Great savings

Sometimes it can be really hard to get the products we like for a reasonable cost. We are a pretty brand-specific family. We'll compromise with some things that we bake or cook with, but for the most part we like what we like and don't change much after we find something we like. I'm not really one to rush out to the store to get 6 boxes of pop tarts beccause they are cheap or free because we won't eat them. So I usually watch for sales for food we eat. This week our grocery store had a great sale on Quaker products, so I matched the sale up with some coupons on double coupon day.

My husband loves the Oatmeal Squares cereal and eats it every morning. A 24 oz box at Walmart costs $2.98 (13 cents an ounce). I eat Chewy bars every day -- they somehow became my go-to snack. And peanut butter chocolate chip are my preferred choice. They normally go for $2.25 on average (about 23 cents a bar). My daughter eat the Quaker oatmeal packets and loves apple cinnamon as well as maple and brown sugar. On average a box of goes for $2.50 (average 25 cents a packet).

Now, I can usually get a $1/2 coupon for chewy bars every once in a while. I also can find a $1/2 for the oatmeal, too. Matched up with double coupon day and a sale I can get a pretty good deal. Oatmeal Squares cereal hardly ever goes on sale or has coupons.

The sale was buy 5 Quaker products for $10. This makes each box worth $2 before

coupons. Here's what I purchased today:

• 2 boxes oatmeal (each had 2 extra packets -- making that 24 packets of oatmeal)
• 4 boxes of chewy bars
• 4 boxes of Oatmeal Squares cereal (16 oz)
• 1 box of Life cereal

Total before coupons = $22 (with the sale)

Coupons used:

1 $1/2 for oatmeal (doubled to $2)

2 $1/2 for chewy bars (doubled to $4)

1 $3/1 for purchasing 5 Quaker products (not doubled, but used for the cereal)

With the coupons I saved another $9, making the total $13 for 11 boxes of Quaker products. That is $1.18 a box. That just slashes the average prices that I normally find. We should be stocked up for a little, too.