I am hoping for your analysis for the best price for canned pop.

Thanks in advance!

CAthy2

The flyer returns. Kroger is reintroducing weekly flyer w/paper coupons:

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/kroger-brings-back-paper-coupons-in-a-whole-new-way

spinynorman99 wrote:The flyer returns. Kroger is reintroducing weekly flyer w/paper coupons:

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/kroger-brings-back-paper-coupons-in-a-whole-new-way

At least on weekends, they have a greeter explaining the program. This is especially good for Mariano's shoppers who are registered who cannot fathom clipping virtual coupons. On the back of the coupons is a code the cashier can extract codes in one swoop.

Jewel is not that friendly to people who don't clip codes.

Regards,
Cathy2

I have not forgotten about this thread. I've just been busy doing other stuff, and I did not view anything in that week's grocery store ad worth recommending.
This week, there is something. At Tony's, I can recommend paying $9.99 for the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches; but $2.00 is not a good price for the Smart Ones entrees and $3.00 is not a good price for the Lean Cuisine | Stouffer's ones.
Then, there is the 'bait'. At the moment when it seems $5.49 is the "new" lowest price for 12-packs of 12-oz. soda, Tony's lists $3.99 for RC [Royal Crown] - must buy 4. The bait is how to learn what else could be included in that "must buy 4" text. Would Cherry RC count?
Notice the text of the 24-packs of 12-oz. soda for $9.99 "must buy 2"; it mentions a spectrum of brands, from both Pepsi, and Keunig Dr. Pepper. Could you obtain another brand of 12-packs of 12-oz. soda packaged by Keunig Dr. Pepper for $3.99? I do not recall ever viewing a remote scanner in a Tony's store. If you try checking out with 2 12-packs of Royal Crown and 2 12-packs of [e.g.] Sunkist Cherry Limeade, would you wind up being charged for 5.99 each for all four of them? Would you accept this rather than queuing for customer service?
I'm still serving 12-packs with "Best before Dec. 2024" on the packaging, so I won't buy any soda soon. But, this rankles me.
If you want to buy a Mexican-brewed beer; the $13.99 "must buy 2" being asked for 12-packs of 12-oz. cans of Modelo, Pacifico, or Victoria is a higher price than $10.99 for the same packaging for Bohemia, and Bohemia is a better beer than those three. (It is not mentioned in the ad. But the last time I shopped at Tony's, I walked thru the beer aisle and espied it.)
There is nothing solid on offer at Jewel-Osco this week. But I must point out something which you might not have noticed. A few weeks ago, I was running out of toilet paper. No, I was not going to mention it anywhere, much less on LTHF, lest I caused a rush on the product. I went to my closest Jewel [4660 W Irving Park Rd.] which was offering a good price on 12-packs of Scott 1000 tissue. I was on transit. That Jewel was out of it when I shopped there. I did not instantly leave that Jewel. I bought J J's Pies [all it had was cherry or apple]. Then I noticed a "forU" deal for up to ten Lean Cuisine | Stouffer's entrees. There was also a "forU" deal on Cheez-It snack crackers.
I bought the Lean Cuisine. When I checked out, I got the "forU" price on it.
Two days later, I hauled out the 1987 Chevrolet Sprint to hit another Jewel-Osco for the Scott 1000 toilet paper. The store where I found it was the store @ Addison and Elston. I figured Jewel would not give me the "forU" price on more Lean Cuisine | Stouffer's entrees. {This Jewel-Osco did not have any J J's Pies.} But I thought I could get four boxes of Cheez-It crackers since I had not bought any.
I entered my "forU" ID at checkout. I did not get the "forU" price on the Cheez-Its. This has swayed me to believe that Jewel-Osco will give you the "forU" pricing on only one trip per week! Yes, I queued up for a refund on the Cheez-Its. I still have a couple of boxes of them. If I had bought the current offer for that price, one of the older remnant boxes would have been brought to the LTHF picnic.
Closing, note how many of the items advertised at Jewel this week are "forU" offers.

The flyer this week also had coupons from Burger King, and Culver's.

pudgym29 said:
This has swayed me to believe that Jewel-Osco will give you the "forU" pricing on only one trip per week!

This is not true. I have often gotten J4U pricing on two trips within a week, particularly as a result of items not being in stock early in the sale week. One key condition is that if you bought less than the limit in one trip, you cannot buy the rest of the limit in a later trip. When I print out "My List" after the first trip, all items that have been purchased in the first trip have disappeared while the list contains the items that were not purchased in the first trip. I tend to use that list as the basis for my shopping list.

The stock out problem early in the sale cycle is noted in posts numbered 2682 and 2684 on page 90 of the Jewel-ry thread.

I use a mini tower computer with 23" monitor for my selections, not a smart phone with the app. I do not even have the app on my phone. The only disadvantage is that I must have all my coupons selected in advance and cannot add any in the store if I see something interesting.

There used to be a kicker with respect to the store at Addison and Elston. It was classed as a Spanish store and had a separate ad that did not necessarily contain all the items in the regular ad. Items in the regular ad but not the Spanish did not receive the sale price at that store. I ran into this and managed to catch the store manager (minor miracle) and ask about it. He gave me the regular ad price. I suggested that maybe the Department of Consumer Affairs would be interested in the practice. This was during a period after ownership of Jewel had changed and they also had some other stores classified as limited assortment (or something like that) stores that also had separate ads. There have been quite a few changes at Jewel since then but one constant over the years is that they have trouble getting their act together.

ekreider wrote:There used to be a kicker with respect to the store at Addison and Elston. It was classed as a Spanish store and had a separate ad that did not necessarily contain all the items in the regular ad. Items in the regular ad but not the Spanish did not receive the sale price at that store. I ran into this and managed to catch the store manager (minor miracle) and ask about it. He gave me the regular ad price. I suggested that maybe the Department of Consumer Affairs would be interested in the practice. This was during a period after ownership of Jewel had changed and they also had some other stores classified as limited assortment (or something like that) stores that also had separate ads. There have been quite a few changes at Jewel since then but one constant over the years is that they have trouble getting their act together.

Once upon a time when Jewel had commercials on television, they had universal sales for all stores. This went away long ago with each store having their own sales. Guess what? They can do this without your threatening them.

I learned this some years ago when I would shop for Mom2 in Wheaton and for my family in Highland Park. They had some common sale items and some unique to each store. I talked to the Wheaton store manager (not difficult to reach) about how store sales differ from store to store. She relayed where a newly opened store had unique specials and a cash discount if your purchases were over a certain amount. People were walking into her store expecting those sales prices and cash. She had to redirect them to the other store.

Shop-and-Save also has curated ads for their stores with Russian, Polish and Muslim markets. If you tell the butcher the store serving Muslims has a better price for lamb, you can usually get this price at the Russian or Polish-centric stores.

Jewel has identified each store has a specific clientele and work to make that store special for them. Jewel in Highland Park is known as a Jewish Jewel, which is great for those who observe Kosher.

I find this micro marketing quite interesting.

Regards,
Cathy2

From page 4 of current week Jewel Osco flyer: Prices are good, unless otherwise indicated in-store, at all Jewel Osco stores. Promotion pricing for an item may differ between stores in different markets.

There is a problem when promotion pricing in the general ad is not honored in a store in the same city when that store is not otherwise labeled as being in a different market. I have never seen the Elston Addison Jewel have any signage saying that it was a Spanish store and would not honor prices in the general ad unless they were also in the Spanish ad.

Having different merchandise in different stores is nearly universal among grocery retailers in the Chicago area with multiple stores. Having variations in sale prices is also common. There is no problem with an ad labeled for a specific store or group of stores. There is a problem with a general ad showing sale prices that are not available in all stores stocking that item while concealing which stores are affected.

Cermak Fresh Market has the store number and address prominently placed on the first page of each ad. Their web site asks which store's ad you want to see. There are big differences among the ads. My ad bundle in the Wednesday Tribune normally has the ad for 4234 N. Kedzie and about half the time has the ad for 6623 N. Damen. Frequently several produce items have lower prices at Damen.

Tony's ads are not so clear as the list of stores for an ad is in small type at the bottom of page 4. Things are clear on the web site. Most differences I have noted are due to not wanting to have item in an ad that are not stocked in that particular store.

I just returned to the abode from the Tony's Fresh Market @ 4608 W. Belmont Ave. I walked, so I was not going to buy much. It was only two 8-packs of Jimmy Dean breakfast croissants with sausage and egg each for $9.99. But I looked at other areas of the store.
In the regular soda aisle, on the bottom shelf, I read the details of the Royal Crown 12-packs of 12-oz. cans for $3.99.
It would have included Cherry RC, and Royal Crown Zero Sugar. But its supply of each was pretty much bare. There was an aisle stack with lots of 12-packs of RC Cola. Again, there is no way I can physically carry four 12-packs back from there.
None of the other Keurig Dr. Pepper soda brands were on sale for 3.99. I will just presume Keurig Dr. Pepper is tired of being cola #3 (or #4 if you count store brands, or #5 if you categorize Dr. Pepper as a taste-alike) in sales. This week's flyer shows Carneceria Jimenez offering RC for 4.99, and it spells out [in English] that it includes Cherry RC and Zero Sugar. Perhaps one of these weeks, the sale will spread to Jewel-Osco and Food4Less | Mariano's.
I also spotted a display of J J's Pies. But they were 79¢ each. I still have a quantity of Hostess cupcakes and Little Debbie Swiss Rolls to go through, and some chocolate offerings from Aldi which can stand in for breakfast with tea.
~ addendum ~
Jewel-Osco has a glossy sheet which indicates which stores it considers 'Latinx'. It covers an extended amount of days. It's at the foot on one side. IIRC, it includes the store on the Chicago side of the border near Clark and Howard, and the store @ Narragansett and Wrightwood.
Tony's used to indicate which stores were contained in that specific flyer with the full address.
But as I scrawled, I should have been able to get the four boxes of Cheez-it crackers at the 'forU' price since I had not previously bought it. It was not as though I already bought the limit at another store at a different time. I was charged full price for the items. With that much money at stake, I waited for customer service to have them refunded.

pudgym29 wrote: ...
I entered my "forU" ID at checkout. I did not get the "forU" price on the Cheez-Its. This has swayed me to believe that Jewel-Osco will give you the "forU" pricing on only one trip per week!
...

I shopped at Jewel this past weekend. I had clipped a bunch of deals and none of them came through at checkout. This was at a self checkout. The very nice employee was willing to help me rectify it there, but I thought it would be easier to go through the regular line. Everything scanned correctly on the second try. Your Cheez-Its issue may have been a problem at that checkout. I sometimes make multiple trips to Jewel in a week with different forU deals and never have problems.

Hi,

I have noticed a recent shift in policy at Jewel. One employee I encounter often insists on checking my phone whether or not I clipped the coupon. Recently she just fixed the issue without checking my phone.

I like that.

***

If I have a raincheck, they prefer you go through the check-out line.

Regards,
Cathy2

Just a swift little briefing this week.
At Tony's Fresh Market, I bought 15 Banquet frozen entrees ($1.67 each - lower than $1.99) and the Clyde's 12 glazed donuts [because it seems $4.99 is the lowest it will go]. Fifteen entrees is the most I can haul back here without operating the 1987 Chevrolet Sprint. {Obviously, I went to the Tony's @ 4630 W. Belmont. It had a vast selection. I could go back for more next Monday or Tuesday.}
If you somehow still need soda, this is the week to buy five 24-packs of 12-oz. cans at Food4Less for $7.99 each (order on Saturday or Sunday). I repeat that fewer brands are packaged in 24-packs than in 12-packs. Also recall that I am perfectly fine if you want to cheap-it-out and buy Kroger's store brand soda for $3.99.
The Hershey's chocolate bars are good for 75¢ each (digital - limit 5). The snag is each store usually has a very limited brand selection - and that these chocolates are going to be on islands near the checkout lines making it tricky to shop when you are not ready to checkout.
I opted for the 'fresh' Clyde's donuts rather than buying two 8-packs of Entenmann's donuts which might last until November, or Food4Less' bakery's 12 glazed donuts. Maybe you eat Entenmann's donuts faster.
That is likely the lowest price for the Bar-S Franks 12-oz. ($1.25). This is an odd instance where shrinkflation has brought franks packages in line with hot dog bun packages: 12 ounces means 8 franks per pack.
That is not a good price for the Jimmy Dean's breakfast sandwiches. The 8-pack should be $9.98; or do the math when 4-packs are $4.99. The other large snag with the Food4Less ad is that we don't know what else is in the digital deal with a five-item limit, nor what gets discounted if you buy at least five items from that herd. - This is erroneous {sorry}. The separate handbill is available online by clicking 'View Other Ads' at the top of the page.

What happened to the 'Frozen' rubric on the Jewel-Osco advert?
If you opt for the 9¢ brick of Maruchan ramen, please remember to consume them. I prepared one of the bricks of the ten-year-old brick ramen a while back.
No. No. No. It is not good. I wonder what to do with the remnant bricks.

That is a good price ($1.00) for the Michelina's frozen entrees. Where it found the shop selling it for $1.34 I don't know; but yes, it costs $1.25 at Dollar-and-a-Half Tree. (Maybe it has gone to 1.50. I haven't shopped there in a long time.)

The flyer package has Culver's coupons, good into December.

I have a few remarks about this week's grocery store adverts.
To me, it looks like Jewel-Osco has the better deals this week. I start with the bizarrely-worded 'limit' on 12-packs of soda from Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Keunig Dr. Pepper. As the regular price of 12-packs is $10.99, five into $21.98 is $4.396. Whether that rounds up to $4.40 I cannot state. But it is likely the lowest price for a 12-pack that we are going to get (except for when Family Dollar puts its offerings down to 5|$20.00, generally only on Dr. Pepper brands). Jewel-Osco has the most vast selection of Dr. Pepper brands; this is where you could obtain Sun Drop (despite this The Takeout blurb) or Vernors.
The bizarre aspect is 'How to calculate the limit'? It reads "Limit 8 total". Eight is not a multiple of five. The gouge method would be if you had ten 12-packs, you would pay 4.40 for eight of them, and 21.98 for the remnant two. I have to believe that despite how much time would be expended getting this corrected or removed, shoppers will object.
So let's interpret this to mean eight offers. Under this method, you could walk out of there with forty 12-packs. I have no idea how much soda you consume, but I believe I am being reasonable in stating this should last you until Memorial Day 2026. If it is not, this is not a digital deal. If you do not logon to your forU account, you should get this offer at multiple stores [How else could it track you?]. You do the math how long eighty 12-packs should last in your abode. At the very least, you do not have to put up with me telling you, "This is not the week to buy soda. You should have bought it last Halloween". You need to do this today or tomorrow.
The other items you could buy for $9.99 are the 16-pack of White Castle sliders {Tony's wants 12.99.}, and the 8-packs of Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. I keenly prefer to buy the hamburgers: i.e.: not the cheeseburgers; because when microwaving as instructed, the burger separates such that the bun top is unaligned from the burger and bun bottom, and the cheese slice could be anywhere nearby.

As is indicated, this is not a good week for Tony's Fresh Market. The Lean Cuisine is one dollar too high. The Smart Ones was 5|$2.99 last week @ Jewel. The Scott Pete [regular] smoked sausage is $3.99 @ Food4Less. The 12-pack of Maruchan brick ramen for ~50¢ - a couple of weeks ago, the Nissin brand, which IMO is a better brand, was 39¢ @ Jewel-Osco.

Browsing the Food4Less flyer on Flipp, you have likely noticed it offers 24-packs of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper brands (but not Coca-Cola) for $7.99 [limit 5]. {Squirt counts as Dr. Pepper.} 24-packs have fewer brands than do 12-packs. There is the Scott Pete sausage again for $3.99 (Beef sausage for 5.99). The big bowl of Nissin ramen for $1.00 is good. But that is about it. $1.99 for store brand potato chips is more then $1.67 - [3|$5.00].

The Flyer had coupons for Kentucky Fried Chicken (valid thru 5 January 2026), and Popeye's chicken (valid thru 22 March 2026 ) I approve of this. Let's just skip ahead to March to avoid winter.

It is 10 offers, and not 8.

pudgym29 wrote:the cheese slice could be anywhere nearby.

Thanks for the Friday funny. Needed.

Also wanted to add that with Mariano's and FFLess:
If you don't have one nearby, but you do have the other, their digital coupons are usually interchangeable. Sometimes you won't see an item's coupon price on one store's ad, but you'll see it on the other. You can clip it, and in general, from my experience, the coupons work at either store.

NFriday wrote: It is 10 offers, and not 8.

Noted. Thank you.
The snag I then encounter is this language on both Flipp, and Jewel-Osco's own World-Wide Web page:

Jewel-Osco wrote: In the event of disagreement between the flyer and this popup, the flyer shall take precedence.

I will dare to scrawl that not merely mine, but the print flyer distributed throughout northeastern Illinois reads 'LIMIT 8 TOTAL'.
Do you not believe that Jewel|Albertson's will not fall back on this clause in order to limit the number of 12-packs at this price to eight - and that if you attempt to check out with ten 12-packs, you will be charged 10.98 each for those additional two? Come on - this is a scuzzy money-grubbing national retailer needing to provide higher returns to its stockholders each quarter.

Barb over at the Facebook group Jewel deals with Barb contacted somebody over at corporate asking about this, and he told her that there was a limit of 10 and not 8.

I was at a restaurant where soda was offered at $4.99. I don't know if this was a can or by the gun and whether free refills were allowed.

I was at another place where I needed the caffeine pick-up and ordered a can of Coke without inquiring about the price. It was $2.99.

I did get the Dr. Pipp at Jewel today for free.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I was at a restaurant where soda was offered at $4.99. I don't know if this was a can or by the gun and whether free refills were allowed.

I was at another place where I needed the caffeine pick-up and ordered a can of Coke without inquiring about the price. It was $2.99.

I did get the Dr. Pipp at Jewel today for free.

Regards,
Cathy2

Yes, soda has gotten crazy expensive the past five years. It seems like it has almost doubled in price. Over $10 for a 12 pack is robbery especially for diet sodas which contain around 150 mg of artificial sweeteners in them.

I am relieved you were able to get ten 12-packs of 12-oz. cans.
Did any of you attempt the multiple store purchasing hack?

Just a note for now, because I haven't even glanced at Flipp for Food4Less, Angelo Caputo, and Butera. One of those amazing coincidents occurred this week.
Are you seated? Carneceria Jimenez actually had a good price on something I buy ; and which I did buy two weeks ago: The Banquet frozen entrees are $1.67 each*; the same price as at Tony's Fresh Market.

The digest will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm going out to the Beer Temple tonight. No, I am not attending FoBAB this year {or probably ever again}. I can't handle getting back to the abode via transit after three or four hours of consuming 9%+ ABV brews. Not to mention it is also very expensive.

* = Three for $5.00 actually.