Is Halloween Gaining Popularity?

Halloween seems to be more anticipated than ever coming in second to Christmas. Why is this? Is it because you get to dress up and hold parties? Is it the free pass to eat all that candy? Is it the outrageous decorations?

KKTV posted an article saying the average American is expected to spend about $72 on costumes, candy, and decor this year. That's up $6 from last year. That is assuming you spend $25 on costumes, $20 on candy, and $20 on decorations. People start planning for Halloween as much as a year in advance. Halloween is not just for kids anymore. It is also popular with adults. You can dress up, serve themed food, and eat candy.

Halloween is Monday October 31st 2011. Trick or Treating is most popular for children ages 5 to 13 but there are participants outside that age range. Be sure to check out pricible to find the best deals on candy and other supplies for your Halloween celebrations this year.

Cantaloupe with Listeria Causes Deadly Outbreak

Colorado Cantaloup are being linked to the deadliest outbreak of Listeria in years. Sixteen deaths and several illnesses have been linked to the Listeria infected Cantaloupe so far. The Rocky Ford brand cantaloupe from Jensen Farms were shipped from July 29 through September 10th to Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. The cantaloup might be under labels like “Colorado Grown,” “Distributed by Frontera Produce,” “Jensenfarms.com” or “Sweet Rocky Fords” but not all the recalled cantaloups are labeled. Listeria can grow even at refrigerator temperatures, so if you have any cantaloupe you think might be contaminated, the CDC recommends you throw it out immediately and sanitize any surfaces it may have touched.

This information was obtained from an article titled "Cantaloupe outbreak is deadliest in a decade" By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:20 PM EDT

Lowes Foods will be on "Extreme Couponing"!

Lowes Foods is going to be on the TV show "Extreme Couponing" but regrets its decision to be a part of the show. Lowes allowed the people being showcased on the show to exceed their preexisting 20 coupon limit. "Extreme Couponing" has gained a great deal of attention but is giving couponing a bad reputation. By showing exaggerated efforts to save money with coupons it has forced stores to tighten up their coupon policies and restrictions. Some people have become so obsessed with couponing they are going to extreme measures to acquire coupons by doing things like stealing papers or going through recycle bins to get more coupons. Several Coupon Bloggers are complaining that the coupon show it putting a negative spin on coupon use. The combination of poor economy and coupon blogging has made using coupons more popular helping consumers save a record $2 billion in just the first half of 2011.

This information was taken from an article written by Amy Dunn and published in the Sunday September 25th 2011 News and Observer. The title of the article is "Going Cuckoo for Coupons".

Smart Source Coupn Highlights 9/25/11!

Smart Source 9/25/11 Highlight:
Get $1.00 off the New Freshetta Artisan Pizza Crust Original, Thin, or Golden Wheat!
Get $1.00 off 2 General Mills Cereals including Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios, Fruity Cheerios, Multi Grain Cheerios, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Yogurt Burst Cheerios, Oat Cluster Crunch, Banana Nut Crunch, Chocolate Cheerios, Cinnamon Burst Cheerios.
Get $1.00 off 2 boxes of Basic 4, Chex, Fiber One, Honey Nut, Clusters, Oatmeal Crisp, Raisin Nut Bran, Total.

Red Plum Coupon Highlight 9/25/11!

Red Plum 9/25/11 Highlights:
Buy 1 Meaty Bone Get 1 Cainine Cary Out Free!
Buy 1 Friskies Cat Treat Get 1 Crispies Cat Treat Free!
Buy 3 Uncle Bens Ready Rice Get 1 Whole Grain White Rice Free!
Get $10.00 off 2 Olay Facial ProductsPro-X, Regenerist, Total Effects, Facial Moisturizers or Smooth Finish Facial Hair Removal Duo.

Mars Halloween Candy Coupon!

2011 Halloween Candy Coupon available in Red Plum 9/25/11 newspaper insert. $1.50 off 3 Mars Fun Size Candy including Regular M&M's, Peanut M&M's, Peanut Butter M&M's, Snicker's, Snickers Almond, Snickers Peanut Butter, Milky Way, 3 Musketeer, 3 Musketeer Dark Chocolate Mint, and Twix Bars 8.67 oz or larger. This coupons expires 10/31/11 so Hurry!

Hershey's Halloween Candy Coupon!

Halloween Candy Coupon available in Smart Source 9/25/11 newspaper insert. $1.00 off of 3 Hershey's Snack Size Candy including Reese's, Kit Kat, Hershey's, York, Almond Joy, Mounds, Payday, Jolly Rancher, Milk Duds, Whoppers, or Twizzlers 9oz-22oz. This coupon expires 10/15/11 so Hurry!

Sunday Sept. 25th Coupons

There are up to $103.00 worth of coupons in the Sundays September 25th paper! Log into your Pricible Power Saver account to see the coupon matches to popular products you buy.

Harris Teeter Triple Coupons!

THIS WEEK ONLY!
Wednesday, September 14 thru Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Harris Teeter will Triple Coupons up to $0.99 face value!

Recall Alerts!

These are a few of the recent Recall Alerts to watch out for.
1. Avacado's - An Ontario, CA company is recalling frozen avocado pulp and halves distributed since June because they may be contaminated with Listeria.
2. Chocolate - Chocolate Decadence of Eugene, OR is recalling several types of chocolate products because they may contain undeclared milk.
3. Cargrill Ground Turkey - For the second time in barely a month, Cargill has voluntarily recalled ground turkey due to tests showing the presence of Salmonella from its Springdale, AR, processing plant.


Visit Food Safety News to see more about these recalls.

Tasters Choice Free Sample!

Get a Free Sample of Nescafe Tasters Choice by signing up for a coupon today. Just visit Tasters Choice to get started and you can get samples off Coffee for Free!

Houshold Money Saving Tips!

These are some great money saving tips on how to use products you already have in the home to clean with. Go to All You to see all 30 tips. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Use Coffee Grounds fresh or used in your Refrigerator to absorb smells.
2. Use a Dryer Sheet to get off dried on grease. Put a sheet in the bottom of the pan, fill with water and leave over night.
3. Cut a Lemon in half squeeze juice into a bowl of water then add the lemons to the bowl and microwave for 5 minutes. Wipe Microwave clean with cloth and it smell great.
4. Use White Vinegar in a spray bottle to clean chrome and stainless steel. It also cleans mildew off tile.
5. Cover the bottom of your Trash Can with Newspaper to absorb leaks and oder.

Eating Frugally With the USDA's New MyPlate

Over at our Pricible Facebook page, we told you when the government released the new MyPlate icon in early June. Like the food pyramid before it, MyPlate is supposed to give Americans a visual representation of what their daily diets should look like - broken down by food group.

Some critics claim that the guidelines are unrealistic. That it would be too expensive for many families to eat this way. Well, the folks at Wisebread.com disagree. Here are their tips on how you can eat frugally and still follow the MyPlate guidelines.

Of course, we would add that you can also easily lower your grocery bill just by using our free tools at Pricible.com.

Want Some Arsenic With Your Chicken?

I don't know about you. But I don't want ANY arsenic in my chicken, no matter how small the amount or how inconsequential the FDA says it is.

What am I venting about? Here's an excerpt from a USAToday.com article that explains it better than I could:

The FDA said Wednesday that a new study by the agency shows that an ingredient in chicken feed that contains arsenic, called Roxarsone, may make its way into parts of the bird that are eaten. Previous studies have indicated the arsenic was eliminated with chicken waste.

The article goes on to say that the chicken is safe to eat and that the amount of arsenic contained in the tainted chickens was too small to be dangerous.

Let's hope they're right.

Sprouts NOT the Cause of E.Coli Outbreak

First, Spanish cucumbers were mistakenly blamed. Next, it was German sprouts. Both were false alarms. The true cause of the outbreak that has killed 22 people and sickened more than 2,200 is still unknown. For more details, check out this NYTimes.com article.

Month-by-Month Guide to Store Sales

We love this article by Wisebread.com that takes a look at what you can expect to be on sale each month at your local stores.

For example, it tells us that June is National Dairy Month. This means that there will be deals galore on eggs, milk, cheese, cream cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt, frozen yogurt, creams, and whipped toppings. Similarly, expect bargains for 4th of July preparation, including condiments, charcoal, salad dressing, and chips and dips. What seasonal produce will likely be on sale? Corn, lettuce, watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, and apricots.

For the full month-by-month sale cheat sheet, check out:
http://www.wisebread.com/the-store-sales-cycle-your-monthly-guide-to-clearance-prices

Watch Out for the Grocery Shrink Ray!

It's become a common trick of manufacturers, shrink the package size slightly, while keeping prices the same (or even raising them!) Remember when a half-gallon jug of orange juice was a standard 64 ounces? Tropicana changed the game by trimming its carton to 59 ounces, making it look like a better deal in comparison to its 64 oz. competitors.

From Ivory dish detergent to Kraft American cheese slices, Consumer Reports took a look at 10 grocery store products that were "downsized." Take a look to see which products you're seeing less of, but paying more for.

Functional Foods: Really Healthy or Just Hype?

Excerpted from NYTimes.com article:

... food companies market functional foods with health-promoting or wellness-maintaining properties. Such claims are perfectly legal, provided that they are backed up by some credible science.

All those heart-healthy red hearts on your box of Quaker Oats cereal or that can of Planters peanuts? That happy-colon yellow arrow on the tub of Activia yogurt? It’s all part of the marketing of functional food.

Over the past decade, despite all those sales pitches for "natural," "organic" and "whole" foods, functional food has turned into a big business for Big Food. And more Americans are buying into the functional story ...

But as sales soar, federal regulators worry that some packaged foods that scream healthy on their labels are in fact no healthier than many ordinary brands. Federal Trade Commission officials have been cracking down on products that, in their view, make dubious or exaggerated claims. Overwhelmed regulators concede that they are struggling to police this booming market, despite recent settlements with makers of brands like Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Dannon’s Activia, which the authorities say oversold their health benefits.

To read full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/business/15food.html

Understanding the Pricible Difference

Pricible does what no one else can and encourages you to build a grocery list based on what you really need. Your list can be saved in the system and printed out later. Once your list is built Pricible can lead you to coupons that are truly valuable to your needs. Intent on delivering more than just coupons, Pricible can also show you the "secret" in-store specials, rebates, manufacturer’s discounts and sale prices currently being offered by your specific stores. These can lead to hundreds of dollars per month in savings and takes no effort on your part. Pricible does all the work!

And instead of stopping there, Pricible can tabulate just how much money your list will cost you at the local stores you shop at most. So not only do you actually get tot see the difference in altruistic dollar amounts that your grocery list would cost at store a versus store b, you also will know how much your groceries will cost before you leave the house. This can save you precious time and is more effective than chasing deals around all over town. Excited? Give it a try!

Prix + Ciblé = Pricible

What is your target price for a grocery store item? You want to pay the least amount possible for that gallon of milk or carton of eggs, right? Well, that's what Pricible.com is all about. We help you compare grocery store prices without leaving your home, so that you can score your groceries at your target price, the lowest price possible. Hence, our name Pricible. It is derived from combining the French words "prix" (price) and "ciblé" (target). If you haven't already, go to Pricible.com and build a shopping list based on your actual needs and we will do all the work to show you how and where to get that list for less. Go ahead, try it!