Yogurt in Wraps

I've been buying a lot of yogurt lately. Organic yogurt, Greek yogurt, yogurt in tubes, yogurt smoothies.  I don't even like yogurt. Can hardly stand the smell, actually. And I get seriously annoyed if someone (whose name rhymes with Bouis) forgets to rinse a yogurt container before putting it in the recyling bin.

I bought a couple of plain Oikos Greek yogurts a couple of weeks ago, and wasn't sure if my kids would like it without the fruit on the bottom. Then when I was flipping through the channels, I came across a show called the "5 Ingredient Fix" on the Food Network. Basically, Claire Robinson puts together dishes with 5 ingredients or less. My kind of show.

Here are the ingredients for "Schoolhouse Wraps" that I made for the boys today. My preschooler loved it. Not a hit with my toddler though, but he also refused strawberries, so I think he was just too tired and cranky for food.

I can't offer suggestions for improvement since I didn't try it, but the sitter said it was good and would make it at home.

The 5 ingredients are:
1) roasted chicken
2) plain Greek yogurt
3) diced celery (for crunch factor - I used green pepper instead cause we were out of celery),
4) red grapes sliced in half
5) flour tortillas

Here is the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/schoolhouse-wraps-recipe/index.html


If you're feeling adventurous, you can also make tzatziki: http://greekfood.about.com/od/dipsspreadspures1/r/Tzatziki.htm

Enjoy!

Wednesday Groceries: $24.96

I am definitely getting faster at shopping with coupons. I get distracted less easily, and today I was in and out of the store within 15 minutes.

I got a little anxious at check out thinking I wouldn't stay within my weekly grocery budget, having already spent $104 on Monday & Tuesday. The cashier rang up the total and it was fifty-nine dollars and change. BUT, after my coupons and Price Plus Card, it went down to $24.96!! I was super stoked. Here's what I got:

3 packages of Coleman Organic Chicken ($1.99/lb)
4x Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
6x 8oz French's Yellow Mustard
3x L'Oreal Kids Detangler
1x L'Oreal Kids Shampoo
Excedrin Migraine
Celery
Asparagus
Tomatoes
Baby Carrots
Bananas
Excedrin Migraine

Coupons Used
$1.00 off Excedrin
4x 0.75 off ANY L'Oreal Kids Product (all doubled)
4x 0.75 off Apple Cinnamon Cheerios (all doubled)
2x 0.50 off French's Mustard (doubled= FREE!)
4x 0.30 off French's Mustard (doubled)

This means I've spent $129.49 so far this week and still have $20.51 left for this week!

FREE Mustard at Shop Rite!

French's Yellow Mustard (8oz) is currently on sale for $0.99 at Shop Rite.  That means you only need a $0.50 coupon to get it FREE (because the coupon will be doubled).

You can print a $0.50 coupon on the French's website. There is a two print limit per computer.

Deals at Shop Rite This Week (ends Saturday)

1) General Mills Cereal for $0.50-$1.50 per box
A variety of General Mills cereals are on sale 4 for $8 (Limit 4 & Must buy 4) . You can use...

-Four “$0.75 off ONE box” coupons, which will all be doubled, so each box comes out to $0.50, OR
-Four "$0.55 off ONE" coupons (comes out to $0.90/box)
-Two "$1.00 off TWO" coupons (comes out to $1.50/box)
You can find coupons here:

* http://www.coupons.com/
* http://www.smartsource.com/
* http://www.shopathome.com/
* http://www.coupons.target.com/ (it’s a manufacturer’s coupon, not target store coupon).

There have been some in the weekly newspaper inserts, too.

(Remember that a “$0.75 off ONE box” coupon is a better deal than “$1.50 off TWO boxes” because the latter won’t be doubled.)

2) Excedrin ½ price this week (and the store has some promo packs that include FREE Excedrin PM)!
Reg: $3.48
Sale: $1.74
Coupon: $1.00 (found here: http://www.excedrin.com/offers.shtml)
You pay: $0.74

3) Eggland’s Best Large Eggs
Reg: $2.89
Sale: $2.49
Coupon (from Smart Source newspaper insert a few weeks ago): $0.50
Doubled: $0.50
You pay: $1.49

4) Half Gallon Stonyfield Organic Milk
Reg: $4.09
Sale: $3.79
Coupon: $0.75 http://www.stonyfield.com/ (coupons updated monthly; can only print once)
Doubled: $0.75
You Pay: $2.29

5) Land O Lakes Butter
Reg. $3.37
Sale: $2.99
With Store coupon from front page of circular: $1.99

6) Shake ‘N Bake
Reg. $2.49
Sale: $1.99
Coupon: $0.75
Doubled: $0.75
You Pay: $0.49

You can find (at least) two $0.75 coupons online. I just did a quick search and there was one at http://www.coupons.com/ and the second at http://www.kraftbrands.com/Shake-n-bake/7)

7) Near East Couscous is on sale for $1.79 (reg. $2.19)

8) Apple & Eve 8-pack Juice boxes on sale for $2.99 (reg. $3.69)  There is a "$1 off TWO) coupon on the Apple & Eve website, but you can only print once.

9) L'Oreal Kids Shampoo (reg. 2.99) is on sale again for $1.99 (not advertised in flyer). If you have a $0.75 coupon for L'Oreal Kids Shampoo (there have been some in the Sunday paper recently), it comes out to $0.49 per shampoo with the coupon doubled.

UPDATE 3/9: These were not scanning at 1.99 but rather at 3.19, so I am going to take my receipts back and show them. The items are definitely marked on sale at 1.99 at the store. Does this mean I get them free because they scanned incorrectly? Not sure.

10) Coleman Organic Chicken:  Drumsticks (maybe thighs too) were on sale for $1.99/lb (not advertised). I bought a pack of 5 drumsticks (1.13 lbs) for $2.37 (saved $1.19).  Guess what we're having for dinner. :)

11) Blue Bunny Ice Cream
Reg.$2.99
Sale. $1.99
Coupon: $1.00  (Sign up for newsletter on their website and they will email you the coupon. There is also aother one somewhere online.) 
You Pay: $0.99
.
12) Organix Shampoo. I've never tried this shampoo, but the regular price is $5.99. It's on sale for $2.99, and if you buy two, you get a $5 coupon at checkout on your next purchase, (So it comes out to $1.49 each). If it sucks I don't mind having spent $3.

Organic & All Natural Foods

I've been paying very little to nothing for Stonyfield Organic Yogurt lately.  The $0.50 off ONE coupons are the best because they are doubled at Shop Rite and Stop & Shop. I'm going to save those until the yogurt goes on sale for 1/2 price again ($0.50), so that way I get 2 yogurts FREE for every $0.50 coupon I collect!

http://www.stonyfield.com/register/ (updated monthly)

http://newmansown.com/ (updated monthly)

http://www.horizondairy.com/

http://www.chobani.com/Coupons/

Print Coupons for Free

Here are websites that I check regularly.  (Many websites ask that you login/register first, so I created a separate email address for couponing.)

http://www.smartsource.com/

http://www.coupons.com/

http://www.redplum.com/

http://www.shopathome.com/

Groupon: $35 for $75 worth Home-Delivered Organic Groceries

Pay $35 for $75 Worth of Home Delivered Organic Groceries from Nature's Prime Organic Foods:
 
Hurry, ends at midnight!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu23560956

The Beginning

My friend suggested I start a blog. I think she just wanted me to stop spamming her with emails. :)

Here's the back story to this blog. In January 2011, TLC aired a show called "Extreme Couponing."  My sister and I texted each other throughout the episode, commenting on how ridiculous these people are, and how they are only buying processed junk. Seriously, no one actually needs 800 chocolate bars or 100 toothbrushes. They all seemed crazy (and not particularly healthy).

But then one hoarder couponer said he was donating some of his bargain finds to a local food bank. Something inside me clicked. What a great idea. I had recently started making weekly donating to a self-serve food bank called Person To Person (Darien, CT) and thought that couponing could maybe help me make larger contributions of their mega high-demand items (i.e. peanut butter, jelly, coffee, and oatmeal).

So I started reading up on how to get started in this couponing business: where to find coupons, when to use them, when NOT to use them, why buying in bulk at warehouse stores doesn't save you nearly as much money as very strategic couponing.

The key is to to use your coupons during a sale. My two local grocery stores, Stop & Shop and Shop Rite/Grade A both *double* the value of coupons that are under a dollar. (Even the ones that say "Do Not Double" if the bar code on the bottom left starts with a '5'!) That meals a $0.50 coupon is really $1.00 off, $0.75 is $1.50 off, and $1 off is, well, $1.00 off.

Two coupons for "$0.50 off ONE item" are worth more than one "$1.00 off TWO items" because in the former, the coupons will be doubled for a total value of $2. Cool, eh?

So my basic strategy was to:

1) Stop throwing away weekly circulars.  Once I started looking through them, I noticed how many of the products I used actually went on sale. Suddenly, my focus changed from couponing for the food bank, into using my newfound couponing skills for ALL my grocery shopping. I am now officially on my mission to cut my family's grocery bill in half.  Since I don't even know what I used to spend on groceries, (I'm guessing it was about $1200 per month or more.) my goal is to spend $600 per month. We are a family of four - two adults, a toddler and a preschooler. I think this is reasonable. We shall see....

2) Started clipping coupons from the Sunday newspaper inserts. I also found several websites where I could print internet coupons. (Never photocopy printable coupons; they each have a unique bar code or PIN and you'd look like a real loser for getting busted for coupon fraud!)
3) Get organized. I quickly realized that sifting though an envelope full of coupons caused me major anxiety at checkout, so I bought a binder and those plastic sheets that are used for collecting baseball cards. Do I take my binder to the grocery store? Yes. Do I look ridicuous? Yes. Do I care? No! In the 8 weeks that I've been couponing, I've already saved about $800!

So that's basically it.  In this blog I will include my grocery lists, track my spending, and share some deals I've spotted.

So welcome, and I hope you enjoy my posts!