While Laura has been making large contributions, even the small ones that anyone can pick up while doing their regular shopping are greatly appreciated.

It ended up that there was a mistake made when scanning the coupons and I initially had to pay $3.39 – I knew something was incorrect, but there was a long line, so I paid and went to the customer service where we figured out that one of the free Pepperidge Farms coupons was not scanned and I received a $3.39 refund:

While doing some other errands, I came across another Nob Hill grocery store and purchased another 20 boxes of pasta:

I took all of this, along with the hot chocolate I had to the local food bank:

I learned that there was another Nob Hill grocery store near the food bank, so I went in and was able to purchase another 10 boxes of pasta as well:

In the end, I was able to donate $146.92 worth of food that cost me nothing out of pocket. Readers and I have now donated over $29,300 worth of food to local food banks. If you would like to participate, I’d love to have you join. Not only will you be able to help your local food bank, you will learn to save quite a bit of money on your own grocery shopping.

I then picked up another 120 (10 cases) from surrounding Lucky grocery stores and delivered them to the Tri-Valley Haven food bank:

In all, I delivered 480 Pillsbury Grands biscuits worth $955.20 for $0.00 (you can see exactly how I did this during my first purchase of 120). Readers and I have now donated a total of $22,916.91 worth of food to local food banks. I would love to get more people to participate. Not only will you be helping your local food bank, you will learn to save quite a bit of money on your own grocery shopping.

I already delivered 120 Grands biscuits to the Milpitas Food Pantry and I managed to get another 138 biscuit packages which I took to the Milpitas food bank again:

When I arrived at the food bank, there were a number of high school kids volunteering and they helped unload all the biscuit containers:

Once again, I did not have to pay any money to get these (this is how I did it):

I ended up doing the transaction 23 times to get the 138 Pillsbury Grands biscuits with a retail value of $274.62

I have delivered 258 of these to he Milpitas food pantry now meaning that I need to get another 142 for them and 100 for Tri Valley Haven by Tuesday when this deal ends. I think that I can pull it off. With this load, the readers and I have now donated a total of $19,613.32 worth of food to local food banks. I would love to get more people to participate. Not only will you be helping your local food bank, you will learn to save quite a bit of money on your own grocery shopping.

If you would like to take advantage of this deal for yourself or your local food bank, this is how it is done. The Pillsbury Grands biscuits are on sale for $0.99 this week. There are $1.00 off 2 Pillsbury Grand biscuits coupons from the Safeway $70 Refrigerated items coupon booklet (top coupon — was found in Safeway last month – they are no longer in the aisle, but some stores still have a few at the customer service desk if you ask for it) or in the new Safeway Thanksgiving coupon book that is starting to show up in Safeway stores now (bottom coupon)

If you buy 6, the price comes to $5.94 (6 x $0.99). Using 3 of the $1.00 off 2 Pillsbury Grand biscuits coupons brings the price down to $2.94 ($5.94 – $3.00). There is currently a Catalina Coupon running (the coupons that come out at the register when you pay) where you get $3.00 off when you purchase 6 Pillsbury refrigerated items:

The first time you do this deal, you will need to pay $2.94, but you will get a $3.00 coupon back that you can use for anything on your next shopping trip. If you decide to buy another 6 Pillsbury Grands biscuits, you hand over 3 $1.00 off 2 Pillsbury Grand biscuits coupons and the $3.00 Catalina coupon and you get them for free (and get another $3.00 off your next purchase coupon). Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

I did this 20 times to get 120 packages of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits for free:

I then took these to the Milpitas food bank where they were immediately put out front:

Note: If you can’t find the $1.00 off 2 coupons, many of the Grands biscuits have a peelie $0.55 off 2 Pillsbury Grands Biscuits coupon stuck on their side. This would make them $0.22 each.

Since this deal lasts until November 9th and these coupons are currently available at Safeway, I will try and get some more this week. Readers and I have now donated a total of $19,338.35 worth of food. If you would like to help out Penny Experiment, we’d love to have you participate. Not only will you be helping your local food bank, you will learn to save a significant amount on your own grocery shopping.

I also purchased 10 bags of Ricola cough drops worth $24.90 for $1.03

These I dropped off at the food bank (I got to the food bank as it was near closing and it was packed with people using the service so I was not able to take photos of the food on the shelves inside like I usually do)

On October 25, I purchased 48 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks and 12 Del Monte fruit smoothies worth $182.40 for $11.52:

On October 26, I purchased 28 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks and 6 Del Monte fruit smoothies worth $106.40 for $6.72

In addition, I also purchased an additional 39 Del Monte fruit smoothies worth $116.62 for free:

The food I purchased on the 25th and 26th I will deliver this week to the food bank. In all, I purchased $621.68 worth of food for $19.27, or a 97% savings over the regular retail price. This brings the total of what readers have donated and what I have donated to $19,099.55. If you would like to help out Penny Experiment, we’d love to have you participate. Not only will you be helping your local food bank, you will learn to save a significant amount on your own grocery shopping.

Since it was a rather hot day, I decided to take them directly to the food bank where some were placed into the refrigerator:

and some onto the shelves:

With coupons, the Pillsbury pastries were free:

I actually had to pay $0.92 for the Scrubbing Bubbles, but then received a coupon for $2.00 on anything on my next purchase making then a $1.08 moneymaker:

Wash, rinse, repeat:

In total, I purchased 84 Pillsbury pastries and 84 Scrubbing Bubbles cleaners with a retail value of $536.45 for -$14.84 (that is correct, I got paid $14.84 to buy all of that which I can use for future purchases for Penny Experiment). This brings the combined total of what readers have donated and what I have donated to $18,420.07. If you would like to help out Penny Experiment, we’d love to have you participate. Not only will you be helping your local food bank, you will learn to save a significant amount on your own grocery shopping.

I then received a bunch of coupons from a lady who works at a newspaper that collects the extra inserts for me which allowed me to buy an additional 328 — which pretty much filled up the trunk of my car:

Since these needed to be refrigerated, I immediately took them to the Milpitas Food Pantry where we loaded them up into their refrigerator unit:

All together, they were worth $1039.92 which didn’t cost me a cent bringing the combined total of what readers have donated and what I have donated to $17352.25. If you would like to help out Penny Experiment, we’d love to have you participate. Not only will you be helping your local food bank, you will learn to save a significant amount on your own grocery shopping.

Kraft shredded cheese (2 cups) is currently marked at $1.99 each or $9.95 for 5 packages. There currently is a Catalina coupon deal (these are the coupons that you get from the register after you pay) that is worth $5.00 toward anything on your next purchase:

So $9.95 – $5.00 = $4.95

In addition, in some stores there are Kraft shredded cheese packages that have $1.00 off 1 peelie coupons stuck on them:

Use 5 of these coupons (one for each bag) which takes off another $5.00 and the cheese is free.

The best part of this deal is that even if you choose to keep the free cheese for yourself, you will still be helping to feed the hungry. That is because for every 5 packages that you buy, Kraft is donating 5 meals to Feeding America:

I ended up buying 15 cheese packages (I always leave plent so others can do the deal as well):

For a total cost of $0.07 (I also bought 2 tomatoes which I will give to the food bank to make sure the transaction were positive), I was able to get $53.05 worth of food:

This cheese will be added to the growing Penny Experiment food purchased master list. With this latest food, Penny Experiment has purchased $13,777.44 worth of food for $576.06. This is another small step toward the ultimate goal of $1 million worth of food for food banks. There is now only $986,222.56 left to go…

The food was taken to Tri-Valley Haven Food Pantry. Most of the food was immediately taken to the front to be distributed (there was a long line of people out front waiting to get in and there always seems to be a shortage of cereal for food banks), but there was enough that it wouldn’t all fit up front and some got stored in the back room:

Most of this was food that I had already accounted for with grocery store runs in the past. Although there haven’t been very good coupon deals the last couple of weeks, there were a few items that I did buy for the food banks. This included 8 Oscar Mayer Deli Creations sandwiches which were free after coupon:

and 4 Oscar Mayer hardwood smoked turkey franks which were also free (I also picked up some laundry detergent for myself in the transaction and that was where the $0.50 comes from):

I also had another 4 packages of 4 Oscar Mayer hardwood smoked turkey franks that I donated from my Eating Well On $1 A Day Challenge that were free. In total I was able to purchase $44.64 for $0.00.

In addition, I recruited my dad (it is dangerous to live in my family) to do some cereal shopping a couple of weeks ago. He purchased 31 boxes of Corn Flakes, 9 boxes of Raisin Bran and 9 boxes of Rice a Roni which had a retail value of $157.60 for $6.50:

Both my and my dad’s purchases will be added to the growing Penny Experiment food purchased master list. With this latest food, Penny Experiment has purchased $13,724.39 worth of food for $575.99. This is another small step toward the ultimate goal of $1 million worth of food for food banks. There is now only $986,275.61 left to go…