Loves me some grocery bargains: week of 3/30/09

Like I mentioned last week, I was gone this weekend and did not need much in the way of groceries after my mega trip last week. So I stopped by Fred Meyer yesterday for a few fresh food deals to finish up our meal plan.

Here's what I got:
Whole chicken
10lbs potatoes
cabbage
6 grapefruit
3 bananas
TP (not pictured)
organic spring mix salad (marked down)
Total $11.57



As you can see down below, its been a harried past few days with sick toddler, traveling and company (although the travel and company were still fun!)

So my Walgreens picture is missing...well everything but the soda deal:) I used a $10 RR, got $5 back and got 6 12 packs of pepsi plus a whole bunch more stuff. I will get over $8 in rebates. I spent $18 oop (almost $4 was tax!). Included in my transaction was some flour that I needed but was regular price. With a sick toddler I just wanted to get done quickly...so I spent a little more than I liked. The glade soy candle we got for free after coupons is awesome by the way!



This is the facial expression I get a lot these days. With M being sick with some nasty virus this past few days have been hectic! And to think in a few months I will have sick two sick girlies some days...yikes!


Visit Grocery Cart Challenge and Money Saving Mom for more weekly shopping trips!

Menu Plan for the week of 3/30/09

Menu Plan Monday is hosted at Orgjunkie!


Breakfasts: Sourdough pancakes, friendship bread, banana bread

Lunches/Snacks: leftovers, fruit, yogurt, cold cereal

Dinners:

M: Out to Indian food with Gramie (here through Tuesday)

Tue: Fettucini Carbonara (using leftover ham from our early Easter meal), French Bread, Broccoli before Gramie hits the road

Wed: Taco Dip and Chips, Salad

Th: Ham, Scalloped Potatoes

F: Pizza

Sat: Fish & Chips, Peas (didn't get to this last week)

Sun: Leftover meatloaf (from Freezer), mashed potatoes, peas

What's on your menu this week?

Working and Traveling

Sorry for my lack of personal posts this week...I've been working at my old job (at the local school district) doing MANDT training for one last time. We also have several rounds of company as well as packing for a trip over to E. WA this weekend to see my folks and do taxes. I have a cold too...yucky! I'll try to update this weekend after we get some fresh pictures taken:)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bargain Meal of the Week for 3/25/09

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:

Easy Meal using the Mix N Match Promo!
Chili
Fritos
Sour Cream
Green Salad
Pepsi
(serves 6)

Shopping List/Prices

**most of the ingredients come from the Mix N Match Promo (read more here) **

2 cans Hormel Chili $1.50
Fritos Scoops $1.50
Fresh Express Salad $0.75
Dressing/other toppings for salad approx. $0.50
Pepsi $0.75

Instructions: Heat and Eat! :)
Total: $5.00

Safeway NW Deals for the week of 3/25-3/31/09

Hmmm...this week looks a lot like...last week. The ad is mostly Mix N Match deals, and so far they look like the same products as last week! Weird. But there are lots of match ups, so I will ad a few that I didn't have time to last week.

Mix and Match Promo: $5 off instantly every 10 participating items you buy!

See a more complete list from SlickDeals (its crazy long!) here

(all prices are when you buy 10)

$0.75
Fresh Express Salads

Fuze beverages
Use $0.25/1 coupon from 01-04 S1
Final Price $0.50

Pepsi/Dr. Pepper 2 liters
Rosarita Refried Beans
Propel
Rice A Roni
Del Monte Canned Veggies (02-08 RP for $1.00/12)
Hunts Tomatoes (blinkies at various stores for $1/4)
Del Monte Fruit Naturals (look for printables)
Ronzoni Pastas (I did this deal!) In some stores (incl. min) there were blinkies for $0.50/1 above the pastas! I bought 10 for $2.50....$0.25 each!

$1.50
Kleenex
Dial Soap
Ajax Dish Soap

Hilshire Farms Lunch Meat
Use $0.55/1 coupon from 02-22 RP
Final Price $0.95

Hormel Pepperoni
Betty Crocker Cookie Mix
Use $0.40/1 coupon from 02-08 GM
Final Price $1.10 each

Crystal Light
Bertolli Sauce Pouch
(various coupon blinkies for $1/1)
Final Price $0.50 each

Cheerios (02-08 GM for $.50/1)
Nabisco 100 calorie packs
Nabisco Chips Ahoy
Knorr Sides Plus

$2.00
Ball Park Franks ($1/2 coupons in 3/15 RP)
Eating Right Carrots 2lb
Hefty One Zip Storage bags
Colgate Total
Motts 6 pack

Hormel Compleats, 10-oz
Use $0.75/1 coupon from 02-08 S
Final Price $1.25

Huggies Wipes, 64-72 ct
USe $0.50/1 coupon from 03-01 S (or there are $1.00/1 out there!)
Final Price $1.50 (or $1.00)

Crest Toothpaste
Use $0.50/1 coupon from 03-15 PG
Final Price $1.50

$2.50
Dove Deoderant
Use $1.50/2 from 03-15 RP
Final Price $1.75 each

Fiber One Bars or Chex Mix Bars
Use 3/08S or 2/09 GM for $0.50/1
Final Price $2.00

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!

Popcorn...the best snack

Popcorn is about the best snack ever. Cheap, healthy (if prepared that way) and easy. Plus, all three of us like it. We discovered my 17 month old's affinity for popcorn on accident when we had company over the week before last. I swear she ate her weight in the stuff! After getting over my initial freak out about it being a choking hazard, I decided it was a good thing.


In our opinion, the best way to make it is on the stove-top with our turn crank popcorn popper with canola or olive oil sprayed on lightly and lots of kosher salt. Yum...it works for me!

WFMW is here!

Loves me some grocery bargains: 3/21/09 trips

Practically every major store in my general vicinity was having awesome deals of some sort this week. This is NOT always the case. Some weeks are really lame around here...especialy with the lack of double coupons and such. BUT...not anymore! Recently Albertson's has been dabbling into the doubles every so often and its been so fun! Safeway and QFC had some great mix N match promotions too. This is more than I would normally spend in a week, but I won't be shopping this weekend due to travel/abnormal stuff (such as working for 2 days:)!

Albertson's and double coupon madness: total under $5 for all (cute toddler not included):
Best deals-yogurt was all free after doubles, extra dark chocolate (a must for pregnancy sanity) $0.29, beech nut kids meals $0.70 overage, and free french bread. I got tomato paste to make homemade ketchup, mustard and store brand whip topping all without coupons.

Fred Meyer $15.98: nothing exciting here, just some things the other stores didn't have on sale for lower prices: ww flour, bananas, grapes, margarine, reduced bread, syrup, maple extract so I can start making homemade syrup!!!, brown sugar

Target $24.62 (not pictured is my new nursing bra $12.99): whoo this was a fun trip. Thank goodness because Target can be a pain with coupons sometimes. Found the secret is to find a teenage guy that doesn't take himself too seriously and who doesn't want to embarass himself by questioning every single coupon. Not to say I try to "pull something", but for some reason older cashiers will sometimes panic when you use a store/manu coupon together and cause a state of emergency situation over nothing. Or the coupon has a picture of a different product but clearly states its for a range...OR the coupon beeps! So much drama for little coupons. But I knew this cashier was THE ONE when he picked up a fake lemon centerpiece and held it up (with the customers in front of me) and said :whoa are these real"?! in a surfer dude manner. :) So that was a long story but all in all I got some great deals. I spent about $12 on everything pictured including yummy dunkin donut coffee, two applesauces ($0.14 each after coupons), $0.50 a box on various Quaker bars, 3 packs of huggies wipes, and some much needed thank you notes.

Safeway #2 (in reverse order) about $15: mix n match promo deals: Salad, soda, fuze drinks (many not pictured...M carried them off) for our labor bag, whole grain rice a roni, tartar sauce (free!), dole fruit cups, and petite cut diced tomatoes (used $0.40/1 coupon)

QFC $8.09 and Safeway #1 $2.50: QFC had powerade at $0.50 each when you buy 10 participating products (wanted lots for labor bag) and I had some Quakes coupons that created overage. The strawberries(4 lbs not pictured) ended up being $1.25/lb so that was $4.99 of my total!. At Safeway I got the Ronzoni pasta for $.25 a box after mix n match promo and blinkie coupons!

Walgreens $3.04, but use $12 RRs from previous trips and received $7 in RR back.

Grocery Cart Challenge and Money Saving Mom host oodles more shopping trip saving stories!

Menu Plan for the week of 3/22/09

Menu Plan Monday is hosted at Orgjunkie!

Thursday and Friday will be super quick easy meals since I will be *gasp* working all day! I agreed to do one last training for my school district because they are short on trainers (MANDT system) this year and they spent buco bucks to train me two years ago.

Breakfasts: Sourdough pancakes (these were great...going to do them again), cinnamon rolls, leftover carrot coconut bread

Lunches/Snacks: leftovers, fruit, yogurt, cold cereal

Dinners:

M: Meatballs and marinara over pasta, swiss chard and (free!) french bread

Tue: Really Good Beans & Rice with all the fixin's and salad

Wed: Cabbage Rolls

Th: Fish and Chips, peas

F: Pizza or frozen pizza I got for $1.29 each:)

Sat/Sun: Visiting my parents and doing taxes! We get to bring my mom back with us (her spring break from work!) this week too:)

What's on your menu this week?

Pregnancy Questions

Not sure how to get this post to those who might have the answers, but I am sure there are a few of you who might have thoughts for me!

First, has anyone tried the Red Raspberry Leaf tea I've heard so much about? What is a good price/where should I buy it if I do?

Does anyone have links or ideas for how to increase my chances of a successful VBAC? I am increasingly excited about labor (weird I know)! My worst fear right now is that I will be at 42 weeks and labor hasn't started! So I guess my next question is...

Any (safe) tips for helping labor to begin? Yes I know that baby comes when its time, but I just thought I would throw that out there:)

What are things you considered "essentials" for your labor/delivery bag? We had a very abrupt trip to the hospital after finding out about my PIH last time, so I want to be prepared this time.

Any tips for transitioning a very young sibling (M will be 19 months!) to life with a new baby? Tips for mom and dad making the transition?

*I thought of one more question- does anyone know of good sources (on a budget) to get nursing clothes? I have bought some at Target, but it seems overpriced for the relative lack of quality. *

My blog email is beansnrice@live.com if you prefer to answer any that way...but either way please share your thoughts!!

Busy Week at the Dr.

The past four days I've needed our car every.single.day. I hate that. Some like the freedom wheels bring (and I agree that they are sometimes a necessity in certain places/circumstances). Days that I have to run errands, or as it was this week-go to the dr/midwife/hospital 3 days in a row make me a little crazy. Monday we spent the evening at urgent care/the L&D ward of our local hospital, Tuesday I had my regularly scheduled midwife apt (which went well... my BP is still good!) and Wednesday we finally made progress towards finding solutions regarding M's 4 + month red rash.

It was a rough day for the kiddo. She was overdue on her immunizations, so we started with those, then she was terrified when the dr. tried to look her over/listen to her heartbeat etc. I guess she was fairly traumatized by it all because she passed out on my shoulder (asleep) during the dr. visit. It was no where near naptime and I can't remember the last time she fell asleep on anyone. She woke up just in time to get her blood drawn! Poor thing. She did get 3 stickers by the end of our time there though:)

As to be expected the blood draw pretty much sent her over the edge. I had to lie next to her and "restrain" her with my legs while two nurses held her down. Not a happy moment for her or 4+ months of increasing rash (now spread to her face, arms and legs) plus almost constant cold symptoms and bowel issues-I would never have consented to do the draw.

We are now trying Zyrtec with her until we take her to the dermatologist in a few weeks, who thinks she may be reacting to some sort of allergy. He wasn't convinced though--I guess her rash hasn't followed what a normal allergic rash pattern typically does. Hopefully we'll get answers soon, but for now it's in God's hands.

Roadie to Spokane Part 2

Roadie Pics Part 1 where I talk a little bit about how we save money when taking a short road trip. Last year I shared how we stayed at a hotel for two weeks without breaking the bank!

First off, instructions for an easy, tasty very cheap road food:

Calzones or Pizza Pockets

There are a couple of ways to do this, depending on what ingredients you have access to inexpensively and how healthy (or not!) you care to make these.

Since we still had a few Pillsbury Grands left from the huge sale (got them for pennies each) I used these for a not so healthy pizza pocket. I rolled each half flat, and put a 1/3 -1/2 cup of a mixture of lunchmeat (or pepperoni works), mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce inside. Bake for about 10 minutes at 375 or until golden. I got the recipe idea from a Taco Melt Recipe here, which also sounds like a great filling.

Or you can use any simple pizza dough recipe, like this easy one found here, and fill it with toppings your family loves such as cheese (ricotta, mozzarella, cheddar, etc.; veggies, white or red sauce, meat, etc. ) Roll small balls of dough into ovals and put the mixture on half the oval. Fold the other half of dough over the top and pinch to close. Watch these closely because they cook quickly (and get overdone quickly!). Bake 8-12 minutes at 425 degrees.




Here are some pictures from our last stop with friends on our roadie to Spokane this past weekend. Our friends Mike and Heidi along with their sweet daughter have been in the same missions boat as us-except about 3 times as long. Meaning they have been planning, hoping and dreaming of going overseas to do mission work for years, yet God has delayed their plans numerous times for various reasons. Their attitude and willingness to learn from the additional time here has been so encouraging to us!

M and Mike and Heidi's friend's daughter...petting a pretend kitty

3 mommas with our one-year-old girlies (from left to right-Rachel who is the mom of 3, Rachael(me!) mom of one plus one on the way, Heidi, mom of one (birthday girl!)

M, working hard on making a pretend kitchen

Mike with friend's daughter and the birthday girl at their house

Just Heidi and I and our cute girls

Mike and Heidi's beautiful daughter...first birthday today!


Frugal Fridays are hosted at Life as a Mom now!

Roadie to Spokane part 1

The serious driver dude (aka my husband Daniel)

The not so serious picture taker/passenger/sometimes backseat driver (aka me..Rachael)

The cool kid in the backseat (aka Punker or M)

Our super-awesome snack bag, filled with tasty snacks for the road. This bag, along with several meals from our friends Sharon and Jason, allowed us to spend less than $20 on food/snacks on the road

Our new go-to food for road trips...calzones or "pockets". This one had cheese, marinara sauce and cut up lunchmeat in it and it lasted for two meals!


Unfortunately we didn't get a lot of pictures of our friends, but we got a few. I'll post those next along with more details of our fun road trip to Eastern Washington (in which we got to stay overnight with my parents not once but twice!):)

Seattle Mom Dealfinder Giveaway!

Seattle Mom Dealfinder (a great new blog by the way!) is giving away an Entertainment Book! Visit them here to find out more and to enter. Don't forget to check out the rest of the blog too!

Bargain Meal of the Week for 3/18/09

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:

~Vegetarian Pasta Feed~
Spagetti with Marinara Sauce & Cheese
Green Salad
Golden Corn
Canteloupe for dessert
(serves 6)

Shopping List/Prices

**most of the ingredients come from the Mix N Match Promo (read more here) **

Hunts Traditional Sauce ($0.75)
Golden Grain or Ronzoni Spagetti ($0.75)-be on the lookout for Ronzoni coupon blinkies which would make this cost only $0.25!
Del Monte Corn $0.75
Lucerne Cheese 1 cup $1.00
Fresh Express Salad $0.75
Dressing/other toppings for salad approx. $0.50
Canteloupe 1 lb approx. $0.50

Total: $5.00 (or $4.50 if you buy the Ronzoni pasta with coupon!)

Safeway NW Deals for the week of 3/25-3/31/09

Hmmm...this week looks a lot like...last week. The ad is mostly Mix N Match deals, and so far they look like the same products as last week! Weird. But there are lots of match ups, so I will ad a few that I didn't have time to last week.

Mix and Match Promo: $5 off instantly every 10 participating items you buy!

See a more complete list from SlickDeals (its crazy long!) here

(all prices are when you buy 10)

$0.75
Fresh Express Salads

Fuze beverages
Use $0.25/1 coupon from 01-04 S1
Final Price $0.50

Pepsi/Dr. Pepper 2 liters
Rosarita Refried Beans
Propel
Rice A Roni
Del Monte Canned Veggies (02-08 RP for $1.00/12)
Hunts Tomatoes (blinkies at various stores for $1/4)
Del Monte Fruit Naturals (look for printables)
Ronzoni Pastas (I did this deal!) In some stores (incl. min) there were blinkies for $0.50/1 above the pastas! I bought 10 for $2.50....$0.25 each!

$1.50
Kleenex
Dial Soap
Ajax Dish Soap

Hilshire Farms Lunch Meat
Use $0.55/1 coupon from 02-22 RP
Final Price $0.95

Hormel Pepperoni
Betty Crocker Cookie Mix
Use $0.40/1 coupon from 02-08 GM
Final Price $1.10 each

Crystal Light
Bertolli Sauce Pouch
(various coupon blinkies for $1/1)
Final Price $0.50 each

Cheerios (02-08 GM for $.50/1)
Nabisco 100 calorie packs
Nabisco Chips Ahoy
Knorr Sides Plus

$2.00
Ball Park Franks ($1/2 coupons in 3/15 RP)
Eating Right Carrots 2lb
Hefty One Zip Storage bags
Colgate Total
Motts 6 pack

Hormel Compleats, 10-oz
Use $0.75/1 coupon from 02-08 S
Final Price $1.25

Huggies Wipes, 64-72 ct
USe $0.50/1 coupon from 03-01 S (or there are $1.00/1 out there!)
Final Price $1.50 (or $1.00)

Crest Toothpaste
Use $0.50/1 coupon from 03-15 PG
Final Price $1.50

$2.50
Dove Deoderant
Use $1.50/2 from 03-15 RP
Final Price $1.75 each

Fiber One Bars or Chex Mix Bars
Use 3/08S or 2/09 GM for $0.50/1
Final Price $2.00

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

What other deals or match-ups do you see?

For more shopping deals visit BeCentsable!

Weekly Shopping Trip: St. Patrick's edition 2009

My shopping consisted of a few markdowns and staples we needed at Fred Meyer, and a trip to Walgreens. Not only did I not need much this week, but we were out of town all weekend when I normally do a big bargain hunting extravaganza:)
Fred Meyer, total $20.xx

Canola Oil
2packs cottonelle TP (used $1/1 coupons, making these $0.19 each!)
sourcream, markdown
bologna, markdown...I've been craving sandwiches with pickles lately!
Flour
Strawberries, on sale $1.50
bananas
cabbage
corned beef (we're having Corned Beef, cabbage, carrots in the crockpot tonight!)
Activa yogurt...thought this would be free after markdown and coupon, but coupon beeped due to $0.01 overage...wah!
whole wheat bread $0.79 after markdown
baking powder, no sale, just out!

Walgreens


We are set on disposable diapers and wipes for O now! I think I have plenty of newborn and size 1, so that is exciting. I realized I should buy a few more in M's size for that crazy first month, so I will be buying some WAG brand this week in size 4.

I used a $10 RR for both of these two transactions and spent the last of my rebate giftcard for all this. The raisins were a needed filler. I think I spent about $4 Oop on the Dove transaction (plus RR) and $8 on the Huggies. Not sure though. It was a good run overall.

Visit Grocery Cart Challenge for more shopping trips!

Baking up a storm

Last week we needed some reasonably healthy things for breakfast, but I wanted to use up some ingredients I had in abundance. The ingredients I had? Carrots and peanut butter. Nothing immediately came to mind that combined the two. I ended up making two separate recipes and they both turned out well: carrot coconut bread and three ingredient peanut butter cookies.

I read the comments on the peanut butter cookies and they all suggested a few additions (which of course made them into "more than 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies":)

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup sugar (or more, but I would suggest trying it this way first)
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar

Cream all ingredients, drop by spoonfulls onto baking sheet and flatten with fork.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Yum!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday is hosted at Tammy's Recipes!

Not the way we planned on spending our evening...

Guess where we were last night? Urgent Care and then the labor and delivery wing of our local hospital. But all's well that ends well and baby is still safe and sound (and inside not outside:)

After picking up Daniel from work yesterday I went upstairs to use the restroom and put on some slippers. I started downstairs as usual, but ended up slipping on the top stair of the second set of stairs and landing flat on my back on the second to last step. All I remember thinking on the way down was that I was going to be in bad shape when I landed! And I hit hard, flat on my back. But aside from bursting into tears from the shock and immediately thinking that I hoped baby O was okay, it didn't feel like anything was seriously injured. After Daniel found me (somewhat hyesterical:) on the stairs and helped me up, I felt like a little Tylenol and taking it easy was all I needed.

I went into the kitchen to serve M and Daniel dinner and realized that I was a little...wet. I had just come from the restroom, and this was more than just dampness. I called consulting nurse with our health plan and she told me to come to urgent care immediately to get checked out.

30 minutes later at urgent care, I found out that pregnant women who may have just broken their water get first priority and we got in almost immediately (even though a room full of people were already waiting!). It was a little scary to be top priority. After checking baby's heartbeat in urgent care, we found out it was a little high, so they sent us to the local hospital's L & D to get checked out further.

We were admitted to one of the rooms we stayed in when in labor with M (#17!) and one of the nice nurses from our stay with M was attending us! That was comforting--and after an hour of checking and monitoring we found out that my water had indeed not broken and that baby and everything looked good. It was a nerve-wracking evening, but again we were reminded to be thankful for the healthy and safe pregnancy I've enjoyed thus far and prayed continuously (2nd Thes. 5:17-15).

I have my regularly scheduled midwife apt. today (good timing!) and am just very sore today. Maybe this experience will help me to be less anxious about the long wait ahead of us until baby comes:)

Menu Plan for the Week of 3/15/09

Menu Plan Monday is hosted at Orgjunkie!

Since we have a busy weekend on the road, I thought I would get menu planning done early. Easy peasy since several of the meals from last week didn't get made (we had unexpected leftovers and did a different meal than planned due to guests).

Breakfasts: Sourdough pancakes (these were great...going to do them again), whole wheat cranberry orange scones (didn't do these last week) Side note: I made carrot coconut bread from More With Less and it was really yummy! Even with whole wheat flour:)

Lunches/Snacks: leftovers, fruit, yogurt, cold cereal

Dinners:

M: Quiche (based loosely on this recipe) Ran out of eggs last week, so am making this now...with asparagus

Tue: Corned Beef Brisket, Cabbage and Irish Soda Bread--our St. Patrick's annual meal

Wed: Red Lentil Curry over Brown Rice and cooked carrots

Th: Slow Cooker Beef and Cabbage Soup with leftover Soda Bread

F: Pizza or frozen pizza I got for $1.29 each:)

Sat: Frozen Veggie Stir Fry Mix over Brown rice

Sun: Light meal after fellowship group-- grilled cheese and soup maybe?

What's on your menu this week?

Frozen Food Deals at Walgreens

While you're at Walgreens picking up cheap Huggies this week, stop by the frozen food section and see if anything is clearanced out. I happened to check and we got several pizzas for $1.29, a 6 pack of corndogs for $0.50, and some breaded shrimp for $0.50. Can't hurt to check!

Visit Life As A Mom for more Frugal Friday!

Lots of Freebies this week!

This was my week for freebies I guess! I got the yoplait gift pack in the mail from the giveaway on Bargain Jargon (which included a nibag, very nice water bottle, free yogurt coupon, notepad, the MacFee Anti Virus Software (that will be free after rebate after I figure out why the rebate is giving me trouble!), baby wipes, dish soap and a granola bar.

I was going to list the two redbox movies I got on Monday as freebies (since they were initially) but we had company over late on Tuesday night and didn't get them back on time! So they were really $2, not free;( Oh well... having company over is worth it.

A few more pics from this weekend

Mommy and bunny-girl

Daddy and M reading a book in Hebrew (or pretending to)...from Gramparents trip to Israel

Bunny Ears Up! with Gramie in the background

Safeway NW Deals for the week of 3/11/09

Here is the link to the ad, thanks to Hot Coupon World!

48 hour sale (Sat. & Sun. only)

Oscar Mayer Fun Pack Lunchables or Deli Creations 2/$3

Ambrosia, Jazz or Pacific Apples $0.99/lb

Doritos $1.77

Nabisco Ritz Crackers $1.88
Buy 2, use $2/2 01-25 S coupons
Final Price $1.76 for two!

Good Deals

Cabbage $0.38/lb

Corned Beef Points $1.49/lb

Rancher's Reserve Boneless Beef Chuck Pot Roast $1.99/lb

Safeway Chicken Thighs, Drumsticks or Leg Quarters $0.99/lb

Green Seedless Grapes $0.98/lb

Buy 5/Save $5 promo (juice)

Ocean Spray Juices (select Varieties) $1.00 each when you buy 5
$1/1 coupon for diet/light varieties
Final Price Free!

Tree Top Apple Juice, 64-oz $1.50
Use $1.00/1 coupon from 01-04 S1 (fit and trim)
Final Price $0.50

Super Coupons (min. $10 purchase-limit 1 each)

Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, 8-10 ct $0.99 with super coupon
Use $0.75/2 coupon from 03-08 RP
Final Price $0.62 each (if they let you buy 2 at this price)

Kraft Mac N Cheese $0.49

Peter Pan Peanut Butter $0.99

Lucerne Large Eggs $0.97 for 18 ct. (great price!)

Tropicana Pure Premium OJ $1.97 $1.97
Use $1.00/2 coupon from 01-04 R1
Final Price $1.47 if you can buy 2

SmithField Bacon $1.99

Safeway ButterTop Breads $1.00

Medium Raw Shrimp $3.99/lb

Lucerne String Cheese $1.99 for 12 oz.

Coupon Deals

Rosina Italian or Homestyle Meatballs, 32 oz $6.99
Use $0.75/1 coupon from 03-01 RP
Final Price $6.24

Waterfront Bistro Products (new line)
Tearpad coupon at most Safeway Stores for $2 off any product!

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!

Bargain Meal of the Week for 3/11/09

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.

This week's bargain meal:

~Breakfast for Dinner!~
Scrambled Eggs
Toast
Bacon
Orange Juice
Grapes

Shopping List/Prices

Use Super Coupons (in ad) for the following:
Lucerne Large Eggs 18 count $0.97 (use half package for about $0.50)
Smithfield Bacon $1.99 (use half package $1.00)
Safeway Butter Top Bread $1.00 (1/4 package $0.25)
Tropicana Juice $1.97 (use half $1.00)

Butter/Jam etc. $0.50
Green Grapes $0.98/lb (use 1 lb for $0.98)

Total: $4.23

30 week pregnancy update

I look at this and think...if I saw myself on the street I would think "she's about to have that baby!" Well, a few (10 give or take a couple) weeks remain! 30 weeks does feel like its getting close to time though. We will be touring the hospital (we're going to Seattle's Group Health Hospital this time) in 3-4 weeks and taking a refresher birth course. Since I did the labor but not the delivery (at least I didn't get to the pushing part) I am anxious to get "refreshed".

Baby O is super active-her kicks and punches are more than just a little noticeable these days. She should be almost 3 lbs by now! Heartburn is my almost-constant companion (starts early afternoon and ends at 3am or so every.single.night.

Besides packing our hospital bag and getting our carseat back from my parents (they kindly do "storage" for us:) we are pretty much ready for O to come. There is a slight possiblity that we could be moving to a nearby house before the baby comes, so life could get exciting quickly! I am so thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far!

Strawberry Banana Flaxseed "Milkshake" Smoothies

Although I am a fan of green smoothies, they haven't sounded appetizing since I've been expecting.

I often forget that simple fruit smoothies are still a nutritious snack, breakfast or dessert that make things that aren't very exciting on their own into a yummy treat! Frozen bananas are the key to a naturally sweetened smoothie that has the taste and consistency of a milkshake without the sugar or fat. This morning we had Strawberry Banana Flaxseed Smoothies that had a carton of strawberry yogurt and milk/water to help it to blend into drinkability.


As you can see my 17 month old loved it! In a few months, after baby O is born and the summer months are in full swing I plan on adding back the greens (probably spinach) for more nutrition!




Say hello to Amy, who's hosting kitchen tip tuesday this week!

Weekly Shopping for 3/8/09

Safeway:
I did extra shopping last week, so I didn't need much this week. Safeway had some amazing deals on produce (potatoes, onions and carrots were all 5lbs/$0.99) and the oranges were $3.60 for 10lbs. The yogurt was free after markdown and a blinkie coupon, the chicken was $1.69/lb (skinless boneless breasts). The Raisin bran and Quaker life were all free after rolling the $4 catalina (on your next order). I split it up into several transactions to take better advantage of the sale. The whole wheat flour was on sale for $3.59, which is a decent price for that size and the stores I frequent. Ham lunch meat: $0.99 after store and manu coupon. Total: under $18. I used $10 I got back from last week (was supposed to be a frozen food catalina, but the machine was broken). OOP $8.

Walgreen's:
The famous Huggies Deal. Let me know if you want to know about this deal...its amazing! I am a cloth diaper momma, but this was even too good for me to pass up. After RR from previous week and coupons, these cost $12-13 (for 6 packs). Not sure the exact total because my dad was with me and he bought mochas for fillers:) That doesn't count the $20 in register rewards I have for next time I shop!

Another quick stop at WAGS to take advantage of overage. I figured out that although most registers "beep" for the Ritz deal if you buy two, I could buy 6 (BOGO) and use 2 $2/2 coupons and pay $1.97 for 6 packages, which is still a decent deal. And the coupons go right through. I also got 2 packs of Revlon emory boards ($0.93 overage), 2 packs of Sambucol ($2 in overage), more blink tears with a $2 coupon (to get the $8 RR) and paid with a $3.50 RR from last week's Colgate deal. My total was $4.5x, but $3.32 was tax:)


Visit Grocery Cart Challenge and Money Saving Mom to see what other people bought this week!

This week's menu plan can be found here.

Grandpa Blake and Bunny Suit

My parents were over from Eastern WA this weekend for my uncle's 50th. We traveled all day to the Marysville/Smokey Point area and stopped by my grandma's assisted living residence too. It was good to see so many family members in one day, but we were exhausted when we got home!

Here is my dad feeding M some cereal late Sat. night. Notice the concentration on both their faces.


Last time I was in the Wenatchee area visiting my folks we stopped by our favorite thrift store, Philadelphia house. These bunny pj's were a little scary looking at first, but are so cute on M! They were in the bargain area out back for $0.47 I think. I got some cute pics of M and grampie Blake reading, but grampie was still in his pj's so I can't post them here:)


I finally took that preggo pic this weekend, so I'll post that Wed. with a 30 week (already!?!?) update!:)