Winning at Walgreens

I haven't been to Walgreen's in about a month but this week was a good week.  I spent more out of pocket than I would have liked to because they were out of things the first 2 times I went in this week, but I still got some useful items for my stockpile.

Total OOP was about $12 and I have $8 RR to spend next time.

To put things in perspective, a friend on facebook had about 10x the amount of stuff from Walgreens and only spent $14 OOP.  Um, wow?!  However, she went to 3 stores for a total of 9 transactions.  If I wasn't hauling all my kids with me and didn't mind aggravating the cashiers, I might try that too.  But this works for me and it helps my family's bottom line so I'll just keep at it.  :-)

Meijer Deals~Sept 25-Oct 1

I haven't done my shopping yet, but here's what I see at Meijer this week:


Ortega beans and seasoning mixes 25% off~ Use the $1/2 coupon here (print twice) and the $1/4 Meijer coupon here (go to the 'specials' tab in the mealbox and scroll down until you find it) to get beans or mixes for FREE!


Freschetta pizza $4.99~ Use the $1.50 Mperk coupon and the $1/1 coupon here to get it for $2.49.


Eggs~My Meijer add says 99 cents and the Saving Addiction ladies' ad says 88 cents so it depends on what Meijer you go to, but both prices are good deals.


5 lb white potatoes~ 99 cents


Check out Saving Addiction for more deals!

Sun-dried Tomatoes (using the food dehydrator)

We had a few tomato plants this season and I ended up with too many tomatoes to eat, but not enough to really do anything with.  So I decided to try make some sun-dried tomatoes.  My mom happened to have a food dehydrator she got at a garage sale so I used that and it worked pretty well.  If you're interested, google 'sun-dried tomatoes' and 'food dehydrator.'  Here's my finished product:  

I stuck them in a ziploc bag in the freezer so they would keep longer. 

Frog's Birthday Parties!

 First present of the day, a monster truck tractor!

 Blue grandpa and grandma gave him a tractor with trailer!

 And some horsies for the trailer!

 Mmm, birthday cake!  He liked it when mommy put fire on it.

 Friday night was bonfire time with the Engelsmas.  The boys hooked the sled to the wagon for rides.  

 More cake!

 White grandpa and grandma gave him a ride-on dump truck which has been a great hit with all the boys.

 Cousin Ethan made Joel a crown and a sword!  Thanks E!

The prince of the family.  :-)

What's Cookin'

Mon~Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, bread

Tues~Peanut Satay, rice, spinach

Wed~Pork Roast, potatoes, carrots

Thurs~Perfect Pizza crust, cold veggies

Fri~Chicken Alfredo, green beans

Sat~Hamburgers, chips, cold veggies

Sun~Soup, bread

Frog is 3!

Frog turned 3 on Wednesday!  He is such a happy boy, always seems to have a smile on his face.  He was really excited about his birthday this year, especially having a "par-tay!"    

Meijer Deals~Sept 18-24

Have you tried out Mperks yet (you need a cell phone)?  Here's a couple deals using mperks:


*Campfire Marshmallows (these suckers are huge!)-They are on sale for $1 and there is $1/1 mperks coupon=free!


*Bolthouse 3 lb carrots- $2.49-$1/1 mperks = $1.49


*Cantaloupe-99 cents each


*Meijer brand cheese- Buy 3, get $1 OYNO of cheese.  Buy 4, get $2 OYNO of cheese.  Buy 5, get $3 OYNO of cheese.  Not sure if its a great deal, but we needed cheese this week.


Note on Mperks:  It is really easy to use.  Just hit the 'Mperks' button on the bottom of the screen when you are done scanning your groceries and type in your cell number with the pin and the pertinent coupons will automatically come off.  And every few weeks a coupon for $2 off or $5 off will show up in your account.  Plus when I joined, new members had a $5 off in their account.  The only catch about mperks is that you can only use it on one item.  But you can stack them with other coupons so sometimes you can get a great deal.  

What's Cookin'

Mon~We had chicken enchiladas and I made an xtra for the freezer
Tues~Pizza!  I bought a breadmaker at Goodwill yesterday so we're going to try it out, maybe with some sundried tomatoes that I dried last week.
Wed~Steak, potatoes, corn, beans, birthday cake
Thurs~Peanut Satay (freezer), rice, carrots
Fri~Frog's Birthday Bash-not sure what's on the docket yet, we're thinking a bonfire with hot dogs and s'mores
Sat~Hamburgers, cold veggies
Sun~Beef and gravy over mashed potatoes (had a casserole from the freezer instead last week)

Meijer Deals~Sept 11-Sept 17

Here's the best deals this week:


*Barilla pasta~According to Saving Addiction, you can get Barilla pasta for 24 cents a box.  Check it out here.


And that's about all I'm seeing this week.  I'll update it if I find any more deals.

What's Cookin'

Mon~Chicken Alfredo (freezer) and Scotcheroos for seminary picnic potluck
Tues~Leftovers from my mother-in-law (awesome!)
Wed~Steak, twice-baked potatoes, cauliflower
Thurs~Bbcue pork ribs, mashed potatoes, cornbread, green beans
Fri~Pizza, veggies
Sat~My 10 year class reunion at El Barrio
Sun~Beef and gravy over mashed potatoes, corn or green beans

Freezer Cooking with Chicken (and a little beef and pork)

(Please excuse the enormously huge photos!)

Last Saturday I was going to start my freezer cooking by just doing a few chicken meals. I had bought all my chicken at Meijer on sale last week and my fridge was overflowing so it was time to cook!  My few meals turned into quite a few and I ended up doing a bit on Labor day.

The first meal I made was Continental Beef.  I actually made this in my crockpot overnight and woke up to the smell Saturday morning.  Not recommended.  If I do that again, the crockpot's going in the garage overnight.  Anyway, 2 meals of that.

This is Sesame Chicken.  I marinated that most of the day and then Chris grilled it for me.  After it cooled, I chopped it into chunks which I can use for salads, pitas, quesadillas, pretty much anything that I need cooked chicken for.  I have about 3 meals of this in my freezer now.

This was super simple.  Just mixed all the ingredients together and then divided them between two bags of chicken.  Orange Teriyaki chicken x 2 for the grill.  We're trying this tonight. 

Peanut Satay~Just cut the chicken in chunks and then dump the marinade on top.  This goes on kebab sticks for the grill.  

3 meals of pork ribs browned slightly and ready for the crockpot and barbecue sauce.

12 Cheesy Chicken bundles, 3 meals for our family

Spicy Peanut Chicken x 1

Chicken Parmesan x 2~Still have to make the red sauce for this.  I have 2 cans of 100oz + tomato products I need to use from Sam's.  

This was another super simple crockpot meal for the freezer.  I put raw chicken in the bottom of the crockpot and mixed the rest of the ingredients and dumped them on top.  And it made a ton!  3 meals of Chicken Alfredo for our family.  

Since cauliflower was super cheap last week, I ended up with 6 heads total that I washed, cut, and then boiled for a few minutes.  Cauliflower x 6

I cooked more chicken in the crockpot for this, Parmesan-crusted Chicken Broccoli casserole.  My crockpot was going constantly all day.  I'd finish something, clean it out and dump the next batch in.  Definitely should have borrowed a crockpot or two.  

Breakfast burritos~these are almost gone already.

Chopping up 3 lbs of cooked bacon


I also made 2 meals of French steak and I have a couple more meals of cooked chicken, plus I did a bunch more corn this week.  And I mixed up a huge batch of coconut chocolate chip cookie dough and divided it into 4 freezer bags.  Our freezer is well-stocked!

What's Cookin'

Mon~Labor Day feast-I'm making deviled eggs, salsa, and a dessert
Tues~Chicken and wild rice, green beans
Wed~Beef and mushrooms with noodles, carrots
Thurs~Orange teriyaki chicken, rice
Fri~Pizza, cold veggies
Sat~Hamburgers, veggies
Sun~Split pea soup with ham, overnight rolls

Freezer cooking pics coming soon!

Meijer Deals~Aug 28-Sept 3

Here's the best deals I got at Meijer this week:

Fresh boneless chicken breasts- $1.99/lb when you buy the family size pack (aprox. 6 lbs)

Boneless country-style pork ribs- $1.49/lb (these are great browned and tossed in the crockpot with bbcue sauce on low for about 4 hrs)

Gold fish (whole grain of course!)- Buy one, get one free (about a $1 per package)

Cauliflower- $1.25 per head (I bought 3 heads and I'm going to try freeze 2. This is one vegetable Andrew and Noah love, but its usually pretty expensive.)