What Am I Going to Cook?

I have been racking my brains on what I should make for dinner. I usually come home for lunch but I decided to do lunch with co-workers (spent $9.00, I am so ashamed). So I forgot that I had some vegetable beef soup in the refrigerator and I decided that we are doing leftovers tonight. Tomorrow is a busy day so we will have to get food on the go. There seems to be not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. Errr!

Developing a Meal Menu

Sundays are my days to ctach up from the week. I do chores makes sure the kids have everything they need, and plan for the upcoming week. Right now I am trying to implement meal planning because we have a lot of running around to do for the week and buying a meal from the drive thru sounds soooo appealing. But, in order to save on money I decided that I HAD TO make our meals. I'm having a promblem getting started. I know I am going to look in the fridge and freezer and make sure I have everything I need first and try to work from there. Does anyone have any sample menus? I need quick meals that I can make in an hour. I have no time to prep because I get home at six and then by seven I have to run out the door with the kids in tote and take them to their activities. Ramen noodles is not cutting it every night, and Chef Boy Ardee is getting really old. So any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

You Gotta Give In, Just A Little

I made another grocery trip today. I was all psyched to use my coupons on the sales. I'm new to all of this coupon extravaganza. I did my research on what I needed. I bought a whole lot of Kellogg's products because they were having a huge sale, plus last week the inserts in the Sunday paper were pretty impressive. The kids and I strolled aisle after aisle in pursuit of deals. They started acting up and I knew it was time to make an exit. The clerk was nice and we started talking about family, as I scrutinized each scan she made. My total was $117.95. I sighed and handed her my coupons. My eyes gleamed as I saw the price go down. I decided to also shove a Hannah Montana backpack in the cart for good measure. Since I purchased $10.00 worth of Kellogg's products they gave me $10.00 off the backpack. Plus it was on sale at 30%. I managed to get the backpack (original price $18.99) for $3.29. Yippee. My final total came down to $67.57. I saved $50.38 with all my coupons and in store sales. I thought this was an ok expenditure. I can't stand spending more than $50.00 in a grocery store. I have some stockpile and I know in order to build it up I need to spend a little to get there. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to spend money to get money.

Yeah Walgreens

Usually, I gripe about how Walgreens makes me upset. Today I really got a good deal. They were having a sale on their Lipton Tea bags $1.99/box. My family is a bunch of tea drinkers and I decided that I would stock up and I did. I had 3 $.50 off coupons so I took it directly to Walgreens. I also looked into my purse and found a $5.00 Register Rewards tucked away. So my total OOP was $1.50 for four boxes of 100 tea bags. I am so excited. I hope my hubby and kids will be happy too because they are the ones who drink all that tea. Yeah!

Grocery Trip 8/15

I had a wonderful time at the grocery store. I had told you all that I received $60.00 in free groceries from Kroger. Well, in the morning I made my first visit and picked up a few things that I had coupons and I was going to get some good deals. I proceeded to the check out and they bypassed by rewards. I was not very happy. I alerted the clerk right away and she told me to go to the service desk and they will refund me the money. Well, they did just that and my rewards still reflected $60.00. So, I basically got my stuff for free. The hubby wanted additional groceries later that day so I had to head back to Kroger. I had coupons again for what he wanted. This time the clerk asked me if I wanted to use my rewards and I said yes. No bypass. For some reason my coupons would not scan. The clerk took my coupons and gave me the cash difference plus the double coupons. So I received $16.00 back. Now, I am no theif and that is an error from the computers, I was told by the service desk. They gave me the okay and thanked me for my customer patronage. I feel really blessed. Yeah for computer error.

Big Score

Today, one of my coworkers gave me a couple of Kroger coupons. I thanked her for her genrosity and looked at one of them with wide eyes. It said earn $60.00 in Free Groceries. All I had to do was transfer my prescriptions to Krogers. I know that this is not a new thing to do, but the offer is the biggest that I have ever got. I immediately went to Kroger and they credited my Kroger Plus card. I have never been so excited. Fortunately, my prescriptions are covered by insurance (FREE), and then I got $60.00 in free groceries (again, FREE). Total spent today $0. I have now gone 2 days without spending any money. Yeah me.