More bank promotions

I got a phone call from US Bank today, letting me know that they are once again having the $75 free grocery promotion I mentioned earlier in my posts. The catch is, you have to be a new customer, open with $50, and this time you do not have to use the money on groceries you can purchase whatever you want. That is a great deal.
Can I just say.... I think it is funny that US Bank called me. They know that I have been spreading the word and needed my Big Mouth or Typing Fingers I guess. LOL
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Also.....
Two banks just recently closed so everyone is trying everything they can to get your business. This is an ad I received yesterday for Washington Mutual. The code to get this promo is on the second scan to follow. If you click on the picture it should zoom in for you. Let me know if you have any questions.

weekly ads Aug 26th - Sept 1st

Smiths is continuing to have there mix and match mega 10 sale. Meaning if you purchase 10 participating products you will receive $5 off your shopping trip instantly.
all prices are with the $5 taken off.
2 liter Pepsi products .75
Tropicana juices $2.49
Aquafina water 24 pk 2.99
Chewy granola bars 1.49
Progresso soups 1.00
Quakes Rice cakes .49
Kroger Orange Juice 1.99
Hamburger Helper .89 (smartsource.com and Coupons.com for .75 off of 3)
GM cereals 1.49 (smartsource.com and Coupons.com)
Toaster studel 1.49 (smartsource.com and Coupons.com)
Wanchai Ferry dinner (smartsource.com and Coupons.com) after coupon it is $1.90 for a box
Green Giant steamers 1.19
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deals that are not on the Mega sale
Dozen eggs 1.25
Milk 1.89
Ground beef 85% 1.69 lb
Iceberg lettuce .99
split chicken bone in .99 lb
Kraft cheeses 8oz 1.66
Kraft singles 1.66
sour cream/cottage cheese etc 1.00
Kroger instant oatmeal 1.25


Food 4 Less
Doesn't really have anything on sale that is a GREAT deal (that I see anyway)

Albertsons
the only thing I see that might be interesting to people is there Spend $25 on participating products get $10 off your next purchase.
Last page of the ad. If you don't get one then I have a link to the Albertsons ads listed on the right side of this blog.

Vons
Pork shoulder country style ribs bone in .97lb

Vons is advertising $1 deals. Well sorry but I really don't think that they are that great of a deal. For example: Pasta Roni $1 that is not a deal. 2 liter of Pepsi. (look at Smiths) Just not that great for me to bother with.

That is my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

Word on the street is.......

Smiths case-lot sale is coming September 9 - 14th.

Start saving up extra cash, this is a great time to stock up on soups, canned foods, etc.

What I would do...

I have been asked what I would buy on my budget if I didn't have any food in my freezer.

Here are my disclaimers... By looking at these ads I am not really impressed. I am going to fake like I have no groceries but in real like I am not going to be getting many things at all because I have all the meat in my freezer when it was on sale. 2) I have a family of 4 but 2 of my 4 are 3 and under, so I can make one dinner and it will last us 2 nights. I only cook 3-4 times a week. So my meal planning has more but they are just tucked away in pantry/freezer etc until I need another meal.

My budget is $150 a week. That is for food, toiletries, diapers etc

Sams Club
Baby Wipes $15
Bananas 3lbs 1.32
Salad lettuce 3
English muffins 4
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with tax about $25 $125 left

Food 4 Less
American Pacific Fish.
3 Tilipia 3lbs and Catfish 2.5lbs $8.98 <-- this is a good price they are individually
wrapped and frozen so you don't have to defrost the whole bag, just what you need.
about 30.00 $95
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Smiths
Milk 4 gallons $1.89 5.67
Bread white 1.25
Colgate $1 coupons.com or Colgate.com always have $1 off coupons so that is FREE
6 watermelon 3lbs - $1
Cheese 16oz 2.99
2 Shrimp 3.99 lb
4corn on the cob .50
iceberg lettuce .99
2ground turkey JennieO 2.50
Tortillas 1.59
Hamburger buns 1.25
about $31.00 $64 left
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Albertsons (these are stock up items )
2Tuna cans .50 NO LIMIT
4canned pineapple in its own juice .99
$5 $59.00left
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Vons
Peaches .49 I am going to try and learn how to can fruit so I am going to pick up 36 lbs $18
Pears .59 (5) not sure if I will want to can these
$20.95 $38.05 LEFT!!!! with NO COUPONS
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Meals I am planning for dinners this week.
Tacos
Fish
Turkey Burgers
Oven Fried Chicken

I have staples in my house no matter what... like Peanut Butter, Jelly, canned corn, canned green beans, a couple of cans of Ravioli, Mac N cheese, some sort of Pasta Roni type of side.

My son is in love with PB and J sandwiches, so he can have that everyday for lunch and be happy. In my last post you all saw that I got a ton of cereal so I have breakfast foods, and lunches are under control.

This is just MY PLAN for the week. You need to take the ads and plan according to YOUR family.

I hope this helps answer some of the questions I have been receiving.

Hint: Smiths has a case lot sale twice a year. So be looking for it in August or September.

Emailing: FDIC Bank Closing Information for Community Bank of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

Incase you didn't know... This bank was closed last Friday and the FDIC took over. So if this is your bank you need to get your money out.  

 

FDIC Information for Community Bank of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
On Friday, August 14, 2009, Community Bank of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, was closed by the State of Nevada Financial Institutions Division of Nevada. Subsequently, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. On August 17, 2009, the bank will be re-opened as Deposit Insurance National Bank of Las Vegas, NV. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed. The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with Community Bank of Nevada. Please select the link below to read more about this event: FDIC Bank Closing Information for Community Bank of Nevada Online service will be in read-only mode over the weekend. It is expected to resume the morning of Monday, August 17, 2009. Community Bank of Nevada had a number of avenues for customers to access funds, and each of those avenues had to be closed off so that a final accounting could be completed. Continue to Community Bank of Nevada's online banking login

Planning

The sale ads usually come in Tuesdays mail. What I would suggest you all do, is make a list of 7-10 meals that your family loves with the ingredients that you need for each one. Then when the ads come tomorrow you will have an idea of what is on sale and then you can plan according to your list as well as the sales. The reason I say 7-10 meals is, if you have a dinner including salmon and salmon is $9.99lb, maybe this week is not the best week to be having that for dinner. So be willing to keep the "salmon" on your list until the price comes down. When it does come down maybe you can pick up enough for 2 or more meals and freeze them, then you will be able to have salmon even if the price went back up for the cheaper price.

I will post more tomorrow after viewing my ads.

Have a great night.

Souper Rice

Tracie's Souper Rice


The simplest and cheapest recipe of all time...


SOUPER RICE
1 can condensed cream of whatever soup
2 cups of rice
chopped up leftover meat (optional)

Make the soup on the stove as directed. When it starts to boil, add the rice, turn off the heat, and cover for 5 minutes. Add meat and stir.

There you go.
Dinner in 5 minutes!!
We especially like it with smoked sausage.

But Geri....

I am getting ALOT of emails about the way I shop and how I "stock" up on food when they are on sale/coupons etc

I am hearing........

- I don't have a lot of food in my pantry so I can't get extra food every week, I need to worry about this weeks meals and then I will have nothing left.

- I just don't have time to make a weekly grocery list, I shop everyday for the things I need.

Whatever your excuse is for not being able to get extra food when it is on sale. I am here to tell you that if you just clip coupons, and plan your grocery trips by the ads, you will save more money and have a FULLY stocked pantry, freezer, and refrigerator!!!!

HINT: Every 12 weeks the same products will be on sale.

What you see in this picture is what I just went out and got from Smiths. (the plan I posted in my last post)

2 Eggos

2 Keeblers cookies

2 Rice Krispies

2 Mini wheats

2 Yogos

1 gallon of milk

2 loafs of bread

2 pkgs of Danimals

3 peaches

after all coupons and discounts my total was $7.12 remember that same Kelloggs rebate program is still going on, so you could get money back to get all of these groceries.

In this picture you see my second transaction. Remember 4-$4 on Kelloggs at Smiths (Camino El Norte)



2 Eggos


1 box of Raisin Bran


1 Frosted Flakes


3 lbs of Bananas


4 plums

After all my coupons and discounts... My total was $1.92

So needless to say, it is hard for me to understand that you can't come up with another $2 or $8 to have all of these extras in your pantry for your family. Isn't $8 less then the price of 2 value meals at most fast food restaurants?

If you make a goal of even $5 a week extra for sales items, you will be surprised at how fast you will have so much in your pantry.
Please believe me and just try it out for one month.
*** I challenge you all to take an extra $5 and if chicken is on sale for a great price get $5 more of it and freeze it, if ground beef, cereal, can veggies, whatever it is, get a little extra every week and before you know it you will have enough food in your house that if you "didn't feel like" shopping that week, you would not have to. :D <--- What a great goal! On top of everything else, this Rice Krispies has ANOTHER $5 savings pack inside. (got 2) LOL

Be careful with the coupons and getting things on sale for a GREAT price, it can be addicting. You will start looking forward to seeing what is on sale and how much you will save.

Being a Proverbs 31 women, what a great addiction!

I hope I didn't hurt anyones feelings, I am not trying to do that. I am just trying to bring up that ANYONE can save money if they take just a little extra time to plan. I love you all and want you all to be good stewards of the money that GOD has given you. If I can do this anyone can!

more savings I just found

So I was finally re-organizing my pantry to fit the 8 MORE boxes of cereal in and I realized that two of my Rice Krispies had $5 coupon packs in the boxes. What do you think I did??? Yep, I opened it up and found that I had 2- $1 coupons for one box of cereal. (if you remember they are 4- $4 at Smiths on Camino El Norte) , 1- $1 off 2 boxes of Mini Wheats, 1- $1 off 2 boxes of Eggos, $.50 off one box of Yogos, and then last week I picked up at Albertsons a pack of coupons promoting the fuelforschools I have attached a copy of them in this post.

I am going to go back to Smiths with all these coupons that I just picked up. If you need the Fuelforschool pack, I picked mine up at the Albertsons on Vegas and Buffalo. (they are manufactors coupons, so you can use them ANYWHERE)

Smiths Kelloggs sale is 4-$4 (only at Ann and Camino El Norte) Max. 8 But if you get 10 you can participate in the Fuelforschools.com rebate $10 check.

Here is my list and coupons
2 mini wheats..... cost 2............ coupons 1 off
2 eggos .................cost 2 ...........coupons 1 off
1 yogos................. cost 1 ...........coupon .50 off
1 fruit snacks .......cost 1
1 Raisin Brand..... cost 1 ............coupon 1 off
1 Rice Krispies ......cost 1............ coupon 1off now I have to pay full price for the next 2
2 Keebler ..............cost 4
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............................cost 12 .........coupons 4.50 $7.50 but I am getting a check for $10 rebate.

But that is not all, I have attached the Fuelforschool coupons I am talking about. I am not only getting all the above but I am also getting

$2 off bread,
$2 fresh fruit,
$2 off milk,
$2 off Danimals,
and $2 off Craisins.

Not too bad for about $7.50 ish (depending on the price of Danimals, Craisins, and the fruit I get. But no matter what I am still getting the $10 check back in the mail from Kelloggs.

SLAMMING GRAHAM CRACKER PB&J NACHOS

SLAMMING GRAHAM CRACKER PB&J NACHOS
Ingredients
8 graham cracker squares1/4 cup Skippy® Natural Creamy or Super Chunk Peanut Butter Spread, melted1/4 cup warm Welch's® Reduced Sugar Concord Grape Jelly or Strawberry Spread1/2 cup chopped apples, bananas, raisins and/or nuts
Directions
1.
Arrange graham crackers on serving plate. Drizzle with melted Skippy® Natural Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and warm Welch's® Reduced Sugar Concord Grape Jelly, then top with apples.
Cost per recipe*: $1.37.Cost per serving*: $0.69.*Based on average retail prices at national supermarkets.

http://www.peanutbutter.com/recipeDisplayMRS.aspx?recipeid=5962&version=1

Samples

Tracie mentioned that you can get free sample of cereal at www.totalcereal.com

Questions and Answers

I am really having a hard time trying to figure out how to see the questions being asked on the gadget on the right side. So I am going to make this post all the questions and answer. I will bookmark it so that it will be under questions so everyone can find it quickly. If you have any questions please feel free to comment HERE.

REBATE websites that I used

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Products/supervalu.aspx 8/7/09 - 8/23/09





http://www.fuelforschool.com/ On the bottom right it says $80 in savings click on the link that says more info it will explain everything.

My shopping trip

I was wrong again on my total for this weeks shopping list. I thought I was going to be paying $1.37 for $60 worth of groceries. I am sorry that I once again made a mistake on my calculations.

<----------

This is what I bought and the amounts on the side of this post. Kelloggs is having a promotion if you purchase 10 Kelloggs products in a single transaction then you can get a rebate check for $10. If you look on the side at this Smiths receipt I purchased my 10 items; 8 boxes of cereal, 2 Keebler cookies and a gallon of milk (got the milk for free for buying the Keebler cookies coupon) for a total of $4.89 after coupons. Remember I am getting $10 rebate check back.

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Albertsons - is having the Kraft promotion if you purchase $25 of participating products you will get a Albertsons slip for $5 off of your next shopping trip and a mail in rebate from Kraft for $20. Making that purchase FREE.

I decided that even though Albertsons is higher priced Free is FREE. I found $25 worth of stuff $25.56 to be exact and with my coupons the total was $23.16. Remember I am getting $25 back

<--------------------

Now back to Smiths, only because I was not at MY Smiths the first time and was having a hard time finding everything I wanted to get in a hurry, plus I forgot a coupon LOL

This purchase was mainly my dairy needs for the week, but I did see that Gatorade was $.79 and Smiths just sent me a coupon for a $1 off when I purchase 5. So after all my coupons and the Smiths Check $11.00 that I received for being a REWARDS shopper, my total was $4.07

Grand totals

........Worth..................Savings ..........................My price.

Smiths .........32.94 ..................28.05 ...................... .4.89

Albertsons ....48.88 .................25.72 ........................23.16

Smiths #2 .......19.12............... 15.05 ......................4.07

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Totals .............100.94 ..............68.82 ....................32.12

So I spent $32.12 out of pocket today but in 6 weeks I will be getting $35 in the mail $25 from Kraft and $10 Kelloggs. So once again I am going to be getting $2.88 to take $100.94 worth of groceries from the stores.

I think I also need to tell you that the only thing I really NEEDED this week was milk. Everything else is just me being nice to my husband and kids. LOL They now have string cheese, vanilla wafers, ritz, cereals (like we need more) and Gatorade to name a few. I only purchased these things because of the great savings.

Hope this helps someone.

Recipes

I have been asked to post more inexpensive recipes.

While I get some together I was thinking that if anyone has a great recipe, could you post them on this site for everyone to share.

Weekly ads Aug 12 - 18th

Now I am a little bias being as though I am SOOOOO stocked up on food, I can totally be a snob about the prices.

Smiths
Mountain Dairy milk 1.89
Eggs dozen 1.00
Sour Cream 1.00
Cottage cheese 1.00
Krogar cheese 6-8oz 1.25
apple juice 64oz 1.29
Smiths bread 1.25
Colgate toothpaste 1.00 Go on coupons.com or smartsource and print out a 1.00 off coupon
Chicken breasts 1.89 lb


Albertsons
Milk 1.89 IF YOU BUY 2
Corn on the cob 4-$1.00
Colgate toothpaste 1.00 Go on coupons.com or smartsource and print out a 1.00 off coupon

Kraft and Albertsons are working together... If you purchase $25 of participating products the you will get $5 off coupon to use at Albertsons at your next shopping trip. And a mail in rebate for $20 check. That means that you will get those $25 worth of food for free.

Vons
Didn't impress me so I have nothing to write about.

OfficeMax
Has great deals 70 page notebooks for one penny limit 3, rulers one nickel, etc
http://www.officemax.com/home/custom.jsp?id=m2280025


Hope this helps all of your shopping needs

What a day!

Ok so I didn't update this site with my shopping adventures because I got the impression that I was talking to myself. I made one little status update on my facebook and due to the large amount of questions I figure it will just be easier to reply here then to reply on my status.

I got $85 worth of groceries today.

I told you about the US Bank offer in my last post, well we received my husbands debit card today and went shopping. What you may or may not know is that Albertsons actually has a coupon book in there stores that you can get. Every single item I purchased for the $75 that I was being reimbursed for today was from that coupon book.

I had 5 different transactions but this is what I purchased in each transaction

2 - 20 oz Ground turkey Jenno 1.99 each
2 - 3lb Morans ground beef 3.99 each total 11.96
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2 - 20 oz Ground turkey Jenno 1.99 each
2 - 3lb Morans ground beef 3.99 each total 11.96
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2 - 20 oz Ground turkey Jenno 1.99 each total 3.98
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2 - 24 pk case of waters 2.49 each
2 - 24 pk pepsi 5.49 each $1 off each
4 Jimmy Dean sausages .50 each
2 Deli Select lunch meat 1.89 each
2 - 20 oz Ground turkey Jenno 1.99 each
2 - 3lb Morans ground beef 3.99 each
1 Fresh select bagged salad .99 total 32.69
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2 - 20 oz Ground turkey Jenno 1.99 each
2 - 3lb Morans ground beef 3.99 each
1 sausage .50
2 gallons of milk 1.89 each had 2- .75 off coupons 14.74

making my GRAND TOTAL 75.33 BUT WAIT
US bank is going to reimburse me $75 making those 5 transactions 33CENTS

I said I made money this week .... Just wait ....

About 2 weeks ago in the REDPLUM I received a book of coupons from Kelloggs with a rebate program. If you purchase 10 Kelloggs products in ONE transaction you can receive a mail in rebate of $10. They also included coupons with the packet. Albertsons also has Kelloggs on sale this week. This is what I purchased today.
4 raisin bran In the Albertsons coupon book from above they have a coupon to get up to 4
for 99cents each. THEY ALSO ACCEPT MANUFACTORS ON TOP I had 2-
$1.50 for every 2 boxes over 14oz Raisin bran is 15oz That is 25 cents EACH
2 fruit snacks 1.67 $1 coupon
1 yogos 1.67 $1coupon
1 chez its 1.67 $.75 coupon
Keebler cookies 1.97 $1 off coupon Total 8.37
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After my mail in rebate of $10 I made $1.63 from Kelloggs
But I did go over on my US BANK purchases by 33cents so that is a total of getting paid $1.30 for $85 worth of food




I also have to tell you. My purchase today was because I had free money. I didn't NEED anything this week but the milk, but I am going to FoodSaver all my meat and I am stocked up for a LONG time.

Hope this helps answer some questions