I have committed to donating $3 of grocery purchases to a local food bank each week.

Here's what I'll be giving this week:

16 boxes of Mueller's pasta
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes
3 cans Campbell's cream soup
2 cans RoTel diced tomatoes

I really thought the 16 boxes of pasta were going to add up to $3, but they were a Publix "buy one, get one" at $1.17 each, then topped with $.55 coupons (used two, one for each box of pasta), bringing the total for two boxes to $.07 ... bringing the total for 16 boxes to $.56 ... as the kids said: Epic Fail

The scalloped potatoes were also a Publix "buy one, get one" at $1.75 each, topped with $.50/2 coupon ... brought the cost of 2 to $1.25.

The campell's soup was on sale last week at Target for $.50, with coupons I paid $.30 per can, or $.60 for 2 cans.

The RoTel tomatoes were also a Publix "buy one, get one" at $1.39, used a $1.00 coupon (I think it was $1/3, so I bought six for $4.20 and used 2 $1 coupons, bringing cost for each can to $.37 each.

Total spent:  $3.15

If that alone doesn't speak to the value of coupons and sale shopping, the total I spent at Publix yesterday was $53.94 ... and I saved $118.57.  My cart was overflowing.