Menu Plan

I've decided to change things up a bit. Even though I don't go grocery shopping until tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, I already have my menu plan and list made out. So why don't I share our planned meals with you now?

Menu Plan for Tuesday, April 28 - Monday, May 4

Breakfasts

Tuesday- Leftover Breakfast Pizza (from Monday night's dinner)

Wednesday- Oatmeal with Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, and Raisins

Thursday- Morning Sunshine Smoothie (pg. 14 Help! My Family's Hungry by Judie Byrd) and Cinnamon Toast

Friday- Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits

Saturday- Deer Sausage (provided by my wonderful dad) and Biscuits

Sunday- Breakfast Burritos (scrambled eggs and salsa on tortillas)

Monday- PB Banana Smoothies

Lunches

Tuesday- PB&J Sandwiches, Carrots, and Quakes

Wednesday- Leftover Soup and Salad

Thursday- PB&J Sandwiches and Strawberries

Friday- Lunch at Friend's House

Saturday- Hamburgers and Cajun Chips (Clay's speciality!)

Sunday- Church Picnic (bring side)

Monday- Leftover Sausage and Rice

Dinners

Tuesday- Pasta Fagioli (pg. 190 Help! My Family's Hungry by Judie Byrd), Caesar Salad, and Homemade Wheat Rolls (from freezer)

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday- Venison Stroganoff (pg. 132 Help! My Family's Hungry by Judie Byrd) and Green Beans

Friday- Personal Pepperoni Pita Pizzas and Cupcakes

Saturday- Date Night!

Boys will eat Cheese Quesadillas and Steamed Southwestern Rice

Sunday- Sausage and Rice and Steamed Squash and Zucchini

Monday- Creamy Ranch Pork Chops and Carrots

Grocery Deals

Here are some of the price-matching deals that are good until tomorrow. You better hurry fast if you want to snag these deals!

Kroger Deals

*If you plan to get several of these deals, I suggest you make a shopping trip to your local Kroger, instead of doing price-matching at Walmart. If you do the shopping directly at Kroger, you can take advantage of their double and triple coupon program! They automatically double all coupons up to and including $.50 and they triple all coupons up to and including $.39!

1. Suave Invisible Solid Deodorant = $.99

(use $.50/1 coupon from recent coupon insert)

(This item will be FREE if you shop at Kroger and use the coupon that will double to be $1 off!)

2. Softsoap 7.5 oz. = $.99

(use $.35/1 coupon from 4/26 coupon insert)

(This item will be $.29 if you shop at Kroger and use the coupon that will double to be $.70 off!)

3. Grillmates Seasoning (2.5 - 3.4 oz.) = $.99

(use $.50/1 coupon from recent coupon insert)

(This item will be FREE if you shop at Kroger and use the coupon that will double to be $1 off!)

4. Bananas = $.39/lb.

(They are $.52/lb. at Walmart)

5. Zucchini/Yellow Squash = $.97/lb.

6. Strawberries (16 oz.) or Blackberries (1/2 pint) = $1.50 each

7. Broccoli Crowns = $.97/lb.

8. Fresh Express Tender Leaf Spinach = 2/$3

9. Fresh Green Beans = $.99/lb.

10. Pillsbury Brownie Mix (19.5 oz) = $.99

(use $.35/1 coupon from recent coupon insert)

(This item will be $.29 in you shop at Kroger and use the coupon that will double to be $.70 off!

11. Angel Soft Bath Tissue (4 regular rolls) = $.99

(use $.50/1 coupon from 4/19 coupon insert)

(This item will be FREE if you shop at Kroger and use the coupon that will double to be $1 off!)

12. Quaker Quakes (2.75 - 5 oz.) = $.99

(use $1/1 coupon from recent coupon insert)

(This item will be FREE if you shop at Kroger OR if you price-match at Walmart.)

13. Sun Burst Laundry Detergent (Liquid 41-50 Load or Powder 35 Load) = $1.88

Albertsons Deals

*Albertsons is also offering double and triple coupons on a temporary basis. Here are some the deals they have listed. This sale also ends tomorrow!

1. Country Style Pork Shoulder Ribs (sold in family pack) = 10 lbs./$10

2. Totinos Pizza Rolls (7.5 oz.) = $1

(use $.35/1 coupon from recent coupon insert)

(This item will be $.30 if you shop at Albertsons and use the coupon that will double to be $.70 off!)

3. Pillsbury Golden Layer Biscuits, Grands! Biscuits, or Cinnamon Rolls = $1

(use a number of Pillsbury coupons to get some pretty great deals!)

I will be snagging up some of these deals, plus a few others from local chains such as Fiesta and Terry's that my Walmart takes ads from.

I'll post tomorrow details from my shopping trip!

What kind of deals have you gotten this week or plan to get this week?

4.14 Grocery Shopping and Menu Plan

Town Talk Total: $12.51

Walmart Total: $28.07

Grocery Total: $ 40.58

Best Deals from Town Talk:

1. 2 lbs. Fresh Green Beans = $1.99

2. Red Seedless Grapes = $.88/lb.

3. Sun Maid Yogurt-covered Cranberries = $.99

Best Deals from Walmart:

1. 16 oz. strawberries = $1.45 (Walmart's sale price)

2. 6 oz. blackberries = $1.47 (price-matched from Kroger sale)
3. Green Onions = $.69 (Walmart's sale price)

4. Fischer Sugared Pecans = $.50 (price-matched from Albertsons- 2/$3 and used $1/1 coupon)

5. Bird's Eye Steam Fresh Veggies = $.79 (price-matched from Albertsons)

6. Great Value Vegetable Oil = $1.50 (price-matched from Super Plaza)

I want to encourage you to make a Menu Plan if you don't already. This simple step alone will save you TONS at the grocery store!

Breakfasts:

Tuesday- Oatmeal with Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, and Raisins

Wednesday- Fruit (strawberries and blackberries) and Yogurt Parfait

Thursday- Whole-Grain Silver Dollar Pancakes (from freezer) I've included the link to this recipe. If you're looking for a healthy, but tasty pancake try this one!

Friday- Raisin Bran Muffins (recipe from Help! My Family's Hungry by Judie Byrd)
Saturday- Eggs and Whole-wheat Toast

Sunday- Sausage Biscuits

Monday- PB Banana Smoothies

Lunches:

Tuesday- Leftover 3-Cheese Baked Spaghetti

Wednesday- Ham Sandwiches, Crackers, and Carrots

Thursday- PB&J Sandwiches and Strawberries

Friday- Freezer Lunch/Sandwiches

Saturday- Baked Potatoes w/ Ham, Cheese, Sour Cream, and Broccoli

Sunday- Red beans and Rice and Cornbread

Monday- Leftover Red beans and Rice

Dinners:

Tuesday- Ham, Egg, and Cheese Scramble and Biscuits

Wednesday- Leftover 3-Cheese Baked Spaghetti and Breadsticks

*Bring Snack to Care Group- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies*

Thursday- ELC Art Show at UBC (dinner provided)

Friday- Cheeseburger Pizza and White Chocolate Pudding Parfaits

Saturday- Crawfish Boil at friends' house

Sunday- Chicken Alfredo, Slow-cooked Green Beans and Breadsticks

Monday- Venison Steaks (my dad loaded me up with meat!), Steamed New Potatoes, and Corn-on-the-cob

Some Tips on Saving Money

Saving money doesn't stop with groceries. I attempt to save money while buying clothes, household items, eating out, etc. Here are some tips I have for saving money that work for our family. They may not necessarily work for your situation. Take and leave what you may.

1. When shopping for clothes try to avoid retail. One of my favorite places to shop is Ross for discounted clothes, shoes, lingerie, picture frames, bedding, etc. Marshalls and T.J. Maxx are also good choices. Hopefully you have one these discount stores in your area. Just last week I used some early birthday money to get 4 spring shirts and a dress for a little over $50. I try to pay under $10 for all shirts and pants. My dress was $16.99, so that was a little more than I like to pay, but still much less than at department stores. My favorite part is seeing the brands that I'm getting for a fraction of the suggested retail price!

Good Will and Garage Sales are also good places for finding great deals. Do not be opposed to second hand clothing and household items! You can get steals this way. Some of my favorite items in my house were treasures I found at Good Will and another fave place- Craigslist.com.

2. When eating out use coupons whenever possible. Last Sunday we used our Taco Bueno coupons after church and spent $6.43 to feed 3 people! We were able to get 3 steak fajita tacos (my favorite!) for $.99 each using an unlimited coupon, 1 bowl of chicken tortilla soup for $.99 using an unlimited coupon, 1 mini-cheese quesadilla and 1 pack of cinnamon chips off the value menu for $.99 each, 1 pack of chips and queso and 1 cheesecake chimichanga for FREE using coupons. These coupons came free to our house in a mailing insert.

This is just one example of how it doesn't have to expensive to eat out. Of course, Taco Bueno isn't up there on "fine fare" per say, but we're not really frequenting those type places anyway on a strict budget and with 2 kiddos in tow! If you don't have a Taco Bueno nearby, don't fret. There is bound to be deals available at dining out places in your area.

If we dine at a restaurant we try to use Buy One Get One entree' coupons. These can be found in Entertainment Books if there is one available for your area. These are also found in the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper. Also, sign up for the mailing lists at local restaurant chains and you may receive periodic coupons and special deals on you and your spouse's birthdays!

3. Shop at CVS (or WalGreens, Rite Aid, etc.)! You may think these prices are more expensive than Walmart or Dollar Stores and generally they are. However, if you learn the system you can get toiletry items and some groceries for mostly or totally FREE!

For example, this week I was able to get 2 packages of Huggies Diapers, a 184 count Huggies refill wipes package, and Skintimate Shave Cream all for nothing. I actually made money on this transaction! This week CVS has a deal where if you buy $25 worth of Baby Care items you can get $10 back in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). I happened to have several Huggies coupons and needed diapers, so this deal worked well for me. CVS also sent me a $5 off a $25 purchase in my email inbox along with $2 in ECBs for my Winter spending. The diapers were on sale for $10 a package and the wipes were on sale for $5. I had 2 $3 Huggies coupons and one $5 coupons. The Skintimate Shave Cream was FREE after ECBs. After all my coupons and ECBs spent and earned, I made about $3 by buying these items.

This may all sound so confusing, but with just a little effort you can save tons of money and get quality products in return! You can see deal matchups for CVS and other drug stores at www.moneysavingmom.com. You can click here for a tutorial on CVSing.

4. When grocery shopping only buy what's on sale or what you have coupons for. I've said this many times before, but I've seen it play out recently by following my own advice! I used way less money this week on grocery shopping by actually sticking to this plan. You'd be surprised at what you can do without when you're forced to stick to buying on sale items.

The main starting place in grocery budgeting is to make a Menu Plan. It's important to have a written summary of the meals and snacks you have planned for the week, rather than just buying lots of different items and trying to come up with meals ideas each day when you're tired and hungry. At the beginning of our marriage, I would go to the grocery store every couple of weeks, buy a ton of groceries, and then try to come up with stuff to cook each day based on a conglimeration of produce, meat, and pantry foods. Then I would have to run to the grocery store because I never seemed to have the right ingredients for the meals I wanted to cook. For the past 2 years I have been using a Menu Plan and this changed our grocery shopping in a huge way. Since then I've also added in sale shopping and coupon clipping. These steps can be slowly added in since they can be pretty overwhelming at first.

I hope this information can be helpful to you as you seek to save money for your family. If you have any questions, leave me a comment or you can email me at: clayandrobin@sbcglobal.net I definitely do not have it all figured out, but I'd love to share with you what I've learned thus far in this frugal journey.

recovered chair

When our family moved to Fort Worth we purchased a beautiful new-to-us refinished table with a shiny stain and wrought iron work at a local flea market. Four chairs came with it that had the same wrought iron look with cream colored padding on the chairs. At the time Noah was still eating in a high chair and I didn't think about him sitting on those beautiful light colored padded chairs eating all sorts of messy, colorful foods. So over the last one and half years his chair was deemed "the nasty one" and I always volunteered to sit in it when we had company over. (Noah sat with his friends at the kid table.)

Thankfully, chairs can be recoved pretty inexpensively. Our local fabric store, Joann's, was having a sale and I bought some outdoor fabric to recover the chairs. I also found some beautiful cotton fabric in a coordinating pattern in the remnant bin. I intend to make a table runner or some napkins to go with my newly covered chairs!

My talented sister-in-law, Amanda, did the recovering for me. She cut the fabric where it would fit on the cusion and then used a heavy duty stapler to secure the edges under the chair cusion. No sewing involved! That's my kind of project!