Meal Plan Monday March 9th Edition

Since we are in the Limited Food Budget March, I am trying to use from the stockpile and keep new food purchases to a minimum. I have most everything on hand for this meal plan week, except the ground beef, asparagus and molasses(for the beans). Ground Beef, Asparagus, Cantaloupe, Ice Cream & Grapes are on sale this week so I'm putting them on the plan.

We didn't have the Fish meal and the Enchiladas happened on Friday instead of Thursday(scheduling conflict, hubby brought home Taco Bell for the kids), so there are a couple of repeats on this week's meal plan. We are burnt out on chicken after 3 chicken meals last week. No chicken this week.

On the keep the food waste down front, I declared a Cooking Moratorium for last weekend. Mom did NOT cook all weekend. Family was forced to eat Leftovers from the refridgerator. There was much gnashing of teeth over this plan.

But it was a success! We cleared out spaghetti, enchiladas, pot roast, taco salad & chinese takeout. The only leftover not eaten(chicken from BBQ Ckn & Enchiladas)was frozen for later use.

Here's what is on the Menu at Sluggy's house this week.

Monday-Kielbasa w/Onions & Peppers, Potato Salad, Broccoli

Tuesday-Quiche w/veggies, Salad

Wednesday-Fish, Rice, Squash Casserole

Thursday-Boston Baked Beans, Sweet Potato Biscuits w/Smithfield Ham

Friday-Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze, Au Gratin Potatoes, Asparagus

Saturday-Chinese Lunch Buffet Out, Clam Chowder for lite dinner

Sunday-Beef Pie Casserole

Desserts for the Week-Cantaloupe, Grapes, Ice Cream, Choc. & Butterscotch Chip Cookies

I'll be posting a recipe for my Killer Boston Baked Beans in a day or two so check back to my blog on Wed. It's so tasty and filling. Even non-bean people like it.lol

Organizing Junkie is the home to Menu Plan Monday.

Go see what's on her and many other Home Cooks' Menus for the week at Organizing Junkie's website.

Sluggy

Mission Accomplished....the Price Chopper Saga

I'm back to report in on my Price Chopper "Triplers Shopping".

Price Chopper in my area had 2 TRIPLERS in their sales circular. You could put a manufacturer's Coupon, with a face value up to $3, with one of these triplers and the store would triple the value of that coupon. I misspoke on Friday morning(see previous post)about the number of TRIPLER Coupons I had. Though I had bought 11 Sunday newspapers(these were only available in the Sunday paper-not in the flyers at the store), 1 of the papers did NOT have a Price Chopper sales flyer, so I only had 20 triplers, not 22 triplers. Oh well....

You could only use TWO Triplers with each order(and it was enforced), so in total I made 10 trips into the store to shop. Actually, the daugher helped me out on Sat. and made 1 trip in, so I only had to make 9 trips.

The challenge was twofold for me.

1-finding coupons with high value($2 or $3)in my stash. Some high value coupons when tripled were way over the item price, so I couldn't use them without losing some of my 'couponage value'.

2-finding coupons that when tripled would give me FREE or ALMOST FREE products to cart home. Price Chopper in these parts, is NOT known for having low prices, so #2 was a bit more difficult that it sounds.

I am working with a self-imposed, very limited food budget this month of $150 too boot, so I couldn't go hog wild with purchases.

This was the game plan going in. But, oh how things can change....

I could have accomplished this mission with a much lower total of 20-30 free products and 10 lbs. of butter for $9.90 + approx. $8 of tax on the toiletry items.

But along the way, I found some very good deals I couldn't pass up. Yes, stores do lure you in with gimmicks like triple coupons and loss leaders in hopes you will spend on the other "not a good deal" items. But I did well overall by resisting the siren song of all those pretty packages with high price tags.

I did find that I am in love with the Dairy manager in this store. He/She is very generous about marking down items weeks and weeks BEFORE their sell by dates come to pass, unlike some stores where they NEVER discount dairy as it gets to the sell by date and just toss it after it hits the date and take a write-off loss on the item.

Here are the pictures of everything I purchased....or the store gave me for FREE.

Thursday Evening's Price Chopper Haul (2 trips)

Friday's Price Chopper Haul (4 Trips)

Saturday's Price Chopper Haul (4 Trips)

With tax, I spent $67.97
The sale prices and coupons used came to $216.61
Total Value of everything I bought was $284.58
A Savings of over 76%!

Here is a breakdown of what was purchased and price

1 Sm. Bag Dog Food FREE Q with tripler
3 Rolls Aluminum Foil FREE Q with tripler
3 Pkgs. Razors FREE Q with tripler
8 Candy Bars FREE Q w/sale price
2 Herbal Essence Shampoo FREE Q with tripler
9 Suave Shampoo FREE Q with tripler
2 Glucerna Cereals FREE Q-high value
1 Carnation Breakfast FREE Q with tripler
4 Boxes Ritz Crackers FREE Q with tripler
6 Suave Body Wash (2 FREE/4 .19ea) $ .76 Q with tripler
10 1lb. Butter (.99 ea) $9.90 Store Q
8 Carnation Breakfast (2.24ea.) $17.92 Q+WYB2 $1.50 OYNO
8 Boxes Cheerios (.75 ea.) $6.00 Store Q &/or Q with tripler
2 12pks. Pepsi (1.99ea.) $3.98 Store Q
2 Yoplait 6pks. (.69 ea.) $1.38 Dairy Disc. + Q
2 16 ct. Tortillas ($1.99 ea.) $3.98 Dairy Disc.+$1 Q
4 lg. Cans Tomatoes(.50 ea.) $2.00 on markdown table
5 1lb. Swiss Cheese(2.99 ea.) $14.95 Dairy Disc.
1 container Sour Cream $1.19 Dairy Disc.
2 lb. Prepared Sweet Potatoes $.69 Dairy Disc.
2 Tropicana O.J. (.49 ea.) $.98 Dairy Disc. + Q
1 Over the Moon 1/2 Gal.Milk $1.29 Dairy Disc. + Q

86 items---$67.97 Out of Pocket

No meat but some pricey cheese, dog food, cereal and toiletries.
The OJ, Cheese, Tortillas, Sour Cream, Yogurt & Sweet Potatoes were all discounted in the dairy section.

By bringing along my spare coupons and finding all those nice Dairy Discounts on products, I was able to combine the two and get some very nice prices on items I can freeze for later. I needed the sour cream and the tortillas to make dinner on friday, so I came prepared to pay *gasp* retail on those items. I put my needs out into the Universe and the coupon fairy heard me & put all those little Dairy Peelies in my path!

I find the price of cold cereal is c-r-a-z-y!....how about you? Anytime I can get boxes of cereals the kids will eat, I am a happy woman. I don't much like getting them the sugary stuff but for a change I wasn't "meany mom" and got them Frosted Cheerios. I am thinking I'll mix it with regular Cheerios to lessen the sugar high.lol

Price Chopper had a deal on assorted GM Cereals this week. With the coupon and a FOUR Box purchase, you paid $8($2 per box). I did that deal twice. The 1st time, I used 4 Qs that doubled(every day store policy up to $1), so those 4 boxes cost me $1 each. I had 2 $1/2 Qs for the 2nd deal, so I combined those with the triplers, making each coupon worth $3. I paid 50 cents for each of those 4 boxes.

The Carnation Instant Breakfast(CIB) is something the daughter likes to have in the morning. It's rather pricey so if I find it for a good price, I stock up. I was bummed out that both the CVS stores around here were cleaned out of their stock of it, because of the ECBs you get this month to purchase CIB there. So when I saw Price Chopper had it $1 off I brought my $1/1Qs to the store. There was also a shelf tag...Get $1.50 OYNO(off your next order)when you purchase two. So during my multiple trips through the checkout, I bought in 2s, & used the Catalinas on every other trip where I didn't buy any CIB.

Yes, it did take longer having to checkout multiple times. Saturday was particularly bad(being the weekend). If I had decided to use these Triplers earlier in the week, the crowds wouldn't have been so bad.
But the extra time spent was well worth the savings. It helped to have a plan of what I wanted to purchase and all my coupons in order beforehand.

Couponing is a beautiful thing!

Next time, a report on my Walgreen's Saturday Siege. ;-)

Sluggy

Off to get me some Free Food!

I don't usually shop at my local Price Chopper Grocery Store. I have to go into 'the city' to get to them(it's a 5 minute ride!) and I find their prices are higher on average than the 2 Grocery Stores in my Teeny Tiny Town.

But they just opened a Brand New Store.....well, the building is new, the store isn't. They moved the PC out of the crime riddled old, dying shopping center by the mall, into a brand new, stand alone building. It was a move of about 1.5 miles.

So they have been running specials and nice store coupons. 2 weeks ago we got a home mailer with FREE coupons for salad dressing, steak sauce, tartar sauce and cheap ground beef, ice cream and something else I can't recall at the moment. It was worth going in that week.

So this week, on the regular sales flyer in the Sunday paper, we had an outer half page with TRIPLE VALUE COUPON Coupons. Meaning, you can put a regular manufacturer's coupons(up to $3 face value)with one of these Tripler Coupons to triple the value of your couple.

Nice, huh?

The caveat is you are limited to $3 of face value on the original coupone AND there is a limit of 2 of these Triplers per 'shopping family'. And you have to use a store loyalty card too.

Having bought 11 Sunday papers, I have 11 shopping trips to make to get 22 Triplers worth of free stuff. And the sale ends Saturday night, so I had better get crackin'!

I've spent an hour this morning pulling high value coupons and checking the PC ad for what's on special, to see what I can score for free.

There are also a few PC store coupons in the ad....99 cents 1lb. butter, $1.99 for 12-packs of Pepsi, 4 boxes of GM Cereals for $8 and some 7-Up deal. The butter doesn't require any additional purchase so I'll be stocking up on 11 lbs. of butter today for $10.89 total too!

And if they allow me to stack store Qs with MQs, I can score some free or almost free GM Cereals too!

I do need to find out about the coupon stacking at this store. I do know that they DO take Internet Printed Coupons, which I am thankful for, as neither of the grocery stores in my Teeny Tiny Town take! One is a major chain and the other is a regional chain. The major chain store has a Corporate website where you can print out Coupons.....but my particular store won't take them!

ARGH.

I really need to write one of my famout Complaint Letters to their Corporate HQ about this insanity.

So I am off to see what I can get. As long as my old legs hold out making all those trips from the parking lot to the store and back, I'll have some goodies to show in the next day or so.

With a $150 food budget this month, I really need to be all about the F-R-E-E!

Sluggy

FEBRUARY $AVING$ CHALLENGE TOTALS

If you look closely at my right sidebar, you will notice that I updated my 60K $aving$ Challenge Totals for February a couple of days ago. I had hoped to just sneak it in and not have to post about it, but alas, I was caught.

Like I mentioned before, this month is NOT pretty!

While I practically Doubled my eBay sales(thanks in part to that nice guy in The Netherlands), the loose change in the house seems to have dried up. Ok, of the two, I'd rather have more eBay sales than change.lol

We ended Feb. with a net Loss of $157.97.

Negative savings.

Not good.

EVER!

I knew mid-month when we received the Bill Trifecta-a 6 month car insurance premium notice, the unexpected auto repair & the bill for the kitchen countertops,
February would be a wash.

The last 2 items appeared on the MONSTER CREDIT CARD BILL.

Monster to the tune of $2902.85.

The countertops and the auto repair account for $2126.49 of that monster, so in reality, the normal expenditures on it were only $776.36. That includes some online paid bills, most of the gasoline purchases and some Birthdays eating out money. (Dec-Feb. is our Birthday Landmine Field for spending on eating out.)

So if you take off the unusual expenses, we 'could' have had $215.67 left at the end of the month to dump into the SCG.

But we had emergencies. That is why you have Emergency funds....the shock absorbers for buffering those monetary bumps in the road of your money.

Soooo....we deduct that negative $157.97 from our Grand Total Saved & we are down to $3216.67 Saved for the year.

The target goal for 2 months in:$10K.

We are more behinder than last month.

*sigh*

Looking at the bright side....

The credit card statement period closes on March 11th. We currently have $548.39 in purchases on it. If I can keep from buying gasoline for 7 more days, I can have a much lower Mastercard bill to pay this month.

I heart $548.39 bills alot more than $2902.85 bills.

And I have set a $150/250 Low Spend Food Budget for March(See my Food Budget Part II post). That should result in a much lower expenditure for groceries than last month's total of $863.42.

Please help me stick to this March grocery budget.

If you see me in the grocery store with a fist full of coupons and that food lust look in my eyes, throw me in a cart and wheel me out!

Looking on the Not-So-Bright side....

Coming up this month however is the yearly local tax bill and the sewage bill. The sewage bill is hardly a blip on the spending screen but the Tax Bill is significant. Even more reason to keep all other expenditures down. I like to pay it before April 1, as we get a discount if we do. And whenever any governmental entity offers you a discount, TAKE IT!

Always.

Sluggy

New Counters & Sink Revealed!

As promised, here is the close-up of the new counter color/pattern.

And here is the photo of the countertops installed.

And I just love my new sink & faucet!

The sink is super deep and oversized. What was there before was a 2 small sink arrangement. You couldn't fit a sheet pan or large roaster/griddle/saute pan in the sink to clean it properly. I always ended up soaked with water trying to clean those items. It will be wonderful to actually stay dry when doing pots & pans by hand. I know some folks like having two sinks but I never have.

Our old faucet had been broken for almost a year. It was one of those cheapy lift the handle and swivel it to adjust the temperature one-handled type of faucets. Something had worn out internally that made it so you couldn't turn the water flow off by pushing down on the handle. You had to grab the base of the faucet and push down with some force to shut off the water. I had been doing that so long it feels strange to not have to 'wrassle'(southern redneck word for wrestle) with the faucet.lolol

And can you believe what they charge for a faucet anymore? Great GoogleyMoogley! Husband had to pick my jaw up off the Lowe's Warehouse Floor when we bought this one in January. It was almost $200....and that was a CHEAP model! Well, cheap for a 'not economy' value one. If I wanted to forego eating for a month, I could have bought the $600 model. Ack!

I have to give a shout out to the Installer, Dave. He was wonderful! It's rare you find someone who enjoys his work and goes the extra mile to take longer and do a job RIGHT and not just get it done quickly & haphazardly, so he can be off to the next job. He works freelance as well as contracting with Lowe's so if you are in Northeast PA and need countertop work, he's your man. Write me for his number.

Except for painting the blue tiles in the backsplash walls and fixing the ceiling damage from the Great Toilet Clog of 2007, I am finished with the kitchen fixups.
It's onward and upward to the next project on the list....the Master Bathroom redo.

Sluggy