As a couponer for a few years now I have become aware of what prices are good enough for me to stock up on. And I get emails often asking me what I personally will pay when things go on sale. So this is typically what my stock up prices are.
Note: Every region is different. Some areas you might not be able to get things as cheap as these prices/or can get even better deals on certain items. When you have been sale shopping for awhile you will start to see your own price points and begin to know what you will and will not pay for items.
Items I get for FREE : these items I will wait until they are FREE or money makers only usually.
Toothpaste
Shampoo, Conditioners & Stylers
Razors
Contact Solution
Bodywash
Mouthwash
Deodorants: both Mens & Womens
Floss
Crackers
Scented Items:candles, plug-ins ect
Lightbulbs
Pantiliners
Medicines/Vitamins
Staples & Pantry Items
Bread .89-.99 loaf
Eggs .99 dozen
Cheese $2.99-$3.99 for 2 lb loaf
Lunch Meat $2 lb for sliced ( I often buy packaged kinds & Freeze)
Real Butter 1 lb: $1.60 lb
Flour: 5 lb bag $1.00- $1.29
Cereals: .49 box
Peanut Butter: $1.00 or less
Campbells Cream Soups .40/can
Granola Bars .50 box
Fruit Snacks .50- $1 box
Juice 64fl oz $1.50 or less
Milk, gallon $1.79 or less
Chocolate Chips $1 per bag
Pam sprays $1 or less
Canned Tomatoes .50 can
Van Camps Pork n Beans .39 can
Spaghetti sauce .75 – $1.00 per jar/.50 per can
Sugar, white $1.99 for 5 lb bag (or .39 lb)
Sugar, brown & confectioners .60-.70 lb
Jell-O gelatin (boxes) .25 each
Jell-O Pudding (boxes) .45 each
Toiletries
Toothbrushes (Free from Dentist) or fancy ones .20
Dishsoap .49
Hand soap .20
Toilet Paper 12 double rolls $3.50
Paper Towels 8 roll $3.50
Pads/Tampons $1.50/package
Diapers $2.99 package
Garbage Bags: Costco 200 bags $11.99
Reynolds Foil: used to get FREE, now .90
Ziplock Bags $1.25 or less
Plastic Wrap: I buy the Costco 2-pack, it lasts forever!
Dog Food: Atta Boy Costco $14 for 50 lbs.
Chinet 32 ct. Paper Plates .49
Chinet Cups .49
Silverware:Costco best price
Napkins: dont ususually buy too much of, even when free. I usually use my paper towels more as napkins.
Kleenex/Box Tissues : .59
Laundry Detergent: $1.50-$2.50 (for 32-50 loads)
Produce:
Lettuce .49 head
Apples .49 lb
Oranges .39 lb
Grapes $1.29 lb
Avocados .25 each
Bananas .33 lb
Carrots $1 per lb
Meat
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts & Tenders $1.88 lb
Ground Beef $1.50 lb
Steaks, Roast $1.99 lb
Pork Chops $1.19 lb
I am sure there are more..so if you want to know the most I would pay on something please leave a comment and I will update this list!
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Amanda says
How much do you spend on Costco plastic wrap?
Jackie says
I am new to couponing now that we just had our second baby and I was wondering what a stock-up price would be for ground turkey and ground turkey breast.
Karrie says
I like to pay around $2.00 -$2.50 for a 20 oz package for ground turkey
Jeanie says
Ok, I am still confused about toilet paper, even after reading all of your wonderful posts. I am wondering if I am missing something in my calculations. Help ladies!! Here is how I’ve figured it. ( Let me know if I am missing something major) I
I bought a 6 pack of Charmin Ultra Soft- the Mega Rolls. It says it’s 250.5 sq. ft. Now, I normally buy the 36 roll Kirkland pkg. @ Costco. Their rolls say that they are 53.1 sq. ft each, for approx. 1912 sq. ft. in a pkg. So I am calculating that I would have to purchase 7.63 pkgs of the Charmin I purchased to get the same sq. ft. as the Costco. So, am I figuring it correctly that each pkg. of the Charmin would have to cost $2.35 a piece or less in order to equal Costco’s deal?
If I have figured it correctly, to me the Costco is a better deal in the saving of my time and energy to just go one place and know it will be there. ( Toilet paper was out at my Walgreens when I checked this week 🙂 )
But if I’ve figured it incorrectly, please let me know because I want to figure this out!
( Sorry this is so long!)
Heidi says
In regard to all the TP posts, I once read in one of the many money saving books out there that each brands own “double” roll (and other sizes)have differrent sheet counts. So to get the true comparison savings, you need to find out the cost per sheet. Seems like extra work to me. And Georgia Pacific makes Quilted Northern, Angel Soft as well as most of Kirkland’s TP. Just FYI.
Judy L says
@ Lacey – Fiesta Foods recently ran a huge sale on Sparkle and MD, and included a manf. coupon in their paper. I also wrote the company and was mailed a few MD coupons. Walgreens has been carrying the 12 roll Cottonelle’s for $5. Once in a while they are offering a RR with it as well. Factor in a coupon, and they’ve been pretty cheap. 🙂
Emily says
I see you get avocados for .25. How do you do that? Are there Qs i’m missing for avocados? We love them at our house, just spendy when they’re normally .75-1.00.
Karrie says
They go on sale in my area 4/$1.00 periodically. And…we have had an avocado coupon in the past as well.
Susan says
You might add free pasta
lacey says
Judy… Wow you save big on the TP. It will be great if you could share your secret as I have never seen MD Manufactured coupons 🙁
Lora says
If you want quality dog food the Kirkland brand is good and much cheaper than comparable brands at the pet stores. Real chicken and lamb are the first ingredients and rice is the main grain. I know it’s not the cheapest but the health of my pets is important to me, they eat less of it, and there is less to clean up in the yard.
Judy L says
By jumping on some of the recent sales, I’ve been able to get Scotts, Cottonelle, and MD for CHEAP. I’ve been paying $3.25 for th 12 pack double rolls of Cottonelle, $3 for 24 pack of MD, and about $4 for the 12 pack of double rolls of scott. Seems cheaper than Costco to me.
Karrie – is your stock up price for pull ups the same for diapers? Seems that there aren’t as many coupons for them, and they often aren’t included in the sales. I’ve been paying $4.99 at the CHEAPEST this month.
Karrie says
@Judy – Yes, same price for pull-ups as diapers. You should be able to get a great deal at Rite Aid when they have the big Huggies sales there, keep your eyes open. If the sale includes huggies diapers it mostly always seems to also include pull-ups too.
Susan says
The Kirkland TP comes out to $6 a 12 pack which if you think is quite a bit more than a stock-up price. I agree it is good stuff and convenient to have that much, however, it is all idividually wrapped which with my wee ones becomes a big mess. Last week at Walgreens Cottonnelle was on sale for $4 plus I had a .50/1 coupon. With my Money Makers on RR I calculated that I was able to get 3 12 packs for less than $2 each all in one trip. $6 plus all the other MM items – Armicare, Vicks and Maalox from the week before. I agree that $3.50 is stock up price. But once again, I understand the love of having 36 rolls at once in your hand:)
Also at Costco FYI we buy the Pleasant Hills Coffee, it comes in a 5 lb bag for $20. That would equal 6.6 12 oz bags of coffee which would come out to $3.33/ bag. Rarely I see coffee that low ( but if I do I buy it), but as coffee snobs, we love the stuff.
Gina says
Oops…. noticed your price on Ziplock bags. Thanks.
Donaca says
Did you mention what state you’re in??? I’m curious to know if we are in the same region.
Karrie says
Hi Donaca, I am in Washington state. 🙂
Brindean says
Hi karrie, im just curious hope my questions not to personal. I was wondering if you went to stanwood high on the west side, you look so familuar? Are you now hear in the tricities?
Karrie says
Sorry, no…I didnt go to Stanwood. Cool though…who is my look-a-like? I have always wanted to meet one… 😉
Gina says
Would love to know your stock up price for spaghetti sauce, sugar (brown, white, confectioners), boxed Jell-O, and plastic bags (Zip-Lock). Thanks! Love your savings.
Karrie says
@Gina – thank you! Here are those prices: (I updated and added them to the list above.)
Spaghetti sauce $0.75 – $1.00 per jar/.50 per can (like Hunt’s)
Sugar, white $1.99 for 5 lb bag (or .39 lb)
Sugar, brown & confectioners .60-.70 lb
Jell-O gelatin (boxes) .25 each
Jell-O Pudding (boxes) .45 each
Erin says
I Buy Kirkland paper towels at Costco.They are super absorbant and last longer than many name brands.I would say they are the same if not better than Brawny.Sometimes I buy the Palmolive at Costco too.
Melody says
I seriously don’t even know a good stock up price for plastic wrap, we rarely have coupons, but we always get the Costco kind too. It does last forever and it’s seriously the only brand I like! I don’t feel like I have to wrestle it onto my dishes. 🙂
Jennifer says
I buy Scott toilet paper when I can get it $5.99 for 12 pack. It doesn’t matter to my husband how “good” or thick it is. For him it is the number of laps around the hands. He uses more than any girl I know and clogs a toilet like none other.
Karrie says
That is so funny Jennifer, it’s my kids that seem to waste a lot of TP around my house (and clog toilets too..) Thanks for the chuckle.
Paula N. says
I second the Kirkland toilet paper. Far superior to most of the other ones I’ve tried. I hate the kind that falls apart when you use it. Ick. And then you feel like you have to clean up from using the tp! We have a family of 4 also (DH, me, DD 17, DS 13) and a package from Costco lasts a LLLOOONNNNGGG time! I also much prefer the Kirkland brand paper towels to anything else. I bought another brand with coupons and was highly disappointed at how thin they were (for a “superior” brand), and how small the rolls are.
Charlie Taylor says
Thank you so much for posting this, it helps! Is there a reason you don’t buy your TP at Costco? We buy the Costco brand Kirkland for $18 ($17 something). It lasts our family of 4 (two of us girls) a little over 2 months. The rolls are huge. Our teen age daughter always has friends over too. We have tried using coupons and every brand you can try and none of the rolls last more than a day in the bathroom the girls use. Would like to know if you have tried it and your opinion. Thank you.
Karrie says
@Charlie – Yes I have used the Costco toilet paper. But the problem is that it is really expensive (and to me the toilet paper is okay, not my favorite or enough for me to be brand-loyal on.)
When a great sale comes where a 12 Double Roll of Toilet Paper is $3.50 – If I buy 3 packs of it = $10.50
Typically the kinds I have brought home lately are Angel Soft, Cottonelle, MD and Sparkle Paper Towels. The toilet paper is fine for us.
The Costco pack of 36 double rolls is $18.00. So for the same amount of rolls I am paying almost half the price at the Grocery Store. And with coupons and smart shopping I can turn that $7.50 that I saved into other things my family needs and uses like meat or vegetables even.
Now I will say that if you LOVE the Toilet Paper at Costco, you can choose to be “brand-loyal” if you want to. That is the beauty of using coupons, when you save so much on all the rest, you can easily just splurge a little on the things you do love.
Susan says
Thanks for posting – I always wondered what was worth getting at Costco so the garbage bags are great to know and the wrap.