48 tacos for under $5! What was your best "didn't plan on it" deal?

[thelionqueen]

I just got an amazing deal at the grocery store and didn't anticipate it at all..I LOVE those!!

We LOVE Ortega taco fixings, in fact that is the only one I normally buy (will buy other taco shells when on sale sometimes). So today at Kroger I saw they had the taco seasonings on sale for $.99 cents each and a "buy 3 get 1 free" coupon. Right above them then had a "closeout" sale on 12 Ortega taco shells for .86. Then on each package there was a $1.50 off two coupon..so I grabbed 4..score..but it gets even better!

Then I was looking in the meat department and the manager was marking down meats. I got a 5lb roll of ground beef for $5! Cheese was on sale for $2.25 a package and lettuce for $1.10. I plan on 1lb of meat for 12 tacos.

At the checkout the price for the taco shells came up as regular price. I asked the clerk about it. He checked, and sure enough they weren't coming up like they should. So, as is policy with Kroger, they gave me the taco shells for free! On top of that, they honored my coupons without saying a thing (and of course I didn't expect them to). So my grand total of makings for 48 tacos came down to $4.35

I will freeze the beef in 1lb packages and still have one lb leftover. I will likely use that lb of beef for Hamburger Helper which I already have in my pantry, so I will have scored 5 meals for 4 for about $5 We have tacos every Tuesday (my DS's could eat them everyday..but) so it works out perfect!

What was your best "didn't plan on it" deal? Love these unexpected surprises

 

[mistysue]

I am so jealous!

I've never had something work out that well. I found coconut oil for $1 per 16 oz jar before (one that is usually about $10) which was awesome because we go through a jar every few weeks but nothing that went with it.

 

[emksmama]

That's a fabulous deal! I like to grab the Ortega coupon in the paper to save 50 cents on two Ortega items, then our local Meijer will put Ortega taco seasoning on sale for around 65 cents...and they double the coupon, so I get two packages for 30 cents. Score!

 

[NYCDiane]

Way to go!!!!! I'm coming to your place for dinner this weekend!!!! LOL!!! I'm not a beef-eater but every now and again, I get an urge for a taco and lately, I've just been having taco cravings! Now I have to go but the fixins for tacos!

 

[TrulyMadlyDisney]

Went to the grocery store at lunchtime today. Butcher had just put out a bunch of one pound packages of 90% fat free hamburger for .99 cents lb. I bought 15 packages for $15. So unexpected and welcomed. Freezer full of burger! Another woman threw 20 packages in her cart.

 

[thelionqueen]

Went to the grocery store at lunchtime today. Butcher had just put out a bunch of one pound packages of 90% fat free hamburger for .99 cents lb. I bought 15 packages for $15. So unexpected and welcomed. Freezer full of burger! Another woman threw 20 packages in her cart.

That is a fantastic deal!!! That's the lowest I've ever heard of for ground beef..and you can do so much with it! I have a "home made" version of Sloppy Joes I came up with by accident my kids absolutely love. So simple..I brown the meat in a pan, drain it, add a can of sloppy joe sauce and a can of cream of mushroom soup and put it in the crock pot for an hour or so. I have no idea why, but my kids just love it!

Diane, you're welcome over anytime you're in CO . Tacos and pizza are 2 things I could eat everyday if I had to. Obviously not the healthiest meals in the world, but 2 things I could never get tired of. Sorry to feed your craving...lol

 

[thelionqueen]

That's a fabulous deal! I like to grab the Ortega coupon in the paper to save 50 cents on two Ortega items, then our local Meijer will put Ortega taco seasoning on sale for around 65 cents...and they double the coupon, so I get two packages for 30 cents. Score!

That is a great deal too. Ortega taco seasoning is one of those things I could buy 50 of and would use eventually

 

[pixiewings71]

That is a great deal!!! We do tacos once a week most of the time, the family just loves them. In fact, we had tacos last night. Which reminds me, I need to get black beans and corn next time I go to the store......thanks!

 

[DisneyEater]

Glad to see we are not the only ones with a taco tuesday!

 

[girli565]

Went to the grocery store at lunchtime today. Butcher had just put out a bunch of one pound packages of 90% fat free hamburger for .99 cents lb. I bought 15 packages for $15. So unexpected and welcomed. Freezer full of burger! Another woman threw 20 packages in her cart.

That's a great deal!! I wish ground beef was that cheap here and 90/10 at that!! We usually eat ground turkey instead of ground beef and the cheapest I find it is 2.75/lb

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Real tacos aren't made with hamburger or boxed taco shells (shudder). Try making authentic Mexican tacos - some good recipes here:

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/category?categoryID=11

 

[thelionqueen]

Real tacos aren't made with hamburger or boxed taco shells (shudder). Try making authentic Mexican tacos - some good recipes here:

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/category?categoryID=11

Depends on what your tastes are. Rick Bayless does not represent mexican cuisine that is appealing to me at all. I am Sicilian & Spanish, both grandmothers amazing cooks who made everything from scratch. Pasta, tortillas, grew their own vegetables you name it. So I have grown up with cuisine that is authentic to our family and heritage. What I grew up with and our families recipes can vary vastly to other families even with the same ethnic background. Depends on the individual or recipe.

That being said, I wouldn't consider the tacos I make "real" or authentic per se but it doesn't mean we don't enjoy them. Personally, I'd eat tacos with boxed taco shells and ground beef over those made by Rick Bayless. However, my grandmother used to make homemade tacos that are worlds better than the ones we eat..but she also didn't work full time and get a deal like I got

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[PrincessTDQ]

Awesome deal! My best so far has to be the items that end up being free. One time I had coupons for $1 off 10 packages of kool aid. A store ran them on sell for 10 for $1. I ended up with about 200 packages of kool aid that week.

 

[JennyKS]

I'm one of those overly planned type of people so I don't ever look at things I wasn't planning on getting so I am sure I miss out on a lot of things. But my favorite "deal" was last summer. Remember when Nivea had the body wash coupons 3.00 off one? I paid 4 bucks on ebay to buy 20 of those coupons then went to Target throughout the week and picked 20 of those body washes up for free (well not free since I paid 4.00 for the coupon) since Target had them on sale for 3.00. I'm still using that stock.

 

[LJSquishy]

Wow, fantastic deals you got! I would definitely plan on more than 1lb of meat per 12 tacos, though. 1oz (roughly) of meat per taco doesn't seem like much to me, especially if it's before cooking.

 

[thelionqueen]

Wow, fantastic deals you got! I would definitely plan on more than 1lb of meat per 12 tacos, though. 1oz (roughly) of meat per taco doesn't seem like much to me, especially if it's before cooking.

Now that you mention it...we usually do have 1 or 2 shells left over so maybe that is a little low on the estimate. I'm also not a huge meat eater so I don't eat that much..I load up more on the lettuce and salsa

Don you LOVE getting things for free?? The Kool Aid and Nivea deals are AWESOME!! Really..you can't do much better than free!

 

[jakenjess]

Congrats on a fantastic deal! Just had tacos the other night (with ground beef ) and they are so yummy.

 

[pixiewings71]

Real tacos aren't made with hamburger or boxed taco shells (shudder). Try making authentic Mexican tacos - some good recipes here:

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/category?categoryID=11

Well maybe not authentic tacos, but my kids won't eat authentic tacos so we do ground beef, and we actually don't even use taco shells at all, the girls don't like those either so we just put rice, beans, corn, meat and toppings on a plate and eat it that way. Sort of like a salad I guess but no lettuce.
Different families like different styles, even if they aren't "authentic" they are still good.

Wow, fantastic deals you got! I would definitely plan on more than 1lb of meat per 12 tacos, though. 1oz (roughly) of meat per taco doesn't seem like much to me, especially if it's before cooking.

That's why I add the rice, beans and corn. I mix black beans and corn in a pot, add some seasoning and we add it to our mix. It's a huge hit for us.

I forgot to post what my best deal was. A while back CVS had Sobe BOGO, well I had a stack of BOGO coupons for Sobe so I was able to get 60 bottles of various Sobe flavors for free, completely free! That was pretty amazing. DD12 loved it, she took a Sobe every day for lunch. LOL

 

[merbobear]

That's an awesome deal! Last year I was in the grocery store and went to get a package of Morningstar Farms veggie burgers. Well, on the freezer case there were tons of coupon books hanging. I looked at one, and there was a $1 off Garden Delights pasta coupon. The pasta was on sale for $1/box...which equals FREE! I went to 3 different stores (so I didn't take alllll the coupons from a store) and ended up with so much pasta that it lasted us a full year, plus I gave away a bunch to friends and family.

The sad part is that the pasta is now gone, and I am very resentful each time I have to pay for spaghetti at the market! lol

 

[Jedana]

Shopping a couple of years ago, before school.

Ran across a t-shirt/hoodie combo pack--sure it's FSU, but I don't care. $5 on clearance--and a coupon laying on it, for $5 off of any FSU gear at JCP. Yep, got it for free (and tax)

Same trip--DH hits the clearance section (one of the few places he can buy clothes--he's a 3xlt shirt and 15 1/2 shoe)...find a bunch of under-shirts on clearance, .50 each. Regular polos and Tshirts, buy one get one for .01. Shorts, clearance, $5 each. Heavy peacoat jacket, once $150, on clearance for $10. (guess it was last years style)

Go to the teen section for DD. Same deals on her pants and shirts--BOGO .01. Shorts on clearance--$5 each. Cute summer tops, $2 each.
Shorts for DS, $2 each; same with tshirts. Shorts for me, $5 each, shirts were BOGO .01. I got a warm wrap, was $55, for $7.50.

Love those "get rid of everything in the back" sales!

Plus they had the spend $75, get $25 off coupons laying everywhere. Broke the transactions up into 6 transactions, at different registers. Spent $300 OOP. Would have been over $1000 without the sales.



DD's prom dress that year--JCP had a turn a dress in, get $$ off a new one. She had the dress from the year before, when she was a sophomore (her BF was a senior, so she got to go)...we had paid $25 for it, used, off of Craigslist. Traded it in to JCP, got $50 off the new dress. New dress, usually $250, on sale for $85. I paid $35 OOP.



Foodwise--Publix had a BOGO free on frozen veggies. So, $2.39 for 2 packs. Plus a $1 off one package coupon on a pad on the door. The manager said I could use one coupon per package, even the ones that rang up free. So, 2 packs for frozen veg for .39! I bought 40 bags. Same trip, they had all sorts of BOGOs, and coupons for those items....cookies, crackers, pasta, yogurt... The only thing I didn't have coupons for were the meats/fresh veg and fruits. The cereal was BOGO, with coupons on the boxes for $1 or 1.50 off each box...plus a coupon for buy 3, and get a free gallon of milk. Bought 6 boxes for about $12 plus got 2 free gallons of milk.