Praise Aldi

I haven't been doing too much food shopping lately b/c we had plenty in the stockpile, and then we were out of town for 4 days, so I have been a little behind on things. The only things I bought were produce, and we all know that is something that is hard to find coupons for!
But I finally needed to get some necessities and went to Aldi b/c I know it is an easy place to shop and get great deals without having to organize very much beforehand.
I just want to take a moment to praise all that is Aldi. That place is fan friggin tastic! I can go in there and wander around without a list and buy all kinds of stuff I didn't plan on, and still come out basically unscathed in the wallet department.

Here's what I got:
Hot dog buns .79
Bag of mini bagels 1.89
Fudge stripe cookies 1.09
Bag of frozen salmon patties (4 filets, wild-caught) 3.99
2 bags of deli-sliced cheese (muenster and colby) 1.49 ea.
Real fruit frozen bars (box of 4) 1.99
Multi-grain frozen waffles (box of 8) 1.29
Red grapes (a damn lot of them, and really good ones too!) 2.29
4 pears (pre-packaged) .99
Broccoli crowns (pre-pack) 1.29
3 Zucchinis (pre-pack) 1.29
Bananas (pre-pack) 1.00
64oz 100% apple juice 1.29
Welch's aqua juice 1.99
Gallon skim milk 1.44
100% juice fruit punch 2.19
1 plum .33

Total: $28.12

And also I want to give props to them for an extremely readable receipt!
Seriously folks, if you don't have time/energy/desire/organization skills/etc. to put up with the coupon game, just go to Aldi. You will still get a bag of quality groceries without feeling cheated!

That same day I also stopped in at Kmart and took advantage of double coupons to get Huggies wipes for 1.99, Pampers for 7.99, and a tub of Oxiclean for 4.50. Not the best deals on the planet, but still pretty alright.

Tomorrow I will be making my way to Bigg's for my 2nd try at the Kraft rebate (it ends tomorrow btw!), and maybe heading over to Kroger for a quick tap into the mega-sale b/c I haven't even touched it yet...

Bigg's 8/12

Today I stopped by Bigg's to take advantage of the $25 Kraft rebate. I got:

4 Planters trailmix
1 California pizza for one
2 Kraft shredded cheddar
1 Kraft cheddar snacks (indiv. wrapped cheese blocks)
2 Kraft American cheese singles
1 Digiorno pizza
2 Philly cream cheese tubs

Total was $25.94
I used $7.50 in MFQs
OOP = 18.44

However, the rebate did not print out at the end of my receipts for some reason, so I went to the customer service desk and the lady there oculdn't figure out the problem in a few minutes, so she just gave me a $25 gift card. I will just use this on a second go at the rebate and really be maximizing my dollars! Basically I spent 18.44 and will be getting back $50 ($30 in groceries, which you know will be a lot of groceries once I add coupons, $20 on a prepaid Visa card from the rebate)!
Coincidentally, the same thing happened to my friend's dad, and he will also be trying for the rebate again, using his gift card as payment.
Moral of the story: Bigg's has great customer service! Now if only they would double coupons everyday!