Last year, when I turned 30, my birthday was all about me. This year, I want to celebrate with you fellow cooks and readers. Let's countdown to my birthday (October 9) with some giveaways!

First up is free shopping at Krogers. Krogers is a supermarket store chain in the Midwest. I shop at our Graceland Marketplace location once a month of so for staples and organic produce.

What I like most about Krogers is that they carry canning jars and supplies year round. This time of year, especially, I keep an eye out for sale and clearance canning equipment.

Up for grabs are five $10 gift cards. I will award one each to five separate commenters on this post.

To enter, simply reply below with why you want to win. Be sure to include a valid email so I can contact you! Contest is now closed. Congratulations winners!

Giveaway Details:

Contest entries close at 12:01 AM EST on Monday, October 10. Five winners will be selected with random.org. Winners will have 24 hours to respond to email notification with their mailing address for delivery of the gift card.

Winners must have a US address. Only one entry per person please. Retail value of each gift card is $10.

Disclosure: I received a gift card to Kroger of my own. Opinions are my own and shipping is covered by me.

I'm not a coupon blogger. I'm not even a regular coupon user. I don't subscribe to the newspaper and buy so few name brand products that searching and clipping is a waste of time to me. However, this week I was sitting around my parent's house on Sunday (6-27) and paged through the coupon inserts. In the Redplum insert, there is a coupon for $3 off 2 cases of Ball or Kerr Jars, any size. Another coupon is good for buy two get one free any size lids or lids and rings. The rings coupon has a printable version too.

When shopping at my local Kroger (another thing I don't do regularly) I discovered they had jars and rings on sale. Using coupons I saved over 30% off full price. This might not be the absolute cheapest you can buy jars, but it's a very good price. I noticed at Big Lots that their Golden Harvest brand half pints were 12 for $7, a bit more expensive than this coupon deal.

Here's the scenario:

2 x Ball jars, 12 half pints, at $7.81 ($1.38 off at Kroger) = $15.62

subtract $3 off coupon = $12.62, or 53 cents each

Regular price = 9.19 x 2 = $18.38, or 77 cents each

3 x 12 Ball lids, regular mouth size, at $1.78 ($0.31 off at Kroger) = $5.34

subtract $1.78 for one free = $3.56, or 10 cents each

Regular price = $2.09 x 3 = $ 6.27, or 17 cents each