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Archive for July, 2009
Friday, July 31st, 2009
Here’s Tuesday’s menu:
Breakfast: I think I had a SoyJoy bar? Jai had a banana.
Lunch: Leftover pork chops, curried rice, and a banana:
Dinner: I had planned to make a nice casserole and a cabbage side dish, but after it hit 80 degrees, turning on the stove was no longer an option – the heat snuck up on me, or I would have planned something that didn’t require cooking! I know many of you live in much hotter areas, but we’re not used to these temperature on the Oregon coast, and no one here has air conditioning. That kind of heat is rough with no AC, and by dinner time I was too hot to even think. So instead, we drove to Home Depot to buy a fan, and paid a visit to the McDonald’s drive-thru on the way to get the largest, coldest drinks they had:
I also got a cold ice cream cone, and we each had a hamburger. Total for the meal? $4.88. Not turning on the stove? Priceless!
Posted in All You Challenge, Coupon Menu Corner | No Comments »
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
You can receive a coupon for a free box of Betty Crocker’s Gluten-Free dessert mix by calling 1-800-446-1898. Select option four from the menu to be transferred to a live operator, and ask to sign up for the coupon. They’ll take your address and ask three very brief survey questions. The person I spoke with was extremely nice and happy to help, and said my coupon should arrive sometime by the end of August. You may be on hold for a little while before you get through to a rep, but I just organized my email inbox while I waited!
Thanks to JANE4Girls for the tip!
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Here’s the menu for Monday –
Breakfast: I had yogurt, while Jai had a banana.
Lunch:
Leftover buffet! Steak, fish, and stir-fry.
Dinner:
Pork spareribs and sautéed yellow squash, zucchini, and onion.
Posted in All You Challenge, Coupon Menu Corner | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
This was our menu over the weekend:
Friday –
Breakfast: I could have been healthy and had a nice bowl of oatmeal, cereal, or yogurt – but instead I opted for a delicious Macadamia Nut cookie! I have a sneaking suspicion that Jai may have done the same.
Lunch:
Leftover nachos – MMM!
 Dinner:
I came down with a cold on Friday night, so my dinner plans went out the window. Being sick makes me lose my appetite, so Jai picked up some saltines for me, along with some 7-Up, for $4.83. This brought our running weekly total to $29.54. I ate the saltines and cantaloupe as “Dinner” while Jai ate some leftovers/raided the pantry.
Saturday –
Breakfast & Lunch:
I still felt crummy from the cold, so I didn’t eat much of anything. Jai had the stockpile special.
Dinner:
I perked up and made a nice dinner of fish ‘n chips:
 I made this fish batter recipe and pan-fried the fish – a first for me. The batter came out really thick (kind of like pancakes!), so I need to work on that, but it was still tasted good. I had meant to get some peas and make mushy peas to go with this, but I forgot to buy them. So instead I served some cantaloupe as a side dish – not exactly tradition, but hey, I like fruit.
This was a very affordable meal – I got two fish fillets in one package for $2.99 earlier in the week, making the cost per person $1.50. The cantaloupe was .99 cents, and we have eaten it at multiple meals and still have some in the fridge. The chips, ingredients for the batter, and malt vinegar all came from the stockpile.
Sunday –
Breakfast & Lunch:
I had planned on making a pancake brunch, but my plans changed somewhat and I ended up making a stir-fry around 1:30:
 Two dear friends are in town visiting, so I made lunch for all of us, which was really fun. I made the same stir-fry from Wednesday, except this time I added peanuts from the stockpile. Yum!
 Dinner:
Jai and I were thirsty, so I bought chocolate smoothies from a local coffeeshop:
 Yum! The total cost was $9.00 – the drinks themselves were $8.00, but I also stuck a dollar in the tip jar, which obviously I didn’t get a receipt for. Frugal? No way. But there’s nothing wrong with having a treat; just be conscious of how much you’re spending!
Then we ate steak & corn on the cob:
 This was the same steak that I bought on Wednesday – it was a large piece of meat, so I was able to cut it in half and have more than enough for both Jai and myself. I have every kind of steak marinade imaginable in my stockpile, because I got them all free after coupons last year; so that’s what I flavored the meat with.
After dinner, I went to the store to get more half and half and pick up some pork ribs for dinner this evening, because I wanted something quick and easy for the ever-hectic Monday night. The total for that purchase came to $6.62. This, combined with the smoothie cost, brought my final total for the week to $45.16.
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Friday, July 24th, 2009
Breakfast:
I had a super busy morning and was so caught up in what I was doing, I forgot to eat breakfast. Ooops! Meanwhile, A friend had made a batch of cookies and gave some to us, so Jai had Macadamia Nut cookies as his “Brunch” and I enjoyed some later on, too!
Lunch:
I scrambled an egg and added leftover rice and stir fry from the previous night’s dinner, to make my own take on egg fried rice:
 Dinner:
Nachos & corn on the cob:
 To make these, I cooked a package of ground pork seasoned with taco sauce and layered it on top of tortilla chips. Then I added two cans of black beans from my stockpile, copped onion & cilantro, sour cream, and cheese. Frugal tip: I had several packets of taco sauce in my fridge from Taco Bell – any time I go there, they give me way more sauce packets than I could ever put on one taco. I used this as the seasoning, and we enjoyed it!
This made a huge mound of nachos, and it was very good. Since the nachos were so plentiful, I cut one corn cob in half and just served that as the side. It’s cheaper to buy 3 corn cobs at Safeway than 2, which is why I always end up with an uneven amount!
 This would be a great meal for a larger family. Since there’s just two of us, we’ll be enjoying the leftovers!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Here’s yesterday’s menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Finished off the rest of the garlic chicken and potatoes:
Dinner: Tofu stir fry with onion, cabbage, yellow squash, and mushrooms, served on Jasmine rice:
When I make stir-frys like this, I like to marinate the tofu beforehand in soy sauce and garlic; simple, but tasty. Tofu really absorbs flavor well – if you don’t add enough flavoring beforehand, it turns out bland and unappetizing.
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Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Total spent: $16.57
Total before coupons & can refund slips: $39.24
View receipt
We had a whole bunch of empty cans that have been building up, and it was high time to return them. Safeway has it’s own bottle deposit center, and when you cash in your cans, it gives your refund in the form of a voucher. You can take this to a checkstand and either redeem it for cash, or use it to offset your grocery purchase. Since I needed groceries, I decided to do the latter.
Got:
1 bag of tortilla chips – Price: $2.00
7 oz bag of shredded cheese – original price $2.49, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to drop the price down to $1.49.
1 package of cheese singles – original price $3.49, used a free coupon that I got in the mail. I’m not sure why I got this – I think I won it from a Kraft sweepstakes? Either way, this made the final price free!
1 gallon of milk – price: $2.49
1 tub of sour cream – price: $1.49
1 lb of butter – price: $2.49
1.55 lbs of steak – originally priced at $5.10, this was placed in the clearance meat section with a 30% off coupon on it. Final price: $3.57
.39 lbs of pork chops – price: $1.75
.75 lbs of Rockfish – price: $2.99
1.93 lbs bananas – price: $1.33
1 cantaloupe – originally priced at $2.49, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to .99 cents.
1.11 lbs of zucchini – price: $1.11
2.37 lbs of cabbage – price: $1.40
3 ears of corn – price: $1.98
.94 lbs of onion – price: .94 cents
1.02 lbs of squash – price: $1.52
1 bunch of cilantro – price: .69 cents
1 brick of organic tofu – price: $1.50. I had a coupon good for a free package of Nasoya tofu, but Safeway was all out of that brand, so I settled for this.
1 package of sliced mushrooms – originally priced at $1.99, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to .99 cents.
The last two times I was in Safeway, I received catalina coupons good for $3 off your $10 produce purchase. So I made sure to purchase enough produce so that I could use that coupon, shaving another $3.00 off my final total. I didn’t bring a double coupon, because I didn’t think that any of my coupons qualified, but after the cashier rang up my coupons, he said, “Hey! Do you want me to double these? They don’t say ‘Do not double’.” Well, OK then! That shaved another $1.00 off my total. I also had $10.15 worth of can refunds – I told you we had a lot! – which brought my final total down to $16.57. My running total for the week is now $24.71.
To give you some insight into how I decide what to buy, here’s a run-down of my meal plan for the rest of the week:
Tofu & veggie stir-fry
Nachos and corn on the cob
Fish & chips (I have the chips in my freezer)
Steak and corn or a zucchini side dish (whatever we feel like at the time)
Creamy basil pasta with pork – I’m going to make this using a Macaroni Grill Dinner Kit from my stockpile.
We’ve got plenty of stuff in the stockpile for breakfasts, and for lunch we’ll have leftovers or sandwiches. The cantaloupe and bananas will make good accompaniments for these meals also.
So what’s on your menu this week?
Posted in Produce Deals, Safeway | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Here’s yesterday’s menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal. Remember all the boxes of oatmeal I got for .07 cents back in November? We are still enjoying that stockpile.
Lunch: Egg salad sandwiches and mandarin orange pieces. I didn’t have time to start the breadmaker, so I decided to serve it on hamburger buns instead.
Jai and I both have hectic work schedules, so we don’t always eat at the same time. If you just see one plate in the photo, then that means that Jai had the same thing later, unless I note otherwise.
Dinner: Yesterday afternoon, Jai fixed a computer for a good friend of ours. To thank him, she had made him some of her special lo mein noodles. So I guess this would go under the “bartering” category!
 I went to the store last night to pick up some half-and-half for $2.29. This brings our running total to $8.14.
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Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Here’s our menu for Day 8 –
Breakfast: Yogurt and oatmeal. We also got a bag of coffee for $5.85, our first purchase of the week.
Lunch:
I made egg salad sandwiches on homemade bread. Jai took his to go:
 I had mine with an organic fruit pouch and a glass of Crystal Lite iced tea.
 Dinner:
Leftover garlic chicken and roast potatoes:
We have tons of chicken left, but my plate looks pretty sad because I didn’t have much of an appetite. Jai got home from work pretty late so there’s no picture of his plate.
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Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Here’s our menus for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:
Friday –
Breakfast: I had yogurt, while Jai opted for leftover casserole.
Lunch: I had a piece of pizza leftover from the night before, along with an organic fruit pouch and a glass of coke.
 Jai had more casserole. He could have eaten something else, but he really liked the casserole!
Dinner: I opted for my favorite quick-and-easy stockpile meal for hectic nights – Pasta Roni. I used a box of Nature’s Way Mushrooms in Cream Sauce, and added two cans of tuna and some green olives. I served this with some salad that needed to be used up.
 (The second plate is empty because Jai hadn’t gotten back from work yet!)
Saturday –
Breakfast: I wasn’t feeling so hot, so I skipped breakfast. Jai ate the rest of that casserole!
Lunch: Since I was still feeling a bit off, I just wanted something simple and plain for lunch – so we had fresh, warm homemade bread served with a choice of butter, jam or peanut butter and applesauce.
 Dinner: That afternoon, I went to the store and bought chicken, pork, and a gallon of milk for $7.86. This was my last shopping trip for the week, bringing my final grocery total for the week to $16.90 – far below our $50 allotment. Since I’d had a pretty rotten week, we decided to take the leftover money in our budget and have some fun. We went out for dinner to a restaurant we like:
 We spent $21.55 for two hamburgers and fries, a beer, and tip. After dinner, we also got two ice cream cones for $3.08. Our final total for the week was $41.53. It was a fun night out – sticking to a budget doesn’t necessarily have to mean sacrificing things you enjoy.
Sunday –
We had a nice brunch of pancakes:
 When I’m making pancakes for just the two of us, I find it easier to make one big pancake and cut it in half. (When I have company over, I make smaller ones and keep them on a warm plate in the oven until they’re all finished.) I had a lot of batter left, and there were several more pancakes made after I snapped this picture!
Dinner:
I used the chicken I had bought on Saturday to make a big pan of Garlic Chicken and Roast Potatoes:
 This chicken is slow-cooked, and so good, especially with fresh-pulled garlic from my garden.
 This is an example of one way to save on meat. This package of drumsticks only cost $4.01, and makes a big meal – especially when combined with potatoes, a frugal staple. You could make this meal for about $5, and you get a lot of food for your money. Since there’s only two of us, we’ll get a few meals out of leftovers from this dish, but it could easily serve a larger family.
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