My Nearly Free Appetizer

Last week my son's school had a potluck Christmas party. Besides the peanut butter fudge I brought, I also brought pigs in a blanket.

These were nearly free. I got the croissants as part of the great deals I got at Jewel last week, and at Dominick's, if I bought $20 worth of groceries, I received a free package of little smokies. I am guesstimating that these cost me 50 cents total, and they were good!

Menu Planning, 12/20/09

We are planning on purchasing 1/4 side of beef in the next few weeks, so we are eating freezer meals this week to clear out some room in our freezer. Here is the plan:

Monday--Anita's Slow Cooker Chili
Tuesday--Chicken, Broccoli, Cheese & Rice Bake
Wednesday--Lighter Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Veggie
Thursday--My mom's scalloped potatoes
Friday--Merry Christmas!! Ham croissants and fruit salad
Saturday--Dinner Out
Sunday--Iranian Kebob

Peanut Butter Fudge

One of my favorite holiday goodies is homemade fudge. I love it! In fact, when I was about 7 years old, I lost one of my baby front teeth when biting into a piece.

However, those of you who read this blog regularly may recall that I gave up all chocolate in July. I was eating WAY too much of it, and it was making my body feel strange. I don’t miss it too much, but I was looking for a replacement for the homemade fudge I love.

I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Fudge II, and I knew I had to try it. And oh, is it good. It is like biting into peanut butter silk. It is soooo good that I gave the rest of the pan away to my son’s school so I wouldn’t gain ten pounds eating it all by myself.

If you have a weakness for fudge or peanut butter, try this. You’ll love it. As will anyone else who eats it.

I shared this post at The Grocery Cart Challenge and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

Food Waste, 12/17/09

This week we wasted about 1/4 a pan of a breakfast casserole we like to eat. This is usually so good that we don't waste it, but this time it was VERY salty. I thought maybe it was the ham I bought, which probably contributed to the problem, but then later I cooked some of the frozen hashbrowns all by themselves and found that they were salty. Seriously, some companies salt frozen hash browns? Between the salty hashbrowns and ham, well, we just couldn't finish this casserole.

The other waste is a container of cheese spread found way, way back in the refrigerator. I don't know how old this is. I seem to recall eating some of it when I was pregnant for my daughter, and she is almost 14 months now. Oops.

Great Deals at Jewel!

I made several "trips" (actually going to my car to put the groceries I just purchased in there and then going back into the store) to Jewel today and stocked up on these items:

13 cans Progresso Soup
5 pkgs. Crescent rolls
21 boxes Green Giant steamer veggies
1 jar marshmellow creme
1 can evaporated milk
2 International Delights coffee drink
1 box of cheese garlic bread (not pictured)

I bought all of the above for $26.20, and I have a $5 off my next order coupon.

My total would have only been $18.02 if I had been able to resist the coffee drink, but as I used to be a Starbucks fiend and I am trying to avoid wasting my money there, I don't mind paying the $8 for the two cans. I will get 20 to 30 drinks out of those two tins for the same price I would pay for just 2 coffee drinks at Starbucks.

Grocery Shopping, 12/15/09

I have been experimenting with our grocery budget lately, and I think a good number for us is $70 to $75 a week. That is for two adults, two kids and two cats. I could manage a lower amount weekly if I didn't have to pay for cat food and litter or diapers, but with that included in the budget no more than an average of $75 a week is what I am shooting for.

Dominicks:

3- 8 oz. bags cheese = 2.97
2 gallons milk = 3.98
32 oz. frozen corn = 2.50
32 oz. frozen peas = 2.50
12 pack yogurt = 4.99
Little Smokies = 3.50
stew meat = 4.29
bananas = 1.09
apples = 2.83
5 lbs. clementines = 3.99
1 lb. carrots = .99
1 bag spinach = 2.49
1 lb. baby carrots = .99
4 lbs. organic oranges = 4.99
Total = 43.57

Jewel:

Ricotta cheese = 3.69
2 onions = 1.39
3 lbs. chicken breast = 6.17
Pirate's booty = 2.99
eggs = 1.29
Total = 15.23

The grand total for the week including my trip to CVS and to Walgreens = 67.89

Walgreens, 12/13/09

I tend not to take advantage of the Register Rewards at Walgreens. Because they have only a two week turnaround time, I inevitably forget about them or let them go to waste. I have done this more times than I can count. But a few weeks ago, I had to take advantage of the toy deal and contact solution. I netted $13 in RR, and they were set to expire today.

First I used the $5 RR to buy a 7.99 bottle of contact solution and earn $8 RR. I paid 3.26 OOP.

Then, I did two more transactions, each for a pack of Huggies. For each transaction, I used one $8 RR and paid $1.80 OOP.

Total for all transactions = 6.86 OOP, and I earned $4 RR.