April BUDGET RESULTS-Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2009.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in April.
These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5. No kids under 13.


CARONE'S
OOP $67.96
Qs/Ads $29.67
Value $97.63
Savings 30.5%

CVS
OOP $62.31
Qs/Ads $366.29
Value $430.81
Savings 85.50%

GERRITY'S
OOP $58.03
Qs/Ads $41.46
Value $99.49
Savings 41.50%

GIANT
OOP $31.98
Qs/Ads $54.88
Value $87.94
Savings 63.64%

KMART
OOP $112.83
Qs/Ads $405.00
Value $534.24
Savings 79%


PRICE CHOPPER
OOP $143.94
Qs/Ads $432.62
Value $581.52
Savings 75.25%

REDNER'S
OOP $58.74
Qs/Ads $32.42
Value $90.41
Savings 35%

RITE AID
OOP $62.01
Qs/Ads $253.44
Value $362.14
Savings 83%

SHOPRITE
OOP $90.97
Qs/Ads $120.34
Value $211.31
Savings 57%

TARGET
OOP $6.11
Qs/Ads $15.80
Value $21.88
Savings 72%

WALGREEN'S
OOP $113.56
Qs/Ads $2621.92
Value $2764.80
Savings 96%

WALMART
OOP $7.16
Qs/Ads $27.50
Value $34.36
Savings 79%

WEGMAN'S
OOP $6.45
Qs/Ads $10.98
Value $17.43
Savings 63%

WEIS
OOP $241.78
Qs/Ads $427.51
Value $667.08
Savings 64%

TOTAL Out of Pocket.............................$1104.32
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings....$4839.83
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$6001.04
TOTAL Savings % for APRIL......................81.50%

I've decided NOT to track CVS ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons". Rebates will also show up in the Monthly Totals when spent, but I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.

REBATES RECV'D. IN APRIL
Rite-Aid Gift Card from Bayer..$10.00
Rite-Aid SCR.......$2.00
Walgreen's Gift Card...$21.96
Windex Rebate.......$2.50
Sucrets Rebate......$1.50
Organix Rebate......$4.99
Vitamin Rebate......$4.99
Pinecone Survey.....$9.00
Pepsi/Frito-Lay Coupons worth...$15.00
TOTAL Value of Rebates....$71.94

My best 3 Store Savings Totals were at Rite-Aid 83%, at CVS 85.5% & Walgreens at 96%!
This closes out the April spending.

Onward to Marvelous MAY and let's see if I can keep it under $700 for Out of Pocket & break 82% in Savings.

Sluggy

Guess what showed up in the Mail today?

The STAPLES Rebate Checks for the 35 Reams of Computer Paper I bought in March & April. I wanted to wait until I had the money back in Hand before I talked about this deal.....didn't want to jinx it and all. I learned of this deal at the end of March from Precious over on her blog-
FRUGAL MAKES CENTS.

Staples was getting rid of the old stock of their 24lb. weight multipurpose paper in the old package design. The paper goes for $6.99 a ream and the rebate is for $5.99, so in the end, you get each ream for $1. It's a nice heavier weight paper too, quality stuff.

If the rebate wasn't enough, when you join the Staple Rewards Program(it's free to sign up), you can get a check at the end of each quarter of the year totaling 10% of your purchase of paper, ink & toner. The catch is you have to spend at least $100 in the quarter to get this 10% rebate.
My 35 reams of paper initially cost $244.65-$259.33 with the local sales tax. The paper rebate came to $209.65. My Staples Rewards rebate will be an additional $24.46. So after both rebates I will have spent $25.22 on 35 reams of paper. That's .72¢ a ream! If only I lived/shopped in Delaware or New Hampshire, where there is NO sales tax, my cost would be have only been $10.54 for 35 Reams!!

This Rebate is good for purchases made through May 9th, IF you can find a Staples with this item still in stock. It's Item #554638. The package is yellow with blue writing and a white star in the center & sells for $6.99 a ream/package. You can sign up for the Rewards Program in the store and do the Rebate online. Easy Peazy!

Needless to say, Sluggy won't be buying paper for quite some time now! ;-)

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday May 4th Edition

The Meal Plan for last week was like trying to nail Jello to the wall.
Since I wasn't feeling well, Hubby helped out a bit on tuesday w/Tacos & wednesday w/the Beef Pie. I slept through most of thursday & friday and I can't for the life of me remember what we ate. I KNOW we ate but WHAT is beyond me.lol
Saturday we grilled steak, squash & red peppers and sunday was brats, dogs & corn as planned. Grilled veggies is turning out to be my favorite way to fix most any vegetable.

The Mac & Cheese with Ham, the Bourbon Bacon Shrimp and the Pizza never happened, so we'll see those items this week.
We have Track Meets and a Band & Chorus Concert this week, so the plan is not very inventive and a few crockpot or easy 'throw-together' meals are included.


As for the FOOD WASTE report for last week. First, let me plead sickness...
I can't be expected to achieve 0% Food Waste while delirious with sinus.lol

We had to throw out a corningware dish full of sweet potato casserole leftover from Easter. This just makes me sick!
I had fixed baked sweet potatoes for Easter dinner but #2 son loves them mashed with all that sugar, cinnamon & marshmallows on them. I gave in and made him a big dish of it. He hardly touched it!
Ugh

So it got pushed to the back of the fridge.
I had plans to either dump it into the brownies I made &/or mix it into the dog's food bowls over the course of a few nights.
Daughter ended up making the brownies without my imput(OR the sweet potatoes)and being sick, I wasn't the one feeding the dogs this past week...so they didn't get the SPs in their bowls.

It seems I am the Lone Keeper of the Leftovers in this house, so when I don't use the leftovers, they go to waste. The kids won't touch them unless I hide them in something else. The only Leftover-eating helpers are hubby and the dogs.

I'm thinking about instituting a Leftover Night one day a week. No new food cooked....just find something in the fridge to eat. Everyone fends for themselves....except hubby. I'll heat up his leftover for him. ;-)
Good idea? Let me know what ya'll think.

The Bargain Meal this week would have to be the Rigatoni. No meat so it's the natural low cost pick. Pasta for $1 box, sauce cheaply made or jarred for $1.50, mixed salad greens(with carrot) for about $2.00, dressing $1.00 small bottle, homemade garlic bread for $1.00 loaf (including garlic & butter)=$6.50 for the meal or $1.08 per serving.

I bought Cabbage & Swiss Chard last saturday so the only items I need for this week's menu is a Pork Shoulder for the BBQ, rolls & the pizza fixings I never bought last week. I'm figuring I'll be able to pick up some pork quite cheap, due to the hysteria over Swine Flu & hogs. I'll be picking up milk, bread, strawberries and some fresh produce this week as well and anything I find for cheap for the freezer stockpile.
Speaking of the freezer....2 Saturdays back I got the coolers out and took a hammer to the ice build-up in the big freezer. It took about 3 hours to finish but after loading up the coolers with what was in the freezer, I was able to turn off the freezer and perform my 'Manual Defrosting/DeIceberging' on it. The freezer went from a jampacked with frozen food glacial landscape to a half-filled 'chill chest' with room for more food items.
I'm not looking to cram it full but I have space if some bargain presents itself this week in my travels.

Here's what is on the Menu at Sluggy's house this week. I'll post a recipe for the Bourbon Bacon Scallops after I make one up on thursday.lol

MONDAY-Pizza, Tossed Salad
TUESDAY-Macaroni & Cheese, Ham or maybe ham chunks mixed into the Mac & Chz, Swiss Chard
WEDNESDAY-Rigatoni & Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
THURSDAY-Bourbon Bacon Scallops, Cheese Polenta(grits), Collards
FRIDAY-Pork BBQ Sandwiches, Coleslaw
SATURDAY-Baked Salmon Teriyaki, Stir Fry Veggies, leftover Mac & Chz(if there isn't any, broiled Potatoes & Onions
SUNDAY-The Cook's day off!!! Maybe if they get hungry enough THEY'LL COOK!lol
DESSERTS FOR THE WEEK-Strawberries-fresh or in Strawberry Shortcake

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

One of the Best 4 Letter Words Ever!

Can you guess what one of the best 4 Letter Words of the English Language is?
If you are a Couponer, it might just be......
F-R-E-E!

I know I 'heart' free.....how about you?

One of the grocery stores in Teeny Tiny Town is 'different'. Instead of running their weekly Sales ads from Sunday to Saturday, they run theirs from Thursday to Wednesday. In fact, the entire regional Chain of these markets run sales from Thursday to Wednesday. There is no big full color ad in my Sunday paper, the paper I buy to get my lovely, lovely coupons each week. Their sales ad comes out in Thursdays newspaper, that I don't buy. If I want to know what's on sale at this store I either have to go to the store on Thursday(a tad inconvenient)or remember to look up their flyer online(which I seldom do right away).
I think this store runs their Sales midweek to midweek just to TICK me off....ya know?

Because of their sales starting midweek, I hardly ever go shopping there early on into their sales, meaning I usually miss out on the good stuff that sells out. This week I just happened to remember to check out their online flyer when it posted after midnight on Wednesday night/morning. I had just gone through my coupons, to winnow out the rest of the ones that were expiring on Thursday-April 30th-that I hadn't used yet, when I checked out the sales flyer.

Two items in the flyer got my attention straight away. I don't ususally buy my HBA supplies at the grocery store(that's what CVS & WAGS are for after all!)but the Grocery store was putting large tubes of Crest Toothpaste on sale for $1.
Now Colgate can be had for cheap or free alot but Crest is usually a bit more $ around here. Then I saw that the store had Gillette Men's & Satin Care Ladies Shaving Cream on special for .99¢ each this week as well. This item sells for $2.99 regularly around here.

I had just taken both $1/1 Crest Toothpaste and $1/1 Gillette Shave Cream coupons out of my binder to dispose of, since they were expiring Thursday, April 30th.......which was the 1st day of the sale where I could now use those coupons to get these items for F-R-E-E!

So you'll never guess where I was on Thursday?
If you guessed in that regional Grocery Store in Teeny Tiny Town, you would be correct!

Since I had so many coupons, I spread them out over 3 different stores so I didn't clean out any single store of the items. Ok....the 1st store someone else had already cleaned them out of the Shaving Cream, except for 4 cans.....which I bought. I left plenty of both toothpaste and shaving cream behind otherwise, in each store I visited.

The grocery store also had Mentos Gum packs on special(not advertised in the sales flyer)& I still had 14 coupons for those that were also expiring so I picked up some free gum while I was at it.

So here's what about an hour's worth of work got me.....
14 Mentos
17 Crest Toothpaste
19 Gillette Shaving Cream

Zero.
Out.
Of.
Pocket.

FREE has got to be my favorite kind of shopping!lol
And this was serendipitous because I used up a bunch of coupons I thought I'd have to ditch.

Sluggy

Cap'n Crunch FRENCH TOAST

If you have kids who love Cap'n Crunch Cereal, then you are going to have to try Cap'n Crunch French Toast. I saw this recipe on an episode of that Food Network Show, "Diners Drive-Ins & Dives". One of the Diners the host featured on the episode has this treatment for French Toast on their menu. Something about this just called my name! And when I scheduled a BREAKFAST FOR DINNER into the Meal Plan, I got my chance to give it a whirl.

Here is what you do.....
Grab a box of Cap'n Crunch, a Ziploc type baggy and a rolling pin.

Pour about 2-3 cups of the Cereal into the baggy and seal it. Leave some air in the bag before you close it. Lay the sealed baggy flat and use the rolling pin to crush the cereal until it looks pulverized like this....

Pour the freshly crushed up cereal into a bowl or platter.

Next make your egg wash (eggs beaten up in some milk).

Heat up your griddle. When it's hot and ready to cook, dip your bread slices in the egg/milk batter quickly and then into the crushed cereal crumbs, flipping the bread to coat both sides.

Then place your coated bread slices on the griddle and brown, flipping to brown both sides. When done, serve immediately.

First off, you will NOT have to call the kids to eat. The sweet Cap'n Crunch smell will permeate your house and the young ones will be drawn to the stove like fleas on a dog.

Sorry I don't have a nice photo of this French Toast artistically plated. It was all I could do to get it off the griddle without the kids drooling all over it.

Before letting the kids pour their usual 1/2 a bottle of syrup on their French Toast, make them taste this Cap'n C. variety first. Even the biggest sugar fiend may find that syrup is unnecessary. I'd suggest a light dusting of powdered sugar instead or some fresh fruit.

I will also tell you that you want to use a firm, or even dense bread for this French Toast. For goodness sakes, don't use Wonder Bread or any lighter than air white bread for this! Between dipping into the batter and then having to coat both sides with the cereal crumbs, you'll probably end up with torn bread by the time it makes it onto the griddle. Try to sneak in a nice wheat or other heavy grained bread. With this sugary sweet coating on the bread, the kids will hardly object or even recognize they are eating healthy grains underneath.

As for being a healthy meal, well......'parts' of it are-the eggs, milk & bread. lol The Cap'n Crunch coating means you don't need to use syrup so it's probably no worse for you than regular French Toast w/syrup.

It was a fun thing to try but not something we'll make a habit of eating on a regular basis.

Sluggy