Friday, January 29, 2010
homemade croutons
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Buy Low
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
menu 1/26
- Oven Baked Chuck Roast with Potatoes (sort of following this recipe)
- Greek Chicken Wraps
- Flash Roasted Crispy Ranch Chicken
- Beef Stroganoff (thanks Paula Deen!)
- Chicken Verde over rice
- Pasta and Meatballs with homemade sauce and bread
- Chicken Pot Pie
Beef Roasts: How do you cook them?
Monday, January 25, 2010
homemade laundry soap
Target: the trip that puts me over-budget.
Buy Low
- on sale $1
PetSmart
Friday, January 22, 2010
last minute breakfast-for-dinner ideas anyone?
Monsters: aka German Pancakes
smiths
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Sams Club
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
oh yeah, smiths
Albertsons
Nature Valley granola bars, reg. $3.89
Betty Crocker fruit snacks, reg. $2.99
- $1.50 after instant discount
Purchase between 12/28/09 – 1/24/10
Buy 3 & Get $1.50
Buy 4 & Get $2.50
Buy 5 or more & Get $3.50
Betty Crocker fruit snacks
Purchase between 12/28-1/24/10
Buy 3 get $1.50
Buy 4 get $2.50
Buy 5 or more get $3.50
So what I did was:
- Bought 5 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks for $10.00 (use the total BEFORE instant discount to get to $20)
- Bought 4 Nature Valley Granola bars for $10.00
Subtotal = $20.00
- $5 off instantly at checkout= $15
Monday, January 18, 2010
Ikea
rebate!
Maceys
Thursday, January 14, 2010
menu 1/14
- Pasta with alfredo sauce, chicken, and bacon with garlic rolls
- Chicken Paillards with Lemon Butter Sauce (didn't make this or the roast last week- substitutions)
- Roast with Gravy and homemade rolls
- Leftover roast sandwiches on homemade buns from freezer (froze 1/2 uncooked buns last week)
- Chimichangas (this is short video with a great trick to making these bad boys)
- Breakfast for dinner: Egg mcmuffins, homemade hash browns
- Nothing. On purpose I menu plan around what I have stockpiled in my house. I'm able to make meals from food I get at my price points, the lowest amount I'm willing to pay for things.
Target: for free! (almost)
Albertsons
Buy Low
wic produce
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
walmart
Family Dollar
Maceys
- used 2 $.75/4 manufacturer coupons from coupons.com (ID and UT only)
Monday, January 11, 2010
microwaved cake?
Smiths
3 Beans and Sausage YUM
Friday, January 8, 2010
Menu 1/8/10
- Three Beans and Sausage
- Sloppy Joes with homemade buns
- BBQ Chicken and Pepperoni Pizzas with homemade dough (from baking day)
- Roast with Gravy
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Paillards with Lemon Butter Sauce
- fresh fruits/veggies with WIC voucher, including celery, spinach, shallots, lemons
Thursday, January 7, 2010
homemade tortillas
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup warm water
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Albertsons
I know I’m not spending any money right now, but I couldn’t help myself! Plus, this went on a Visa gift card, so I really didn’t spend cash. And we go through cheese like candy. And we got all this for less than the regular price of one of the blocks of cheese.
(This is what I told Matt tonight. Are you convinced? I don’t think he was either.)
Retails: $23.97
Total Spent: $4.46
Percent Off: 81%
How did I do it?
Cheese, reg. $5.49 each for 2lbs
- $2.99, in ad store coupon
- used 2 $1 manufacturer’s coupon from coupons.com (ID & UT only)
- $1.99 each
Solo Paper Plates, reg. $3.49 each
- on sale $1.99 each
- used 3 $1 coupons from newspaper
- used 3 Albertsons Twice the Value coupons from newspaper (took off another $3 total)
- FREE
Money Left for the Month: $145.54
I’m keeping a running total in case we become ‘un-broke’ sometime soon so I can go crazy.
December Budget Review
I'm not a regular grocery shopper. I buy stuff before I even need it, matching manufacturer coupons with store sales. This way I'm able to "shop" from my own pantry and pay a fraction of retail with items I use. No, we will not use all that brown sugar this month, but we will use it this year. When I make meals for us, I menu plan around what we already have on our shelves and in the freezer. There are occasional items I have to pay full price for, but they are the exception as I build up my food storage with stuff we actually use, all for less then I used to spend just to get us by every month.
And as a side note, I spent way under our $150 budget for December. We were out of town for some of it. Plus, we are BROKE right now. Thank goodness for food storage!
not including wic:
Retails: $278.35
Total Spent: $96.90
Percent Off: 65%
This month I was able to stock up on diapers, stocking treats, ground beef, pasta, paper towels, brown sugar, powdered sugar, cheez-its, tabasco sauce, chili powder, chips, chicken, corn starch, cheese, flour, baggies, cough meds, chicken broth, coconut milk, tomato sauce, cream soups, and chocolate chips.
WIC items
Retails: about $73
Total Spent: FREE
thanks WIC!