Does anybody take advantage of any of the free stuff?

Hi- Jewel usually has at least two free items that they give away every weekend through their my mixx program. 7-11 also has an app where you can get free stuff, and Tony's and Mariano's also gives away free stuff every weekend. Does anybody take advantage of this? I love getting stuff for free, but the great majority of the free stuff is loaded with sugar or fat or both. Today 7-11 is giving away some cookies on their app., and Jewel is giving away coconut water and a can of sweetened coffee. I think maybe Mariano's is giving away candy right now. With Mariano's they send you an email on Fridays, and you have to load it to your card that day, and you have two weeks to purchase the item. Jewel also often has a free item on Fridays. When you mention the secret word when you check out, you get it for free. They post the deal on their Facebook page, and I find out about it through mashupmom. The last time they did this, they had some veggie fries they were giving away if you mentioned the word veggie when you checked out.

I pass on 90% of the free stuff, but does anybody take advantage of it? Thanks, Nancy

If the item is of interest, I'll give it a try. Both Jewel and Mariano's are in my grocery shopping rotation.

I tend to do it and one of my daughters will eat anything with sugar in it......I have trained her well. I never heard about the jewel secret word thing, I just do the weekend freebie which you clip online on saturday and can pick up through monday. The marianos ones are good for the 2 next weeks, so until bannockburn opens and it is more convenient for me, I just tend to go every third friday and pickup 3 weeks worth of freebies. I would say that about half the freebies both places are basically worthless (though someone here tends to eat them) but half are decent $3+ items (4pack drinkable yougurt, 12 pack kroger frozen ice cream novelties).

-Will

For the lat three years, I have been taking advantage of the Kroger's Free friday special. Sometimes - like this week, the item is just a small Oreo candy bar. However, there have been some great deals like a 12 pack of Kroger's Real Sugar Soda, a bag of jerky, and a regular sized box of granola bars.

In addition, they send out "favorite shopper" promotions which include between two to six items each quarter. This quarter's freebies included 24 half liter bottles of Kroger's water and a 1/2 lb pack of Kroger's sliced cheese.

In addition, in the Fry's and Smith's divisions, they offer a 10% discount to those over age 55 on the first Wednesday of each month.

In the last year, Safeway has tried to match this. However, it is the usual "half assed" effort. Sometimes the specials ring up, sometimes not. Sometimes the folks forget to give the discount. About half of the time, you end up at the frunt desk for a refund or price correction.

[It is sad that nearly all of the suburban Chicago Dominick's stores that were closed a few years ago were better run and better merchandised than ANY of the Safeway stores that I have visited in CA, AZ, NM, and NV.]

Fry's has to improve. There has been some talk of a new Winco Foods store in Tucson and Aldi is building a 500k sqft in Phoenix in the coming year.

==========================

One off=topic remark. Kroger's has launched its "Click List" program where you order online and they bring out your groceries to your car. I cannot say that I will ever use it.

Having said that, my local Fry's store now has about eight people gathering groceries to fulfill the orders. At first, I did not like their large carts blocking the aisle. However, a few weeks ago, I realized that these people know where EVERYTHING is at down to the shelf. Having those people around has been a great time saver as I can now ask them and get a immediate response as opposed to searching for the product myself. Try getting THAT service elsewhere.

I was pleasantly surprised when Kroger took over Mariano's. I thought service would go down the tubes to save money. Mariano's is still a pleasant shopping experience, and they still have the music on the weekends. I think their prices have gone down a little bit since Kroger took them over too.

Valli Produce has a 10% off senior discount on Tuesdays, but it does not apply to any of the items on the front page of their ad, which are all lost leader, and so it does not entice me to go to the store.

Rachael at mashupmom says that when she goes to the Lombard Jewel and enters in her mymixx number, it does not work, and she has to ask the cashier to enter it. She can go to any other Jewel store and it works just fine. Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:I was pleasantly surprised when Kroger took over Mariano's. I thought service would go down the tubes to save money. Mariano's is still a pleasant shopping experience, and they still have the music on the weekends. I think their prices have gone down a little bit since Kroger took them over too.

I cannot speak for Mariano's as it has been years since I have been in one of their stores. However, Kroger's nationwide has been lowering their prices. Do realize that some of the price decreases have been due to the deflation in food prices in the past two years or so. However, there have been a lot of price decreases unrelated to wholesale prices.

Do realize that I am in a market with relatively little competition (Tucson). Fry's (Krogers) is the lowest cost full service supermarket. Safeway and Walmart are consistently higher prices. Other players in the market lack the will to match prices and are very content serving their small niche in the market.

NFriday wrote: Does anybody take advantage of this? I love getting stuff for free, but the great majority of the free stuff is loaded with sugar or fat or both.

No, and that's why. I try as much as possible to shop the perimeter of the store and limit the processed food I eat.

Steph does the Jewel promos from time to time.

Invariably I end up with some product that looks fine but is ruined by Stevia. i recognize it's part of their marketing but I despise artificial sweeteners.

Hi,

I get the freebies from Jewel. If I am out of town, I remind my family to pick it up for me. I had not heard of the secret word, though it is iffy I will make it on a Friday.

The free stuff from Jewel is almost always stuff I would not have bought, so I like the opportunity to sample. The value of the goods are anywhere from $1 to $7. It is branded items and not their store products.

I was away for the weekend. I told Dad where to find the stuff, then warned him there might a tax. Sure enough, he paid 4 cents to collect the two items.

I usually clip the freebies from Marianos, though 50% of the time I never collect it. I just don't go there that often.

I also like samples walking through the store, which Marianos does very well. Jewel nearly does nothing. I try to time my Costco visits to coincide with their sample people.

Regards,
Cathy2

I wonder what the 4 cents was for? In Cook county I think people had to pay the sugar/sweetened tax for the canned coffee, which was probably 12 cents, but there should not have been a tax on the coconut water. I passed on both the freebies this last weekend, and I am not going to drive 11 miles to Lake county to avoid the sugar tax.

The last time I got something free from Mariano's was when they were giving away pasta and a jar of prego. I pass on all the ones where they give away candy or other junk food.

I am a member of Sam's Club, and frequently they have free samples late in the afternoon. I get all my medicine there. This last Winter I was trying to lose some weight, and so I would bypass all the free items that were high fat or high sugar, and so there were usually one or two stations that I would go to. One day I was in Mariano's, and they were giving away free samples of Eli's cheese cake, and I passed on that. Whole Foods also gives away a fair amount of free samples.

The free item they give away when you say the secret word at Jewel is usually on Friday, but it also takes place sometimes on other days. A few weeks ago, they were giving away free items on both Monday and Friday. They always post this on their Facebook page, but Rachael over at mashupmom also posts it on her Facebook page, and so that is how I hear about it. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- On Jewel's Facebook page they have just posted a free offer for tomorrow only 9/18. Pick up any Cedar's product, and go to the register and say "Know better Hommus", and get it for free. That is tomorrow only, and is good on any Cedar's product, including tahini, hommus, and flat bread, and any other Cedar's product that Jewel carries. While you are there, you can get the super cheap O Organics grass fed ground beef too, and there are three items on mymixx that are free, although I am not interested in any of them. One is a mix in yogurt, one is a water and caffeine and one is Sunny Delight. In order to get those for free, you have to go to the Jewel website, and sign up for mymixx. You then have to apply these offers to your account. You enter in your phone number when you check out, and you then get them for free. There are lots of coupons you can apply to your account. I know Cathy will be particularly interested in the free Cedar's. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:I know Cathy will be particularly interested in the free Cedar's. Hope this helps, Nancy

LOL! You bet I will say those words!

Are coming to the picnic next week?

Regards,
Cathy

I am still trying to find somebody to come with me. I have had two different friends say they have other plans that day. I have two other friends I have not contacted yet. One of my friends that I have not contacted yet, came to the picnic with me two years ago, and loved it. She got in an interesting conversation with your sister about politics. Yes, she is Republican. Thanks, Nancy

I went to Jewel tonight, and took advantage of the freebie. I was going to get a bottle of tahini, but the Chicago Ave, store does not have any tahini apparently. They don't carry the Cedar's wraps either. WF carries both of those items. I ended up getting a large container of organic hummus, which was normally $6.99. I considered getting a black bean salad, but that was going to expire in a week, and I did not really need it. They still had tons of Cedars on the shelf. Most people did not know about the deal. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Most people did not know about the deal. Hope this helps, Nancy

Not only did customers not know, this applies to cashiers, too. When I said the secret handshake phrase, I got a blank look in return. I repeated it to get a look like I might be a little touched.

When I explained it was the phrase to unlock a free hummus, the cashier knew nothing about this. She called her manager over who then ran to another check-out lane to grab the zebra code. They blamed Bob who had worked there earlier.

I also bought the organic ground beef, though I had to go through a few booklets to get the coupon. Either someone poached the coupon or they take it and eventually the booklet is restacked.

Between MyMixx, the secret handshake phrase and the beef coupon, I paid a whopping $1.68 for my acquisitions and saved over $10.

Thank you!

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi- I just found out they are extending the sale on the O Organics ground beef another week! In case your Jewel runs out of the coupons, there is also a $2 coupon they just added on mymixx, but you can't combine it with the other one. You can also go on Jewel's website, and print the $2.50 coupon. The cashier at my Jewel knew that there was some Cedar's freebie going on, but she was not sure what it was. I told her that it was good on any Cedar's product, and she believed me, and took the whole $6.99 off. She is one of the nicer cashiers at the Chicago Avenue Jewel. A lot of them are not friendly. When they were wrapping up the Monopoly game the end of April, the cashier did not give me any game pieces. When I mentioned that to her, she replied that the game was almost over. She was ticked off because she was being forced to go into her drawer to pull out some game tickets, and I was supposed to get 14, and instead of counting them out, she just gave me a handful, and I was short 5, and had to go to customer service to get the rest of them.

NFriday wrote: You can also go on Jewel's website, and print the $2.50 coupon.

I can't find that $2.50 on-line. I must be doing something wrong

Lenny007 wrote:

NFriday wrote: You can also go on Jewel's website, and print the $2.50 coupon.

I can't find that $2.50 on-line. I must be doing something wrong

HI,

Edit: Meanwhile, I found online the coupon, it is the Big Book online, page 24.

When you walk into Jewel, there is a rack of their sale pages. There is also a monthly feature they call the Big Book. I would grab a copy from the bottom, then thumb through it for the coupon.

I found last night that some of these booklets were returned to the rack with the coupon already removed. It is there somewhere, but it is a pain when edited booklets are returned to the pile.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:

Lenny007 wrote:

NFriday wrote: You can also go on Jewel's website, and print the $2.50 coupon.

I can't find that $2.50 on-line. I must be doing something wrong

HI,

When you walk into Jewel, there is a rack of their sale pages. There is also a monthly feature they call the Big Book. I would grab a copy from the bottom, then thumb through it for the coupon.

I found last night that some of these booklets were returned to the rack with the coupon already removed. It is there somewhere, but it is a pain when edited booklets are returned to the pile.

Regards,
Cathy2

My better half bought couple packages. I opened one and told her to buy half a ton, but she bought two more next day. Anyways, I grilled lulya kebabs and they tasted great, but not super juicy like lamb ones. I know that part is fixable.

Lenny007 wrote:

NFriday wrote: You can also go on Jewel's website, and print the $2.50 coupon.

I can't find that $2.50 on-line. I must be doing something wrong

Go to the Jewel website,then click on weekly ads. You will see link to their "Online Big Book". Click on it and go to Page 24. In the upper right hand corner is a Print button.

Artie wrote:

Lenny007 wrote:

NFriday wrote: You can also go on Jewel's website, and print the $2.50 coupon.

I can't find that $2.50 on-line. I must be doing something wrong

Go to the Jewel website,then click on weekly ads. You will see link to their "Online Big Book". Click on it and go to Page 24. In the upper right hand corner is a Print button.

Thank you, found it.

I've signed up for that My Mixx, and I check it weekly for any freebies.
I have two Jewel stores within striking distance, and I've been going more frequently since they've noticed that their competition is growing and well...I'll just leave that as it is. I have a whole bunch of theories. Anyway, since they've started to price some of their produce at levels that make me think they've stopped laughing at their customers, I will buy a few more things other than sparkling water and loss leaders, so I pay attention to more things in their ad. The freebies have only pulled me in once over the last few months, mostly just not interested in the ones they've offered. I do look, however. The sunny D, and water with caffeine just don't interest me at all this week. The last one that pulled me in was two different free yogurts and a bottle of coconut water. That tiny blue bottle of coconut water was the best damn coconut water I've ever had.

I'm starting to respect Jewel more. Kinda of reminds me of how the Cubs organization was pretty much laughing at all of the fans packing Wrigley and raking in money while not really making smart business decisions with talent since it didn't really matter. Hey, if the fans were gonna pack the place no matter what they trotted out onto the field...can't blame them. (Are they STILL paying Big Z and Soriano?) Jewel is kinda now offering more things at reasonable prices.

Hi- From what I understand there was a huge display of the ground beef at both the Andersonville Jewel and the one on Green Bay in Wilmette. The Andersonville Jewel let you buy multiple packages, and all the registers had the coupon, and so if you bought 10 packages of the ground beef, they just scanned the coupon 10 times. Other Jewel stores have made photocopies of the coupon, and taped it to the packages. I know one of the DG Jewels did this. A few Jewel stores are limiting the number of packages you can buy, but the great majority of them are not. The Chicago Ave. store had tons of the big books at the front of the store, right next to the sale ads.

The Jewel on Chicago Avenue is my least favorite branch, but it is the closest one to me, and on occasion they put some of their stuff on clearance 75% off. I much prefer the produce at both the Wilmette stores. In general the cashiers are much nicer at those two stores, and the produce is much nicer, and they don't run out of stuff nearly as much. The Chicago Ave. store only stocks their shelves at night, and if you want to get a good deal on peanut butter, you have to visit the store before 10:00am. The other stores restock their shelves during the day. Right now Jewel has their Lucerne cottage cheese on sale for $2, and there is a $1 off coupon in the book for it. The last three times I have been to the Chicago Avenue store, they have been out of the lowfat cc. They did have the no salt aded one, but I won't touch that one.

Hi- Jewel has another freebie on their Facebook page for tomorrow 10/6 only. They are giving away one 10 ounce box of Kronos gyros slices or one 12 ounce box of Kronos gyros bites. These are both in the frozen section. To get one of them for free mention the secret word gyro to the cashier. This is only good for tomorrow 10/6 only. Hope this helps, Nancy

For those people who have a Mariano's card, there is a free item you can add to your account. It is for Arla cream cheese. Is this any good? When you go to their website and log in, this coupon is almost at the very bottom of the coupons. You just click it, and then it get applied to your card. The coupon expires on 10/13. There are a ton of coupons on their website right now. Most of the coupons expire on 10/11, and the majority of them are for store brand items. Hope this helps, Nancy

This Friday Only at Jewel via facebook posting:

Code: Select all

Another one! Stop in on Friday, October 13th for a FREE frozen Sandwich Bros. of Wisconsin snack! Just go to the registers and say the words "Really, Really Tasty" to redeem. (Valid 1 per customer.) #WordoftheDay

https://www.facebook.com/pg/JewelOsco/posts/

Hi Jewel has another free item posted on their Facebook page for tomorrow 10/16. They are giving away one package of Sabra Guac and Go for free if you say the word "fresh avocado" at checkout. This is one of those things where you get a serving of guacamole and and serving of tortilla chips in the same package. It is only good for tomorrow, and there is a limit of one per customer. I am not sure if it is in the produce section or somewhere else. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi,

I'm out of town, but I called home to alert Dad on the Blue Bunny BOGO at Jewel. He grumped about it not being his favorite ice cream.

Whatever reservations he may have had, I got an e-mail copy of his purchase receipt. "So Dad, did you attack the toffee or the butter pecan first?" He was surprised at my rather specific knowledge until I told him I get an email after every mymixx purchase.

If I was Mom, I would have just kept him guessing I have spies everywhere!

Regards.
Cathy2

Great thread, I really appreciate the posts. I had no idea.

Jewel has a free Nestea 6 Pack,Peach, Raspberry, or Lemon Tea & 40 Ct Splenda Naturals w Stevia. If you live in Cook County you will pay $1.11 sweetened beverage tax for the Nestea.

Clip today on MyMixx,use by Monday