BJs Coupon Policy – Some Education is Required

17 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Groceries, Product Reviews, Websites

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I like that BJs allows coupons. But, they need to better educate their staff on their coupon policy as I have repeatedly had the same problem (maybe I should just bookmark the page on my phone).

The policy states, in part:

“When purchasing a multi-pack of “individual for sale” packaged items, which is a set of items that could be sold individually (each item has a barcode) shrink-wrapped and sold together, shoppers can use multiple manufacturer’s coupons (up to 5), and ONE BJ’s coupon on a single selling unit. The total value of the coupons cannot exceed the total retail value of the item.

Examples of a multipack:
Three-pack of toothpaste
Two-pack of salad dressing
Three-pack of taco kits

Examples of products that are NOT a multipack:
Box of cereal that contains two bags (the bags cannot be sold individually)
Case of water
Case of soda
Case of juice
Case of motor oil

Members may also use one BJ’s coupon and one manufacturer’s coupon on a single item.”

So, when I buy Coke flats, Cheerios, diapers, etc they are not multipacks. But, if I buy a pack of cans of mandarin oranges or Campbell’s soup, or (my personal pet peeve) sunscreen, I should be able to use one BJs coupon plus as many manufacturer’s coupons as match the number of items in the multi-pack.

Like I said, sunscreen is my pet peeve in this department. Every year there is a BJs coupon for Coppertone. Every year there are $1 off one Coppertone product manufacturer coupons. Because BJs sells them as three shrink wrapped together, I should be able to use the BJs coupon plus three of the manufacturers coupons. I have never succeeded in doing this without a fuss from the cashier who eventually relents and agrees to let me use them “just this once” because they’re only supposed to accept one manufacturer coupon.

But, a new coupon culprit raised its ugly head this past week. Yes, this is the same picture from Monday.

As you can see, there are four bags of chips/popcorn. This is because I had two copies of the $2.50 Frito Lay coupon shown below. (Note – A Pick and Pack bundle is two bags of chips.)

bjs-coupon-page-11142016

This time, I was first told I couldn’t use it because you had to buy both the chips and the dip (he was pointing to the “and” between “Pick” and “Pack.” When I explained that “Pick and Pack” was the term for the bag containing two bags of chips and that it very clearly said “OR” before “Dips” I was told that the coupon was printed in error and wasn’t being accepted. They would have a sign up soon. Well, this was two weeks after the coupon went into effect – no sign. And, I got the above from the corporate website today, which obviously hasn’t been updated.

So, while I agree that it may be an error (because that is a lot off), with no sign and no removal of the coupon from their own website, they need to accept them. They did, very reluctantly and with much too much complaining on their behalf, hence the rant here.

Last Two Week’s Accomplishments – School Holidays

15 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Accomplishments

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The boys had next to no school last week what with Election Day and Veteran’s Day so things got a bit behind. But, time continues to march forward.

I went for early voting with just the baby, which was so much more convenient that having to take all the kids on their day off. (This is the end of any election discussion.)
I had parent/teacher conferences for the oldest 4. The last one will be this week.
The older three boys started Adventure class, which will continue until the end of this year.
Soccer is done! It’s not that I mind soccer, just that this frees up three evenings a week + Saturdays.
I signed up the three soccer players for spring soccer.
I purchased a few pairs of pants for the boys, which should finish our clothing needs for the time being.
I went to a tag sale (local Temple for charity). I got three pairs of GAP jeans ($3 each), three shirts ($1 each), and nine books (@ $1 & 5@ $2). I didn’t find as many items as last year, but their inventory is quite random and I did well on the items I did find. The hard cover books, in particular, were quite a steal.
I fixed the kitchen sink that was dangling; it turns out the counter weight was stuck.

Grocery Update

14 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Groceries

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I made two significant trips this week and one small one that I did not take pictures of. The small one first – I stopped at the farm stand for green beans and ham.

Now for the pictures (Apologies for the poor lighting. I haven’t figured winter lighting out in this house yet.). On Monday, I went to Stop & Shop. Everything here was on sale except the juice, yogurt, and hot dogs. Pasta was on its best sale of the year, but I had some already and I don’t buy a full year at a time. Bottom round was $1.99/lb, which is great compared to its usual $4.99/lb. I bought six pounds then cubed and froze it for later use. Bananas were not on sale, but I had a store coupon for 10¢/lb off, bringing them to 29¢/lb. So, I bought enough to match with the container of yogurt when making banana bread. Most of this will be frozen for later use.

On Wednesday, I went to BJs. Many of these items had BJs coupons, though I had to work extra hard to use two of them. More about that on Thursday. I sous vided the pork chops over the weekend and they came out great. It’s been a while since we had pork chops as they usually come out dry, but this method seemed to mitigate that problem so we’ll probably put them back in the rotation.

Happy Halloween!

10 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Family

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We have costumes and lighted pumpkin pictures to share!

For those who are paying attention, General Grievous and the skeleton are reruns (yes, with the same people) from last year. Bumblebee was also a rerun, though it didn’t make the picture because the costume was left at school last year.

We had a good variety of pumpkins this year, from the white “ghost” pumpkin to the orange one with really small holes.

We did have to cut a hole in the back of the top left pumpkin for air, because the candle kept getting snuffed out.

October Grocery Review

07 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Groceries

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Grocery Spending

The spending is coming back down. We’re also starting to see the fall stock up sales so our freezer is filling up, which is nice. It will help to balance things out in the future as there have been, for example, a lot of beef sales lately.

October TOTAL: $1161.96
- Stop & Shop: $461.50
- Wegman’s: $284.30
- BJs: $332.72
- Other: $83.44
  - Local: $0
  - Star Market: $75.48
  - Trader Joe’s: $7.96
  - Target: $0
  - Other: $0

I made a number of grocery stops this week. On Monday, I went to BJ’s (left – very small trip), Wegman’s (center), and Shaw’s (right). This was not my original plan. I had intended to buy white bread at BJ’s, but they were out. Wegman’s was in between and I had my list. I knew I didn’t need anything perishable there so I thought I’d see if they had the bread I wanted. Nope! So, I stopped at Shaw’s. Unfortunately they were low on pizza dough so I’ll still have to head back there in a week or two.

Then on Sunday I went back to Wegman’s for a more normal visit. We had hamburgers for dinner that used half the ground beef. I’ll use the rest in shepard’s pie later in the week. I got a few milks so I can push my BJs trip towards the end of the week. I got two bags of carrots because I had a coupon for $1 off a $5 organic produce purchase. Carrots will keep and be eaten. I got the small bag of apples because I had a $1 off a 3 lb bag which brought the unit price under that of the 8 lb bag.

I also stopped at the farm stand mid week and got broccoli, green beans, swiss cheese, and one heirloom tomato. But, apparently I forgot to take a picture of that. After not purchasing much produce for a few weeks, I’m stocked back up in that department.

Dinners this week will be a bit hit or miss. I have a rough plan, but we have two days with no school, two evening soccer practices, and two evenings that I am out. So, we shall see.

House Design – The Mudroom

02 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Family, Home

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I think a mudroom is critical to a house. The ability to get out of the wet and cold, but abandon all outside items before coming in is important. It keeps out the dirt. It can keep out the cold. It limits the stuff that naturally collects in the kitchen.

Our previous house had a huge mudroom. Not the best laid out as one had to walk the diagonal to move from inside to outside, but huge. We had a table, an extra fridge, shelves, and room to spare.

This house not so much. It’s plenty large for a few people. But, at about a third the size of our previous one, and with all of us, we have to be rather vigilant about the space. In relatively neat pictures, here it is full and empty (most folks out for the day).

Above the hooks are two shelves which hold out of season goods, hats that aren’t hook friendly, soccer shin guards, etc. Next week we’ll be adding winter jackets. There are plenty of hooks, but it will add to the bulk. At some point we’ll have to figure out winter boots. They may live in the garage, but that’s still up in the air. Corralling the winter hats and gloves will be another issue.

So, the space is fine. A little bigger would be nice, but this works.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – Halloween 2016

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Nora in Accomplishments, Family

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This week was pretty much all about Halloween. Sports continued. Bike club ended for the fall; Adventure class will start next week.

The boys complained that we were never going to carve pumpkins. We’ve had essentially no precipitation since last winter and are officially under “Extreme Drought” conditions. But, once the pumpkins were purchased, the rain and cold set in.

We choose Halloween costumes.

Grocery Update and Menu Plan

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by Nora in Groceries, Menus

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This was a big week for grocery shopping, perhaps making up for last week.

On Monday, I went to Stop & Shop. I had a lot of coupons, and thankfully many things were on sale. For starters, I had coupons for $10 off a $100 purchase and 600 gas points with a $160 purchase (600 gas points = 60¢ off / gallon ≈ $12.00 off a full tank of gas). It took a little work to get there, but I spent $160.88 after all sales & coupons, thereby earning the gas points. I did buy three more bags of potatoes and two more chuck roasts than I intended (good sales, but we will need to eat them). Otherwise I would have come in more like $125.

On Wednesday, I went to Wegman’s. This was primarily for milk, though I picked up a few other items while I was there. There was another banana, but it got eaten before the picture was taken.

I went to Stop & Shop again on Sunday. This time I had $20 off $100 purchase and 2X gas points, among other coupons. With the steaks, roast, and fish this was pretty easy to achieve. That being said, everything in this picture except the bread, herbs, and bananas was on sale.

With sports wrapping up, I’m going to be getting back to menu plans.

Saturday:
Spaghetti & meatballs
Homemade bread

Sunday:
Salmon
Pan fried potatoes
Peas

Monday – Halloween:
Kids: Hot dogs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Beef roast
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Carrots
Popovers

Wednesday:
Chicken pot pie

Thursday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Tuna noodle casserole

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Asiago Chicken

28 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by Nora in Recipes

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Chicken

As you may have noticed from my menu plans, this is one of our go-to recipes. The ingredients are easy to keep on hand, everyone will eat it, its quick, and its foolproof.

Orzo with Chicken & Asiago

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 (16-ounce) can chicken broth
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bit sized pieces
1¼ cups uncooked orzo
1 cup peas
½ cup grated Asiago cheese, divided
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp basil
¼ tsp Italian seasoning
¼ tsp pepper

Directions:

Combine water and broth in a dutch oven; bring to a boil.
Add chicken and pasta; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat; stir in peas, 1/4 cup cheese, salt, herbs, and pepper.
Top each serving with 1 Tbsp cheese.

Makes 4 servings

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 25 min

Notes:

Fresh peas are best, but frozen work fine. Since peas are so small, there’s really no need to thaw them first, just throw them in towards the end of the simmer step before the cheese.

Re step 2, cook until sauce is desired thickness. If you need to slow down dinner it can simmer longer – just add a bit more chicken broth.

I’ve also made this with green beans though I think peas are better. I imagine broccoli would work well too.

You can adjust the quantity of chicken to your needs.

Makes a great side if you skip the chicken.

To make a vegi version (or if you’re all out), use vegi broth instead of chicken.

It has Been Especially Busy

27 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by Nora in Family, Sports

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I’ve noticed recently that this period where fall activities are overlapping with winter activities is taking its toll this year. Some of the winter activities are before school, while the fall activities tend to happen around dinnertime, making for very long days. This is part of why blog posts have been a bit random of late. We have one more week of this overlap and then things will wind down rather rapidly.

I’ve written about our busy schedule in the past, but here’s the annual update.

Mondays:
7:30 5th grade math morning (1)
8:00 other elementary kids (3) to the bus stop
9:00 preschooler to school
1:00 preschooler comes home
3:45 all elementary kids come home
5:30 first kid to soccer
6:45/7:00 swap kids at soccer
8:00 pick up second kid from soccer

Tuesdays:
8:00 all elementary kids to the bus stop
3:45 all elementary kids come home
4:45 swimming lessons for middle kids (4)
5:30 home for dinner
7:00 often a meeting or activity – Tuesday is the most popular night for such things

Wednesdays:
7:45 5th grade sports morning (1)
8:00 other elementary kids (3) to the bus stop
9:00 preschooler to school
1:00 preschooler comes home
3:45 all elementary kids come home

Thursdays:
7:30 3rd grade math morning (2)
8:00 other elementary kids (2) to the bus stop
12:45 all elementary kids come home
2:30 bike club for the oldest three until 3:45
5:30 one kid to soccer until 7:00

Fridays:
8:00 all elementary kids to the bus stop
9:00 preschooler to school
1:00 preschooler comes home
3:45 elementary kids (4) come home
5:30 one kid to soccer until 7:00

In between all of this during the week is some homework (thankfully still quite manageable), any special items, meals, and sleeping. Thankfully this morning -> evening stretch is basically limited to the month of October, though it will repeat in the spring.

Saturdays: 3 soccer games

Sundays: 1 baseball clinic

Busy in the Burbs

Author Archives: Nora