This past week

Kroger
Had to do the mega event this week. Just too good of a deal to pass up!

Here's what I got
1 Johnson's buddies bar .99
4 hormel chili 1.00 each
4 rotel tomatoes .99 each
1 Kroger shredded cheese 1.67
1 propel water 1.00
1 frenchs mustard 1.69
1 frenchs worc sauce 1.69

used
1 johnson's buddies bar -1.00
2 hormel chili .55/2
4 rotel .30 each (doubled)
1 kroger shredded cheese -1.00
1 propel water -1.00
1 frenchs mustard -.50 doubled
1 frenchs worc sauce -1.69

-5.00 for the mega event (hormel chili, rotel, propel and mustard qualified)

Total OOP .94!!!

Rite Aid
Aviva monitor 75.99
milk
fabric softener

used
Free aviva monitor
$5/$25 coupon

Total OOP .66

CVS
2 Gilette gamer fusion razors
1 Gilette embrace razor

used
3 - $4 off Gilette razors
10 ECB

Paid 2.88 (Earned $4, $4 ECB) I should have gotten one more $4 ECB, but I didn't. The ad states 1 per card, but it was reported that it was allowing 5. No way to dispute that. Oh well. Still did pretty good and Shane is happy to get some new razors.

Rite Aid makes me happy

Make your money go further with this $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon (exp. 3/31/09) or this $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon (exp. 6/30/09)!

I did a few transactions with this $5/$25 coupon. I so love it! I buy an Aviva glucose monitor and use a coupon from the FREE Inner Strength magazine that they have at the door or pharmacy at Rite Aid. That gets me up to $19.99. I then buy $5.01 worth of other items and get everything for just tax. This week I bought a whole bunch of huggies wipes that were on sale for 2/$5. Who doesn't love FREE wipes???

I have also bought the Breeze 2 glucose monitors in the same deal. There are $30 coupons that were in the newspaper a while back.

What's for dinner week 4

Here's the plan... I'm pulling out a ham from the freezer. I'm going to try to eat out of our freezer and pantry this week. We'll see what happens!

Ideas for the week:
ham
quiche (ham and cheese)
lentil spaghetti
fried rice
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
homemade pizza
loaded potatoes

If anyone has any good recipes for leftover ham, please share! I need some help this week.

Here's what we had:
Sunday
Grilled cheese, carrots and applesauce
Monday
McDonalds... had coupons for free hamburgers. Had other snacks along so no out of pocket expense.
Tuesday
Baked Chicken parmesan with spaghetti
This is the easiest recipe in the world!!!
Preheat oven to 350
Dip chicken breast into egg then italian seasoned bread crumbs. Bake for 20 minutes.
Pull out, top with a jar of pasta sauce and mozz. cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes. During this time, make some pasta for your side. Quick prep and yummy homemade meal.
Wednesday
Dug out a microwave meal for myself and the girls... Jerry had the stomach flu... no time for cooking!
Thursday
Ham, scalloped potatoes, corn & green beans
Friday
Ham and eggs
Saturday
Ham and cheese quiche

What's for dinner this week?

My plan for this week... the kids are all sick, so I have to make things they are more likely eat... less experimenting.
Ideas:
breakfast
spaghetti
quiche
homemade pizza
enchilada casserole
pork fried rice

Sunday
Bad Bad Bad... we ordered pizza! Off to a bad start. Oh well, we will redeem ourselves the rest of the week
Monday
Enchilada casserole
Tuesday
Meatloaf & Rice (mixed some baby food veggies in the meatloaf, you couldn't tell and the kids ate their veggies and didn't even know it bwahahahah)
Wednesday
Bond hamburgers & french fries (Watched James Bond with dinner)
Thursday
Breakfast - bacon, eggs & homemade pancakes
Friday
hamburgers
Saturday
Spaghetti

Week 4

Made my run to Kroger this week and was also able to hit Giant Eagle:)
Giant Eagle (my Giant Eagle doubles 1.00 coupons to 2.00!!!

Transaction 1:
4 Special K 10.00
used 4 - 1.00 off coupons... double to 2.00

$2.00 OOP (got back $3 OYNO, so $1 money maker!!)

Transaction 2:
4 minute rice 2.29 ea used 4-1.00 off each (.29 each)
2 dole sliced peaches 2.69 ea used 1- 1.00/2 (2.38 for 2)
4 muir glen tom paste 1.29 ea used 4- .75 off each (FREE)
4 kashi TLC cereal bars 3.00 ea used 4- 2.00 off each and 1- Giant Eagle Catalina coupon 1.50 (.50 each)
4 taco seasoning .78 ea used 2- .75 off 2 (.03 each)
4 Bumble bee salmon packs 2.69 ea used 4- 1.00 off each (.69 each)
3 dannon drinkable yogurt 2.00 ea used 3- 1.00 off each (FREE)
1 pkg lentils 1.39 No coupons :0
4 dannon activia yogurt 2.00 ea used 4- 1.00 off each (FREE)

used $3 off from previous order
$6.43 OOP!!! Did I say I love my Giant Eagle... even though they were out of FREE jelly:( I still love them!!!


Kroger
4.5 lbs ground beef 8.93
24 oz kroger shredded cheese 4.99
2 thomas english muffins 2.99 ea
2 kroger tortilla 1.59 ea
1 hamburger helper 1.00
3 tuna .89 ea
2 enchilada sauce 3.19 ea
1 kroger soy sauce 1.99
2 kroger bread 1.00 ea
thomas bagels 3.49
big bag of rice 3.49
chew bone for chewing dog 2.79

used
3.00 off 3 thomas products

$44.08 OOP

52.51 OOP for the week! Once again, a little over... I'm still learning. I think I have enough stashed for a $0 OOP next week... we'll see!

CVS
Here are a few things I did sunday at CVS... sales are good until saturday this week
Transaction 1:
1 excedrin 1.99 used 2.00 Internet printable (.01 overage)
2 CVS Allgergy meds 3.79 (received 3.79 ECB back, so FREE)
2 Soy Joy Six packs 6.00 (received 6.00 ECB back, used $3 off 10 bars, so $3.00 overage)

Paid with
13.00 in ECB, $3 coupon & $2.00 from above
Paid 3.57 on gift card
Got back 3.79, 3.79, 6.00, 6.00 back in ECB

Transaction 2:
4 Pepsi 12 packs 3.00 each
3 tostitos 3.00 each

paid with
12.00 ECB & 7.58 ECB from previous transaction
Earned 10.00 ECB and will send in receipt for Frito-Lay rebate
Paid 1.42 on Gift Card

Transaction 3:
20 Reese Whipps 2/1.00

Paid with 10 - 1.00/2 coupons
$0 OOP!!!

I still have $10 in ECB for next time.

What's for dinner Week 3

Sunday
Beef & Vegetable Soup and mashed potatoes
Monday
Egg, bacon & cheese bagels
Tuesday
Pork Fried Rice
Wednesday
Mac n cheese & veggies
Thursday
Homemade pizza (made own pizza dough... turned out pretty good)
Here is the dough recipe:
1 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp EVOO
Combine yeast and water. When dissolved, add to flour and mix. Add EVOO. Knead the dough. Should not be sticky... if it is add little bits of flour until it isn't. Place in bowl with towel over it. I put mine in an oven that was heated on 400 degrees for one minute then turned off. Put in the oven (that is not on but warm) for 2 hours to rise. Punch down. Divide in half and roll out dough (on a 12 inch pan). Poke some holes on the dough with a fork so you won't have bubbles. Add your toppings. Cook on 450 for 15 minutes. Makes 3 - 12 inch pizzas.
Not as good as take out, but much better than frozen!
Friday lunch
Steak Fahitas with grilled peppers, onion, cheddar cheese and salsa YUM!
Friday dinner
1/2 lb. chicken (grilled)
Salsa (for on the chicken)
Corn
dumplings (Laney was the only taker on these)
Saturday
homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese. Soup wasn't the best, not one to repeat.

Week 3

Had a chance to do my shopping early. We will see how that works out. I had to pick up some extras for Jerry's lunch this week. We were running on E for school snacks.
My menu "plan" for this week:

Pork fried rice
Homemade pizza
Steak Fahitas
Grilled Cheese
Spaghetti
Leftovers

Kroger
Pizza sauce 1.29
Pizza sauce 1.29
Pasta sauce 2.79 (used 1.00 coupon)
Bagels 2.49
Carrots .89
Carrots .89
Applesauce 1.59
Applesauce 1.59
Cookies 1.99
Tuna Helper 1.60
Tuna Helper 1.60
Cookies 1.11
Chicken Breast 12.99 (should have been 8.99 :( Used 1.50 Coupon)
Kraft Mac 'n cheese 1.72
Potatoes 2.99
Frozen Peas 1.49
Bread .88
Pepperoni 3.99 (Grabbed the wrong one... the other brand was on sale and I had a coupon :(
That's what I get for shopping with 3 kids)
Green Pepper .66
Sliced Cheese 1.99
Sliced Cheese 1.99
8 Cottonelle 4 packs .99 (used .50 coupon, so FREE)
Barbecue Sauce 3.29

Total 48.88 (Hopefully we don't need anything else!!)

When life gives you apples, make applesauce!

I had a fridge drawer of apples that no one was interested in, so I needed to come up with something, so I made applesauce. I got the recipe from cooks.com. It was pretty simple and when eating it, brought back memories from when my mom made homemade applesauce when I was growing up. Yum!

3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 medium apples
a few sprinkles of cinnamon

Cut up apples. I took the cores and skin off. Place in pot with all other ingredients. Cook covered on medium for 12-20 minutes. Let it cool off. Mash with potato masher. Enjoy.

Gave this to the kids for lunch today. Jerry wants to make more:)

Week 2

Change of plans this week. Almost made it an entire week eating out of our fridge and pantry. Waiting on Shane to get home to record my last receipt... we had family and friends over on Saturday and we changed the menu from meatloaf to pyramid tacos... yum!!! Shane made homemade salsa. yum yum!

Community Markets
12 Green Giant Steamers 1.00
used 12 .50 coupons
FREE!

4 dawn dish soap 1.00
used 4 .50 coupons
Paid tax... 0.13
(gave 2 of these to Grandma)

2 fried rice packets .99 each
1.98 OOP

Rite Aid
1 Glucose monitor 19.99
1 Gain detergent 5.49
10 Soy Joy Bars .50 each ($5.00 total)
used
1 Free Glucose monitor coupon
1 $3 off 10 Soy Joys
5/25 coupon from Rite Aid website

2.85 OOP... will get $5.00 back from Rite Aid SCR on Soy Joys. 2.15 profit.

Total week 2:

Menu Week 2

Breakfast
Cereal as usual

Lunch
PB&J for Jerry all week, spaghetti or leftovers for the rest of us

Dinner
Sunday
Pork Chops, white rice & apples (it was just me and the girls, so we had a lot of leftovers!!) Jello for dessert
Monday
Pork Fried Rice (yummy!! Used leftovers from night before). Used recipe off package of fried rice spice. Easy and quick!
Tuesday
Breakfast as requested! (eggs and oatmeal). Jello for dessert.
Wednesday
Shane's Chili and cornbread muffins. Yummy yummy yummy!
Thursday
Sloppy Joes (well kinda... that's what I told Jerry. It was really Chili on a bun. bwahahaha), mashed potatoes and brownies for dessert.
Friday
Leftovers for the kids, Chipotle for Mom and Dad :)
Saturday
Taco pyramids with family and friends! Great night!

Where to find coupon match-ups

On the right hand column, I have a list of blogs that help me each week to match-up coupons with sales. Saves me a lot of time!! The ones with the biggest variety of stores are cherrypicker and stretchingabuck. If you want drugstore deals, you can always visit www.iheartcvs.com, www.iheartriteaid.com and www.iheartwags.com.

Menu from Last week

In an attempt to show how I used what I bought... I am going to start at January 1st since the holidays were a little crazy.

Breakfast - cereal

Lunch - Peanut butter & jelly or leftovers. The kids eat pb&j almost every day... per request.

Dinner
Thursday, Jan 1 - Dinner at Grandma's house - Lasagna yummy!! We brought the wine.

Friday, Jan 2 - Entertained friends. Shane made a fabulous dinner of Chicken Piccata, Green Beans, pasta and bread. Here is the really good recipe for chicken piccata.

Chicken Piccata (taken from Simplyrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 pound total)
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup flour
• Salt and pepper
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chicken stock or dry white wine
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup brined capers
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

Method

1 Cut the chicken breast halves horizontally, butterflying them open. If the breast pieces you are working with are large, you may want to cut them each into two pieces. If the pieces are still thick after butterflying, put them between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat hammer to 1/4-inch thickness.

2 Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan. Rinse the chicken pieces in water. Dredge them thoroughly in the flour mixture, until well coated.

3 Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add half of the chicken pieces, do not crowd the pan. Brown well on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate. Cook the other breasts in the same manner, remove from pan. Cover with aluminum foil and keep warm in the oven while you prepare the sauce.

4 Add the chicken stock (or white wine), lemon juice, and capers to the pan. Use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Reduce the sauce by half. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Plate the chicken and serve with the sauce poured over the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 4.

Saturday, Jan 3 - Just me and the kids. Made hamburgers/cheeseburgers, corn & apple slices.

Week 1: December 28 - Jan3

This is my first week, not perfect, but I think I did good. I have a good stash of items, so I just needed to get some odds and ends... plus some extras for holiday get togethers (wine)!!!

Kroger
milk 2.48
juice 2.59

Paid with Gift Card 0.00 OOP

Kroger
wine (for dinner at Grandma's house) 6.99
wine (for dinner at Grandma's house) 6.79

Total 13.78

Kroger
wine (for Chicken recipe) 5.39

Total 5.39

Community Markets
Pillsbury crescent rolls 1.49
Shred Mozz. Cheese 2.29
Milk 2.99
Coffee Filter 1.49
Little Debbie Snacks 1.59
Taco Sauce 2.29
Tortillas 2.00
White rice 1.19
Bread 1.39
bananas (.39/lb) 1.12

Total 17.84

Walmart
EVOO 12.36
Capers 1.42
Parsley .67
Lemon .80

Total 15.25

Total for this week: 52.26 (a little over, but for my first week... not too bad!)

My Grocery Challenge

$50 a week grocery budget (this is for a family of five) - Inspired by grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com!! This will include all of my groceries. I do my grocery shopping whenever I can, so the details from this will be posted at the end of the week. Look at the right hand column for blogs that list different coupon match-ups so you can plan your budget too!

At this point, my grocery budget does not include paper products, health & beauty items or diapers. I buy most of these items at CVS or Rite Aid using ECBs or rebates. We will soon be getting a Walgreens, so I may be buying these items there too.

The $50/week will be based on my out of pocket expenses. If I use gift cards, coupons, RR, or ECBs, those will not count toward the $50 weekly budget.