Bonus Air Miles Bonanza

This week’s Metro (Ontario and Quebec only) grocery store flyer was the big winner for me!  Not only did I save a tremendous amount of money, I continued to fuel my Air Miles addiction.  I was also inspired by Sarah Deveau’s Yummy Mummy Club blog post “The Lowdown on Bonus Air Miles” and the price comparison on her blog.  These articles referred to Safeway grocery stores in the West, but what about the East?   We don’t have Safeway or the incentive coupons here, but I wanted to show how it’s possible to earn a lot of bonus Air Miles while keeping a strict grocery budget.  Every item I bought was on sale and it helped that I had additional coupons!  I will have to buy fruit and more produce mid-week, but that will be a much smaller bill.

I have transcribed my Metro grocery receipt below.  I don’t have a price comparison listed, but the decades of watching “The Price is Right” game show and playing along has helped me develop a knack for memorizing prices.

Produce:
Tomatoes on the vine $0.99/lb – $2.04
Broccoli – $0.99

Grocery:
Dempster’s 100% Whole wheat bread – $1.99 (-$0.50 coupon from Wake Up your Breakfast booklet)

Meat:
Chicken breast bone-in Value pack $1.88/lb – $5.58
Chicken breast bone-in Value pack $1.88/lb – $6.14

Dairy:
Black Diamond cheese bar 500g – $4.44 (4 bars)

5 Bonus Air Miles
Lactantia Smart Growth Milk 4L – $4.99 (-$1 coupon from BD cheese slices)
Note: Regular price is $8.19!

Buy any 2, get 20 Bonus Airmiles
Black Diamond Fun Cheez – $3.49 (-$1 coupon from BD cheese slices)
Black Diamond Fun Cheez – $3.49
Black Diamond Portion Pack Gouda – $3.49 (-$1 coupon from BD cheese slices)
Astro Greek yogurt – $3.49

Total items: 14
Coupons tendered:  $3.50
Total cost: $49.95 (None of the items purchased were taxable!)

Regular Air Miles Earned: 2
Bonus Air Miles Earned: 45
Air Miles Earned from American Express Platinum Card (1/$10): 4

Note:  You would still earn 3 additional Air Miles if you used a standard AMEX Air Miles credit card (1 mile/$15).  

To summarize, I earned 51 Air Miles for less than $50 at Metro in one shopping trip and the month isn’t over yet.  (Air Miles sponsors offer miles for cumulative monthly spending.)  In contrast, if you try to collect Air Miles using only the Air Miles collector card, at a rate of 1 mile per $20 spent, the cost of earning 51 miles would be an astonishing $1020!