Many happy food pantries this week…

In case you somehow missed this one, Jewel has had Frosted Flakes on sale for .99 a box the past few days. Many people have had either $1 or $1.25 off the cereal on their electronic coupons… with no purchase limit.

So, what would you do? Free cereal, with overage — as much as you care to “buy?” Anytime a good sale comes around like this, it always thrills me to receive emails from readers who are stocking up not only for themselves, but also for their local food pantries.

Here’s my daughter with 36 boxes of Frosted Flakes for our local food pantry yesterday…

Here’s blog reader Grandma’s 41 boxes…

Here’s another reader’s shopping trip of 42 boxes…

Here’s CouponKingKevin and his wife’s cereal pile, taken AT their food pantry, where they dropped off a whopping 315 boxes of cereal! (He did note that after buying some boxes on Thursday, they special-ordered cases of the cereal through their local store and picked them up on Friday, then took them right to the pantry — in two separate vehicles, because they couldn’t fit it all in one car.) CouponKingKevin’s wife noted that they continued shopping on Saturday after this drop-off and accumulated another 20+ boxes to donate…

And here’s Prea’s daughters atop their 429 (!!!) boxes of Frosted Flakes. On the last night of the sale, Prea spent three hours running between at least eight Jewels, buying up cereal. Incredible! Prea actually sent a second picture of more filled cases of cereal that she’s got in a different part of the room:

In each coupon class I teach, I always (gently) remind everyone that when you’re getting those great deals, if you can afford to share some with our local food banks, it’s such a win/win for everyone involved. So many of you have taken that to heart (and some, to a whole new level.)

So, thanks. I can tell you when we took ours to the pantry, the volunteers were so grateful — they said so many kids come in and ask if they have any “fun” cereals, and oftentimes they don’t — they rely on whatever is coming in donation-wise. Especially when families are struggling, it’s nice for kids to get a little fun at breakfast time too… and it looks like MANY children and families in the area will get to do just that.

(As an aside, in her email to me, Prea noted that the Lake in the Hills pantry that she donates to serves 500 families a week. While she bought a lot of cereal, she pointed out that if each family took one box, it will be gone in less than a week. A sobering thought.)

A BIG thanks to everyone who shopped and donated. It’s not often we get something as crazy and good as this on our electronic coupons… but here’s proof that it DOES happen :)

PS… I picked up 27 more boxes on the last day of the sale too, so the Huntley pantry will have some more headed their way too :) It’s also generated a very active discussion in our Forum!