Grocery Shopping at CVS

Last week, I discussed why it can make sense to grocery shop at drug stores.  It seemed incongruous to me at first, but now I find myself buying all sorts of things there.

Before I go into specifics at CVS, I wanted to reiterate a comment made by Shelly at Coupon Teacher.  She said:

Don't forget to always watch those expiration dates. Drug stores are notorious for not pulling expired items from shelves.

You're absolutely right!  Since so few people do buy groceries there, some of the items may have been on the shelf past their sell-by date. Make sure to check before purchasing!

The best thing about buying groceries at CVS is that you can use Extra Care Bucks to buy them, if necessary.  Walgreen's has limits on how their Reister Rewards can be used - in the fine print, it says no dairy.  I take that to mean anything in the dairy case, including eggs and frozen items, though I have not checked that with a manager.

So when your budget is really tight, you can use excess ECBs from other deals to buy milk and eggs, and free up your out-of-pocket money for other items.  Even better, sometimes you'll get ECBs for buying milk and eggs - last week there was a deal for getting a 50¢ ECB when buying milk.

I've found that CVS regularly has deals on Nabisco crackers.  One time I got five boxes for $2 after coupons and Register Rewards.  Another deal I regularly see is on Unilever products - Ragu pasta sauce, Skippy peanut butter, and Lipton tea, for instance.   Breakfast cereal is often a good deal at CVS as well.

One thing I've seen at CVS but not at the grocery store is single-serve ice cream treats.  At the grocery store, these might be sold in boxes of 8 or 10.  But if I only wanted one per child, I might think about buying them at CVS - though the per-item cost might be higher, it would be less out of pocket, and I wouldn't have the other treats taking up room in the freezer, tempting me to eat them.

Next week I'll be discussing Walgreens.  I find a lot of grocery bargains there, expecially when combined with the coupons in the ad flyer.  See you next week!

Check these sites for more great tips:

• Frugal Friday @ Life as MOM 
• Frugal Friday @ Stockpiling Mom 
• Tuesday's Tip Jar @ BlogMommas 
• Making Dollars out of Change @ Madame Deals 
• Tuesday's Tips @ Couponomic Stimulus Package 
• Penny Pinching Party @ The Thrifty Home 
• Works For Me Wednesday @ We Are That Family
• Thrifty Tip Tuesday @ I Am a Money Magnet 
• Tightwad Tuesday @ Raising 4 Godly Men
• Thrifty Thursday @ Melissa's Bargain Blog
• Thrifty Thursday @ Coupon Teacher