Menu Plan for the Week of 4/6/09

Menu Plan Monday is hosted at Orgjunkie!

As I get closer to "full term", my energy is less and less as the day wears on. This week I'm trying to incorporate more meals that are only one dish and hit all the major nutritional categories (protein, complex carb, and veggie). Less dishes to wash, less for me to remember!

Breakfasts: apple carrot muffins, german pancakes, waffles

Lunches/Snacks: leftovers, fruit, cold cereal, carrot sticks and ranch

Dinners:

M: Potato and Veggie Frittata

Tue: Cheezy Chicken Spagetti Bake and peas

Wed: Minestrone and cornbread

Th: Egg Salad Sandwiches, Spicy Fries and Carrot sticks

F: Pizza and cabbage salad

Sat: Stir Fried Rice with lots of veggies and some chicken

Sun: Taco Potatoes

What's on your menu this week?

Gramie Spring Break Visit

A couple quick shots gramie K (my mom) sent us from her 2 day visit last week:

A still sick M and my huge baby belly:)

M helping gramie clean with sponges (sponges are the best in her opinion!)

Cleaning out mommy's grimy under kitchen sink cabinet with gramie

Coupon Blinkie Machines

Visit Frugal Fridays at Life as a Mom here!

Recently when out shopping I have kept my eyes peeled for the "blinkie" machines in supermarkets and elsewhere. These magical machines dole out coupons for the products they are placed near and can often make for cheap or free stuff! I will sometimes pick up a couple even if there isn't a great sale on the item at that store, hoping that another store will have a great sale on that item.

Case in point: last week's Mix N Match promo at Safeway stores, where a pasta blinkie made Ronzoni pastas only $0.25 each! I have also found yogurt blinkies that when combined with markdowns made for free or almost free yogurt. Its an easy way to get into the coupon game without spending a lot of time clipping or printing if you don't have time for that!

Here's a picture of all that super cheap pasta from this past week:

Long days in motherhood

Today has been a long day. Not sure if my daughter is going through a phase or if she's still recovering from her illness and something that I don't know about is bothering her--but she's had a very hard past couple of days. This morning she was so upset for several hours that she almost made herself sick while crying.

We each spent some time crying this morning as well as yesterday morning. It probably doesn't help that I'm hugely pregnant, but not quite close enough to the end to see the light at the end of the tunnel (33 weeks). The positive side of things is that I've felt my need to rely on God's grace and help more than ever lately.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears, spare me so I can smile again.”Psalm 39:12-13a

Bargain Meal of the Week for 4/1/09

Each week at $5 Dinners there is a huge gathering of bargain meals using ingredients at one particular store. Lots of stores are represented! I cover Safeway (the NW region)! Click on the menu items for a few recipe ideas when needed.

This week's bargain meal:

Broccoli Frittata w/o the artichokes in the recipe
Braeburn Apple Wedges
(serves 4-6)

Shopping List/Prices

Eggs (use super coupon on page 4 for 18 eggs/$1.99) use 8 $1.00
Kraft Cheese on sale for $2.49/ 8 oz use 2 cups for $2.00
Broccoli (sale for $0.98/lb use 1 lb or 2 cups about $1.00
Onion $0.25 (approx.)
Spices, breadcrumbs, milk etc. about $0.50 (approx.)
Apples (sale BOGO free bags for $3.99/3 lb bags) $0.25 (approx.)


Total: around $5.00

Safeway NW Deals for the week of April 1st-7th, 2009

Sorry no sales this week ***April Fools!*** Okay that was lame. Anyway, on to the deals this week!

Thanks to Hot Coupon World, here is the link to this week's ad.

Great Deals this week

Foster Farms Split Chicken Breasts $0.99/lb

Jumbo Artichokes BOGO free ($3.99 for 1)

Apples 3lb bag BOGO free ($3.99 each when you buy 1)

Broccoli Crowns &0.98/lb

California Cutie Clementines
Use SW coupon & manu coupon
Final Price ??

Easter Bake Sale!
C&H Sugar $1.89 for 5lbs (use $0.35/1 coupon from 03-15 RP)
Wesson Cooking oil 48oz $2.49
Nestle Baking Morsels 2/$4 (use $0.75/1 coupon from 03-29 RP)

Super Coupons (don't see any min. purchase this time!)

Nabisco Oreo Cookies $1.99

Lucerne Sweet Cream Butter 1 lb $0.99 (awesome deal!)

Quaker Life or Fruity Pebbles $0.99 each
Use $1 off coupon
Final Price Free!!

Cooked Shrimp $3.99/lb
(if this is Waterfront Bistro use the $2 off coupon in the WB display in the seafood dept.)
Final Price $5.98 for 2 lb bag!

Lucerne eggs 18 ct. $0.99

Buy 5 Save $5 Mix and Match

Tostitos chips and/or salsa, con queso $1.99 wyb 5
Ruffles 1.99 wyb 5
Aquafina 6pk 1.99 wyb 5
Gatorade 8pk 3.99 wyb 5
Pepsi natural 4pk 2.99 wyb 5
Pepsi 6pk bottles 1.99 wyb 5

See here for a meal idea using Safeway Sale Items this week (for under $5)!

What other deals or match-ups do you see?

For more shopping deals visit BeCentsable!

Best way to start seedlings for a garden?

This week's Works for Me Wednesday is a backwards edition! That means I get to ask you to help me out! Previously I posted some burning pregnancy questions here (I'm 33 weeks today...whooohooo!), which I would love continued input on.

But on a different topic, I would love to know the best way to start seedlings. Online resources you've used, what containers are best, etc. I would like to start a garden this year, but we may be moving and if not, it will have to be a large container garden in our current rental yard which has no garden space. Any thoughts for me?