by Rachel on August 16, 2010
I’m realizing that my lazy summer method of throwing something together at the last minute is not going to cut it now that we are braving the public school system and will be living life on someone else’s schedule. Back-to-School snuck up on me and with only a week left of summer, I need to get back into a routine so we’re not in for a shock to our systems when the alarm clock goes off this coming Monday morning.
I’m not quite sure what happened but as soon as I decided not to homeschool this year I started feeling a little more mainstream in everything. I’ve been buying processed food for the first time in years, partially because I feel pressed for time, and my kids aren’t quite sure what to do with it. My 7 year old likes the independence that some of the processed food gives him because he can pop something in the toaster or microwave and have a quick snack. I’m not thrilled with the change though so as soon as I can get my head on straight we’re going back to a whole foods diet.
Monday
Breakfast – Cereal, Fruit
Lunch – Chicken Nuggets, salad, veggies
Dinner -Pesto Chicken w/feta, salad, fresh veggies
Tuesday
Breakfast – Homemade English Muffins and fruit
Lunch – Ultimate Nachos w/ beans
Dinner – Steak, mashed potatoes, fresh veggies
Wednesday
Breakfast – Eggs, fruit
Lunch – Mozzarella pesto grilled cheese sandwich, salad
Dinner – Mexican Salad w/grilled chicken, corn, tomatoes, and beans
Thursday
Breakfast – oatmeal, fruit
Lunch – shrimp, rice, veggies
Dinner – Creamy Angel Hair Carbonara with Chicken, salad
Friday
Breakfast – blender pancakes
Lunch – mac & cheese, fruit
Dinner – Chicken and Artichoke Whole Grain Casserole, Salad
by Rachel on July 28, 2010
I’m fairly stocked up on spaghetti sauce but Albertsons has a great deal on Prego this week so I may have to add some homemade pizza to my menu. This week Prego is on sale for $0.99, which is a pretty good deal but combine it with this coupon for $1 off 2 and it’s only $0.49 cents!
Thanks A Thrifty Mom!
by Rachel on June 20, 2010
One of my favorite things about using coupons is being able to stock up on groceries without adding anything extra to my grocery budget. I love having a full pantry. It saves me when I don’t have time to run to the grocery store and it makes me feel a bit more secure knowing we’d have food to eat in the event of an emergency. I’ve talked with many people that are surprised I take the time to cut coupons because they don’t think that cutting coupons is worth the time and effort. What they don’t realize is that cutting coupons allows me to buy my groceries for 70-100% off regular prices and takes me no more than an hour a week. That’s a pretty good hourly wage for cutting coupons as far as I’m concerned.
Get Multiple Sunday Papers
Most newspapers will offer you the option of subscribing to only the Sunday paper at a discounted rate. The biggest mistake people can make when starting to cut coupons is to only get one Sunday paper. When you do that, cutting coupons is absolutely not worth your time because you go through the time and effort of finding a deal, and you can only get one of each item. Get one Sunday paper for everyone in your family so that when something goes on sale you can buy multiple products. There are 5 people in my family so I usually get 5 Sunday papers. I’ve cut back to 4 papers right now because we have just moved and we currently don’t have the space to store too much extra food or household cleaning items so I’ve cut back for now.
Match up Coupons with Sale Prices
The most effective way to use your coupons is to wait until the item goes on sale for the lowest price, then add your coupon on top of that. You can get even better deals when a sale price combines with a store promotion. The best part is, you don’t have to do the work of matcing up the coupons. Many coupon blogs will do the matchups for you. I prefer to use Grocery Smarts.
For Example:
In the above picture I got 20 packages of yogurt. For all of that yogurt, I paid – nothing. Yes, you read that right. How did I do it?
The yogurt was on sale 2 / $4.00
I had a coupon for $1 off 1 which made each yogurt $1 – a great deal to start with.
The deal got even better though because the store was having a promotion that offered you a coupon worth $5.00 on another shopping trip if you bought 5 items from the dairy section.
So, I bought 20 packages of yogurt priced at 2/$4 and used 20 coupons for $1 off (This is where having multiple Sunday papers comes in handy. These coupons were offered in several papers so I ended up with a whole stack of them).
Total OOP (out of pocket) – $20.00
Total value of coupons received back – $20.00
Final cost: FREE
The question becomes, can I eat all of that yogurt before it goes bad? Yogurt has a fairly long shelf life and my kids love it so I do try and stock up when it’s on sale, but no, we probably can’t eat all that before it goes bad. It turns out that my kids aren’t too picky about the form their food comes in though so I threw half of these in the freezer and they are eating them as desserts.
By stocking up on everything when the price is low I no longer have a need to buy things that are not on sale simply because I need it. Chances are, I already have some in my pantry or freezer.
by Rachel on May 26, 2010
Henry’s has a great deal this week on green pepers. I throw green peppers in nearly everything that I make so I like to keep them on hand. Peppers vary so much in price throughout the year so I like to stock up when they are on sale and freeze them for use later. I took a trip to Henry’s today and bought 18 peppers for $6.
How to Freeze Peppers
To freeze peppers, I slice them in strips. I like the way they freeze when they are in bigger pieces and it’s easy enough to dice them while they are frozen if I want them smaller for use later on. I try and make sure all the pieces are about the same size so they will freeze and thaw evenly.
After slicing, I spread out the peppers in a thin layer on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes to start the freezing process. This prevents them from freezing in a solid brick which will cause them to get mushy during the thawing process.
Once the pepper strips have started to freeze, separate them out into meal sized portions and put them in a freezer bag. I like to use my Food Saver because it makes sure that all the air is out of the bag and I’v noticed a huge difference in the quality of the food after freezing.
How to Thaw Peppers
To use your peppers, you can throw them directly into a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and thaw while cooking, leave the bag of frozen peppers in your fridge overnight, or throw them directly into soup.
Other Great Henry’s Deals this Week
I’m focusing on peppers this week but Henry’s also has some great deals on several other items in their produce department that would be perfect for freezing.
Strawberries – $0.88 (the strawberries at my local store looked like they were only going to be good for another day and you only want to freeze super fresh produce because all food loses some quality in the freezing process)
Pineapple - $0.88 each
Corn - 3 for $1
Cucumbers (not suitable for freezing but this is a great deal) – 3 for $1
by Rachel on April 28, 2010
I’m not normally a fan of processed food but even I have to admit it is convenient and my kids like it as a treat every once in a while so I will stock up when I find a great deal. Right now at Albertsons you can get Capri Sun Sunrise for $1.19 after using the $1/1 coupon from the 4/25 Smart Source. Go in and buy 2 and they a coupon with codes for 2 free Redbox movies will print, essentially giving you 2 boxes of Capri Sun for $0.19. If you do more than 2 boxes, be sure and do it in a separate transaction because only one coupon will print per transaction.
