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!