This Week in Cutie News

Just got back from the grocery where I spent $60 at Vons and saved $40.  I was very pleased with this total because all that we buy at the grocery store now is things for dinner, really.  We almost never purchase toiletries etcetera at the grocery store anymore.

This price for dinners for the week was fantastic in my opinion.

Some of what we wound up buying was:

4 Hass Avocados at $1 each

London Broil at $1.97/lb, our's was around $8 total and that will give us one meal for just us two and another meal for us AND Cutie Sister-in-law #1 and Cutie Brother

Macaroni and Cheese was 4/$5, which wasn't great but because I'm in school I need quick easy to throw together makeshift meals

A gallon of milk

Campbell’s Condensed Tomato or Chicken Noodle Soup, 10.75 oz, $.50 (We used a printable $1/2 coupon to get these FREE!  I'm going to try to print some more and get a couple more when I go back to the store tomorrow for my rain-checked crab meat)

V8 Red or V-Fusion Juice, 46 oz, $2.49 (Limit 8)
Use $.50 from 3/14 SS
Use $1 V8 V-Fusion Coupon and here
Final Price: $1.49

Prego Pasta Sauce, 23-.5-24 oz, $1.25 (Limit 4)
Use $.50/2 from 2/7 SS
Final Price: $.75

Russet Potatoes, 10 lb, $.99 ea (Limit 2)

Trans Ocean Crab Classic, 8 oz, $.99 (Limit 2) (We got rain-checked on this 'til tomorrow)

Use $1 Trans Ocean Coupon
Final Price: Free

Knorr Lipton Rice or Pasta Sides, 4.3-6.4 oz, $.89 (Limit 10)


Rancher’s Reserve Top Round London Broil, $1.77 lb
Use $2/$10 Rancher’s Reserve Coupon (Christian Clippers!)

So one of my hugest struggles is finding meals to coordinate with the sales.  This requires extreme flexibility on meal planning, but knowing when flexible ends and breaking the bank begins.  You have to be able to change things up if you find a better deal, but recognize that just because one component of a meal is on sale, does not mean that the rest of the ingredients won't be pricey.

So this week in meals:

Monday:  Corn and Crab Chowder

Tuesday:  Tacos

Wednesday: Leftover Corn and Crab Chowder

Thursday: Taquitos

Friday: Variety Night 

(I usually leave one night open to finish up leftovers or go out or to a friend's for dinner)

So originally I planned to make Poppyseed Chicken Casserole (delicious, if you were wondering!!!).  But I found that not many of the ingredients for this meal would be on a great sale.  When we got to the store, I saw that london broil was indeed marked on sale and was just unbeatable.

Side Note!!  Anytime that I see london broil on a good sale ($2/lb or less) I always snatch it up because this will produce two meals for us!  Tacos and taquitos, both of which are pretty easy.

So in addition to the meat sale, potatoes were on an unbeatable sale: great for my chowder, great for my tacos (I put potatoes in my taco meat just like Cutie Mom).

Knorr pasta and rice sides were on sale, so I got two sides of taco rice, which will be great for both tacos and taquitos.  I love when one sale covers more than one meal!

Hass avocados were on sale, so there's some homemade guacomole for the taquitos!  Now, even though they're not very ripe I bought them anyways because in guacomole, you smash them so they don't need to be too ripe.  Plus, we're not using them 'til Thursday, perfect!

The entire chowder idea came about when I saw that crab meat was on sale.  Crab meat is such a treat that it's good to buy it when it's on such a good sale, or in this case free!

So despite my preconceived notions of what I would like to cook this week, I was willing to change it up a little bit to get the better deals.  You cannot have cemented meal plans when you coupon.  You can have a plan, but you must be willing to alter your plan a little bit here and there.

Hope this helps anyone who has a hard time figuring out how to meal plan on the spot in the middle of aisle 7!  It took me a while to figure it out myself.

Remember, couponing is about saving yourself money, it shouldn't be stressful.  If you need to buy something but don't have a coupon, don't worry, just get it.  You won't always have a coupon for everything.  And don't buy something just because you have a coupon!!  You're trying to save money, not throw it away on things you have no use for.  Resist the temptation!

And if you're a big couponer like me, you'll often end up with those coupons you won't use.  I give my coupons away freely.  Cutie Mom and Cutie Sister-in-law #1 end up with many of those coupons I just won't use.  If you're even braver, look in the grocery carts of people behind and in front of you.  If you happen to see something you have a coupon for, offer it to them.  They'll appreciate the gesture, and you don't have to waste a coupon.

Enjoy!!  I know we will!  ;]

Check back later in the week for photo postings of my chowder, tacos, and (hopefully) taquitos!