Pam's Grocery Ad "Cherry Picks*" for May 7, 2009

I used to layout grocery ads for a living, now I try to stretch our budget by using the ads to make up my weekly menu and shopping list. Here is a summary of the best values I found in ads for my shopping trip this weekend in the Lincoln-Way (New Lenox, Manhattan, Frankfort, Mokena, far southwest Chicago suburbs, IL) area of Illinois. 

Although I'm targeting ads in this small area of Illinois, some of the stores and products are national, and you may see similar products/trends wherever you are.

Berkot's

• Dutch Farm Fancy Shredded Cheese (excluding swiss & parmesan) 99¢ 8-oz. pkg.

• Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper 12 pk. dbl. roll  $4.99 with $1 off instant coupon

• Broccoli Crowns 79¢ lb.

• Extra Lean Ground Chuck  (3# or more pkg) $1.79 lb.

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast $1.79 lb.

Jewel-Osco

• Jewel Large Eggs doz. 99¢ (one of their "Big Relief Price Cuts")

CVS --not a grocery store, but drug stores and discount stores offer much better

values on some items than grocery stores typically do.

• Dawn Dish Liquid 10.3 oz. (w/CVS customer card) 99¢ (limit 5)

• Colgate MaxWhite Toothpaste $2.99 (w/CVS customer card), receive $2 in Extra Bucks Reward, "like getting it for 99¢ after extra bucks".  (NOTE: I clip coupons from the Sunday inserts in the Chicago Tribune and from inserts which come in weekly papers. I have a $1.00 off manufacturer coupon which I'll also use for this. So, after all is said and done, it's as if I am PAID 1¢ to get a tube of toothpaste.)

*A "Cherry Picker" is someone who picks only the best sale items for purchase.