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Menu planning monday

April 13, 2009 by


I posted a lot of information about my family and how we plan meals in this initial post.

Sunday – Easter dinner (my mom cooked!)

We did have Baked Chicken Nuggets. I first tried some of these through a freezer swap. My husband asked why we would spend the time to MAKE chicken nuggets when you can get them for next to nothing at the grocery store. That was before we tasted them. They are sooo good that my kids and I are hooked on them now (and I feel like they’re a lot better than what you get at the store or from fast food, too).

Monday – Black Bean Chicken burritos

Tuesday – Steak Stroganoff

Wednesday – Lemon chicken – this is from Girlfriends on the Go: A Busy Mom’s Guide to Make Ahead Meals (these are coming out of my freezer)

Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tsp dried thyme
3 tsp salt
1 clove garlic
1 cup lemon juice

Mix spices and lemon juice in a bag. Add chicken breasts. Marinate for several hours or overnight. Place in slow cooker for 4-6 hours on low. You can also bake or grill instead.

If freezing, place in a frezer bag. The chicken will marinate while thawing.

Thursday – Meatloaf on a bed of potatoes

I’m making this salsa recipe for a shower I’m going to tonight. It’s a favorite around my house, so I thought I’d share this as well:

TOMATILLO SALSA

Ingredients:
*Herdez Green Sauce (They sell this at Walmart here. If they don’t have this brand in your area, you can probably substitute another green sauce….look for something with tomatillos and serrano peppers)
*1 or 2 avocadoes (peeled and pitted)
*1 bunch cilantro, washed very well
*8 oz sour cream
*1/3 white onion
*garlic powder and salt to taste

For spicier version: add one serrano pepper

For a more liquidy version: add another jar Herdez Green Sauce

For a creamier sauce: 16 oz sour cream

I dump everything in the blender and mix well. I also add a dash of lime. It is SO good!

Friday – Savory crockpot chicken – I don’t remember where I originally got this recipe, but I found it when I was going through my e-mail inbox the other day cleaning out old e-mails. I haven’t tried it yet.

INGREDIENTS:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 (12 ounce) jar turkey gravy
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt-free herb seasoning blend
1 teaspoon soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:
Place chicken and gravy into a slow cooker. Season with paprika, seasoning blend and soy sauce. Cook on high for 4 hours or for 6 to 8 hours on medium. Tear chicken into pieces. Serve over rice, noodles or potatoes.

Saturday – Chicken enchiladas – our entire family loves this recie!

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% FF kind)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use the 98% FF kind)
2 cans green enchilada sauce
1 8 oz-16 oz. tub of sour cream (depends how spicy you want the enchiladas….I usually ad the 16 oz to tone it down some for my kids)
2-3 chicken breasts, shredded (if I’m in a hurry, I use canned chicken)
1 lb. cheese, shredded
1 dozen flour tortillas (you could use corn also)

Add cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, and enchilada sauce to a pan. Cook on medium low heat, stirring occasionally. When sauce is will mixed and starts to thin, add sour cream. Continue stirring occasionally until the sauce is well mixed and thinned out. Place a layer of the sauce along the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Fill each tortilla with the shredded chicken, sauce, and cheese. Roll and place in the baking dish. When you have filled all of the tortillas (this should make 1 dozen), pour the remain sauce over the top of the enchiladas and then cover with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is well melted.

Filed Under: Menu Planning Monday

My $40 weekly grocery shopping trip

April 12, 2009 by


This week I decided to combine all of my shopping trips into one picture. My total OOP for everything pictured here was $24.94. I also spend $7.10 earlier in the week (not pictured here), so my total grocery spending for the week was $32.04.

Here’s the breakdown:

Kroger – 2 cans beef broth, 2 cans enchilada sauce, 1 package tortillas, Roma tomatoes, 4 avocadoes, Uncle Ben’s boxed rice, 1 gallon milk, 3 boxes GM cereal, Total spent = $13.80, Total saved = $5.62 (26%) (used $1 Uncle Ben’s coupon, milk was free with the purchase of 3 GM cereals, and used 3 .55/1 GM cereal printable coupons)

Randalls – 1 12 pack Pepsi, 2 12 packs Mountain Dew, 4 cans 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, 10 boxes Quaker granola bars, Kashi frozen entree, Total spent = $11.14, Total saved = $31.98 (74%) (used store coupon – 3 12 packs of Coke/Pepsi products for $6.99 w/ minimum $20 purchase, used 3 $2 Pepsi drinks coupon from Frito Lay Super Bowl rebate coupon book, Quaker granola bars are on sale buy 2, get 3 free, used 2 $1/2 Quaker granola bar printables, used free Kashi entree coupon)

Target – 5 bags of Cheetos (used $1 Target IPs), 2 jars of Pace (used $4 coupons), 1 lb asparagus, cilantro, Sara Lee bread, 2 lbs bananas, 3 bags dog treats (used .75 coupons), Gillette Gamer razor (used $2 coupon), Gillette shave gel (used $1 coupon), Total spent = $0 (I used a $5 gift card for the razor/shave gel and got a $5 gift card back and used a balance on another gift card to pay $4.35 for what was left), Total saved = $24.45

I also bought 1 gallon of milk, sub rolls, and cheese earlier in the week and spent $7.10.

I posted a poll earlier this month asking how I should pay for my freezer group meals. Most people voted that I should spend $30 a week instead of $40 and use the remaining money to put toward the freezer swap. That was my intent this week, but it didn’t quite work out as planned. I had to fill a prescription for my son and planned to use the $10 Target coupon at Randalls, and then use the gift card toward my grocery purchases, but my Randalls no longer accepts competitor coupons, so that put a kink in my plans! I was still happy with what I saved, though.

My husband and I started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class about a month ago. This was my first week shopping with just cash and my first week using the envelope system. I have to say that it’s totally empowering to shop with just cash! Statistics show that you spend 18% more when you use “plastic” to shop (even your debit card) and I can see how that would happen because it’s easier to justify those here and there purchases.

Also, if you’re wondering about why there’s no meat this week, we’ll be using the stockpile of meat in my freezer this week. I took advantage of some good sales to stock up on some of those “splurge” items that my husband and kids love so we don’t end up spending big on them later. In the long run, it all works out.

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More free earrings!

April 12, 2009 by

If you missed out on the free earings from Darcus Tori at Valentine’s, the offer is back again!

Here’s the scoop:

1. Click here to access the promotional pair of earrings (they are heart-shaped amethyst earrings)

2. Add them to your cart.

3. Proceed to check-out. Enter code 0801 at check-out. You will have to pay for shipping which is about $5-7.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: freebies

What’s hot at Target the week of 4/12

April 12, 2009 by

The Target weekly ad is only online this week. I didn’t see much, but here are a few things I did see:

Get 50% off Easter decorations and Easter candy

Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Here are a few ideas:
*Digital photo frame – $49
*Riedal Vivant crystal frame – $10 for small, $15 for medium

The following “new” printable coupons are up on Target.com (they expire 5/9/09): (there aren’t a lot of great manufacturer’s coupons to match up with these at this point, but hopefully some good ones will come out soon….I don’t have prices yet but will add them as soon as I do)

*$1 off 7.5-oz. or larger Nabisco snack
$1/1 Nabisco Oreo Fun Stix (Original or Golden), any one package – 04-05-09 SS

*$1 off With purchase of two Nabisco cookies Oreo Chips Ahoy!

*$1 off 20-pk. Capri Sun juice

*$1 off With purchase of two 7-oz. or larger Kraft Singles

*$1 off With purchase of two Kraft Easy Mac meals

*$1 off With purchase of two packages 16-oz. Oscar Mayer hot dogs

*$1 off Planters nuts

*$1 off Multipack Nabisco snacks
$1/1 Nabisco Oreo Fun Stix (Original or Golden), any one package – 04-05-09 SS
$1/1 Planters Big Nut Bars, Nabisco 100 Calorie Pack Honey Maid Delight Bars, or Nabisco 100 Calorie Pack Chewy Granola Bars, Any Box – 02-22-09 SS

*$1 off With purchase of two 10-oz. or larger Oscar Mayer Lunchables

*$1 off With purchase of both 14.5-oz. Nabisco Honey Maid and 10-oz. or larger Kraft Jet Puffed marshmallows

*$1 off Market Pantry® bakery pie Bakery Dept.

*$2 off Archer Farms® ham Spiral Cut Honey Half or Crunchy Glazed

*$1 off 5-lb. bag Market Pantry® red potatoes Excludes organic

*$1 off Chex Mix snack mix – free or close to free when combined with manufacturer’s coupon.50/1 General Mills Cheerios Snack Mix, Any Size/Flavor, OR Chex Mix or Chex Mix 100 Calorie Snack, Any 4.5 Oz. + – 02-22-09 SS

*75¢ off With purchase of two Pringles potato chips
$1/2 Pringles, any two cans (180g or larger) – 04-05-09 PG
$1/2 Pringles Fat Free Cans, Any (165g) – 03-15-09 PG

*$1 off 6- or 12-pk. soda 7-up or A&W or Sunkist or Dr Pepper or Canada Dry

*$1 off Clorox disinfecting wipes Excludes trial size

These coupons expire 4/25/09 and are no longer available on Target.com but can be accessed through the coupon generators on Hot Coupon World and A Full Cup:

*$1 off Market Pantry® fruit snacks – There are smaller bags of fruit snacks by the registers in some stores that will be free with this coupon!

*75¢ off 11- or 12-oz. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee

*75¢ off 6-pk. Gatorade beverage

*$1 off With purchase of two 8-pk. Nutri-grain bars

*55¢ off Splenda sweetener
.55/1 Splenda, Any – All You, February 20, 2009
$1/1 Splenda No Calorie Sweetener with Fiber Product, Any – 03-29-09 SS
$4/2 Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Products, Any – 03-29-09 SS
.55/1 Splenda No Calorie Sweetener with Fiber Product, Any – 03-29-09 SS

*$1 off With purchase of two Betty Crocker Warm Delights microwave desserts
.50/1 Betty Crocker Warm Delights Bowls or Mini Bowls, Any – 02-08-09 GM

*$1 off 1-lb. or more Archer Farms® deli cheese Deli Dept.

*$1 off Archer Farms® pork fillets Herb or Teriyaki or Chipotle

*$1 off Dole bagged salad

*50¢ off With purchase of two Gerber Graduates toddler foods – Check out Gerber.com for printable coupons. There are also home mailer coupons that match up with this.

*75¢ off Johnson’s baby toiletry Excludes trial size – these coupons are good for almost a month, so wait for a sale on Johnsons products, and then stock up! (Get the safety swabs for free using the Target coupon and a $1 off coupon)
$3/3 printable coupon here
$1/1 Baby Bubble bath and wash printable here
$2/2 Johnsons printable here

Awesome clearance deals – Target.com has some AWESOME clearance deals right now. I used gift cards I got from Swagbucks and got my daughter several pairs of PJs for $3.75/each and for boys, they have long-sleeved college sports tees for $3.49 and hoodies for $4.49. If you spend $50, you get free shipping (you can also do returns in store). Don’t forget to shop through Ebates to get 4% cash back (you also get a $5 bonus if you are registering for the first time after your first purchase credits).

Here are the links to some of the clearance deals:

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Scenario Sunday: CVS scenarios for the week of 4/12

April 12, 2009 by


If you are just learning how to shop at CVS, start here for some helpful tips.

The coupon match-ups for the weekly deals are here.

The following are scenarios for people who are “new” to shopping at CVS or who have very few ECBs to start with: (these are just ideas….you do not have to follow this exact order and you can skip some items if you do not need them or don’t have the coupons that match up with them)

$13.96 in merchandise for $2.99 OOP, $4.99 ECBs left to spend

Transaction #1:
Buy 1 Colgate Enamel Protect, sensitive whitening toothpaste (6 oz or 360 sensitive toothbrush) – $3.99

Use $1 manufacturer’s coupon

Spend $2.99, get $3.99 ECB

Transaction #2:
Buy 1 Colgate Enamel Protect, sensitive whitening toothpaste (6 oz or 360 sensitive toothbrush) – $3.99

Use $3.99 ECB

Spend $0, get $3.99 ECB back

(you can also use the $1 manufacturer’s coupon and add a “filler” item)

Transaction #3:
Buy Softsoap scrub body wash (18 oz) – $4.99

Use $1 manufacturer’s coupon
Use $3.99 Colgate ECB

Spend $0 OOP, get $4.99 ECB back

My scenario for the week:
Buy 2 Colgate Enamel Protect, sensitive whitening toothpaste (6 oz or 360 sensitive toothbrush) – $3.99
Buy Softsoap scrub body wash (18 oz) – $4.99
Buy Gillette Venus Embrace or Breeze razor with 2 cartridges – $7.99
Buy 2 Natural Dentist – $9.99 (this is a monthly deal)

Use 2 $1 Colgate coupons
Use $1 Softscrub coupon
Use 2 $2 Natural Dentist printables here

Total before coupons = $40.94

Total after coupons = $33.94, earn $24.97

(send in MIR here for Natural dentist, get $10 back)

Filed Under: Scenario Sunday Tagged With: