Promotions are my new coupons!

Promotions are my new coupons! I got these free mugs buying milk, the 9 x 13 pan from buying a two pack of canola oil, two butter knifes with a double pack of butter, the Spiderman pencil set with some chocolate milk boxes and the beach ball with a pack of Capri Suns. Promotions are usually double packs at a discount, buy two get one free, bonus item with purchase- and I love them!
In Bahrain you never know exactly what will be in the store- if the shipments haven't come in for a while, it can be hard to find stuff like cupcake liners, brownie mix, canned pumpkin. If you see it and like it- grab it and a few more! Like chocolate chips for $1 BD on promotion at Lulus- I bought six but am going back for more. Also- sometimes they'll get a shipment of western products that they are trying to blow out. The other day I found double packs of Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries and Peaches for less then the cost of one box of other cereal. Treat cereal for us!
Groceries are a lot more expensive here so I've learned to stop doing the conversion to American dollars in my head and just get what we need. I am still frugal but we need to eat more than just rice! We have an egg dish once a week, a roasted chicken once a week and spaghetti or other pasta once a week- on rotation because we like them and they are cheap eats. I am trying to learn to cook some local cuisine- with varied success.
I make chicken shawarma the other day. And it was good- but it was expensive and time consuming to make. After we found out that you can get a shawarma at this local place for about 75 cents. So I'm not going to make those anymore! Funny- the same with the chickens- the rotisserie chicken- premade and stuffed with rice- is the same price as a raw whole chicken. So I might not be firing up my oven any more on chicken night!