Weekly Shopping Trips 9/25-9/30

This week's shopping trips was my major shopping for this pay period. Despite the sale ads not being that great I was able to get several things for cheap or free and use coupons that were going to expire.

I did two trips to Meijer this week and did very well. I got some free candy bars, cheap taco seasoning and taco sauce, along with some cheap cottage cheese and breaded fish.

Along with my Meijer trips, I went to Walgreens, Target, Family Fare, and Duthler's.

The Walgreens and Target trip were to get some non-grocery items that were on sale there that I could use a few of my expiring coupons.

Walgreens:

• 2 bottles OxiClean spray 
• 2 tubes Aspercreme 

Total OOP: $7.74

Total Savings: $13.65

Target: 

• 1 Cascade PowrPacs
• 2 bottles Clorox bleach
• 20 ct. Tide Stain Release
• 1 bottle Aussie shampoo = Free after cpn
• 1 bottle Herbal Essence shampoo = Free after cpn
• 1 tube Neosporin
• 20ct Bandaids

Total OOP: $12.63

Total Savings: $12.22

Family Fare: 

• 8pk Bounty paper towels
• 24 cups Yoplait yogurt
• 6 lbs apples
• 6.95 lbs ground beef
• 1 dz. eggs

Total OOP: $34.04

Total Savings: $30.44

Duthlers: 

• 2 half gallons Chocolate Milk

Total OOP: $2.66

Total Savings: $2.70

Grand Total OOP: $57.07

Grand Total Savings: $59.01


This post is linked to:

• Shopping Round-up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Meijer Shopping Trips (9/25-9/30)

1st trip:

• 8 candy bars
• 2 Pepsi 2 liters 
• 2 bags Chex Mix 
• 4 boxes Pizza Rolls 
• 2 boxes Eggo waffles 
• 1 jar Dole Peaches 
• 3 Warm Delight Brownies 
• 1 Juicy Juice 64 oz  

I used a $2 off next shopping order Cat that I had along with coupons that were going to expire today and MPerks.

My total out of pocket: $15.60
My total savings: $22.08

Here is one scenario from my 1st trip to Meijer:

2 Hershey Bars $1.58
2 Hershey Aerated $1.58
4 Reeses $3.16
Total $6.32
I used 2- B1G1 coupons(8-28 Smartsource insert) for the Hershey Bars/Aerated so that knocked $1.58 off or what would be equal to 2 free bars and then got 3 bars free due to the deal of Buy 5 get 3 free. So I got 8 bars of chocolate for the price of 3 bars which equals $2.37.

2nd trip(the bigger of the 2):

• 1 head of lettuce 
• 2 Ortega seasoning mixes
• 2.18lbs apples 
• 6 dozen eggs 
• 4 bags frozen corn 
• 2 loaves Texas Toast 
• 1 box onion soup mix 
• 4 cans tomato sauce 
• 2 small bottles Ortega taco sauce 
• 2 containers cottage cheese 
• 2 boxes brownies 
• 2 bags Gorton's fish fillets
• 2 bags BC cookie mix 
•  4 boxes Gogurt 
• 2 boxes pie crust 
• 2 bags Tostitos 
• 2 bags Tyson chicken nuggets 
• 4 bags Ore Ida potatoes 
• 4 boxes GM cereal 
• 4 Tombstones pizzas 

My total out of pocket: $76.97
My total savings: $74.03

Just to give you a couple of scenarios from the 2nd trip:

2 Ortega taco seasonings $1.32
2 8oz bottles Ortega taco sauce $2.82
Used 2-$1.00/2 internet printable 
Used 1-$1.00/4 Mealbox cpn 
Total: $1.14 for all 4 items! or 29 cents/item!

2 bags Gorton Fish Fillets $9.98
Promo buy 2 get $2.00 off instantly
used 2- $1.00/1 peelie Q (found on Ortega products back along the way)
Total: $5.98 for 2 bags

2-24 oz Daisy Cottage cheese $4.98
used 2-65¢/1 tearpad Qs(found those a few weeks ago)
used $1.00/2 Mealbox cpn
Total: $2.68 for 2 or $1.34 each!

Grand Total OOP: $92.57
Grand Total Savings: $96.11

I am very pleased with my results this week.

Meijer Trip

This week, Meijer is having a great 10 for $10 get 11th item free sale!!  So I decided to take some time today and go get a few things before the end of the week and before the shelves were cleared out.

Here are the items that I purchased today:

10 for $10 get 11th item free items:

6 bottles Gatorade
5 boxes Banquet Brown & Serve sausages
2 bags Chex Mix(used 50/2 cpn)
2 boxes Betty Crocker Potatoes(used $1/2 cpn)
3 boxes Betty Crocker Cake Mixes
6 tubes Grands Biscuits
6 cups Easy Mac & Cheese
6 Banquet Dinners(used 3-50/2 cpns)
3 bags Light & Fluffy Egg Noodles
4 boxes Pizza Rolls
2 10pk Snack Size Candy
2 boxes Jello Pudding(used 55/2 cpn--found as a tearpad cpn several months ago)
5 Lunchables
3 bags Jet Marshmallows(used 60/3 cpn)

Other Sale items:

3 jars Peter Pan PB (used MBox $1/3 cpn + 3-50/1 cpn)
1 bag Tyson chicken nuggets
2 boxes Snackwell snacks (used Mbox $1/2 cpn + $1/2 cpn)
2 boxes Dove Ice Cream treats (used Mbox $1/2 cpn + 2-$1/1 cpn)

**used a $2 off shopping coupon as well

Total: $56.27
Savings: $52.49 ($10.65 worth of coupons used!!)

Not bad considering, I wanted to keep my total under $60 today! I was able to get some items I needed plus do some stockpiling. Stockpiling is something I haven't been doing lately because the sales have not been very good.

Singing Sunday--Blessing by Laura Story

I have heard this song a couple of times on the radio and really love the message that it sends to those who hear it!




We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

Easy Bacon Burgers with Seasoned Pan Fries

I love making this meal because of how fast and easy it is to put together. I find that I can get this meal done in about a half hour.  It definitely is one of those meals that cuts my time in the kitchen.

How does the meal get done in a half hour?

• burgers already prepped to use coming out of the freezer. 
• pre-made diced potatoes
• baking the bacon either on the grill or oven. 

Prepped Burgers


When I buy my ground beef in bulk, I take the time to make up raw burger patties and stick them in the freezer with wax paper separating each patty then sticking them in a freezer bag.  Doing this helps cut my  meal preparation along with having quick meals ready to roll out of the freezer for those busy summer days.  I usually will pull them out of the freezer at lunch time so that by dinner time they are thawed enough to separate to go on the grill.  For dinner, I just grill them while fixing the rest of the dinner.

Pre-made Diced Potatoes

I have tried to do diced potatoes for the freezer but have not come up with a good way to do them where the texture doesn't change too much of the potatoes.  So if I am making the diced potatoes from whole potatoes I work on peeling and dicing potatoes around the lunch hour and then letting them soak in salt water until I use them for dinner.

If I want to make things very quick then I will just pull out a bag or two of Southern style hash brown potatoes from the freezer that I have bought from the store on sale.

To cook either the fresh or frozen way: I put 2-3 tbsps olive oil and 4 tbsps margarine in the skillet before placing the potatoes in the skillet.  Once the margarine is melted and sizzling a bit I pour the potatoes in(drain the water off the fresh first before cooking).   As the potatoes cook, I just shake in some seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper. Sorry I don't have measurements for those spices, I just shake in to our tastes.

Cooking Bacon

A couple of years ago, I underwent a change in my kitchen on how I cooked bacon for the family.  I had always fried the bacon in a skillet but I was tired of how long it took to cook a pound of bacon. I did an experiment for one meal where I did fried and baked bacon to see what the family would say about the baked bacon.  The results of the experiment was baked bacon was the way to go!  Now I just bake the bacon along with the rest of the meal. Stick the bacon on a jelly roll style pan and place in the oven at 400°. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes for the bacon to cook completely.

If you do not want to heat up the kitchen you can do the same thing on your grill as what you do for cooking the bacon in the oven.  I do not have a pan for the bacon to go on my grill so I just put some foil down on the grill grates and cook the bacon.   I use a gas grill so I make sure that side of the grill is on low while the burgers cook on the side.   I definitely watch the grill very closely while the bacon is cooking.

Once everything is cooked it is ready to fix your burgers!  I love mine topped with lettuce and mayonnaise and if I have fresh tomatoes I will slice one to put a couple of slices on the burger.

I love putting together this meal in the summertime because it is fast and easy and very filling.

This post is linked to: 

• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at At The Well!
• Tuesdays at the Table over at All the Small Stuff!