It's a Tasty Thrifty Tuesday (yep, I'm a nerd!)

Good news: It's not Monday anymore. Yay! It seemed this evening that we had eaten meals that involved potatoes, corn and bread for like a week, and I was pretty tired of it. What was the antidote? Something SPICY!! So, searching through the cabinets I went.....think.....think.....oh yeah! Beans in the freezer, tortillas in the cabinet, rice, salsa, cheese...check, check, check. Everything came together nicely for a rice and bean burrito supper! Aside from my love for all things hot and spicy, this is a really cheap meal to have. For one, it is meatless. That alone makes it cheap. The ingredients I use are all very inexpensive, and are easy to keep on hand in the cabinet at all times. What did I use for my Rice and Bean Burritos?

From Dollar Tree:
10 ct. package of medium flour tortillas
8 ounce bag of "mexican shreds" shredded cheese
Jar of jalapeno slices (only used a a couple tablespoons)
Campbell's Traditional medium salsa (only used about a half cup)
Tortilla chips (just to crunch on between the soft burrito bites)

From Kroger:
Frozen leftover pinto beans (I always buy bags of dried beans and cook my own)
White rice (1 cup uncooked)
Taco seasoning (about 50 cents)

What I did: Thaw the recycled butter bowl full of beans in the microwave while the rice cooked on the stove. After the rice was done, I added 2/3 cup of water and the taco seasoning packet. I removed the beans from the microwave. Then, I scooped an icecream scoop of beans and two scoops of seasoned rice into the tortillas, tossed on about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and folded them up, placing them into a baking dish. Once it was full, I tossed a little more cheese on top and I baked it for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees - - just enough to allow the cheese to melt.

After you remove them from the oven, you can top them with a little salsa, cheese and peppers and they are delish! My guys love them too, despite the fact that they are huge meat eaters. These are very filling and actually make you feel as if you are eating something hearty and meaty. From the ingredients used, I still have plenty of tortilla chips, jalapenos, salsa, and rice left to use for other meals in the future. I estimate that I have about $3.50 in all ten tasty burritos. Try that Taco Bell!!!!! Your bean burrito is $1.09 for one burrito, which would mean ten of them would set me back $10.90 plus tax. By the way, Taco Bell, I may have picked up a couple of extra sauce packets the last time I visited with you. Here they are in the picture, heehee. They are in good hands.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous Tuesday, from our house to yours!!

Monday frugal ramblings: Food, glorious food!

It's Monday!!!!! You know, the first five days after the weekend are really the hardest. After that, it's all good *wink, wink*. I have come across a variety of different good grocery deals at Kroger, Dollar Tree and Speedway lately. I have told you before about Kroger's Free Friday Downloads, and I am sure most of you take advantage if you live near a Kroger. IF you live near Kroger and DO NOT shop there, you can still get whatever free product they are offering each Friday since NO purchase is needed. Simply go in and get a free Kroger Plus Card and then register it on www.kroger.com. Then, each Friday, check the website for the featured free downloadable digital coupon. Click "load to card", and simply go to the store, find the item and check out as normal. The cost of the item will automatically be deducted using the downloaded coupon on your card! Another good reason to get a Kroger Plus Card and register it is the free coupons they send in the mail.  Between the paper coupons and the downloaded coupons, check out the FREE products I got this past week:

 These meal bars alone were $6.99 a box, had I purchased them!

I have told you before about Dollar Tree's RIBEYE STEAKS that were delicious. We stopped in and bought more and had those for supper tonight, along with mashed potatoes, corn and pasta salad (made with my free Zesty Italian salad dressing from Kroger). Not wanting to stop anywhere else besides Dollar Tree last night, AND wanting pop to drink, we decided to try DT's Stars and Stripes Mountain soda. It comes in a generously sized THREE liter bottle for a buck. I am not a Soda Snob by any means. We drink Save-a-Lot's brand, Walmart's brand and Kroger's brand of pop all the time; however, I had never tried this kind, and let's be honest: sometimes certain brands of pop taste a little "off". Was I pleasantly surprised? YES! "Mountain" pop tastes just like Mountain Dew. I am actually drinking some as I type this! And at a dollar for 3 liters, you just can't beat it.  When you go to Dollar Tree, here's what to look for:

On Sunday morning, I enjoyed a nice free breakfast consisting of one of my free South Beach meal bars (it was quite delicious - - NOT like "diet" food) and a free large coffee from Speedway. Knowing of my love for coffee, my husband had earned enough points with his Speedy Rewards card to get this for me.

Next time you go to your local Speedway, pick up a Speedy Rewards card. You earn points with each purchase you make, and these can be redeemed for all kinds of cool things.....or hot things like my Sunday morning coffee, haha.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous Monday night, from our house to yours!

Yesterday's Freebie Shopping Trip

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone went to church today. We are blessed with so much that we should always remember to give thanks to the One who provides it - - God! Yesterday, the hubby and I went shopping. For many people, that involves going out on the town and spending a bunch of cash. For me, it represents the challenge and thrill of getting all I can for as little as I can. We went to five different places, and got freebies at every place except Dollar Tree. Oh, well. We only spent $5.30 there anyway! So what did we get and where did we get it?

Our first stop was Family Dollar. I had two $1.00 off coupons for Snausages Dog Treats. Family Dollar sells the 4.5 ounce bags for $1.00. So, we only had to pay tax for both bags of Snausages (12 cents). My "Good Guys"  (Puppy and Leonard) love these! Next, we went to Walmart since I had two $2.00 off any SeaPak product coupons. Walmart has these 6 ounce boxes of Shrimp Poppers (20 per box) for $1.96 each. So, not only did I get these two boxes of shrimp for free, but I got 8 cents change! This almost covered the tax on the Family Dollar Snausages! Unfortunately, they are all out of prints on coupons.com - - understandably quickly since these were both great deals on things we and others actually would have purchased anyway!

After enduring Wallyworld, we went for a bite to eat at Honey Baked Ham. I told you about the free Ham Classic sandwich for signing up for their email club. We stopped in to redeem ours, and decided to dine in. We were pleasantly surprised with our sandwich, chips and pickle! I know I have posted the link before a couple of times, but here it is again, just in case you haven't yet taken advantage of this tasty offer: Honey Baked Rewards Sign-up.

On our way home, we stopped at Kroger. Kroger had sent me a coupon for a free loaf of bread with a $10 purchase, plus I had loaded the Free Friday Download item, Dannon Oikos Yogurt, to my card. We spent around $50, got everything on our list, and ended up with these two freebies. If you shop at Kroger and don't take advantage of the surveys on the bottom of your receipt for 50 bonus fuel points (this is also why they sent me a coupon for bread), or if you've never downloaded any of the Free Friday Download items, then you are missing out. Go over to Kroger.com and check it out!

 

Since we have to go out anyway to get groceries and household items, it always makes it nicer to be able to get a few freebies as well. Have a fun, frugal and fabulous evening, from our house to yours!

Cheap Eats = Good Eats, or... Directions? What Directions?

Good Tuesday night, dear readers! I may have mentioned in another post about the Hamburger Helper and Chicken Helper coupons I used at Dollar Tree to score eight 80 cent boxes of those respectable products by the wonderful Betty Crocker. I was super anxious to get home after work this afternoon. It was cold, snowy and windy, and all I wanted to do was rush home and cook something hot and yummy. However, I was also really hungry. It seemed eons ago that I had eaten lunch (or at least 4 hours, LOL). After rushing through the door, tossing off my coat and proceeding to look through the cabinets, I decided that some Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo would fit the bill perfectly for some warm comfort food on this snowy afternoon. As I assembled the things I needed, I made a grave discovery..............................NO MILK IN THE FRIDGE!!!

The kid. It had to be the kid. I glanced in the trash can only to see the empty jug just lying there. I could tell it had put up a good fight, but had met its match in a 12 year old growing boy over the course of a mere 24 hours. Panic ensued as I pondered my next step.....should I? Could I...........use............water?!? At this stage in the game, I had NO desire to make the grueling 5 minute, mile and a half trip back to Kroger. I just wanted to cook. And eat. I took the plunge and boldly went where few culinary purists have ventured. I measured out not the 1 1/2 cups of water and 2 1/2 cups of milk that Mrs. Crocker directed me to add to my Chicken Helper, but 4 CUPS of good old H2O and proceeded with the rest of the directions as if nothing had happened. I used tap water, even! We live on the edge here on Ridgewood Circle. It's just how we roll.

So, how did it turn out, you ask? Quite delicious, I must say, and the guys in the household thought so as well. I didn't tell them about the lack of dairy products in the dish until after the meal. They would have "missed" the milk in it had they known the truth. Go on - - try it for yourself. Here's what to look for, and as I said, they currently have it at Dollar Tree:

And...........here's the final product in the absence of the side dishes with which it was served tonight (baked potatoes, fried apples, cornbread and cheesecake):

Coupons are still available, folks. You can print an "80 cents off four boxes" HERE OR you can find a nice "90 cents off four boxes" by signing up on the Betty Crocker site HERE and clicking on the "coupons" tab. Both sources allowed me to get two prints out of each coupon. Don't forget to follow your Dollar Tree coupon policy, which you can find HERE. 

I'm gonna go ahead and let you in on another secret: I used canned chicken chunks from Dollar Tree in this recipe instead of cooking fresh raw chicken. It worked great, and gave me the added bonus of not having to wait for chicken to cook before I could get started with the rest of the recipe. I guess I really just threw the directions for preparation out the window on this one, huh? It turned out yummy AND my family of three will eat it for leftovers again tomorrow night. Total cost for it as the main entree was $1.80 plus a few pennies for the minimal amount of margarine and water used. Both cheap and good. Mission accomplished!

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous night, from our house to yours!

My Dollar Tree Deals this week - WOW

If you have never checked out the grocery section of Dollar Tree, then you are definitely missing out - - especially if you are fortunate enough to have a Dollar Tree in your area that has a refrigerator / freezer section! Unfortunately, the Dollar Tree in my town does not have a refrigerator / freezer section, but the one in the next town over does. We had to drive over there this morning to take my husband for an MRI so my son and I went to DT while we waited on him. Well, we were thrilled to score 3.5 ounce RIBEYE STEAKS there for a buck each for my husband's birthday meal tonight! We also got some other cool name brand grocery items for cheap and free using coupons. For those of you who didn't know, Dollar Tree has been taking coupons for about a year now. Read their coupon policy HERE. In order to abide by their coupon policy, be prepared by taking someone with you and perhaps doing multiple transactions as well.

These pics represent two different days of Dollar Tree finds. I went a couple of days ago as well, and decided to go again once I found that some of my coupons had reset and I was able to print more copies.

Haul #1:  ALL FREEBIES - Two Kraft Recipe Makers kits and Two Progresso Recipe Starters Cooking Sauces. I used two $1.00 off Kraft Recipe Makers coupons and two 50 cent off Progresso Recipe Starters coupons (my DT had them priced at 50 cents each which is already great).

Haul #2: Two Kraft Recipe Makers (Free with coupons), eight boxes of Hormel Pepperoni (four free with the use of 4 $1.00 off 2 coupons) and three ribeye steaks for $3. This is $13 worth of items for only $7. Now, I am by no means an "extreme couponer", but that is a pretty significant savings to me!

If you only have a few coupons, making a special trip would not be worth it. You would spend more in gas than you would save. But, it is worth checking out the coupons.com website and being familiar with what your Dollar Tree sells so that you be able to match coupons up to score some free groceries. I get most of my coupons from www.coupons.com. The Progresso, Kraft and Hormel coupons are still available, as are some Hamburger / Chicken Helper coupons (80 cents off four = $3.20 = 80 cents total per box at Dollar Tree!). Also, there is a Progresso SOUP coupon for 50 cents off two cans. The soup is delish, and the coupon makes it only 75 cents a can. Folks, you just can't get it for that price at the grocery store. In fact, here are the current Walmart prices for some of these items: Progresso Recipe Starters or Soup is $1.88, Hamburger Helper is $1.68 a box and Kraft Recipe Makers is $1.98. So, go to coupons.com, turn on your printer and get ready to save some dough! Keep in mind that my free items were totally free this time because they were grocery items. If you have a coupon that covers the cost of something like toothpaste, then you will have to pay tax on it. But, hey - - I don't mind spending 6 cents on a tube of toothpaste, do you?

Unfortunately, Dollar Tree isn't paying me to say any of this, although I wish they were! I just wanted to make sure and pass along these great free and cheap grocery ideas to you. I love it when others share deals with me! So, have a fun, frugal and fabulous day from our house to yours!