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After the Christmas holidays we’re finally back to a normal ad.  Though it’s not a very good one, as match-ups go.

Meal Deal – Philly Steak Sandwiches (all locations, 12/28-1/10)

• Buy Steak-eze Philly steaks, 15 oz.
• Buy Pepperidge Farm hoagie rolls
• Get Vlasic pickle spears, 24 oz.
• Get Ruffles chips

I never thought I’d be writing a shopping savings post about our local grocery store.  It’s small, and it has a…not so good…reputation.  I don’t shop there often and usually only for one or two things.  Yesterday I decided to go and get some random things and take the girls to pick out junk they wanted, and get a turkey.  They’re the only place around this year doing a free turkey with purchase.  So what the heck…I grabbed a few coupons for the sake of trying and off we went (the whole 3/4 mile across town).  Oh yeah, and I needed a spring-loaded scoop for my cookies.

3 Little Debbie snack cake packs, $1.79 each
various kid candies, $4.26 total
2 Arizona teas, $.99 each
2 Twix and a Snickers bar, $.95 each – b2g1 coupon
Kool Aid pouch pack, $3.29
2 Pepperidge Farm frozen turnovers, $3.95 each – 2 $3/1 coupons (I’d wanted to find Milanos or Goldfish or something else PF, but frozen desserts were all they had.)
Kid Cuisine, $2.50
Kings Hawaiian rolls, $3.59 (just noticed they overcharged; the paper said $2.79)
Tia Rosa tortilla chips, $3.00
7up 6pk bottles, $3.79 – free coupon
3 Ore Ida potatoes, wow I wish I’d noticed the difference in prices, $3.00, $2.99, $4.19 – $2.99 b2g1 coupon
guacamole, $3.19
1.2 lb. chicken drumsticks, $1.95 – $1/any chicken coupon
Vanilla Coke 20 oz., the only place I can still find them, $1.39
frozen pie crust 2ct., $2.00
4 Libby’s fruit cocktail, $1.29
cottage cheese, 20oz., $1.85 – free wyb 4 Libby’s fruit
gallon milk, $3.85 – WIC
2 applesauce cups 6pk., $2.09 each
cookie scoop, the only thing I really needed, $7.89
4 Libby’s corn, $.79 each – $1/4 coupon
2 C&H sugar 4lbs., $1.99 each – 2 $.50/1 coupons, actually a better deal than United last week
14.8 lb. turkey, $10.22 – free with $50 purchase

Total before coupons, $98.80
Total paid, $66.35, 67%, better than I ever thought I could do locally 

I’m trying a slightly different format that will hopefully keep the post shorter.  If anyone has any difficulties understanding, please let me know.

Meal Deal, pizza (all locations) 12/14-27?

• Buy 1 Mama Mary’s 12″ pizza crust
• Buy 1 8oz. bag Hormel pepperoni
• Get 1 Food Club 4 cheese mix, 8oz.
• Get 1 Ragu pizza sauce, 14oz.
• $0.55/2 Hormel Pepperoni printable

It took a day and a half to convince myself to go shopping, but once I did I got some pretty great deals.

CVS – first the things I needed, regardless:
2 50-ct. One-a-Day adult gummy vitamins (mom asked) – $9.79 each – b1g1 50% off store sale – $3/2 coupon
2 100-ct. CVS low-dose aspirin (also mom) – $4.99 each – b1g1 50% off store sale
2 4-oz. CVS cough syrup (also mom) – $5.49 each – b1g1 50% off store sale
1 3-pk Kleenex – $4.89 – $2/1 coupon from kiosk
1 12-pk Quilted Northern – $8.99 – free coupon
1 6×8 photo collage – $1.99 (if I’d gone Sunday like I should have it would have been free *kicking self*)
1 Twix bar – $1.19 – free coupon

Total before b1g1 sales and coupons: $57.60
Total after: $32.27
I paid with $25.71 in ecbs and $6.71 in earned gift cards.  Total out of pocket: $0

CVS – rain check items:
1 10-ct. Finish Quantum dishwasher tabs – $2.99 – $.75/1 coupon
1 4-ct. BeKool kids fever reducer – $4.49
1 90-ct. CVS floss picks – $1.99
2 Cinnamon Toast Crunch – $2.87 each
2 72-ct. Listerine  pocket packs – $2.99 each – 2 $.50/1 coupons
1 4-oz. Pepto-Bismol – $2.99

Total before coupons: $25.31
Total after: 23.56
I paid with $16.74 in earned gift cards.  Total out of pocket: $6.82

I left with $23.00 in ecbs from the rain checks.

United – a few good deals:
3 4-lb. C&H sugar – $2.29 each – 2 $.50/1 coupons (significantly lower than store brand)
2 Comstock apple pie filling – $1.79 each – 2 $.50/1 coupons – 2 $.75/1 store coupons
2 Green Giant canned corn – $.59 each – $.50/2 coupon
4 bagged salads (3 types, $5.78 total) – 2 $1/2 coupons – 2 $1/2 store coupons
8.22 lbs. pork chops – $34.45 – $17.10 b1g1 store sale
4.36 lbs. arm roast – $20.88 – $10.15 b1g1 store sale
11.89 lbs. turkey drumsticks – marked down to $9.87

Everything else was pretty average, but those were particularly good.  I ended up with:
Total before b1g1 sales and coupons: $216.25
Total after: $151.06 

2 things first: Yes, it’s Tuesday, and last week was a record.  I actually made every meal on the plan, on the days they were scheduled!  I don’t believe that’s ever happened before.  So yay me.

Monday:
This is cheating, because I’m writing the menu after the fact: tilapia with tortellini
reality: I made the rest of the fish from Saturday with some tortellini and the rest of the meat sauce from Sunday.

Tuesday:
turkey breast medallions with pasta salad
reality:

Wednesday:
kids gone – split pea soup
reality:

Thursday:
cheeseburgers
reality:

Friday:
sweet & sour pork
reality:

Saturday:
beef roast with Yorkshire pudding
reality:

Sunday:
taco pie
reality:

Early in the year I set a goal to spend nothing out of pocket on Christmas this year.  I thought I’d save all my earned gift cards and point redemptions to pay for presents and cards and anything else I’d need.  Well, somewhere along the way I ended up needing to use quite a lot of that money for other things.  So I set another goal: Spend under $100  cash for everything.  It’s now 2 1/2 weeks to Christmas and I’m going to come pretty close.  With what it will cost to ship presents out of state I’ll go over a little, but not too much.  At this point I have two more presents, plus baking and shipping, but everything else is taken care of and I’m at a total of $84.97.

How’s your budget coming?  Did you set one, or do you evaluate as you go along?

Meal Deal, chicken (all locations) 11/30-12/13

• Buy 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
• Get Hunt’s bbq sauce, 21 oz.
• Get Knorr rice side
• Get Fresh Express iceberg salad, 12 oz.

We’ve got stuff going on this week, but mostly in the daytime so the dinner schedule is largely unaffected.

Monday:
Let’s clear out the freezer of single-serve dishes; pot pies, individual entrees, small packages of mini-corndogs, hot pockets and burgers, etc.
reality: Everyone found their own and made a little room in the freezers.

Tuesday:
It’s St. Nicholas Day, the day we try to get the tree put up.  I’m torn between not cooking because we’re doing that and doing something special because we’re doing that.  For now I’ll put down ham but maybe switch it later.
reality: I did make ham, but nothing fancy about it.

Wednesday:
The kids have church that night but no choir, which means eating dinner on the early side and feeding everyone.  Soup sounds good – taco soup.
reality: Taco soup went over well.

Thursday:
Cheeseburgers as decreed last week, even though we didn’t actually follow through last week.
reality: Cheeseburgers as planned…I’m on a roll.

Friday:
Ham leftovers, or the ham itself if I didn’t make it Tuesday.
reality: Ham, with some mac & cheese and free artichokes that came in the mail – how cool is that?

Saturday:
Lemon Garlic Tilapia & couscous – come hell or high water I’m making this this week.
reality: I made it – not everyone ate it, but I made it.

Sunday:
Spaghetti & meat sauce.
reality: Oddly enough, without knowing this was on here, Chris volunteered to make this same meal Sunday morning.

I hauled all the kids outside to take some pictures for Christmas cards.  That’s always fun, especially when it’s cold and E doesn’t want to cooperate.  Oh wait, that’s every time.  Anyway, as I was ordering my cards, I saw a promotion from Shutterfly: embed your project on a blog or site and get a $10 credit.  Well alrighty then.  If you have a Shutterfly account and a blog, go on and catch this deal too!

A sneak peek at some of my Christmas cards:

5×7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Meal Deal, chicken (all locations) 11/30-12/13

• Buy 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
• Get Hunt’s bbq sauce, 21 oz.
• Get Knorr rice side
• Get Fresh Express iceberg salad, 12 oz.