CVS: November monthly deal

For the month of November there is 1 FREE item to be had. It is the Crest Pro-Health whitening toothpaste 4.2 oz. for 3.49 and you get 3.49 in EB back. Combine with a .75/1 coupon from the November P&G for .75 profit! The limit for these says 2 on the catalog. However, it has been confirmed by a reader that she was able to buy 4 this morning. Here receipt confirmed that her limit had been reached at 4. So AT YOUR OWN RISK you might be able to snatch 4 of these for free plus $3 in overage too!

Wendy's treat books

Wendy's is also selling treat books for Halloween. You can buy them for a $1 and they include 5 FREE Jr. Frosty coupons! Not a bad deal and .90 cents of every booklet sold goes toward the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Hurry because you can only buy them through tomorrow the 31st!

Save money on meat

For Thrifty Thursday I thought I would share some tips on how to save money on meat.

When we had our son almost 2 years ago we went from spending around $250 a month on groceries to now shooting to spend below $160 a month. This is for 2 adults and 1 toddler. When we first decided to cut our grocery budget by about 30% I thought for sure we wouldn't be eating much meat. Then I realized there are ways to actually save money on meat. Here are 5 ways that work for us.

1. Don't make meat the center of the meal.
For example don't always have steak or chicken breast by themselves with sides. Find recipes that include these items, but that don't make them the main dish. Often you will use half the amount of meat. For example we eat a lot of casserole type things, or we have burritos, tacos, fajitas, chicken quesadillas- you get the pictures. Have meat at the center of your meal in moderation. Save it for special occasions. Not every night needs to be a 5 course meal, especially if you have young children.

2. Buy hamburger in bulk.
Buy a 3 pound package and split it into quart size baggies when you get home and pop them in the freezer. So often we see a great sale on ground beef that is 1.99/lb and under. So we buy what looks like a 1 pound package. If you actually check what the lb. amount is you will find it is often more than 1.25 pounds. Chances are you will use that 1 package for one meal, even though your recipe only calls for 1 pound of meat. So you have now spent more than that 1.99 pound for that meal and have spent around 2.25 instead. You may think this isn't much of a difference, but over the course of a year you could probably save a lot of money by paying attention to the pound amount of hamburger you are buying and buy in bulk since those packages are often closer to the 3 pound mark.

For example this past week I bought a 3.01 pound package of ground beef for 5.39 (1.79 a pound). I will get 3 meals out of this. Had I bought 3 separate packages at 1.25 ponds costing about 2.24 a package I would have spent around 6.71 for ground beef for the same 3 meals... so I saved almost $1.50 just by buying the 3 pound package and splitting it into 3 bags! $1.50 is a lot of money on a $40/week budget!

3. Realize that frozen bags of chicken breasts are a great resource!
These bags generally cost around $6 at Aldi and are 3 pounds a piece... that is about $2 a pound. You will often spend more than this per pound on fresh chicken. Also I have learned that buying a whole chicken, cooking it in the crock pot and then shredding it is a great way to use chicken in casseroles and for other meals that calls for cubed/shredded chicken. You can usually get about 4 meals out of a whole chicken.

4. Learn to look for marked down meat.
Most grocery stores will mark down their meet when it is getting close to expiration. Most Dillon's have an area where they stick their marked down meat. I have often found many steaks, roasts, and stew beef for 1/3 of the regular cost. Also if you aren't going to use it right away, meat is freezable!

5. Wait for BIGI sales
Many times at our local Dillons they do BIGI sales on pork loin, roasts and sometimes steak! I say stock up on this type of meat when a good sale like this comes around!

Those are just a few ways. Feel free to share any tips you may have in the comments section below

Note: This is was originally posted in May of this year and has been updated and changed for this re-post.

Hy-Vee 10/29-11/4

The deals are scarce this week. Halloween must have scared them all away!:)

• 80% lean fresh ground beef roll=1.88 (better deal than dillons this week)
• braeburn or red delicious apples=.97/lb!
• Betty Crocker pizza crust or corn muffin mix=3/$1
• 3 lb. bag of Florida tangerines=2.99
• Dole salad mixes are 3/$5. Use .50/1 coupon to get these for 1.16/bag (Aldi has theirs for .99/bag, but not as many varieties)
• Midwest county fair hot dogs are 2/$1
• 6 oz. cups of Dannon yogurt are 10/$5. Use .50/6 coupon to get these cups for .42/cup! (beats Aldi price of .43/cup!
• County Fair 200 ct. napkins are 1.48/1

In-ad coupons

• Oscar Meyer 12 oz pack of bolgna=.89
• Hy-Vee 1lb. packages of margarine=.49/1
• McCormick taco seasoning mix=3/$1

Don't forget to check the deals for Dillons and Seabrook Apple Market!

Dillons 10/29-11/4

Sorry for the delay in posting these! Remember I am posting the "best buys" of the week. My goal is to always beat Aldi since they are the "cheapest" in food prices among all grocery retailers... even Walmart!

• Fresh Ground beef is 1.99/lb! I stock up at this price. Read my tips about saving on meat here!
• 1 gal of Dillons milk=2.99 (Aldi has varied lately but has been about 2.91/gal.)
• 4 lb. bag of Kroger Sugar=1.69. (Aldi 5 lb. bags have been 1.99 and this actually a better deal)
• Pilgram's pride 3lb. bags of frozen chicken breasts=5.97. (beats Aldi price of 5.99)
• Pillsbury crescent or sweet rolls are 3/$5. Use .25/1 mf crescent roll coupon doubled along with the .50/1 shortcuts.com coupon to get these for .66/1! (beats Aldi price). Use .30/1 sweet roll coupon doubled along with the .50/1 shortcuts.com coupon to get those for .56/1! (beats Aldi price).
• Hot pockets and Kellogs poptarts are 3/$5. Use .50/1 hot pockets coupon to get these for .67/1!. Use .55/1 coupon for poptarts to get these for .67/1 also!
• Purex Laundry detergent=1.99/1. Use .50/1 coupon (expires 10/31) to get this for .99!
• Kroger 8 oz packages of cream cheese=1/1 (this beats the Aldi price of 1.19)
• International delight coffee creamer=1.99/1. Use .50/1 coupon to get this for .99!
• Sara Lee classic white or wheat bread is BIGI free!
• 7-UP 2 liter products (sunkist and A&W) are .78/1 wyb 6
• Kroger or Private selection spices ar 33% off

FOR 8 HOURS ONLY ON OCT. 30 from 4p.m. until Midnight

• Big K 2 liters=.39/1 (limit 8)
• Halloween candy =1.47/bag (see here on how to get free candy at CVS this week!)
• Hot dog buns are .66/1 (limit 4)
• Tombstone pizzas=1.99/1! (limit 4)
  

Don't forget to see here and here on how you can make overage on Fleishman's yeast and Johnson's baby oil! These catalina deals end 11/2!

Remember also this ad is good for the following cities: Topeka, Lawrence, Winfield, Arkansas City, Hutchinson and Wellington. If you know family or friends in these cities please pass this blog post along so they can know the best deals too!

Be sure to check here for the Apple Market deals!

Quick Note

I will have the Dillons and Hy-Vee best buys for the week up later this afternoon. Thanks!

Dillons: Flat Iron Steaks for 1.79/lb.!

Thanks to a friend who called and alerted me to this deal! At the Dillons on Huntoon and Washburn they have Flat Iron Steaks for 1.79/lb! When she asked the meat manager if this price was good anywhere else he said other Dillons may have the same promotion. Apprently there were 5 cases that he needed to get sold!

Black Bean Soup: Recipe and Price Break down

I found this recipe here a few years back and it has been a family favorite ever since! I have changed the recipe a little from the original to accommodate what I usually have on hand and in doing so it serves more than the original!

Quick'n'Tasty Black Bean Soup, serves 6

• 2 cans of Black bean drained and rinsed (.45/can at Aldi)=.90
• 2 cups of chicken broth (I use 2 chicken boillon cubes dissovled in 2 cups of boiling water)=maybe .15 cents?
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion=.25
• 1 can of rotel (I use the Aldi brand)=.45
• 1/2 cup of corn niblets. (I use 1/2 can of corn of Aldi brand and use the rest for something else)=.20 (Aldi canned veggies are on the rise so this is a guess on what half a can would cost)
• Dash of hot sauce (optional)=pennies
• Squirts of lime juice (optional) 1 lime is .40 at Aldi=.40
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (I can got cheese for 1.50 for a 2 cup bag)=.75 for one cup
  

Saute onion in a little olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients excluding lime juice and cheese. Spoon into bowls and add lime juice and cheese if desired.

Tip: Serve with whole crackers or bread to have a 4 food group meal!

Total for this meal=$3.10! That is .52 cents a serving!!!!

Menu Plan monday for Oct. 27

It is an easy week at our house. Some things are repeats from last week since my brother was in town and we ate with my parent's a couple of times.

Monday: Chicken and veggie stir fry over rice/orange slices
Tuesday: Breakfast: French toast/bacon/eggs/fruit
Wednesday: Chicken nuggets/mashed potatoes/green beans
Thursday: Black bean soup/bread/fruit
Friday: Pizza and raw veggies!

I will post the Black Bean soup recipe and price break down tomorrow! Have a great week and be sure to check here for other great menus!

CVS: 5/30 coupon!

Yes I actually received a $5/$30 coupon at CVS this morning when I scanned my card at the coupon machine! I also realized I over looked the playskool diaper deal (buy $20 worth of products get $5 back in EB)! Here is how my transaction panned out and how I got FREE DIAPERS!

• 1 Nova Max=9.99
• 3 Bic Razors (I only had 3 coupons)=14.97
• 4 Soy Joy bars=4.00
• 1 Colgate Toothpaste (monthly deal)=2.99
• 2 mega packs of Playskool diapers=21.98 (marked at 10.99/1)

Total=53.93
-5/30 CVS crt
-4/20 Playskool crt
-3/1 Playskool diaper crt
-1/1 Colgate crt
-3 2/1 Bic coupons (-6)
-2 2/1 Playskool mf coupons

New Total=30.93 and I got back 32.99 in EB!!! This means I got FREE diapers!

I could have had more overage but I did not have any soy joy coupons. I also could not find the Advil P.M. that I planned to originally buy. Please let me know if any of you have any luck finding the 8 ct. packages at our Topeka store. The ad says rain checks will not be given:(

If you are more interested in getting free halloween candy please see my original post here!