Publix: A tip for saving on produce

I took another trip to Publix to pick up some produce as well as two more containers of the Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  At 65¢ per pint after the sale and coupons, I couldn't help myself!  Last time, I bought Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream.  So to be fair, this time I picked up a pint of Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack. 

And we had a taste-off!  The chocolate-covered potato chips in the Late Night Snack were... different.  If you ate them fast, they just felt crunchy.  But if you slowly chewed them, you tasted the saltiness of the chips.  Interesting, but everyone here liked the chocolate-covered waffle cone pieces of the Americone Dream better.

I also picked up some bananas and some cherries.  Here's a tip to save on produce at Publix: If an item is prepackaged but still sold by the pound, you can take just the amount of the item you want and put it in a separate bag.  For instance, the cherries were already prepackaged in large bags - there were probably 3 pounds or more of cherries in each bag.  That's way too much for us - I'm the only one who likes to eat cherries, and they would go bad before I finished that many.  So I just took off half a pound in a separate bag.

Check with your produce manager before you do this, though.  And you can't do this if the produce item is priced per item.  For instance, you can't open a clamshell of grape tomatoes and take half, because the grape tomatoes are priced per pint, not by the pound.

Here are the details on my trip:



2 Ben & Jerry's ice cream, 16 oz, @ BOGO $4.79
- 2 $1/1 Ben & Jerry's Frozen Yogurt or Ice Cream, exp. 7/22/12 (RP 06/24/12 R)
- 2 75¢/1 Ben & Jerry's Whole Foods coupon
=  $1.29 for two, or 65¢ each

0.54 lb cherries @ $2.49/lb = $1.34

2.05 lb bananas @ 69¢/lb = $1.41

Total product: $4.04
Tax: 29¢

Total out of pocket: $4.33
Total saved compared to Publix full prices: $9.10

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)