The Results of the Best Walmart Shopping Trip That We Have Had in 6 Years

This past week was the first week we have gotten back into our normal coupon shopping routine.  See we had taken a break from the normal coupon shopping stuff since Thanksgiving.  We had been going to the stores/markets to get or milk and produce and would pick up a thing or two if we had a coupon (as you can see from our previous shopping trip results we shared HERE).

With that in mind, this week we had 3 bigger trips to Walmart, Target and Smiths (our local Kroger affiliate).  We are going to share the results with you of our Walmart trip (we hope to share the other two trips later, but we are also dealing with bad sickness over here and so things aren’t going quite as planned ;))

First, on our Facebook page on Saturday, we shared how we have a daughter with a very deadly peanut allergy and a very severe tree nut allergy.  This does have a dramatic affect on how we shop and live.  In fact, we often run into others that say that they can’t use coupons and shop like a real couponer because they have allergies to deal with.  Well, couponing for our groceries and household is one of the only ways we can afford to grocery shop as it means we can either get those specialty foods cheaper that we have to get or it means that we get other items on our list cheaper so that we can have room in our budget for the expensive allergy specific items too!

With that being said, when we shared this on our Facebook page, we were asking for suggestions for a peanut butter alternative as we are making a big road trip from Utah to Chicago, IL in March for the Family Economics Conference (join us if you can – more information HERE).  As such, we are going to try and save a bunch of money on one of the most expensive parts of the trip – food for a family of 7.  Eating out makes the budget skyrocket! So we are packing food and eating our own food on the road.  So we really wanted to add a PB&J alternative to break up the monotony of sandwich options while on the road.  Plus they are easier to keep and easier to make when on the road.

To our amazement – many of you have the same allergy issues in your homes and many, many ideas were shared!  We have tried some peanut butter alternatives in the past and no one liked the taste and it wasn’t the same.  We haven’t explored many other alternatives after already trying a couple because we just lost faith we would find a good one.

Well……. WE FOUND ONE!!  And it is at our local Walmart – thanks to the suggestion of many of you!! We found the WowButter.  It is AMAZING and tastes just like peanut butter.  It has the same consistency, smell and taste.  It is a soynut butter made in a facitility that is completely free of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy and gluten.  For those of you that deal with allergies, especially deadly and severe allergies – then you know how important these factors are. 

We actually hadn’t heard of WOW butter as we haven’t visited the peanut butter aisle in a couple of years after losing confidence in the last couple of alternatives.  This is a small 17.6 oz. bottle that was $3.78.  But BEIEVE us when we say that we don’t mind paying the price! In fact, we all went crazy over the WOW butter that the first jar was gone in one-day.

We brought it home, and although our dinner was in the crock pot already, we had a celery and peanut butter alternative party.  The best news was that all of our kids actually liked it (none of them have ever had peanut butter before).

This could get quite expensive at that consumption rate, but I am sure it will slow down some after the initial excitement! So for those of you wanting to try a Peanut Butter Alternative, we highly recommend this one!

We also had TONS of recommends for Sunbutter, which is an alternative to peanut butter that is made from sunflower seed.  If we can find this sold in any of our local stores, we want to try this one too as it has the most recommendations.  We did discover that Amazon is a good place to get some of these alternatives if you buy in bulk.  But before we make a bulk purchase, we wanted to taste test a few so we don’t waste money if we didn’t like them.

So this was the best Walmart shopping trip we’ve ever had because if you can imagine living without peanut butter or anything related and the impact it would have on your life, then you would probably understand.  Now although we have found this alternative, it still doesn’t fix the problem of not being able to buy half of the products on the shelf that are still “made around” peanuts and tree nuts, but hey, we can be excited over little victories too!

With that in mind, we also had a great trip buying other items too.  We were able to get 19 product for FREE and then some other great low prices on other items.  Most of our money on this trip went to our produce and perishable items – plus that $3.78 bottle of WOWbutter 😉

Here’s what we bought:

• 2 Scrubbing Bubbles One Step Cleaning systems for $9.97 each = $19.94.  Then price matched to Family Dollar for $4 each kit = $8.  We then used two $4/1 coupons from the 1/8 Smart Source Insert = final is two for FREE
  
• 6 Brawny Paper Towels normally $1.77 each = $10.62.  Then price matched to Smiths (Kroger) for $1.00 each = $6.00.  Then used four $1.00/1 coupons and two .55/1 coupons HERE = final is .90 for 6 (essentially, we got 4 for FREE and two at .45 each)
  
• 2 Coke zero 1.25 liters on sale for .99 each = $1.98.  Then used two .99 off coupons = final is two for FREE
• 5 Reach Dental Floss on sale for .97 each = $4.85.  Then used 5 $1.00/1 coupons = final is FREE plus .15 OVERAGE
  
• 4 packages of 10 ct. BIC pens on sale for .97 each = $3.88.  Then used 4 $1.00/1 coupons from the 1/8 Smart Source Insert = final is FREE plus .12 OVERAGE
• 1 package of corn tortillas on sale for $1 = final is $1.00
• 1 package of pre-cut/washed celery sticks sale for $1.98 = final is $1.98
• .59 lb. of zucchini squash sale for $1.88 lb. = final is $1.11
• .48 lb. of zucchini squash sale for $1.88 lb. = final is .90
• 1 10-lb bag of potatoes on sale for $2.47 = final is $2.47
• 2.47 lbs of  Spaghetti squash on sale for .78 each lb. = final is $1.93
• 2.45 lbs. of bananas on sale for .52 each lb. = final is $1.32
  
• 1.63 lbs of broccoli crowns on sale for $1.14 each lb. = final is $1.86
• 1 1lb. bag of organic carrots on sale for .98 = final is .98
  
• 1 32oz container of sour cream on sale for $2.08 = final is $2.08
• 1 Sugar Free maple syrup on sale for $1.88 each bottle = final is $1.88
• 2 White Cloud 12-double rolls of toilet paper for $5.97 each = $11.94.  Then used two $2.00/1 printable coupons – $4 = final is $7.94 for two or $3.97 each
• 3 Sambazon Organic Juices sale for $2.68 each = $8.04.  Then used three $2.00/1 – $6 = final is $2.04 for three or .68 each
• 7 cans of Muir Glen Organic Roasted Tomatoes sale for $1.32 each can = $9.24.  Then used 7 .75/1 printable coupons – $5.25 = final is $3.99 for 7 cans or .57 each
• 2 Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice cups sale for $1.00 each = $2.00.  Then used one $1.00/2 printable coupon = final is $1.00 for two or .50 each
• 3 Welch’s Fruit Snacks on sale for $2 each = $6.  Then use three $1.00/1 peelie coupons – $3 = final is $3.00 for three or $1.00 each
• 1 Treasure Cave Feta Cheese Crumbles on sale fro $1.58 each.  Then used $1.00/1 coupon from magazine = final is .58
• 1 I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter with Olive Oil sale for $2.68.  Then used $1.00/1 printable coupon = final is $1.68
• 2 Chobani Yogurt sale for $1.22 each = $2.44.  Then priced match for $1.00 each from Smiths (Kroger) = $2.00.  Then used two .30/1 coupons – .60 = final is $1.40 for two or .70 each. 

AND

• One WOWButter for $3.78 REGULAR PRICE (no sale, no coupon but a great deal!!) = final is $3.78.

Summary:  The total came to $106.48 from Walmart’s everyday low prices.  With the items we price matched, this brought our total down to $89.48.  We then used $45.93 of coupons which made our new total only $43.55 for all of the above. This was a 60% savings over and above Walmart’s everyday low prices with just a few price matches and coupons!

See more Results of Our Personal Shopping Trips with Coupon Matchups.