All You Grocery Challenge Update

Monday - Day 8

Breakfast was cereal. We have a lot of it and it needs to get eaten up. Adults had Frosted Mini Wheats and the kids ate Life. Lunch was ham and turkey sandwiches on homemade bread with strawberries.

It was hard to come up with something for dinner since we hadn't been to the store yet, and we are out of chicken and almost out of ground meat. I ended up making Italian Chili with cornbread and fruit cocktail for dessert. We hadn't had this in a while and it was very tasty.

Tuesday - Day 9

Today we had eggs and toast for breakfast because our daughter asked for it. It was very good though. For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on homemade bread and bananas. We ended up eating Italian Chili leftovers for dinner before heading out to the store. When we got home, we all ended up having a yogurt.

During the day I ended up making a double batch of Strawnana bread, and only did up 2 trays worth, so I will be doing up more on Wednesday so that I can freeze them. I also had 3 more bananas that were pretty far gone, so I peeled them and put them in the freezer, for future use.

Wednesday - Day 10

Today for breakfast we had oatmeal with cut-up strawberries. For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and oyster crackers. Dinner was homemade mac n cheese and hot dogs. Also today was a baking day. I made up the rest of the muffins and then froze them. More on that in a future post. I also made up pizza dough. I froze one after the first rising, and froze the other two after I had baked the crust for about 20 minutes. I was a baking fool! LOL.

Shopping Trip 7/21

We ended up doing our grocery shopping tonight and we did pretty well. We went to 3 stores, all within a few miles of each other. We still need to go get ground , chicken and some fresh vegetables later this week. I went over my intended $50 budget for the week, but it was unavoidable. The last few weeks, Tops has not had that great of deals so I didn't stock up on much.


ALDI'S

Our first stop was Aldi's. I shop at Aldi's for things that usually don't go on sale or for things that are cheaper no matter what. These are usually baking goods, and they have really good prices on milk and eggs.

• 2 sponges with green scrubby surface $.99 (+.08 tax) - non-food
  
• 2 containers of Parmesan Cheese $2.39 each
  
• 3 lbs of unsalted butter $.99 each
  
• flour tortillas $.99
  
• 4 boxes of corn muffin mix $..35 each
  
• 4 5 lb bags of flour $1.59 each
  
• 3 packets of taco mix seasoning $.33 each
  

Amount Spent: $18.56
Approx Amount Saved: $11+
Grocery Challenge Amount: $17.49

TARGET

We then headed over to Target. I wanted to look at some of their frozen meat and dinners. I have several regular manufacture coupons which combined with the Target coupons, could have saved us some money. Upon looking at the prices at the store, I decided to wait and buy them at another time. I am hoping that they will go on sale. Upon looking at my receipt when I got home I noticed that the cashier rang in $1.30 instead of taking $1.30 off as a coupon. I am not sure what I am going to do about this yet, if anything.

• 4 boxes of Kraft Mac N Cheese $.52 each = $2.08. I had a coupon for buy 3 and get one free and I believe this is where the cashier made the mistake by adding in the $1.30. Otherwise, I would have gotten 4 of them for $1.56
  
• Kashi cereal on sale for $2.99 (hubby wanted it lol) and I had a Target coupon for $1 off, making it $1.99
• Ghiradelli chocolate chips (yummmm) On clearance for $2.33 and I had a Target coupond for $.75 making it $1.58
• International Delight $1.57 and I had an internet printable for $1 off one, making this $.57
• 1 Degree fine fragrance deodorant and one spray. $3.64 each = $7.28. I had 2 target coupons for $2 off one, and a manufacture internet coupon for $1 off two. So, I ended up paying $2.28 for two. This is great since I really love the smell of these! -non-food
  
• 2 Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste sample size $.97, these were free after two coupons for free sample. -non-food
  
• 10 bottles of Sobe Life Water (hubby's idea)on sale for $1 each and received a $5 gift card to be used on a future visit
• 3 boxes of Kleenex with aloe 130 ct on originally $1.58 each, on clearance for $1.08 per box = $3.24. I had a $1 off 3 target coupon and a $.50 manufacture coupon which made them 3/$1.74 or $.58 each - non-food
  
• 24 ct of Crayola crayons $.27. - non-food
  
• 200ct of straws $1.00 - non-food

Original Amount: $45.70
Amount Saved: $22.35
Amount Paid: $23.35
Grocery Challenge Amount: $17.02

TOPS

Our last stop was Tops. By this time it was 6:40 and hubby was getting anxious because his baseball game was going to be on in 25 minutes! Nothing like being rushed through the store. So, needless to say I forgot a couple things. I had wanted to get a ham steak that was on sale for $2 and some pork chops that were on sale for $1.99 a pound. I guess I will just get it later in the week when we are in the area again. Here is what we bought:

• Spongebob pinata for birthday party. Original price $15.99, on clearance for $1.99.
  
• 5 2-liters of various Diet Pepsi on sale for $1 plus $.05 NY deposit
• 2 cans of Bumblee tuna on sale for $.89 each. Used internet printable for $1 off 2 to make them $.39 each
• box of Tops brand diapers, originally $18.89. On clearance for $9.44.
• 2 boxes of Tops instant oatmeal (Aldi's still doesn't have any) on sale for $2 each
• 2 kids character chairs (one pink with princess and the other red with Lightning McQueen - for the little kids) originally $6.99 each, on clearance for $3.49
• 4 Breyer's yogurts $.60 each. Used 2 Breyers coupons that said $1 off any 2 Breyers products, making these $.10 each
• 2 gallons of skim milk. $1.99 each
• 9 Weight Watchers yogurts 6/$4= $6, used 3 internet printables for $.55 off 3 which doubles to $1.10 each, making these $.30 each

Original Amount: $79.17
Amount Saved: $42.15
Amount Paid: $37.02
Grocery Challenge Amount: $17.53

I also wanted to let you all know that there are some coupons for Hunt's Snack packs, Chef Boyardee, and more, click here.

Free Food and Veggies from the Garden

FREE FOOD

Well, yesterday we went to an informal wedding reception and was sent home with a bunch of food. I don't ever pass up free food! LOL. Especially right now, with neither of us working, every little bit helps. So here is what we were given:

So, as you can see from the above pictures, we got a plate full of deli meats, some bottles of beer for hubby, 8 cans of soda (which we usually do not drink but eventually they will get drank), 15 large rolls and half a watermelon. YUMMY! Oh, we were also given 5 cupcakes, but one was gone before we got home (thanks to hubby) and the rest were eaten when we got home - one per person.


OUR GARDEN

We also were quite surprised at how well our first garden is doing. Everything is just getting larger. We were able to pick a green pepper, some pea pods, and spinach yesterday. The lettuce also needs to be thinned out, so we will take quite a bit of that and make salads with it. The beans will also be ready soon.

As you can see in the picture above, we picked a green pepper, spinach, and we also picked some peas that were eaten raw. We don't have many pea plants because most of the seeds did not grow. We also picked wild blackberries. YUMMY!

All You Grocery Challenge Daily Roundup

Saturday- Day 6

Breakfast:
Dry cereal. Still have a lot of it, so we need to eat it up. We still do not have oatmeal because Aldi's is out of it for a while. I asked and was told it was discontinued for a while. So, I think tomorrow we will just have regular oatmeal (quick oats) with some strawberries or blueberries in it and maybe a splash of sugar if the berries are tart.


Lunch:
Went to a wedding at 1 o'clock. Afterwards was an informal reception where they had deli meats, fruits and salads. It was very yummy. The little kids ate lots of fruits, though they hardly touched their sandwiches.


Dinner:
We were munching all afternoon, so we didn't have an actual dinner. We just snacked on fruit and other leftovers from the party.



Aldi's Trip

After the reception, we stopped by Aldi's since it was on our way home. My intention was to get some more oatmeal for the little kids, but they ended up still not having any. I ended up getting quite a bit of stuff:

• 2 one pound containers of strawberries $1.45 each
• a pint of blueberries $1.49
• 2 pounds of grapes $2.99
• 4 large bananas @ $.39 a pound = $.71
• 2 boxes of popcorn 6ct for $1.49 each
• a gallon of skim milk $1.75
• 2 tubs of Tastes like Butter $.99 each
• 1 pound of sliced ham $3.49
• box of garbage bags $2.49+$.20 tax (not included in food total)

So I spent $20.98 minus the bags ($2.69), for a total of $18.09 added to our grocery budget for the week.

All You Grocery Challenge Daily Roundup - Day 2

Tuesday - Day 2

So, we are done with the second day of the grocery challenge. I did pretty darn good, though I can't say my husband did. He's going to be the death of me, I swear. LOL. He took my older son with him to go work on our land and tend to the garden, and on the way home they grabbed food at Taco Bell. He spent $9.88. He also spent $2.29 on a gallon of milk. I did send him over to get the milk though. So, I will now be adding this to this week's totals.

Breakfast/Lunch:
We all got up late this morning, so we had a brunch. I made more blueberry pancakes today. Although, I tried to make them from scratch and they tasted funny. Darn Betty Crocker recipe. Yuck! I will not be making that recipe again! We also had eggs and toast.

Dinner:

Since my husband and son were gone, I knew I had to make something that wouldn't require too much time in the kitchen. With two kids under the age of 3, you don't know what they will get into when your back is turned. I had had something else planned for dinner, but we will just have that another time. I had frozen homemade mac n cheese with broccoli a few weeks ago, and I threw that in the oven for dinner. It seemed to take forever. I guess I forgot that it usually takes more than an hour to cook when it is frozen. But it was tasty and the kids ate it quickly. We then had some fruit cocktail and for dessert, a chocolate chip cookie.

I used up the Nestle swirl chocolate chips that I got on clearance last week for $1.49 a package. These turned out yummy! I baked up about 30 of them, and the rest were scooped out, flash froze, put in freezer bags and placed in freezer for future use.

Along with the cookies and the pancakes, I also made bread today. 6 loaves to be exact. I made up one set of loaves while the little man was napping. I decided that I wanted to get some extra loaves in the freezer, so as soon as my bowl was free, I started making up another 3 loaves. I am thinking that I need to invest in another large mixing bowl and 3 more bread pans. That way I could 6 loaves at a time. Wouldn't that be sweet?

All You Grocery Challenge Daily Roundup

Monday - Day 1
So, it would have been a no-spend day, but hubby grabbed coffee and 4 granola bars on the way to his uncle's house. Ggggrrrr. There goes $2.40 I wasn't planning on spending. Other than that we did really well today.

Breakfast:
We had cinnamon toast on homemade (yummy) bread and apple slices. The kids gobbled this up. They like the cinnamon toast and I like the fact that there is no high fructose corn syrup or preservatives in it. And the apple slices went perfect with it!

Lunch:
Ham and cheese sandwiches on homemade bread along with a banana. It was very tasty and pretty good for us.

Dinner:
I made pancakes with blueberries with an omelet. The omelet had cheese and a little bit of bacon bits, along with some pepper, of course. The kids devoured it all. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it. Our dinners are usually pretty hectic around here. LOL.

Lack of meal planning this week

As you may have noticed, I didn't post my meal plan this week. It just seemed like I every time I had a few moments to work on it, something would come up. Well, let me tell you, it has really messed me up. It took me so long tonight to figure out what to make for diner! Now some people would be tempted to order take out or go out to eat on a night like this, but that is not even a little feasible with our budget right now. So, I was going to make spaghetti with homemade bread (I made this the other night) and a green beans, but hubby didn't want that. So, we ended up having frozen fish sticks, curly fries and carrots and peas. It wasn't the healthiest meal, but it was filling, cheap and not as bad for us as eating out. Lesson learned! I will be doing a meal plan for the next few days and will make it my number one priority to plan next week's meals over the weekend.

Speaking of the bread I made, it turned out great. It was a little difficult to cut into nice thinner slices, but found when I put it in the freezer for a while it made it a lot easier. I have a few slices left of one loaf, and another full loaf in the freezer. I am going to do up more bread tomorrow to put in the freezer. My goal is to be a few days ahead in bread production in order to keep us from eating the store bought bread. The recipe makes 3 loaves of sandwich bread and if you would like to make it, you can find the recipe here.

Meal Planning Saves Money

Would you like a way to save money easily, with or without using coupons? Well, meal planning is it. Planning your meals can not only save you time during the week, but also save you money. It also helps keep you from walking into the kitchen and searching for half an hour trying to figure out what are going to make for your family.

Menu planning does not have to be an elaborate thing. It doesn't have to be complicated or look fancy. You can use a blank calendar that you buy from the store, or that you print off the Internet or Microsoft Word. You could also use a spreadsheet and just list the days in a single column. Or, you could also just use a scrap piece of paper (to save on paper).

I usually just list mine on a piece of paper or in a spreadsheet. It is easier to do it in a spreadsheet because you can move things and delete things easily. It really is about your preferences though.

After you decide what kind of format you would like to use for your meal planning, you need to check your schedule for that week. Is there something going on a certain day. Is there a picnic or other event where you will be eating? You won't want to schedule a meal for that day then. Is there a day where your kid has a game at 6 pm? If so, you will want to plan on making something easy and quick.

You will also want to check your cupboards and freezer and see if there are meals that you already have most ingredients for. You can also meal plan around the weekly sales at your local grocery store. All you need to do now is fill in which meals you would like to make each night. Just remember, you can always change meals around if you'd like.

After filling in the week's worth (or you can plan for more than a week if you would like), make a list of ingredients you will have to buy to make those meals for the week. When you go to the store, just buy the stuff on the list. You will save a lot of money doing it this way. If you stock up on things for your stockpile when you get great deals, and then plan your menu around your stockpile, you could possibly have very little to buy each week for your meals.

As I make the meals each night I cross them off my list, that way I know I made the meal and the ingredients are not available anymore. What I also did to help myself menu plan, was to do a list of all the meals I make on a regular basis. I posted it on the inside of my cupboard and use it for meal planning and for when I have not had time to meal plan. These are the meals that I always keep ingredients in my stockpile for.

I hope this helps you plan your meals and saves you lots of money. Let me know if you already meal plan or if you are going to start. How do you plan your meals?

Words of the Week Wednesday

Every Wednesday I write about 1-3 sites I have found recently that I think you will like to go visit. Today's sites are:

1. Stouffer's is having a contest on their site. Usually I don't post contests, but I really think that it's a very interesting contest. In order to get an entry into the contest each week, you have to post a goal of how many times you want to eat at home with your family. Then at the end of the week you fill in how many times you ate at home, and that enters you in the contest each week. I think it is a wonderful that they are promoting eating at home with your family. Not only does it promote family and together time, it also saves you money. You can check out the contest at Take the Challenge -Let's Fix Dinner.
2. Have you ever made homemade bread? It is so yummy. But many homemade breads are not good as sandwich bread. Ever try putting peanut butter and jelly on regular homemade bread? Doesn't work very well. I found a delicious recipe for homemade sandwich bread. A fellow member at Frugal Village posted it on there and it is so awesome! You can find the recipe on the White Sandwich Bread thread. While you're there, browse around the rest of Frugal Village. It is a wonderful place where people share their frugal tips with each other.
   
3. Erin from $5 Dinner.com was recently featured on Raychel Ray. You can see the show segment here. Erin's blog centers around how she feeds her family for $5 per meal. She uses the stores' weekly ads and coupons to plan her meals for the week. She not only provides recipes, but also pictures of the meals when she makes them. She also just got a contract to write a cookbook! Congrats Erin!

If you have any blogs or sites (anything dealing with frugality, money or coupons), please leave it in my comments and I will look it over for possible inclusion in the next Words of the Week Wednesday.

What a great site for all us frugalistas!!!

One of the Yahoo groups that I belong to, but I seldom take an active role, had this link last week. http://tastyplanner.com/ I checked it out and it is really awesome! I think it could really help all of us plan our meals and shop better.

Sign up is free, of course. I wouldn't be singing its praises otherwise. lol. You can find recipes that other users have added and even add your own recipes. I really like the meal planner. It is as simple as dragging and dropping the recipe into the day's column. The ingredients you will need to make your menu for the week, will automatically be added to the grocery list. You can then print out your list or access it using an iPhone (Being a frugalista, I, of course, do not have one of these, but a girl can dream can't she?)

So, if you are not meal planning yet or are doing it on paper, check this site out. I think you will find it very interesting. Let me know what you think of it.

Blog of the week

Each week I will be posting a blog that I find interesting or informative. I will add the link and talk about things I find particularly interesting. Please feel free to add your comments.

This week I chose 5 Quick Ways to Save on Money on Groceries on The Daily Dish blog.

The first way she says you can save money is to cook from scratch. This is so true, especially if you have a family. If there are 5 people in your family and you each eat a frozen dinner at $2 a piece, that is $10 for one meal. Many times I can make a dinner that will feed all us plus have leftovers for a day or two for around $5. I have heard that 90% of your food should not have any ingredients, they should be ingredients. My family is currently working on this, though I do sometimes resort to using a box of macaroni and cheese or a can of soup. An added bonus to cooking from scratch is that you know what's in it and you can control the amount of salt or sugar that is added.

The second way she talks about saving money is by using coupons. Coupons are great and in the past I have saved a lot of money. I would go from having to pay like $50 down to $30 or even less. Lately though, the amount of coupons in the Sunday paper have been decreased dramatically. Last Sunday I think there were 10 actual coupons in the paper. You can print coupons online but not all stores takes these, so you will need to ask them. Also with coupons you need to look at how much other brands cost. Sometimes it is not worth it to use the coupon, even when doubled. Lately we have been buying generics and shopping at Aldi's.

Buying in bulk is the writer's third way to save money. This is true sometimes. You have to be careful though. Just because it's a bigger box, doesn't mean it's a better price. I have noticed a lot lately that buying several smaller boxes/cans can often times be the same price or cheaper than buying in bulk. Check out the unit price on the shelf or use your calculator/cell phone calculator to find out if you are actually getting a better deal. To figure the unit cost all you have to do is take the price of the product and divide it by the ounces or pounds that are in there. I also sometimes divide it by the number of products if there are single things in there, like granola bars, oatmeal packets, etc.

Number four is 100% correct. Shopping on an empty stomach is just asking for trouble. If you're hungry, all those packages of chips and cookies are going to be really tempting.

Meal planning and making a list will save you quite a bit of money, especially if you can stick to your list. I meal plan for 2 weeks, since this I shop every 2 weeks. I take my list and next to each product, I write down where I want to buy it and an approximate cost of that product.

So, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with what the blog says or with what I wrote? Let me know what you think.