House and Home

*Whew!* Summer has my family eating us out of house and home. Not only that, but we've been BUSY having fun. I barely have time to keep up here, and I didn't get a picture taken last week OR this week. I figured this week I'd update with our shopping trip anyway, since I only made one trip (to Hy-Vee.) This is what we got:

1 Milky Way bar
1 16 oz generic cottage cheese
1 Digiornio Flatbread
1 Red Baron double pizza slice box
1 box of Fiber One bars
1 bag of salsa Sunchips
1 box of Trix
1 box of Corn Pops
1 can of black beans
1 bottle of generic apple juice
2 boxes of Keebler Multigrain crackers
2 jars of Skippy Natural Creamy
2 bottles of V8 Fusion
1 squeeze bottle of Welch's reduced sugar jelly
2 boxes of Popsicles
1 package of Hillshire Honey Ham
1 1/2 gallon of generic chocolate milk
1 package of Cascade action pacs
2 1 lb bricks of generic cheese
4 lbs of strawberries
2 6 oz packages of raspberries
1 package of Ball Park hot dogs

My pre-tax total was $55. I got SEVERAL rain checks for items they were out of, which was great. That will help me stretch my budget next week, and it allowed me to stock up on the things that they did have in stock. I'm a little worried because even though I got some good deals, we are low or our of a lot of staples. In addition to what I bought, I've got a good stock of bread, noodles, marinara, canned corn, Jell-O, cake mix, fish sticks, frozen french fries and hashbrowns. Umm, that's not going to help me much!

I haven't had a lot of time lately to try new recipes (or just to cook and bake in general,) but I did try to make chocolate covered raspberries a la Karl Bissingers today, but they just did not turn out as I had planned. They taste great, but they look AWFUL. I know HOW I need to make them, but I had some trouble with the execution. (Mainly the chocolate dipping.) I think I need to buy one of those little tubs of chocolate for fruit dipping and try that. I just couldn't get the chocolate hot enough for fear of burning it. I also wasted a whole bag of chocolate chips and changed my microwave language setting to Spanish somehow in the process. Ha! I'll try again soon.

We're growing!

In most important news, our grocery project has taken a turn! We're now feeding 2 adults, 2 kids and a growing infant! That's right! We're expecting Baby #3! With that big news, I'm a little bit of a mess this week! We made two trips to two different stores. I have one picture and one receipt, but I did come out at $50.00 exactly. Here is what we got -

Hen House -


Those are ORGANIC blueberries that were on sale for $1.99!!! So awesome! I don't have my receipt, but my saving was around 50%, and I spent about $25.00 after tax. I got really good deals on everything but the milk, which I paid full price for. I hate that!

At Hy-Vee, we got:

3 bags of Chex mix
1 bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch
2 boxes of Quaker granola bars with fiber and Omega 3s
1 bag of Sara Lee bagels
1 package of Hillshire Farms lunch meat
1 4 pack of Activia
1 carton of Philadelphia cream cheese
2 lbs of baby carrots
1 red bell peepper
2 lbs of grapes
1 head of Romaine lettuce

My total here was $23.00 after tax.

Our food supply is looking a little sparse. In addition to feeding my own family, I took a dinner of salad, cavatini and scones to a friend of mine that is on bed rest with twins. My husband is also still doing a great job on his diet, which means I've been packing more lunches than usual and just generally buying different items. My goal for this week is to try to get my coupons in order. They are a MESS, and I really need to be stretching my dollar better than I have been. I think fixing my coupon problem would help me a lot.

Back in the Saddle....

It took me a few weeks to get back in the swing of things post-Disney World, but I'm back! We had a great trip to Hen House yesterday. Here is what we got:

1 Butterfinger
1 box of Honey Nut Cheerios
2 16 oz tubs of cottage cheese
2 small packages of raspberries
4 lbs of peaches
3 packages of Gia Russa whole wheat gnocchi

My pre-tax total was $12.16. I saved $20.09 or 60%, BUT that doesn't include the savings on the gnocchi. I got them out of the bargain bin for $.50. I think they're usually close to $5.00, but a bargain bin price reduction isn't calculated by the computer since the price is manually entered by the checker at this store. So, I think I really saved closer to $35.00, which is quite possibly my best savings ever. Oh how I love a good bargain bin sale!

I have a few more trips to make this weekend. My husband is a week in to a new diet, and he needs some new and exciting healthy food to eat. He's doing a great job, and I want to encourage him!