money-saving-in-the-works

I can’t believe I forgot all about posting last week’s meal! I guess I was too excited about the General Mills cereal sale, 3 for $6 & I had coupons worth $1 off 3. Not the greatest deal, but its a heck of a lot better than paying $3+ per box of cereal. Later today, I will be posting the coupon match-ups for this week’s United sale. Its something new that I want to try, see if others like it & all that. I got the idea from some of the Mommy Blogs I visit 2-3 times a week, sometimes more. On to this week’s budget meal…

This is something my mom used to make often when I was a kid & smoked sausage was a cheap meat. Now its more expensive than hamburger meat most of the time! I have no idea what she called it, I just know its good even though I don’t eat the onions. You’ll need:

• 1 lb  Smokehouse Smoked Sausage - sold in 3lb pkg for 4.99, making tonight’s portion $1.66
• 1 onion - Texas 1015 Honeysweet are on sale for 0.79/lb,  1 onion is usually about 3/4lb so $0.60 (guesstimate)

Now, to make the main dish all you need to do is slice the smoked sausage into bite-sized pieces. I usually get about 40-50 pieces per pound of sausage. Halve or quarter the onion (depending on how big it is), then slice it too. I slice it small so that its easier for my little ones to eat & it sautes quicker. Start frying up the sausage, when its about halfway done (I like mine to be a little dark & crispy) add your onions. Continue frying/sauteing until the sausage is cooked how you like it & the onions are soft & transparent. This goes good with just about anything, but our favorites are bagged salad mix & bread.

I have tons of Kraft salad dressing, thanks to the $1.50 off any 1 Kraft dressing that was in the newspaper a couple weeks ago. So I will most likely be getting the salad mix this time. United has the Dole Spring Mix on sale for $2.50. Grand total for this dinner is  $4.76

This week’s United Budget Meal is quick, easy, & cheap. LOL

United is doing a summer game, similar to Albertson’s Monopoly game, called Road to Riches. Each game piece includes 3 ‘mile markers,’ 1 internet game code, & 1 store coupon. I have dozens of these coupons, from the game pieces & the internet codes. I will be using some for this week’s meal, but you don’t need them to keep this around $5.

This week is going to be Tuna Helper with corn on the cob, with honeydew melon for dessert. Depending on how hungry your family is, you’ll need to buy:

2 Food Club Skillet Classics for Tuna (0.99 x 2 = 1.98 - 0.25 c/o) - 1.73
2 Food Club Chunk Tuna in Water - 1.00
1 Food Club Corn on the Cob, Mini Ears - 1.67
1/2 Honeydew Melon - 1.50/2 = 0.75

Grand total after my coupon (I think I actually have 2, but I’ll have to check) is $5.15. And that should feed all of us, including my trucker husband. If he’s not home this weekend, we’ll have some leftovers to put in the freezer for our Restaurant Night. Of course, you can forget about the melon if your family doesn’t like them. My girls LOVE melon, so I’ll definitely be getting at least 1 for them.

The only meat that United has on sale for under $2/pound this week is 93% lean ground turkey. It is $2.19 for a 19oz package, which comes out to $1.83/pound. Some of you might be wondering ‘What do I do with ground turkey?’ Well, its easy… Use it in place of ground beef! My favorite thing to make with ground turkey is Pinwheels! I got this recipe from HillbillyHousewife.com

I’m going to link to the recipe, so y’all can wander over there & check her goodies out! But be warned, they are in the middle of moving things around the site right now. My math says its about $2.75 for the pinwheels if you follow the recipe exactly (I like to substitute the milk in the dough with water), so that’s what I’m going to be using to do the math for tonight’s dinner.

Pinwheels (2.75)
2 boxes Velveeta shells & cheese (my kiddos love their mac & cheese, in any form) - on sale for $1.67 each, plus use the coupon here for 1.50 off 2 (1.84)
1 bag Food Club Steamin’ Easy Veggies (corn or green beans are good choices) - $1.25

Grand total is $5.84, but its an easy meal & its kid friendly. Whenever I make it, I always end up with extra Pinwheels for late night snacking or lunch the next day. So its more like a meal and a half for a little less than $6, not bad if I do say so myself.

This week, my United has 85/15 ground beef on sale for $1.59/pound. I priced other varieties, the 73/27 was $1.69/pound & the 80/20 was $2.49/pound! Yeah, I’m gonna get the 85/15! They also have their Skillet Classics on sale for 99 cents each. Quick & easy meal - Hamburger Helper with a salad!

Shopping list:

• 1/2 - 1 pound 85/15 beef (sold in 3+ pound packages, you’ll have to divide it up) - $0.79 - 1.59
• 1 box Skillet Classics - $0.99
• 1 bag salad mix - $1.59
• 1 tomato (assuming 1lb tomato) - .99

Grand total comes to $4.36 or $5.16, depending on how meaty you like your Hamburger Helper. I’m guessing on the price of the salad mix, they aren’t on sale & I haven’t bought them in a while. All in all, its a good easy dinner for that night that you really don’t want to cook.

For more $5 dinners, go to 5dollardinners.com . They have an extensive list of stores, even Wal-Mart & Target.

Well, my Albertson’s has lots of stuff ‘buy one, get one free’ but they don’t have any prices. So I can’t really do much since I haven’t shopped there enough to have a rough idea of current prices. They have a lot of meat BOGO like boneless skinless chicken breasts, 93% lean ground beef, mahi mahi fillets, & boneless pork loin chops, to name a few. They also have this awesome deal on Kellogg’s cereal - buy 4 boxes of cereal for $14, get 3 free (that’s 7 boxes total for $14) & get a coupon for 3 free gallons of milk with your next purchase (approximate value $9-$10). So all told its actually, 7 boxes of cereal & 3 gallons of milk for $14, which is less than $1.50 apiece!

United has 2 different meats for 99 cents a pound, beef brisket & shank half ham. Anyone who’s bought one of these before knows they come in super-sized packages, usually 5+ pounds. For the beef brisket, I think Beef Brisket on Buns would be a good choice. Originally designed for 16 people, it can be scaled back to serve a family of 4. Or you could do it for 16 & freeze the leftovers for future meals.

• 1 1/4 pounds brisket (1.24)
• seasonings you have on hand (you don’t have to use the exact ones listed, I never buy ginger & my briskets taste just fine)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup ketchup (I have on hand, if you don’t, United’s brand is 99 cents for their 24 oz bottle - so 0.17-ish for this dinner)
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce (on hand, & can’t remember how much, but probably less than 25 cents)
• 1 1/2 t brown sugar (just like above)
• 4 buns (54 cents, Hearth of Texas brand)

Of course, if you want to go the easy way… You could always get a bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce on sale for 89 cents. It tastes almost the same. Add a bag of Ore-Ida potatoes, $2.50 a bag, & you have an easy & kid-pleasing dinner. It’s also been known to satisfy a big ol’ trucker hunger too. LOL The totals for this dinner are $4.70 for the homemade sauce, and $5.17 if you go the easy route. I’ll probably go the easy route.

The ham… Well, Easter is coming up so no surprise that the ham’s on sale. Most people will buy one for Easter dinner. I don’t know if I can do a complete Easter dinner for less than $5, but I’ll try.

• 2 pounds ham ($1.98)
• 2 cans veggie - can be different varieties ($1.38, I have on hand)
• dinner rolls ($1.08, I make my own) - I don’t have the exact figures but I do know that its cheaper to make them yourself, but not everyone wants to do that
• mashed potatoes ($1.79, I have on hand)
• gravy (you can make with ham drippings, or buy it yourself, no idea what it costs though)
• German chocolate cake (cake mix - 0.99 & frosting - 1.50, use 55 cents off printable at coupons.com) I already have both on hand

Okay, so this wasn’t quite $5, but it is under $10. Total came up to $8.17 if you have to buy everything. This meal has more of everything because most people overeat on the holidays, Easter is no exception in my family. If your family doesn’t like to eat like mine, your Easter dinner will likely cost less than $8.

Okay, here are the sale items for this week’s meal. Don’t know exactly what to do with it all yet, but I’m thinking about it.

• Pilgrim’s Pride boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.79/pound - use the 75 cent coupon from the paper a couple weeks ago & you can get 1lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.04 - not a bad deal there
• Mrs Baird’s Whole Grain White bread for $1.50 - there is a 55 cent coupon out that expires on 3/31 making whole grain bread for 95 cents.
• Betty Crocker Potatoes are $1.50 too - there has been a 40 cent printable previously, but not this week, so if you have one they’ll be $1.10, otherwise they are the sale price
• Food Club Hominy is 2/$1
• Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup is only 50 cents at Albertson’s, or 79 cents at United.

I would make Tasty 2-Step Chicken with hominy or potatoes & bread to soak up the sauce. If your family likes to eat (like mine) you can make both hominy & potatoes. The menu stays under $5 either way. Of course, if your going to Albertson’s & don’t like hominy, they have their brand of canned vegetables (Always Save, I think) for 50 cents a can too.

If it wasn’t supposed to snow tomorrow, I’d get 2 of each of these tomorrow & have 2 meals planned for the week already.

I went to Walgreen’s & managed to drop off the movie I got Monday. But I think there was a problem with the machine because there was no return confirmation screen today. Last time there was. I’ll be emailing Redbox again this afternoon about it. *big sigh* I don’t want anymore promo codes, I just want that movie shown as returned so I don’t have to pay anymore fees. I wasn’t able to get another movie earlier either, the machine couldn’t spit out the DVD. So I tried using today’s promo code, the code itself worked, the machine did not. I don’t know if free movie rentals are worth all this hassle, ya know?

Okay, trying to forget about that insanity for a bit, gotta lower my blood pressure. Although, since I normally have low BP, raising it a little won’t hurt. LOL I went to United after the Redbox insanity. I got 3 packages of 80/20 ground beef for less than $5 total, & they were each over 1 pound. Making it less than$2/pound which is my limit for meat. Hubby wishes he could have steaks, especially T-bones. I am planning on getting a chest freezer & a side of beef when we get our tax return back. The meat averages $1.85/pound that way. I didn’t get to talk to the store manager about ordering 100 boxes of mac & cheese. I think I’ll pass on that though.

This afternoon/evening I am going to go through my Albertson’s ad & get my trip planned. Then I’m going to work on the menu for next week.  I’ve been visiting 5dollardinners.com & they have some great recipes & ideas. Unfortunately their Albertson’s ideas don’t line up for my sales. So I have to do both of my stores myself. They don’t even have a United blogger yet… Maybe I can get them to link to me if I come up with a good dinner this week (my United sales start on Friday, but I can get a preview of it on Thursday). That will be my goal for tomorrow since its supposed to snow or sleet tomorrow & Hubby asked me to stay inside till he gets home on Friday.

I know this is rather soon after my last post. For some reason Today.com went down on me just as I tried posting it, so I had to wait a while to try again. While waiting, the girls took a nap (still not feeling good) & I went to the store. I ended up spending more than I thought at Walgreen’s but less at United, so it almost balances out. I spend $23.71 at Walgreen’s & 12.67 at United. I got more stuff for my food rebate, don’t know if I’ve gotten enough though. I’m all sorts of confused about it, LOL. But I know a site that will be able to help me with it, & I’m going there as soon as I’m done posting here.

I didn’t get everything on my previous list, they were out of some things. I did get 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes, the Schick Razor, Theraflu, Triaminic, 3 Hunt’s tomato sauce (makes good pizza sauce), & a Healthy Choice mixer. But I still need$1.02 for my food rebate… Guess I’m heading back tomorrow, again! That’s ok though, I need to return the movie I got yesterday. I tried today, but the machine wasn’t responding. It wouldn’t go past the ‘redbox is warming up’ screen. But I called to see if they could remote activate it or something, they cant, & they are sending me 2 more promo codes! Oy, I’m going to have enough promo codes to keep us in movies for the next week if this keeps up. Ok, so I told you earlier that my total was $23.71. My coupons totaled 12.50, plus the advertised savings of 10.30, for a total savings of 22.80, almost as much as I spent! Not bad, not as good as yesterday, but I had a $10RR to spend yesterday.Today’s rebate items total $12.10 (might as well count the food rebate since I’m almost done with it) bringing my total spent down to $11.61. So between yesterday’s trip & today’s, I’ve spent less than $12 (after rebates) for almost $50 worth of merchandise. That’s a rough savings of 75% just at Walgreen’s.

Now for United… I had several things on my list, along with quantities, but there was no way I would have been able to carry all of it home by myself. LOL I’m strong, but I’m not the Hulk. So I didn’t use all 13 of my Compleats coupons, or all 9 of my Toaster Strudel ones.  I got 2 Strudels, 2 Compleats, 3 frozen veggies (99 cents for a 1 pound bag), 3 pouch Starkist, 4 mac & cheese, & 7 apples. My coupons were only $3.70, but since most of the stuff I got was generic, I wasn’t expecting a huge coupon savings total. At normal price, the mac & chees & apples I got today would have been almost double. Mac & cheese is usually 2 for $1 & apples are 4 for $1. Tomorrow I’ll probably get more mac & cheese, more frozen veggies, some marked down meat (if they have any) & some more Compleats. But I’ve spent enough time on here for now, sick kiddos are calling.

Ugh, all 3 of my girls have been sick off & on since Friday. The little ones managed to go through a whole box of chewable children’s Tylenol by Saturday, it just wasn’t very effective on their fevers. We got some Motrin Saturday & miraculously their fevers have disappeared. No, I don’t think they were faking it & I seriously doubt they can trick the thermometer. It just so happened their fevers broke before we got home with the Motrin & we were only gone 15-20 min! But they have developed a cough, children’s Delsym doesn’t seem to help much, so I’m thinking its congestion. My oldest is sick too. Hers is a bad cold that’s pretending to be the flu… Or its the flu trying to be a cold. Not sure which yet. So I have to make yet another trip to Walgreen’s.

I have to return the movie I got at the Redbox yesterday anyway. It kept freezing last night while me & my oldest were watching it, so I emailed them about it. I was only wanting to let them know that it needed to be removed from the kiosk so no one else got that copy. They sent me another promo code to use for a free rental whenever. But its a one-time use code, so y’all have to forgive me for not posting it here.

Here’s my proposed shopping list:

• Hunt’s Tomato Sauce (to finish up my rebate requirements)
• Kellog’s Frosted Flakes (using coupons & getting a $2RR)
• Walgreen’s Extra Strength Headache (rebate)
• Theraflu Warming (for my oldest, plus there’s a rebate on it & I have a coupon)
• Triaminic (not sure which kind yet, its for the littlest monsters & its a rebate + coupon item)
• Schick Quattro for Women (2 coupons for this, it will be nearly free, WOOT!)

I also have to run to United for some things. They have a killer sale on their brand of mac & cheese, 4 for $1, & my kids can eat that 2-3 times a day if I’d let them. They also have apples 7 for $1 & bread at 79 cents a loaf. Not too much stuff with coupons this week, about the only things I saw were Hormel Compleats & Toaster Strudel, both are 2 for $4. I don’t have good coupons on the Strudel, just 35 cents off 1. I have a 75 cents off 1 Compleats, so I might get a couple of each. I think the Compleats would be good for hubby on the truck, but he doesn’t have a microwave on his truck.