After dropping off big sis at preschool today, little man and I headed to Kroger, our nearest grocery store. I had a short list of staples we were running low on: bread, Nutella, coffee, deli turkey, maybe berries depending on price.
I have tried many off brand chocolate-hazelnut spreads, and perhaps it’s that my time in Spain, where Nutella was as inexpensive as the store brand is here, ingrained the habit too deeply, but in my opinion, none of them measure up. So, I’m always willing to pay full price to have the real deal. It goes on toast at breakfast or with peanut butter on sandwiches at lunch almost daily around here, and it satisfies a chocolate craving better than a handful of chocolate chips occasionally for me.
To my surprise and delight, the Nutella was on sale for over half off regular price! I was raised to always appreciate a good deal. I took a picture with my phone of the sign to show the cashier, because it didn’t quite match the other sale signs, and I thought I might need to validate my claim. He laughed when I asked him to check the price before scanning the rest of my items, “because the price seems too good to be true!” I bought six of them.
Literally On Top Of That, there was a coupon stuck on the lid of each Nutella jar for $1 off fresh fruit if you bought it at the same time as the Nutella. In that case I’m willing to pick up $3 packages of raspberries and strawberries (Miryam’s main source of vitamins), and honey crisp (my favorite) apples, and might as well stock up on bananas, which can always go to quick bread if we don’t get through them.
In the coffee aisle there was another sticker $1 off coupon for the brand of coffee I had planned to buy anyway. The bread was also on sale. I do try to plan ahead and buy things on sale when I can, but I couldn’t have gotten better deals on these specific items—things I usually just pay any price for, because We Need Them—if I’d tracked the sales for weeks.
I sent up a quick prayer of thanks as we headed to the checkout. It was a small blessing, but I felt it. The fact that the surprise discounts applied to 4 of my 5 list items was too much to be “just a coincidence.” The fact that I was so excited by saving a few dollars unexpectedly might make me kind of a weirdo. But the fact that I AM excited enough about it to want to share the story…well, that’s why I started this blog. Happy Tuesday (: