Safeway’s Sunday flyer: how much are the FREE in-ad coupons worth?

There was a Sunday flyer from Safeway in yesterday’s paper with some coupons for free products with a minimum purchase!  I thought I’d break these coupons down to see how much they’re really “worth” to a couponer and sale shopper since, even though the product is “free”, they required a $50 minimum purchase to redeem.

Your total after Safeway discounts and store coupons must be $50, but you can use manufacturer’s coupons to bring your total down further.

Here are the coupons:

• Free Jennie-O Turkey Store 85% Ground Turkey, 16 oz chub
• Free American Beauty Pasta, 16 oz
• Free Fresh Express Garden Salad, 12 oz
• Free Kraft Salad Dressing, 14-16 oz

I’d place the approximate maximum values on these free items as follows (based on previous sales cycles):

• 1 lb ground turkey = $2
• 1 lb pasta = $1
• salad = $1.50
• Kraft salad dressing = $1.50

Overall, I’d say these “Free” in-ad coupons are worth about $6 max, and if you regularly use coupons, you know that those values are on the high end of the spectrum – we can get these items for cheaper with the right sale and coupons!

So, if you’re going to spend $50 at Safeway on items that are already a good deal, then it’s a great time to use these in-ad coupons to get products for free – but, they’re probably not worth enough on their own to spend $50 just to get free stuff.

There’s also some more coupons in the back of the Sunday flyer that are good through next Sunday – looks like good prices on Garnier Fructis hair care and Lysol disenfecting wipes, and those coupons only require a $10 minimum purchase. Here’s the rest of Safeway’s deals that are good through Tuesday.