Farm Fresh

Remember for today (wed) only, you can double your $1.00 coupons. (They double up to $0.99 everyday). Click here for this week's farm fresh matchups. There are some printables that you can use, in case you don't get the paper (but let this be a reminder to get the Sunday paper if you haven't yet!)

A couple things I'm taking advantage of tonight (these are the final prices after sale, coupons, and doubling):

$0.97 & $0.98 cereals.
$0.99 tostito chips (coupons are in the FF ad)
$0.78 Ragu sauces (coupons are in the FF ad)
$0.48 14.5 oz Delmonte Tomato Cans

****To get the best deals at Farm Fresh:

1) Buy items on sale, preferably their rock bottom price
2) Combine $1.00 coupons with items on sale
3) Double those $1.00 coupons on Wednesdays (Strategy: On Wednesdays, a $1.00 off coupon is more valuable than a $1.50 off coupon. This is because the $1.00 one will double to $2.00, but the $1.50 one won't.)


**Of course there are some items for which you won't find coupons, so in those cases, keep your eyes open for the lowest prices on that item and buy it in bulk when you see that price. Plan your meals around what you have in your pantry!

Cheap Crock Pot Meal

This week (Today thru next Tuesday) at Farm Fresh, boneless chuck roast is on sale for $1.68/lb. This is a great price, perfect for stocking up. I'm planning on getting 9-10 lbs tonight.

Here's an awesome recipe for Crock Pot Bbq Sandwiches, and how much I paid for each item. (Hunts Bbq sauce often goes on sale for 10/$10, so I get a few at a time at that sale)

2 lb Chuck Roast. ($3.36)
1/2 bottle of Bbq Sauce, any flavor ($0.50)
5 hamburger/sandwich buns ($0.94)

Cut off the obvious fat from the roast. Put it in your slow cooker in the late evening. Cook, covered, on low overnight. Plug your nose when opening your bedroom door the next morning (especially if you're pregnant!). Pour bbq sauce over roast at your convenience, and break up with a fork. Let it sit on low or on warm, with the cover on, until you're ready to eat it (that day, of course). Spoon the bbq on the buns. Side with chips, fries, or fruit, green beans, or cole slaw - whatever you're in the mood for.

The recipe makes 5 Sandwiches for $4.80 or $0.96 each!! I've seen chuck roast for $3.99/lb before. Why would you pay that much when you know how cheap you can get it? Think about how much you pay for one at Doumars or Arby's....Lots more than that.

Have anymore good chuck roast recipe ideas? Comment and let us know!

My Pantry is Full....My Budget is Hopefully Staying Unbroken...

My stockpile is running well. This week, I spent about $40 on groceries because I had everything I needed in my pantry already. Including meat. It was a nice feeling. I'm waiting for a good price to stock up on Ziploc bags before I run out.

When you go into your stockpile for something, check and make sure that you aren't close to running out. If you are, write it down on a notepad, and, looking through the flyers/online sales, etc., keep your eye out for the lowest price around. If you've done a pricebook and know what the lowest price is, it should be going back to that price soon. If you can hold out buying it until it reaches that price (and if you run out, try and improvise with other things), you'll be maximizing your spending plan.

This is my weekly list, usually:

Sandwich Bread/Whole Wheat Rolls
Fruit
Vegetables
Milk
One or more stockpile items I'm close to running out of, that are at their lowest price.

I rarely follow that well. But as long as I have a good stockpile, I really don't need to buy much else. It's been really neat seeing my pantry stay stocked, and my need list stay small.

Stockpiling, Part 1

For the next few months, you'll want to start getting your pantry together. The reason I say for the next months, and not in the next grocery trip, is because you're trying to save yourself money. When you see a good price on something, you'll want to buy it in bulk. Don't buy it to last you one week, buy as much as you'll need until a good (or even better) price comes up on it. So if chicken breasts are on sale for $1.68, which is a great price, buy a bunch to last you until it becomes that price again (and as you do this more and more, you'll see a trend).

I only have a small freezer, we live in an apt, so we don't have space for extra freezers. So, I have to be careful of how much I buy to freeze. I usually buy 8 3-packs of chicken when they are at that price. Then I don't buy chicken again until it goes to that price again. Just plan your meals around the food that you have, and you'll save big money. Right now, I don't have ground beef in my freezer, which is driving me crazy - i will only buy it at $0.99/lb, and either I missed it, or I bought way too little!

Another thing on that point, I try not to buy things that are going to take up space in my freezer: frozen dinners, boxed things, a large amount of ice-cream, etc. I either take them out of the box or try and finish it quickly. Plus, most of that stuff is more expensive than making a dinner from scratch, and definitely less nutritious.

For a little while, when you're beefing up your pantry, your "need" list will be long when you go to the grocery store. But as you get your stockpile up, your "need" list will grow shorter and you'll be able to spend less every week. Every time you make dinner and you see your stockpile getting short, make a note so that you'll be on the lookout for the sale price of the items on which you're short.