Supermarket Sales Include Summer Fruit

This week Frugal Family takes a stronger look at Albertsons rewards program – the second part to learning more about grocery reward programs and to better streamline money-saving efforts without driving all over the city (See part one ).

Albertsons is linked to a circle of other grocers, called the SuperValu Family, that includes Lucky Supermarkets, Farm Fresh and Save-A-Lot, to name a few. This linkage provides additional savings should you ever be traveling to a location that offers these stores, as your Albertsons card can also be used to obtain any specials they currently have.

Just like Vons, Albertson’s club card provides the customer a current deal price on any marked-down product. In addition, Albertsons.com has links to coupons. With the use of your card, their Avenu Program will send special coupons to your e-mail, based on your shopping history. That means more savings on products you regularly use. Have a special diet need such as sugar- or gluten-free foods? Albertsons has a host of recipes specific to those needs. Albertsons is also linked to Upromise and other programs benefiting education.

Now for this week’s deals:

• – Vons is offering a special where you only need buy eight of any of 3,000 selected products and 50 cents will be taken off the regular price of each item. When you take advantage of this deal, Nature’s Pride bread becomes $1.99; Kraft Mac N’ Cheese becomes $59 cents and four-packs of Dannon Activia become $1.49. Summer produce specials include six ears of white or bi-color corn for $1.98. Red bell peppers are 88 cents each. Cantaloupe is two-for-$3. As always, there are many more specials, so be sure to check this week’s mail flier or Vons.com. Prices are good until June 7.

• – This week, Albertsons not only has their regular weekly flier, but a separate insert filled with coupon items. Albertsons’ chunk cheese, 8-ounce, with coupon, is $1.88. Foster Farms 93-percent lean, ground turkey is $2.49 a package. Albertsons brand cottage cheese, 16-ounce, is two for $5. There is a minimum purchase requirement of $10, but with these deals it would be easy to spend the amount and stock up. Additional deals are also featured in the flier, such as 18-count eggs for $1.79. Carefully peruse the flier or check online at Albertsons.com.  Prices are good until June 7.

• – Ralphs wants to make buying milk a littler easier by offering half-gallon jugs, three for $5. Deluxe brand 48-ounce ice cream is $1.99. Jeannie-O turkey products are 50 percent off. Green seedless grapes are 99 cents a pound. Red ripe seedless watermelon is 39 cents a pound. Frugal Family loves that summer fruit! See the Ralphs flier or check for all the deals at Ralphs.com. Prices are good until June 7.

• – More summer fruit is being offered at Fresh & Easy, such as nectarines or peaches at 98 cents per two-pound pack. Fresh & Easy 14- to 16-ounce crunch cereals are now two for $5. If you haven’t tried Fresh & Easy brand yogurt, maybe the current price of ten-for-$5 will entice you. Other deals exist in the store’s flier or at Fresh&Easy.com. And don’t forget the weekly featured coupon of $3 off of a $30 purchase. Prices are good until June 7.

• Smart & Final – Are you craving orange juice? Run to Smart & Final for their 128-ounce bottled orange juice at $2.99 each. Post Honey Bunches of Oats, 14.5-ounce box, is $1.99. Fresh asparagus is $1.99 a pound. If you’d like to add grapefruit to your citrus diet, grapefruit is on special at four-for-$1. Check the weekly flier for all of their specials or visit Smart & Final at smartandfinal.com.

Household Tip of the Week – Wouldn’t it be great if you could find an alternative resource to your most expensive market purchases? Frugal Family is not saying to run out and start raising chickens or milking a cow, but what if you could at least make some of the most expensive items with inexpensive ingredients? The World Wide Web is an infinite resource for information. To get started, take a look at SavvyHomemade.com. It not only features meal recipes, but recipes for making your own homemade cleaning products, soap, health and beauty items and ideas for gifts. There are even instructions for how to make your own biofuel. So take a look at your shopping list and ask yourself what you would be willing to make—instead of buy—to contribute to your overall savings. You might be surprised at how easy this process is—with the right information.