Frugal Friday.....the May 1st Edition

Well I did go out this week grocery shopping on Wednesday to Weis(PMITA)Markets and then to Rite-Aid, then after I posted my food spending totals on Thursday we went out to PandR discounts and Maines the restaurant supply store(so I'll put those 2 shops into May's total).

So let's see what was frugal(or approaching frugal)this past week..........

*  I went to Weis this week after 5 weeks of avoiding it like the plague(pun intended).  Here are the best deals I got there........

The OEP items were "Buy 4 boxed or canned items/Get a free bag of cheese". The 4 items were $5 total so $5 for all 5 items.  The cheese is almost $3 a bag here if bought alone so I'm ok with this deals.
The organic Francesco Rinald sauce was on clearance $1.50 per jar.  I redeemed a .50¢/2 Ibotta rebate so 2 jars cost me $2.50 total.
I had a coupon for .75¢/1 Domino golden sugar that doubled to $1.50 off so it cost $1.19 OOP.
I bought lots more including 5 tv dinners and a bag of croutons which were part of a Mix and Match Buy/Get $3 Back Deal.  I got a piece of Salmon(it was $1 more per lb. than last month), my Stress Rx tea was on sale 2/$5, 2 lbs. of butter for $2.50 each, etc.

*  I finished my Allegra SavingStar Deal at Rite-Aid this week..........

Earned $21 between Ibotta and SavingStar and paid with BC so Zero OOP on this.

*   I found money!

Rite-Aid was a jackpot for me this week!

This penny was found in the parking lot, worse for the wear but still spendable.

These 3 pennies where found by the  registers.

And this slightly out of focus dime was found in the greeting card aisle(which I detoured down to avoid other customers).  Lucky me!

Found Money This Week...... .14¢
Found Money This Year so far....$45.05

I also found this penny..............

I thought it was a fifth penny for the day but when I dug it out from behind the floor mat it was one of those souvenir "squashed" pennies.  This one is from Ohio and has the state bird, a cardinal, on it.

I laughed at this because I sort of collect these!

Here's the one I "squashed" from Buc-ee's in Alabama Lorraine took us to in January.

Here's the one from the amusement park we took eldest and his GF to last Summer-that's the ride we all went on.

Here's the Mad Elf penny from when Hubs and I went to Troegs Brewing last Spring after my medical appointment at Hershey Medical.

And here's the penny I squashed when we went to see "Carhenge" in the Summer of 2017.
(This reminds me I STILL have to recount our 2017 Summer Road Trip for the blog.)

*  I found a few deals yesterday at the restaurant supply store and the discount food store.......

Liquid whole eggs for .50¢ a quart and 4.5 lbs. of sour cream for $3.99 at the restaurant supply.
The asparagus was $1.29 at the discounters.  Now I have to find containers to put the sour cream in and ways to use it up! lol

We went to the restaurant supply to see if they had any more of those small steaks I got earlier in April.  Something they called "Coulotte" Sirloin steaks........

They had 3 packages left so I bought them all as these are the most tender steaks we've ever had.  The price wasn't bad either at $5.99 lb.
I've repackaged them and we have 4 meals for the 3 of us out of this buy.  I also had 1 small piece left I can make a steak sandwich out of for a lunch for myself. ;-)

I found a loaf of PF oatmeal bread at the food discounters for $1.29.  My discount bread store is still closed so after this is gone I am going to have to pay full price at the grocery store for bread. *sob*

*  I earned $6.50 in Ibotta this week.(2 x $2 Allegra at R-A and .50¢ at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

*  I got a freebie at the food discounters.............

3 bags of Garden of Eatin' grain-free tortilla chips.  Only 2 are pictured because Hubs opened/ate most of the third bag before I got around to taking this photo this morning.

The store was giving these out to anyone who bought anything in the store.  The cashier said we could have as many as we wanted because they had pallets of it in the back(and the sell by date was past).  They aren't bad(aren't good either)but will be nice with a dip like hummus. ;-)

*  There has been no take-out this week so far.  We tried on Thursday to use a gift card and get take-out at Applebee's(they make a good Asian salad w/chicken)but we decided against it finally and just came home and had leftover Shrimp Scampi.
I think there will be some Chinese take-out this weekend however(if I have anything to do about it-and I will! lol).

That's about it from here.................

What wins did y'all have this week?


Sluggy

Grocery Shopping This Week

Nothing too exciting here on the food front this week.
I went to Maine Source Tuesday after my mammogram and picked up a few things--

* 2 lb. asparagus @ $1.79 lb.
* 5 lb. russet potatoes $2.49
* 4 dozen eggs @ $1.29 doz.
* 1 lb. butter $2.49
* 5 lb. bag frozen veggies blend $5.99
I spent $19.84 total.

Some of the eggs and the frozen veggie blend is for Easter dinner.  I'm also going to whip some of the butter with honey to serve with the rolls for that dinner.
I made the asparagus Wednesday night for dinner and we'll eat on the leftovers later this week.....I love asparagus in season!
No plans yet for the taters but they'll get used eventually.

I also hit Weis(PMITA)Markets on Wednesday and bought this stuff...

* 6 lb. chicken thighs @.98¢ lb.
* 2.71 lb. ground beef @ $3.99 lb.
* 1 Roma tomato for .46¢
 There are a $3 discount sticker on the beef and a $2 discount sticker on the chicken so my $17.06 bills turned into a $12.06 bill which gave over a 40% savings rate over regular retail.
So I am $31.90 OOP for all groceries so far this week.

I had planned to go to Target Thursday on one of my rare trips to that store but something came up that kept me from going so I might have Hubs take me today as he is off from work.
There's a $10 Target gift card off wyspend $50 on food/beverage purchase Deal.  I have a $10 Target gift card to use(which was gotten free on another deal)plus I have another loaded Target gift card with $18+ left on it plus I plan on getting stuff that's on sale and I have my trusty coupons so this trip won't cost me anywhere near $50.  Some of what I want there is for serving for Easter(rolls, a pie, etc.)so I need to get there before Sunday.

I am at $222.56 for March so may squeak by under budget at the $300 level for food this month.  I don't have any hopes of coming in under my lower end $250 level however.

Ok, I want to ask y'all how do you prepare chicken thighs?
I have a few reccipes I regularly utilize for this cut of the bird.......a lemon peppered thighs with a zuke in tomato sauce dish, grill it with or without some kind of marinade first, grilled and barbecue sauced, or boil and break down into pieces for soups/stews/fajita filling.
I suppose I could fry them up too....that is, if everyone here liked dark meat fried chicken. lolz

Do you often cook chicken thighs and how do you prepare it/in what dish?

Send me some ideas folks!  I am getting rather tired of what I do with this cut.

Sluggy

Shopping Day

With the sun shining I set off to do a bit of grocery shopping.
First a quick stop at Rite-Aid.......yes, I said Rite-Aid.......

With my 20% wellness discount this was $4.23.
Then I stacked 3 coupons.....a $1/1 ManuQ(sunday paper), a $1/1 R-A in-ad Q and a $2/1 VideoValues Q from March.
$4.23-$4=.23¢ = .02¢ tax=.25¢ OOP.

I didn't even get to use any of these +Up Rewards I still have.

Next it was to Maine Source, the local restaurant supply store.

No photo of the goodies since I forgot to take one before I put them all away, but I got......
1 Gal. no-calorie peach iced tea
1/2 Gal. milk
2 lb. block of Cheddar
1 lb. liverwurst(hubs lunchmeat)
1 lb. asparagus
3 lb. bag red onions
5 lb. bag red potatoes
3 12oz. packs of mushrooms
3 1 lb. packs of strawberries
1.30 lb. salmon fillets
1 pack of grape tomatoes
1 English cucumber
2.32 lb. sweet potatoes
4 large lemons
2 lb. bag of raw shrimp
2 dozen eggs

After the emailed $5 off $50 order Q I paid $60.02 OOP.
Regular retail of $93.27 on this haul.

Then it was over to Target.  I had a $10 gift card wyb $50 of food Coupon and I needed a ham......

3 x McCafe coffee on sale $6.99=$20.97
1 x Archer Farms spiral ham $1.99lb=$19.14
1 x Archer Farms coffee on sale=$5.99
1 x Edwards key lime pie on sale=$4.99
2 x dozen eggs on sale=$1.98
1 x box cake mix clearance=$.62
1 x  bottle cooking wine clearance=$1.32
SubTotal.....$55.01

Coupons Used
3 x $1.50/1 McCafe IPQ from 1st Taste Kraft program=$4.50
1 x $1/1 Archer Farms coffee Target IPQ=$1.00
1 x .75/1 Edwards pie IPQ=.75¢
Coupon Total.....$6.25

$55.01-$6.25=$48.76

I used $15 in Target gift cards in my wallet and paid $33.76
I got back $15 in new Target gift cards($10 wys $50 and a $5 wyb3 McCafe products).

$33.76 for $67.17 worth of regular retail groceries so savings rate of 49.74%.
Not too bad.

I spent $93.78 on groceries.
It's just the 1st of the month and I only have $206.22 left for food in April already.
It sure goes fast......the money that is, doesn't it?

I don't/can't eat ham anymore but I guess 1 slice on Easter won't kill me.  I'll pack some of this up with the relatives when they leave and Hubs can have ham sandwiches for lunches.

What are you serving if you have Easter dinner at your house?

Sluggy