Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Extra money for your snowball....

I heard about ChaCha from a friend. It is an online question answering service. The best part? They pay "guides" to answer questions. My friend said she makes between $150-200 a month for a few hours of work when she has the extra time. If you are interested in signing up I would appreciate you using my info. Just leave a comment and I will send you the info. $200 would really get our snowball rolling.......

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bargain Meal of the Week- Homeland

This is one of my favorite meals. It's easy and always turns out good.

Buy:
1 lb. stew meat @ 2.99/lb
1 can cream of mushroom soup (not sure of price, but here's a coupon)
http://promotion.familytime.com/cscc/default.asp
1 can lemon lime Shasta .20 (DO NOT buy diet. It matters. And it's gross. For your meat, especially.)
1 package onion soup mix
1 can Libby's peas .60
1 can B.C. biscuits .44 (that's Best Choice, not before Christ!)

Put stew meat in crockpot.
Sprinkle with onion soup mix.
Add cream of mushroom soup.
Pour in 8 oz of soda. (Give other 4 oz to your kiddo. You will be the coolest mom ever if you let her drink it from the can!)
Cook on low 5-6 hours or until meat is done.
Serve with white rice (my favorite) or egg noodles (hubby's favorite)

Total: app. 4.23

Monday, February 23, 2009

Menu Plan Monday 2/23

I cooked all afternoon so all I have to do this week is warm things up. I have been so lazy lately. We have not been very diligent with our menu. We are trying lots of new things this week so hopefully eating at home will be more exciting. I've got 2 crockpots going right now, one with tonights dinner and 1 with chicken for tomorrow's dinner. I cooked 3 lbs of ground beef, froze 2, put 1 into a semi-homemade spaghetti sauce. I bought Ragu when Walgreens had it on sale and I think it is disgusting! My recipe called for a jar of spaghetti sauce with a bunch of other ingredrients (onions, garlic, spices, etc) so I hope it's better. It smells good! Here's our week:

M- Saucy Chicken Thighs, broccoli, rice, rolls
Recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Saucy-Chicken-Thighs
T- P.C. Broccoli and Chicken Braid, salad
W- Semi-Homemade Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mom-s-Spaghetti-Sauce
T- BBQ Pork Ribs, pasta salad, corn
F- sandwiches
S- Chili from freezer, cornbread
S- Mexican lasagna
Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=mexican+lasagna

I shopped Homeland, Target, and WM (ad matches) today. Total oop- 49.63 (And I got meat and fresh produce!)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Bargain meal of the week- Homeland

Chicken thighs are on sale for $1/lb. this week. I don't usually cook thighs but I have read on other blogs they cook up great in the crockpot. This is a 2 step recipe. Step 1- cook thighs in crockpot with some season salt. Shred the chicken when done. Then make these, http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Flautas/Detail.aspx Yummy! FYI- the reviews say to use more oil and to omit the cheddar cheese. I, personally, would use colby jack or mexican blend. This recipe makes 36 flautas so unless you are REALLY hungry, I would freeze some for an afternoon snack.

Chicken thighs (2lbs)- $2.00
-.75/1 1/25 SS= .50 (prices will vary by weight)
Season salt- $1
- $1/2 1/18 SS= 2 for free!
Corn tortillas (Santa Fe) - $1.00
6 ears of corn (Allens)- $1.00
Lipton rice sides (Taco is our favorite mexican variety)- $1.00
- .75/2 1/18 RP= .25
Bush's seasoned black beans (not on sale) .99


Meal- Chicken flautas, taco flavored rice, corn on the cob, seasoned black beans
Total oop- 3.74

Monday, February 16, 2009

Menu Plan Monday 2/15

I love weeks like this one. Every meal is from my freezer or pantry! We bought minimal groceries and could have bought less. Hope you all have a frugal week!

M- Crockpot chicken, rice, green beans, garlic bread
T- Leftover spaghetti (Mom works)
W- Lemon chicken, rice, green beans, rolls
Th- Dirty rice & cornbread
F- Tacos, rice, beans
S- Kids choice- hot dogs, mac and cheese, cucumber slices
S- Leftover chili & cornbread

Sunday, February 15, 2009

CVS 2/15

The deals are slim to none at Wags this week so I am sticking to CVS. Has anyone else noticed that the coupons values have been really wonky lately? (Yes, wonky is a word. Ask my 4 yo!) It seems like my coupons never match up with ANYONE elses! Anyway, there is my rant. Since the deals are slim, it looks like a good week to organize my coupons.

Trans 1

2 Colgate Total 4 oz 5.98
-2 $1ip http://www.colgate.com/app/ColgateTotal/US/EN/SpecialOffers.cvsp
= 3.98oop, get 5.98 ecb

Trans 2

Gillette Shampoo 4.99
Gillette Fusion Gamer Razor 7.99
-2 Shampoo 2/8 p&g
-4 Razor 2/8 p&g
- 5.98 ecb
= 1 oop, get 7 ecb (3,4)

Trans 3

2 Herbal Essences Shampoo/Conditioner 5.98
-$3/2 2/8 p&g
-3 ecb
= 0 oop

4.98 oop, have 4 ecb for next week or anything else you need (milk, tp, paper towels, etc)

Have a good week!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Bargain Meal of the Week- Homeland

Here's the meal for the week of 2/11-2/17 Enjoy!

Pork tenderloin 1.99/lb- 2lbs
Use $1q from 2/8 SS= 1.98
Knorr Lipton sides (rice or pasta)
Use .75/2 from 1/18 RP= .25 each
Birds Eye Steamfresh Veggies
Use $1/3 from 1/4 SS= .58 each
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Use .30/1 from 2/8 GM= 1.40

Meal: Breaded Pork Tenderloin, rice or pasta, steamed veggies, crescent rolls
Total cost: $4.21
Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Breaded-Pork-Tenderloin/Detail.aspx

Monday, February 9, 2009

Bargain Meal of the Week- Homeland

I am super excited to team up with Erin from www.5dollardinners.com on her new Bargain Meal of the Week. I am going to be posting for Homeland. If you live in Oklahoma- great for you. If not, maybe you will find a good new recipe! Don't forget to use your $20 gift card with any transferred prescription. This was in the "grand opening" flyer. (Hope you got one!)

Boneless, skinless chicken breast- 1 lb.= 1.79
8 lb bag russet potatoes 1.99 (use half)= 1.00
Romaine lettuce for salad= .89
Best Choice Texas Style Biscuits 12oz= .79

Meal= BBQ chicken breast, baked potatoes, salad, biscuits
Price= 4.47

Recipe
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zesty-Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Barbecue/Detail.aspx

Valentine's treats

I thought I would share my treats we are making for Peyton's class. I'm glad I decided to do these because they are economical, cute and easy. And since I got a note last week saying to bring 35, they better be all of those things.

We, Peyton & I, are making rice krispie treats. My store had peelies for $1 off marshmallows on the rice krispies, FYI. After they are made, we will be forming them into a funnel and wrapping them in foil. They look like a giant Hershey's kiss. You can use Valentine's curling ribbon for the tail, or I will be cutting thin strips of paper with "Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Peyton" printed on them. Total cost: less than $10

Do you have any homemade ideas for classes? Please share!!

Menu Plan Monday 2/9

In addition to the plan this week I have a good deal to share! One that I haven't seen blasted on every blog. Impressive, I know. Taste of Home is having a cookbook blowout. Many of their hardback cookbooks are on sale for only $5. To make the deal even sweeter, use code t0170 to receive 15% off plus free shipping. That makes them just $4.50 oop- woo hoo!! I got a Taste of Home cookbook for Christmas and I love it! I, personally, chose "Quick Cooking 2007". Here's the link: http://www.shoptasteofhome.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-STOH-Site/default/Search-Show?cgid=%245%20Cookbook%20Offer

And the weekly plan:

M- Whole chicken in the crockpot, rice, green beans, rolls
T- Chili & cornbread
W- Grilled hot dogs, baked beans, salad
T- Broccoli & chicken casserole
F- Oven BBQ chicken, leftover baked beans, salad
S- Valentine's Day!! out to dinner
S- Crockpot chicken, green beans, rice, rolls

I have some repeats that didn't get made last week. Wednesday I made pizzas because we had company, Thursday we had leftovers, Friday kids had breakfast & we had leftovers, Saturday we went out for Chinese. We spent $20 for the week, after groceries.

Checkout http://www.orgjunkie.com/ for more menu plans.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Menu Plan Monday 2/2

Since I won the envelopes last week (YAY ME!) I thought I should post again! I am incorporating leftovers into the plan this week.

M- Tacos, rice, black beans
T- Chili (using leftover taco meat) & cornbread
W- Whole chicken in crockpot, rice, green beans
T- Broccoli & chicken casserole (using leftover meat from whole chicken & reserving some of the broccoli for later)
F- Chili dogs (using leftover chili)
S- Breakfast
S- 'Deceptively Delicious' parmesan chicken (using leftover broccoli, pureed) salad & garlic bread

Have a good week!