This Week on the Dining Table

The "Best Coffee Mug Ever!" Edition................

Saw this gem at Walmart recently.  I might just have to put this in Hubs' Christmas Stocking this year. hehehe

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--London Broil, Corn on Cob

2. Monday--Chicken Fried Steak, Gravy, Mashed Taters, Cabbage(I'll just have Mashed Ts and Cabbage since I don't like CFS)

3. Tuesday--Tempura Shrimp, Veggies

4. Wednesday--Lasagna, Salad

5. Thursday--Tacos or Taco Salad

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--London Broil, Corn on Cob

2. Monday--Chicken Fried Steak, Gravy, Mashed Taters, Mixed Veg

3. Tuesday--Tempura Shrimp, Zuke

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Lasagna, Garlic Bread
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.  Nobody wanted salad with the Lasagna and the cabbage didn't get eaten, but otherwise everything got made/eaten as planned but maybe not on the specified day.

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* Nothing

I bought nothing to stick into the freezer last week.  Imagine that?! lolz

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* London Broil
* Chicken Fried Steak Patties(6)
* 2 lbs. Shrimp

Two trips to Weis($37.33), a trip to Ocean State Job Lot($16.77)and a tiny trip to Shursave market($10.12)brought the weekly spending to $64.22 and my August total to $181.16.

My savings percentage last week was 48.98%(without Rite-Aid trips)and August's monthly savings total comes in at 46.32%(w/out R-A). 

I have 12 more food shopping/spending days in August and $218.84 left in my $400 food budget for this month.

Leftovers going into this week......Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Mixed Veg and Gravy(from the CFS).
I also have some leftover enchilada sauce I made awhile back that needs to be used up(I don't want to have to put it into the freezer)and some cooked turkey and chicken odds and ends IN the freezer so I'll make a small pan of enchiladas for the menfolk this week and use both up.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Tacos and/or Taco Salad

2. Monday--Garlic Pork Loin, Mac and Cheese, Cabbage

3. Tuesday--Baked Catfish, French Fries, Mixed Veg

4. Wednesday--Chicken/Turkey Enchiladas, Rice, Beans

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Pizza(maybe), Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers
Plus we will have sliced tomatoes and cukes to fill in if we are a low on a dish or someone doesn't want something served(me usually).

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
Through Wednesday is suppose to be the hottest weather so the Pork loin will be done in the crock pot and I'll bake off Tues. and Wed. dinners together on Tuesday.

What needs buying for this menu?
Maybe tortillas, I haven't checked yet if I have any in the stockpile.
I am going to the produce market today for some veg and lunch meat too but that's all that is planned for the shopping this week.
I do have a $5 wyspend $25 Q for Weis that expires the end of the month.  The next Weis ad is a 2 weeker that is pretty "meh" so I may use this Q before Thursday's new sales week. 
Either way I'll be shooting for $60 or less spent.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy  

Random Stuff Lately

Here's a bunch of stuff, nothing substantial enough for it's own post............

*  About that "Eat for Free" Deal at OSJL, here is a pic of the signage I snapped............

I may have to go back for some of that grapeseed oil, salt and energy drinks for Ex-College Boy.


*  I know KIM will find this hard to believe but..............

I did NOT dip into this pond with lots of coins in it at the amusement park we took eldest and GF to last month.
Ok, so Hubs threatened me if I DARED to even think of reaching into that pond. lolz


*  This house down the street was sold and the folks who bought it totally reconfigured it, tripled the size of the garage and then re-sided it.

  It went from a washed out Ivory to this Blue.  I think Urspo would call this Prussian Blue?


*  I've been getting some interesting spam comments lately.  If they don't leave website links I have put a few through just for the amusement level.
Here are some I didn't put through because they go on the advertise a website, but some of this is comic gold I tell ya! lololz

"The author is known by common history of Patsy but large number of misspell the following.  Montana is her birth point.  Dispatching is just how I support my in addiction to it's something I really like.  Her husband doesn't like it the way she does but what she really likes doing is ballet and these days she has time in order to on issues......"

"Greetings. The authors name is Santiago Vos but he doesn't like people today use his full logo.   Colorado is her birth place but she can have to move one day or just one more.  He is really fond of body building and now he has time to battle new facts.  Meter reading is my employment now but soon I am on mine...."

"I want to have to introduce myself to you, I am Kristy Magdaleno.  To climb is the things I do obtain.  Indiana is where he as well as the wife live and his family loves it.  In her professional life is actually an interviewer......"

"Hello dear visitor.  I'm Valentin.  My wife. i choose to exist in New York and I've everything when I need at this juncture.  Auditing has been his employment for your time.  Acting is the hobby she is never going to stop doing..."

"Nice fulfill you, my name is Jaime and my wife doesn't take pleasure in at.  Montana is her birth place but could have to hold one day or another......"

Hubs finally got his room emptied enough that he could go order carpet for that room.  I told him to get something in stock so we weren't waiting a month+ for the rug to come in before we could get this scheduled to be installed.
Here's what he got...a nondescript brown/tan thing... and it's getting installed on Friday.
Now he is under a deadline to get the room painted and of course it's going to be the worst temps of the Summer here the next 4 days.  I hope he doesn't ask me to help him paint since he refuses to put an a/c in his room.  That will show him......lolz


*  I noticed something when we got those boxes of cereal on Thursday for .48¢ each.............

Box Tops for Education have gone bye bye!  Or rather, they have gone digital/electronic.
No more clipping box tops.  Now you scan the thing and you have an smartphone app account.
Bad news for those of us who clipped BTFE and sold them on eBay.  *sad face*

*  The garden is starting to produce frequently now...........

While the cauliflower is done and the broccoli is almost finished, the tomatoes are ramping up.
No yellow squash this year(the one squash that formed withered on the vine)and only a few cukes.
This colander weighed in at 61.8 ounces of yummy veggies.  A green tomato because a storm this week knocked it off the vine.

Maybe I'll hit the farm later this week(after the heat breaks)and get a load of tomatoes to can if the prices are reasonable.  I've got to dig out my quart canning jars to see how much I can put up without having to buy jars.


*  The morning glory vines have taken over the deck railing and the back garden..........

And the shot of the other end of the deck.

*  I finally had my appointment at the HS Clinic down at Hershey Medical.  It went well.  They classified me at Stage II right now(of course I stopped flaring the week before the appointment....isn't that how it always goes?  Your symptoms get better right before you see a doctor. lol

Anyway, I don't qualify for a clinical trial they have going now since I'm not Stage III(sigh)but the doc did put me on Humira.  Boy was THAT an ordeal getting my insurance to pay for it!  Much too long of a story but the Cliff notes are I was on the phone with insurance, prescription plan and their specialty pharmacy for TWO FREAKING HOURS, each one telling me to call the other to get answers.
I got approval and with the Humira card as well my $50 co-pay went down to $5 per month so that was a big win.  Once I am on Medicare at age 65 costs will be much higher, if I am still on this drug.  At present, depending on which Part D Rx plan you opt into(and pay for)Humira could run me $700 a month but that's a can better kicked down the road 4.5 years and we'll deal with it at that point in time.

*  Speaking of Hershey Medical.........this is what I spied leaving the building............

One of those nasty used dental picks in the flower bed(it's the green blurb in the photo).  Honestly, I see these things everywhere!!  At the nasty dirty Weis(PMITA)Markets parking lot at the store West of here, in the handicapped parking spot at my Rite-Aid.....just about every place I go.  Come on!, have a little class people!  If you insist on flossing in public at least throw your nasty ass pick in a garbage can.


*  From the annuals of  "how to waste your money", I got this great offer *cough* in the Sunday paper recently..............

A Disney themed duffle bag.  18"x12"x9" with officially licensed Disney art for the extra low price of $129.95 + sales tax adn $14.99 shipping.
I am no fan of Disney to begin with but you could just speed down the interstate and throw fist fulls of dollar bills out your car's window instead of paying that sort of money for that sort of item. 8-)

*  I need to sit down for a few hours and clean out my inbox.  I also need to sit down and start writing posts about my road trips.

 Good Gawd I just realized I am TWO years behind since I haven't posted about the trip out West two Summers ago.....Geez!

*  And to close here is a meme I got a chuckle out of and posted on Facebook last week.  I am an equal opportunity hater when it comes to politicians and their parties so don't go getting all pissy at me if you are Clinton lover.  . ;-)

And that's a wrap for Sunday.  I am off to organize my pantry/stockpile.
What are you up to today?


Sluggy










Sluggy

Rite-Aid Pillaging This Week

So I hit R-A this week channeling my inner Viking and got this............

Rite-Aid had snail mailed me a sheet of R-A Qs so I used 4 of them, including a $4 off wyspend $20 Q.

2 x Mitchum deo BOGO50%=$7.23
1 x Biscoff cookies 20% Wellness disc.=$2.71
1 x Kokie cosmetic brush 20% Wellness disc.=$5.99
4 x Big Win candy bags on sale=$6.00
SubTotal.....$21.93

Coupons Used
1 x $4 wyspend $20 R-AQ=$4.00
1 x $3/1 Mitchum R-AQ=$3.00
1 x $2/1 Mitchum curves type ManuQ=$3.00
1 x $1/1 Mitchum ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Biscoff R-AQ=$2.00
1 x $2.50/1 Kokie brushes R-AQ=$2.50
1 x $4/1 Kokie IPQ=$4.00
Coupon Total........$18.50

$21.93-$18.50=$3.43 paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned back $2 BC for buying 4 candy bags.
And I earned $5.99 tracking toward a $6 BC Deal wyspend $12 on Kokie items.

Just a heads up if you got those snail mailed Qs from R-A.  If you try to use the $X off wys $XXX one and any of the rest of the Qs on that sheet in the same transaction they will beep.
We voided and redid the transaction when that happened and tried the $X off wys $XXX Q last and then that one said it had already been used(because it got deactivated when it was rang up on the transaction that was voided). Ugh

The manager just took $4 off my order for that Q since I couldn't use it another day now.
Something always goes wrong at Rite-Aid lately....even their Qs, the ONES THEY SEND YOU don't work right!!!

I bought this today on the same card/account........

2 x Reese's thins on sale=$6.00
1 x Kokie nail polish 20% Wellness disc.=$3.99
SubTotal.........$9.99

Coupons Used
2 x $2/1 Reese's thins tear padQ from Spring that expire Halloween=$4.00
1 x $4/1 Kokie item IPQ=$4.00
Coupon Total.......$8.00

$9.99-$8.00=$1.99 paid for this BC.
Tracking on the Kokie Deal is now $9.98.

Then I bought this..........

1 x snack bags(in $1 area)205 Wellness disc.=.80¢
1 x Kokie nail polish 20% Wellness disc.=$3.99
SubTotal.........$4.79

Coupons Used
1 x $4/1 Kokie item IPQ=$4.00

$4.79-$4.00=.79¢ + .05¢ tax=.84¢ paid for with BC.
I hit the Kokie $12 spent threshold so earned back $6 in new Bonus Cash.

If you have that Kokie PDF IPQ that expires 8/31, remember you can only use one per transaction.
If you have the 20% Wellness discount you'll have to buy something to cover the .01¢ of overage the Kokie Q gives you too.

Total BC spent was $6.26, new BC earned was $8($2 candy, $6 Kokie)for everything pictured in this post.

Next week will be all about spending down ALL my Bonus Cash.


Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the August 16th Edition

Here's what passed for frugal around Chez Sluggy this week...........

* Besides my usual trips to R-A, Weis and the Shursave market Hubs and I went to the movies.............

The movie theater near where Ex-College Boy works has $5.50 movies on Tuesday.

I love the caption on this display...."Think your family is weird?".
Well I KNOW Hubs' family is. lolz

I paid for the tickets then Hubs started pouting about getting popcorn and drinks since we didn't eat lunch before going.  I told him I bought the tickets with my WAM so he could use his WAM to eat/drink if he wanted it that badly.  When I go to the movies alone I NEVER buy food there and I guess he had forgotten that since the last movie we went to together was "Amelia" back in 2009(very bad movie that one!).
In the end Hubs passed on spending his WAM.

*  I got lots of goodies at Rite-Aid...........

Here's the pdf Rite-Aid released earlier this Summer of that Kokie Q.....

Remember only use 1 per transaction.

* I found money!

A dime in the foyer of Rite-Aid.  I found a dime before in this same location last week or so too!

Then I found a penny on that same trip to R-A, in the parking lot walking out of the store.

Then yesterday another penny, this time in the Shursave market near the Customer Service desk.

*  I did the "Eat for Free" Deal at Ocean State Job Lot this week........

I already posted about this.   $10.78 in food and a $10.78 gift card if I use it to buy food as well means I will have spent 50% less on each transaction(and I already saved money off of regular retail price too).

* The best deal at the stores this week was the Thursday Only Sale at the Shursave market......

New varieties of cold cereals were .99¢ a box but had a limit of 2.  I had $1/2 ManuQs so I hd to get two of the same variety so I got 2 boxes of blueberry Cheerios for Hubs' and it cost .98¢ for both.
I came home with his Cheerios and told him my sad tale of woe about not being able to get MY cereal of choice and he went up there and got 2 boxes of Peanut Butter Chex and used another $1/2 Q I had for the Chex.  4 boxes of cereal for $1.99 total OOP or .48¢ per box.


*  I've picked three more tomatoes from the garden............

No photos beyond the first one I picked earlier this month but enjoying "real" homegrown tomatoes is a great perk of the heat and humidity of Summer and frugal as hell! lolz

That's about it from here.
Ne eating out. No Weis freebie(I just couldn't be bothered to go last Friday.).
Frugal entertainment has been Amazon Prime on the TV(Hell's Kitchen and movies)and checking in on the frog who has taken up residence in my Croc shoe on the back deck. lololz

How was your week frugal-wise?
Tell us about your wins!


Sluggy

Eat For Free!.....at Ocean State Job Lot

Now I knew that title would get some folks attention but seriously, it's what Ocean State Job Lot store calls this program they have.  You have to have a store loyalty card to do this deal, also called a Job Lot Insider Card(you need that card as well to partake of any "coupon" deals there as well).

Here's the info from their website..............

Job Lot Insiders Eat for Free!*

Free food! Need we say more? At Ocean State Job Lot we understand how important it can be to put food on the table for the best value possible, so we’re giving our Insiders a way to “Eat for Free!” Well, pretty close to it, anyway.

Did you know that every Job Lot location has an “Eat For Free!” section where you can find loads of gourmet pastas, sauces, cookies, crackers, beverages, condiments and snacks that you love? As long as you’re a Job Lot Insider, when you spend at least $10 on those select items, we’ll hand you a Crazy Deal™ Gift Card for the same amount you spent!

When you buy $10 worth of food, you'll get a $10 Crazy Deal™ Gift Card. When you buy $25 worth of food, you'll get a $25 Crazy Deal™ Gift Card. You could even buy $153.21 worth of food and get a $153.21 Crazy Deal™ Gift Card! The possibilities are endless!

Our “Eat For Free!” food selection is changing constantly, so check back often to see what’s available. Any questions? Ask an associate how you can “Eat for Free!” today!

So basically how ever much you spend on food items in this special section of their store they give you the equivalent amount of money on a Crazy Deals Store Gift Card.

The first time I went into our newly opened OSJL store I guess they hadn't set up this "Eat for Free" food section yet because I just noticed it on this trip and it was no where near the food aisles.

I thought from the signage on the table in my store that you only got a $10 Gift Card back so I tired to stay as close to $10 as possible but over $10 so the deal would kick in.

Here's what I bought..........

2 x cans of Porcini mushroom pieces=$2.00
1 x Indian dish mix=$2.00
2 x bamboo shoots=$1.78
2 x cranberry/orange baking "chips"=$4.00
1 x Asian Stir-Fry sauce mix=$1.00
Total.......$10.78

And here's what I got back.........

A store gift card for $10.78 good on anything in the store. As far as I can tell there is no expiration date either.  ;-)

There are rules about using a Crazy Deal gift card(can't buy gift cards with it, can't pay for Insider Deal items, can't get another Crazy Deal GC if you use your Crazy Deal GC to pay for another Crazy Deal item so you can't roll this GC into perpetuity to get free food.

As I suspected many of the items(there were a good variety of items)were close to their sell by dates so you have to be aware of that.(Ex-CB loves ranch dressing and they had lots of it in this section but as it was short dated I didn't pick any of that up.)  I didn't go crazy and buy lots but just stuff I knew we'd use and soon.
They had both unusual items(gourmet/upscale foodstuffs)and everyday use items like cooking oil, salt and salad dressing and they say the particular items change frequently.

It's a clever way for them to clear out old items and give customers a "deal" on them. 8-)

I also bought on this trip........

1 x Oyster Sauce=$2.00
1 x 8 oz. Pecans=$3.99

All totaled I spent $16.77 OOP and earned a $10.78 gift card.  There are a few food items I buy there, things I can get cheaper there than other places(see pecans and oyster sauce above lol)so I'll have no problem using that $10.78 gift card.

This could be another little way to stretch your food dollars if utilized well.


Have you ever partaken of the "Eat for Free" Deal at OSJL?
Yeah or Nay on this promo?


Sluggy