Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Freezer List
















I really love having a chest freezer! Ours was given to us by my parents when they decided to change to an upright freezer a few years ago. It has been a huge blessing ever since.

The only problem with having an additional freezer is that food can get "lost" in it quite easily. This leads to frost-bitten food that gets tossed (which is NOT what we're trying to accomplish here). This can even happen in your regular freezer if its jammed full of food (from stocking up on those sales I tell you about right?). At the suggestion of my husband, I was suppose to make a list of what is actually in our freezer (outside and inside). I've finally gotten to it today (nesting has taken over)!
I just rummaged through the freezer- pulling out most everything so I could see the bottom. I wrote down everything as I pulled it out and then transferred it to a "pretty list" so I could mark off what I've used as I pull it out.

Here's our lists:
Inside Freezer:
Breakfast items:
pancakes
waffles
banana muffins
puff pancakes
biscuits
sausage
2.5 pkg bacon

Veggies:
frozen corn
3.5 pkg broccoli
Bread:
hamburger buns
flour tortillas
thick corn tortillas
corn tortillas

pizza rolls
chocolate chips
cookie dough

** You don't have to categorize- I just did because I'm a nut and wanted to see the inside items more clearly




Outside Freezer:
2 butter
2 mozzarella cheese
4 mexican cheese
choc/vanilla ice cream
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Glazed Ham
2 pkg meatballs
2 chipolte steaks
3 roasts
Chicken for enchiladas
4 pkg taco meat
5 pkg cooked chicken

Casseroles (at bottom):
Dream Spaghetti
Chicken Spaghetti
Chicken Tortilla Roll-ups
2 Chicken Pot Pies
Spinach Rice Casserole
Cream of Chicken Casserole
hoagie rolls
4 loaves bread
2 pkg hamburgers
5 lbs hamburger (uncooked)
5 lbs chicken breasts (uncooked)


**I just taped the list to the top of the freezer along with pen- this will be easiest for me to remember!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Deals of the Week- 3/10-3/17

Reasors-

Hiland Cottage Cheese (24oz)- 2 for $3

Blue Bell Ice Cream- 2 for $8

Coke or Sprite (2 liters)- $1 each

Hiland Sour Cream (8oz)- $0.59

Dole Salad- $1.69 per bag

Large Cantaloupe- $1.50 each

Avacados- $0.69 each

Food Pyramid-

Ground Chuck- $1.59/lb STOCK UP PRICE!!

Beef Chuck Roast- $1.99/lb STOCK UP PRICE!!

Dole Salad- $1.50 per bag

Strawberries- $1.99/lb

Organic Baby Carrots- $1.50/lb

Pillsbury Items on sale- $1.25 (Time to Stock Up with these prices!!)
Italian Meal Bread
Use $0.60/2 coupon here or here
$1.90 for 2 ($0.95 each)

Crescent Rolls
Use $0.35/1 coupon here or here (doubled at Food Pyramid)
$0.55 each

Cinnamon Rolls
Use $0.35/1 coupon here (doubled)
$0.55 each

Grands Biscuits
Use $0.50/2 coupon here (doubled)
$1.50 for 2 ($0.75 each)

Farmland Bacon- $2

Some great deals this week that you could price-match at Wal-Mart. It'd be worth it to go to Food Pyramid to double your coupons on the Pillsbury items though!!

30% off at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy!

Go to this link http://www.gapgiveandget.com/np/lls.html and print off the coupon. You can use it all four days (March 12-15) multiple times. It will work at Gap, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic and Old Navy!

5% of this will go to the Leukemia Society- that's important to us because we had a friend (26 yrs old) die last year of Leukemia. It's always great when saving coincides with giving :)

Don't miss these Walgreens deals...

I told you last week about the Huggies Diaper Deal here. Don't forget to go get your cheap diapers!

Also...
Coffee-mate is on sale B1G1 at Walgreens this week (2 for $2.49). The $1.50/1 coupons here have been reset so print two and use two coupons for each two bottles of Coffee-mate you purchase and you'll get them both free, with possible overage!

There are also $1/1 coupons here which would make these $0.25 per bottle after the coupons and sale.

New FREE Arby's Roastburger

If you had printed out the first copy- this is new and extended to March 14th!!

Get a FREE Arby’s Roastburger with the purchase of any drink through March 14th. One coupon per person, per order.

I've had a few of these now- I like the Bacon Cheddar Roastburger!

Monday, March 9, 2009

My $20 Target shopping trip


I *heart* Target! I just love it when I save more than I actually spend! Unfortunately, I have to go back to Target again this week, but it'll be worth it- check out these deals!

Even cheaper Motts applesauce!
Motts Applesauce- $1.69
$1/1 Target coupon here
Use $0.55/1 manfacturer's coupon here
$0.14 APPLESAUCE!! Stock up on this!! (Make sure you check the expiration date)

Dodge & Sutton Chuck Steak- $2.99/lb
$2/1 Target coupon here
I found 2 pkgs that were just over $3 each
about $1 per pound
(I'm going to throw these in the crockpot with some potatoes for a meal to take to a friend who just had her baby)

Head of Broccoli or Cauliflower- $1.50 on sale
$1/1 Target coupon here (you must register with A Full Cup and use the Target coupon Generator)
$0.50 a head

Target brand cheese (block or shredded)- $1.75 on sale
$1/2 pkgs Target coupon here (A Full Cup)
$1.25 per pkg when you buy 2

Ro-tel was on sale for $0.75 (couldn't pass that up)
Taylor Farms Hearts of Romaine- $2 on sale
*Needed this for Chicken Caesar Salad this week for lunch

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls- 1.79
$0.35/1 coupon here
$1.44 each- I needed these for this week or else I would have utilized the coupon better

The black beans and pizza sauce were just necessities for my homemade pizzas- Chicken Taco and Pepperoni that I plan to make soon.

What I have to go back for:
Huggies Gentle Care Sensitive wipes- $5.99
Use $5/1 Gentle Care Diaper product here
$0.99 for a 184ct pkg

*My Target was cleaned out of these wipes- guess everyone else has the same idea!

TOTAL: $20
Saved $22
*I recently got my sister started on couponing and she made a Target trip today in KS. She called to tell me that she saved $56 but still ended up spending $100. Not bad for her first trip through though!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Cooking ahead for Baby...

As most of you know, I'm due March 29th with our 4th child. I also love Once-A-Month Cooking. So I figured it was only smart to prepare for this baby by getting meals ready ahead of time so that I won't be running around crazy after the baby comes trying to transition- especially since my husband's job has wacky, longer hours. This should help with my sanity.

Thanks to my mom being here, I had the opportunity to get some meals prepared from meat I had stocked up in my freezer. I don't have a list of what's in my very full freezer yet, but I hope to get that accomplished tomorrow. At my husband's suggestion, I'll be making a list of everything we have in the freezer and hanging it up next to it so that I can cross things off as we eat them. This week alone I was able to make:
Cheesy Chicken and Rice
Mushroom Chicken and Rice,
Spinach Rice Casserole,
Dream Spaghetti,
8 lbs of cooked Taco Meat separated into 6 bags,
8 lbs of chicken breasts pressure cooked, shredded and separated to use later to make enchiladas, cheesy chicken noodle, quesadillas, chimichangas, chicken taco pizza, chicken pizza, and to add in salad,
4 chipolte-marinated steaks separated into 3 portions- one for stir-fry, one for fajitas and two to grill up,
and 25 homemade egg, sausage and cheese breakfast pockets

So I have about 20 meals that I prepared this week- I still have to make the pizza crusts to freeze and I may try to make my own flour tortillas to freeze if I get ambitious! Obviously, not all of what I did was creating a complete meal, but having the cooked meat ready will save me a tremendous about of time and energy!

I hope I can fit in a Baking Day soon so I can have some muffins, pancakes, waffles and bread prepared. We'll see how I feel though! I'll post pictures and my complete freezer list soon!

My Super-Duper Target trip

First off, to get these great deals I had to go register at A Full Cup - they are a website with links to all kinds of coupons, but what I love is their Target Coupon Generator which saves the past coupons from the Target website that haven't expired. You'll have to go there for some of these coupons and you'll have to register with them- but it's SO worth it!

Top Round Steak or Roast- $2.49/lb
I bought one 3.23 lb roast (there were some as small as 1.5lb) and used the $2/1 pkg coupon
I ended up paying $1.87/lb but you could pay as little as $1.73 for a 1.5lb roast!!

Motts Applesauce- $1.69
$1 off Target coupon
$0.69 for a package!! (I got 5 of these)

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks- $1.79
$0.50 off Target coupon and $0.75/2 coupon
$1.83 for 2 pkgs or $0.92 for 1 (I got 4 pkgs)

The great Goldfish deal is still going on!
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish- $1.79 per package
$1 off Target coupon from A Full Cup Target Coupon Generator here
$0.79 per package (I got 3 more packages)

Archer Farms Cereal- many kinds on sale $1.89
$1 off Target coupon from Coupon Generator here
$0.89 per box! (and we've had these before- taste the same as the name brand!)

Chex Mix- $2.14
$.50 off Target coupon from Coupon Generator here and $0.60 off here
$1.04 per package

Red Grapes- $0.99/lb

Strawberries- $2.49/lb

Kiwi- $0.33 each

I also found twin size 200-ct sheet set (pillow case, flat and fitted sheet) for $7.49! This is great as a back up set for our girls' beds!

I impressed my mom who went with me to push the cart as I had to ride around in a motorized wheelchair to get through our shopping trip. She said she wouldn't have believed that we saved almost $32 if she hadn't seen it herself!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Target- how to save

For those of you who don't know, Target offers their own coupons as well as taking manufacturer's coupons. You can use a Target coupon and manufacturer's coupon together to get a great deal.

Have you ever forgotten your coupons at home? I had heard recently that you could print your Target coupons IN the store from one of their kiosks (the computers next to customer service). I decided to try this last week. All you have to do is go to a kiosk, click on view Target.com and click on the Weekly Ad link. At the bottom of the page (in the middle) is the link for Target coupons (just as if you were on your personal computer). You just complete the steps like you would at home and the coupons print right there! Pretty sweet deal :)

Here are some deals this week at Target:

Sutton & Dodge Steakhouse quality steak or roast- $2.49/lb
Use the Target $2/1 pkg coupon here
Prices will depend on poundage, but a package 3lb-6lb will be
$1.82/lb- $2.16/lb-- not bad for "steakhouse quality"

Towels and Sheets are on sale this week for $5

There are some other deals like applesauce and fruit snacks, but I'm not sure the prices. I plan on going this afternoon so I'll update soon!