Store Brand vs National

So I went to the dreaded Wal-Mart the other day and I had some coupons handy and so I began to look around and try to decide what was essential and what wasn't, and while I was wandering aimlessly I began to contemplate store brand vs national. 

I had some coupons for Barilla Pasta and with the coupn it was actually cheaper than the store brand.  I have noticed that a lot more lately that with coupons they are cheaper.  That never really used to be the case, so I am wondering if the National brands are lowering their prices to compete or if the store brands are raising theirs because they think have us outsmarted.  Now I am all for store Brands when cheaper, Target Diapers saved me Hundreds of dollars in 2 1/2 yrs, and frozen Peas are frozen peas, and when I started this Blog I encouraged people to use store brands to save money, now I just advise you too clipall the coupns and compare closely.

Wow What a Shopping trip

Ok so I did something today that I personally have never done before and I am so proud of myself!  I got something for Free by using coupons.  My local grocery store is not a great palce to use coupons becasue their products are usually high priced and it's a tiny town so they don't have much competion.  They also don't double coupons so it is normally impossible to get things free...But today I did it.  I had a coupon for $1.00 off Crest toothpaste, and the flyer for the store had a coupon for Crest toothpaste for $.99,( It is Normally $2.39) so I actually made a penny...even though I'm pretty sure they didn't give me that penny.  I also had a coupon for a gallon of Milk for $.99 (normally $3.49) the store also had Yellow onions in a 2lb bag for $1.49 and grapes for $1.99lb both with the use of the store club card, so I picked a bag of each of those and a small red onion that was priced at $.99 lb so after all the coupons, and club discounts my $12.00 total dropped to $6.35.   DID I MENTION THE  TOOTHPASTE WAS FREE!!!

Recipes

I have been a little MIA lately with all the holidays and crazy schedule that a stay at home mom keeps.

      One thing I decided was after the 1st of the year I was going to try to cook something new at least 3 days a week (something I don't cook often anyway) and to eat healthier.  So I have been a calorie counting , cooking fool for the last 3 weeks.  It has taken away 10 lbs and given me the chance to explore new menu options I may not have in the past. 

      Well one food I alwas ave a lot of in my house is Pork, I Love it and it is a very versitle meat that yo can so a lot with, and aside from Bacon it really isn't very high in calories, of coarse that assuming you aren't frying it in butter.

     I thought today I'd share one of my favorite pork chop recipes: Apple baked pork chops
Pre heat oven to 375
4 medium pork chops, bone in or out.
2 medium apples any kind will do, but ones for baking are better
1 medium yellow onion
1 tsp dried rosemary or 2 sprigs of fresh
1 tbls extra virgin olive oil You can use butter if you like
1/4 cup red wine, not dry wine though

Heat the oil in a large oven proof skillet, if available, and sautee the oinion and aples until all are carmalized
take them out and set them aside.
In the same skillet add the porkchops and brown on both sides or about 3 min per side.
When they are brown on both sided remove chops and add wine then scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen everything then add the chops, apples and onions back into the pan.
Add the rosemary on top of the chops and put into preheated oven for 30 min.

If you don't have an oven safe skillet you can transfer all ingredients to any oven safe dish, however make sure the dish was in the oven during preheating so it isn't cold when you add the ingredients.

you can add any side dish you like, i prefer baby red potatoes, with garlic and dill it is a surprising easy meal to cook and depending on the meat prices in your area it is a reletively inexpensive meal too.

break down of cost
Pork (on sale) $2.49 a lb Average chop is about 4 oz so 4 chops is 1 lb so $2.49
Apples (on sale) $0.99 for a 3 lb bag 2 apples about 1/2 a lb so $0.15 for appls
Onion $0.99 for a 1lb bag 1 onion is about $.010

For $2.75 cents you have pork chops for 4!!

Post holiday shopping

So I did go shopping for post holiday specials and was very disapointed.  I found that most of the shelves had been picked over and there really weren't any deals on anything other wrapping papers and decorations. I did pick up a few Boxes and bags for 50% off so 8 shirt size boxes for $3.99 and 3 big bags for $1.50.  I did find storage totes at K-mart for $3.50 they were 17 gallon which is perfect  for toys. I didn't find much in way of clothes or toys but I blame myself for taking a 2 1/2 yr old shopping with me. Oh well.  I may try again this weekend anything else left over should be cheaper yet, but I may have to dig harder to find it.  I do however enjoy the thrill of hunt.

holidays

I would love to be able to say that I am some kind of superwomen that bought gifts for 12 people and only spent $12 but I'm not good at the holidays. Not so much because I can't find a bargain but because I always find so many that I tend to buy more than I should since I saved so much on other items.

I do however love to hunt out the bargains, both before and after Christmas, the before Christmas bargains include getting up at 3 am for Black Friday shopping, scoping all the flyers for items that I know people will enjoy and making some homemade gifts.

This year I did homemade for all of Braxtons Grandparents and Aunts. I purchased photo frames, that had a nice poem about Grandchildren, at the local dollar store for $4.  I also bought small albums there for $2 each.  3 frames and 5 albums for $23 with Tax.  I printed out my own photos so I spent about $30 on paper and ink but $53 split between 5 people isn't too bad for a special Christmas gift.

So hopefully tomorrow I can pick up a few after Christmas bargains.  I need a few more gift Boxes, and bags, as well as a couple of totes to put old toys in for storage.  I try to buy only holiday totes as they are usually pretty inexpensive right after the holidays.  Another thing to look for is anything holiday related for in your house.  Gladwear containers with snowflakes, colored plastic wrap or festive aluminum foil will fall into the holiday discounts so stock up.  If I get the chance to go I'll post how I did.

Cheap meal of the month

If you are anything like me making Delicious yet inexpensive meals is a part of everyday life. Well I Made the most filling, inexpensive meal of the month maybe year last night. I decided to make Chicken A La King so I needed to make gravy, cook the chicken and make biscuits. Well I started out by figuring the least costly way to do the Biscuits and I decided a 4 pack of Home style Biscuits from Wal-mart was the way to go. They are small biscuits but 1 can is 10 biscuits so for $2.37 I bought 40 biscuits, and there was no way I was going to be able to make them for that. Next was the gravy, I am not very good at making gravy so I did buy one package of chicken gravy for $0.97 and decided I could add flour and water to it as I needed, but this way I had good flavor to start. I already had the chicken at home, earlier I had purchased a 10lb package of leg and thigh quarters for $0.49 a lb. so for $4.90. So I took out 3 of the thigh and leg quarters out and boiled them until tender, I started the gravy and just kept adding to it using the water from the boiled chicken to help keep the flavor. I also added some frozen peas, carrots and corn from the garden. I did use 2 of the packages of Biscuits so my husband had them for lunch the next day as leftovers

The way I figure it out
3 pieces of chicken equaled about 1lb or $0.49
2 packages of biscuits was approximately $1.19
1 package of gravy mix was $0.97

So I made a complete meal with leftovers for $2.65

If you want to add the extra flour I used it wasn't much maybe 1/2 a cup and I bought the flour on sale for $1.00 so you could figure maybe $0.10 and the veggies I grew myself.

I have to say I was pretty proud of myself

Shopping lists

So part of the way I really keep track of my money is to set an amount of money I have to spend, make a list of what I need, and stick too it. One thing I like to do is go through the weekly flier for our grocery store so I have prices in front of me. I also like to round up to the nearest dollar. My shopping list for this afternoon is simple, This is how it reads:

$20
Hamburger 2lbs $4
Pasta $2
Pizza Sauce $1
Eggs $.29 (C)
Chicken Breast $4 (C)
Hot Dogs $4

That is $15 total, I know there are Way cheaper hot dogs if that is what you are thinking but I'm a little picky on those, they have to be natural casing ones. I am a little stretched for cash and I would probably forgo the hot dogs all together except I have to spend $10 to get the coupon price for the Chicken and eggs. That is a 3lb bag of chicken breasts.

This will cover meals for the week. I also purchased a large loaf of frozen garlic bread last week because it was on sale for $1.19 All you have to do it warm it up. So I used 1/2 of it last week and saved 1/2 for this week when I make Pizza Bake. I usually don't buy the pre-made stuff but it was cheaper than buying a loaf of french or Italian bread. If you want to buy the pre-made stuff, add your own cheese because it usually costs at least a dollar more for cheese bread, and you can add your own a lot cheaper than that.