last time I checked.)

I didn’t do a very thorough job of reviewing the Mega Savings event last week, so I added more items that weren’t included in the ad last week and also added coupons from last Sunday’s paper.  Remember that just because something is included in the event doesn’t make it a good deal – the promo is buy 10 items save $5 which is a discount of $.50 per item.  That’s a good discount on a $1-2 item but not on a $4-5 item, which is why I didn’t even mention some items.

*Quoted prices are after the $5 discount for purchasing 10 items.  You can mix and match items to get to 10.

Pace Salsa $1.49 – Use recent $.50/1 coupons to get this for $.49 each.

Kleenex Facial Tissue $1.09 – This does include Kleenex with lotion, for which there was a $.40/1 coupon awhile back – so for Kleenex with lotion only, it’s $.29.  For other varieties, you could use $.50/3 and get them for $.76 each… Not rock-bottom for me, but still a good price and maybe the best you’ll see for awhile. (I try to hit the after-Christmas clearance on tissues and we just use Christmas Kleenex all year long!)

Fiber One or Nature Valley Granola Bars $2.19 –  You can use $.50/1 to get these for $1.19.  My target price for granola bars is $.50/box so this is not a good price for me; however, there are Shortcuts and CellFire coupons that you can use along with the manufacturer’s coupons to get the price down a little farther.

Nabisco Snack Crackers $1.99 – Use $2/2 coupon from Sunday’s insert to get Wheat Thins or Triscuit for $.99.  There are also $1/2 coupons out, but I don’t think $1.49 is that great of a price.  Note: cheaper @ Safeway this week.

Rotel Tomatoes $.49 – We didn’t get any coupons for this in our local papers, but I think there were some put out in other regions of the country that would make this free.  Pretty sure it still beats WalMart’s price even without coupons.

Hormel Chili $.49 -Use $.55/2 to get two FREE.

Ken’s Dressing $1.49 – Use $1/1 coupons to get for $.49.

Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese $.79 – Rock-bottom price even without coupons.

Juicy Juice $1.99 – Use $1/1 to get for $.99.  Not a stock-up price for me, I just got this for $.50 at Safeway a few weeks ago.

French’s Mustard $1.19 – Use $.50/1 to get for $.19.  I personally wouldn’t pay for mustard since you should be able to get it free during summer bbq sales.  However, there might be a surprise catalina for $1 off your next order that will print out when you purchase two, so then you’d actually make money on it (assuming you had two $.50/1 coupons to use).  I’ll let you know if I hear that it’s working.

Kraft Mayo $2.49 – Use $.75/1 coupon to get for $1.49

Kraft Velveeta $4.38 – Use $1 insert coupon or printable to get this for $3.38

Heinz Ketchup $1.49 – I *think* I’ve gotten this cheaper during the summertime, but picnic supply-type sales are still a couple of months away so I’ll replenish my stash with enough to last until then since we’re brand-loyal on ketchup.

Orville Redenbacher’s Microwave Popcorn $1.69 – Use $1/2 to get this for $1.19 each. Not sure if this is a stock-up price or not.

General Mills Chex Mix $1.69 – Use all of those $.50/1 Chex Mix coupons that are cluttering up your coupon organizer to get these for $.69.  Check for Shortcuts or CellFire coupons, too.

Green Giant Steamers $1.09 – Use $1/1 or $.50/1 to get these for $.09! (Albertson’s puts these on sale for $1 every couple of months and then you can get them for free, but they always run out and it’s a pain to remember to redeem rainchecks. I’ll pay nine cents and save a trip to a different store!)

Kraft Cheese $1.49 – Finally, a sale on name-brand cheese! This is a great price. I usually buy cheese at Sam’s, but this is a better deal: store-brand mild cheddar is $2.45/lb at Sam’s, and name-brand cheddars go up from there. Some stores may have blinkie coupons somewhere in the cheese area to make this even sweeter (there’s some for $.75 off Kraft 2% cheese at some Safeway stores if you’re stopping in there), and I know a few recent magazines have had coupons for Kraft cheese.

No. Clue. How you’re supposed to get started?  I wrote a King Soopers Lowdown post that should answer some of your questions, and there’s a few more tips in the Strategy category.  Keep reading; I’m explaining more of my strategy as I go along!