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Menu Plan Monday

March 9, 2009 by


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

Sunday – Chicken Cordon Bleu – I got this recipe from Marci’s blog and it looked so yummy! I actually wanted to try it out last week, but I forgot to buy toothpicks. I finally made it last night and it was a hit with adults and kids 🙂

Monday – Weeknight Ravioli Lasagne – I got this recipe from the March 2009 All You Magazine

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups marinara sauce
1 20 oz package refrigerated cheese ravioli
1 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. grated parmesan

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking dish. Spoon 1/4 c. marinara sauce over the bottom of the dish. Cover with half of ravioli. Spread half of remaining sauce over ravioli. Sprinkle on spinach and then half of mozzarella. Sprinkle top with parmesan. Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until bubbling, about 10 minutes longer. Let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing.

Per serving details: 539 calories, 22 g fat (12 g saturated fat), 100 mg Chol, 7 g Fiber, 33 g Protein, 51 g carbs, 1,077 mg sodium

Tuesday – Southwest Turkey Burgers (freezer meal)- This is another recipe from the freezer swap group that I joined!

Wednesday – Brown Sugar chicken – Last week while searching for new recipes, I discovered this one and it sounded interested, so I figured we would test it out.

Thursday – Rodeo!/my dad’s birthday – no cooking for me 🙂

Friday – Spring break vacation starts – eating out

Saturday – Spring break vacation – eating out

I only have to cook 4 days this week. It’s kind of nice to have a break!

Filed Under: Menu Planning Monday

Hot Target deals

March 9, 2009 by


Target has some great deals again when you combine sale prices, manufacturer’s coupons, and Target printables!

Here are a few “hot” deals this week:

Broccoli or Cauliflower for .50/each – Target has their broccoli and cauliflower on sale for $1.50/each this week. If you use the $1 printable coupon (check out the coupon generators at A Full Cup or Hot Coupon World), they are .50/each!

$1 off Hillshire Farms Deli Select lunch meat – These are on price cut to $2.99 at my store, so it’s $1.44/package if you have the .55/1 insert coupon and the $1 off Target coupon

Huggies Gentle Care wipes – If you have the “original” Huggies Gentle Care coupon, it says good on “ANY” Gentle Care item. The bags of wipes are priced at $5.99 at Target making them $.99/bag with the $5 off coupon. I was almost out of my stash from the Target December 2007 wipes deal, so I am loving all these new great deals! Also, the Coupons.com Huggies $5 and $3 coupons have been reset, but now they specific on “diapers” only.

Motts applesauce – These are $1.67 for all varieties at my stores. There is a $1/1 Target printable coupon and a .55/1 printable coupon here. This makes them .12 each!

Pepperidge Farm goldfish – They are on price cut for $1.72/bag at my store. That price by itself isn’t that great, but there is a $1/1 Target coupon and you can get a $1/2 manufacturer’s coupon here, which makes then .22/bag.

$1 off Renuzit air care product Excludes Renuzit 1-pk. adjustable – the spray will be free when you use this coupon with the coupon below:
$1/1 Renuzit Super Odor Neutralizer Air Freshening Pearls or Fine Mist Spray, Any – 02-22-09 SS

All three of these coupons expire on 3/14, so get your stuff quick!

Here are a few other deals from Kristi’s blog:

$2/1 Sutton & Dodge steakhouse quality choice Angus beef steak or roast – The beef chuck roast is reportedly on sale for $1.99/lb (YMMV), which makes for some cheap roast when you use this coupon!

$1 off With purchase of two 8-oz. Market Pantry® cheeses Shreds or Blocks – This is reportedly on sale for $1.75/bag, so $1.25/bag with the coupon!

$1 off 64-oz. Tropicana orange juice – These are on sale for $1.99, so $1.98 for two if you have the coupon from the inserts and the printable coupon!

Check out other Target deals here.

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My Walgreens Scenarios

March 9, 2009 by

If you are new to shopping at Walgreens, be sure you read the tips at the end. The weekly ad match ups are here.

Here are my scenarios for maxing the “diaper” deal this week!

Transaction #1:
Buy 2 Gentle Naturals diapers – $10/each
Buy 1 wipes (remember it’s the bags, not the tubs) – $6

Use 2 $5 Gentle Naturals coupons
Use 1 .75 wipes coupons (from the inside of a diaper package)

Total before coupons = $26
Total after coupons = $15.25
Spend $15.25 (I have a gift card!), get $10 RR back

Transaction #2:
Buy 1 Skintimate shave gel – $1.99
Buy 1 Right Guard deodorant – $2.99
Buy 1 Gillette Fusion Gamer – $8.99
Buy 1 Crest Pro Health toothpaste – $2.49
Buy 1 Colgate Total – $3.49
Buy 1 Garnier Fructis shampoo – $2.99
Buy 1 Glade Sense & Spray Air Freshener – $7.99

Use $10 RR from diapers
Use $4 Gillette Fusion coupon
Use $1 Crest coupon
Use $1.50 Colgate coupon (from All You)
Use $2.50 ES coupon
Use $1 Garnier coupon
Use $2 ES coupon
Use $4 Glade coupon
use $4 ES coupon

Total before coupons = $30.93
Total after coupons = $.93

Spend $.93, get $8 in RR

Transaction #3:
Buy 2 Natural Fit diapers – $10
Buy 1 package wipes – $6
4 small filler items (to cover the RR)

Use 2 $3 Natural Fit coupons
Use .75 wipes coupon (from diaper package)
Use $8 in RR

Total before coupons = ~ $27.50 (I’m estimating with fillers)
Total after coupons = $12.75
Spend $12.75 (I will pay with a gift card), get $10 RR

You can repeat these scenarios over and over again if you choose to!

*At Walgreens, you cannot do a promotion more than once in a transaction and earn Register Rewards. So, if you buy more than $25 of diapers in one transaction, you will still earn only one Register Reward.

*You also cannot use the Register Rewards earned from a promotion on the same promotion and earn Register Rewards again. For example, if you buy diapers, get a $10 RR, and then buy more diapers, your $10 RR will not print again.

*Register Rewards are considered to be “manufacturer’s coupons” and you can only use one manufacturer’s coupon per item. This is why I had to add “filler” items on my third transaction.

*If you are buying items that would result in a “free” item or “overage” when combining a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon, give the manufacturer’s coupon FIRST, and the store coupons LAST to avoid beeping/issues at the register!

*If your Register Reward doesn’t print for some reason and you have fulfilled all of the obligations for the “deal” DO NOT let them tell you it is because you used coupons! Chances are they didn’t print because the catalina machine is not working. You have two choices: you can return your items and try again or you can contact the catalina company by doing the following:
*The store will give you a form to fill out and mail in to catalina
*Call 1-888-8coupon, option 3
*Use the online form to contact them: Contact Catalina Marketing (when I have tried contacting them this way, my results have not been very good….your best bet is to call)

**When you do the diaper scenario, a catalina will print for $5 off your next Enfamil purchase at Walgreens. This can be combined with a formula check! The Enfamil is priced at $22.99 at my stores, so if you have a $5 formula check and the $5 catalina, this makes your Enfamil $12.99 for the can (use your RR from the diapers to pay and it’s only $2.99!)

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Buy One, Get one free at Baskin Robbins

March 9, 2009 by

Click here for a buy one sundae, get one free coupon at Baskin Robbins.

Here’s the “scoop”

Print this coupon and bring it to your local Baskin-Robbins store to receive one Sundae of equal or lesser value with the purchase of any Sundae. Some restrictions may apply. Offer valid at participating Baskin-Robbins stores in the US only.
Offer expires 03/28/09. PLU: 1903

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Some thoughts on stockpiling diapers!

March 9, 2009 by

I think stockpiling diapers is the greatest thing ever and I plan to post even more on this later, but with the big deal at Walgreens this week, I thought I’d share a few tips.

This “suggested stockpiling chart” was shared on the Babycenter.com Coupon Thread. Unfortunately, I don’t know who the original poster was:

Stocking up on diapers? Here is the recommended quantity to get for each size!

Size/QTY/# of diapers (based on jumbo packs)

1 10 (~440 diapers)

2 22 (~946 diapers)

3 24 (~888 diapers)

4 18 (~594 diapers)

Here are the average corresponding “weights” for diaper sizes:

Newborn (up to 10 pounds)
Size 1 (up to 14 pounds)
Size 2 (12-18 pounds)
Size 3 (16-28 pounds)
Size 4 (22-37 pounds)
Size 5 (over 27 pounds)
Size 6 (over 35 pounds)

If you are stockpiling for your first baby, most babies are not in newborn-sized diapers for very long (my son was 10 pounds, 6 ounces at birth, so he was already in size 1 at the hospital!). You get to bring home the package of diapers they give you at the hospital and that is usually newborn-sized, so one additional package of newborn-sized diapers (unless you have a preemie or very small baby, which isn’t something you really “plan” for) should be fine.

Stockpiling can be a bit tricky because you never know how your babies are going to grow. I have found that my kids always moved up to the next size before they reached the maximum weight listed on the diaper package. As your baby gets bigger, you will find that you can always go up a size, but once the diapers are too small, they are too small.

From my experience, we went through a lot more size 3 and 4 diapers than anything else and my kids stayed in those sizes the longest. We weren’t in size 2 diapers very long at all and size 2 really overlaps with size 1 and 3. (Again this is just my personal experience). Here are my recommendations based on my two children (one boy, one girl):

Size/QTY/#of diapers (based on jumbo packs)/# of diapers in package

1 10 (~440 diapers) ~44

2 12 (~480 diapers) ~40

3 24 (~888 diapers) ~35

4 30 (~900 diapers) ~30

And….a diapers question: Are you brand loyal when it comes to diapers?

With my first child, I was “brand loyal” and pretty much only bought Pampers. With my son, I have been less discriminating. I have pretty much stuck with “name brands” though. I bought a store brand once with my daughter, and they leaked everywhere and it wasn’t worth it to me. I haven’t tried a store brand since then. Plus, if you can get Luvs/Pampers/Huggies for free or close to free, why not? For the most part, I end up buying Huggies because there are a lot more coupons for them and they seem to go on sale a lot more than Pampers. I actually really like the new design of the Huggies, too (the Gentle Fit and Natural Fit). Plus, I get the rebate back from Caregivers Marketplace, so sometimes I end up getting paid to buy diapers. You can’t beat that!

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