Tag: save money

New ad week, new math. Kroger’s fresh weekly ad dropped this morning — Wednesday, September 30 — and runs through Tuesday, October 6. I went through the whole ad plus the digital coupons so you don’t have to, and built a real family grocery cart that lands at $199.94. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and actual food your family will eat. Not vibes. Food.

Quick note before we get into it: Kroger sales and digital coupons can be location-based, so your prices might be a little different from mine. This week’s numbers are from my store. The list should still give you a solid starting point wherever you are.

One more thing: Kroger’s site has a banner up today warning they’re “currently experiencing intermittent problems with Digital coupons.” Half this cart needs a coupon clipped before you shop, so screenshot every coupon on your phone and check the receipt before you leave the store. Don’t let a glitchy app f*ck up your total. I already had a few of these clipped on my account, which made it easier.

Also: there’s a 4X fuel points offer running this whole week (Sept 30–Oct 6, I had it clipped already), and this cart is heavy on groceries, so you’re basically getting paid in gas money. Pocket Change Mama loves a double-dip.

🥬 Produce — $27.54

• Jumbo Blueberries — $4.99 × 1 = $4.99
• Kroger Seedless Grapes (red, green, black, or tri-color) — $4.99 × 1 = $4.99
• Honeycrisp Apples — $1.99/lb × ~2 lb = $3.98
• Green Bell Peppers — 89¢ each × 4 = $3.56
• Roma Tomatoes — $1.29/lb × ~2 lb = $2.58
• Sweet Corn — 33¢ each × 6 = $1.98
• Cilantro — 99¢ × 1 = $0.99
• California Pomegranate — $2.49 each × 1 = $2.49
• Kroger Baby Carrots, 16 oz — 99¢ with digital deal × 2 = $1.98

Thirty-three-cent corn and 89-cent peppers are doing the quiet work here. The flashy boxes get the clicks; the cheap produce gets the savings.

🥩 Meat — $58.43

• Fresh Tyson Chicken (full line sale) — Buy 1 Get 1 FREE: one family pack of boneless chicken breasts ~$9.99, second pack free = $9.99
• Boneless Chuck Roast (USDA Choice) — $6.99/lb (was $27.05 on the featured roast) × ~2.5 lb = $17.48
• Smithfield Bacon — $3.99 × 2 = $7.98
• Kroger 80% Lean Ground Beef Patties — $12 × 1 = $12.00
• Kroger Beef Bacon — $5.99 with digital deal × 1 = $5.99
• Perdue Frozen Chicken — $4.99 × 1 = $4.99

That Tyson buy-one-get-one is the single best meat deal in the whole ad. Two family packs of chicken for under ten bucks is three or four dinners right there. Freezer space is an investment this week.

🧀 Dairy — $28.39

• Kroger Milk, half gallon — $1.49 with card (reg up to $2.49) × 2 = $2.98
• Sargento Shredded or Sliced Cheese — $2.49 × 3 = $7.47
• Kroger Cheese — $1.99 × 2 = $3.98
• Simple Truth Cage Free Eggs — $4.99 with digital deal × 1 = $4.99
• Kroger Cottage Cheese — $2.99 × 1 = $2.99
• Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream — $2.99 with digital deal × 1 = $2.99
• Edy’s Ice Cream — $2.99 with digital deal × 1 = $2.99

Milk at a buck forty-nine a half gallon is the kind of price that makes you do a double take in the dairy aisle. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it needs the card.

🍞 Bread & Bakery — $13.99

• Angel Food Cake — $6 × 1 = $6.00
• Fresh Baked Cookies — $3 × 1 = $3.00
• Private Selection French Baguette — $1.99 × 1 = $1.99
• Thomas’ English Muffins — $3 × 1 = $3.00

❄️ Frozen — $27.93

• DiGiorno or Tombstone Pizza — $3.99 with digital deal × 3 = $11.97
• Totino’s Pizza Rolls — $3.99 with digital deal (already clipped on my account) × 2 = $7.98
• Old El Paso Frozen Entrees — $3.99 with digital deal × 2 = $7.98

Remember: the weekly digital deals can be used up to 5 times, so stacking three pizzas or five of something isn’t cheating. It’s the whole point.

🥫 Pantry & Snacks — $43.66

• Doritos, select varieties — Buy 2 Get 2 FREE (reg up to $5.49 each with card) × 4 ≈ $10.98
• Takis Rolled Tortillas — $1.99 with digital deal × 2 = $3.98
• Goldfish Bulk Carton — $5.99 with digital deal × 1 = $5.99
• Kellogg’s Large Size Cereal — $2.49 with digital deal × 2 = $4.98
• General Mills Treat Bars — $1.79 with digital deal × 1 = $1.79
• Campbell’s Chunky Soup — $1.49 × 5 = $7.45
• Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh — $3.49 with digital deal (already clipped) × 1 = $3.49
• Kroger Purified Water, 40-pack — $5 × 1 = $5.00

Four bags of Doritos for eleven bucks. I don’t make the rules, I just exploit them.

Grand total: $199.94. One hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninety-four cents for 37 items covering the whole week. That’s the whole point of Pocket Change Mama — stretching the money you already have until it begs for mercy.

🚫 Skip these: 4 “deals” that aren’t deals

1. Bud, Miller or Coors — $17.99 (filed under “This Week’s Best Deals”). The same brands are sitting in the liquor section at $12.99. That’s five dollars more for the “best deal” badge, with no pack size shown to justify it. Hard pass.
2. Kroger 93% Lean Ground Beef — $6.99/lb. No “was” price anywhere. Six ninety-nine a pound isn’t a deal, it’s just expensive ground beef wearing a sale costume.
3. Private Selection Angus Top Sirloin Steaks — $13.99/lb (filed under “some favorites remain undefeated”). No was-price, no discount, just a premium cut being premium. Not a sale. Next.
4. Private Selection Wildflower Honey Ham — $10.99/lb. This one isn’t even in the weekly ad section — it’s under “NEW lower everyday prices.” A price cut is not a weekly deal, no matter how they shelve it.

That’s this week’s list. I’ll be back next Wednesday when the new ad drops — same time, same chaos, new prices. If you grabbed any of these deals, tell me how your cart came out. I love a good receipt.

Okay, new series idea, and I’m genuinely excited about this one: every week I’m taking Kroger’s weekly ad and building a full $200 family grocery cart out of the actual deals in it. Not the fake ones. Not the “was $8.99, now $8.79, what a STEAL” nonsense. The real price drops, stacked with digital coupons, shopped the way Pocket Change Mama actually shops.

This week’s ad runs Wednesday, September 16 through Tuesday, September 22, and I priced everything at my local Kroger. Your prices might wiggle a little depending on your store, but the ad items are the same, so this should get you close.

Ground rules: every digital deal below is either already clipped in my Kroger account or one you need to clip before you go. Two of the best ones are pickup/delivery-only. And yes, I did all the math so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

Quick heads-up: Kroger sales and digital coupons can vary by location, so your prices might look a little different than mine. But this shopping list should definitely help get you started.

My handwritten math said $202.85 — Kroger rang it up at $203.49. Sixty-four cents of register math, I’ll take it.

The Meat Haul

🍗 Simple Truth Natural Boneless Chicken Breasts (~3 lb) — sale $3.99/lb, digital coupon takes $1.00/lb off (pickup/delivery only — clip it!) → final $2.99/lb = $8.97 · running total: $8.97

🥩 3-lb Kroger Ground Beef — digital deal (clip it!) → $11.97 ($3.99/lb) · running total: $20.94

🐷 Boneless Pork Half Loin or St. Louis Style Pork Ribs (~3 lb) — $1.99/lb → $5.97 · running total: $26.91

🐟 Kroger Atlantic Salmon Fillet Portion — $12.00 · running total: $38.91

🥓 Simple Truth Bacon — $5.00 · running total: $43.91

🌭 Kroger Breakfast Sausage Links or Patties — $2.69 · running total: $46.60

Dairy & Eggs

🥚 18-ct Kroger Eggs, Grade A Large — $1.99. A dollar ninety-nine. For EIGHTEEN eggs. In this economy?? · running total: $48.59

🧀 Tillamook Cheese — $2.49 · running total: $51.08

☕ Chobani Creamer — $3.99 · running total: $55.07

🥛 Chobani Greek Yogurt × 2 — $2.99 each with the mix & match 5+ deal → $5.98 · running total: $61.05

🧈 Challenge Butter — digital deal (clip it!) → $2.99 · running total: $64.04

Produce

🍑 California Yellow Peaches or Red/Black Plums (2 lb) — $1.99/lb → $3.98 · running total: $68.02

🫐 Jumbo Blueberries — $4.99 · running total: $73.01

🍎 Large Honeycrisp Apples (3 lb) — $2.49/lb → $7.47 · running total: $80.48

🍓 Strawberries, 16 oz — digital deal (clip it!) → $1.99 · running total: $82.47

🍇 California Seedless Grapes (2 lb) — $1.99/lb → $3.98 · running total: $86.45

🫐 Raspberries or Blackberries, 6 oz — $2.99 · running total: $89.44

🥒 Cucumbers × 4 — 79¢ each → $3.16 · running total: $92.60

🌽 Sweet Corn × 6 — 33¢ each → $1.98 · running total: $94.58

🥗 Kroger Salad Kits — 3 for $10 → $10.00 · running total: $104.58

Pantry & Snacks

🧀 Cheez-It Family Size Crackers — $3.99 · running total: $108.57

🥔 Party Size Lay’s, Kettle Cooked or Smartfood — digital deal (clip it!) → $3.49 · running total: $112.06

🥣 Kellogg’s Cereal × 2 — digital deal $1.79 each (already clipped in my account) → $3.58. Bonus: I’ve also got a 50¢ Kellogg’s manufacturer coupon clipped — if it stacks, that’s $1.29 a box. · running total: $115.64

🍫 Quaker Chewy Granola Bars × 2 — digital deal $1.49 each (clipped!) → $2.98 · running total: $118.62

🍕 Red Baron Pizza × 2 — digital deal $3.49 each (clipped!) → $6.98 · running total: $125.60

🥜 Jif Peanut Butter — digital deal $4.99 (clipped!) · running total: $130.59

🍨 Ben & Jerry’s × 2 — digital deal (clip it!) $2.99 each → $5.98 · running total: $136.57

🌭 Johnsonville Dinner Sausage — digital deal (clip it!) → $4.49 · running total: $141.06

🍖 Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce × 2 — $1.39 each with mix & match 5+ → $2.78 · running total: $143.84

🍲 Progresso Soup × 4 — $1.69 each → $6.76 · running total: $150.60

🍪 Chips Ahoy Cookies — $2.99 · running total: $153.59

🫘 Kroger Canned Beans × 4 — 89¢ each → $3.56 · running total: $157.15

🍝 Kroger Frozen Pasta — $2.99 · running total: $160.14

🥣 Post Large Size Cereal × 2 — $2.99 each with mix & match 5+ → $5.98 · running total: $166.12

🍅 Heinz Ketchup — $3.49 with mix & match 5+ · running total: $169.61

🍗 Tyson Frozen Chicken — $5.79 with mix & match 5+ · running total: $175.40

🍗 Tyson Chicken — digital deal $7.99 (clipped!) · running total: $183.39

Household

🧺 Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent — $3.49 · running total: $186.88

🧴 Suave Shampoo or Conditioner — $1.99 · running total: $188.87

🪥 Colgate Toothbrush or Toothpaste — digital deal (clip it!) → $3.99 · running total: $192.86

👶 Huggies Wipes — digital deal (clip it!) → $4.99 · running total: $197.85

💧 40-Pack Kroger Water — $5.00 · running total: $202.85

The Damage: $202.85

Two hundred and two dollars and eighty-five cents for a cart with salmon, Honeycrisps, Ben & Jerry’s, bacon, and a small mountain of produce. I’ll take it. That’s a legit week-plus of groceries for a family, plus household stuff, for about two hundred bucks.

A few notes before you grab your keys:

• The mix & match 5+ items (Chobani yogurt, Sweet Baby Ray’s, Post cereal, Heinz ketchup, Tyson frozen chicken) need at least 5 participating items in the cart to get those prices — and we’ve got 8, so we’re golden.
• The digital deals marked “clip it!” weren’t clipped in my account when I checked — clip them in the Kroger app before you shop or they won’t come off at the register.
• The chicken breast and ground beef deals are pickup/delivery-only, so plan accordingly.

Skip These “Deals” 🚫

Because Pocket Change Mama loves you enough to tell you the truth:

🚫 Boneless Bottom Round Roast or Cubed Steak (USDA Choice) — $6.99/lb. It’s sitting in the “best deals” section like it owns the place. Seven bucks a pound for bottom round is not a steal, it’s a Tuesday. Wait until it drops under $5 and then we’ll talk.

🚫 Private Selection Sparkling Mineral Water — $10.99. This is in the ad. That’s it. That’s the whole deal. A full-price bottle of fizzy water with a spotlight on it. Hard pass.

🚫 Starbucks Coffee — $9.99 (with 5+ mix & match). Nine ninety-nine is what it costs when it’s NOT on sale. Putting it in a promo and calling it a deal is certainly a choice.

🚫 Kroger Supplements, Buy 1 Get 1 Free. BOGO on vitamins in a grocery ad is the retail equivalent of a “you up?” text at 1am. Not groceries. Not a deal. Moving on.

That’s week one of the $200 Kroger haul series. If you want me to keep doing these every week — and be honest, your grocery budget wants me to — let me know in the comments. And if you found a better deal in this week’s ad that I missed, drop it below. Pocket Change Mama never turns down a hot tip. 🧾

Update

I am not just doing this for show I am doing this to f*cking survive. I adjusted the list a bit to fit our budget and needs but I was still happy with what this list let me get.