CVS Coupon Shopping

If you've been following along with my attempts to get our grocery money under control, you know I don't have much wiggle room for deal shopping this month.  However, I will pretty much always grab a diaper deal, because we will continue to use these, at least overnight (not to mention a few weekend trips coming up).

CVS is running one of their spend $25, get $10 ECBs promotions, this time on Huggies products.  Normally I would just buy regular diapers, but in the past month I've gotten 2 CVS Pull-ups coupons in the mail, so those were a better deal this time (and Jonah loves when he gets special night-time britches).

• 2 Jumbo Packs Pull-Ups: $10 each.  Used two $2/1 CVS coupons (mailers) and two $2/1 printables = paid $12/2 packs.
• Huggies wipes: $6.00.  No coupons.  Sad face.
• Cherry Coke 12-pack: $3.50.  Used "Get 12-pack of Coke for $0.99 when you buy $20+" that the coupon box spit out = $0.99.  I only buy soda when it's free or very very cheap, like this.
• Used $4.49 in ECBs that I had = paid $15.14, got $10 ECBs!

Eat From The Pantry Challenge

This is an old post, a few years old, but the idea of an Eat From The Pantry Challenge is still a good one.  We don't have a ton of extras, although I'm sure, like in the post, I'd be surprised at how much I could come up with, but here are a few things I found after just a quick peek, which I know have been sitting there for awhile.

• A mostly full box of Corn Flakes
• An open but not used box of Tempura breading (I thought it was bread crumbs, but it's breading batter)
• A tiny can of tuna
• A can of tomato soup
• A box of instant oatmeal packets
• Rice-a-Roni
• A bag of black-eyed peas
• 6 boxes of pudding (chocolate, butterscotch, and gingerbread)
• 3 cans of creamed corn and 4 cans of peas (on the shelf behind the other stuff)

Some of this, like pudding, you'd think would be easy to make up and eat, and it would be, but I just haven't.  So my goal for the next few weeks is to use up some of these items that have been sitting here for too long.  Some will be easy - eat oatmeal for breakfast.  Some will be...less easy.  I don't like creamed corn, but Jesse does.  Maybe a creamed corn chowder for him to take in his lunches?  These are things I can experiment with, because they're not getting eaten anyways, so the worst that can happen is they flop, and I throw them out.  Hopefully, though, we eat them and enjoy them.

Does anyone have any good black-eyed pea recipes?  How about corn flakes?  What needs to be eaten from your pantry?

Danish Puff Pastries

When I was younger, my mom would make these Danish Puff Pastries as a special treat.  We would see her making them at night around bedtime, smell them baking as we went to bed, and we knew we would get to enjoy them for breakfast the next morning.  The ingredients are pretty simple, and not exactly healthy, but these are delicious!  This is probably my favorite family recipe, from my Grandma Winter.

Crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 Tbsp. cold water

Mix flour and butter until mixture resembles corn meal.  Add water and mix together well to form paste.  Spread on bottom of 13x9 pan.

Filling:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 3 eggs

Bring water to a boil.  Add butter and return to boil; remove from heat.  Add flour and almond extract and stir to combine.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.  Spread over crust.

Bake at 425 degrees for 40-50 minutes, until brown on top and knife inserted comes out clean.

Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened
• 4 Tbsp. milk or cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients to combine.  Pour over hot pastry.  Nuts can also be added as topping.

Every time I smell almond extract, I'm reminded of eating these pastries.  Bake some up, and you'll see what I mean...

Walmart Coupon Shopping

I love when coupons show up in my Sunday paper that I know will get me a free item (in this case, Sun Drop).

• 5 Sun Drop 2-liters: $1.00 each.  Used five $1/1 (SS 5/6/12) = 5 free!
• 2 International Delight Iced Coffee mixes: $3.98 each.  Used 2 free product coupons (Facebook promo) = 2 free!  I've been really excited to try these, so I was happy to see the coupons in the mail this week.
• Land O'Lakes Milk: $3.72, but price matched CVS for $2.59.
• Cherry Tomatoes: $2.48.
• Red Onion: $0.50 (these and the tomatoes are for a salad I'm making for the Seminary picnic tomorrow).
• Total spent: $5.94. 

Menu Plan Monday

Monday/Tuesday: Black Bean Taco Salads
Wednesday: Seminary Picnic
Thursday: Homemade Pizzas (sausage, black olives, and whatever else we find)
Friday: Sausage Spinach Penne Skillet (minus the tomatoes for Jonah, and I'll probably just use canned diced for the rest of us)
Saturday/Sunday: Cheesy Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

What I'm Reading...

Managing Your Wardrobe: Pregnancy, Post-Partum, And All Those Sizes In Between.  My wardrobe has been in that "which size am I now?" funk for a few years now.  (Simple Mom)

How To Stay Motivated When Paying Off Debt.  I like the visual ideas in this post.  (Money Saving Mom)

If You Want Something Badly Enough, You Can Usually Find A Way.  It's still hard, but you'll do it anyways.  (Money Saving Mom)

7 Ways To Update A Room For Under $100.  It all comes down to pops of color.  (Pocket Your Dollars)

10 Helpful Gadgets For The Frugal Kitchen.  My favorites are my coffeemaker (keeps me from going out for coffee), my slow cooker (used once or twice a week at least), and my breadmaker.  (Northern Cheapskate)

Start A Full-Room Organizing Project With A Blank Canvas.  This is the idea I want to implement when we move in a few months.  (Unclutterer)

CVS and Walgreens Coupon Shopping

After our playdate yesterday, the boys and I did some quick stops for a few deals.  First we went to CVS:

• CVS Jumbo Pack Diapers: $6.99, get $2ECBs (limit 1).  
• Colgate MaxFresh Toothpaste: $2.99, get $2.49ECBs (limit 2).  Used $1/1 CVS coupon (red coupon box) and $0.50/1 (SS 04/29/12) = paid $1.49, got $2.49ECBs.
• 5 Dawn Dish Soaps: $0.99 each.  Used 5 $0.50/1 (P&G Home Made Simple mailers) = paid $0.49 each.  We go through a lot of these doing dishes at least once a day, but the price per ounce is about the cheapest I've found doing it this way.
• I used $3ECBs that I had, so I paid $8.52 and got back $4.49ECBs.

Then we went to Walgreens:

• 4 Starbucks Refreshers single cans: $1.49 each.  Used 4 free coupons (PepsiCo insert 4/29/12) = 4 free!
• 2 Blue Diamond Almonds: B1G1 $3.99.  Used 2 $1/1 (SS 3/4/12) = paid $1.99/2.  Jesse likes almonds for a snack, so I get them every now and then when they're cheaper.
• With tax, I paid $2.43.

We also stopped at Kwik Trip for eggs (on sale for $0.99/dozen), bananas, and onions, spending $5.62.  So far we've used a good chunk (about half) of our grocery money for the month, but we are now well stocked on toilet paper and vitamins, and we still have plenty of diapers from the bulk order last month. 

I want to try to have a bit of extra grocery money this month to buy some portable snacks for our trip at the end of May to Wisconsin for a few family graduations/parties.  It's much easier to feed the boys single serve fruit cups, crackers, and fruit snacks (special travel treat!) than to do big containers of yogurt or fruits/veggies that we might do at home.