Oh, I Almost Forgot....3/31 Trip

I almost forgot to post about the shopping trip to the evil WALMART last week for FREE IAMS DOG FOOD!
I had 8 $5/1 Qs left for Iams Dog Food. I had used the rest at Rite Aid 2 weeks before when they had Iams Cat Food for $6.49 a small bag. I bought out the local Rite Aid of those, paying $1.49 a bag. Those Cat Food bags went to the local ASPCA on that Saturday.

So, the rest of the Qs were expiring that day.
Great!
I had been to my Walmart on 2 previous occasions looking for what everyone online w/couponing blogs had been reporting the small bags of Iams Puppy &/or Kitten Food was on sale for $5-which would make the Bags FREE with these $5/1 Qs.
My WM did NOT have these bags on sale on either trip there.
Regular price of $7.49 or some such nonsense.
I even price checked it each trip.
I had given up hope of using these Qs.

Mail comes on March 31st. What do you think I find in my mailbox?
A flyer from WM.
A flyer advertising Iams small bags of Dog/Cat Food for 2/$10($5 ea.)!
FINALLY, the sale comes to PA!
So after dinner, #2 son accompanies me in a trip to WM.
I take the flyer with me, with the sale price of the product circled in BLACK MAGIC MARKER.
I am prepared to do battle with the Front End Walmart GNOMES if the Dog Food doesn't ring up $5 a bag.

Got a few other items and headed to the check-out.
The Coupon Gods must have been smiling on me that night.
The Dog Food rang up correctly...$5.
The cashier took my Qs, all 8 of them, without a problem.
She did make conversation with me about the transaction but it was a POSITIVE chat.
No freaking out over Qs and no calling over of snide Customer Service Managers.

Cashier: "Where did you get these coupons?"
Me: "In the Sunday paper."
Cashier: "But you have 8?"
Me: "I bought 8 newspapers that week."
Cashier: "Oh, that's smart! I never see coupons for this much money in the paper."
Me: "They are in there sometimes. You just have to watch for them & buy extra papers when they have the good coupons."
Cashier: "You're probably right. I don't use coupons much. I really should, huh?"
Me: "They could save you serious money if you do it right."
Cashier: "That's true. You just saved $40 on dog food!"

And here's my $40 of FREE DOG FOOD in the 4 WM plastic bags I smuggled in with me to reuse....


Not sure if this is going into the ASPCA Donation Pile. Our puppies are running low on kibble.
I don't know....if I feed them this, they might start turning up their snouts when we go back to the not-high-end-stuff. lol

If you want to get technical, the Dog Food did cost me something-the cost of 8 Sunday newspapers the week these Qs came out. 8 papers=$10($1.25x8) So the value of 2 $5 coupons covered the newspapers I bought....so ONLY $30 of this dog food was FREE.
BUT....remember, there were lots of other Qs in that paper I have also saved money by using, which brings the cost of the papers I paid for VS. Qs used down even more.

No matter how you do the accounting, I still came out ahead by using Qs.

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday April 6th Edition

This week's menu is mostly Eating from the Pantry/Freezer again, except for the Ham I bought Sat. for "Company's Coming Over for Easter" Sunday's meal(though I will slice & freeze some of that for use later) and the Graham Cracker Pie Shell for the Key Lime Pie. I am out of fresh produce after using the last of the carrots today w/the roast chicken.
Oh, I do have a bunch of celery left and a few potatoes to make fries later in the week, but I need fresh produce this week (for raw or grilled dishes)so I have put the veggies on the menu that are on sale here this week.....zukes, peppers, lettuces, cabbage, carrots.

We did ok with food waste this week. The only leftover not eaten by humans was some baked fish. The beagles happily offered to help me out finishing that off.
Beagle=canine garbage disposal lolol


Last weeks' menu?
See my previous post about being flexible with the meal plan when 'life happens'.

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

MONDAY-Roasted Chicken, Carrots, Onions, Mushrooms, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce
TUESDAY-Crab Cakes, Fries, Harvard Beets
WEDNESDAY-Tacos or Taco Salad, Corn
THURSDAY-Birthday Meal Out-postponed to this day due to illness
FRIDAY-Grilled Salmon, Coleslaw, Grilled Zucchini
SATURDAY-Chili, Cornbread
SUNDAY-Baked Ham, Deviled Eggs, Sweet Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus, Creamed Spinach, Salad, Boston Baked Beans, Macaroni Salad, Tossed Salad, Crudite Plate
DESSERTS FOR THE WEEK-Easter Parfaits, Key Lime Pie, No Bake Oatmeal/Peanut Butter/Chocolate Cookies

I'll post my Chili Recipe later in the week so check back around Wed/Thurs. for that.


My Bargain Meal this week is the Chili & Cornbread.

Bag of dried Beans....$.99
1lb. of Ground Beef...$1.69
1lb. of Ground Chicken.....$1.99
1 Lg. Can Crushed Tomatoes....$.50
Assorted Spices......$.30
1 small Onion.....$.25
1 Head of Garlic....$.20
2 boxes Cornbread Mix...$.80
2 Eggs....$.16
1 cup Milk....$.19
1/2 cup Veggie Oil...$.13
Hot Sauce....FREE(leftover Taco Bell Packets)

Ingredients Total...$7.20
Serving Cost....$.90 each for 8 Generous Servings

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

Flexibility is Good for your Menu Plan & Your Bottom Line

I'm here to report that things did not go as planned last week with the menu.

Here is my lovely plan from last Sunday..... MONDAY-Meatloaf, Potato Salad(leftover), Green & Wax Bean Melange TUESDAY-Quiche & Garden Greens Salad WEDNESDAY-Roasted Chicken w/Veggies, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce THURSDAY-Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Spinach Soufle FRIDAY-Crab Cakes, Fries, Harvard Beets SATURDAY-Quesadillas(using leftover roasted chicken), Rice, Corn SUNDAY-Birthday Dinner
Out

Here's what we have actually had for meals this week.

MONDAY-Meatloaf, Potato Salad(leftover), Carrots/Broccoli/Cauliflower Melange I saw that Guy Fieri on the Food Network Diners,Drive-Ins & Dives spotlight a meatloaf wrapped in bacon dish on his show. So I made a latticework with bacon(!!)and changed up my meatloaf recipe a bit, formed a log with it and wrapped it in the bacon & aluminum foil. Cooked it for 40 mins. and then removed the foil & continued to cook the meatloaf for 15 mins or so, to get the bacon to crisp up. The kids have said they FORBID me to make meatloaf any other way from now on. I said in that case, I need to invest in a defibrillator machine for the house.lolol We polished off the Potato Salad leftover Monday also.

TUESDAY-Quesadillas(using leftover chicken from something I made last week) #1 son worked Tuesday evening and daughter had an away Track Meet, leaving hubby, #2 son and I to dine w/out them. #2 son is NOT a big eater(comparatively), so we had the Quesadillas. I had forgotten about some cooked chicken breasts leftover in the fridge from something I made last week. Since there was no Roasted Chicken yet this week(to provide leftover chicken for Quesadillas), this chicken served the purpose just fine. Unfortunately, nobody wanted chicken in their Quesadilla!lol Basically we had "Mexican Grilled Cheese" instead. At least we didn't make any new Leftovers that night.

WEDNESDAY-Quiche & Garden Greens Salad So I still had that leftover chicken to use up. So we bumped Quiche to the front of the menu line. Instead of Quiche Lorraine, we had Quiche Lorraine avec Poulet & a Salad. Bacon AND Chicken....what's not to love? I was able to use up some old carrot shreds in the Salad too.

THURSDAY-Hamburgers, Corn, Baked Beans
I forgot to defrost the Roasting Chicken(and who wants chicken 2 nights in a row?). The weather was so warm and nice, hubby wanted me to cook something on the grill outside. So I needed something fast that I could throw on the grill. I had a small hunk of ground beef that didn't go into the meatloaf(slated for the meat sauce w/the rigatoni) and about 4 nice thick slices of bacon wrapped meatloaf leftover from Monday's meal. This was just enough portions to make hamburgers/meatloaf burgers.(The adventurous got meatloaf, the purists got classic burger patties.) Added some side dishes and voila....it's dinner! Used up some leftovers and made NO new leftovers.

FRIDAY-Only 2 people ate here. I had a can of soup, one of the kids had fast food.
Hubby got sick on Friday so the Crab Cakes got postponed until the following week again!

SATURDAY-Chicken & Dumplings
On Saturday I deboned some chicken breasts I bought on thursday on clearance(an impulse buy-9lbs. of chicken for $10) and put them into the freezer for use at a later date. I boiled up the bones, picking off some remaining meat on them, disgarded the bones and had me a big pot of stock. I made dumplings from scratch. I added leftover carrots from the Corned Beef dinner side dish of the week before and some cornstarch and had 'Milkless' Chicken & Dumplings for Sat. dinner.(No milk because I didn't want to upset Hubby's still sick tummy.)
SUNDAY-Rigatoni, Lasagna, Grilled Summer Squash
Hubby wanted to postpone his Birthday meal out so Sunday we had the Rigatoni in Spaghetti Sauce, leftover Lasagna & I grilled some summer squash brushed with olive oil and sea salt.At this point, we put Roasted Chicken back into the pot of potential dinners for next week.

I was able to use up leftover Coconut Rice and the Bacon drippings(from the famous meatloaf) by adding these into the dogs' food over 2 nights of feedings. I wonder why these dogs love me so....ok, I KNOW why they love me.
The only food waste I couldn't avoid was about 1 cup of fresh spinach. It went to slime before I noticed it was still in the produce drawer.....bleh.
The thing I have discovered is having a meal plan/menu is a great tool to save you money when grocery shopping BUT.....you have to be flexible enough to change things up when life throws you a curveball. And believe me, life is all about the curveballs!

If you are rigid and can't change when faced with your families eating patterns, you will end up with more leftovers in your fridge/freezer and potentially more food waste.

I so detest food waste! It's like taking your money and throwing it directly into the garbage. That's what you're doing every time you have to throw food out that doesn't get eaten.

And figuring out what to buy and how much to prepare will NEVER stay the same in your career as your family's domestic manager! When my kids were little, their likes and dislikes changed almost hourly sometimes. One day green food was cool and was all they would eat. The next day a piece of broccoli on their plate would send them into hysterics. One day they ate like miniature Professional Eaters-In-Training.....the next, they subsisted on Cheerios and watered down juice.

As my kids have aged, I have had to adjust the size of portions upwards. When #1 son got into wrestling & was 'in season', I had to bulk up how much I cooked even more & adjust the types of food I prepared.
Now that #1 son will be heading off to a summer job across the state & then to college AND daughter has decided to stop eating red meat, I'll be adjusting the amount and what foods I cook for the family again.

All I can tell you is that getting the food shopping & menu plan accurate for your family is consistently variable.
You will always struggle with the leftovers/food waste issue if you cook for your family. And if you don't, I'm sure I can find you some mighty fine slime,.....er, leftovers in my fridge.

Sluggy

Lips, Face & Soap Deals at WAGS 4/1/09

Got out to WAGS this week. Register Rewards Deals on Chapstick, Shaving Cream & Body Wash and I needed inexpensive Razors, M&Ms and can always use Cereal. Picked up 2 of the Free after Rebate ESR Deals for April too.

TRANSACTION #1

1 Chapstick @ $1.99

Use $2.11 on Gift Card

Received $2 RR

TRANSACTION #2

1 Edge Shaving Cream @ $2.99

Use $2 RR(chapstick)+ $1.17 on Gift Card

Received $3 RR

TRANSACTION #3

1 Soft Soap Body Wash @ $3.99

2 Boxes Capn Crunch @ 2/$5

Use $3 RR(shave cream)+ $1/2 Q Cereal+ $1/1 Q SS + $4.53 on Gift Card

Receive $2 RR(Cereal) & Free Body Wash RR

TRANSACTION #4

1 Soft Soap Body Wash @ $3.99

1 Chapstick @ $1.99

Use MQ $1(body wash)+$5.34 on Gift Card

Receive $2 RR(chapstick) & FREE Body Wash RR

TRANSACTION #5

1 Edge Shaving Cream @ $2.99

1 Bic Soleil Disposable Razors @ $4.99

1 OAD Drink Mix @ $1.49

Use WQ $1(razors)+ MQ $2(razors) + $2RR(chapstick) +$4.95 on Gift Card

Receive $3 RR(shaving cream) & $1.49 REBATE at end of MONTH in ESR

TRANSACTION #6

1 Soft Soap Body Wash @ $3.99

2 Soleil Razor clearanced @ $3.59 ea.

2 Life Cereal @ 2/$5

Use 2MQ(Razors) $2 + $1/1 MQ(body wash) + $1/2(Cereal) + $3 RR(shave cream) + $7.84 OOP

Receive FREE SSBW RR & $2 RR(Cereal)

TRANSACTION #7

1 Chapstick @ $1.99

1 Bic Soleil Disposable Razors @ $4.99

1 Walitin Allergy Pills @ $6.99

Use WQ $1(razors)+ MQ $2(razors)+ $2 RR(cereal) + $2 RR(cereal)+ $7.81 OOP

Receive $2 RR(chapstick) & $6.99 Monthly REBATE for allergy meds in ESR

TRANSACTION #8

1 Edge Shaving Cream @ $2.99

1 Bic Soleil Disposable Razors @ $4.99

Use $1 WQ (razors)+ $2 MQ(razors)+$2 RR(chapstick) + $3.46 on Gift Card

Receive $3 RR(shaving cream)

TRANSACTION #9

1 Soft Soap Body Wash @ $3.99

2 Bags of M&Ms @ 2/$5

Use WQ $1(M&Ms) + $1 Q(Body wash)+ $3 RR(shave cream)+ $4.23 on Gift Card

Receive FREE SSBW RR

TRANSACTION #10

4 Soft Soap Body Wash @ $3.99 each.

Use 4 FREE Body Wash RR + $.96 Gift Card(tax)

Used $15.65 OOP

$26.75 Gift Card

$19 in RRs

$15.96 in Free Body Wash RRs

$20 in WQs & MQs

Will receive back $8.48 for REBATES

Value of Goods....$98.04(that's sale prices, don't know the reg. prices)

Savings of ..........84.04%

After rebates Savings of 92.68%

Full up on Cereal, Body Wash, Chapstick & Shave Cream now. They were out of the Reynold's Foil and Scott T.P. that was on sale. If I'm out tomorrow by there, I'll check again for the T.P. Can never have enough T.P. I always say.lolol

Sluggy

They're Baaaaaack! Can you say NEPOTISM?!

Like that little girl from the film, POLTERGEIST, exclaimed, the FBI has returned to Luzerne County.
Well, with all the corruption here, I doubt if they truly left in the first place.

Remember my post last Sat. about the Corruption at the Luzerne County Courthouse? Remember what I said about the widespread NEPOTISM in ALL segments of public work(the state paid employees-including judicial, courthouse administration, probation, police, prison & public schools)that goes to the core of the problems with this area I live in?

Well it seems that more canaries in the system are starting to sing, this time within the Public Schools.
Look at the lastest headline from our newspaper....

FBI seizes W-B Area, career center records/ The Citizens' Voice

BY DAVE JANOSKI, ERIN MOODY AND MICHAEL R. SISAKSTAFF WRITERS
Published: Friday, April 3, 2009 8:54 AM EDT
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed documents from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, the district superintendent said Thursday, and one school board member said the federal probe appears focused on the district’s hiring practices.Federal agents also visited the Plains Township campus of the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center on Thursday, seeking the names of all board members of that school since 2005. Five of Wilkes-Barre Area’s board members also serve on the Career and Technical Center’s board.
View stories, documents and videos related to the court corruption probe
U.S. Attorney Martin C. Carlson declined comment on the subpoenas Thursday and would not address how they might relate to the ongoing federal corruption probe at the Luzerne County Courthouse, which has led to guilty pleas from four high-ranking former court officials, including two judges.

For the Full Story, go HERE.
*****************************
Do ya'll think I am just hallucinating now?

As a glimpse inside our world in Luzerne County, here is an interesting tidbit that came to my attention via a local talk radio program-The Steve Corbett Show.

The Disgraced EX-Judge Mark Ciavarella has a grown daughter. Teeny Tiny Town(where I live)has 1 of the 2 best School Districts in the County to work in. Guess who got a plum teacher's job here, right out of school?

Yup, Ciavarella's daughter. New hires in our public school district make WAY OVER the median average salary for workers in our county. High starting salaries with good raises AND a Benefits Package not available anywhere else on the planet for most people(hardly ANY copays on health coverage, reimbursement for tuition spending,etc.) Add in 2+ months off a year paid and it's a very SWEET DEAL!

And guess what happened when Ciavarella's daughter married a couple of years ago? Her new hubsband was hired as a Probation Officer in the county's Probation Dept.
Even though his degree in school had nothing to do with law enforcement or social work.
Even though he had NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE in the probation field.
He lands a plum job over scads of applicants who were alot more qualified.

Looks to me like he married well.....until the "you-know-what" starting hitting the fan. I wonder if he was one of those 11 out of 80 probation officers laid off after the FBI started nosing around in the county?

There were often tales coming out of the Elementary School my kids attended. Tales of teachers who were hired as substitutes when the district was in need. And when fulltime positions opened up(a RARE occurence), these substitutes(with their experience & qualifications)were bypassed to hire unskilled new teachers.....unskilled new teachers with the RIGHT last names. Names of or related to school board and high-ranking school administrators or county politicos. Tales of applicants, extrememly qualified ones from outside this area, who were never even called for interviews for jobs that were given to local connected relatives with far less credentials(if they even HAD ANY credentials).
Another tale that The principal of my kids elementary school(now retired) got his sister(someone famous for throwing desks and screaming at the kids)a teaching position in his facility.

And how about the Ex-Major League NFL Player who grew up in Luzerne County, down the road from Teeny Tiny Town and attended a local High School. His career goes south in the NFL and he returns here and is immediately hired as the Football Coach in Teeny Tiny Town. Nevermind we have a fine Coach already. Nevermind he has NO experience as a Coach....he's marginally famous(at least in the minds of people from around here) and as important, he has the RIGHT NAME to get a plum job in this County. FYI-marginally famous ex NFLer quits the coaching job after a couple of years(after leading the team to a couple of losing seasons)and runs for a County Commisioner position, and wins. Yes, he was just using the Coaching position as a stop-gap on his way to a highly placed government job, with highly placed salary & perks.

Speaking of County Commisioners, some day maybe I'll tell you all about the LUZERNE COUNTY DEBIT CARD FIASCO. That's yet another BLACK EYE on the face of Luzerne County Politics.

I'm sure there are more Tales I am not aware of, as I never went out of my way to involve myself in the pseudo-politcal hub-bub revolving around the school district here.

I am glad to hear this news story and sincerely hope that people keep talking about the nepotism & other shady dealings that went down so we can have some HONEST and WORTHY people hired in this district.

Sluggy