Tuesday Dinner

The Kid is away at a youth retreat this week. Knowing that we'd only have 2 for dinner most nights (unless my sister stopped by), I stocked up on a few meals for two.

Tonight we had a Bertolli skillet meal. I'm not a big fan of these due to their price. At their cheapest ($6 and change at WalMart), they're overpriced by a few bucks. At their highest ($8 - $9 at Harris Teeter), they're twice what I think they're worth. So I don't buy them unless a sale and/or coupon brings them down to under $5. Luckily, I had a coupon for $1.50 off, plus a raincheck to get them for $5.50 (post on rainchecks is forthcoming, I promise). So for $4, I think they're a reasonable meal for 2. The variety we had was Grilled Steak with Portobello mushrooms. It consisted of steak strips, mushrooms, spinach, yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes and pasta in a garlic-butter sauce. Good but not great - the convenience is the real draw here. These always look better than they taste (another reason I think they're way overpriced.)

Totals:

$4 - Bertolli skillet meal
.50 - garlic bread (2 slices from 8-slice box of Pepperidge Farm)

$4.50 for dinner for 2

Monday Dinner

When Aldi had their German/Bavarian specialties week a few months ago, I ended up stocking up on several products. After making them the first time, I went back for more because they were just so good. Tonight we had their Pork Schnitzel (thin, breaded pork fillets) and Spaetzel (egg noodles). For a green vegetable I sauteed an onion in a little bacon fat, then added half a head of shredded cabbage and 1/2 cup chicken broth, covered and simmered until tender. A sprinkle of pepper and caraway seeds at the end finished it off. This is one of my favorite ways to cook cabbage.

Totals:

$3 - pork schnizel (1/2 $6 package)
$1.25 - spaetzel (1/2 $2.50 package)
.50 - cabbage

Dinner for 3 for $4.75.

NOTE: Bacon grease was the primary cooking fat used in this country before WWII. We've really gotten away from it over the last 30 years because of health concerns. While I agree that it's not the best choice for everyday cooking, I believe any food can have a place in our diet when eaten in moderation. I usually make this cabbage dish with actual bacon, but didn't have any on hand tonight. Just a teaspoon of bacon drippings used in place of cooking oil added all the bacon flavor I needed. If you buy and cook bacon in your house, start a little jar for the bacon fat to keep in your fridge. You'll be amazed at how much flavor just a little can bring to the right recipe. It's no wonder our grandmothers' cooking tasted so good!

Super Double Coupons

I finally made it over to Harris Teeter for Super Double Coupons. I think this morning was a good time to go, because they were fairly well stocked after the weekend. There were a few items the other couponers had already bought out, but nothing I can't live without.

Activia yogurt ($1/1), Texas Toast croutons ($.50/1 + sale), Wholly guacamole ($1/1) were totally free. Frosted Mini Wheats are on sale BOGO this week, so depending on which coupon I was using, I got boxes for free and for .35/ea. Colgate total would have been free (BOGO + .75/1 doubled), but my store was out. Check your store. I'm pretty sure Borden's Sensations sliced cheese is also free with $1/1 coupon from yesterday's paper. (Hadn't cut yesterday's coupons yet - just browsed through them.)

Lots of other items weren't free, but still very good deals after doubled coupons. Fruit 2 O drinks .29/ea, Chex cereal $1/box, Capri Sun sunrise drinks .89/10-pk, Hunts Tomato Ketchup .36/ea, Kraft Bagelfuls .89/ea, Activia yogurt drinks, .79/4-pk, Philly spreadable cream cheese tubs .50/ea, Starbucks Ice Cream $1/pint, Blue Bunny ice cream $1.60/half gallon (BOGO + coupon).

I also took advantage of their B2G3 free deals this week - Pop Secret Popcorn and those 8 oz. sliced deli meats and cheeses. And I came across several great meat markdowns in which the meat was already BOGO this week, so they'd ring up half of the marked-down price. (I got London Broil, fresh chicken Italian sausage, and cubed steak.)

Total before all BOGO and coupons, $133 and change. Total after BOGO sales, $88 and change. Grand total after doubled coupons $53.76.

NOTE: Harris Teeter has made 2 important changes to their coupon policy. First, internet coupons will now be treated like any other coupons and subject to doubling or tripling. Yay! Second, coupons usage is now linked to your VIC card. After the daily limit of 20 has been reached, the rest simply won't double or triple, no matter how many stores the customer visits.

Sunday Dinner

Tonight was simple comfort food. We had a ham steak that Lowes Foods had on sale awhile back, collards (from a can because I'm too lazy to cook them from scratch), and a Knorr/Lipton pasta side dish of bowties in 4 cheese sauce.

Totals:

$1 - collards (Margaret Holmes brand)
.20 - pasta side dish (these are always free or nearly free whenever HT has triple coupons)
$3 - ham

Dinner for 3 for $4.20 (plenty of ham and collards left over)

No Dinner Posts

Last night we ate leftovers (free dinner!), today we ate such a late lunch (out running errands) that nobody is hungry for dinner. And tomorrow we're planning to eat out with friends. Just letting whomever reads this know I haven't deserted!

Weekly Deals

Harris Teeter

They're doing something new this week - Super Double Coupons. Normally, they'll double all coupons up to 99 cents face value, but this week they're doubling all coupons up to $1.98 face value. Realistically, you'll probably only have $1 and maybe a few $1.50 coupons - that's what I've got. Still, I can see there will be several free or nearly free items after these high-value coupons are doubled. I've pulled all my coupons that I think have this potential to save 75% or more off the regular price. I've put them in the front of their respective categories in my coupon organizer for easy access. I'll hit the store for serious coupon-shopping tomorrow.

In addition to the super doubles, Harris Teeter also has some great deals that don't require coupons at all (although coupons make a few of them even better).

8 oz. deli meats and sliced cheese are buy 2, get 3 free. Price for 1 is $4.49, so that's $9 for 5 packages. That works out to $3.60 per pound - a definite stock-up price.

Pop Secret popcorn - B2G3

Starbucks Ice Cream - $3 each (coupon for $2 off in recent Sunday paper)

BOGO
Oscar Mayer Beef Franks - (coupon for $1 off 2 in Sunday paper within last 2 weeks - this will double!)
Fresh Italian Sausage (chicken or pork)
London Broil
Turkey Burgers
Cubed Steak (not in flier, but saw in store today)
Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats (coupon for $1 off in recent Sunday paper; coupon for $1.50 off 2 is available online at Coupons.com or Couponsaver.com - both of these will double!)
Colgate Total Toothpaste (coupon for .75 off in recent Sunday paper - 1 toothpaste should be free or nearly free after coupon doubles)
Blue Bunny Ice Cream
Lays Potato Chips





Food Lion

Maxwell House Coffee (31.5 - 34.5 oz) - $5.99
Stouffer's Family Size or Easy Express Entrees - 2/$10
Buy 2 cans Chef Boyardee pasta, get a free gallon of Hawaiian Punch - printable coupon in this week's email flier


BOGO
Chips Ahoy cookies
Minute Maid Lemonade or Punch
Hamburger Helper
Breyers Ice Cream
All Detergent
Zesta Saltines
Arnold Bread
Kraft BBQ Sauce (.75 coupon in recent Sunday paper)
Pillsbury Brownie Mix
Knorr Plus Veggies pasta/rice mix
Oscar Mayer Weiners
Oscar Mayer Bologna
Mama Lucia Meatballs (frozen, bagged)


Lowes Foods

Boston butt pork roast - .99/lb
Peaches - .69/lb
Hamburger Helper - 5/$5 (coupon for .80 off 3 will double - from recent Sunday paper)

BOGO
Eggo waffles
Doritos
Oscar Mayer weiners
select Kelloggs cereals
Breyers Ice Cream
Wisk Detergent
Keebler Chips Deluxe cookies
Nature's Own Whitewheat hamburger or hotdog buns
A1 Marinade

Wednesday Dinner

For tonight's dinner I tried a new recipe that turned out exceptionally well - it's definitely a keeper. However, it would have been rather pricey if not for coupons and sales, so it's probably not something I'll make on a regular basis. Still, it was absolutely delicious and something I'll enjoy serving when all the right pricing comes together.

The recipe came from the June issue of Southern Living magazine and it's called Onion-Topped Sausage and Mashed Potato Casserole. Original, huh?

Here's the link:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1898465

I modified it a little based on what I had on hand and what I thought it needed. Here's my version:

1 lb. chicken Italian sausage
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
fresh snipped parsley and chives from my garden

Remove sausage from casings, crumble and fry until done. Add tomatoes (undrained) and cook on high heat for 10 minutes. Add fresh herbs if using (nice touch but don't sweat it if you don't have 'em.) Pour into 9 x 13" casserole dish.

Mix together:

Refrigerated 24 oz. package garlic mashed potatoes (similar amount of prepared instant potatoes would also be fine)
1/2 8oz package shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 t. Italian seasoning

Spread potatoes on top of sausage-tomato mixture. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until bubbly. Top with 1 small can French Fried Onions and bake 5 additional minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
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Harris Teeter has Italian sausage (pork or chicken) on sale this week BOGO. And they're having Super Double coupons, so the $1 coupon I had for Country Crock mashed potatoes took $2 off. (Otherwise I was planning to make plain instant mashed potatoes and add some sauteed garlic to them.) I already had the French's Fried Onions on hand because I stock up @.25 - .50 a can whenever HT has triple coupons. I several 28 oz. cans of diced tomatoes on hand from a deal Lowes Foods had awhile back. And I'm very well-stocked on shredded cheese because deals + coupons have been plentiful lately. I estimate this casserole would have cost well over $12 if I'd paid full price for all the ingredients.

Totals:

$2.67 - chicken Italian sausage
$1.99 - Country Crock mashed potatoes
.25 - French Fried Onions
.60 - canned tomatoes
.50 - shredded cheese

.50 - green beans (side dish)

$6.51 for dinner for 4 (sister came over again tonight) - lots of casserole left over

Tuesday Dinner

Tonight we had mushroom-swiss burgers. I grilled 80/20 ground beef on the George Foreman, then topped with a slice of swiss and mushrooms I'd sauteed in butter with fresh minced garlic, salt and pepper. A caesar salad and a can of Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans rounded out the meal. We'll probably finish off the rest of the strawberry shortcake later, but for now everyone is too full.

Totals:

$1.59 - ground beef (I stocked up on several pounds at this price)
$1.50 - mushrooms (Aldi)
$1 - buns (1/2 package)
$.50 - sliced swiss
$1 - baked beans
$.66 - 1/3 package romaine hearts (dressing & croutons were free after triple coupons)

$6.25 for dinner for 3, with one leftover burger and plenty of beans for lunch tomorrow

Great Deal Alert

I posted Sunday about select varieties of Kraft cheese being $1.47 each at Harris Teeter.

Here are coupons for $1 off 1 package of Kraft 2% Milk cheese.
http://brands.kraftfoods.com/purekraft/naturalcheese/

Kraft is running a "Catalina" promotion from June 19 through July 12. A "Catalina" is one of those coupons that prints out at the register at the end of your order. This particular promotion gives you money off your next shopping trip.

Purchase 3 Kraft cheese, get $2 off your next order.
Purchase 4, get $3.
Purchase 5, get $4.

Purchases must all be made in one shopping trip.

This is a deal you can actually MAKE money on!

Harris Teeter's policy is to accept 3 identical internet coupons per shopping visit.

So it works out like this:

3 Kraft 2% Milk cheese at $1.47 each. $1.47 x 3 = $4.41

$4.41 - three $1 coupons = $1.41

Receive coupon for $2 off your next order, in effect PAYING you .59 cents to take 1.5 lbs of cheese!

If you decide to buy 5 packages of cheese at $1.47 each, even though you can only use 3 coupons total, you're still getting 2.5 lbs of cheese for only 35 cents after $4 Catalina coupon!

Awesome deal!

Catalina deal is good through July 12, and coupons will print with a 30-day expiration date, but Harris Teeter pricing of $1.47 each ends Tuesday, June 23. That's tomorrow! So print those coupons (use different computers or browsers if necessary), and head out to Harris Teeter if you can!

Monday Dinner

I'm so excited - this is my first year at trying a vegetable garden and tonight we picked our first produce and used it in a meal. (We would have had stuff earlier, but rabbits ate my lettuce, swiss chard and edamame - and that's after I special-ordered the edamame and heat-resistant lettuce blend seeds. In retrospect, I think that's probably why my late father never grew anything but cukes, peppers and 'maters - he didn't want to fight with the bunnies. Oh well, live and learn. Next year I'm putting everything attractive to bunnies in one bed and fencing it in.)

We used 1 bell pepper and 1 jalapeno pepper and made chicken fajitas. I marinated boneless chicken breasts in Lawry's Tequila-Lime marinade (purchased for about .50 when Harris Teeter had triple coupons). I sauteed an onion, several slivered cloves of garlic, and our fresh peppers cut into strips. After grilling the chicken on the George Foreman, I let rest for 10 minutes, then thinly sliced and tossed in with the veggies. Everyone served themselves by spooning the chicken-veggie mix into heated flour tortillas. We passed shredded cheese and salsa at the table, along with a bowl of refried beans as a side. It was a perfect summer meal - light and fresh.

I also made dessert tonight - a rarity. But the strawberries at Aldi looked so good and were so cheap, I couldn't resist. So I made a batch of strawberry sauce, which we served over sliced poundcake (Sara Lee, $1.50 at Lowes after sale + coupon), and Breyers vanilla ice cream (that B1g2 free deal from Harris Teeter the other week). Scrumptious!

Totals:

$1.33 - chicken (purchased at Harris Teeter buy 1, get 2 free sale)
.80 - 1/2 package flour tortillas (Aldi)
$1 - remaining ingredients (onion, garlic, salsa, cheese, marinade)
.25 - 1 can refried beans (after sale + double coupon at Harris Teeter)

$3.38

_________________
$1.29 - strawberries
$1.50 - pound cake
$1.88 - ice cream

We have about 1/2 of dessert stuff left. ($4.67 \ 2 = $2.33)

_________________________


$5.73 for dinner & dessert for 4 (my sister stopped by)

_________________________


Tips: The seeds and white inner membrane are where jalapenos keep most of their heat. De-seed them, and slice away that white membrane and you'll have a much milder pepper.

Garlic gets stronger as the pieces get smaller. Finely chopped/minced garlic has the strongest flavor, while whole roasted garlic cloves are the most mild. Sliced or slivered garlic cloves, sauteed in a dish, add a nice garlic flavor without being too strong even when you bite into a large piece.

Sunday Dinner

We ate a very early dinner because we have plans tonight. BBQ Pork sandwiches, hashbrowns, and corn on the cob.

Lloyd's BBQ Pork comes in a tub in the pre-packaged meat case. The tubs are usually about $5.99 each. Harris Teeter had it on sale awhile back for $4, and I used a 75 cent coupon that doubled.

We also had Simply Potatoes hashbrowns, purchased for only $1 using a combination of sale and raincheck. (Look for a post on rainchecks later this week.)

Rounding out the meal we had corn on the cob, at .25 each (8/$2 at WalMart and Lowes).

Totals:

$2.50 - Lloyd's BBQ Pork
$1 - buns (1/2 package)
$1 - hashbrowns
.75 - corn on the cob

$5.25 for dinner for 3

Saturday Dinner

Tonight I cubed boneless thighs ($1.97/lb at HT this week) and marinated in teriyaki sauce for several hours. I stir-fried them in a little hot oil, then stirred in a little Mr. Yoshida's sauce at the very end. I served this over white rice with steam-in-the-bag broccoli on the side. The broccoli was tossed with a little soy sauce and a drop of sesame oil just before serving.

Totals:

$1.97 - chicken
$1.25 - broccoli (on sale for 4/$5)
.30 - rice

Dinner for 3 - $3.52


The microwave is the perfect cooking method for rice - you'll never deal with a burnt, sticky pan of rice again. No need to spend extra $$ for boil-in-bag or converted rice.

In a glass or ceramic casserole dish with a lid, pour in 1 cup plain white rice, a pinch of salt, and a scant 2 cups of water. Cover and microwave on high for 6 minutes, then at 50% power for 18 minutes. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Now just fluff with a fork and toss with butter and salt, if desired.

Weekly Deals

Hi all! I'm back from the beach - burnt, broke, and in need of a vacation to recover from my vacation. :)

I browsed the grocery fliers in my email late last night, and it appears that this week is slim pickins' for sales. There were a few that caught my attention, though:

Lowes Foods

80/20 ground beef - $1.77/lb

frozen whole turkey breast - $.99/lb (if anyone decides to get this, let me know and I'll post my brining recipe/method)

Lowes Foods brand 1/2 gallon ice cream - $1.38 ea. with coupon from flier - limit 4 (this is the best deal this week, in my opinion)

BOGO - select Kelloggs cereals, Cheez-its, Thomas' English Muffins, Lawry's marinades


Food Lion

Baby back ribs - $2.99/lb

London broil - $2.59/lb (if you're unfamiliar with this cut of meat but want to try it, drop me a line and I'll post about it)

Food Lion bakery fruit pies - $2.99 ea.

Tilapia fillets - $2.99/lb

BOGO - Cheerios, Edy's ice cream, Ball Park Franks


Harris Teeter

Smithfield Baby Back ribs - $2.77/lb (not sure, but these may be pre-cooked, pre-sauced - great deal if so. Still a good deal if not.)

Lobster tails - $4.99 ea. (not in my budget this week, but this is about 1/2 price!)

Kraft 8oz shredded or chunk cheese - $1.47 each (coupons may still be available at Kraftfoods.com - direct link was posted last week)

Select General Mills cereals 3/$6 - there have been recent coupons in Sunday paper for $1 off 3

BOGO - Doritos, Klondike bars, Edy's ice cream, Famous Amos cookies, Nature's Pride bread, Hanover bagged frozen vegetables (recent coupons in Sunday paper for this brand)

Vacation

I'm off to the beach, so there will be no dinner posts for the next few days.

I hope you have a great week that includes at least one good, sit-down meal with family or friends.

Taking Stock

Before I make my shopping list or even look at the sales fliers, I go shopping in my own pantry, fridge and freezer and take stock of what I have. I then turn that into a running list of all the meals I can cook with what's in my kitchen at any given time. My goal is to keep at least 2 weeks of planned meals in the house - that way, I'm never at the mercy of a bad sale week or a long day when I'm too tired to think of anything (and would otherwise spend money on takeout). A quick glance at my running meal list tells me exactly what I can make, and I can pick something quick or something more time-intensive, depending on my mood and my day.

First I go through and write down all the meals I can make without buying a single thing - like spaghetti, jarred sauce, and frozen garlic bread. Or frozen fish fillets, rice, and frozen broccoli with cheese sauce. Then I look for meals for which I have almost everything - maybe I need just a can of corn to make Mexican Lasagna, or a fresh orange to make Citrus Shrimp.

Then I hit the sales fliers, both to buy what I already need and to inspire me for new meals. If I'm lucky, some of my needed ingredients will be on sale this week. If not, then I have to decide if I want to shelve my meal plan until the missing ingredient is on sale, or buy it now. That's usually not much of a decision. Some items, like staples and condiments, are priced consistently week in and week out, so I get them as I need them. Others are on sale so regularly - like boneless chicken breasts - I know it's better to just wait a week or two so I can get the best price. I usually come out with another 6 - 8 inexpensive meal ideas in a "good sale week."

Once you've got a running meal list going, cross out your meals as you prepare/serve them. Just don't forget to continually keep adding to the list, whenever you take stock of your pantry and/or go shopping.

Sunday Dinner

I managed to throw some boneless chicken on the grill last night along with the steaks. So tonight we had grilled chicken caesar salads.

Before grilling, the chicken was marinated for about 3 hours in Mrs. Dash Garlic-Herb (with a hint of orange) marinade. It was delicious. The marinade is $3 a bottle, but I got it for .50 after BOGO sale + doubled coupon. I think this is a good example of letting sales and coupons direct at least part of your grocery buying. You end up with things you wouldn't normally buy, and are often pleasantly surprised by what you can put together with them. It's great for breaking out of cooking ruts.

For my caesar salad, I tore up hearts of romaine (discarding the thick stems). I tossed in a large bowl with caesar dressing and grated parmesan. Then I added last night's leftover grilled garlic bread, reheated and torn into bite-sized chunks. These made for nice, rustic-style croutons. I divided salad onto individual plates, and topped with warm chicken tenders. This was as good as any restaurant grilled chicken caesar salad.

Totals:

$1.66 - frozen chicken tenders bought on sale at Lowes Foods
$1.33 - 2/3 of a $2 bag of hearts of romaine
Dressing free after triple coupons, bread accounted for in last night's meal

$3 for dinner for 3

Saturday Dinner

Steak!

I don't normally fire up the grill unless I can cook enough meat for the week. Since we're leaving for the beach on Monday, I definitely wasn't planning to grill this weekend. But those Porterhouse steaks I picked up yesterday (for a song!) were calling my name. I just couldn't bear to stick them in the freezer.

We had grilled porterhouse, sprinkled with a little Montreal steak seasoning, and char-grilled medium-rare. This was quite possibly the best steak I've ever made myself - it was certainly as good as any I've ever had in a restaurant. Rounding out the meal we had oven-roasted potatoes, creamed spinach and grilled garlic bread.

Totals:

$7.04 - steak
.66 - creamed spinach (purchased on sale for $1 each, + coupon for $1 off 3)
$1.50 - roasted potatoes (potatoes, oil, packet dry onion soup mix)
$1 - loaf french bread

$10.20 for dinner for 3. The original price of the steaks alone was more than twice this much.

(Nothing goes to waste - The Kid and I are bringing the huge t-bones to a friend's dog tomorrow.)

Meat Markdowns

Marked down meats are worth hunting for. I got 2 gorgeous porterhouse steaks today, well-marbled and over 2" thick, for $3.52 each. They were originally priced over $10 apiece.

Harris Teeter takes at least 30% (sometimes more) off the price when a fresh meat is about to expire (aka "short dated"). The new price is just put over the old one with a bright yellow sticker. They do things a little differently for pre-packaged meats (bacon, hot dogs, etc.) and specialty seafood (smoked salmon, crabmeat, seafood dips, etc., sold in the refrigerated case below the fresh fish). These items also have bright yellow stickers, but they are tear-off coupons that you hand to the cashier at checkout. These coupons are for $1 off, $2 off, etc., and many packages have more than one. I find they generally take 50 - 75% off the original price - sometimes even more! It's at the discretion of the meat manager at that particular store, so you'll find a lot of variance between locations.

Lowes Foods automatically marks their short dated meats by 50%. They typically have an area of the meat case where they put all their markdowns together. Sometimes this area is sad and pathetic, and sometimes it's an absolute goldmine. In my experience, the best time for these markdowns is late morning (10 - 11am). Much earlier than that and the butcher won't have pulled & stickered the short-dated meats yet. Much later and the markdown section has been picked over by other shoppers.

Food Lion and WalMart mark down short-dated meats, too, but I've never found anything worthwhile at either.

Keep in mind that short-dated meats are perfectly safe to use within a day or two of their expiration dates, or freeze immediately for later use. So even if you're just making a quick bread & milk run, take an extra few minutes to scan Harris Teeter for those yellow stickers, or check out the meat markdown "bin" in Lowes Foods. That's always when I've found my very best deals on meats - when I wasn't there to shop for meats at all.

One last tip: Make friends with the meat guy. Chat him up, find out when he does his markdowns, etc. Get his name and wave to him when you're in the store. If you make yourself one of his favorite customers, you'll be rewarded for it! I once found several Hormel marinated beef tenderloins ($9.99/ea) that were going out of date in 3 days. I asked the meat guy when he'd be marking them down. He offered to mark them down 50% on the spot for me if I'd buy them!

PS: No dinner post tonight - we're headed to the ballgame!

Thursday Dinner

Another busy day today, with shopping and The Kid's end-of-year awards a school. Tonight's dinner was a Stouffer's family-size Lasagna, purchased when Food Lion had a sale going on the other week, plus salad and garlic bread.

$4 - lasagna
$1.10 - bagged salad
(dressing & croutons were free after triple coupons)
$1 - garlic bread

$6.10 for dinner for 3 with plenty of lasagna left over for lunches

Great Deal Alert - Harris Teeter

Today I did my Harris Teeter shopping and found a few deals to share with y'all.

Dietz & Watson Homestyle Turkey Breast is Buy 1 pound, get 2 pounds free. That works out to $3.66 per pound - a great price for sliced-to-order deli meat. Plus, my store was out of this particular item and was substituting any deli turkey. I got mesquite smoked, which was delicious.

Fresh Express select varieties of bagged salads are also Buy 1, Get 2 free. That works out to $1.10 each - a great price. You can get classic iceberg, 3-lettuce, and classic romaine in this deal.

Crystal Light is buy 1, get 1 free this week. Kraft foods has a printable coupon for $2 off 2. (Link is in yesterday's post.) That brings the price of 2 down to $2.19. But wait, this deal surprised even me. I used 2 coupons, purchasing 4 tubs of Crystal Light. At the register, a coupon printed off for $2 off my next shopping trip, courtesy of Crystal Light. That brings the actual price down to 55 cents each - unbeatable! So print as many of those Crystal Light coupons as you can.

Harris Teeter marinated boneless pork tenderloins are buy 1, get 1 free, bringing them to $3.99 each. These are great on the grill.

80/20 ground beef is $1.59 per pound - this is as low as ground beef goes.

Several other buy 1, get 1 free deals worth looking at: Various brands General Mills cereals (look for $1 off 3 coupons in paper from last 2 weeks), Arnold whole grain breads, bakery pies and Lays potato chips. Oh, and the small Lunchables (kind without a drink) are $1 apiece this week.

I hope you find some deals that will work for your family!

Wednesday Dinner

I was out all afternoon shopping and running other errands (and posting about great food deals when I got home), so tonight's dinner was a quickly-put-together affair.

We had a Smithfield ham steak ($1.69/lb from Lowes a few weeks ago), steam-in-the-bag broccoli (3/$4 at Harris Teeter last week) and a package of Gruyere Rosti potatoes. (These are so wonderful - they cook up into a big, crispy potato cake with cheese. Next time they're on "special purchase" at Aldi I'm buying a case of them. Just kidding....sort of.)

Totals:

$1.88 - ham
$2.29 - potatoes
$1.33 - broccoli

$5.50 for dinner for 3

Great Deal Alert - Lowes Foods

Lowes Foods has some good deals this week, including 2 really great ones.

Deal #1:
Mix-n-match 3 boxes of Kelloggs Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies or Corn Flakes for $9, get a free gallon of Lowes Foods milk.

Redplum.com has a printable coupon for $1 off 1 box of Raisin Bran. (Photo shows Raisin Bran Extra, but coupon prints for any variety.)

Coupons.com and/or Smartsource.com also have printable Kelloggs cereal coupons. I believe these are for several varieties of Kelloggs cereal, including Raisin Bran and possibly Rice Krispies. I've reached my "print limit" on many coupons for this month so they're no longer showing up for me. Sorry I can't be more specific.

There have been Kelloggs cereal coupons in the Sunday paper coupon inserts within the last 2 weeks.

So hunt down those Kelloggs coupons and head to Lowes Foods! I had 3 coupons for $1 off 1 box Raisin Bran, so that took another $3 off the total price. I got 3 boxes of cereal + 1 gallon of milk for $6! (And all the cereals had Kelloggs Movie tokens, so that's another 3 out of 5 required for a free movie.)

Deal #2:
Both Kraft Easy Mac cups and Velveeta Shells & Cheese cups are 5 for $4 this week (80 cents each). Printable coupons are available at Smartsource.com and Kraftfoods.com You'll have to register at Kraft - here's a more direct link to the coupons:
Kraft Foods Coupons

Coupons are for $1 off 2, or BOGO Free. That brings down the price to .30/ea and .40/ea, respectively. So print out as many coupons as you can and head to Lowes! (The Kid especially loves these for weekend lunches.)

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Lowes also has several good deals this week that don't require printing a bunch of coupons.

Hormel "Black Label" 3 lb. canned hams are BOGO, bringing them down to $4.49 each. These require refrigeration, but don't expire for several years (yes, really), making them good emergency dinners to keep on hand. And you should be able to get several meals out of each one unless your family is HUGE.

London Broil is also BOGO, bringing it to $2.64/lb.

Shady Brook Farms 85% lean ground turkey is BOGO, down to $1.24/lb.

Remember, at Lowes you only have to buy 1 item of a BOGO free deal.

There are also quite a few items on sale 10 for $10. Some, like rice, are just .20 or .30 cents off regular price. Others, like pita bread, are up to $1.49 off regular price. Definitely worth checking out while you're there.

I hope some of y'all can take advantage of these deals this week. Happy shopping!

(Check back tomorrow for Harris Teeter's deals for the week.)

Tuesday Dinner

Tonight we had boneless, center-cut pork chops that had been marked down at Harris Teeter. I pan-fried them, then glazed with Mr. Yoshida's sauce. (I've mentioned this stuff before - it's a thick, sweet/savory sauce sold in huge bottles at Costco.) On the side we had white rice and stir-fried baby bok choy. I cut the heads in half and stir-fry the thick stems in a little hot oil. I add some broth (usually chicken but tonight was beef because that's what I had on hand), and simmer for 3 - 4 minutes. I add in some soy sauce and the top halves (leaves), and stir until barely wilted. A few drops of sesame oil is a nice finish to this, and the pan liquid is tasty over the rice.

Totals:

$2.18 - pork chops
$1.43 - baby bok choy ($1.99/lb)
.30 - white rice

$3.91 for dinner for 3

Great Deal Alert - Harris Teeter

Sorry for the late posting, but I just found out about these deals today. Hopefully you'll be able to make it over to a Harris Teeter today to take advantage of them if you're interested. (Their sale week runs Wed. - Tues. so deals end tonight.)

Keebler Chocolate Chip cookies (9 varieties) are on sale Buy 2, get 3 free. Total cost for 5 is $8.58, which works out to $1.72 apiece. However, specially marked packages (at my store, virtually all of them) give you a Kelloggs movie token on each one. Collect 5 tokens and mail in for a free DVD (8 titles to choose from, including Benny & Joon, The Sandlot, and 8 Men Out). No other money is required for the free movie offer. So for $8.58 you get 5 packages of cookies AND a DVD. That's an awesome deal in my book!

Harris Teeter brand of ice cream is buy 1, get 2 free - that's 3 1/2 gallons for $5.30. However, my store was completely out. When Harris Teeter runs out of a "front page" sale item (that's an item advertised on the front page of their flier), company policy is to offer substitutions of comparable items, or rainchecks, whichever the customer prefers. (Just ask for a raincheck for advertised item at customer service counter - they'll offer you the substitution then.) So I was able to choose any namebrand 1/2 gallon ice cream instead (I chose Breyer's) and get that for the same Buy 1, get 2 Free deal! It's a good enough deal to get the store brand ice cream at this price, but an awesome deal to get a national brand premium ice cream at this price! (This happened at the Battleground Oaks location - your local store may have plenty of the house brand, in which case you'll have to do the deal as advertised.)

Are You Connected?

Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Lowe's Foods and Aldi will all send their weekly ad circulars to you by email. You need to sign up for this service. And then you need to actually read the emails when you get them. Take 5 minutes. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. Knowing who has what on sale is the key to getting the deals. Shopping at the same store every week and buying the same stuff (regardless of price) are bad habits that drive up your grocery bill.

All the addresses are self-explanatory: Harristeeter.com, Lowesfoods.com, Foodlion.com, and Aldis.com.

To sign up for emails from Harris Teeter, Food Lion, and Lowe's, you'll need your customer rewards cards so you can enter in your customer number. (VIC card from Harris Teeter, MVP card from Food Lion, and Rewards card from Lowe's.) Don't worry, they all have privacy policies in effect and I've never gotten unwanted emails from them. Just the weekly flier. There are little bonus rewards to doing this, too. Harris Teeter will enter your name in a weekly gift card drawing and occasionally link a free product coupon to your VIC card this way. (They'll tell you about the free product in the weekly email - you just need to go to the store and buy it. It will be free when your VIC card is scanned.) Food Lion has weekly "click your email to win" contests and also offers printable coupons on various Food Lion brand products every week.

You'll receive the Harris Teeter and Food Lion fliers every Wednesday. Even though Lowe's Foods sale week also runs from Wednesday through Tuesday, you'll receive theirs on Saturday for some reason. (You don't have to wait until they send it to your email, though - the flier is available on their website on Wednesday.)

Aldi doesn't have "frequent customer" cards, so you won't need anything but your email address to sign up for their weekly flier. Aldi is on a different sale schedule altogether. You'll get their flier by email on Sunday for "Special Purchases" available in stores starting Thursday of the same week. The prices of those items won't go up at the end of the week, but they're available only while supplies last. When they're gone, they're gone. So plan accordingly and get there as close to Thursday morning as you can.

So go grab your keys (and all your "frequent shopper" key fobs), take 15 minutes, and sign up for emails from all the local grocery stores. It's a simple step toward saving lots of money.

PS: No "what's for dinner" post tonight - The Kid has an end-of-year thing for scouts.

Sunday Dinner

Tonight I took advantage of the fabulous deal I got on shredded cheese the other week (Lowe's Foods Buy 2, Get 3 free sale + coupons). I made a big casserole dish of homemade macaroni and cheese.

I know most people consider mac & cheese to be a side dish, but I think it's so rich and heavy it works better as an entree. I typically just serve it with plain fruits and/or vegetables. Tonight we had mandarin oranges in raspberry jello and green beans. . As much as I love Southern style green beans, cooked all day with fatback, I don't usually have the time or inclination. So I usually just heat up a can, which is immensely improved with a teaspoon of instant chicken bullion granules stirred in.

Totals:

$2 - mac & cheese (with plenty of leftovers)
.50 - green beans
.75 - mandarin oranges
.50 - jello

$3.75 for dinner for 3.

Introduction

I feed my family of 3 (2 adults, 1 child) on about $250 per month. The budget part isn't so surprising to most people - but their eyes widen when I tell them the sorts of foods we eat regularly. We aren't living on dried beans, ramen noodles and cheap hotdogs. We have steak, seafood, gourmet deli meats and cheeses, premium ice cream, and fresh produce. Simply put, we don't eat like we're on a tight budget at all - we eat good.

So, the good news is that you can feed your family very well on not very much money. The bad news is there's no secret method or formula. You have to work at it. Saving this kind of money involves some serious effort, time and planning.

That's why I decided to start this blog (at the prompting of some friends) - I'm putting in the time and planning anyway, so I might as well share my successes so that as many people as possible can benefit. I hope you enjoy.

Welcome CL Readers

There's always someone just itching to spoil other peoples' fun, isn't there? Well, here is my response - a blog of my own in which to post about good food shared with family and trimming your grocery bill. I hope you'll bookmark it and come back daily, especially since the CL venue now seems closed to us (at least temporarily). Welcome!