With Easter and several other events coming up as the school year winds down, I am having to stretch my grocery budget more and more to account for all of the "extras" that come up this time of year. So my goal and challenge to myself for this week was to plan an entire menu for a week using only things I already had in my freezer/stock pile/pantry. I was able to do it (other than the fresh produce for a couple of meals) and devote my entire weekly grocery budget to adding items to my stock pile plus fresh produce and milk for this week!!
Here is my meal plan for the week:
Saturday - Blackened Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, *Caesar Salad, French Bread
Sunday - Easter Brunch -Out with the Family
Monday - Baked Chicken, Creamy Lemon Risotto, Mixed Veggies
Tuesday - Parmigiano Reggiano Crusted Chicken Picatta with angel hair pasta, Green Beans, Garlic Bread sticks
Wednesday - Texas Steak House BBQ Beef Sandwiches (meat was cooked and frozen, ready to throw into the crock pot for Wed night!) French Fries, *Corn on the Cob, *Sliced Watermelon
Thursday - Spaghetti Ham Bake (already in the freezer, ready to be cooked), Garlic Bread, Peas
Friday - Cornbread Casserole (1 lb hamburger for this already cooked and frozen), Cottage Cheese, Peas and Carrots.
Some of this I already had prepared and in the freezer for busy weeks like this that I need some extra time that I would normally be cooking. And everything else (except for the few fresh produce items) I already had in the house! So my grocery budget went this week to stock up on produce, milk, eggs, yogurt, diapers, granola bars, more cereal etc.
Obviously I've been working on my stock pile for a while so this was possible. If you are just starting out you might not have quite enough to be able to do this. I challenge you to see how many meals you can make with what you already have in the house, or how many meals you can make without having to buy much for them!! Having this much set aside and ready for crazy months is a wonderful way for us to stay on budget and not worry about spending more money to eat out if I just don't have enough time (or hands) to cook.
Happy Menu Planning!!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Great Deal at CVS!
I always clip coupons that I think I *might* be able to use. And it often works out to be a great deal...even if it's not a product I normally buy!! I clipped 4 of these coupons from the 3/27 Smart Source insert thinking I could possibly use them.
CVS has a deal right now on their Dove Men+Care Deodorant. Normally these are $4.99 each. Right now they are on sale for $.99 at CVS...the sale price paired with my $1 off of 1 coupon I got these totally FREE!!! Yes, 4 tubes of Dove Men's Deodorant for Tim that normally would have cost me $20 retail, I got for FREE and paid $.40 for tax. I'll take that any day!!
Dillons had some decent sales today as well, they are still having their buy 4 of certain General Mills products and get a $5 off gift card for your next trip. I bought 4 boxes of Fiber One Bars and 4 boxes of Nature Valley Yogurt Bars to get 2- $5 off gift cards. I had coupons for $.40/1 box for the Fiber One Bars (doubles to $.80/off per box) and then $.75/2 boxes of the Nature Valley bars (which doubles up to $1/2). Both brands were on sale for $2.79/box. Total retail for these would be $22.32 for the 8 boxes. After coupons the total came down to $17.12. If you figure in the $10 worth of gift cards that I earned, this brings the total for the 8 boxes to $7.12...which works out to be $.89 per box. These boxes are generally over $3 a box normal price, so to pay $.89 per box for healthy snacks that my whole family enjoys is a great bonus!!
Happy Shopping!
CVS has a deal right now on their Dove Men+Care Deodorant. Normally these are $4.99 each. Right now they are on sale for $.99 at CVS...the sale price paired with my $1 off of 1 coupon I got these totally FREE!!! Yes, 4 tubes of Dove Men's Deodorant for Tim that normally would have cost me $20 retail, I got for FREE and paid $.40 for tax. I'll take that any day!!
Dillons had some decent sales today as well, they are still having their buy 4 of certain General Mills products and get a $5 off gift card for your next trip. I bought 4 boxes of Fiber One Bars and 4 boxes of Nature Valley Yogurt Bars to get 2- $5 off gift cards. I had coupons for $.40/1 box for the Fiber One Bars (doubles to $.80/off per box) and then $.75/2 boxes of the Nature Valley bars (which doubles up to $1/2). Both brands were on sale for $2.79/box. Total retail for these would be $22.32 for the 8 boxes. After coupons the total came down to $17.12. If you figure in the $10 worth of gift cards that I earned, this brings the total for the 8 boxes to $7.12...which works out to be $.89 per box. These boxes are generally over $3 a box normal price, so to pay $.89 per box for healthy snacks that my whole family enjoys is a great bonus!!
Happy Shopping!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Meal Planning, Coupons and so much fun!!
Today was a fantastic day: I got to go grocery shopping TOTALLY ALONE. That's right, it was just me, my coupon binder, my list and the entire grocery store with no children to entertain and/or chase through the store. I admit, my kids are pretty well behaved when it comes to grocery shopping so I'm blessed that I can bring them if needed...but lets be honest, no matter how great they are at the store, my budget is always better when I'm totally alone and can focus.
One big deal I got today that I was super excited about was the General Mills cereal at Dillon's. We are big time cereal eaters in this house, so cereal is something I *always* have stock piled in the basement. Dillon's is offering a promotion that several of their GM cereals are part of a deal: buy 4 participating cereals and get a $5 gift card at check out. I already had 4 boxes on my list today (2 chex, 2 multi-grain cheerios). So, I ended up getting 8 instead (SOOOO glad I had my coupon binder with me...that way I could pull out more of the -$.50 off coupons I had to save even more for this particular deal)
Here is how the deal broke down:
4 boxes Chex: $2.99/box = $11.96
4 boxes Cheerios: $3.08/box=$12.32
Total: $24.28
Coupons I had: 6 -$.50 coupons (each of these doubled to be $1 off) plus 2 ecoupons from cellfire.com for -$.75/1 box.
Total after coupons taken off = $16.78
Now if you factor in the 2 $5 gift cards I got at check out to be applied to another purchase, that brings my total down to $6.78. Divided by 8 boxes of cereal,that works out to be about $.85 per box of cereal. I'll take paying less than $1 per box of cereal that normally runs around $4/box any day!!
So what are my plans with the $10 worth of gift cards I have??? DIAPERS!! I have a $3 off coupon for a box of Pampers Cruisers which are on sale at Dallon's right now for $19.99. So with my coupon it brings my total to $16.99 PLUS I have a -$1.50 store coupon to stack on top of my manufacture coupon, bringing my total to $15.49. With my gift cards, that makes a giant box of diapers $5.49 out of pocket :)
Another great deal I got today was on Suave deodorant. I actually made $.12 per tube today. I clipped 4 coupons for -$.50/1 suave deodorant (no size listed). Dillon's had smaller tubes on sale for $.88 each. Since my coupons doubled to -$1.00/1 = +$.12 each...which equaled +$.48 for the 4. I love to carry these in my gym bag, diaper bag, pool/boat bag etc because they are little and compact! And since they are FREE that's even better!!
Onto Menu Planning....with everything going on with my oldest child health wise, we've eaten out a lot in the last two weeks. So I'm pretty anxious to get back to cooking good, wholesome meals again! I'm trying to make meals that I can freeze for a second meal so that when summer gets busy I have food to pull out. So far in my freezer are 4 different pasta casseroles, 4 containers of spaghetti sauce, a few pounds of chicken and ground beef already cooked and frozen in 1 pound bags, a batch of pizza burgers, a batch of Texas Steak House BBQ for sandwiches and some shredded BBQ pork. All of these are things that I made big batches at one time to get 2, 3, and even 4 meals out of one cooking time.
My Meal Plan for this week to give some ideas: (I'm happy to share recipes if requested!!)
Friday (4/15) - Marinated Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, Peas
Saturday (4/16) - Rotisserie Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Corn
Sunday (4/17) - Blue Cheese Crumbled Chicken Salad Sandwiches, French Fries, Fresh Fruit
Monday (4/18) Beef Enchiladas, Cheesy Rice, Chips and Salsa, Apple Sauce
Tuesday (4/19) Teriyaki Chicken Shish-Ka-Bobs on the grill, homemade green beans, Gnocchi, Brownies
Wednesday (4/20) Beef Stroganoff (crock pot), Egg Noodles, Rolls, Peas
Thursday (4/21) Greek Chicken over Orzo with Kalamata Olives, Mixed Vegetables, Garlic Toast
Friday (4/22) Orange Glazed Chicken with Lemon Risotto, Roasted Veggies, Strawberry Shortcake
Between coupons, sales and my stockpile, I'm able to make each of these meals for around $5-$7 per meal for the entire family of 4...much cheaper than eating out!
Some ways to cut down on cooking time for this particular meal plan:
*save half of the rotisserie chicken from tonight to use for the blue cheese chicken salad tomorrow
*Because Sundays are busy with church and lunch with family, I will make the chicken salad up tonight so it's ready for tomorrow.
*The chicken and vegetables for the Ka-Bobs are already marinating in a Ziploc bag that I tossed into the freezer. On Monday night, I will pull it out and let it defrost so that it marinates as it defrosts.
So that's what we will be eating this week! I always love to hear other people's meal plans...What are you cooking this week???
Until Next Time...Happy Couponing!!
One big deal I got today that I was super excited about was the General Mills cereal at Dillon's. We are big time cereal eaters in this house, so cereal is something I *always* have stock piled in the basement. Dillon's is offering a promotion that several of their GM cereals are part of a deal: buy 4 participating cereals and get a $5 gift card at check out. I already had 4 boxes on my list today (2 chex, 2 multi-grain cheerios). So, I ended up getting 8 instead (SOOOO glad I had my coupon binder with me...that way I could pull out more of the -$.50 off coupons I had to save even more for this particular deal)
Here is how the deal broke down:
4 boxes Chex: $2.99/box = $11.96
4 boxes Cheerios: $3.08/box=$12.32
Total: $24.28
Coupons I had: 6 -$.50 coupons (each of these doubled to be $1 off) plus 2 ecoupons from cellfire.com for -$.75/1 box.
Total after coupons taken off = $16.78
Now if you factor in the 2 $5 gift cards I got at check out to be applied to another purchase, that brings my total down to $6.78. Divided by 8 boxes of cereal,that works out to be about $.85 per box of cereal. I'll take paying less than $1 per box of cereal that normally runs around $4/box any day!!
So what are my plans with the $10 worth of gift cards I have??? DIAPERS!! I have a $3 off coupon for a box of Pampers Cruisers which are on sale at Dallon's right now for $19.99. So with my coupon it brings my total to $16.99 PLUS I have a -$1.50 store coupon to stack on top of my manufacture coupon, bringing my total to $15.49. With my gift cards, that makes a giant box of diapers $5.49 out of pocket :)
Another great deal I got today was on Suave deodorant. I actually made $.12 per tube today. I clipped 4 coupons for -$.50/1 suave deodorant (no size listed). Dillon's had smaller tubes on sale for $.88 each. Since my coupons doubled to -$1.00/1 = +$.12 each...which equaled +$.48 for the 4. I love to carry these in my gym bag, diaper bag, pool/boat bag etc because they are little and compact! And since they are FREE that's even better!!
Onto Menu Planning....with everything going on with my oldest child health wise, we've eaten out a lot in the last two weeks. So I'm pretty anxious to get back to cooking good, wholesome meals again! I'm trying to make meals that I can freeze for a second meal so that when summer gets busy I have food to pull out. So far in my freezer are 4 different pasta casseroles, 4 containers of spaghetti sauce, a few pounds of chicken and ground beef already cooked and frozen in 1 pound bags, a batch of pizza burgers, a batch of Texas Steak House BBQ for sandwiches and some shredded BBQ pork. All of these are things that I made big batches at one time to get 2, 3, and even 4 meals out of one cooking time.
My Meal Plan for this week to give some ideas: (I'm happy to share recipes if requested!!)
Friday (4/15) - Marinated Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, Peas
Saturday (4/16) - Rotisserie Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Corn
Sunday (4/17) - Blue Cheese Crumbled Chicken Salad Sandwiches, French Fries, Fresh Fruit
Monday (4/18) Beef Enchiladas, Cheesy Rice, Chips and Salsa, Apple Sauce
Tuesday (4/19) Teriyaki Chicken Shish-Ka-Bobs on the grill, homemade green beans, Gnocchi, Brownies
Wednesday (4/20) Beef Stroganoff (crock pot), Egg Noodles, Rolls, Peas
Thursday (4/21) Greek Chicken over Orzo with Kalamata Olives, Mixed Vegetables, Garlic Toast
Friday (4/22) Orange Glazed Chicken with Lemon Risotto, Roasted Veggies, Strawberry Shortcake
Between coupons, sales and my stockpile, I'm able to make each of these meals for around $5-$7 per meal for the entire family of 4...much cheaper than eating out!
Some ways to cut down on cooking time for this particular meal plan:
*save half of the rotisserie chicken from tonight to use for the blue cheese chicken salad tomorrow
*Because Sundays are busy with church and lunch with family, I will make the chicken salad up tonight so it's ready for tomorrow.
*The chicken and vegetables for the Ka-Bobs are already marinating in a Ziploc bag that I tossed into the freezer. On Monday night, I will pull it out and let it defrost so that it marinates as it defrosts.
So that's what we will be eating this week! I always love to hear other people's meal plans...What are you cooking this week???
Until Next Time...Happy Couponing!!
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