Meal Plan Monday....October 5th Edition Eating from the Freezer/Stockpile

Last Week's Menu Post Mortum...

Everything was served as planned except for the Salmon/Crabcake meal on Thursday.  This will go on this week's menu.  I made a double batch of the Mac & Cheese on Tuesday. The half we didn't eat that night, I assembled but didn't cook.  This portion went into 2 small casserole dishes and put into the freezer to be cooked fresh as side dishes for 2 meals in the future.
The Beef Bourguignon was a smash hit!  I took photos while making it and will be posting 'my take' on this recipe.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week....it's a mix of double batch cooking items in the freezer, easy prep cooking, cooking from scratch & take-out.

MONDAY--Smoked Kielbasa Sandwiches(freezer), Sauerkraut(leftovers)
TUESDAY--Roasted Turkey(freezer), Stuffing(stockpile), Cranberry(stockpile), Green Beans(freezer)
WEDNESDAY--Manicotti stuffed with Ricotta & Spinach(freezer), Ginger Carrots(root cellar)
THURSDAY--Salmon in Ginger Teriyaki Sauce(freezer), Crabcakes(freezer), Rice(stockpile), Squash Casserole(garden)
FRIDAY--Leftover-Lots of Turkey!!!
SATURDAY--Pork Chops(freezer) with Apricot Glaze, Mushroom Noodles(stockpile), Summer Veggie Mix(freezer)
SUNDAY--Take-Out Chinese Food & Sushi

Last week I spent $75.68 on food counting 2 trips to Weis and all the food purchases at KMart that cost me anything out of pocket after doubled coupons($25).  A full $15 of that amount was candy for handing out at Halloween.  Chocolate is getting so expensive that you need a second mortgage on your house to give it out at Halloween.lol  About $10 was money out of pocket on 'real food' at KMart after doubled coupons. $50 was spent at Weis on the few things I needed for my weekly menu last week and on 11 packages of meat & seafood.
This week's menu shopping list contains steak rolls....that's it besides the usual milk purchase.  I have a $7 OYNO Catalina that expires tonight for Weis, so I will be picking up a few other things in order to use that coupon.  I'll get the steak rolls, yogurt and ??
I won't be buying lunch meat this week for daughter.  She wanted turkey this week so I'm roasting a turkey and she can take leftover from the bird for her sandwiches at school.
I'm going to try to stay out of the grocery store this week after spending that $7 Cat today.  Wish me luck!

Food Waste Report....We had 2 failures this week.  A couple of sausages that got pushed to the back of the fridge and got too old to eat and a small bowl(1 large helping)of spaghetti that turned into a science experiment.lol 

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy

Rite-Aid September Single Check Rebate & Out of Pocket Totals

I just thought I'd do a brief post with my Rite-Aid Totals for September.

I just finished counting up all my receipts for the Single Check Rebate period of SEPTEMBER, which ran from August 28th-September 26th.

Here are the results.

Purchased 61 Items.

Value of Items is $281.51.

Spent on Items $78.01...$50 in Gift Cards(free from Rite-Aid) & $28.01 in Cash.

Therefore Out of Pocket is $28.01.

Rebates qualified for is $76.98.

Also qualified for the Gift of Savings Deal at the $20 Gift Card level(on BIL's account).

So I'm OOP $28.01(including tax).

And I'll get back $76.98 CASH & a $20 Gift Card.

That's a PROFIT of $48.97 cash & $20 in Gift Card!

In addition, I sold the diapers I bought for a rebate, netting $15 cash, making my PROFIT $63.97 + the $20 Gift Card.

Once again Rite-Aid proves the old adage, "It takes money to make money" is true.  I spend a little out of my pocket and get it ALL back at the end of the month Plus MORE!

Here's how to use the system to gain the advantage....

*Purchase Single Check Rebate items if the rebate is equal to what you have to pay for it.  Even better, find a coupon to use when you buy the item which makes the item Profitable once the rebate comes.

*Wait for items to go on sale to use coupons. When an item is BUY ONE GET ONE FREE, you can use 2 of the same coupons, thus you get double coupon $ off the first item since the 2nd item is already free.

*Look for clearance items in the store and pair them with coupons currently in circulation.  Sometimes you can find items with monthly rebates on clearance, so this makes your profit on the rebate even better....or if you are trying to get your purchase to the $ amount threshold to use a $X off an $XX purchase Rite-Aid coupon, clearance items that are cheap or free after coupons are great to raise your 'before coupon' total.

*Study the Single Check Rebate flyer each month.  Often there are products that will qualify for more than one rebate deal. This is called double dipping.  Besides individual items with rebates there are Group rebates(where you need to buy $XX worth of stuff or an assortment of items for a Check or a Gift Card) that can contain items that qualify for their own rebate.(IE:This month there is a Scope Mouthwash Rebate for $2 but your Scope purchase also qualifies for a P&G rebate for a $10 Gift Card when you buy $30 of products.)

*Utilize any kind of coupons available to you--manufacturer's coupons, internet printed coupons, Rite-Aid coupons printed in the weekly sales flyers and the Rite-Aid/AdPerks online coupon Program.

Be sure to "stack" or use the Rite-Aid flyer coupons WITH a manufacturer's from the coupon inserts or internet printed coupon for the same item.  You can also stack a manufacturer's coupon with a Rite-Aid/AdPerks coupon.  Doing that increases your savings on the cost of the item.

*Use the internet Money Off when you buy $XXX Rite-Aid coupon offers.  There has been a $5 off a $25 Rite-Aid purchase available online for most of this year.   Group your purchases so that you hit that $25 threshold and there's an additional $5 off your total!  The AdPerks program mentioned above also has a $5 off $20 purchase Rite-Aid coupon available.

*If you have any FREE ITEM coupons sent to your from a manufacturer wait to use these at Rite-Aid when you are trying to 'build' a purchase's total(needing to get to $25 total purchase so you can use a $5 off Rite-Aid coupon).  These FREE ITEM coupons can build your total so you get that additional $5 off your purchase without costing you any additional Out of Pocket in cash.

*Consider transferring prescriptions or having new prescriptions filled at Rite-Aid.  At certain times  in the year Rite-Aid will offer free $25 Gift Cards for new pharmaceutical business.  I have also gotten the gift card offer via letter after I've moved a prescription away from a Rite-Aid pharmacy.  Be sure and read the stipulations/fine print though on the Rite-Aid gift card offers as not every prescription will qualify you for a free gift card.

If you need to have a prescription filled & have to spend that money anyway, why not spend it at Rite-Aid and get a Gift Card as a bonus?  Use the gift card to buy your SCR items and that's more money you aren't shelling out initially to buy SCR items.

The point here is to spend as little as possible to do the Rebates AND to get a bigger rebate/refund than you spend.

So what are my plans for October & this month's SCR?

Check out my post HERE with what I already bought last week.

I'll be posting what deal I'll be doing this week tomorrow.

Sluggy

PS.  The Aveeno snafu is no more.  The rest of the Rebate was credited to my account this morning. ;-)

Glade FREE Music Downloads When You Buy Holiday Products

Remember that new Glade $5 Rebate Offer wyb 3 products I mentioned yesterday in a post?  After you send away for that, be sure to take advantage of the Glade FREE HOLIDAY MUSIC DOWNLOAD Offer Here.

Just enter the 12 digit number code from your item's UPC on the packaging for each music download you wish to have. Different scents have different songs to select from and you can only download 1 song PER FRAGRANCE per day. There are Four scents so if you have a UPC from each one, you can download 4 songs per day.
The qualifying scents are the new ones in the Limited Edition Holiday Collection: Homemade Gingerbread, Peppermint Crush, Bayberry Spice & Hollyberry Wreath.
This offer ends 1/10/10.

I've put in 2 UPCs so far and the artists you can choose from for both of these are Diana Krall, George Strait, Julianne Hough & Mannheim Steamroller.
Since it's ONLY Oct. 2nd I'll wait until after Thanksgiving to start listening to the downloads though. 

Sluggy

Freaky Fun Friday

I hope I don't drive away any readers today.

I am all about couponing, frugality, homemaking, cooking & my family.  And that's what I blather on about most days here on the blog.
But there are more sides to me than that.

I've also got a kooky, unconventional side and a touch of a wicked sense of humour & I am not easily offended by anything.
Having said that, I'd like to share a comic artist with you all that I found a few years ago.  He's Australian, now living in England and he's quite the celebrity overseas.  He's appeared in the US but so far has not broken out as a big star.  I think his...let's call it "indelicateness"....has hindered his ability to break into the national media outlets here, thus his popularity is limited in the US.
He is irreverant and a bit twisted.
And I LOVE his art!
But then again, having grown up Catholic, gone to a all girl's college & having worked in professional theatre where I "saw it all, honey", I am a bit irreverant and twisted....
The Artist's name is Tim Minchin.

Please don't click on the video if you are easily offended by language and scandalously humorous, irreverent views on religion & politics.

If you are open minded....Enjoy!






Sluggy

Update on the Rite-Aid SCR AVEENO Deal Snafu

Rite-Aid has already responded to my email about the AVEENO Rebate problem I posted about HERE. 

"Please be advised that the Aveeno Shave Gel products qualify for Offer #5.  Your account will reflect this correction within 24-48 hours. 

We apologize for the inconvenience."

Sincerely,
XXXXXXX
Rite Aid Single Check Rebates
Customer Service

I was surprised to hear back so quickly!  And I'm glad the item will count toward the rebate total.  Let's hope they correct this as quickly as they say they well. ;-)

If you have an issue with not being credited for this purchase under your Single Check Rebate, please log into Rite-Aid and email them about it.

And a reader, Laurie, posted a comment that she doesn't use any rebate items until the rebate check arrives.  If something doesn't get credited, she returns the item.  Pretty smart advise I say!  Hang onto those receipts so you have that option.  8-)

Sluggy