Seattle Resources

In case you hadn't noticed, in the last 5 months or so I am now finding myself with very limited time for posting. I am still couponing of course. It just takes a really long time to search the blog world, compile lists, get my coupons printed and/or cut, sort them by store, pack up 2 monkeys, shop, come home, take pictures, and THEN post. Since I cannot possibly cut back on the shopping aspect (translation: I'm an addict) I have decided that blogging will have to wait a bit.

I have found a few resources for stores here in the Seattle area that I look up every week to help me decide which stores I'll hit and what I'll get there. Hope this helps!

Nationwide Stores

Rite Aid: hip2save (sales run Sun-Sat)

Walgreens: hip2save (Sun-Sat)

Target: hip2save (Sun-Sat)

Seattle Area Stores

Albertsons: couponconnectionsnw or pinchingyourpennies (Wed-Tues)

Safeway: couponconnectionsnw or pinchingyourpennies (Wed-Tues)

QFC: couponconnectionsnw (Wed-Tues)

Top Foods: couponconncetionsnw (Wed-Tues)

Fred Meyer: couponconncetionsnw or pinchingyourpennies (Sun-Sat)

Happy Shopping!

Thai Green Curry Deliciousness

Oh man. We just had the best curry I've had in a while. This was super good and super easy. The prep is less than a 1/2 hour for some fly food. (Yes, I just said "fly.") You could easily leave out the crockpot step at the end and eat it after it simmered for 10 minutes or so. The original didn't call for the crockpot, but it really melded all of the flavors together.

Thai Green Curry Deliciousness

(thank you Chef Ashley)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 potatoes
• 2 cans coconut milk
• about 2 T green curry paste (i'm not sure how much I put in. I started at a bit over 1 and just kept adding. I used Thai Kitchen's paste)
• couple pounds raw chicken breast, sliced super thin
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c fish sauce
• a shake or two of basil
• a bay leaf or two
• red pepper flakes to taste- however spicy you want it.
• 1 mini can of bamboo shoots, sliced the long way
• 1/4 c or so of cashew pieces

Directions:

1. Undercook the potatoes in the microwave. You don't want them so done that they're crumbly or they'll fall apart while you're cooking. Peel and cube them when they cool down a bit.
2. Scoop off some of the thick creamy part of the coconut milk, like 1/5 of each can, and combine it with the curry paste in a large skillet,
3. Add in the chicken breast and cook until cooked through.
4. Dump in the rest of the milk and simmer until it thickens up a bit. The one problem with mine was how runny it was. If I just boiled it longer here I'm sure that would have taken care of that.
5. Add in the rest of the ingredients
6. Put in a crockpot on low for a few hours. I put it in for about 4 hours and it turned out so flavorful. I love having meals to eat right when I get home from church!

Serve over Jasmine rice. 2 c uncooked rice was about the right ratio for the curry.

Ashley made this with red curry paste, omitted the cashews (you wouldn't have to) and added1 tsp or so of creamy peanut butter.

QFC Deals

We're here in Washington. It is super. I've been having a WONDERFUL time learning the new stores around here.

After researching around a bit, I've discovered that QFC is a Kroger store. While they do have the same general promotions they tend to be a little more on some of the items than Smiths.

Retails: $88.05

Total Spent: $25.53

Percent Off: 71%

How did I do it?

QFC has a promotion: Buy 10 Mega Event items, get $5 off instantly, meaning $.50 per item. This is the 2nd week of the sale and darn it all, some of the items are a little more this week.

Here are a few of the printables. For more deals, check out the Coupon Project, although this is from last week, so some of the prices have risen.

Campbells Cream of Mushroom or Chicken Soup, reg. $1.29

- on sale for $1.25/$.75 when you buy 10

- use $1.50/3 printable coupon. Print twice.

- $.25!!!

Stovetop Stuffing, reg. $2.29

- on sale $1.50/$1 wyb 10

- use $.50/2 coupon

- $.75 each!!

Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta, reg. $2.39

- on sale $1.49/$.99 wyb 10

- use $1/2 coupon. Print twice.

- $.49!!!

Also, this Saturday and Sunday only a 2 lb of Tillamook cheese is $2.99! Crazy low! There's a limit of 1 per person.

Guess What, I'm Moving!

After over a decade, I am leaving Provo. It is a happy move- Matt got a job! Hooray! It's hard for me to think of life away from Utah but we're looking forward to this next stage in our lives.

I will still be blogging, although probably not so much in the next few weeks as he starts his job VERY soon and we aren't exactly "packed."

We are moving back home to Washington where I'm excited to find new resources for grocery shopping. Anyone from Western Washington have some great match-up sites? I've spent some time looking and haven't been too impressed with any sites for QFC, Fred Meyer, Safeway and others.

Anyways, thanks for being patient with me as my life gets completely out of balance for a while. Must be because I'm always so on top of things and am super prepared. Yikes.

Incidentally, how many bottles of hairspray am I allowed to pack before it becomes ridiculous? What about toothpaste? Shampoo? Soap? Just wondering.

Chicken Breast $1.29/lb, 5 cent/lb Pumpkins- Buy Low

I looked through Buy Low's ad today and in addition to their great produce prices, I was impressed with a few things:

• Pumpkins are 5 cents/pound yesterday and today only (Wed and Thurs). The cheapest price I've seen is 8 cents/pound at Winco.
• Fresh Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast is $1.29/lb Friday and Saturday only. Their chicken breast are HUGE and do require some trimming of fat, but it's not bad. One breast is about a pound. Crazy big. We usually use 1 pound for a meal so I put each breast in a sandwich baggy and put them all in a gallon freezer baggy. It's the easiest way I've found of freezing chicken breast. This is a great price by the way. I haven't seen boneless chicken breast under $1.50 in a LONG time.
• Chex Mix, Bugles, or Gardetto's are on sale for $.98. With these $.50 coupons below they are only $.48. These are always nice to have on hand for all the end of year parties coming up. Oh and FYI: Those chocolate covered Bugles are deadly- SO good. Coupons: Pillsbury, Coupons.com, and Smartsource.com
• Campbells Chunky Soups are $.99. Campbell's website has a bunch of $.50 coupons, making them $.49 each.

check out here to see their ad.

Getting Rain Checks

A few weeks ago Rite Aid had a killer price on diapers and my Rite Aid was out. Of course. Instead of calling all over the valley and driving to Timbuktu to get them I got a rain check.

My diapers finally came in yesterday and I picked them up this morning.

Why am I telling you this? Two reasons:

1. to brag about my great deal
2. to tell you to ask about rain checks whenever what you want isn't on the shelves. You can't always get one, depending on the way the sale's set up, but it is so much nicer if you can.

These 6 packs of diapers would have

retailed for about $75 and I spent about $18. That's about 75% off!

They couldn't have come in at a better time as I had like 5 diapers left.

Money Left for the Month: $133.30

What to do with Cream Cheese?

So what am I going to do with all of that Cream Cheese I got for free at Smiths? Really good question. Here are some ideas:

• Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos- these are SO GOOD.
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Stuffed French Toast
• Beef Stroganoff
• Crockpot Potato Soup
• White Sauce
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cream Cheese Bread
• Scalloped Potatoes

Any other suggestions?