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?

Some Produce

I hit Buy Low this morning for some fresh produce. Isaac has decided that he LOVES to eat solids. He is deeply offended every time I eat anything that he can't have a taste of, poor little man. He can destroy 1/2 a banana in a matter of minutes.

Buy Low always have some great deals on produce. I am a fan.

Total Spent: $5.85

Money Left for the Month: $151.30

For a copy of their ad, go here.

This sale ends Tuesday night.

Smiths Freebies- Cream Cheese and Creamer

We took a last minute 2 week trip and just got back this weekend. Sorry for the lack of posting, but I was having a great time not doing anything and hanging out with family.

This week at Smiths is AWESOME. If you haven't gone, I would definitely check it out tomorrow as the sale ends tomorrow night. I hit Provo Smiths around 4:30 today and was surprised to see them so well stocked.

UPDATE: While I was in Washington, I discovered that QFC is a Kroger store like Smiths and had a lot of the same prices they did. If you're in WA, go and get some free cream cheese!

Highlights:

Philadelphia Cream Cheese, reg. $2.18 each

I got these all for FREE!

10, you may ask? Yes. 10. I'll give a few bricks to my sister and have plenty to make all sorts of delicious treats and meals through the end of the year. These don't expire until the end of December. I stock up when the price is right so I don't have to pay full price later on when I need it.

CoffeeMate Creamer, reg. $2.49

I not only got these for FREE but made $.21 on each! No, I don't drink coffee, but my cocoa will never taste so delicious. Any other ideas for it?

Also, there was a Jell-o coupon in the SS insert of Sunday's paper, making each large package of pudding or gelatin only $.35. They're regularly $1.09.

Oh, and if you have that Nabisco BOGO coupon from facebook a few weeks back, this would be the time to use it on Oreos. Not counting the milk you had to buy to use the coupon ($1.89) each package ended up being $.35! Nice.

I am feeling fatter just talking about all of this food.

Before I typed in my Smiths number, my total was $98ish.

After promotions and coupons I spent $20.07,

78% Off!

Check out the PinchingYourPennies grocery list for details.

This sale ends *Tuesday* night!

Money Left for the Month: $157.15

What to do with Tomatoes?

Is it just me or do you get overwhelmed with tomatoes too? It seems that they do VERY well in my weed-infested joke of a garden, so well that I have struggled with what to do with them all.

Things I've done that I have NOT liked:

• This should read "Thing" not "ThingS." Matt does not like big chunks of canned tomatoes. He hates them in fact, something about being slimy. Therefore I have had to dice the tomatoes pretty small so that he'll eat them in whatever I cook with them. They were great to use and used up quite a few of the tomatoes, but it would take me like 20 minutes to fill a pint with all the seeding and dicing. I can buy a can of tomatoes for $.44 on sale, basically the same size as a pint. Forty four cents was not worth 20 minutes of my time.

Things I've done with Tomatoes that I have liked:

• I have made mass quantities of pasta sauce and then frozen it flat and thin in gallon sized baggies, braking off a hunk and microwaving what I need.
• I have made homemade salsa. Mmmm. I love fresh salsa. Mix diced and seeded tomatoes with diced onion, jalapeno, garlic, bell pepper, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper and it is Delicious.
• I have frozen them whole, just washed them, thrown them in gallon freezer bags and put them in the deep freeze. Then when I need tomatoes in a recipe I can deal with them then. I pretty much do this when I have a bunch that I don't have time to do anything with. FYI: when you thaw tomatoes the skin just rubs right off of them so don't try to get the skin off first.
• Right before the first frost of the fall I pick all of the tomatoes. The frost will ruin them, turning them into mush. I put the green ones in my basement in boxes or paper bags and put newspaper between each layer. They will slowly turn red, giving me more tomatoes for a few more weeks. Don't stack them too deeply because you'll need to be able to check their reddening. Also, as you're stacking them, put the super green ones on the bottom and the ones less green at the top. They need to be in a cool place, not a freezing place like a shed or they will just freeze.
• This year I've tried something new: I've dehydrated tomatoes! These are also known as sun-dried tomatoes. Fancy me! This is my new very favorite thing. All you do is half them then use your thumb and middle finger to seed them really quickly. I then cut each half into thirds. Lay them on your dehydrator trays cut side up, leaving room for air to circulate, and sprinkle them with salt. Watch them and take them off when they are dry but flexible. You don't want them brittle. My dehydrator took FOREVER, like a day and a half but my mom's was done in 12 hours or so. Just like anything you dry, they will be done at different times so check on them periodically and pull out the dried ones. I just put them in a quart jar in the fridge. Even if you don't have a dehydrator, you can do this in the oven. These are yummy cut up in bite sized pieces in pasta and pizza or a salad.

I never have done Fried Green Tomatoes, but I think that my current love affair with fried foods will force me to make a batch this year.

Any other great ideas you've had to use your tomatoes?

Homemade Powdered and Brown Sugars

Ok, I am super dense. I LOVE my new Vitamix and have made all sorts of fun things with it: ice cream, fruit and green smoothies, tortilla soup, broccoli potato soup.

It has made me realize however how truly dumb I am. Guess what Cream of Wheat is? Wheat, creamed or chopped up. Duh. (delicious, by the way)

In looking through the cookbooks that came with the mixer I found a highly complicated one for Powdered Sugar. Guess how you make this- you powder sugar, or blend it. Crazy! Just 30 seconds in the Vitamix and wow, powdered sugar. I Googled it and it looks like you could make it in a regular blender as well. Some people say to add a bit of cornstarch to keep it from clumping.

It got me wondering about cost. A pound of powdered sugar is 3 3/4 cups, and 2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar makes a pound of powdered.

You're doing pretty good to get 2 pounds of powdered sugar for $1.25, or $.63/lb. A 5 lb bag of granulated sugar runs about $2.50 on sale, or $.50/lb.

So 1 pound (2 1/4 cups) of granulated sugar makes 1 pound (3 3/4) of powdered sugar. Again, duh. 1 pound = 1 pound. I won't tell you how long it took me to arrive at that genius statement. Wow. Impressive math skills, eh?

This is all very good for me to realize. It is cheaper to make my own powdered sugar, especially if I can get sugar for cheaper than $.50/lb.

It also made me wonder if you could make brown sugar. Well, yes you can! Cool! Matt, the resourceful man he is, googled that and we discovered you use 1 cup granulated sugar and mix in by hand 1-2 Tbsp of molasses. That's it! Homemade brown sugar!

Have you ever made either of these? We did the powdered sugar today and it was super fun.

Rite Aid 99% Off- Humidifier, Diapers, & More for Pennies

I had an awesome trip to Rite Aid today!

I got a pack of Huggies, a humidifier, 3 trial sized TRESemme, 2 ice packs, and some candy. Guess how much it cost?

Retails: about $35

Total Spent: $.64

Percent Off: 99%

64 cents. Crazy.

I did use a $4 gift card but I also got a $2 UpReward (like gift card).

Want details? Check out Hip2Save here and here. She also tells about how to get free Halloween candy from Rite Aid here. Would have been helpful to see before I went, but whatever.

When I shop at Rite Aid I make sure to buy in $25 increments so that I can use a $5/$25 purchase Rite Aid coupon. Then I use store and manufacturer coupons.

Money Left for the Month: $177.22

Menu

Main Dish:

• Grilled Artichokes
• Chicken with Chipotle w/rice and Oven Roasted Broccoli (Buy Low has chicken legs for $.48/lb!)
• Grilled Teriyaki Burgers w/ homemade buns
• Chicken Tikka Marsala (Yet a 3rd recipe. I'm sure I'll find one I love...) w/grilled garlic naan
• Tunisian Fried Peppers and Eggs with Breakfast Potatoes
• Skillet Ground Beef Skillet w/homemade bread

We are loving our Vitamix and have been having Green Smoothies for breakfast. I feel so fancy and healthy.

When I make my menu I look at what I have stockpiled in the house or ready to use in my garden and then find recipes to use them. We're adventurous around here so it's no biggie for us to try a bunch of new recipes. By using what I've gotten really cheap in the past for our meals I'm able to free up money to stockpile what's on sale this week.

Cheap, Cheap Produce

I know that the month hasn't started yet, but it was very important to start my budget over. Why? Because I was already over-budget and I wanted to spend more. Good reason.

Buy Low has some great prices this week. I had a great time today, tossing in fruits and veggies left and right. Produce is normally SO EXPENSIVE. What did I ever do before Buy Low?

With that new Vitamix holding down my cupboard, I've got to have some serious produce so I was very happy to see a really good week at Buy Low.

Here's the ad.

Highlights: bananas 4lb/$1 (Wed & Thurs only), spinach 2/$1, oranges and pears 3lb/$1, 18 count L eggs $.99, chicken legs $.48/lb

Don't forget Buy Low has extra produce deals on Wed and Thurs every week.

Total Spent: $22.14

Money Left for the Month: $177.86

Buy Low Review

Things about Buy Low:

• Their address is 2250 N University Parkway in Provo. They are in between Shopko and Cafe Rio where Food4Less used to be
• They have really good produce prices
• They have extra produce prices Wednesday and Thursday
• They have extra meat prices on Friday and Saturday
• They have 10% off for students Monday and Tuesday
• Their carts have 2 spots for little ones to sit in and they also have carts with the fun driving cars in the front
• With the amazing prices they have there are items that aren't the highest quality. I've never had problems with their apples, bananas, berries, and many other items. However, the spinach is always covered in dirt (easy to wash off!) and after looking at some things I sometimes don't get everything I've planned. It is SO WORTH it for me to pass over things and every once in a long while, throw something away.
• There is no PinchingYourPennies GrocerySmarts list for Buy Low
• I like to make bigger trips here every other week or so, using canned/frozen produce until I get to the next trip.

Vitamix, You are AMAZING!

Christmas came early this year. It came early and it came Awesome.

My mom and dad got us a Vitamix, the Arnold Schwarzenegger of blenders. It came 2 days ago and I love it.

We made ice cream tonight with it. Ice cream! Two nights ago we had soup that we poured steaming hot right from the blender.

We've made fruit smoothies that have had such great texture.

I did grind wheat with it and it worked fine. My wheat grinder is a better option for that though. (we got that from my parents for Christmas a few years back) I wasn't a huge fan of the bread you can mix in it but it was pretty cool to make bread in a blender.

I am really interested in the green smoothies. We'll give 'em a shot for breakfast.

Thanks Mom and Dad! I have dreamed about even knowing someone who owned one of these and look at me now! There's a shmancy blender on my counter as we speak! Hooray!

Weight gain, I mean loss, here I come!

September 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 chicken breast 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. Want to learn how I do it? Check this out.

Total Spent: $235.32

Besides perishables like eggs, milk, and produce, this month I was able to stock up on cheese, sour cream, frozen veggies, soda, pasta sauce, diapers, tooth care, hamburger, fruit snacks, vanilla, toilet paper, candy bars, chips, bone in chicken breast, boneless chicken breast, baby food, pepperoni, mandarin oranges, vegetable oil, vitamins, flour, salami

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit.

We love our beans around here. We eat them for breakfast, lunch, snacktime, and dinner. Ok, we HAVE eaten them for all of those times but we don't do it regularly. We do have beans a few times a week. I love my black beans.

With so much bean-consumption going on, I have figured out what works really well for me. In fact, it works so well, it might be the reason we eat so many beans.

Occasionally I will buy canned beans to have as a back up, but we pretty much live off of dried beans. Why, you may ask? Basically 3 reasons:

1. They taste better. My accomplished sister in law Alicia passed on her secrets on the wonders of crockpot beans and eating canned beans now tastes similar to cardboard. By the way, crockpotting them is the way to go. I get so mad every time I try to do them on the stove top. They take WAY longer then the bag ever says and you have to keep an eye on them the whole time they're cooking.
2. They are so much cheaper. A 15 oz can of beans costs around a dollar. For that same price you can get a pound, or 16 oz, of dried beans. Isn't that the same? No sir-ee Bob. These are DRIED beans. They are beans minus the water. When they are done cooking 1 pound of beans is equivalent to 3 cans of beans. You're getting 66% more just by grabbing the bag instead of the can!
3. This reason should be a subset of #2: I don't waste anything. I cook a whole bunch at once and then freeze them flat in gallon sized baggies. When I want some beans I just break off a hunk and throw it in the microwave. I only cook what I'm going to use. Maybe it's just me but whenever I open a can of anything, I use what I need and then either A: leave it out on the counter still in the can for a day or so and then end up throwing the rest away or B: transfer it to a container for the fridge where it will rest indefinitely until the smell/lack of containers forces me to clean out the fridge. Either way the little cash register inside my head is telling me how much that cup of beans down the disposal just cost me and I am not happy.

As far as current prices go, Maceys does have WF canned beans on sale for $.48 as part of their caselot sale, the best price anywhere all year (unless some random crazy high value coupon comes out- unlikely) so if you're going to get canned beans, this would be a good time.

The last I checked Target was the cheapest price for a pound of black beans at $1.09 for a pound. As I look at the Caselot Price Comparison at PreparedLDSFamily, it looks like the LDS cannery has the best price on bulk beans at $14.50 for a 25 lb bag if you can get them. They don't sell them when there is a greater need somewhere else in the world. The next best price is at Maceys (Harmon's sale is over- they were better priced than Maceys) for $17.58 for a 20 lb bag.

If my math is right then it would still be a little better than 1/2 the price to get the Cannery beans verses the canned Macey beans.

Reuben: Best Thing Since Sliced Rye

When Matt and I first got married I was appalled with his choice every time we would grab a sandwich somewhere. He would always order a Reuben. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I had no idea what this even was Before Matt, but even if I did, I am POSITIVE I would have never tried it. Ever. In a million years. Ever. It has weird dark bread and is filled with stuff I was pretty sure tasted as bad as they smelled.

Then one day after years of insistence, I tried a bite. I may or may not have had a "This is Going to Be Disgusting" look on my face while trying it, but I tried it. Lo and behold, I liked it. Darn it all, I loved it. I don't think Matt will ever recover from that triumph.

Apparently I also like artichokes and smoked oysters too. And Green Eggs and Ham. Shoot. That is all besides the point though, which is that Reubens are Delicious.

If you're looking for a good laugh, check out this beauty here of when I "made" rye bread. Next time I get domestic, this looks like a tasty recipe for it. FYI: You can get rye flour at Winco in the bulk section.

Traditionally Reubens are made with corned beef, but that stuff runs $6.98/lb at the deli at Walmart and $6.89 at Sam's. Yikes. I tend to use pastrami, but you could use any lunch meat your little heart desires.

This makes 9 sandwiches, based on the number of slices of bread in the bag I bought.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Rye Bread, homemade or store bought
• 1 lb shaved corned beef, or any other lunch meat
• 14 slices Swiss cheese, or any other cheese. I've used Colby, Cheddar, and Mozzarella
• 14 oz or so of Sauerkraut, drained
• Russian or Thousand Island dressing
• butter

Directions:

1. Preheat a skillet on medium-high and throw in the sauerkraut and corned beef until heated through
2. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Turn them over and put the cheese on half of them. My bread was big so I needed 1 1/2 slices. On top of the cheese, spread the Thousand Island. We recently discovered this order made the sandwich less soggy. Put the corned beef and sauerkraut on top and slap on the other Thousand Islanded slice, butter side out.
3. Put sandwich in the skillet and grill, flipping it over to brown both sides.
4. Eat warm. Thank your lucky stars that you're not Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods.

60% Off at Smiths!

Smiths has some great deals this week.

The final prices are $.44 for the 2 liters, $.99 for the Kraft cheese, $.88 for the sour cream, and $.55 for the Green Giant veggies (factoring in the $3 catalina when you buy 6).

For details on this and other sale items, see the GrocerySmarts list.

I'm not planning on eating those 3 sour creams, those 5 packs of cheese, or the 6 2 liters this week, but we will use them before they expire. When I find great prices I stock up. I also got a raincheck for cottage cheese.

This sale ends Tuesday night.