savvy with savings

My Coupon Diary

Day 2: 07-12-10

Today amounted to a lot when it came to cleaning, which I am happy about. As far as couponing today, I didn't do a whole lot. What I did do was make a menu for the next 4 weeks. Of course, now that I want to share it with you, I can't figure out how to make it a pdf. So instead you get the typed version. Here is what I have planned for the next two of my four weeks:

Monday, July 12th: Mexican Pizzas

Tuesday, July 13th: Steak, Pasta Salad and Fruit

Wednesday, July 14th: Grilled Tuna Sands

Thursday, July 15th: Tacos

Friday, July 16th: Dinner with Jer and Shannan

Saturday, July 17th: Grilled Corn dogs

Sunday, July 18th: Chicken quesadillas

Monday, July 19th: Fajitas

Tuesday, July 20th: Grilled Ham and Rice

Wednesday, July 21st: Life Group (dinner unknown)

Thursday, July 22nd: Mexican Casserole

Friday, July 23rd: Hawaiian Sandwiches

Saturday, July 24th: Sandwiches and fresh veggies

Sunday July 25th: Bar BQ Hamburgers

Things I will need to buy:

Milk (4 kids of course!)

bread

peppers

onion

Hamburger buns

Pineapple

Carrots

This is how I figure out my menu. First of all, most of what I put on it involves cooking outside. It is that time of year and we soak up as much time outside as we can. Its dinner out on the deck almost every night. From time to time we'll even eat our breakfast out there. The kids love it and it keeps my kitchen cleaner.

Second of all, I plan meals to use food I already have. I have always bought a few extra cans of tomato sauce or olives and such whenever they have been on sale. That way I always have food on hand. Since I scored a great deal on tortillas yesterday, I will be using those with the fajitas, quesadillas, and later this month, mini pizzas. I even used them tonight with the mexican pizzas and they were yummy!

Third, we buy 1/2 a cow every year from a local farmer. This saves us a huge amount of money through out the year and doesn't take a toll on my budget because we use our income tax to do it. It works out well for us.

Fourth, I always have salad, carrots, sliced peppers, corn, and green beans available to go as a side with any meal. I switch it around, but it is not uncommon to have salad as a side more than once during any week. If I have the time, I will also blend different veggies up and add it into casseroles or tomato sauces. The fun part with that is my kids don't know and most of the time my husband doesn't figure it out either.

One thing I want to point out is that I always have back-up meals. This way if a day is crazy and time for dinner is running out I can quickly make chicken nuggets or raviolis. I know it's not the healthiest, but at the end of a hectic day, it's food in the tummy. I also keep stuff to make spaghetti around. This works in cases where I run out of something I'm in need of and a trip to the store is out. Besides, who doesn't like spaghetti? As far as snacks go, there's a bag of apples and oranges almost always. Fresh fruits and veggies get included more with left over budget money. I have a stock of crackers and yogurt and even took advantage of the Nabisco cookie coupons of buy one package of cookies with a gallon on milk and receive a second package of cookies free.

Okay, for today I didn't do anything more than read a few posts on Facebook. One deal I will be going for is the catalina at Fred Meyer for the Old El Paso items, which Shannan has coupons for. That why I have tacos for dinner on Thursday! To see this deal visit the home page or facebook to read the posting.

I also will be hitting Kmart this week. I took advantage of the P&G promotion of by $35 worth and get $10 catalina last week. While this deal was going on, Kmart was doing a week of coupon doubling up to $2 each. You could use 5 doublers a day! So I stocked up on razors and girly items (of course using coupons). Now I need to go use that. Catalinas are a great way to stock up on things. I'm not sure if I'll get baby wipes or something else. This will be a trip I take my whole coupon book with me.

Thats it for today. I'm glad I got a lot accomplished. Hopefully, Kmart will take place tomorrow and I will post what I end up with.

My Total Spending left for the week is: $7.68 and my $10 cat. for Kmart.

-Rachel