Free candy, free first aid gel and ultra cheap toothpaste and shaving cream are among the bargains you can score this week at Triangle drugstores.
There are also some nice grocery deals at Kroger, including milk for $1.49 per half-gallon, $1 frozen veggies and Turkey Hill ice cream for just $1.99 after coupon.
My favorite savings opportunity of the week: Consider taking advantage of Kroger's enhanced fuel rewards when you purchase gift cards. I purchase them for gifts or for my everyday expenditures at places like Home Depot and Target, then reap the rewards in cheaper gasoline. (See further details below.)

Read on for the best of the Memorial Day weekend sales. And please leave a comment about any deals you spot.

Memorial Day weekend is coming up and the supermarkets have some really nice bargains on all the fixings for backyard picnics. There are deals on ground beef, chicken, produce, paper goods, soda and ice cream.

At Harris Teeter, I especially like the Steamfresh veggies for 19 cents, split chicken breasts for 99 cents per pound and the Breyer's ice cream for $1.
At Lowes Foods, there's free Kraft barbecue sauce and Country Time lemonade or Kool-Aid mix, 20-cent Milky Way candy bars and Sun Drop soda for 25 cents -- all with a little coupon magic.
At Food Lion, be sure to take note of the 20-cent ears of sweet corn and green peppers for 69 cents each.
And finally, Aldi has lots of produce deals, including cantaloupe for just 99 cents each.

For easier price comparisons, I've added the Kroger deals from Sunday to the bottom of the list along with a few new Kroger deals from a new 4-day sale that begins Friday and runs through Monday. Most noteworthy: ground beef for $1.79 per pound and cherries for $3.99 per pound.

Keep reading for all the deals and coupon match-ups. And feel free to add the deals you spot as you're shopping this week.

Kmart is doubling coupons this week, but be sure to read the fine print or check with the store manager before shopping.

Customers may double five coupons per day and must be members of Kmart's Shop Your Way Rewards program.

You must spend at least $25 on grocery, beauty or health items before the coupons will double. Coupons up to $1 in face value are eligible for doubling.

You can tell by the ads that summer is nearly here. There are deals on everything from allergy medicines to sunscreen and swim diapers.
Worth noting up front:
*CVS is bringing back its summer gas card promotion: Spend $30 in select products and get a free $10 gift card for gasoline. CVS also has great deals on Ocean Spray juice (how does FREE sound?), Pantene, Irish Spring, Pepsi, Suave and Purex.
*Rite Aid has a good deal on Xtra laundry detergent and Formula 409.
*Walgreens has free tampons and a great deal on mouthwash and the best deal on swim diapers among all the stores. It also has the best deal I've seen on milk this week at just $2.99 per gallon.
*And at Kroger, there are good deals on produce, Greek yogurt, Breyers ice cream, Kroger cheese slices and All laundry detergent. Kroger has also brought back its enhanced fuel rewards, rewarding you with cheaper gasoline when you buy gift cards.

It's a holiday weekend for moms so even though you might want to take a break from bargain shopping today, be sure to carve out some time later in the week to pick up some pretty terrific deals.

It's always worth shopping when the stores are willing to pay YOU to carry merchandise out of their stores. And that's what you can do at Walgreens this week with a little coupon magic involving a new Starbucks product. (Keep reading for the details.)

There are also excellent deals on Kraft barbecue sauce, Pantene and sunscreen at CVS. At Rite Aid, you'll find stellar buys on Pepsi 12-packs, Kellogg's cereals and M&M's and an even better deal on Pantene -- at just 75 cents a bottle. And at Walgreens, besides being paid to buy Starbucks, you'll find a good deal on Purex laundry detergent.

Over at Kroger, there are some excellent produce deals as well as a nice deal on Sargento and Kraft cheeses.

Once you hit the aisles, please post any great deals you spot so we can all save more.

This post has been updated with Aldi deals.

There are some fantastic deals to be had at Triangle grocery stores this week -- with and without coupons.

At Harris Teeter, you can stock up on basics -- no coupons required. Milk is $2.77 per gallon, eggs are 97 cents per dozen and whole chicken fryers are just 77 cents per pound. And, of course, there's no need for coupons to pick up the produce bargains at Aldi, which include 29-cent cucumbers this week.

With a little coupon magic, there are deals on Pure Protein bars, 2 liters of Sun Drop soda, Ken's salad dressing, Ball Park Franks and buns, Nutella and Snackwell's snack bars.

And then there are the unadvertised killer deals: Dove ice cream bars for as little as $1.24 per box and jugs of Xtra laundry detergent for $1.49.

Don't like that brand? All laundry detergent is just $1.99 a jug at Harris Teeter and $2 a jug at Lowes Foods.

Also noteworthy is Lowes Foods' Mother's Day special, its brand-new set of in-store coupons and its fuel rewards deal when you purchase participating $25 gift cards.

Read on for the very best deals at Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods, Food Lion and Aldi. And please add any good deals you spot so we can all save even more.

For easier price comparisons, I've also added the Kroger deals from Sunday to the bottom of the list.

Kmart is doubling coupons this week -- but be sure to read all the fine print before shopping.

Customers may double five coupons per day and must be members of Kmart's Shop Your Way Rewards program.

You must spend at least $25 on grocery, beauty or health items before the coupons will double.

In other words, you can't stock up on socks and underwear for your kids and then double your coupons.

What do you think about Kmart's sporadic double-coupon offers? Have you found any good deals? Or do you view it as a last gasp effort by a struggling retailer?

The drugstores are offering some especially good freebies this week, including free children's allergy medicine, free contact lens solution and free energy bars -- not to mention the free chocolate you can score at CVS.

There are also impressive deals on General Mills cereals, Kellogg's cereal bars, Banana Boat sunscreen, Neosporin, Huggies diapers and my favorite deal of the week, 8x10 photo collages for just 49 cents at Rite Aid.

At Kroger, chicken breasts are on sale for $1.79 per pound and milk is $1.49 per half gallon. Check out the produce deals as well: mangoes are just 59 cents each and organic Cameo apples are $1.29 per pound.

Once you hit the aisles, please post any great deals you spot so we can all save more.

The News & Observer's  coupon database has been updated with all of the new coupons.

This Sunday's home-delivered Final Edition of The News & Observer contains two inserts -- one Smart Source and one Red Plum -- for a total of 127 coupons with a face value of nearly $175.

And while you're clipping, don't forget the $1 nail polish coupon in the Walmart circular. Since it's a manufacturer's coupon, it can be used anywhere.

Not familiar with the coupon database? You can access it on the right-hand side of the blog. There's a button at the bottom right to view it as a full-size page.

Or, you can download it as an Excel spreadsheet by clicking on the attachment at the bottom of this post.

It's a handy tool, listing every coupon we receive in the Triangle in the Sunday N&O.

For a detailed tutorial on the database, head over HERE to my Coupons 101 section.

Please note: Single-copy and State Edition papers may not contain all coupon inserts.



Documents:

It's Cinco de Mayo this Saturday so the grocery stores are loaded with sales on everything to throw a party. There are deals on chips and salsa, grilling meats, taco kits, tortillas and black beans -- just to name a few.

You can score FREE Grande tortilla chips with a coupon at Lowes Foods, Mission tortillas for $1 after coupon at Harris Teeter, and tons of great produce deals at Aldi, Lowes Foods and Food Lion.

And if you need soft drinks for your weekend get-togethers, Lowes Foods also has a stellar deal on Pepsi products.

Who says throwing a party has to be expensive?

Read on for the very best deals at Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods, Food Lion and Aldi. And please add any good deals you spot so we can all save even more.

For easier price comparisons, I've also added the Kroger deals from Sunday to the bottom of the list.