Grocery Shopping Challenge Roundup 2/3/11

Grocery shopping this week was pretty normal. Sure makes life easy when I make a menu plan before shopping.
As I walk through the store hubby will point out something like " oh look they have barbecue chicken " my response is " not on this weeks menu or we can change the menu if you like sweetie"



this week we went to Cub foods for our main shopping trip
1 box of Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes $1.69 ( need to make my own instead)
basil $2.36
store brand chili powder $1.59
bag of peas $$1.19
vegetable oil $2.29
store brand mustard 98 cents
2 cans of corn 50 cents each
2 cans of peas 50 cents each
1 ham steak $2.42
baby carrots on sale 77 cents
eggs $1.49

total spent after store coupons $16.78



Walgreens trip




6 boxes of Kleenex 89 cents each
1 Kraft miracle whip $2.99
4 bottles of coke free with coke coupons from registering my rewards
6 Reese's candy bars 49 cents each


total spent after coupons $11.39 received $1.50 register reward

Walgreens
Milk $2.69 (30 cents cheaper than cub and near cub will buy at Walgreens from now on as long as they stay at this price)
2 Advil ( walgreens register reward deal)

total spent after coupons and register reward from previous week $9.17

Received $5.00 register reward to use next week.

Walmart ( went there to get windshield wipers and found Nabisco crackers on sale for $1.98 ..plus got my free glass cleaners
Total spent $1.98
Super One
loaf of bread $1.37
Total spent this week $40.69

Total spent this month $ $40.69

This weeks remaining money was used towards taking oldest step son and his family to lunch after church on Sunday. We were celebrating his birthday.

Old days would not of thought twice about the price would of just put it on credit card. Now paying cash makes me choke as I see the bill. Thank goodness we also had a gift card we received as a Christmas gift from one of my sons.

Oh well had a nice time, everyone brought home left overs and his birthday is once a year.

thanks for stopping by... lets keep saving together and please remember

Never under estimate the value of a small amount of money.. Grace

I will be sharing this at

Grocery Cart challenge

Thursday Food Frugal

Deals and Dishes

Homemaking Mom

Addicted to Savings

Wallet Friendly Wednesday ... Sell Some Of This STRUFF

This week we did not make it to the thrift stores to shop. Between cold weather and just not feeling well we missed shopping. Our thrift stores kind of suck any how so not much of a loss.

This last Sunday I did list some of the books I had found the week early at the thrift stores . I put them up for sale on eBay and one of them has a bid already. Check out what I have for sale if interested.

I had over paid for the book so am happy to just sell it for a small profit and get it out of here.

So what am I do? No new items to sell... decided to relist some of the items that had not sold.

27 zippers metal... most of them new

1 vintage bride doll I bought some years ago... need to rid myself of stuff..

2 vintage 1970's sweaters I bought while traveling to sell .. have not sold as of yet so will relist them to night and hope to get rid of them.

I have some vintage sewing patterns that need to be relisted tonight or tomorrow.

Do you have stuff to sell? Have you tried eBay or Amazon. We sell books both places but for everything else we use eBay .. have been on ebay since 1998.

I am sharing this at Wallet Friendly Wednesday


Hope that you all have a great day... I am suffering from another cold .. sick of this stuff.. so off to take a nap for a bid... Grace

Skillet Chicken Parmesan What's For Dinner

From Best of Betty Crocker 2010

Good morning everyone. I am attempting to cook at least one new recipe every week. Gives us a new meal on the table and something for me to share with everyone out there. If possible I choose Monday so that I can link up to all the recipe linkys during the week. You can see these weekly linkys by going to bottom of posting. As the week goes by I add the new linkys offered, so you want to come back during the week to see the new links.

Last night hubby and I made Skillet Chicken Parmesan. I have to admit I had never had this. If I have pasta out it is with white sauce with chicken or red sauce with beef. My girlfriend Alison lent me 3 cookbooks to try out.

Our meal turned out really good and will go into my recipe binder to cook again in the future.

Skillet Chicken parmesan Recipe

Prep time 25 minutes

Start to finish 25 minutes

servings 4

3/4 cup bisquick mix

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 oz each)

3 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

2 cups of tomato pasta sauce ( next time I will put in whole jar of pasta sauce since we like extra pasta sauce

1 cup of shredded Italian Cheese blend ( I did not have this so used a mixture of colby and monterey cheese)

1. In shallow dish or pie plate, mix Bisquik mix, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. In another shallow dish or pie plate beat egg. Coat chicken with Bisquick mixture, then dip in egg and coat again with Bisquick mixture.

2. In 12 nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 4 to 6 minutes, turning once until golden brown. Cover; cook 8 to 10 minutes longer, turning once, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170 degrees). Remove skillet to plate.

3. Add pasta sauce to skillet. Place chicken on top of sauce. Sprinkle with Italian cheese blend. Cover; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

While chicken is cooking, bring pasta water to a boil and cook spaghetti according to directions.

1 serving 580 calories ( before pasta)

serve over cooked pasta spooning extra pasta sauce on noodles.

Print Grocery List

Dinner turned out really good. I am attempting to cut back on meat. My package of chicken only had three breasts and they were big. I ate less than half of a chicken breast with pasta and hot bread. There is only the two of us so we have another dinner to eat this week.

during the week I will be linking my recipe to

Pot Luck Sunday

Monday Mania

Homemaker Monday

Delicious Dishes

Made By You Monday

Southern Fairytale

Hunk Of Meat

Hearth And Soul

Tuesday At The Table

Tuesday Night Supper Club

Dr. Laura's Tasty Tuesday

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Menu Plan Monday

Frugal Food Thursday

Ultimate Recipe Swap

Tip Day Thursday

Full Plate Thursday

Fat Camp Friday

GCC Recipe Swap

Southern Savers Friday Savers

Thanks for stopping by... lets keep saving together ... Grace

Drugstore Bootstrap Challenge Rolling My Walgreen Rewards Week To Week

In February, I'm starting the Drugstore Bootstrap Challenge along with Frugal Follies. Click on the link to read her plans for the challenge. She shares her basic rules for the challenge but we who want to join can pick our own rules to the challenge.

We do not have a CVS or Rite Aide here in Frostbite, Minnesota so my challenge will be at Walgreens. I do not visit Walgreens every week but will be one of my goals this month if the deals are good.

I am starting with $1.50 in Walgreens register rewards and my goal is to not spend more than $20.00 all month and to stay close to the $5.00 weekly challenge at Kingdom First Mom.

I want to buy items we will use in our home or I know that my family would use.

Also could be an item bought that I felt could be used at a food shelf if the deal is good.

I will be able to use coupons to cut my cost weekly.

I will look for items that I can roll register rewards over weekly and will share my experience at Walgreens weekly with you.

Want to join in I would love to hear about in the comment area and let Frugal Follies know also.

Thanks for stopping by... lets keep saving together and please remember

Never under estimate the value a small amount of money... Grace

The Saved Quarter Challenge Week 4,Saved $13.00

The Saved Quarter Challenge Update #4, Saved $13.00 of my grocery budget. This will go into the savings account towards our emergency fund.

We sold 5 books on eBay this week. After fees for pay pal and eBay we net $33.90 before cost of books. Take away cost of books and we net $27.40.

From this of course you have the cost of supplies and gas to hunt and go to post office. Not much really made when you take everything in.

Key is to sell more expensive books but of course they are hard to find.

This money we made from eBay will go for ink, end of the month eBay store fee and is helping to reimburse the pocket book after taking oldest step son and his family out to lunch after church.

This was a special treat since his birthday was 2 weeks ago and we had not celebrated.

Not much added this week to savings but we are putting away $13.00 and that is something.

How are you doing with saving money.. My goal is to work harder on my Internet business and to make more money that way.

I am linking this up to Saved Quarter Challenge

thanks for stopping by... lets keep saving together... Grace

52 Weeks: #4 Oh What A Pretty Bookshelf

52 Weeks: #4 Making Decisions

52 Weeks to getting organized somewhere within my life.

This week I wanted to straighten off a small bookcase in the living room.

I had had a box in front of this bookcase with files of genealogy papers. They were handy but not the way I want my living room to look.

For now I have moved these papers in their box under a end table. Handy but out of site. I then moved some items around on the shelf. Moving some items to other areas in our home.

I think it looks prettier and neater as you walk into our home.

I have got to tackle my genealogy papers in the future. This will be a several week project.

Did you organize anything this week? I will be linking my accomplishment at Organizing Junkie.

Take a moment to see what others are doing.

thanks for stopping by.. lets keep saving together.. Grace

Menu Plan Monday 1/30/11

Favorite time of the week is planning the menu. Before I did this we just flew by the seats of our pants and at the same few things over and over. Now I sit down and come up with different ideas that includes at least one new to us recipe.

I am flexible and switch around the menus if desired or if something comes up we may skip a recipe all together.

Hubby agrees that we have never ate so good. Never had such a variety of meals on a thrifty grocery budget.

I plan the menu around what I have in the freezer ( not much there right now.. need to do some freezer cooking real soon) and in our and cupboards. I plan the menu on what is in the store ads.

Okay now on to this next weeks menu...

1. Hubby's home made Pea Soup with hot bread

2. Ham and Scalloped potatoes with corn

3. Frozen Green Mill Pizza (bought on sale.. for frozen pizza not bad)

4. Meat balls in gravy with baked potatoes and peas

5. Skillet Chicken Parmesan ( new recipe to us will post recipe after cooking)

6. Chili Corn Bread Bake

7. Hot Beef Sandwiches ( left over crock pot roast beef from freezer .. we will use it up)

So that is the plan for our week.. whats on your menu for this week?

I will be sharing this at Organizing Junkie. You can see what other are cooking and if possible leave a comment here and some where else. We love nice comments and to know you stopped by.

Thanks for stopping by.. hope that you pop back again real soon .. Grace