FYI: the $2 catalina for the mac & cheese will only print through the 31st, so get to Albertson's before then!

everyone can do this!

I just got back from Albertsons and if your kids eat Mac & Cheese and Caprisuns (or your husbands do), have I got a deal for you.

Retails: $21.08

Total Spent: $6.05

Percent Off: 71%

How did I do it?

* the 5 pack of mac & cheese is BOGO (buy one, get one free) so buy 2

* right on the pack of mac & cheese is a coupon for a free caprisun

* when you buy the mac & cheese, a $2 catalina prints for you to use on anything in the store in the next 2 weeks. I used mine right away to buy whole milk since we ran out this morning and got it for free (ok, 5 cents).

Money Left for the Month: $.56

Produce out my ears

I went a little crazy at Buy Low today. The fruit just looks so darn delicious! 

Retails: $45.00

Total Spent: $21.15

Percent Off: 53%

How did I do it?

* shopped at Buy Low's Wednesday produce deals

* used savvyshopperdeals to create a shopping list

I got a gallon of milk, a pack of tortillas, 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters, 3 1/2 pounds of apples, 2 1/2 pounds of bananas, 1 1/2 pounds cherries, 3 cloves garlic, a mango, a green bell pepper, a yellow bell pepper, 2 pounds of peaches, 10 pounds of potatoes, 2 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, 2 dozen eggs.

As I'm looking at my receipt I realized that I was over-charged for the peaches. Boo. I guess it makes up for the free potatoes I got last week. You win some, you lose some, darn it all.

This would have been an even better deal, but I needed the peppers and garlic and they weren't on sale. They were good prices though.

Money Left for the Month: $6.61

menu 5/27

Menu

• beef tostadas
• Chicken thighs with Brazilian vinaigrette salsa
• hot dogs and hamburger bbq with homemade buns
• Shrimp po' boys (americas test kitchen family cookbook, p.99) with homemade bread
• BBQ ribs
• Pasta with homemade pasta sauce

Sides:

• mashed potatoes, homemade fries, homemade rolls, fresh/frozen/canned fruits and veggies, rice

Need:

• chicken legs (little substituting here for the thighs- we'll see how that works out) buy low $.59/lb
• produce: fresh fruits and veggies buy low wed. deals

I love making meals from my storage. I know what I have and am actually using my food storage, something I didn't quite understand how to do not so long ago. Instead of a chore, shopping has become a fun game for me to see how far I can stretch my budget.

Christmas in the Northwest

I got another rebate check today! Thank you Unilever.

Money Left for the Month: $27.76

Walgreens and Albertsons

Walgreens

Retails: $30.03

Total Spent:$0.00

How did I do it?

* Only bought things that were on clearance or produced Register Rewards and used coupons in addition

* coupons used: $8.55

* RR used: $5.50

* Walgreens gift card used: $2.34

* RR received: $7 

for details on doing this yourself, see Hip2Save.

Albertsons

Retails: $13.61

Total Spent: $2.29

Percent Off: 83%

How did I do it?

* sales: $5.60

* coupons: $2

* double coupons: $2

Yeah, I was almost out of paper plates!

Money Left for the Month: $15.16

eye exam/glasses

Sorry, this isn't grocery shopping, but I think it's good info.

I've been researching eye exams and glasses the last few days and have stumbled on a few good things.

If you are in the Provo area and need an eye exam, look into Excel Eye Center. Apparently they accept most insurance plans, even if you don't have vision because they are MDs. Of course I have one of the only ones they don't take...

If you need glasses, then check out these guys here. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but have read tons of great reviews on them. The glasses start at $8!!! There is a $5 shipping fee but I hear it is per order so if you buy a few pairs, it's still $5.

Have any of you found any great deals on contacts? Is 1-800-CONTACTS the best way to go?

Target. Again.

I'm really liking Target. It is pretty sneaky fun, with their store coupons combined with manufactures coupons.

Retails: $31.53

Total Spent: $4.97

Percent Off: 85%

Money Left for the Month: $17.45

Buy Low and Albertsons

Buy Low

I LOVE Buy Low's meat deals.

Plus they had these freebies on the way out.

(not including freebies)

Retails: $109.31

Total Spent: $18.02

Percent Off: 84%

I got about 4 pounds of beef back ribs, about 11 pounds of top sirloin steak, and 2 packs of Hillshire Farms sausages. 

How did I do it?

* only bought stuff on sale

* used a $1 coupon on the clearanced sausage (regularly $4.49, clearanced $1.99, used $1/2 coupon I got from the Albertsons on University- they have a little book of coupons on top of some of the beer. You don't have to buy beer to take them or use them.)

Oh and I talked to the lady in charge about the potatoes they didn't charge me for on Wednesday and she told me to not worry about it, it was their mistake. Nice.

 Albertsons

Retails: $20.55

Total Spent: $2.04

Percent Off: 90%

How did I do it?

* sales: $11.36

* coupons: $3

* double coupons: $3

If you're wondering about all the double coupons I'm using, I talked to both of my Albertsons about using more than one set and they said one set per day, so I'm following that. I really want to be honest about things. It's not worth a couple bucks to be dishonest.

Money Left for the Month: $22.42

Albertsons Doubles and Smiths

I went out again today. So fun.

Albertsons

Retails: $26.72

Total Spent:$2.01

Percent Off: 92.5%

How did I do it?

* If you buy the Jet Puff marshmallows, Hershey 6 pack, and Honey Maid Graham Crackers all together, it costs $3, a great price right there. I had a $1 coupon that I doubled so each set cost me $1

* The cheese was on sale for $2 and I had a $1 coupon that I doubled (that's what that tiny thing is on top of the graham crackers. 6 ounces of cheese is a nice snack. Look at me complaining about free stuff. Can you say ungrateful?)

* The cashier only scanned 2 of my 3 double coupons on accident so the total was about $4 with tax (should have been $3ish, darn it all). I paid with my $2 catalina I got from a previous purchase (what in the world spit that out? I can't remember...)  

Smiths

Retails: $34.75

Total Spent: $12.62

Percent Off: 64%

Plus I got a $5 catalina to use on anything in the next 2 weeks!

How did I do it?

* sales: $11.60 (pizza on sale for $4.99)

* coupons: $9.00 (had 4 $2 coupons for pizza and 1 $1 J & J coupon)

* When you buy 3 DiGiorno or CPK pizzas you get a $3 catalina, when you buy 4 you get a $5.

Money Left for the Month: $42.48

yikes! I'm going Buy Low tomorrow to stock up on meat and I have a trip to Target planned out too. I guess I'll just have to be careful. It's a darn good thing I have a budget or I would spend SO much money doing this. It's just fun!

link changes

I just added a new blog to my list on the right: Shopping with Sense. I'm loving it! It really shows great stuff for me here in Utah (including a killer smores deal I'm going to try tomorrow).  Also, they have a giant directory of different grocery stores around the US and blogs that cover their deals. This looks really cool. You can get to it here or by going to Shopping with Sense.

I've also removed Being Frugal is Fabulous and Mummy Deals. I just haven't even checked either of them in weeks. If you want to continue following them add them to your own favs list.

Incidentally, why do I use the word "killer" so much? Really? Killer? Where did that come from?

Albertsons and Buy Low

Albertsons

Albertsons has 3 double coupons in their ad this week. Hooray! I was almost completely out of freezer bags. This will hold me out a bit, but I'm afraid I go through these bad boys like candy so I'll be needing more very soon. I also had a coupon for a free ketchup. Nice.

Retails: $11.07

Total Spent: $.41

Percent Off: 97%

How did I do it?

* sales: $3.66

* coupons: $4

* double coupons: $3

Buy Low

I didn't get to Buy Low last Wednesday for fresh produce. Is it bad that I didn't even realize that it was Wednesday? Oops.

Total Spent: $4.59

(I looked at my receipt and realized they didn't charge me for the potatoes so when I go back on Friday for some killer meat deals I'll bring them back in and pay the dollar or so for them, darn it all)

I got a couple pounds of onions and potatoes, couple oranges, 2 pounds of carrots, a cucumber, 2 artichokes (great price, I'll be subbing these for something else on the menu this week- matt's voting for the tilapia to be the weakest link), and a huge old thing of pickles. 

Do you like that I'm too lazy to even take anything out of the bags for the picture? Does that tell you anything about me?

Money Left for the Month: $57.11

5/20 menu

Here's the menu for the week.

Menu:

• Meatball sandwiches (homemade buns and meatballs)
• pork tacos
  
• Denver omelet americas test kitchen family cookbook p.260
• orange chicken
• pasta bake (homemade sauce)
• spanish roasted tilapia

Sides:

• homemade fries
• harvest grains
• wild rice
• mashed potatoes
• rolls
• fruit
• veggies

Need:

• fresh fruits and veggies, including one orange (buy low wednesday deals)

I love that I don't have to spend a ton of money for any of these meals. Instead I stock up on stuff when its cheap/free and then plan my menu around what I've already got. 

How I Shop

Couple of things I've learned:

Basically, I NEVER just walk into a store and put stuff in my cart. I used to do that, and spent a ton of money too. I always make a list, based off of work that other people do for me.

• Albertsons, Fresh Market, Smiths, Maceys: use the database from Pinching Your Pennies
• Buy Low: compile my own list from their ad. Darn. They used to be listed on savvyshopperdeals.
• Target, Walgreens, Walmart: use Hip2Save website lists

Pinching Your Pennies has a coupon list that tells us what coupons have come in the newspaper so you can do your own match ups to stores that aren't listed.

Produce and meat counters very, very rarely have coupons so I buy those on the best sales I can find. If you're here in Provo, Buy Low is a great place for both of these. Wednesday is their produce day and Friday is meat day.

Another Rebate!

It's like Christmas these days. I just got another rebate check in the mail, so...

Money Left for the Month: $62.12

Free, Free, Free

It's days like this that make me REALLY love couponing. 

Walgreens

Retails: $16.92

Total Spent: $0.00

Percent Off: 100%

How did I do it?

* only bought things that printed Register Rewards (except the clearance dog toy)

* used $3.75 in coupons

* used $8 in past RR

* payed the remainder with a Walgreens gift card

* got $13 in RR!

Albertsons

Retails: $57.11

Total Spent: $1.75

Percent Off: 97%

Money Left For the Month: $56.13

How did I do it?

* did 3 transactions and used 3 sets of double coupons (this will be my last time of doing 3. My store just made a policy for only 1 set per day. Darn.)

* 4 boxes of cereal for free (see link for details) with doublers

* tree top juice for free (coupon in this sundays paper) with doublers

* cream cheese for free with in ad coupon, printable coupon (IE or Firefox only), and doubler

see other ideas for doublers here

So mad.

Have I mentioned lately how much I really hate Walmart? I swear, I leave irritated almost every time I go there. And yet I return. Stupid low prices.

I went there mainly for dried black beans, eggs, and milk and then got a bunch of other stuff that was almost free with coupons. Well, they should have been, but unfortunately the cashier and I had a miscommunication: I wanted her to scan all the coupons I gave her and she thought she was only supposed to scan some of them but keep them all. I was so distracted by this point after being in that darn store for so long with a one year old whose attention span is approximately 15 seconds that I didn't even comprehend the price problem until I was home.  

So with that statement, here's the details.

Total Spent: $12.00

The total SHOULD have been $9.40, but who's counting? 

Money Left for the Month: $57.88

Good News

I got a beautiful thing in the mail today: a $5 rebate check, which means I get to add $5 to my total to spend this month! Hooray! 

Money Left for the Month: $69.88

Tomorrow's only the 15th. Man, where does all that money go? I'm a freaking addict...

Menu 5/9

Ok, I'm a day late. Sorry. I'm just slow. 

Menu:

• Stuffed French Toast from homemade bread (America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, p. 277 & 544), orange juice, apple slices 
• Tamale Pie (ATKFC, p. 418), frozen veggies
• Chicken Cordon Bleu (ATKFC, p. 360), mashed potatoes, watermelon
• Roast Beef Sandwiches, homemade buns, watermelon, rice
• Soup and Bread sticks (we had it last night at a ward function. hooray for not cooking!)
• Taco Salad

Need to Buy:

• dried black beans (I make a ton at once in my crock pot and then freeze them. WAY cheaper then canned and WAY better with all the seasonings we throw in. Thanks Alicia!)

Notice the extremely short list of stuff I need to buy for dinners? That's because I buy stuff when it's really cheap and base my menus on what I already have. I also cook from scratch a lot, which helps cut down costs. Bread items really add up and only take some planning, especially with a bread maker.

Sorry, Sam's yelling, yelling, yelling for attention. Got to go!

Walgreens

I only had 2 packages of diapers left and was starting to feel panicky, so good job to Walgreens for having a diaper sale.

They worked out to be $.13/diaper, which is better than Sam's Club or Costco- they're at about $.20/diaper. I just put one on Sam so I'll let you know if he wakes up with a leak or anything. I think I heard that they are good diapers.

Oh, and I don't know the difference between these 2 types of diapers. They happened to be the last 6 they had. The white ones were only $6.99 and have 4 more diapers in them. The other ones were $8.99.

Retails: $54.69

Total Spent: $28.88

Percent Off: 47% (yikes. only 47?!!)

Money Left for the Month: $64.88

How did I do it?

* shopped sales: all walgreens baby stuff is Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO) this week, ending Saturday night.

* coupons: $1 (for toothpaste)

Plus the toothpaste spit out a $2 Register Reward 

I'm Such a Good Wife

So I've been feeling really bad for Matt this last week. With every trip I've made, spending pennies, he has become increasingly depressed, realizing that he was going to loose. I would spend well under $10 for the week and he would have to admit that I am amazing.

After weighing all that in my mind, I decided that I would do the mature, loving, selfless thing: I would choose to spend slightly more than the budget, thus allowing him to retain more of his self respect.

That being said, here's my Target deal. Target? Yes, I do know where Target is.

Retails: 51.66

Total Spent: $11.11

Percent Off: 78%

If you want to get details on how to get these deals, check out Hip2Save here. She talks you through what coupons to use and how much it will cost, but know that the prices are a little more here in Utah then she lists.

$5.50ish of that total was my contact solution. I seriously debated buying this because I knew it would shoot me over the $10, but it was on sale and I never see it cheaper then $8. I also had a coupon with it. Oh and I'm SO mad about that stupid Buddie Bar soap. I only bought it because it would be free with a coupon but I didn't remember to use the darn coupon.

now i REALLY mean it!

Ok, so now you really HAVE to get to Albertsons ASAP. If you like making money for shopping, that is. 

Buy 4 Kraft BBQ sauces

• use 2 $1 coupons from Kraftfood.com
• use 2 $1 coupons from coupons.com

total will be tax, just pennies, and a $2 catalina will print that you can use on anything at Albertsons.

If you haven't used up the Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) coupon for the mac and cheese cups that I told you about earlier, then this would be killer to combine this with. 

Here would be a great scenario:

• buy 4 BBQ sauces at $1 each
• buy 6 mac and cheese cups at $1 each

* Total: $10

* $3 will come automatically for every $10 in participating Kraft items you buy, making these $.70 each

* use 4 $1 BBQ coupons here (Kraft) AND here (coupons.com) They will adjust these to $.70

* use 2 BOGO mac & cheese cup coupons

* use $1 off 2 mac & cheese cup coupon here (Kraft) AND here (coupons.com) (or if you've already used the BOGO, use 3 of these bad boys)

You'll only pay for 2 cups at $.70 each + tax and get a $2 catalina print! Killer! 

This deal ends tomorrow night though, so hustle! (let's hope they still have anything left!)

THIS is why I coupon

Sunday's paper had 3 more double coupons in it for Albertsons. Since I get 3 papers, that meant 9 double coupons for Joy! Nice.

I have to say that I did pretty darn well today, not that I'm bragging or anything, but DANG. Take that, Matt!

Retails: $44.29

Total Spent: $1.33

Percent Off: 97%

Plus I got a $2 catalina to use on whatever I want in Albertsons in the next couple weeks.

Pretty much I just paid tax, although as I'm thinking about it, there was a problem in the 1st transaction. I'm pretty sure I got a better deal than I was supposed to by a dollar or so. Next time I'm in Albertsons, I'll talk to someone about it.

How did I do it?

• coupons: $11
• double coupons: $8.75
• sales/in store promotions: $20.75

couple things about this Kraft deal: 

• make sure you are doing your transactions in $10. $3 comes off for each $10 you spend so to get the most for your money, add up your totals before coupons to $10.
• Print off the new killer kraft coupons on kraftfoods.com and coupons.com. You can print 2 off per site.

FYI: I just read this on Pinching Your Pennies and thought it was too funny.

Some people play chess (lots of strategy, few prizes). Some people hit the slot machines (little strategy, lots of risk, few prizes). I play the coupon game (risk a little time, save a LOT of money).

Yes, this takes time to research/think through/cut coupons/etc, but it so pays off. Plus it's so fun. I don't hardly do sudoku anymore- this is a much better puzzle!

left for the week (through tomorrow): $7.05

Go to Albertsons!

Ok, so if you will ever use BBQ sauce and mac & cheese cups, go to Albertsons by Tuesday! I've been sitting here (and by "sitting here," I mean giving Sam a bath, cleaning the bathroom, reading him a book, and generally playing with him) thinking about how this is still a killer deal, even if you don't get the paper.

The BBQ sauce prints a catalina after you pay that if you buy 

* 4, a $2.00 prints

* 5, a $2.50 prints

* 6, a $3 prints

Here's what you do. 

1. Print off the BOGO coupon here for the mac and cheese and print it twice. (you can print internet coupons 2 times per computer)
   
2. Buy 6 BBQ sauces and 4 mac and cheese cups (remember you have to buy $10 to get the $3 off (see post below))
3. use the BOGO coupons
4. Pay $5.90 plus tax for more than $20 worth of stuff, PLUS
5. a $3 catalina will print. These catalinas are wonderful. You can use them to pay for anything! They are like a $3 bill that is good at Albertsons. They expire 2 weeks from when they are printed though.

Then if you're feeling adventurous you could use that catalina right now in another transaction:

1. buy 1 5 pack boxes of mac and cheese
2. buy 2 caprisuns
3. peel off the coupon on the 5 pack for a free caprisun (I also had a $1 coupon for the other one)
4. total will be $4.50, use the $3 catalina and
5. pay $1.50! Bring it.

So what are you still doing here? Go to Albertsons!

Take that, Matt!

I hit Albertson's today and destroyed it. 

Retails: $37.83

Total Spent: $1.15

Percent Off: 97%

How did I do it?

* split into 2 transactions

trans 1:

• 6 BBQ sauce, 4 mac & cheese cups, gallon of milk (apparently Sam's milk expired. oops), 2 Spree (filler- I needed my total to be a little higher to use a catalina to pay)
• the sauce and cups are on sale for $1 each and when you buy $10 worth of items, $3 comes off automatically. (so that makes them all $.70 each)
• used 3 $.75 coupons for the BBQ sauce (from the paper) and 2 Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO) coupon for the cups (internet printable)
• threw in the Spree to up my total because I needed to be over $5 to
• pay with $5 catalina I got from last week, the BBQ sauce printed a $3 catalina
• total out of pocket: $.45

trans 2:

• got 1 5 pack mac & cheese, 2 caprisuns
• These are on the spend $10/get $3 off deal too
• used the coupon that is on the mac & cheese for a free caprisun, 1 $1 off caprisun coupon (from paper)
• payed with the $3 catalina I got from the previous transaction
• total out of pocket: $.70

in store deals (sales/$3 off): $19.05

Manufactures coupons (including catalinas): $15.74

When you combine store deals with manufactures coupons, you get to say, "Matt, I've only spent $1.62 so far this week. I have $8.38 left. I will be the winner and you, I'm sorry to say, will lose. So there."

 

Ha ha ha.

I am a tricky gal. I told Matt that I was going to keep under $10 this week (new week starts on wed) and I am going to do it. He didn't think I could because of 2 things. Ok, mostly one. First, he knows we needed batteries, but more importantly, he knows I can't stay out of the stores. I didn't say anything about not buying anything, just about spending less than $10. He should have known I had a few tricks up my sleeve. 

Retails: $14.48

Total Spent: $.47

Percent Off: 97%

How did I do it?

* batteries were BOGO (buy one, get one) free

* 8 x 10 print was free when you ordered it yesterday only.

* the eaten candy was on clearance and was a filler item. (my total was barely less than the Register Reward I was using)

* used a $5 Register Reward

So Matt, I have $9.53 left. Tricky, tricky, tricky.

Walgreens 101

A few of you have been asking me about Walgreens. I just found a good 101 on another blog. If you're interested, check it out here. Walgreens is complicated, but it's totally worth it.

After you read it, if you still have questions let me know.

Don't Read This Matt!

Sorry honey. I REALLY didn't mean to go to the store again. I swear. It just happened. I was in the neighborhood and there were good deals to be had. I promise I will spend less than $10 this next week. I can do it too, just watch!

So Buy Low has their produce deals today and I grabbed up some.

I got 

* 2 lbs of carrots

* a head of lettuce

* 4 onions

* a watermelon

* 11 apples

* and a jicama, just to live on the edge!

Total: $4.77

How did I do it?

* shopped the sales. Every Wednesday is produce day at Buy Low where they have killer prices on certain items. Fridays are meat days. FYI: produce/fresh meat/milk/cheese very rarely have coupons. I just watch for the best prices and stock up.

Oh, and I'm at $92.68. Yikes. $10 for the next week...

5/6 Menu

FYI: I use this menu as a guide. If we don't feel like something, we don't eat it and I'll make something else. The point is that I have these ideas ready with the stuff to go with them so I don't have to think during the week. Beautiful. Making dinner is enough work without having to come up with what we're going to have.

Menu:

* Roast with root veggies (didn't have it last week- we've been sick), fruit

* enchiladas, chips, veggies

* BBQ chicken with Cilantro-Lime dressing, wild grains, veggies

* Stuffed french toast (America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, p.277), scrambled eggs, homemade hash browns, orange juice

* Sloppy Joes (ATKFC p.103), homemade buns, homemade fries, fruit, veggies

* Tamale Pie (ATKFC p. 418), black beans, cheese quesadillas, fruit

Need to buy:

* nothing (Good thing, I'm over budget! I'm just a girl who can't say no...)

Albertsons

I admit it freely. I am an addict. I just can't help myself. I went to Albertsons earlier to use a couple of double coupons that expire today.

Retails: $12.33

Spent: $2.15

Percent Off: 83%

How did I do it?

* apple juice 3 pack 

            - on sale for $1

            - used 2 $1 off 2 coupons with 2 double coupons

            - FREE!

* sausage

           - on clearance for $1.99

Then I just got back from a 2nd trip. I had to really think through this deal. Complicated.

Retails: $67.37

Spent: $26.26

Percent Off: 61%

How did I do it?

* I did 2 transactions, each produced a $3 and a $5 catalina. I used the catalinas from the 1st transaction on the 2nd.

* saved on sales: $20.24

* saved with coupons: $17.99

* plus I still have a $3 and $5 catalina 

I really needed more toilet paper, you can always use more wipes, and I quite frankly couldn't resist buying the shampoo and conditioner. All of that and the cleaning stuff were $5.41 total!

tons of shopping!

Saturday night I had to run out to pick up some Pedialyte for my sick little one, darn it all. I went to Smiths ready to pay whatever I needed to and was pleasantly surprised. The Freezer Pops were on clearance and when you bought 2 Pedialyte products a $1.50 catalina printed for your next purchase. I also had 2 $2 coupons, so it wasn't so bad. I split this up into 2 transactions so I could use the catalina. 

Retailed: $18.83

Total Spent: $9.16

Percent Off: 51%

I went back to Smiths today to pick up some cheese that's on sale this week- $1.60/lb. I was almost out so it was good timing. I put these into 10 1 lb freezer baggies. 

Retails: $34.93

Total Spent: $17.75

Percent Off: 49%

Then I hit Walgreens.

Retails: $29.29

Total Spent: $1.14

Percent Off: 96%

Maceys had to be hit too.

Total Spent: $9.07

(Sorry, when I shop at some stores they don't put the regular prices on the recipe and I have no idea what the retail totals would be. I just know I get everything on sale and/or with coupons and they are good deals!)

My favorite part of Maceys was the cashier. She said, "Oh, you've got all the good stuff!" I told her that's why I was there!

A couple of thoughts:

   

* I have been so grateful for the stuff I have stored up already and having my baby get sick has remotivated me to have a more complete storage. I definitely have holes in my stockpile and I need to stock up on things like baby meds. It is annoying, inconvenient, and more expensive to have to run out to pick stuff up when it's an emergency. Plus, if there was a community emergency (Swine Flu, anyone?) I probably wouldn't be able to get a hold of what I wanted/needed. 

* Also, I know that I am over budget for the week. I have a $50/week budget and at $61.65 right now. I am also planning on hitting Albertsons tomorrow. However, I have stocked up on ground beef, cheese, and chicken and won't have to buy them for months. I will just have to balance it out with the rest of the month.

Buy Low

I hit Buy Low today for their meat deals. 

I got:

• 14 pounds of ground beef ($.99/lb)
• 5 pounds of chicken ($1.59/lb)
• a pound of tomatoes ($.50/lb)
• 8 packages of pasta (5/$1)

Total Spent: $24.53

Here's what I did with the meat. I divide the beef into 1 pound chunks and put each in a gallon freezer baggy. I roll it out with the rolling pin and freeze it flat. It's so easy to thaw this way- it takes no time at all! It's such a great idea I ripped off from someone a few years ago (Sandy?) I put each of the big old chicken breasts in its own baggy. They are just under a pound each. 

I'm so excited about the beef- great price and I was all out of raw ground beef. (I did the same thing with cooked beef)

The chicken breast was a pretty good price but not the best so I only got enough to last me until I could get more for cheaper.