Are potatoes being used to make gasoline?

That was my honest thought today when I noticed that the 10 lb. bags of potatoes at Aldi usually marked around a 1.99/bag  are now priced at 3.59/bag!  This is still a good deal for potatoes, but I sure was shocked!  I also noticed that they have raised the price on their canned vegetables. What was once a fantastic price of .33/can is now .45/can!  That is a price jump of 36%!  Thanks goodness we serve a Great God who promises that we will never go hungry! I shopped at Dillons and Aldi this week.  Here is what I got:

Dillons:

• 1 package of American Beauty Elbow maccoroni-1.50
  
• 2 bags of Kroger shredded cheese marked at 1.58/1=3.16
  
• 3 lb package of Sterling Silver ground beef =5.55
  
• Dillon's cracked wheat bread on MS for .69 (usually 1.60 or more)
  
• 2 bottles of coffee mate creamer=4.00- 2 .50/1 coupons doulbed=2.00 for both bottles
  
• 1 can of Bushes Baked Beans =.98-1/1 coupon = +.02!
  
• 2 bottles of Lawry's marinades =2.58 - 2.55/1 coupons doubled =.58 for both bottles!
  
• 2 6 packs of Yoplait kids yogurt drinks on close out for 1.59= 3.18- .75/2 coupon doubled=2.18 for both packs!
  
• 1 package of Kroger straws for my toddler to drink the yogurt=.89
  
• total before coupons was 24.13, after mf coupons and added tax the total was 19.76... a savings of 47%!

Note: I was actually over charged for 1 of the yogurts.  1 rang up at 1.59 but then the other rang up at full price of 3.19.  This is why it so important to always check your receipt!  Dillons is wonderful about issues like this and will refund you the full price of the overcharged item! So my real total after the refund is 16.57!

Aldi:

1 10 lb. bag of potatoes=3.59

1 bag of bananas (6 total)=.92

4 cans of cream of mushroom/chicken soup marked at .49/can=1.96

1 can of corn=.45

1 gallon of milk=2.79

1 carton of eggs=1.37 ( think... lost the reciept)

1 bag of flour tortillas=.99

1 can of crescent rolls=1.47

1 bag of tortilla chips=.99

total was 15.71

Total for the week was 32.28

I actually shopped this past monday but never posted my trip.  I was able to find great deals on Aldi produce then so I am stocked for this week on great fruits and veggies!  Be sure to check back Monday to see what my menu plan is.  I will be trying a new meal!

Deals?

Happy 4th of July! I will not be braving the store today for my usual shopping trip. I will hopefully be going tomorrow morning and I will post my trip then. I did however score 17 boxes of free pizza rolls this past week! I had to leave some at my parents house because our little freezer wouldn't hold that many plus all of our other frozen stuff.

Are there any good deals happening around Topeka this weekend? It could be retail, restaurant, grocery or whatever. If you know of a good deal or coupon you would like to share please leave a comment!

Have a great 4th!

An accomplishment

After 3 weeks of having Mexican Casserole on the menu, I finally made it! This was the 1st time we have had this recipe and it was pretty good. I hope all of you faithful readers are relieved that you will not have to see this on my menu AGAIN next week:)

Aldi this week

Aldi has some great prices on produce this week!

1lb strawberries .99
9oz tub of blueberries 1.99
bananas are always a good price I got 7 for .98!
2lb tub of grapes 2.98

Those are just a few of things I got that I could remember the price for. The veggie selection is great and their prices always beat the other stores! Might be worth the stop for you this week!

Hy-Vee 7/2-7/8

Here are the best deals I see this week... there is even a FREE item to be had this week!

• Red Grapes are .99/lb
• Ground beef 80% lean 1lb. rolls are 1.69
• Coke 12 packs are also 2.20/1 this week at Hy-Vee (Dillon's is running this deal also)
• Fast Fixin chicken is 10/10- use coupon widgets on this site to print a coupon for 1/1 making these FREE!
• Hy-Vee steam quick frozen veggies are 10/10
• Hunts Ketchup is 10/10 (this the Aldi brand price)
• Ben and Jerry's ice cream is 10/10- not sure on the size? If they are pints go here to print 1/2 coupons to make these .50/1!
  
• Sunkist 4lb. bag of oranges is 2.88!
• Hy-Vee 24 oz container of cottage cheese is 1.57
• General Mills cereal is 5/10- use coupon widgets to print off various coupons for this brand
• Betty Crocker cake mixes are .88/1
• Mangos are .59/1
• baby carrots are .99/1
• Hy-Vee Deli Sliced Ham is 1.99/lb (good deal!)
• Ball Park Franks are 2/3- go here to get 1/1 coupons to make them .50/1 !
• Hy-Vee thin crust frozen pizzas are 5/10
• Hy-Vee hamburger or hot dog buns .88/1 (better than Dillon's this week)
• Hy-Vee butter is 1.77/4 stick pack

Please let me know if there is anything I missed! Have a great week!

Dillons 7/2-7/8

Here are the best deals I see this week

• The pizza roll deal is back for another week! See my post about getting these FREE!-use the coupon widget on this site to print .35/1 coupons. these will double to .70/1 so you can get these for .30/box!
  
• Kroger 8 oz. cheese shreds or bars 1.58/1
• Dillon's 8 ct. pack of hot dog or hamburger buns are .98/1 (Aldi typically runs lower than this)
  
• Bush's beans are .98/can - you can use 1/1 coupons to get these FREE!
• Minute Maid juice drinks are .99/1
• Coke 2 liters are 1/1 when you buy 4
• Lawry's marinades are 1.29/1 -you can use .50/1 coupon doubled to 1/1 to get these for .29!
  
• Sterling Silver ground beef is 1.99/lb (this runs Wed-Sat only! I always stock up at this price and buy a 3 lb. pack, check out my thoughts on saving money on meat here)
• Kroger canned pineapple is .99/can (Aldi is usually a little over this for canned fruit)
• Purex laundry detergent is 2.99- use .50/1 coupon doubled to 1/1 to get this for 1.99!
• Coke and Pepsi 12 packs are 2.20/1 when you buy 4 (good price for pop... but it can be a budget killer!)
• Kroger 4lb. bag of sugar is 1.88 ( I think Aldi 5lb. bags generally run 2.12 ish)
• Farmland sausage rolls or links are 10/10 - use 1/1 coupons to get these FREE!
• Carol Budding lunch meat tubs are 5/10 - if you have 1/2 coupons from the previous packages you bough you can get these for 1.50/1

I hope you have a great 4th of July! Please post any good deals you find that I missed!
Note: The coupon widgets have some good coupons this week worth printing for future deals. I have been couponing long enough to know that Dillons often runs some specials 4-5 times a year. So this week I advise you print the Fast Fixen Chicken coupon and the Nature Valley granola bar coupon. In the past I have been able to get Fast Fixen chicken for Free and these granola bars for .50/box. So print these coupons off and keep them and hopefully in the near future Dillon's will run the specials we need these coupons for! The coupon widgets can be found at the top, on the right and bottom of this blog.

My day

We had a crazy day yesterday and part of that craziness was mostly due to the fact that our car tags were due to be paid and we had waited until the very last day. I would have done this online but we never received anything in the mail giving us a pin to do so. Now where we lived originally (towns/cities of less than 40,000) this would not have been such a big deal, but apparently here in the city of Topeka the line is about 200 people long ALL DAY on the last day of the month! Thankfully by 7:00p.m. last night (after waiting in line for a little over 3 hours- we are too frugal for late fees!) we finally got the magic little sticker that would prove that we had paid our insanely high taxes on our cars so the friendly coppers wouldn't pull us over and give us a hefty ticket. Whew!

I thought this was funny so I had to share. After we got our child into bed last night I was chatting on the phone with a friend and mentioned that we would be eating dinner with my parents tomorrow night (that would be tonight). My sweet husband over hears this and pipes up from the background and says "We are?" My friend can hear him say this and starts laughing as she says "Even I knew that from reading your blog!" I guess I need to make sure to email my husband the Menu Plan Monday post so he knows what our dinner plans are for the week:)

Just a few random things from day so you know I am not a crazy couponer all the time!:)

CVS Trip this week

There was nothing to great at CVS this week, but today the July sale book came out and there were a few items for free so I made sure to go and get them this morning. I was hoping to get the free mascara but they were out so I got a rain check. I then totally forgot about the free life saver deal so I did not get those either. Here is what I did this morning:

2 CVS pantiliners=.99/1 (get .99/1 back=FREE)
2 CVS 5 ct pack tampons=1.49/1(get back 1.49/1=FREE)
1 CVS 15ct. dry swiffer =4.99 ( I need to mop so bad!)
-3/10 CVS coupon
-7 EB
total some how came to $0.00!!! I then got back 4 in EB.

Please note that I should have gotten back 4.98 in EB, but for some reason the computer gave me the wrong amount of EB for the tampons. Make sure you check your receipt and if this happened to you too make sure you call the number on the back of your card and they will credit you the EB you did not get.

So I ended up burning 2EB, but the swiffer pads were worth it!

Menu Plan Monday

These past 2 weeks have not really gone as planned which is kind of a challenge for the type A personality that I am! So again, you will see some repeat menus that still have not gotten eaten! This week is bound to be just as crazy with the 4th of July coming up... anybody else wish they would put a ban on fireworks being shot off during the hours of 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m. Nap time is pretty precious around here! Make sure you check out other menu plans here. Have a great week!

Breakfast: Unfortunately in this house there are not many options.

Frozen pancakes (made from scratch and then frozen) and fruit

Oatmeal with fruit

Cold cereal (if you coupon long enough you will never run out of cereal!)

Yogurt with fruit

Eggs and toast

Lunch:

Leftovers

Meat and cheese sandwhich

Grilled cheese sandwich

PB & J sandwhich
Mac and Cheese
Rice and veggies

All lunches are usually served with raw veggies
fruit, and crackers/chips . Depending on the
week we might have yogurt too.

Dinner:
Sunday: Hot dogs/potatoes on the grill/raspberry chipolte black bean dip with tortilla chips/ grapes.
Monday: Taco soup/tortilla chips/apple slices (my mother-in-law happens to be a great cook and made this soup for us when we visited her last summer and it has been a family favorite ever since!)
Tuesday: Dinner with my parents
Wednesday: Mexican casserole/oranges slices/bread
Thursday: Sausage Pizza/apple slices/raw veggies
Friday: BBQ- it is July 4th!
Saturday: My wonderful husband is taking me on a date!

Paid 1.53 for 9 jumbo packs of diapers!

See my post here on how you can do this too! After coupons and tax I ended up paying only 1.53 for 9 jumbo packs of Walgreen's brand diapers! I was so excited I just had to take a picture to share, although you can't see all 9 packs... they are there!

FREE DIAPERS

At Walgreens starting today you can get free Walgreen's brand jumbo packs of diapers! From what I understand the deal is unlimited and you can do it as many times as you want. I am headed out this morning to stock up! You can read it more about here!

I have used these diapers before and found them to be workable. I have learned that for my son I need to buy the next size up in this brand because they seem to run smaller. At any rate, free diapers are a blessing and I'll take it!

Make sure you read CVS deal scenarios here!

Note: This deal works and I ended up paying 1.53 for 9 jumbo packs!