Friday, August 14, 2009

Weekly Shopping Trip---Savings $175.99

This week was a payday week so I did a major shopping trip at the grocery stores. Aside from still needing to make a trip to Sam's on Monday, I am planning on getting two weeks worth of meals out of my purchases and my pantry/freezer stockpile.

I also got several convenience items that were on sale this week to hold for when we take our vacation in a few weeks and for my "lazy cook" days with my busy schedule over the next few weeks.

I am amazed at my savings this week!! I actually saved more than $176 because I got several things from Aldis! I also stopped at TWO different bakery outlet stores this week to reap in the savings with my breads and baked goods.

Here is the breakdown of what I purchased this week:

Aldi's
  • 4 cans beef broth $1.96
  • 2 lbs carrots $1.29
  • 2 lbs baby carrots $1.98
  • 2 graham pie crusts $1.98
  • 1 bottle seasoned salt $1.46
  • 1 bottle light corn syrup $1.69
  • 1 gallon milk $1.49
Total: $11.85
**12 items--makes it under a $1 for everything! Not bad!


Interstate Brands Bakery Outlet
  • 24 individual assorted snacks $6.00 (3 for $1)
  • 1 box assorted donuts $1.00
  • 2 boxes chocolate donuts $3.49
  • 2 boxes chocolate donettes $3.77
Total OOP: $14.26
Total Savings: $12.97
Total without shopping at outlet: $27.23

Aunt Millie's Bakery Outlet
  • 4 loaves Kopplinger's honey wheat bread $3.56
  • 2 loaves Aunt Millies' wheat bread $1.78
  • 6 pkgs Aunt Millies' hamburger buns $4.14
  • 1 pkg Aunt Millies' wheat hot dog buns 69¢
  • 2 pkgs Aunt Millies' deli sub buns $1.58
  • 2 pkgs Aunt Millies' 100 calorie slimwiches $1.29
Total: $13.04
Total Savings: $37.19
Total without shopping at outlet: $50.23

Family Fare:
  • 2 boxes Chex Mix bars $3.80
  • 2 boxes Fiber One bars $4.20
  • 1 lb Land O Frost honey smoked turkey $2.99
  • 2 pkgs Eckrich smoky links $4.98
  • 4 boxes Jiffy muffin mix $3.16
  • 1 bag Tyson chicken nuggets $4.49
  • 2 snak saks Teddy bears $3.34
  • 1 snak sak Golden Oreos $1.66
  • 9.70 lbs boneless pork loin $15.43
  • 1.31 lbs roma tomatoes $1.30
  • 2.48 lbs zucchini $2.46
Total OOP: $47.81
Total Savings: $40.32
Total without sales & coupons: $88.13

Meijer:
  • 1 box Ritz crackers $1.67
  • 1 box Wheat Thin crackers FREE
  • 2 bags Meijer breaded chicken $9.98
  • 1-56oz Meijer ice cream FREE
  • 9.74 lbs split chicken breasts $9.64
  • 2.10 lbs peaches $2.08
  • 4 boxes fruit snacks $4.70
  • 2 boxes Kelloggs Mini Wheats $2.26
  • 4 boxes asst. Kelloggs cereal $6.52
  • 4 boxes Capri Sun $7.56
  • 1 container Dean's ice cream $2.74
  • 2 lbs polluck fish $5.98
  • 2 lbs tilapia fish $5.98
  • 3 boxes single serve Edwards pies $5.98
  • 2 bags Doritos $3.99
  • 4 bags Nestle chocolate chips $6.50
  • 3 pkgs Dannon Danimals smoothie drinks FREE
  • 4 pkgs John Morrell deli meat $4.00
  • 3 bags fun size Nestle candy bars $5.50
  • 3-64oz bottles Meijer apple juice $5.00
  • 2 pkgs Oreo cookies $5.00
  • 2 pkgs DelMonte fruit chillers $2.50
  • 1 pkg DelMonte canned pineapple $1.94
  • 4 bottles Juicy Juice $7.34
  • 2 pkgs Keebler individual snacks $7.00
  • 1 bottle All detergent $3.00
Total OOP: $119.60
Total Savings: $85.51
Total without sales & coupons: $205.11

Grand Total OOP: $206.56
Grand Total Savings: $175.99
Grand Total without sales & coupons: $382.55

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Sonshine Unplugged!

In case you have been wondering about my whereabouts...

I was inspired by FishMama Unplugging that I decided to take these past couple of days and do the same thing!

My life was starting to revolve around the blog and keeping the hits coming! That I found I was feeling LOTS of pressure to keep up with the blog and figuring out what I would post next and forgetting what really mattered in life!

What really matters in my life is my relationship with God and my family! Both of these were getting neglected so I unplugged and worked at refocusing.

It is amazing how fulfilling life can be when you put technology aside and just focus on the in real life relationships that matter the most.

I am still working on figuring out a good schedule for my life that includes blogging so in the meantime posts will seem a bit slim.

In the next three weeks, I have many things on my plate to do:
  1. Son gets cast off his foot.
  2. Preparing, setting up, and following through with doing an end of summer garage sale.
  3. Getting the "big picture" lesson plans completed for this next school year.
  4. Going on vacation to see family and go to my hubby's 20th high school reunion.
So life will not be dull around here to say the least!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Menu Plan Monday 8/9-8/15


Last week's menu plans went off without too much trouble. Despite on Thursday leaving the full dinner prepping to my 13 yo and 10 yo boys as I was sitting in the local children’s hospital radiology department waiting for results of x-rays of my 2 yo son’s foot! We found out that he has a broken foot! Not sure as to the when and how of the break but he is now sporting a green colored waterproof fiberglass cast on his right foot. I was able to come home from the hospital and fix my plate so I could eat to head out to my church’s last night of VBS. It rained on Saturday so we stayed home and didn’t head over to my parents. It was refreshing not to have to worry about that for a week. For Saturday’s dinner I used up the leftover roast to make some beef gravy over noodles so that made for a quick and easy, low stress meal.

This week my shopping trip was picking up some great deals along with items to complete some meals for the week. I kept my out of pocket total to under $100 and even got some free items!

This week’s menus are quick and easy kid friendly meals! This week is Vacation Bible School (VBS) at a church around the corner from us. The kids went there last year and enjoyed it so they are going to go again this year. Also this week, my hubby is working long hours at work so he will not be eating dinner meals with us every night so I did my planning around what the kids would enjoy the most and what would be easy to do to get to VBS on time. On Wednesday evening, I will be cooking not only for my family but also for at least 4 more adults (2 of which are vegetarians) as hubby’s work team will be joining us. So I am planning on making a spaghetti dinner with two different sauces to top the noodles along with a salad and garlic toast.

For this week’s lunches (that are listed below), are for the kids and me! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with fresh fruit or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water. Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch so I don’t take the time to plan his lunches. He just takes the next oldest leftover on the stack in the fridge.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 300 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie’s site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists!


Sunday (8-9)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage, hash browns, and donuts

Lunch: mini pizzas

Dinner: McDonalds after church

Snack: snack basket

Monday (8-10)

Breakfast: cereal and donuts

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: goulash and corn muffins

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (8-11)

Breakfast: waffles and sausage

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: smothered chicken served with pan fries and corn

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (8-12)

Breakfast: bagels, cereal, eggs

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: spaghetti dinner served with fresh leafy green salad and garlic toast

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (8-13)

Breakfast: Pancakes and sausage

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: homemade pizza or Pizza Hut (using free personal pan coupons from summer reading program)

Snack: snack basket

Friday (8-14)

Breakfast: cereal and toast

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: chicken n’ gravy, served with rice, peas and biscuits

Snack: snack basket

Saturday (8-15)

Breakfast: “Cook’s Choice”

Lunch: ???

Dinner: grilled burgers served with chips and fresh veggie tray (having friends over for dinner!)

Snack: ice cream or popsicles

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $41.68

Instead of doing just one trip this week, I ended up making a bunch of smaller trips in hopes of maximizing my savings. I ended up with several free items this week!! I didn't do too bad considering that I spent under $100 for everything including doing the Suave deal twice at Meijer this week. The Suave deal was buy 3 Suave products get 1-15oz Shampoo or Conditioner Free!

I also made a trip to Save A Lot this week for a free gallon of Chocolate Milk with $15 purchase using a coupon!

Here is the breakdown of my purchases:

Meijer:
  • 2 bottles Suave Kids Shampoo $2.84
  • 1 bottle Suave hair gel $1.66
  • 2 bonus size bottles Suave Body Wash $2.58
  • 1 bonus size bottle Lotion 67¢
  • 2 bottles shampoo FREE
  • 10.30 lbs chicken breast $20.50
  • 1 cantaloupe 98¢
  • 2 pkgs Keebler cookies $1.90
  • 2 pints Breyers ice cream $1.50
  • 2 lbs bacon $4.00
Total OOP: $37.23
Total Savings: $20.47
Total without sales & coupons: $57.70

Family Fare:
  • 6 dozen eggs $5.28
  • 8.21 lbs ground chuck $14.69
  • 1 head lettuce 88¢
  • 4 lbs sugar $1.77
  • 12 cups yogurt $6.40
  • 3 gallons milk $5.31
  • 2-12pks Faygo pop $6.38(with bottle deposit)
Total OOP: $40.71
Total Savings: $21.21
Total without sales & coupons: $61.92

Save A Lot:
  • 1 gallon Chocolate Milk FREE
  • 5.00 lbs bananas $1.67
  • 2 boxes breaded chicken tenders $4.98
  • 8 cans cream of chicken soup $4.72
  • 1 box cornstarch 79¢
  • 2 bags egg noodles $1.98
  • 5 cans evaporated milk $3.75
  • 1 box onion soup mix 69¢
  • 1 bottle worchestershire sauce 99¢
Total OOP:$19.57

Grand Total OOP: $97.51
Grand Total Savings: $41.68 plus the savings reaped from shopping at Save A Lot!!
Grand Total without sales & coupons: $139.19

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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Golden Graham Smores Bars

The summer heat is still upon us so I was looking for something different in the way of a no bake dessert. I have a list of ideas but they all sounded boring the other day when I was looking for some sweetness.

I didn't find anything to fulfill my sweetness craving until I needed to help put a snack together for Vacation Bible School week at my church!

I love it when I can take things out of my pantry and put them together for a yummy snack that even involves chocolate! I also love the fact that my kids are old enough that they can make this snack without too much adult supervision in the kitchen.



Golden Graham Smores Bars

3/4 cup light corn syrup
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 pkg(11.5 oz) milk chocolate morsels
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. Golden Graham cereal (9 cups)

  • Grease 9x13 pan.

  • Heat syrup, butter/margarine, and morsels to boiling, stirring constantly.

  • Remove from heat, stir in vanilla

  • Pour over cereal; toss until coated.

  • Fold in marshmallows, 1 cup at a time.

  • Press in pan with buttered back of spoon. Let stand 1 hour.

  • Cut into 2 inch squares.

  • Store loosely covered at room temperature up to 2 days(if they last that long!).

  • Makes 24 squares.

Overall this takes about 10 minutes to put together. If you get the items on sale like what I did, the cost to make these bars is about three dollars! Not bad!

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