Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $118.28 (1 Store!!)

This week after checking out the weekly sale ads, I decided that I was only going to shop at one grocery store, Meijer and Sam's Club!  Only shopping at two places rather than the four or five that I sometimes do made it easier to stay home a whole day to get some cooking and baking in this week.

Meijer had several items this week that were "cheap enough to stock up" with the sales and coupons.  I used a little over $42 worth of coupons between the "Meijer promotions" which were Mealbox coupons and getting an item free with purchase and then the actual "coupon savings" of manufacturer's coupons that I either got in my Sunday papers or internet printables.


Here is what I purchased this week at Meijer: 

• 2-4 oz tubes Sensodyne toothpaste $6.50
• 2 bottles Lysol toilet bowl cleaner $3.00

Sub-total for non-food groceries with 6% sales tax: $10.22

• 6 single candy bars--Reese's cups $2.22(37¢ each)
• 3 cups Delmonte pineapples $1.97
• 3 cups Delmonte peach chunks $1.97
• 5 lbs Gold Medal whole wheat flour $2.74
• 6 cans Grands biscuits $3.64 (61¢ each)
• 2 boxes Ortega taco shells $1.27 (64¢ each)
• 2-16 oz bottles Ortega taco sauce $3.22
• 6 boxes Betty Crocker fruit stackers $7.50
• 1 box Nature Valley granola bars $1.59
• 6 boxes Toaster strudel $5.29 (88¢ each)
• 10 lbs potatoes $1.99
• 2 boxes Kelloggs Mini Wheats $3.45
• 3 boxes Nabisco Crackerfulls $3.47 ($1.16 each)
• 6 Warm Delight brownies $4.21 (70¢ each)
• 2 boxes Gorton's fish tenders $6.23
• 4 pkgs Pillsbury ready to bake cookies $4.00
• 14 cups Yoplait yogurt $4.60 (33¢ each)
• 3 bags Ore Ida frozen potatoes $5.00
• 2 bags Chex Mix $1.00
• 2 boxes Betty Crocker supreme brownie mix $2.59
• 3 lbs baby carrots $3.00
• 4 lb bag boneless/skinless chicken tenders $6.99
• 2 lbs frozen tilapia fish fillets $7.00
• 3-12pks Dr. Pepper $10.83 (including $3.60 bottle deposit)

Subtotal for food groceries: $98.30

Total OOP: $108.52

Total Savings: $107.78

Total without sales & coupons: $216.30

The cashier handed me my receipt along with $10.50 in Catalina coupons good on my next shopping order!!! 

So the next day when I went shopping for my parents(where I spent $120 but saved them $108), I picked up for my family that I forgot the day before...

•  2 gallons of milk $4.98 
• 1.41 lbs smoked deli turkey breast $5.70

I used my $10.50 in coupons!

Total OOP: 18¢

Total Savings: $10.50

Total without coupons: $10.68

Grand Total OOP: $108.70

Grand Total Savings: $118.25

Grand Total without sales & coupons: $226.95

This post is linked to: 

• Coupon Super Savers at Coupon Saving Game!
• Super Savings Saturday at MoneySavingMom!
• Cha-Ching Challenge at Cha-Ching on a Shoestring!
• Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Monthly Sam's Run---February

Along with getting some cooking & baking done this week, I also made it to Sam's Club for my monthly run and to Meijer twice(once for my family and once for my parents).

This month's run to Sam's Club was one where I needed several items that I only restock every 2-3 months.   I also needed some health & beauty supplies, which I know that I could probably get for free or nearly free at the local drugstores if I was shopping those drugstores.  However, I choose not to shop for the deals at the local drugstores for many different reasons(something I will cover in another post).  So my monthly total was a little higher than what I prefer to have it, but I will adjust according with shopping grocery store deals the rest of the month.

Here is what I purchased this month:

• 30 lbs french fries $16.98
• 60 ct. Eggo waffles $8.88
• 12 pk Del Monte green beans $8.98
• 2-60oz containers Country Crock margarine $6.44
• 6 lbs Ore Ida shredded hashbrowns $5.38
• 18.93 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $33.51
• 2 bags Tostitos scoops $5.98
• 3.32 lbs sirloin tip beef roast $9.83
• 5.92 lbs ground chuck $11.72 (manager's markdown)
• 4.00 lbs beef stew meat $9.84
• 4.29 lbs boneless pork loin chops $12.36
• 72 ct. Kraft american cheese $6.95
• 6 lbs Hillshire Farms little smoky sausages $3.86
• 5 lbs mild cheedar cheese $9.75
• 140 ct. Totinos pizza rolls $8.98
• 12 ct Red Baron mini pizzas $9.98
• 2 pk-48oz Hershey's chocolate syrup $6.36
• 48 ct. Frigo string cheese $7.79
• 5lbs frozen cut corn $4.48
• 12 pk Campbell's tomato soup $7.94

Total of food: $195.99

• 60 ct Nyquil/Dayquil combo pk $13.64
• 36 ct double roll Northern TP $16.88
• 500 ct. Member's Mark 81 mg aspirin $3.98
• 3-6 oz tubes Sensodyne toothpaste $15.76
• 5-7.8 oz tubes Colgate Total toothpaste $10.98

Total of non-food items with 6% sales tax: $64.91

Grand Total for everything this month: $260.90

Baking Plan for February PROGRESS Part 2!

WOW Its Friday already!  I crashed Wednesday night after all the cooking and baking I did that day and didn't really touch the computer on Thursday to remember that I needed to come back and give my final results!

SO the final results are...

I got the bone in chicken breast cooked and deboned.  I also got about 2 cups of broth to use in making them soup or gravy. I was able to get about 3 meals from the chicken breast for meals for my parents.

I cut the thick cut pork chops into thin cut pork chops and put half in the freezer for another meal in the next week or two for my family. The other half were made into our Wednesday night dinner.

The mini loaves of honey oatmeal bread was baked and so was the batch of  honey oatmeal rolls that we enjoyed with our Wednesday night dinner!   The rolls I made in such a way where they could have been mistaken for a homemade hamburger bun!  When the rolls were fresh out of the oven I took a margarine/butter stick and smeared it on top of the rolls to make the tops soft rather than being a hard crusted roll.   Oh they were melt in your mouth delicious and the leftovers didn't last very long in my bread basket.

For our Wednesday night dinner, I made a new recipe to us with the pork chops.  I made my friend's, SnoWhite at Finding Joy in My Kitchen, recipe of Easy Italian Pork Chops.  I loved the recipe!  They were easy to put together along with being a quick cooking dish.  The flavor was great too.  The italian seasoning was not too overwhelming and having cheese on pork chops was yummy.  I used yellow mustard for part of the mixture that you dip the chops in because that is what I have on hand.  I liked them enough to make them again, however, the majority of my family did not like them as much and would rather I did not waste my time again to make them.  So I will respect their wishes and not add this dish to my main meal rotation list.

The overall results for the day was 13 meals for my parents, along with 6 meals(well meats portioned into meal size portions) plus two double batches of bread for my family.  As for the orange juice muffins and the Mom's Mcbiscuit sandwiches, well those did not get done on Wednesday!  I made the Mom's McBiscuit Sandwiches yesterday(Thursday) and the orange juice muffins hopefully will get made today!

Oh! I should mention too that I was able to get a load of laundry dried and other load of laundry washed and dried while doing the work in the kitchen.  I guess that would help to understand why I crashed on Wednesday night after doing all that work.

I consider Wednesday a successful day in the kitchen!

Baking Plan for February PROGRESS!

Busy as a bee day at my house today!!  I have been busy in the kitchen working with the meat that I got from my parents' freezer that needed to be cooked up and made into meals because my Mom keeps "forgetting" that she has the meat available to use.

So far I have accomplished for my parents:

• Pork chops cooked into BBQ Pork and separated into FOUR bags for meals.  They have bags of steak fries and buns at their house available to go with this meat.
• Pork sausage cooked into sausage gravy and separated into TWO bags for meals.  When I went shopping for them yesterday I picked up a couple tubes of Grands Biscuits that were on sale so they just have bake the biscuits and heat up the sausage gravy for a great breakfast or dinner.
• Package of three boneless/skinless chicken breasts have been "butterflied" so I had six chicken breasts and cooked.  Then three of them I left whole and put in a bag for them to be thawed for sandwiches or cut up to use in a chicken helper box dinner. The other 3 chicken breasts I diced up and made into chicken taco meat for taco salads.

As for the items I have done for my family: 

• The almost 6 pounds of ground beef has been made into three 1 pound cooked meat to use in quick meals.  I also made 8 ready made burgers(not pictured due to already putting them in the freezer before picture).
• One batch of mini loaves honey oatmeal bread rising!

As I was getting my parents' items ready for the freezer I realized that I hadn't gotten any freezer bags or containers from them to use so I made a quick run to the Dollar Tree for some bags and few containers! 

Next up....bone in chicken, a batch of honey oatmeal rolls and pork chops!

Baking Plan for February Revisited!

At the end of January, I made up a baking plan for February not realizing that I would need to be making up meals for my parents.  I am having to rethink my baking plan to include some actual freezer meals for my parents.  My Mom has gotten to a point where she doesn't want to cook, she would rather have a small bowl of cold cereal and not actually cook something warm for her and my Dad.

I went grocery shopping for them yesterday and got several already made freezer meals to get them started but I don't want that to be their sole source of meals.  I also got them some fresh meat yesterday but I know that my Mom will not cook it but just leave it sit in their freezer to get freezer burned or forgotten about in the fridge.  I brought the meat home along with the fresh/raw meat that was in their freezer that I had just done up in meal portions.

I am still planning on making the majority of the baked goods I listed in my initial baking plan just not going to get them all done in one day!  I also am adding the following items this month to my plan:

For my parents:

• Eight Pork chops made into single serve portions of BBQ pork.
• Four bone in chicken breasts needs to be roasted and de-boned for use in soups or Chicken Helper meals.
• Three boneless/skinless chicken breasts cooked and sliced for sandwiches or chicken tacos. 
• One roll of pork sausage browned and made into single serve portions of sausage gravy.

For my family using the bulk meat from my February Sam's run:

• 4.29 lbs thick sliced pork chops--need to be made into thin cut chops and divided into 2 meals(1 for freezer and 1 for dinner tonight).
• 5.92 lbs ground beef--need to brown about 3 lbs for the freezer and the rest of the meat made into ready made burger patties

If there is time and energy left after doing all of the above: 

• Bake Orange Juice Muffins.
• Make 2 batches of Honey Oatmeal bread dough.(1 batch into rolls, 1 batch of mini loaves)
• Mom McBiscuit Sandwiches (I have leftover biscuits and bacon so I just have to make up some eggs for the sandwiches)

I'll be back later with an update with my accomplishments....