On Sunday, I did some batch cooking, so I'm in good shape heading into this week. We have about 2.5 lbs. ground turkey all browned up, a little leftover pork tenderloin, and some pasta leftover, too. This will be great for building lunches, and giving me some extra time to focus on dinners.

Monday - leftover hotdogs with chips and salsa

Tuesday - Ground Turkey Tacos with all the fixin's

Wednesday - pizza at DaMama's - maybe a movie night, too

Thursday - baked chicken with rice and salad

Friday - Fried Rice and Chinese chicken (if I'm too chicken to make chicken satay, it'll become sesame chicken).

Saturday - Cheddar & ham grilled sammies with side salad.

Sunday - DH's night to grill!

DH & I have a weekly date night. Nope, it's not an extravagance - I think of it as an investment. And sooo much cheaper than couples counseling...but I digress. We've been kickin' around different ideas for date nights, with Chicago's Botanical Gardens, St. Charles Park District (paddle-wheel boat, peddle boats, and minigolf), and summer berry pickin' coming to mind for fresh new ideas. Since I was still somewhat miffed over the sunburn last weekend, we decided to keep it indoors and go with a safe route - dinner and a movie.

I used to think dinner and a movie was too expensive for a couple to do more than once every few months, but we've got it down to a science. Movie tickets - $5 each. No joke. Nice theater, movable armrests, stadium-style seating, good neighborhood, free refills on popcorn and soda, and they even have punch cards - every 8th ticket is free! What's not to love?! If you live in Chicagoland, check out Classic Cinemas - I swear it's love at first sight. And I'm not the biggest fan to going to the movies (DH is - it's a way of life to him) but I would recommend that theater to anyone. Totally worth it!

As for the dinner portion, T.G.I.Fridays has been tossing B1G1Free entree's at us every other month, and with my love of DragonFire Chicken, it's hard to say no. And being a member of their Stripes club (costs nothing to join - another savings!), we get points toward free appetizers. We splurged on a nice dinner out - with dessert and spent only $19.14. And that does include tip. It was a great Saturday night - lowkey and fun!

Sunday, after dinner, we picked up DaMama for an ice cream cone over at Colonial Cafe where - for the month of July, single scoop ice cream cones are $.50! Our total there was $1.62 for the three of us! Looks like fun in the summer sun just got tastier, and cheaper than ever before!

I remember my father telling me I was the "cook out of the box." His way of reminding me that I didn't technically know how to cook - I used boxed mixes to get me part of the way. Now, that's called Semi-Homemade, and it's considered chic. Who knew? Well, my father's distinct lack of appreciation for my cooking and baking shortcuts was evident, I could never shake the allure of using some shortcuts that the brilliant folks over at Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, and Duncan Hines provided.

It's the last of those companies that I am currently grateful for today. Well, in conjunction with Target, of course. Target was thoughtful enough to give us a $.50 printable coupon on Duncan Hines baking products (hey, can you say vague wording?), and they were nice enough to drop the price from $1.17 to $.97 each. Combined with an abundant stack of coupons, DaMama, my sister (Amy), and I headed off to harvest some cake mixes (and some frosting, too).

I drooled over the french vanilla, lemon supreme, and the coconut flavors while my sister loaded chocolate cakes into her cart with reckless abandon. How well did we do? 45 cakes mixes and 15 frostings later - here's what we spent: $29.37 - and that includes tax. DaMama had a 10% off your entire shopping order coupon which we put through first - naturally. What really makes me laugh? That's less than half the price that some people spend on a single birthday cake - and no, I'm not exaggerating. I know some of those people...

And the crazy thing is - it won't take that long to go through all those yummy cake mixes - since I tend to turn mine into bars, Amy's great with cakes and cupcakes as is DaMama, and my friend, Sandy makes them into cookies. Sure beats going to Jewel and paying $1.69 for a single box of cake mix. What silly people do that, anyway?

While my cakes are seldom made from scratch, I do know this: I'm happy to spend half the cost of a single birthday cake for delicious treats throughout the year. It may make me frugal (or cheap), but it also makes me smart.

With the abundance of summer berries (mainly FREE organic strawberries from Amy's Organic Garden), I've been brainstorming up a host of new ideas on how to use the deliciously sweet fruit - that is after eating a few generous handfuls of the tangy fruit myself.

With each idea comes another - from my (hopefully soon to be famous) layered Strawberry Cream Cake, to strawberry tarts (thanks, Amanda), to eating them by the mouthful (SonyaAnn - if I could've eaten more, there wouldn't have been any leftover!), to preserves, to decadent desserts - there's so much to love about a batch of beautiful berries. This weekend will mark the first of 4 experiments with strawberries - I've got some new ideas, and I'm aching to give them a try! Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up topping the next batch of Amish Friendship Bread!

I'm not shy about mixing bold flavors and trying new combinations - I'm more nervous about the outcome of different techniques and how the textures will balance each other. Nothing is worse than burnt toast, soggy bread, tough veggies (that are supposed to be fork tender), and gummy noodles. In that respect, I am a perfectionist. I don't know how the syrup from the berries will react with some of the other ingredients in my ideas, so this weekend - we'll start with a french vanilla cupcake surprise: the surprise being the strawberry center!

This weekend - a cupcake...next week, I'm out to conquer the world! Okay, I'll stick with conquering the berries. That's a sweet challenge I'm more than up for!

I got the best deal ever on a humongous batch of gorgeous organic strawberries! More than 18 lbs. of red, ripe, delicious berries came from my sister's all-organic garden in Minnesota - and these are some of the biggest, juiciest berries I've ever seen. What's crazy? She's got more berries still coming in! When she came for a visit over the 4th of July, she brought the sun-ripened fruit.

Last night, I spent about 2 hours cleaning, slicing, and snacking on berries, getting them ready to freeze. Later this month, I'll make my Strawberry Cream Cake with all those luscious berries. With the amount of berries I've now got on hand, I could make 8-12 cakes! Not that I'm complaining...

At least she let me trade some of some of Annie's Market items for those luscious berries. All in all, I still got the better end of the deal. Where I paid nothing for the grill marinades, less than $.40 a bottle for the BBQ sauce, free or nearly free salad dressing, and grabbed ketchup for $.39 a bottle - she brought berries that are selling for $5.99 lb. (organic is always more expensive). I kind of feel guilty for getting the better end of the bargain here, so when I make my trip to visit her in the coming months - I'll bring extra goodies from the market.

With all these yummy berries, I can't seem to decide which way I want to eat them first. Do I want a strawberry-banana smoothie? How about cheesecake with strawberry sauce? Maybe a good vanilla ice cream with the strawberries on top? I can always used them in baked desserts, too.

Do you have any ideas for a lovely batch of berries? I'd love some new ideas!

Nope, not bed bug - bread bug. I have another odd confession - I love expensive bread. Give it a name in Italian or French, and I'm hungry, ravenous for a taste of that hearty, rich goodness. A friend of mine recently gave me an Amish Friendship bread starter - and I can tell you - I am hooked. I've only made banananut bread before this, so this was a step out of my culinary comfort zone. And a brilliant step it was. Naturally, I added a few little extras to my bread.

What's even better? There are dozens of variations on this bread - that you can make all from the same starter. I've got 2 starters - the first loaf was gone in 2 days....and that was just Dh and myself. It's very simple to make, I've got all the ingredients on hand anyway. It takes 10 days to make, but every ten days, the starter yields 2 loaves of delicious, dessert/fancy bread. Chock full of fruit/nuts, or simple and sweet - I'll take pictures of the next batch - I can't wait to make more bread.

Now, I just need to get brave enough to make some foccacia or a nice, sassy ciabatta. If I can do that, I'll conquer the world - or save a few dollars a month! Either way is fine with me.

For part of the holiday weekend, we went to Milwaukee for some rest and relaxation. After going to SummerFest, the largest outdoor music festival, and the vicious sunburn I came home with, the trip was certainly an adventure, but for the next week or so, I'm looking forward to some good, old-fashioned downtime!

While we were in Milwaukee, we stopped at my favorite spice place, The Spice House. It's in the Old Third Ward section of the city, sandwiched in between other shops, so unassuming that you wouldn't realize what you were passing until it was too late - except the incredible aromas coming through the screened door. The amazing thing: for $24.09 I grabbed 8 oz. Indonesian cinnamon, 4 oz. Italian sausage seasoning, 4 oz. toasted minced onion, 4 oz. roasted garlic powder, a jar (3.5 oz.) Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Spice, and several glass spice jars. Even the stuff in the grocery store would run me more than that! I adore that place.

Across the street is Usingers sausage, which I have to stop at - literally, it's right across the street. We popped in there, but there were no great deals to be had, so it was easy to move onto the next thing. The last stop before SummerFest - Milwaukee's (indoor) Public Market - which is comprise of around two dozen small food vendor stalls - from fine chocolates, to cheeses and delimeats, to a wine shop, spices (yep, from the Spice House, but their store has much more to pick from), Indian food, a burrito stand, and fresh fish. It really does have it all.

Though, as a sign of the times, the prices have really gone up in the public market, so DH & I contented ourselves with a few cookies from C. Adam's bakery, and headed off to the festival grounds. A short drive and we're there. We spent over 4 hours meandering through Summerfest, nibbling on cheese curds, and listening to the music. The sun started to get to me, so we headed out a bit earlier than expected and on the way to the car - my skin slowly went from a lovely shade of pale to a searing shade of red. How red might you ask? So red I could claim tomatoes as my kin. Yep, it's that bad.

Coming back on Saturday, we went to a BBQ at DaMama's - wow, was that a feast, followed with fireworks near my inlaws house. Afterwards, we stopped at a local cafe for $.50 ice cream cones (their July special) and that wrapped up a long, but fun day. There was so much food leftover from the BBQ, I won't have to cook all week. Nothing wrong with that!!

Sunday, we spent the day on the Fox River, riding the peddle-boats, playing mini-golf. This time I used loads of sunscreen - which kept me from turning into an extra-crispy critter! For which I'm grateful.

Now, it's time to get back in the groove of things with a meal plan, sort of:

Monday - Salad, corn on cob, leftover hotdogs

Tuesday - Leftover roasted chicken

Wednesday - Leftover steak, baked bean casserole, corn on the cob

Thursday - French toast, sausage, and fresh fruit

Friday - Grillin' time or homemade pizza!

Saturday - Paninis or subs, salad

Sunday - baked Fettucine Alfredo

It’s been a while since I’ve updated on this, so I’ll list the top 10 things I’ve been doing to save money this past week.

Shopping as a group. My friend, DaMama, & I have been doing group shopping for the last two weeks, with my friend, Chandra, and DaMama taking turns driving as they have larger vehicles. (My little 4 door car wouldn’t hold the three of us plus all that shopping. Sad, but true.) Carpooling couponers – saves everyone $$, helps save our planet.

I keep an eagle eye out for the utilities – wash all clothes, linens, and bedding cold water. Dishwasher used during off peak hours (after 11 p.m. here). TV is not turned on as background noise. I usually charge my cellphone in my car, so I make better use of my electric.

Fuel rewards. Love these things. Every $10 spent at Jewel (before coupons) gives us $.01 off per gallon, recorded on your loyalty card. Doesn’t seem like much, but we accumulated $.47 off in 4 weeks of couponing. Now we will trade off every week with someone’s preferred shopper card, giving each of us a chance at the cheaper fuel.

Instead of buying a bottle brush to clean a hard to wash plastic container, I took DaMama’s suggestion to use a small amount of bleach – let it soak, then wash it by hand. Works like a dream – and I spent $0!

Flavor your meat!!! I cannot stress that enough during the summer. I’ve grabbed dozens of marinade seasoning packets (just add water, etc.) and am using those to season chicken, beef, and pork. Total spent on those marinade packets = $0!! In our burgers last night – DH add in some A-1, since we have over a dozen (FREE) bottles to work off of. The ground beef used was from the Target $2 beef Q (we grabbed stew meat and DH ground it himself). The steaks he grilled were free after using tearpad Q’s for $1 beef with purchase of 1 bottle of A-1.

Redbox – we rented the movie “Taken” and ate grilled meat, tortillas, rice, and beans with a salad for date night. All we had to buy was the lettuce. Cost $.59. Love the price of date night!!

For an upcoming wedding, I’ve offered to make the rosary used in the ceremony. I’ve got tons of pearls, I grabbed a pretty gold cross at Michael’s on clearance for $1.99, so my total cost to make a wedding gift is well below $5!

Entertainment lately has been reading, beading, and napping – and before 8 p.m. none of them require electricity.

For the upcoming holiday weekend, we’ll spend 2 days in Milwaukee, return home to spend time with visiting family. We’ve been invited to a BBQ Saturday and another on Sunday. I’ll bake something when we return from Milwaukee (which means the good land) – I’m thinkin’ of making the vanilla berry almond cake – it yields 2 and is oh, so yummy! I’m hungry just thinking about it.

Usingers – I love sausage, especially on the grill and when we’re in Milwaukee, a trip to the Spice House and Usingers sausage is a must. Last time we came home with 9 – 20-22 oz. pkgs of 5 different kinds of sausage – and spent less than $10!! The Spice House is where I splurge, grabbing Chicago Deep Dish Pizza spice, toasted onion, and roasted garlic powders. I could die happy after a trip there. The crazy thing, it’s cheaper to buy spices there than at Jewel, Dominicks, Meijer, etc.


Some ideas on saving money while having a good time in July:

Concerts in the park
Colonial Cafe has their single scoop homemade ice cream cones $.50 each, limit one per person per day.
BBQ's, potlucks, picnics in the park, etc.
We're planning our own take on Rib Fest, a fun yet pricey venue where you can taste ribs from across the country. We keep getting free BBQ sauce, free marinade packets, and using the $6 off Gather Round the Grill coupons. We'll pick a weekend and try half a dozen variations on ribs/chicken BBQ style. I can't wait to try some new ideas!!


Any ideas on ways I can save? I’d love some tips to try!!

I’ve read some great posts by hound-friends, Shelly and spaghetti, about why they stockpile, and their posts inspired me to tell my own tale. For some, couponing and stockpiling is second nature, for others it’s a hard lesson learned somewhere along the way. For me, it’s a bit of both.

I grew up poor, or po’ as we like to call it. I always figured once I was out on my own, it would be different. Wrong! Once I moved in with my now DH, money was tight. I figured I was frugal by shopping almost exclusively at Aldi. That’s what you did to save money, right? Little did I know then how wrong that was.

I started couponing in January of 2007. I remember my first outing so clearly, like it was only yesterday. I now chuckle at the image in my head. DH & I went to SuperTarget for toiletries. We spent nine dollars and change and saved…..(wait for it)….$6.25! I was ecstatic. I truly was. I remembering turning to DH and telling him – imagine if I could do that every time we shopped. He laughed, and shook his head, like it wasn’t even possible to do more than once. Imagine how wrong we both were.

I continued shopping at Aldi, wishing I could find a better way to feed my little family of 2. There were times when money got so tight, the grocery budget disappeared – for 2 weeks at a time. I’d hit into a small deal, but nothing was ever “enough” to last. I still didn’t get it.

I didn’t realize all the mistakes I was making until I had my gall bladder removed about 2 years ago. When my doctor read off the list of things I could and couldn’t eat, I was terrified. How could I feed myself, let alone DH, the healthy fare that was listed? On $30 a week for the two of us, it wasn’t happening. So, while I was re-cooperating at my mom’s, I went through her newspaper and took her coupons. I was surprised at how many of them were for healthy food. But we still spent over $75 in one week. Finally, I had the swift kick in the rear that I so desperately needed.

I took a gamble and went outside my comfort zone. I went to Mexican markets for tortillas, learned the wiley, cagey ways of Meijer – which I never shopped at before, started searching harder for deals – and made my mother my partner in couponing. She would go over the ads with me over the phone from the stores near her – I’d search online for coupons, and when I’d visit her, we’d hit the deals together. Over time, I started to see a difference.

My purchasing habits changed overnight. I now skipped beef all together, in favor of ground turkey – which at the time I heralded as a boom, since the price was much cheaper. I bought chicken as my basic meat, and looked to other ways to make it fun. Baked chicken twice a week wasn’t going to cut it for me. I approached it not as a new diet, but as a lifestyle change. Out went the chips, cookies, nutty bars, and “fun” food. In came yogurt, dried fruits, truck loads of applesauce, spices, marinades, and beans. Those items were much more expensive than their fatty counterparts.

I bought dried spices in abundance, grabbed some cheap marinades. I got out the crockpot and started experimenting – first using a lowfat cookbook my mother had given me, then after a few months, I struck out on my own.

At this point, I had read every label in the stores I shopped at regularly, and knew what I could and couldn’t have. I started making better food choices, something I should’ve been doing all along. I started looking at cooking as an adventure again – not as a chore to get done with as soon as possible. Taking the time to enjoy my food and appreciate all that it does, from nutritional angles as well as enjoying the fantastic flavors: I opened myself up and tried something new.

The stockpiling came naturally, as the coupons gave me additional buying power I didn’t have before. Now I could afford 5 of what I used to buy 1-2 of. Replacing beef saved oodles of money. We moved from a 2 bedroom apartment into a 3 level, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house – so we had space to stockpile. When gas prices skyrocketed last summer, Annie’s Market was born. I hounded voraciously, occasionally with DaMama at my side, but often solo. I learned I stay focused better when there is someone else with me, so I try to shop with someone else. I’m too embarrassed to buy junk food if I have witnesses.

Now we hound together – unless it’s a quick trip somewhere. We’ve added my sister as a fellow hound, at least when she’s in town. Over the last 2 months, we’ve garnered another hound, a friend of mine with a family of 8. Seeing the change it makes to a family, I have to admit this is priceless.

I love Ultra, I hate Ultra. Their sales are good, sometimes crazy good. Combined with coupon - there are numerous cheapies/freebies to be had. For example: this morning I grabbed 2 2L. Coke, 1 box Keebler Topper crackers, 2 bottles of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce (I'm hopelessly addicted!), 2 canisters of CountryTime lemonade mix. My total OOP = $1.82. Why I hate Ultra? Keep reading...

First the cashier keyed down my CountryTime coupons from $1 to $.98 (no overage) - which was okay, I wasn't going to fight over that. Then she keyed down my Sweet Baby Rays coupons (which was a $1/2), she makred that to $.78 - or the price of one bottle. Next we had the Coke/Keelber coupon. $3 off WYB 2 Coke 2L's & 1 Keebler/Kellogg item. There was a 15 minute discussion between the cashier and the customer service lady (naturally this wasn't in English so I had no clue what was being said), and I asked no less than 6 times, "Is there a problem?" or "Is my transaction complete?" Only when I told them I was leaving with or without the order did they push through the last coupon.

The cashier then decided to explain to me that the store wouldn't get reimbursed for the coupon because of the way I was using it. Like she was trying to shame me. I smiled, and replied with "Read the wording of the coupon - you might learn something and try to mis-inform the next coupon shopper that comes through your lane."

The lady behind me actually laughed at that. So, just to irritate the cashier - I handed her a CountryTime coupon, too! Got to love coupon karma, sometimes the cashiers are stacked against you, other times - you hit the jackpot.

Luckily, I got to work only a few minutes late - so, this is my reminder of why I don't coupon before work. No self-checkouts are open, the cashiers are crankier and meaner, and the aggravation simply isn't worth it. But the free CountryTime and cheap SBR's certainly are!!

10. You can remember which coupons go with each deal - without even batting a pretty little eyelash.

9. You feel naked when you leave your house without all your coupons.

8. You hoard your "stash" and prefer to give away items, not coupons, to friends/family.

7. You coupon more than 5 days a week.

6. You coupon/hound to relieve stress.

5. You had a transaction equal 0 or come out in the negative (the store paying you to shop!). And this has happened more than once!

4. You deeply envy anyone that gets the store ads early.

3. You've bookmarked hotcouponworld.com on your favorites list. At home, work, and anywhere you use a computer.

2. You have "bought" more than 100 items in a week without spending one actual dollar.

1. People ask you "So, what's free this week?"

Yes, all of these and more describe me. So, tell me - how do you know you love to coupon?!??

So many deals, so little time this week. The week leading up to the 4th of July is typically packed with great deals, and this year is certainly no exception! From Ultra to Butera, from Jewel to Meijer – we’ve got loads of great eats – Backyard BBQ’ing for under $50!

Check out the great heads up over at CouponGeek – she’ll show you how to get free/cheap CountryTime lemonade over at Ultra – and when you’re there, don’t forget to checkout the 12/$10 sale! Lots of great basics (like Crest toothpaste and Dutch Farms cheese) you’ll want to be sure to stock up on!

Meanwhile – Dominick’s has some deals that are sure to catch your attention:
$.99 sale
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce 18 oz. (pair with $1/2 Q)
Rice/Pasta-Roni – can never have too much of this stuff!
Safeway brand marinades

Buy 3 Get 3 Free Coca Cola 2 L. – not the greatest deal until you pair it with the Buy 5 Save $5 instantly on the Keebler products – and use $3 coupon (found in tearpads back in March/April) off any 2 Coca Cola 2L.s when you buy 1 Keebler product.
Here’s the breakdown: Buy 6 Coke ($5.97), 3 Keebler cookies ($5.97), 2 Keebler Club crackers ($2.98) – use 3 $3 tearpad Q’s – you pay only $5.94 for 6 Coke 2 L., 3 boxes of Keebler cookies, and 2 boxes of Keebler Club crackers. I like that!

Over at Meijer, we have a few deals to pick from:

$1.97 lb. boneless pork tenderloin – if you’re getting charcoal, print off the Gather round the grill coupon – and get a 3 lb. pork tenderloin FREE!

$1 - 28 oz. Meijer brand baked beans
BOGOFree Tostitos – use peelie coupon for free dip WYB2 Tostitos chips.
$.39 lb. bananas
$.75 Dole Classic Iceberg Salad Mix
3/$4 Skippy peanut butter
$.98 - 8 oz. Cool Whip – use printable coupons if you still have some left.
2/$3 Kraft Salad Dressing – if you have the $1/1 Q - $.50 is a great price. If you have 2 coupons, get 2 bottles, use $2 meat WYB 2 Kraft participating products (this works on delimeats, too!), and $1 produce WYB 2 Kraft salad dressing. – That’s a lot of food for $1!

Over at Jewel, we’re eyeing the 5/$10 Coke 12 packs (WYB 5 Coke 12pks, get 2 Hillshire Farms sausages free!)

If they haven’t expired yet, the Buy 1 box Honey Maid Graham Crackers & 1 Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, get 6 pk. Hershey’s candy bars free. If the $3 coupon is still valid – get all that for $.50!!

Any $1/2 Weber grill coupons left? Grab some free marinade mix – I can’t wait to try the Southwest Whiskey! Most stores have 6-7 to choose from!

Butera is rounding out our deals this week with:

$.49 lb. chicken legs – hello BBQ time!
$.49 dz. eggs (not sure what the limit is)
$1.49 lb. Food Club butter – limit 2
$.89 18 oz. bottle Sweet Baby Rays (I am addicted to this stuff)
2/$5 Claussen pickles
$1.98 – 10 lb. bag Idaho potatoes

Caputos:
$.99 – 16 oz. loaf French bread
2/$1 Mangoes
$.99 lb. strawberries
$1.99 portabella mushrooms

Here’s how the grilling will breakdown for the week:

Pork kabobs with portabella mushroom and mango chunks, brushed with some elmon juice and sprinkle with salt. Serve over rice or salad.

Teriyaki grilled chicken legs, serve with baked beans and cheesy potatoes

Southwest Whiskey marinated pork tenderloin, grilled – serve with potato salad.

Grilled Chipotle chicken, served with tortillas, chips and dip, salad

Pork Tenderloin medallions, served on a bed of rice (a-roni), with grilled banana smores for dessert.

Any dare devils out there? Grill your pork tenderloin medallions with some pretty, grilled slices of mango – serve together with some fried rice and a huge green salad.

Make a big batches of all the summertime classics: potato salad, baked beans, cheesy potatoes, garden salad, etc. Rotate side dishes, when you run low – substitute in some pasta/rice-a-roni, set out lots of cheese and crackers, chips, and dip. Sprinkle in smoothies and fresh fruit, cookies, and smores for dessert.

Yesterday, I was showing another friend of mine how to hound, and what better store than Jewel? I took her through a simple transaction to demonstrate how to roll a cat. This Jewel had no problems with my cat roll, I grabbed another 14 tomatoes, paid my $4.23 and scampered happily back out the door. I hope to run another 4 transactions tonight - 2 for tomatoes, 1 for pudding cups (my nephew is coming for the 4th of July along with my sister), and one for cooking oil. I love scarfing up all these yummy deals - putting me in a great spot as far as pasta sauce fixin's go.

So far I grabbed 5 transactions of tomatoes: yield 70 cans for $21.09 or $.30 per can. Even Aldi's sells them for $.49 a can - my lowest comparison price for the item. I like saving nearly 40% per can, and getting enough to last me the rest of the year.

I really love running these deals - it's a huge laugh when I can get loads of basics for less than the cost of meal at an Italian restaurant. Why go there when I can make better at home? And all these tomatoes have me thinking: Chicken Parmesan!

The days and ways of rolling a cat are slowly coming to a close. You know the cat, that holy grail of coupons - that which every couponer that can get them holds near and dear to their wallet? I may wax poetic, but wait til you hear my tale of woe. It all starts at Jewel.

I was gathering my tomatoes, catsup, pudding packs - almost like a normal person (except that I was buying one transaction of each), I had rung up my first (of 4 orders), everything went without a hitch. Rang up the second order, had the cashier come over to scan my coupon (we're not allowed to scan them ourselves anymore), and was told that I couldn't use my $10 on a prior purchase. I said, "That's fine, I don't see how you could anyway." The cashier then told me that you could not use the $10 on a purchase of products from the same company.

She kept pointing to the wording of previous purchase. I was assured that the coupon wasn't intended for the use I had planned on, the cashier allowed me the 2 transactions I had already rung up and would not allow me to ring up the next two transactions I had ready. Her logic, "Well, if I let you do this, you'll be here all day getting stuff for free." I hesitated to mention "Yep, that was the plan all along, but I wouldn't be here all day - you'd run out of stuff in about an hour anyway. I am still puzzling over how that cashier managed to grossly misinterpret the coupon, but as I have 3 other Jewel stores in a 5 miles radius, I left to visit one of them.

So I just popped over to the next one and ran 2 more transactions. The odd thing, the cashier asked me if I was doing "the same" transaction and I pointed out I was buying catsup first, then I was grabbing some snackpacks. This seemed to satisfy her and I receive no more hassle over the $10 cat. Keep in mind ,that doesn't mean I received no more hassle.

Now, the $3 off any grill meat, fresh deli, or product hangtag I grabbed from some wine bottles at the 1st Jewel gave her some problems, but after 5 minutes of her asking/arguing with her manager over what a "grill meat" is and reading all the fine print; they agreed that I was using the coupon according to the wording listed, but the cashier persisted in acting like we were doing something wrong.

Naturally, I was fed-up and beyond being friendly when it came to that piece of nonsense. I finally asked her (using my polite-yet-icy tone of voice), if she was done examining my coupons and was going to scan them. This illicited a dirty look, hand-on-hips, glare, followed by running the coupons and letting me pay for my order.

I left, frustrated, aggravated, and wondering - is Jewel not allowing the cats to roll aymore?

I have a $10 cat - and it's burning a hole in my pocket. Not that I plan to spend it, but I do plan to roll it a few times tonight. Okay - maybe more than a few times. I roll that cat til it plays dead. Okay, I'm getting carried away with myself. No big surprise, $10 in free food can make a girl (especially one that loves to eat) a bit giddy. I feel punch-drunk with my own power!

As there is a ConAgra deal going with many goodies (like ketchup, cooking oil, and cheap tomatoes), I simply cannot help myself. And if I cannot help myself, I'll just help myself to some more goodies! Keep an eye out tomorrow for the details and the deliciously low totals!!

With rising temperatures, I'm looking for a cool, no-oven-required kind of meals, easy on time and on the $$. Here's what I've come up with:

Monday - Kickin' Chicken Paninis, side salad

Tuesday - Turkey and Orange Bell Pepper tacos, Spanish Rice, beans, shredded lettuce, salsa

Wednesday - Penne pasta in a Vodka sauce

Thursday - Pork chops in a creamy mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes (crockpot), salad, bread

Friday - Italian - Grilled Chicken, leftover penne pasta, salad, garlic bread

Saturday - Date night

Sunday - BBQ ribs, hashbrowns, corn, salad

Dessert of the week - Haven't had much time to bake, so I'm subbing in some pecan sandies for our dessert of the week, but want to make some Appleberry Muffins tomorrow night.

Sammie of the week - We're working off some leftover pork tenderloin - which is making so yummy sammies for lunch this week. I also have some thin sliced ham/turkey to fill in where needed. We're fully stocked on delimeat at the moment, which takes some of the pressure off for meal planning/prep.

We went on the last day of one sale and at the start of another. This was some crazy, wicked, laugh-out-loud shopping. Good thing this was for 3 families, but with deals like this - it's so hard to stay focused.

Jewel Transactions: This was so much fun – I love getting a $10 cat to roll!
98 - Weber Grill Packets BOGOF ($.99) -$1/2 Q = FREE
23 - Golden Grahams cereal
2 – Trix cereal
10 - Cheerios
7 - Skippy Peanut Butter
22 - BC cake mixes
6 - BC Fudge Brownies mixes (that was all that was left!)
4 - BC frosting $1.50 - $.55/1 Q’s
63 - Hunt’s diced tomatoes $1 each
4 – Hunt’s canned spaghetti sauce $1.25 each
15 - Bertolli pasta sauces
4 – Ragu Pasta sauces
2 – 18.xx oz. Bisquick 2/$3

Total Retail Value (TRV) = $407.43
Total savings = $325.68
Total Spent = $81.75

Savings = 79%
Not my best, but a good deal nonetheless. Divided equally - we each spent $27.25. I can live with that!!
The added bonus - for every $10 you spend, you receive fuel rewards, and after all that we're up to $.33 off a gallon of gas. With summer coming, this will really help out!

Though the deal on the Hunt's tomatoes was good enough, I'll make a 2nd run at it this weekend. Nothing is quite as yummy as pasta, and tomatoes are great in some many things.

We've all heard the horror stories of cashiers that think it's your privilege that you are graced with their presence. All those that turn from neutral to vicious at the sighting of a coupon. Or, a personal favorite, the ones that act liek you're taking $$ from their paycheck with each coupon you redeem.

This is not a story about any of those. I found a rare, almost extinct breed. The friendly, amused cashier. At Jewel, I was shopping with DaMama & a friend of ours, grabbing stuff for each of us, and getting some coupons spent and some cats rolling. Normally, when you reach a self checkout with 3 ladies chattering excitedly and giggling, each with a fully loaded shopping cart - you are asking for trouble.

Not so. At Jewel, since they have stopped taking expired coupons (huge bummer, I know) the cashiers have to scan all coupons at the end of your order. You can't even scan them yourself. This cashier, after the 3 rd time she had to come over and scan our coupons, she laughed and asked "How many more you got?" I grinned sheepishly and said, "7? Is that alright?" The cashier smiled, laughed and said, "I just wanted to know how far away to be, you ladies really seem to have this worked out."

My friend & DaMama took turns bagging while I scanned each order. I'd unload the next order from the cart while I waited for the sweetest cashier in the world to come and scan our coupons. The cashier chatted with me while I unloaded, scanned, calculated, and sorted the coupons. She joked with us, said she had never seen such organized chaos. I pointed out quickly that I was chaos, the other two were organized.

We were having such a good time chatting that we almost hated to leave. Almost. But, alas, that Jewel was out of Golden Grahams and we had found another store nearby (5-6 miles away) that was fully stocked. With all the coupons printing at the register (including 4 - $1.50/3 GM cereals), we would have been remiss not to hit the second store for goodies.

I'll post the total listing of what we got later today, but 17 transactions were done in less than 3 hours! Good thing we weren't shopping hungry - I'd hate to see what that had been like!