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Seven shopping carts were filled. The receipt was more than nine feet long. Taking the groceries home required a second trip because the SUV was packed to the gills.

This was a grocery shopping extravaganza like no other, brought about by the lure of saving 50 percent off the shopping order.

IÂ’m not one to clip coupons or scour the supermarket circulars for bargains, but I know a good deal when I see it.

Supermarket chains are feeling relentless pressure from big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco, and have taken to offering a variety of deals to lure customers, especially around the holidays.

Several supermarkets, including ShopRite, Foodtown and Pathmark, offered free turkeys. Stop & Shop offered a coupon for $10 off a prepared turkey meal if the customer spent $20 on ConAgra products in one shopping stint. The upscale Kings had a scratch-and-win game with grand prizes of trips to Provence in France, Tuscany in Italy or the island of Ikaria in Greece.

In addition to the turkeys, some chains had promotions to encourage repeat shoppers in the weeks leading up to the holidays.

Foodtown offered $10 gift certificates for every $300 spent up to a maximum of four gift cards. At Pathmark, shoppers earned certificates for 10 percent off up to a total of 50 percent off an order, with a maximum of $200 off an order. Not too shabby.

But ShopRite’s offer seemed the most generous. Like Pathmark, ShopRite offered 10 percent off certificates for a total of 50 percent off, but they capped the savings at a whopping $500 off an order. No amount of coupon clipping can save that much money.

My wife and I decided to take the bait at ShopRite, and we began shopping exclusively at the store, even though the Stop & Shop is closer and more convenient.

The one problem with ShopRite's offer is that it is only good through December, when most people are thinking about shopping for gifts, not groceries. We waited until Dec. 28, not so much because of the holidays, but that's when our credit card starts a new cycle.

My wife and I decided to make a date out of it and hoped to find a babysitter for our two children, ages 4 and 2. I planned to get out of work early and turn it into a real event. The babysitter did not materialize and I didn't make it out of work early, but we decided to go anyway since we only had one other evening available for shopping.

We arrived at the Garwood store at 8:40 p.m., leaving us with less than an hour and a half before the store closed. Just to be sure, I double checked with the clerk at the courtesy counter. "So I spend $1,000, I save $500, right?" "Yup." "Let the shopping begin." I didn't actually say that out loud, but thought it in my head.

I had wanted to use the calculator in my cell phone to ensure we spent at least $1,000 and didn't go too far over. But with so little time, that plan was quickly discarded. The strategy we employed was to skip fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, and anything else that would spoil easily. We moved quickly.

By the juice aisle — that's the second aisle in the store — the kids had already grown weary of sitting in the cart. They wanted to help, heaving heavy boxes of Elmo juice, as the boy calls it, into the cart, which by this time was already filled. I drove the cart to the courtesy desk to ask where I could keep it. The clerk told me to park it right in front.

By the time I pulled the fourth cart over, the clerks behind the desk were talking. "That's a good idea," I heard one of them say. "I should have saved mine, but I used them at 20 percent," another said. "I took the free turkey," said another.

With a looming store closing, we raced through the aisles, as if we were contestants on Supermarket Sweep, where you have five minutes to grab as much stuff as you can. As I pulled the first two carts up to the checkout, I caught the look of shock on the clerk's face. That quickly turned to horror when I told him there were five more carts coming. "I'm supposed to be outta here by 10," he muttered to one of three co-workers who eventually came over to help with the bagging.

"Hey, I heard that." Again, I didn't actually say that, but thought it.

By the time the order was complete, the register rang up $1,584.65. Then $500 came off the order, plus another $10 for "Baby Bucks." The total, $1,074.65 — far more than we wanted to spend, but at least we won't have to grocery shop for the next few months.

Although these hefty promotions were just specific for the holiday season through the end of 2005, there are others being offered now.

ShopRite is having its yearly blow-out can-can sale, through the end of the month with deep discounts on canned goods. Stop & Shop is offering a $5 coupon off the next purchase for every $25 spent on specific products in one transaction through Jan. 21.

With all the planning that went into this adventure, we did forget one critical thing — how to get all this stuff home. I packed the Honda Pilot. The three 35-pound bags of kitty litter and three 15-pound bags of dry cat food, three 200-ounce jugs of detergent and six 120-ounce jugs of fabric softener quickly filled up the back of the Pilot. I stuffed nine 12-packs of soda under the car seats in the middle row and the four cases of iced-tea on the free seat.

But there was no way the entire order was going to fit in this roomy vehicle.

One of the clerks who helped bag our order offered to stay and keep watch over the three carts that didn't fit until I could return with another car. I should have tipped her. I drove the family home and returned solo with my Forrester. I got the second car home by 11 p.m. It took me about an hour to unload both cars. The groceries were spread out on the floor of the kitchen.

The two tubs of ice cream were melting. So was I.

Both freezers were filled, as was the pantry. Still so many bags to go.

Next time, we're using Peapod.