Sunchips is giving away free bags of chips to the first 100,000 fans on Facebook. Hurry! Click here to claim your coupon.
Coupon will be mailed in 4-6 weeks. This is great for Rainbow shoppers, as this will likely be a 'free' coupon we can use at Rainbow!
Thanks Mercedes!
Three inserts coming our way this weekend: SmartSource, RedPlum and P&G.
The P&G will be a big one, they're advertising over $162 in savings for this weekend's edition. These are my highlights:
SmartSource
$1.00/1 Mission Tortillas
$1.00/1 Colgate
$1.00/2 Barilla Whole Grain Pasta
RedPlum
$1.00/2 Kellogg's Cereal
$1.00/1 Listerine Total Care Mouthwash
$0.50/1 Soft Scrub
P&G
$0.50/1 Cascade Complete
$1.00/1 any Covergirl
$3.00/1 Tide Stain Releast, lg.
Remember, coupons and their values can vary by region. I'm looking forward to picking up my papers this weekend!
Here's the latest printable coupons out there for the printing:
$3.00/1 Finish Quantumatic (really curious about this)
$2.00/1 Dove Ultimate or Dove Clinical Protection deodorant
$1.00/1 Johnson's Baby Lotion (no size restrictions) here (IE) or here (FF) thanks Crystal!
$0.55/1 Mueller's Whole Wheat Pasta
$0.50/2 cans of Red Gold Tomatoes
$1.00/1 for Stayfree here (IE) or here (FF) thanks Deal Seeking Mom!
Thanks for following Pinch The Penny!
After a great day of shopping yesterday, I was able to pick up most of the ingredients I didn't already have on hand for our meals for the month. I do plan on one trip to Sam's Club to pick up just a few more things, and then we will be set.
After I got our meal plan for March figured out, I was able to break down my task list for my cooking day(s). This is what it looks like:
Sunshine Chicken x2
Lemon Pepper Chicken x2
Pizza Sauce x4
Pizza Dough x4
Homemade Mac & Cheese x3
Brown Rice x3
Garlic Bread x4
Italian Sausage & Veggies for Spaghetti Sauce x2
Italian Sausage for Pizza x4
Lasagna x2
Cooked, Diced Chicken Breast x2
Whole Wheat Rolls x3
Kung Pao Chicken Kit x2
Jasmine Rice x2
Taco Meat x2
It may look like a lot, but it will all cook up pretty fast. I actually think this month will be faster and easier than last month since I'm not doing two soups.
The first two tasks are actually really simple. I like to get my chicken fresh (not frozen) so that I can mix up all of my marinades and divide my chicken into freezer bags and then store them in the freezer with the marinade. Then, the night before I would like to serve, I can pull it out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. The next day, all I have to do is pull it out and either throw it in the over or throw it on the grill. All of the prep, marinade time, etc. has already been done.
Like I've mentioned before, we LOVE homemade pizza. So I'll make up a huge batch of sauce, enough for eight pizzas, plus an extra recipe or two to make pizza pockets for quick lunches with the kids. The dough is really easy to whip up in my Kitchenaid and it freezes really well. We usually make a mixture of whole wheat and white flour, but I recently discovered 'white whole wheat flour', so I'll be using that for this our dough this month.
Macaroni & Cheese is of course a kid favorite, and my husband and I enjoy it too, so it's an occasional side dish. We haven't had it in a while, so I'm going to make a few batches. I discovered a new way of making it, with sour cream and sharp cheddar cheese to make the sauce. I've tested it a few times and did find that it needed just a tiny splash of milk to smooth it all out, and just a pinch of sugar to offset the sharpness of the cheese. It's very good though.
Brown rice is always a nice side to a chicken dinner, but I seem to always time it wrong, so that everything else is done and ready to eat and the rice is still cooking on the stove. (and brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice!) So last month I made up two giant pots of brown rice all at once and froze it in meal size portions and it worked out so well. It only took about five minutes to heat through and it was ready to serve. I'll be doing this again for March.
I'll admit it. I'm very picky when it comes to spaghetti sauce. Very picky. There is one and only one brand of jarred sauce I will buy, and even that needs to be.... doctored. :o) We add really good italian sausage, green bell peppers, fresh garlic and onions and a few herbs to the jarred sauce or to canned tomatoes, which ever we have on hand. If I'm going to brown up one pound of sausage, I might as well brown up five pounds and get it over with for the whole month. So I'll chop all the veggies and saute with the browned sausage and get it all ready to go. I'll package in meal size portions in freezer bags, and its ready to be tossed with sauce whenever we are serving spaghetti. I use virtually the same mixture for lasagna too.
Speaking of lasagna, that's probably one of my favorites for fresh-home-cooked-meal-meets-convenience! I'll make up two pans this month, but I've been known to make four or five pans of lasagna at a time. Once I'm making one pan, it doesn't take too much more work to do a few more. I got a huge pack of disposable pans at Sam's Club a while back and they work really well for making up pans of lasagna, enchiladas and other 'pan' food and they work great in the freezer. I take my lasagna strait from the freezer, to the oven and it takes about one hour and its ready to serve. Not a single dirty dish involved in getting this meal on the table at dinner time!
Since I'm hoping that spring really is around the corner here, I'm not going to make soups for this month. Instead I'm making my husband's favorite Chicken Salad. Obviously a cold chicken salad wouldn't do well being frozen in its entirety. The veggies wouldn't taste so great after thawing. But, I will cook up all of my boneless, skinless chicken breast, chop it and divide it, so that it's ready to be tossed with the veggies and dressing when its time to eat. Although it's not totally prepared in advance, doing at least this one step will greatly cut down on the prep time and mess.
Another great idea is to make up dinner kits. Some things can't be frozen all together, but could be separately. Like my Kung Pao Chicken. I'll mix up the marinade and put that and the chopped chicken in a freezer bag. But I'll also mix all of the ingredients for the sauce that goes on after the chicken has been cooked, and I'll place that in another freezer bag. I'll place both items together with a batch of Jasmine Rice in one big freezer bag, and label it "Kung Pao Dinner Kit". Not totally ready to serve, but much of the time consuming prep work will be done.
Aside from all of this, I'm going to also make a few breakfast items and baking kits for March. I'm shooting for Saturday to get it all done, but maybe I'll get a head start tomorrow.
If you are interested in trying out Freezer Cooking, I highly recommend you checking out what FishMama and Crystal have to say. They certainly are the experts!
I had a great day of shopping yesterday. I wanted to post an overview of how my day went:
CVS: I spent $0.85 and I got a 70ct box of Huggies diapers, a bottle of SoftSoap Body Wash and a package of Powerbar gel blasts. Plus I got $9.50 ECBs back. Quite proud of that trip! :o)
Walgreens: I spent 8.87 and I got 4 bottles of Purex, 3 packs of Kotex, 2 sticks of Nivea Lip Care, 2 packs of gum and 4 colors of eyeshadow. I got $5.00 in RR back.
Rainbow Foods: I picked up $171.11 in groceries and spent only 23.11 for all of it!!! 86% savings!!
All together, I purchased over $275 worth of groceries and household items for a total of $32.83. Approx. 88% savings on all purchases! How much have you saved shopping this week?
Become a Facebook Fan of Green Works and you can print a coupon for $1.00/1 for their Natural Dishwashing Liquid. Hurry! The coupon is available to the first 1,000 fans only!!
Wow, it's March already. The month is already in progress and I'm just now sitting down to think about our meal plan for the month. I'm just getting started as everyone else in the world of blogging is finishing up their cooking for the month!
Good thing I went overboard last month with my freezer cooking, we still have lots of meals leftover. Homemade Pizza will continue to be a weekly feature, I can make the sauce, dough, and prep some of our favorite toppings all in advance, and it's super fast and easy to put together later, and sooooooo yummy!
This is what I'm planning for the month... well, three weeks. I'm not going to do my big cooking day till Thursday at the earliest, but possibly not till Saturday. I'm going to stock up on a few items at Rainbow this week to get my started for the month.
Beginning with Sunday, March 7th
7. Crock Pot: BBQ Pork
8. Grilled Chicken, Homemade Mac & Cheese & Veggie
9. Pork Tenderloin, Brown Rice & Veggie
10. Spaghetti & Garlic Bread
11. Grilled Sandwiches & Salad
12. Steak, Sweet Potato Fries, Salad
13. Homemade Pizza
14. Chicken Salad, Whole Wheat Rolls & Fruit
15. Grilled Sandwiches, Salad
16. Chicken, Brown Rice & Veggie
17. Spaghetti & Garlic Bread
18. Zuppa Tuscana Soup & Bread
19. Grilled Sandwiches, Salad
20. Homemade Pizza
21. Wild Rice Soup & Whole Wheat Rolls
22. Sunshine Chicken, Brown Rice & Veggie
23. Lasagna & Garlic Bread
24. Grilled Chicken, Homemade Mac & Cheese & Veggie
25. Kung Pao Chicken with Veggies & Jasmine Rice
26. Tacos
27. Steak, Sweet Potato Fries, Salad
28. Homemade Pizza
29. Chicken Salad, Whole Wheat Rolls & Fruit
30. Grilled Sandwiches, Salad
31. Lasagna & Garlic Bread
I can't begin to explain how much this helps us on a day to day basis. I have the meal plan on our refrigerator, so we all know "what's for dinner tonight". :) Having everything made up in advance, or at least much of the prep work done is such a time saver, money saver and makes for fewer dishes!!
Here's a deal to snag five boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks for FREE or very cheap at Cub Foods this week! Varieties of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks & Shapes are on sale for $0.99.
When you buy five (5) boxes, you will receive a catalina coupon for $3.50 off your next order.
Available Coupons include: (remember, Cub takes expired coupons!)
$0.40/1 from 8/9 GM
$0.50/2 from 1/3 GM
$0.50/2 from 9/13 GM
$0.50/2 from 8/9 GM
Printable Coupons for $0.50/2 here, here, here or here
Scenario One
Five Boxes: $4.95
Use five of the $0.40/1 from 8/9 GM
Spend $2.95, Get $3.50 Coupon
Total: FREE plus $0.55 overage!
Scenario Two
Five Boxes: $4.95
Use one $0.40/1 and two $0.50/2 coupons
Spend: $3.55. Get $3.50 Coupon
Total: five for $0.05 or $0.01 each!
Scenario Three
Five Boxes: $4.95
Use two $0.50/2 coupons
Spend $3.95, Get $3.50 coupon
Total: five for $0.45 or $0.09 each!
Even if you had no coupons at all, it would come out to $0.29 per box, still not a terrible price. But free is always better!!
Thanks Patti!!
(This also works for at $2.50 coupon when you buy four boxes)
Vitamin Water is giving away a FREE bottle of Vitamin Water Connect to it's first 100,000 fans on Facebook. Click here to get your coupon before they're gone!
Thanks STLMommy!
Click here for four rare printable coupons for Unilever brands:
$1.00/1 Shedd's Country Crock Side
$1.00/1 Degree Deodorant
$1.00/3 Knorr Rice or Pasta Sides
$1.00/2 Ragu Pasta Sauce
Print your copies before their gone!
Thanks Mercedes!
It's been going around the blog world that you can get two FREE bottles of Purex Laundry Detergent at Walgreens this week. Here's the deal:
Purex 2X, 50oz - on sale, buy one ($5.99) get one free
Use the BOGO coupon from the 2/21 RP
Final Price: two for FREE
**most stores will honor this coupon with this sale, but some may not so be prepared**
Today is March 1st, which means most printable coupon sites have been reset or restocked. I have highlighted a few sites below:
Coupons.com
I must say, I'm less than impressed with the "new" selection this morning at coupons.com. It doesn't look all that different from yesterday, when I rushed to do my "last chance" printing. Of then few new coupons, my favorites are:
$1.00/1 Yoplait Yoplus
$0.30/1 Yoplait Greek Yogurt (I'm anxious to try this!)
$0.75/1 5lb bag of Gold Medal Flour (a rare and high value coupon!)
UPDATE: using zip code 63303, there are several more good coupons, including five new Huggies Coupons!
$2.00/1 Overnights
$2.00/1 Pull Ups
$2.00/1 Goodnights Sleep Pants
$2.00/1 Any Huggies Diapers
$0.75/1 Huggies Wipes, 64ct or larger
SmartSource.com
Stop over at smartsource.com to print these and other coupons:
$1.00/1 Fisher Nut products
$1.00/1 Johnsons Baby Product
$1.00/1 El Monterey Tequitos
RedPlum.com
Next stop: redplum.com, where you will fine these coupons:
$1.00/1 Del Monte Fruit Chillers
$1.00/3 Kellogg's Cereal
Also, check out Pillsbury and Betty Crocker, but as of the time of this post, it doesn't look like they have been reset. This happened last month too, they were a day behind everyone else with the new months coupons.
Any other new great coupons out there? If so, leave a comment to share!
© Blogger template Simple n' Sweet by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009
Back to TOP
