Another Quick Coupon Round

Since we're headed out of town early tomorrow morning until mid-week next week, I decided to make one last run for some good deals I couldn't let pass me by. Here's the details:

K-Mart:

Post Raisin Bran- on sale for $2

-$2/1 Post Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat, or Grape Nuts printable coupon

Spent: $.02! Saved: $3.99

Food Lion:

I received the catalina that didn't print in the mail this week, and wanted to roll it one last time before it ends on February 2.

5 Cans of Black Beans- .69/each (I couldn't find anything cheaper I wanted...)

-$2.50 OYNO Catalina from previous trip

Spent: $.96 Saved: $2.50

Received Catalina for $1.25 off my next trip

Walgreens:

This was split into 2 transactions, not because of coupons, but because my brain left me! It would have been better all together, but it worked this way too. For the second transaction I had to add a filler because the coupon value was more than the product cost. See the breakdown below:

1st transaction:

2 Pert Plus for Men- on sale for $5/2

4 Sure for Men- on sale with in-ad coupon for $3/2

-2 $1.50/1 Pert Plus for Men coupons

-4 $1.50/1 Sure for Men coupons

Spent: $2.88 Saved: $15.98

Received a $2 Register Reward for my next purchase

2nd Transaction:

1 Reach floss- on sale for .99 with in-ad coupon

1 Reach Toothbrush- on sale for .99 with in-ad coupon

1 Snack Size Popcorn- .39 (since the coupons were for $1 off, and the product was only .99, the 2nd coupon will not go through unless you add a little something else to the order to raise the total)

-1 $1/1 Reach floss coupon

-1 $1/1 Reach toothbrush coupon

Spent: $.53 Saved: $3.40

Total Spent today (including Kroger Cheese): $24.59

Total Saved today (including Kroger Cheese): $137.87!

Feeling Cheesy at Kroger

I went back to Kroger armed with 20 $1/2 Kraft Naturals Cheese, and happened to get there at the perfect time! A very nice Kroger employee was restocking the dairy, and offered me my pick of all the boxes she was unloading. I grabbed 40 packs of cheese (30 shredded, 10 blocks) and left plenty for other shoppers. My freezer is stocked full of cheese once again and is very happy!

The Kraft Naturals Cheese are on sale for $1.49, and are also part of the buy 10 items, get $5 off your order, making the cheese .99/ pack essentially. With my $1/2 coupons, that makes the cheese .49/pack, which is a stock up price for me! I should be great until the next sale rolls around!

40 Kraft Natural Cheese - on sale for $1.49

-20 $1/2 Kraft Natural Cheese

-$20 for buying 40 participating items in the Mega deal

Spent: $20.20 Saved: $112.00!

Coupon Shopping Rounds

I made the rounds today hunting good deals with coupons. It was a success! Here's what I came home with:

CVS:

2 Dove Ultimate Invisible Solids- 2/$7

-2 $2 Dove Ultimate Invisible Solids printable coupon

Total= $3.24 (including tax) Saved $6.58

Received $2 EBCs

Walgreens:

2 Liquid CoffeeMate- $2.49 BOGO

-2 $1/1 CoffeeMate printable coupons

Total= $0.51 (including tax) Saved $4.49

Kroger:

Kroger is having their Mega Deal this week, which is where you buy 10 participating products and get $5 off your order. This is a great sale already, but when you can add coupons to the products that are participating, it is awesome!

4 bags Kraft Natural Shredded Cheese- $1.49 each

4 Whole Grain Goldfish- $1.38 each

2 Nature's Valley Granola Nut Clusters- $2.69 each

10 Balance Bars- $1.00 each

2 18 Count Eggs- $1.28 each

-$10 for buying 20 participating products

-2 $1/2 Kraft Natural Cheese printable coupons

-1 $.50/1 Granola Nut Clusters coupon doubled

-1 $1.00/1 Granola Nut Clusters printable coupon

-1 $1.00/1 Granola Nut Clusters Cellfire coupon

-1 $.40/1 Granola Nut Clusters Cellfire coupon

Total= $14.31 (including tax) Saved $33.36

I'll probably be making another round later this week. It's so much fun to see how much you can get with just a little!

Total Spent today: $18.06

Total Saved today: $44.43

Meal Plan Monday- 1/25/10

Meal planning is an excellent way to save money and use what you've accumulated with all those coupons! Here's what's up for the week in our house... :)

Monday: Lunch- Chicken Pasta Salad

Dinner- Crockpot Chicken and Veggies

Tuesday: Lunch- PB&J

Dinner- Spaghetti with peas and cheesy garlic bread

Wednesday: Lunch- Chicken Quesadillas, rice, and black beans

Dinner- Leftovers from earlier in the week after church

Thursday: Lunch- Crescent Chicken bundles w/ Spinach and twice baked potato

Dinner- OUT for Date Night with Hubby! :)

Friday: Lunch- Leftovers as needed

Dinner- Mini burgers over rice and veggies

Saturday: Lunch- Converge Conference

Dinner- Leftovers after Converge Conference

Sunday: Gone on the Ski Trip!

.16 cent Shopping Trip!

I went out today to spend my $5 on your next order coupon I got from this shopping trip.

Here's what I got:

6 boxes Food Lion Mac & Cheese: .33/box

4 Food Lion Sodas: .79/each

Total: 5.16

Paid with $5 coupon, and .16 change!

The great thing about the $5 coupon is that I can "roll" it, meaning I could use it to purchase more Food Lion brand items and receive another coupon for money off my next order. Since I purchased 10 items, I should have gotten back a $2.50 coupon.

I say "should" because the coupon printer at the register I went to wasn't working. Never fear, this is not the end of the world. These coupons are called "Catalinas" because that is the name of the company that is in charge of them. When a coupon doesn't print, all you have to do is call them at 1-888-826-8766, provide them with the info they need, and they will mail you the coupon!

So, I paid .16 cents out of my pocket, and will receive $2.50 back in the mail to go back and do it all over again! Love it!

Win Free Groceries!

Cool contest I found to win free groceries for a year

Hey, I just entered this contest on Cozi.com to win free groceries for a year. All you have to do is put in your email address.

Even if you don’t enter, please click the link to help me win. (I get an extra entry for telling you.) Thanks!

View >>

A freezer full of muffins!

I got this beautiful new FoodSaver for Christmas and had been dying to try it out! With more muffins than I could eat for a while, I had the perfect opportunity! Since muffins are soft and would be crushed by the vacuum in the FoodSaver, I froze them overnight on a cookie sheet so they would be firm.

I then dated and labeled the freezer bags for the FoodSaver with the type of muffin.

The process is super easy. You fill up the bag, leaving 3 inches extra at the top for the vacuum and seal process.

You then insert the unsealed end of the bag into the vacuum part of the FoodSaver, close and lock the lid, and press the "Vacuum and Seal" button. 30 seconds later, I had vacuum sealed muffins!

The larger muffins not only baked better in the oven, but they withheld their shape throughout the vacuum process. The mini muffins seemed to lose their shape a little, but nothing crumbled! I repeated the above until they were all sealed up and ready to go in the freezer, and TA-DAH! A freezer full of muffins!

The FoodSaver boasts that it keeps food fresher for 5 times longer than ordinary freezing. I am looking forward to enjoying muffins for breakfast whenever I want, without having to cook! I think breakfast is done for a while!

Using up that milk...with muffins!

I had a lot of Martha White muffin mix in the pantry that I had gotten free (it was on sale, buy one get one free, and a .55/2 coupon that doubled more than covered the cost...) that only required milk to make. I had a whole gallon that was going bad today (see my Food Lion trip here) so today was declared muffin day!

I mixed and prepared my first batch, popped them in the oven, and discovered....

36 charcoaled mini muffins later, that my mini muffins needed a little less time in the oven! Three tries later with different temps and lengths of time, I finally realized that my oven and mini muffins are pretty much incompatible. That left me with one big muffin tin, and a large job!

One pan at a time, I baked up blueberry, strawberry, chocolate chip, lemon poppy seed, and honey bran muffin goodness. I even had enough milk left over to make 2 loaves of bread dough in the breadmaker- one for wheat hamburger buns and the other for crescent rolls. YUM!

You might ask what one family of 2 is going to do with all these muffins!? Stay tuned to find out!

Eating out Frugally!

Restaurant.com is a great website for purchasing discount coupons for restaurants in your area. They sell $10, $25, and $50 gift certificates (with a minimum purchase, and certain restrictions apply- read the fine print for your favorite place to eat) for $4, $10, and $20 respectively. It's like getting free money to eat out!

However, towards the end of the month, Restaurant.com likes to sweeten the pot a little by offering discount codes. From now until January 19th, they are offering 80% off your purchase with the code INDULGE- simply enter this into the "discount code" box at the top of your order when you head to check out.

80% off means that you get:

$10 for $.80!

$25 for $2.oo

and

$50 for $4.00!

Snag these quickly while you can, they can and do sell out quickly. Enjoy your cheap meal courtesy of Restaurant.com, and don't forget to tip on the PRE-discount amount!

Swagbucks!

Swagbucks is a great site for earning prizes for doing your internet searches through them! They reward your searches every so often with a "swagbuck," and as they add up, you can cash them in for gift cards or other cool prizes. I've been able to snag some Amazon gift cards and turn them into a blu-ray player... can't beat that!

Sign up here to start cashing in on your internet searches- it's easy and so worth it!

Food Lion Shopping Trip

I had to buy a few things for a cook out tonight so I decided to take advantage of Food Lion's Private Brand Super Sale.

4 bags FL frozen chicken breasts - 6.50 each

1 package fresh chicken breasts - 3.44

7 cans FL black beans - .50 each

3 large cans FL baked beans - 1.59 each

1 lb FL brown sugar - .92

2 cartons FL ice cream - 2.99

1 dozen FL large eggs - 1.29

1 gallon Smart Option milk - 1.42 (on Manager Discount, expires 1/16)

1 FL ketchup - 1.00

1 loaf FL bread - 1.48

Total spent: 50.26

Saved: 31.20

And, since I purchased 20 FL brand items, I received:

$5 off my next order!

I'll be headed back to see how I best can use that $5 on FL brand items to get more money back! Adding in the $5 to spend on my next order, I saved 36.20 for a total percentage of 42%. Not bad for an unexpected trip with NO coupons!

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Why not get some of your money back that you were going to spend anyways?

Great Deal at Food Lion

I am excited about Food Lion's Private Brand sale- it lasts through February 2nd, and the more you buy, the more you save! Save up to $10 on your next shopping trip.
Buy 4 save $1
Buy 6 save $1.50
Buy 8 save $2
Buy 10 save $2.50
Buy 20 save $5
Buy 40 save $10
The savings will print as a coupon off your next order! What are you planning to get from Food Lion?