Since the blog world is abuzz with all the free cereal deals that are out right now, I decided I would have to try this one out for myself, and make a trip to Safeway.

Let me start by explaining that I only shop at the commissary. Their deals are almost always better, plus I know the layout of the store, where the coupons are, and where to park. I am a slow to change type of person…. I order the same meals at restaurants, I buy only 3 brands of clothing, I use the same laundry detergent, etc… I don’t like to do things differently. Going to Safeway is a leap out of my comfort zone. So for comfort, I decided to take my 7 year old and 11 year old to the store with me. Plus, they could hold all my coupons.

I had my plan of attack when I got to the store; get the club card, get the cereal, get the yogurt, get the rolls, get out. We walked in the store and went to customer service to get the card. That was easy enough, but the kid behind the counter couldn’t really explain to me Safeway’s coupon policy, oh well, we could figure it out at the register.

Found the cereal… at this point the Mission Impossible theme song is playing in my mind, I am getting the deals, I mean free cereal, how can you beat that? I count out my coupons and hand them to my oldest boy. We move on to the yogurt.

On the way to the yogurt we pass about 50 more cereal displays. I am slightly confused. On the coupon it says one coupon per purchase, but I am wondering, can I buy only 5 boxes, or could I buy 10 or 15. I only had coupons for five so I decide that it doesn’t really matter at the moment, and I can ask the person at the register. (mental list of questions to ask the cashier is growing)

Find the yogurt. This takes a bit of time as I had a coupon for free and I wanted to get the drinkable kind since it is expensive and I never buy it for the kids. Debate with younger boy about whether to buy the Dora or Backyardigans yogurt. We don’t have tv, why does it matter to him????

Start the search for the rolls. I say search because I felt we were on a quest for buried treasure. After two loops around the store the mission impossible music is beginning to fade. The boys are getting restless, plus we keep passing by the Captain Crunch and my oldest knows it is on sale too. On the third lap my boys are begging me to get help. I would love to, except I can’t seem to find anyone who works at Safeway except the cashiers, and they all have lines. My boys then start telling me that maybe Safeway doesn’t sell crescent rolls. I tell them that doesn’t make any sense, why would they put them in their sale flyer if they don’t sell them? Finally at the end of the third lap we find them, right next to the eggs…. the eggs??? This is exactly why I am a one store shopper, I mean who puts canned bread next to the eggs? Eggs should be next to the milk!

We have all our items and head to the front of the store. (You don’t think they would put the eggs in the front, do you?) Three registers are open and two have huge lines, one is empty. It is the express lane, I look down and count 10 items, 5 less than the maximum. I hurry to the express lane and start to check out. I hand them my card, (learned that one from CVS) and watch as he rings up all my stuff, making sure everything comes up at the right price. After he is done ringing everything up I hand him my 10 coupons. By now there is a line behind me, and of course there is a problem with my free yogurt coupon. He has to call the manager. Now there is a long line behind me… I am trying not to get worried about making all these other people wait in the express line. I am thinking I should have toughed it out in the regular line, plus I had questions I wanted to ask this kid.

At last all my coupons are put in the system and my total is $4. My kids are really excited, we were making guesses about how much everything would cost on our walk back from the eggs. I pay the kid and hurry out without asking all my other questions. I’ll be back again, I mean with deals like this, who wouldn’t?