Holly Hits Walgreens

A picture's worth 1000 words: What a shopping trip! Total Spent: $62.42 Total Saved: $135.53

Tight Budget? Afraid of R.J. Comitment?

We have all been there. When the budget is tight it isn't easy to shell out even if it is to save money. Start using the grocerysmart.com today. You will start saving. When you have saved as much as it would cost you for your subscriptions, give me a call and you will watch your savings go up from there! My cute friend paid for hers in the very 1st week.

Sweet Deals at Walgreens

I'm just back from Walgreens and it was a great shopping trip. I Spent $44.01 cash and got $117.98 of product. Thats a savings of 63% I needed Allergy Medicine for my daughter and decided if I was going in I would see what fun deals I could find. So I got1 box of 30 Clariton normally $22.95, 4 boxes of Kotex pads (24 count), 4 boxes of Kotex tampons (18 count),

1 box of Kotex Pantyliners, 1 Gillette Razor w/ 1 refill cartridge normally $9.79, 3 bottles Garnier Nutrisse Shampoo, 3 bottles Garnier Nutrise Conditioner, 6 packs Orbit gum.

Sweet Meals Using Our Sweet Deals 3/11 - 3/17

Taco Soup and Corn Bread - 1 lb Ground Beef (Smith's), 1/2 Onion (Smith's), 2 packets taco seasoning (pantry) , 1 can each: diced tomatoes (pantry), tomato sauce (pantry), kidney beans rinsed (pantry). Saute beef and onion, add taco seasoning, and cans. Heat through. Serve with Sour cream (last week at Smith's), Grated Cheese (Smith's)

BBQ Chicken Pizza - But pizza dough at local pizza parlor (I love Don Antonio's $3.00 or 18") BBQ sauce (Pantry), Mozzarella (Smith's), Grilled Chicken Breast (Smith's). Preheat oven to 425. Stretch out dough to fit baking sheet, top with BBQ sauce sprinkle on chicken, top with cheese bake for 10 - 12 min.

Lasagna- It is a great week to make up some lasagnas and throw them in the freezer. Pasta (Smith's) Classico Sauce (Smith's) Mozzarella (Smith's) Ground Beef (Smith's) or Italian Sausage (Freezer from a few weeks ago) eggs are even on sale (Smith's) All you needs is some parmesan and ricotta.

BBQ, Coleslaw and Baked Beans - OM Hot Dogs or Hamburger (Smith's), (Buns in freezer from last week) Cabbage (Smith's), Baked Beans (Pantry)

Pork Chops, Rice and Asparagus - Pork Chops (Freezer) Marinated for a half an hour and grilled. Marinade: in 1/4 C vinegar, 1/4 C soy sauce, 1 clove garlic minced, 1 T olive oil. 2 T sugar. Asparagus (Smith's)

St Patties - Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes - All on the Smith's add.

Omelets (Breakfast for Dinner) - Eggs, Sausage, Cheese, Onions, Asparagus, Red Peppers - all on the Smith's add this week. If omelets are too much do a scramble or Breakfast Burritos Tortillas are on sale as well.

Going Out? Feed the kids - Pasta Roni, Sauteed Chicken (cube and saute with s & p) and Peas. For my 4 plus 1 extra kid (there are always extras) I used 2 packages of Pasta Roni (Albertsons last week), 2 chicken breasts (Smith's) and 1/2 CW Peas (Von's last week)

Coming Soon!! Vons- Food 4 Less and CVS

I am so excited! We are expecting to have 3 new stores hit the G.S. list in the very near future! I have shopped the Von's add the last couple of weeks, just to see what is coming (we have a Von's just around the corner.) I have had so much fun. Last week I transferred a prescription there and received a $30 gift card. Then I shopped the add I paid $9.07 out of pocket for $68.73 in groceries. I bought tons of veggies so I was able to put off my Food 4 Less trip another week. (As most of you know I do much of my produce shopping at Food 4 Less)

P&G Trial in Sunday Paper

The folks at Procter and Gamble (PG) are doing a trail run in the RJ this week. Notice that you received a P&G insert in the paper. Use the coupons because if the redemption's are good, P&G are talking about a year contract. Then we would get the P&G insert every Sunday, for those of you with multiple papers that means that we will have multiple P&G as well. So use those coupons ladies!!

Davis Family Menu for this Week

I always have tons of fresh fruit and veg I buy every 2 weeks at Food 4 Less. Add whatever vegetables your family likes. I buy broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, asparagus, and all the salad basics and fruit.
Biscuits and Gravy - Yes, its breakfast for dinner Grands and Farmer Johns sausage from last week, crumbles and sauteed with a flour gravy.
Beef and Bean Soup with Grands Biscuits - Onion, carrot and great northern beans, (still have from the Smiths case lot sale,) with beef broth and left over roast. The kids loved it.
Pasta Al Forno - pasta coated with spaghetti sauce, in the bottom of a 9x13 pan top with a white sauce seasoned with a bit of nutmeg (bachamel sauce). Bake for 40 min. With salad and veg.
Pizza Pockets and Warm Delights - Date Night for us, fun cheap food for the kids $1.60 (sounds good.)
Left overs- Pasta al Forno again
Chicken Parmesan- chicken breasts from last week, cut thin or pounded breaded with egg and progresso bread crumbs free at Albertsons, spray with olive oil. Bake at 400.
Fajitas with Pico de Gallo and Chips- chicken or beef marinate in Kens Marinade grill and slice, cut onions into rounds brush with olive oil s & p skewer and grill with meat. Serve with lettuce, cheese smiths last week, serve in tortillas top with sour cream.
Sirloin Steaks, Mashed Potatoes and Asparagus -Sunday Dinner - Steak at Albertsons, Asparagus at Smiths.

Albertsons 2/19

What a fun week to shop at Albertsons!!

Sorry no picture I had to race off to a funeral so I just put everything away quickly!

Total Bill $338.23

Savings $270.36

Spent $67.87

80% Savings

Saturday, February 14, 2009

No Inserts This Weekend

Sorry, ladies... no inserts this weekend. None in your junk mail this past week and none in the Sunday paper on 2/15.
Rule of Thumb - Anytime a holiday falls on a weekend, major coupon publishers (SS, RP & PG) take a break. Sad, but true.
For a complete schedule of 2009 inserts, click HERE.

Good Deals Around Town Feb 4-10

This is a great week to do some stocking up on cereal. Lots of printable General Mills coupons as well as SS. Also a great week to put some meat in the freezer Smiths: whole chickens 59¢/lb, Chuck Roasts $1.79/lb Boneless Pork Sirloin Chops $1.89/lb, Albertsons: Boneless Country Style

Target - had some great deals on their clearance shelves. Cute kid's quilts 50% off $34 instead of $68 (Even the cute plaid one I looked at for Josh's room) 75% off Electronic Dart Boards $3.24 (Great birthday stock up for older kids I bought 5!)

Vons - Gala, Fuji and Red Delicious 50¢/lb (kids lunches) Roma Tomatoes $1/lb, Pop-tarts $1/box, Yogos $1/box, Eating Right baby Carrots $1/1-lb bag, Lunchables (Basic) $1 ea, Fresh Express Shreds $1/8oz bag, Asparagus $1.88/lb, Colgate Toothpaste 6.4 oz 99¢ use SS 1/18 coupon 1/75¢ = 25¢ each, C&W10-16oz Vegetables (I love their petite peas) $2 - Coupon available in printable group A 2/$1 in the GS website = $1.50.

Food Less - Nectarines 97¢/lb, Broccoli 98¢/lb, Sweet Onions 88¢/lb, Pork Sirloin End Roast $1.48/lb, There are usually lots of great produce prices and the quality is surprisingly good.

Meal Ideas Using Jan 28 - Feb 3 Adds

This is the Big Game weekend and the adds are celebrating.

Albertsons Steak Deals - New York or Rib Eye Both just $3.79 marinate in some Kens Lemon Pepper Marinade ($0 @ Albertsons) and throw them on the grill or slather in Kraft BBQ Sauce for 33¢. What to serve along side? Food 4 Less Asperagus only$1.98/lb.and red grapes 97¢. I cant wait till F4L hits the Grocery Smarts website!

There is a **** deal on whole chickens at Albertsons. Check out last weeks chicken ideas.

Ginger-Lime Chicken - Place 8 chicken thighs in a zip lock bag. In a bowl combine, 2 Tbsp honey, 1T fresh grated ginger, juice of 2 limes, 2 T olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. Pour over chicken in bag. Marinate 30 min. Grill and serve with rice and veg. of choice.

Do I have a Coupon for that? Go to the the Alphabetical Index in Grocery Smarts website. On the select your store page, click on Alphabetical Index. It will take you to a list of all the current coupons you have stored. Then just flip to the proper insert, clip and save.

Meal Ideas Using Jan 21-27 Adds

These are some things I may make for my family this week using the add specials. Link to Grocery Smarts for sale details.

Sunday Chuck Roast - Ingredients: Chuck Roast (Albertsons $1.99 lb) salt and pepper liberally place in a 9x13 pan add washed and pealed potatoes and carrots at least one for each per family member. Cover with Aluminum Foil. Place in 300F oven for 5 hrs.

What to leave for the kids on Date Night - Tomb Stone Pizza (Smiths $2.49,) Cherry 7 up (Free Sat 24th @ Albertsons) Orville Redenbachers popcorn (99¢ Smith's.) $1 Red Box movie. $4.50 Kids dinner, movie, and popcorn.

Out all day, put it in before you leave - Fauxtissorie Chicken: 1 Chicken (Albertsons 69¢/ lb.) It needs to fit in your slow cooker, Your choice of seasoning; lemon pepper, cajun seasoning, Lawreys, what ever makes your taste buds tingle, salt and pepper,aluminum foil. Instructions: Rub chicken with your choice of seaoning. Make it good this is your flavor. Place three balls of foil on the botton of your slow cooker, Place bird on top of aluminum balls (this is for circulation.) Cover. Cook 8 hrs on low. You decide how to use it. Eat it just as is, use in salad, sandwiches, tacos, etc.

Chicken Again - Hickory Smoked Oven Chicken: Ingredients: 1 large onion sliced, 1 chicken cut up (on sale at Albertsons,) ½ cup catsup (on sale at Smiths), ½ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup vinegar, 2 Tbsp mustard.
Instructions: Put onion slices on bottom of casserole. Top with chicken pieces. Sprinkle with 2 tsp. Spice Island Hickory Smoke, Sprinkle with salt. Pour this sauce over top and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hour or more.

London Broil - marinate early, then a quick fix. - Mix together 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 clove garlic (garlic salt will do in a pinch, but cut back on the salt,) 2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp salt. Rub on London Broil (Albertsons $1.99 lb,) Place in large zip lock and marinate at least 2 hours. Grill or broil , slice thinly. Serve with rice and Green Valley Giant Fresh Steamers (50¢ @ Smiths.)

My First Time

The first time I walked into Albertsons with coupons in hand I felt like I was doing something shady. I was a bit sick to my stomach (all nerves.) Will they really let me use 5 of the same coupon? (Yes, they do!) Am I getting the right size box for the coupon I have? (Yes, it says 12 oz.) Where are the cleaning supplies in this store anyway? (Right there on the isle marked cleaning supplies.) There are only 3 boxes of Frosted Shredded Wheat's I have five coupons, what did she say to do about that? (Get a rain check, that's right.) I'm in line now is the cashier going to be snotty, because I have all these coupons? (No, she takes them scans them and there is this delightful little beep, I think it means its working.) If I've done my math right I plan on paying her like$27.00 for $72.00 worth of groceries, will that set her off? (No, her awestruck response is you really know what you are doing don't you!) I'm thinking I really have no clue! But I say, I just use this really great website and it really works. She rips off a bit of receipt paper and says. "what is the name of the site?" Grocery Smarts I reply. I make it to the car review the receipt. It worked. I paid $27 and got a ton of stuff. The stomach ache has been replaced with at little flutter in the bottom of my stomach. Is that excitement? I think this is going to be a sweet deal.

An Average Week Including Staples

It' s easy to see how a great sale can save you money. But how about an average week, without a great Albertson's Sale.

There are tons of staples and a few great stock up deals.

There is so much there it's hard to see it all.

Market Value $184.55
Store & Coupon Savings 96.17

I paid 88.38

I Saved 52%

Later that week I hit the Albertson's 8 hour sale, because who could pass on those sweet deals!

Market Vaule $75.41

Store & Coupon Savings 47.89

I Paid $27.52

I Saved 64%

Super Savings at Albertson's

The deal - buy $30 of participating items, get a $15 voucher for your next shopping trip at checkout . I did three transactions and saved $45.00.

Market Value $203.61

Store & Coupon Savings -$89.83

Albertson's Voucher -$45.00

I paid $68.74

Savings 65%

Printable Coupon Questions

On the Grocery Smarts website, you will find lots of links to printable coupons. They are a bonus! The smart folks that make the lists match up sale items, with coupons out there on the web, when they make their lists each week.
How many can I print? Each computer can print 2 printable coupons. Once you have reached your limit you will get a messageit says "you have reached your limit for this coupon." If you send a coupon to print and the printer jams, it will still think that you printed it and not allow you to print another. If you send it to print and then cancel the job, it will think you printed it and also not allow you to print another.
The coupon I wanted is not at the link listed? - So sorry! There are a couple of reasons. #1 Manufactures limit the number of any coupon that can be printed. Let's say that they specified that 100,000 coupons for Cheerios could be printed. If you go on and try to print the 100,001st coupon for Cheerios you will not find it there, it will have been pulled. #2 There is an expiration date for the run of a printable coupon. They will say, we will run the coupon until the 1/31/09. The manufactures know this but, there is no way for anyone else to know when the run is going to end.
The Store couldn't scan my coupon? Don't scrimp on ink. The store doesn't have to accept your coupon if it cannot scan the barcode. If you are running out of ink it may affect the scanability (I know that's not a real word.) If you are printing in draft form, it may also affect the scanability of your coupon.
Can I copy a printable coupon? No it is illegal. It is called coupon fraud, I don't know what they will do to you if your caught, but I'm sure that I don't want it to happen to me!
Can I call you to ask about printable coupons? No! Actually you can call, and I will probably sympathize with you because I have probably been there too. But sadly, there is nothing I can do to help.

What is Grocery Smarts? Many shoppers who want to save money at the grocery store spend hours scouring over the ads and digging through piles of coupons to find what matches up. Grocery Smarts puts an end to all of that craziness and simply matches local store ads to current coupons (found in the Sunday paper) in an easy to use list. The list is updated each week as new ads are released and even links you instantly to any online printable coupons that are out there. Using an easy "5 Star" rating system, the list even tells you which deals are the BEST deals! And, the greatest part about these lists is they are free! Free for anyone to use, anytime... and you don't even have to register or fork over your email address to use the service. Nice, huh?How can I learn how to use the lists? The best way to learn how to use the store lists is to attend a class. If you haven't ever been invited to one, consider hosting your own! In-home classes work the best, so grab your friends and family to attend and contact me to book one anytime!

What's a class like?
Classes generally last about an hour (depending on how chatty the ladies get). In that time, I teach you the benefits of shopping the sales, show you how to do it, and give you recommendations on how to stay organized. It's not complicated or difficult to learn because the list does all the hard work for you. How much time will I have to spend clipping coupons?Virtually none! Seriously, the Grocery Smarts big wigs came up with literally a "5 minute" method that'll keep you organized, yet not feeling overwhelmed. You only cut what you need, when you need it! Is it really worth it? It is for me (and lots of my friends and family)! I've been couponing for along time and my budget is in good check and my pantry is full. My favorite part about shopping this way is I actually get to buy nicer brands. No more generics for me... nothing beats a name brand item when it's on sale and has a coupon to boot!

So... What's the catch?
Several other similar online shopping services charge users a monthly membership fee to access their coupon matching service. However, in an effort to be a head above the rest, the founders of Grocery Smarts didn’t think charging a monthly fee to families who are trying to save money made any sense at all. They started thinking outside the box and realized that regardless of what service you use, in order to shop smart and to do it right, you need multiple sets of coupons from the Sunday paper. They thought, "Why charge a fee to the user… when the newspaper sits right in the middle directly benefiting from the concept we teach?" So, the Grocery Smarts big wigs presented their concept to the Review Journal. They quickly realized that when we teach our classes, we naturally refer new subscribers to the paper. So, you can imagine how quickly they jumped on the opportunity to open their market up to moms like us who typically wouldn't be getting the paper at all.
So here's the long and short of it... At the class, as I teach you the concept of shopping smart and show you how you can use the website to save money at the store. And, because having the right amount of coupons (1 set for each person in your household) is such a key part of saving big, it makes sense for me to hook you up with the papers you need at the class. I offer the Review Journal at amazing prices to anyone not currently taking the paper, plus can get you up to 4 more additional Sunday papers delivered to your door for less than a buck a week! And that's why the class is free... I make money based on how many new subscriptions I turn into the Review Journal. So, I guess we can all thank them for stepping up, getting involved and helping Grocery Smarts keep the classes and website FREE for everyone!