With the American (and global, really) economy in the shitter and our personal need to save money for upcoming weddings and honeymoons, I have made it my personal mission in life to conquer the grocery store. I’ve had problems with this, in the past. If I really had a craving for some shrimp I just bought them, price be damned. I was also an impulse buyer. Ooohh—Skittles! I also inherited a love of brands and loyalty to those brands from my mom. I would only buy Colgate toothpaste, Kraft cheese and Green Giant corn. I also was a big waster. I had vague ideas about what would be made for dinner in the coming days, but I’d either not follow through and cook the food or I’d bought the wrong items. This happened A LOT.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve tried to be really conscious of what I’m buying, what I’m paying for it, and how I’m using it. Meal planning is definitely the way to go – healthwise and budgetwise – but I really have struggled with it. I don’t like to cook and planning meals leads to cooking those meals. However, with the new job, I get home earlier in the afternoon (4:15 !!!) and feel like I actually have time to cook a meal, do some dishes and feed the dogs without collapsing of exhaustion first. So, I’m more into planning our meals and cooking them. Shopping for those meals has become like a game to me…trying to find the best deals and taking advantage of them, when possible.

In this game, I’ve utilized a couple of great internet resources. Aside: What the HELL did people do before the internet?!? The number one is probably CouponMom.com. This site compiles, weekly, a huge database of grocery store circular specials and cross-references coupons to those specials to point out the best deals in the stores. In my area, Kroger and Wal-Mart are the major grocery stores. I try to shop at Wal-Mart as little as possible for various reasons. So, each week, I pull up the database for Kentucky’s best deals at Kroger. I select the items I’m interested in and print the list out. If I stopped right there, I’d save quite a bit of money. However, I go to my coupon stash and am able to save more. I’ve subscribed to the weekend plan of a major newspaper in my area. On Sundays, I keep the coupon circulars and date them. Then, I use the CouponMom database list I printed to find the coupons that apply. She lists them all right there and it’s very convenient.

Some of the other good resources I’ve found are:

• Shortcuts.com – This is a site with manufacturer’s coupons that you can electronically apply to your store’s shopper’s card. So, when I go to Kroger and scan my Plus Card, I’m automatically getting coupon discounts but I don’t have to clip and keep up with them. You have to be careful with this, though. I’ve found that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I think it’s an issue of scanning the card and using your alternate ID. Always scan your card.

• Coupons.com – This is another online site with coupons. Here, though, you must download their coupon printer and print them out.

• Kroger.com with P&G BrandSaver – The Kroger website also has coupons that you can apply to your Kroger Plus card that are available from P&G.

Since I started this little mission, I’ve learned that Kroger will double coupons that have a face value up to $0.50. So, they can really add up. I have also learned that using the Self-Scan lanes is to my advantage. I can go at my own pace and follow my spending and receipt on the screen. This morning, for instance, I thought that all Cheerios were on sale 4 for $12, a pretty significant deal when you think about the fact that they are regularly $5.69 a piece. I was wrong and was able to catch it and put the items back before I spent $16.87 on three boxes of cereal (which is ridiculous!).

Speaking of this morning, let me tell you about my grocery trip. Since The Fiancee and I are going to the gym, this afternoon, and we have no food, I decided to go to the grocery at 5 am. The Fiancee leaves for work, then, and I normally putz around the house not doing anything useful. Let me tell you, I hate the grocery store. The people are mostly the reason for that. At 5 am, though, you are the ONLY shopper! The only carts you have to dodge are the stockboys’ and it’s not bad at all.

Just for clarity’s sake, let me reprint my receipt for you. To summarize, I bought 40 items for a regular price total of $93.71. Instead of paying that, I scanned my Kroger Plus card and saved $21.11. I clipped and scanned manufacturers’ coupons and saved $3.70. Some of those coupons qualified for doubling and I saved a further $1.70. In total, I saved $26.51 or just over 28%. Unfortunately, it could have been more if I’d taken the time to get my Plus card out of my wallet rather than entering my alternate Plus ID. MUST REMEMBER next time!

Cottonelle 20 double roll $14.59

Store special -4.60

Mfg coupon -1.00

8.99

Store brand 1% milk $3.42

Cheerios cereal 18 oz. $4.19

Mfg coupon -0.35

Bonus double -0.35

Store special -1.19

2.30

Daisy Sour Cream (8 oz.) $1.35

Store special -0.35

Mfg coupon -1.00

FREE!

Store brand frozen veg. x 2 $2.58

Store special -0.58

2.00

Store brand frozen veg. x 7 $10.15

Store special -3.15

7.00

GG frozen steamers x 4 $7.96  see! Supposed to have a Shortcuts.com discount

Mfg coupon -0.35

Bonus double -0.35

7.26

Birdseye frozen vegetables $1.79

Store special -0.79

1.00

Rice-a-Roni sides $2.52

Store special -0.52

2.00

Store brand instant rice $1.67

Pam baking spray $2.99

Mfg coupon -0.50

Bonus double -0.50

1.99  see! Supposed to have a $0.75 off SC discount

Store brand spag. sauce x 2 $2.58

Store special -0.58

2.00

Stokely’s Creamed Corn $0.99

Store brand cond. soup x 2 $1.71

Store special -0.25

1.46

Store brand canned beans $0.72

Store special -0.22

0.50

Creamette spaghetti, 1 lb. $1.35

Mfg coupon -0.50

Bonus double -0.50

Store special -0.35

FREE!

Store brand egg noodles $1.29

Fresh Express bagged salad $3.79

Store special -1.29

2.50

Golden delicious apples per lb $1.68

Store special per lb -0.68

1.00

Tyson chicken breasts $5.86

Store special -2.94

2.92

Laura’s Lean ground beef $4.99

Store special -1.50

3.49

Stew beef 0.80 lb $4.53

Sweet onion $0.79

Garlic, 1 head $0.54

Whole wheat sandwich buns $2.79

Store special -0.79

2.00

Store brand English muffins $1.69

Store special -0.19

1.50

Store brand eggs $1.79

Fabulous Haw-Asian Dinner

Haw-Asian? What the hell is that? I don’t blame you for asking. My good friend and future roomie, Mare, coined the phrase. It’s Hawaiian and Asian all run together, which is the popular thing, these days, if you didn’t know. Anyway, I made a fabulous dinner on Saturday night and I’d like to share it with all of you.

First, I used the Pineapple Skewered Shrimp recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks as a base. I used chicken instead, though, and didn’t use any of the optional additions like red pepper flakes (too hot for me!). I found that a package of chicken tenderloins, cut down the center, creates perfect pieces of chicken for skewering. I marinated the chicken, overnight, and it did fine. I worried about the teriyaki sauce “cooking” the chicken, the way soy sauce or lemon juice can do, but my cooking-gifted sister assured me that it would probably be okay.

Second, another friend recommend an Asian Slaw as a side dish. After using my friend Google to figure out what an Asian slaw is (I only had visions of KFC coleslaw in my head), I came up with my own version. Since our grocery store was curiously out of some ingredients, it got re-engineered on the fly. I ended up with:

1 head of Napa cabbage, chopped finely
1 package of sugar snap peas, each pea sliced in half
1 package Ramen noodles
3 T. sesame seeds

Crumble the Ramen noodles onto a baking sheet, add the sesame seeds. Toast in a 350 degree oven for about 4 minutes, shaking periodically (I shook at the 2 minute mark). Add all ingredients and toss together with Asian Dressing.

For the Asian Dressing, I used a Pampered Chef gadget I got long ago…the Measure, Mix & Pour. This handy little device has recipes for different dressings right on the container; all you have to do is pour to the measurement line. Then, you just up-and-down the plunger and it all mixed together nicely. There’s a spout for pouring. Pretty cool and easy. The Asian Dressing included ingredients of soy sauce, ground ginger, sugar, pressed garlic and vegetable oil. I used sesame oil for about half of the vegetable oil required. That was the key to an amazing dressing, I think. The Boyfriend raved about it for a day and a half.

The final piece of the meal was a quick Rice Pilaf. Admittedly, it came from a box and it was the Near East brand. I’ve always had good luck with their products, and this time was no different.

All in all, it was pretty easy preparation. I did most of the prep the night before and it didn’t take much time, at all. The morning of, I skewered the meat and pineapples. Then, I took a daytrip out on the creek. The only thing I had to do when it was dinner time was cook the rice and tell The Boyfriend to fire up the grill!

Whirlwind Weekend

The weekend past was one of those where I feel like I never got to just sit down and relax. That’s not to say it wasn’t a lot of fun, but still…you know what I mean?

After work on Friday, The Boyfriend and I cleaned and cleaned, and then we cleaned some more. I went to the grocery and got the makings for the Fabulous Haw-Asian Dinner I was serving on Saturday. I did all the prep for that, showered, and fell into bed, immediately asleep, around 10 o’clock. I can’t even recall what I ate for dinner that night. Oh, yes. Frozen pizza.

Saturday was a wake-up-bright-and-early-with-anticipation day. We were going kayaking with some coworkers, and it was to be their first time on the water. Preparing two people for a day-long trip on the water is surprisingly more complicated than it sounds. I wonder if we take too much stuff with us. After finishing the prep for dinner, I helped The Boyfriend pack all of our gear and load the boats into the truck. Admittedly, he did a whole lot more of the work than I did.

On the trip, I got to test out some new gear:

• A new gel seat, since my boat only has a plastic molded one. Thumbs up on the Skwoosh.
• A new first aid kit. The last one was bought for camping at the Super Huge Discount Superstore of Evil and turned out to not be waterproof. This one is in a dry bag and will hopefully stand the test of my many capsizes. We didn’t need the first aid kit, which is a mystery but a good one.
• A new waterproof (really, I mean it this time) bag for important things like my ID, my phone, and The Boyfriend’s camera (which we still double-bagged because we weren’t trusting of the waterproof claim). It really is waterproof. That bag rocks.
• A locking carabiner, which was totally cool and useful for securing the bag mentioned above. I was worried that a regular carabiner might come undone, somehow and my important good s would be lost. I’m paranoid about losing my phone and afraid that The Boyfriend would seriously maim me for losing his camera, so I liked the locking aspect of this carabiner.
• A paddle leash that proved to be worth the $16 price that I thought was pretty steep. Couldn’t I just make this thing? Probably not. It features a hook-and-eye strap on each end of a coiled length of cord. One strap attaches to your paddle, the other to your wrist or boat. I didn’t like it attached to my wrist, so I strapped it to my boat, and now, I don’t have to worry about a floating-off paddle.
• A new paddle. It rocks my old paddle out of the water. The paddles are scooped, which allows the paddler to move more water with the same stroke. My old paddle sported flat ends and I wasn’t a fan. Good thing that one was free. Now, we have a spare paddle.
• A Camelbak water bottle. PBA-free. I’m glad to find that out via the Camelbak website. I worried about the #7 recycle symbol because it was the same as the Nalgene bottles, which aren’t PBA-free. It’s easier to drink from than a Nalgene (since you don’t have to unscrew the lid). I also like the harder carrying loop it sports.
• S-shaped, double opening carabiner. This was an awesome way to attach the water bottle to my seat gusset. I struggle with opening carabiners on the fly because I’m just challenged, that way. This one had two openings, so I could always get it quickly for a sip.

Good, Lord. That’s a lot of new gear. New for next week will be a pair of shorts that tries much harder to stay dry. Next challenge? Keeping water out of the bottom of my boat. Also (and how excited am I about this?) – new shoes! The water shoes I bought were cheapies. Frankly, they sucked. Yeah, they were fine to get wet, but they provided no cushion or structure against walking on the rocks and shore. I also blame them for the busted knee I got when I slipped on a rock. The new ones are fancy schmancy L.L. Beans and are a LOT like the expensive Keen’s I covet.

Ok, back on track with the weekend. After we kayaked about 12 miles, everyone headed back to be annoyed by our dogs, drink a couple of beers, and eat dinner. All parties were nearly falling asleep in their salads. As soon as our guests left and showers were taken, we were sleeping like babies.

The Boyfriend made pancakes, at my request, on Sunday morning. Even though I had to go to the store twice, dressed like a bum, under threat of severe weather, they were worth it. His pancakes are awesome. I went to my mom’s house to spend the day with her. She liked the gift, I think. We drove around the countryside, trying to find the Wildlife Sanctuary, but it was raining by the time we got there. No bird watching for us. Maybe another day. We did go watch some fish, though. We watched it go from the plates to our mouths, held by chopsticks. Sushi, baby! We ate until we were pleasantly stuffed, one more piece and we’d have been miserable. Then, it was back to her house to organize her scrapbooking equipment. She has a room that’s dedicated to that and toys. She’s got a TON of stuff. We didn’t make much headway, but we made some and sort of have a plan for the future. Dinner with the ‘rents and The Boyfriend rounded out the weekend.

This morning, back to the grind. I need another day of weekend!

Mish Mash

Some new posts are in the works, I promise. I’m being slow in uploading photos from The Boyfriend’s camera to my computer. It’s fun and exciting and about a new hobby (hopefully this will become a hobby) of ours. Action shots! Sweet! Here’s a preview:

In other news, though, spring is here and I love it. Except for the clothes. Warm weather clothes suck, mostly because there isn’t a lot of bulk to them to hide the fact that I’ve been eating pizza and tacos and ice cream all winter long. I do love being able to wear shoes with no socks, though. Yay for flip flops (even if they are hazardous to one’s health :eyeroll:). I’m going shopping, tonight, for some new clothes (and maybe a pair of shoes). Wish me luck!

Additionally, The Boyfriend is sick. He has one of those nasty summer colds that make you feel like the whole world has turned against you. It’s beautiful outside, the lilacs are blooming, and you can’t enjoy it, much less smell it because your sinuses are so clogged up. I hope he feels better by this weekend.

We watched “No Country for Old Men,” last night. We nearly went to the theater to watch it, which is a big deal because The Boyfriend doesn’t like going to the movies. I really liked it, but maybe I’m dumber than I thought, because I don’t get the ending. Maybe there’s nothing to get, and that’s the point. It made me love Tommy Lee Jones, again, though. Ol’ Anton was a badass, though. I told The Boyfriend that I’d probably have nightmares about him, he was so creepy.

That’s all for now. Yeah, it was boring. Did you expect more?

Meal Plan Mondays – In a Box!

Today is the first week of planning with the aid of Menu In a Box. I’m super excited about all of these dinners!

Monday: Sweet Chili Chicken

Tuesday: Pasta Pomodora

Wednesday: Roast Vegetables and Cous Cous

Thursday: Salsa Fish & Vegetables

Friday: Honey Beef