Safeway NW Deals for Oct. 22nd-Oct.28th, 2008

48 Hour Breakfast Sale Saturday & Sunday Only (25th & 26th)

Safeway Thick Sliced Hickory Bacon $4.99
Large Red Delicious, Golden or Granny Smith Apples $0.88/lb
Minute Maid Orange Juice 2/$4
Lucerne Butter $1.99 each

Coupon Deals

Mars Fun Size, 10.23 to 22-oz.
Use $1.00/2 coupon from 10-12 RP
Final Price $1.38

Reeses or KitKat Snack Size Bags, 10.50 to 10.79-oz. $1.40
Use $1.00/3 coupon from 09-28 S
Final Price $1.07

Hefty One Zip Storage or Sandwich Bags $1.65
Use $0.55/1 coupon from 09-28 RP
Final Price $1.10

Airborne Health Formula BOGO $4.25 (each)
Use $2.00/1 coupon from 09-07 S
Final Price $2.25

Zone Perfect Bars 10/$10
USe 1.00/1 coupon from 9/7 SS2
Final Price Free!

Betty Crocker Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn, 3 ct BOGO $1.65
Use $0.50/2 coupon from 10-05 GM
Final Price $1.40

Progresso Light & Reduced Sodium Soup - buy 2 get 3 free
Use $0.25/2 coupon from 09-07 GM (there are better coupons out there, but I don't have them!)
Final Price $0.90

Hillshire Farm Deli Select Hearty Sliced Lunchmeat $3.00
Use $0.55/1 coupon from 10-05 RP
Final Price $2.45

Bumble Bee Chunk White Albacore Tuna, 5 or 6-oz. (in water)$1.25
Use $0.55/1 coupon from 09-14 S
Final Price $0.70

Star Olive Oil BOGO (17 oz. each)
Use blinkie coupon found at display for $1.00/1 (may be able to use two)
Final Price either $8.59 for 2 or $7.59 for two if both coupons work!

Clairol Herbal Essences Shampoo or Conditioner, $2.50
Use $3.00/2 coupon from 10-12 PG
Final Price $1.00

Glade Air Freshener $1.00
USe $1.00/2 from 09-14 S
Final Price $0.50

What other deals have you seen?

Free Benefiber at Walgreen's this week!

If you want a free (or almost free if you don't have coupons) way to sneak more fiber into your diet, go to your local Walgreen's this week to stock up on drinkable Benefiber through Saturday!

Here's how it works:


Buy three(3) 16-count Kiwi Strawberry Benefiber drink mix ($7.99 each), find the Easy Saver coupon for $5 off in your EasySaver book (you only need one, just hand it over after all three Benefiber have scanned), then if you have them, use three $2 off manufacturer coupons. This will make your purchase $2.97 out of pocket, BUT you will receive an $8 Register Reward (good on your next purchase of anything at Walgreen's)! Just don't use it to buy more Benefiber...it won't give you another RR.

*The best order to give the clerk your coupons so the register doesn't get all confused:) is: Register rewards (if you have them), manu coupons, then Walgreen's coupons. Remember to always have the same number of coupons as items (and the above all count towards your total!) so if you need to add a pencil or something, have that handy.*

I have done this without the manufacturer coupons (using up some RR I already had) and it worked great! Even without the manufacturer coupons this ends up being less than $1 out of pocket after Register Rewards.

I am drinking some right now and it tastes a little like Crystal Light...make sure to put it in a bottle and shake so that there aren't any unmixed bits:) This is a great way to get more fiber in your diet for free!

Fun (not frugal) at the Corn Maze

Our local corn maze costs $8 per person! Yikes. We almost turned around and went home from sticker shock, but realized that it wouldn't make much sense at that point. So we determined to have fun, even if it was rather un-frugal:) Plus, we're supporting the local economy, right!?

Here are the few pictures we were able to get from our corn maze fun.

Daddy and M looking hard for the next maze marker (there were 6 in all, and the maze was 2.2 miles long if you did it all correctly the first time...we did not:)

Daddy and daughter walking into the sunset

Cheesy grin from daddy...happy to finally find this particular marker

Mommy and M at the last (or second to last?) marker...listening to the nearby cows

The funniest part of our adventure was M and her shoes. She hasn't learned to walk in shoes yet, but is quite steady on her feet in socks or barefoot. We thought she might be able to walk with us part of the way so we tried her shoes on at home first. She acted like her feet were broken. Then she took a step and tried to step OVER her shoes (like wearing huge moonboots or something?:). We tried again at the corn maze, but same thing. Finally we let her walk in her socks but she didn't like the uneven ground and kept falling in the mud or just standing there. We were both pretty worn out from carrying our big kid at the end!

Menu Plan for the Week of Oct. 20th, 2008

Breakfasts: Pancakes, Yogurt

Lunches: Leftovers

Snacks: bananas, cottage cheese, apples, yogurt, homemade granola, PB&J, chees and crackers (the snack list has gotten much longer since morning sickness hit:)

Dinners:

Monday: Pork Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, mixed Veggies and Pumpkin Cake (making double to take meal to a family with a new baby!)

Tuesday: Baked Ziti

Wednesday: Corn Chowder and Biscuits/or grilled cheese

Thursday: Mexican Tortilla Casserole or Chicken Sopa

Friday: Braided Pizza

Saturday: Spicy Veggie Burgers (chicken flavored) and leftover braided pizza at the airport

Sunday: We'll be in North Carolina this week for our evaluation with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Visit Laura at Orgjunkie for more menu plan inspiration!

Earthy Crunchy Mama?

I definitely wouldn't describe myself as an earthy, crunchy type person, but now that we are considering a *gasp* homebirth for our next child (partially due to the fact that it is very hard to find anywhere to do a V-bac around here), I think I may be coming closer to that category all the time.

First it was the cloth diaper thing. Church friends and some family members looked at us a little weird when we said we wanted to do cloth diapers. Not only do we use cloth diapers, but we use the "old fashioned" no frills prefold kind!

But home birthing is a little more extreme than cloth diapering in most people's mind, including ours, and we are certainly not set on it yet. But as I discussed our situation and our options with a local midwife last night it became a more and more viable option for us. Daniel is supportive of a homebirth, but is a little concerned about our neighbors (we live in a 4-plex currently) who we can hear cough through thin walls sometimes! Might strain the neighbor-relations a bit, doncha know?:)

Anyway, these are things we are mulling through in our minds. If you think we are being really weird or really dumb, please do a little research first before you tell me so, k? There are a lot of things that are taken into consideration when candidacy for a homebirth (doing a vbac) are considered, such as proximity to a hospital if an emergency C-section is needed. So...thinking it all through.

Do you know people who've done a homebirth or have you had one? I would love to hear more specifics if you'd like to share in more detail at our blog email: beansnrice@live.com



On an unrelated note, those of you who know us in real life know that our daughter has a hemangioma on her head, which is obvious in our pictures. Yesterday in her walking (which usually turns into a jog when she gets near her destination), she collided headfirst with the fridge corner. She now has a real "owie" on her forehead in addition to the hemangioma:) Above is a picture of M attacking her mom, pre-goose-egg.

Safeway NW Deals for Oct. 15th-21st 2008

Saturday & Sunday Only - 48 hour Entertaining Sale!
. 2-Liter Pepsi or 7-UP Selected varieties. 59¢
. Refreshe Water 24-pack, 16.9-oz. 2.88
. Hass Avocados Large size. Imported. 99¢ ea
. Tyson Hot & Spicy Cooked Chicken Wings Sold in the Meat Department 2.99 lb
Thanks to Hot Coupon world!

Coupon Deals

Duncan Hines Cake Mix - cpn for cake mix and frosting $1.00
Use $0.75/2 coupon from 10-12 S
Final Price $0.63

Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage, 14 to 16-oz $2.25
Use $1.00/2 coupon from 10-05 RP
Final Price $1.75

Prego Pasta Sauce $2.00
Use $0.75/2 coupon from 10-05 S1
Final Price $1.63

Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner - BOGO (est. price from couponmom) $1.50
Use $0.75/1 coupon from 09-21 S
Final Price $0.75

Swanson Broth, 14-oz. $0.60
Use $0.40/4 coupon from 09-28 S
Final Price $0.50

Kellogg's deal = 3 Frosted Mini Wheats @ $2.22, minus 3 $1 instant printables from Safeway website, = $3.66, minus $3 OYNO catalina = $0.66

This deal started awhile ago, but for some reason I haven't seen it any of my ads.
From Hot Coupon WorldBuy 4 save $4.

Participating products:
10oz Cracker barrel chunk cheese
8oz Cracker barrel cracker cuts
6oz Kraft cracker cuts
8oz Philadelphia cream cheese
cheese whiz cheese spread
Ritz crackers
Triscuits no size stated
Wheat thins
Honey maid graham cracker

Some are reporting that BOGO sales are working with this deal.

What other deals do you see?

Making Casseroles Cheaper and Healthier

Since the weather has turned chilly and I've turned, well, pregnant...I've been craving comfort food, especially casseroles. The only problem (well 2 to be exact) is that casseroles can often be more expensive than some of our regular meals and way less healthy! Both problems typically stem from several cans of expensive, none-too-healthy cream soup called for in most casserole recipes.

My solution: make my own recipe for white sauce to use in place of each can of white sauce! For the most part, it works wonderfully.

Here are the directions, super simple.

Melt 2 TBS Butter/Margarine in hot fry pan or griddle.
When fully melted, mix in 2 TBS flour (I use whole wheat or ww pastry and it works fine, just changes the color of the finished product) until smooth.
Immediately add 2 or so cups milk and continue to stir (with wisk if possible) until mixture thickens. Add salt/pepper to taste. This makes the equivalent of 1 can of cream of _____soup.

If you really need the flavor of the particular can of soup (cream of chicken for example) you can do one of two things: either use one can and one subs. of white sauce or add some bouillon in with the milk.

I use the white sauce with some of our favorite recipes such as (with mods of course):

Chicken Tortilla Casserole (recipe to come)
Tetrazinni
Tuna Noodle Casserole

Another couple tricks I use for increasing the health and financial value of the casserole are making my own bread crumbs from stale/leftover bread for the topping and adding vegetable puree or shreds to the binder. Since we have so much pumpkin right now, I have been adding that to recipes like Shepherd's pie.

Does your family enjoy casseroles? What are your favorites?