Nothing to Brag About at Shoprite, But Bragworthy Meatballs at Home!

My Shoprite trip is really not blog-worthy due to lack of planning and organization.  I didn't go food shopping at all over the weekend, and we were really in need of some of the basics...  But here it is...

3 SR spring water .79 each

2 Marcal toilet paper .99 each (used 2 freebie coupons)

Gerber baby food .99

6 Alpo dog food 6 for 3.99

SR tortillas 1.50

pampers jumbo pack 8.99 (used freebie coupon I received for complaining about Dry Max) (wanted to use this at Rite Aid this week for +up bucks but the freebie coupon for wipes when you buy diapers expires today and I just couldn't get over to rite aid...)

5 Earth's Best baby food .55 each (used 1/5 from a magazine)

Kraft mac and cheese cup 1.00

4 Campbell's Shrek soup 1.00 each (used 1/4 manu. IP) (*Shrek soup is on clearance still!)

5 cans of Apple Juicy Juice reduced to 1.09 each (*apple juicy juice is the only one I saw marked down)

bimbo wheat bread 1.69

2 SR ground turkey 3.00 each

reduced oranges 1.62

organic apples 2.03

Hillshire farm turkey 3.50 (used 1/1 peelie)

egglands best 1.99

milk 3.21

2 eggos .99 each (used 1/2)

blue bunny ice cream 1.99 (used 1/1)

1 pk rolls 1.74

pampers wipes 2.99 (used freebie coupon when you buy diapers 8/1 P&G)

organic baby carrots raincheck price of .99

total: 45.06, received 1 catalina for Campbell's soup, will submit for $5 Hillshire Farm rebate

I really don't enjoy cooking.  It's one area of my life where I feel really insecure, and my fussy children don't help to boost my confidence in the kitchen.  I'll try out a new recipe, work really hard on it, and it's met with "yuck - can I have spaghettio's instead???"  So I was initially a little hesitant to try a recipe that was stuck on the top of a jar of Ragu that I got during an Extra Bucks deal at CVS a few weeks ago.    

But "Mama's Best Spaghetti and Meatballs" sounded really easy.  My family likes spaghetti, but I'll admit I've never made meatballs before.  I don't use ground beef, hence the ground turkey I got at Shoprite today.  All I needed was 1 lb. of ground turkey, 1/2 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1 jar of Ragu, and 1 egg.  And spaghetti, of course.  I used Ronzoni Garden Delight from my stockpile.

First, I cooked the spaghetti.  Easy.

Then I mixed one egg, 1/2 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, and the 1 lb. of ground turkey together.  Shaped it into about 12 meatballs.

Then in a separate pot, I boiled the Ragu sauce.  Dropped in the meatballs, covered, and reduced to simmer for 20 minutes.

Poured it over the spaghetti and Done!  I was hoping for a meatball sandwich for lunch tomorrow, but there are NO leftovers - a sure sign that this recipe is a winner, even in my house o' picky eaters!  And nobody asked for spaghettio's tonight!

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the 50 custom greeting cards from UPrinting.com is...  slugmama!  I will be emailing you shortly.  Congrats and I hope to have another giveaway soon!

How I Basically Got Free Dog Food at Rite Aid

Rite Aid

9 cans of overpriced Alpo 1.25 each
4 Royal Gelatin .25 each
Tone Bodywash 2.99 (used 1/1 manu.)
Tugaboo diapers trial pack .89 (used 1/1 found in previously purchased trial pack)
Ben Gay 4.94 (used 3/1 manu. IP, 3/1 in-ad, and 1/1 vv)
2 Rolaids (used 4/2 manu.)
Kendall bandages 2.50 (used 2/1 manu. and 2/1 vv *not sure why but one of these went through as 2.99)
2 Garnier face wipes BOGO 50% off 6.29 and 3.14 (used 2 2/1 manu. 8/8 RP., 2 2/1 vv, and 1/10 RA skincare)
used 5/25
 used 3 +up
subtotal: .01
w/tax: 1.49 on gift card, received 2 3+up Garnier, 1 +up Ben Gay, and 1 +up Gelatin, will submit for $2 SCR Tone


**Rite Aid's coupon policy states they do not give overage, but sometimes their registers do anyway.

***Please enter my giveaway!  The chances of winning are very good!

My Rite Aid Transaction for Free Milk

Rite Aid

Milk 2.24

Folgers 2.99 (used 1/1 manu. that I got for complimenting their product)

Tugaboo diapers trial pack .89 (used 1/1 I got from previously purchased trial pack)

Huggies jumbo pack 8.99 (used freebie coupon I got for complaining about tab ripping off diaper)

Ben Gay 4.94 (used 3/1 in-ad and 2/1 blinkie in aisle)

Stopain 6.99

2 Peppermint patties .50 each (used .50/2 vv)

used 5/25

subtotal: 7.44

w/ tax: 7.80 on gift card, received 2 1+up for Folgers*, 2 +up for Huggies, and 1 +up for Ben Gay, will submit for 1 SCR for Tugaboos and 6.99 SCR for Stopain which makes this trip a money maker even before considering the +up bucks!  Also will submit for Stopain $2 rebate.

*Saw on Slickdeals that the Folgers is printing 2 +up bucks for $1 each...  not sure if this is a glitch in the system that will be fixed but it worked for me yesterday.

**Rite Aid's coupon policy states they do not give overage, but sometimes their registers do anyway.

***Please enter my giveaway!  The chances of winning are very good!

Free Cheerios, Soup, and Post-its

Target
Campbells Select Harvest 1.50 (used .50/1 Target coupon and 1/1 manu.)=free
2 Red Baron pizzas 2.50 each (used 2 2/1 manu.)= .50 each
5 Post-it Notes 1.00 each (used 5 1/1 pdf)=free
subtotal: 1.00
w/tax: 1.40

*May have to head back to Target after seeing some other great deals on this blog.

Shoprite
4 Multigrain Cheerios (even my fussy eater LOVES these!) 1.49 each (used 4 .75/1, 3 doubled, 1 did not)
12 pk rolls reduced 1.25
organic plums .63
3 SR spring water .79 each
6 earth's best baby food (used 1/7 IP - one must have not been scanned because I did buy 7 but the coupon didn't beep)
bread crums 1.00
4 Muir Glen organic tomato sauce .99 each (used 4 .75/1 - didn't double)
used 2.70 bottle refund
used 3.00 catalina
total: 3.56  


**Please enter my giveaway!  The chances of winning are very good!

My First Giveaway: 50 Custom Greeting Cards!!

I've entered tons of blog giveaways over the past year, and I've won some really fun things!  So I am extra excited to be hosting my own giveaway!  Thanks to UPrinting, a commercial printing company, one winner will get the following:

50 7x5 Folded Cards with Plain Envelopes    
14pt Cardstock Gloss    
4 Color Front, Blank Back    
4 Baronial Blank Envelopes    
Half Fold (Scoring only)    

These would be great as thank you cards or holiday cards... and the best part is you get to design these custom greeting cards yourself with your own images, text, and layout!


Mandatory: To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post.  You can tell me what you would do with the cards, share a great deal going on this week, or just say hi!  Make sure you include your name and email address.  This giveaway is limited to US residents, 18 years old and older.  


Additional entry:  For additional chances to win, become a follower of this blog or blog about this giveaway.  Then leave a comment to let me know you did one or both of these things!


This giveaway will end on Sunday, August 29th at 9PM, and the winner will be announced and emailed the following day.


*I did not receive any compensation for hosting this giveaway.

38 cents for Diapers, Wipes, Dog food, and Cat food!

Rite Aid
*Before I even post my deal, Rite Aid's coupon policy states that they do not give overage.  But sometimes the registers do anyway.  So YMMV.

6 pouches of Friskies .89 each
6 cans Pedigree .79 each
1 c. Booth butter cream bath soap 5.39 (used 6/1 in-ad)
Tugaboos trial pack .89 (used 1/1 from previously purchased trial pack)
Everlast energy supplements 5.39 (used 10/1)
pampers wipes 3.14 (used free wipes when you buy diapers coupon from 8/1 P&G)
pampers jumbo pack 10.79 (used freebie coupon I got from pampers for complaining about the new Dry Max diapers)
used 5/25
total: .38 on gift card, will submit for $2 c. Booth SCR, $2 pampers SCR, and $1 tugaboos SCR

CVS
2 Ritz crackers 1.00 each (used 2 1/1 coupons I found at Shoprite)
2 Pez on clearance for .37 each (stocking stuffers)
Blink tears gel 7.99 (used 1.50/1)
4 SOBE 1.69 BOGO (used 2 BOGO from sobe.com)
used 5/15 from red machine
total: 2.44 on gift card, received 7.99 ECB for Blink

Shoprite
4 Hefty bags 1.24 each (used 4 .55/1 doubled)
4 Chock Full o' Nuts 1.99 each (used 4 .55/1 doubled)
bread 1.79
3 Right Guard 1.99 each (used BOGO and 3/2)
1 reusable bag .99 (used freebie coupon that I got from previous deal)
used .40 in bottle refunds
.05 bag refund
total: 7.27 in cash, received $3 catalina for Right Guard

Free Peanut Butter, Pasta, and Cheerios Next Week at Shoprite!

Not a ton of deals next week (8/22-8/28) at Shoprite, but I saw a few freebies on Slickdeals:

Peter Pan Peanut Butter .99 (4 day price break - Wed. through Sat.)
use .60/1* from 8/1 SS doubled = free (*some got $1/2 instead)

Ronzoni Garden Delights 12 oz. pasta - 3 for $4
use .75/1 coupon here doubled = free

General Mills Cereal 1.49
9 oz Multigrain Cheerios free w/ coupon here doubled

Clearance Campbell's Soup at Shoprite

Shoprite
Chock Full O'Nuts 1.99
SR Decaf Coffee 3.49 (why does decaf have to be so expensive?!)
4 Campbell's Shrek Soup clearanced to $1 (used 2 .50/2 doubled)
Olivia's Organics Salad reduced to 1.64 (used 1/1)
SR ricotta 2.49
Digiorno 5.99 (used freebie coupon)
Blue Bunny caramel champ cones 1.25 (used 1/1)
used $1 catalina
total: 10.86 on cc, received $1 catalina for campbell's soup

CVS
Blink Tears 7.99 (used 1.50/1)
4 SOBEs BOGO (used 2 BOGO)
used .50 ECB, 1.00 ECB, 3.00 ECB, and 1.00 ECB
subtotal: .99
w/ tax: 1.25 on gift card, received 7.99 for Blink

I Got Invited to Another Bzz Campaign!

So excited!  I just posted the other day that I was invited to the Sebastian Bzz Campaign through Bzzagent.com.  Last night I got another invite - this one to a Friendship Dairy Bzz Campaign.  I don't know what I'm going to receive yet, but whatever it is, it'll be free! 

14 cent Hefty Bags and 25 cent Blue Bunny at Shoprite!

4 Hefty Bags 1.24 each (4 day price break) (used 4 .55/1 doubled from 8/1 RP)
4 Aunt Jemima waffles .99 each (4 day price break)
4 Blue Bunny champ cones 1.25 each (used 4 1/1)
total: 4.74 on cc

How I Got Milk for .06 at Rite Aid!

Milk 2.24 with 10% discount
c. Booth Honey/Almond Body Butter 5.39 with 10% discount (used 6/1 in-ad)
subtotal: 1.63
w/ tax: 2.06 on gift card (will submit for $2 c. Booth SCR)

Blue Bunny Peelie Hunt at Shoprite for Free Ice Cream

I LOVE the Blue Bunny caramel Champ cones.  I am drooling just thinking about them.  So there's an opportunity to get free Blue Bunny Champ cones this week at Shoprite IF you can find the peelies.  Some of the boxes have $1.25/1 peelies on them, and they are on sale for 4 for $5 which means they would be free!  Good luck!

My Shoprite Trip Today

Short and sweet Shoprite trip today.  I was thinking about also running into CVS but the deals have been kind of lackluster lately, so I decided to skip it.  I was unable to find the elusive Pops Mix-it at my store, so I couldn't do the money making deal I had hoped for. 

Transaction 1:
4 Breakstone sour cream 2.29 each (used 4 .75/1 doubled)
1 Kraft singles 1.88
6 Rite Guard deodorant (used 3 2/2)
St. Ives bodywash 2.00 (used .50/1 doubled)
.25 bag refund
total: 5.61 on cc, received $1 catalina from St. Ives and $5 catalina for buying 5 Kraft items (Breakstone is a Kraft item).  Also received a freebie coupon for YoCrunch Fruit Parfaits.

Transaction 2:
4 SR spring water .79 each
2 Earth's Best baby food .55 each
2 Jack Rabbit beans .88 each
Bimbo soft wheat bread (Wait... is it really called BIMBO?  I'm not near the kitchen to go check but that's what it says on my receipt.  Too funny!) 1.69
organic nectarines 1.83
Hillshire Farm turkey 4.39 (used 1/1 peelie)
Wise popcorn .58 with SR coupon
used $5 and $1 catalinas from first transaction
total: 7.76 on cc, will submit for $5 Hillshire Farm rebate

BzzAgent=Free Salon Brand Shampoo

Since I started "doing the deals" I have a mental list of a bunch of things I refuse to pay money for.  This includes shampoo, toothpaste, razors...  you know the stuff we're always getting paid to remove from the store shelves.  But sometimes the free shampoo isn't so great.  That's why I was so happy to get invited to the Sebastian Professional Volume Collection BzzCampaign on BzzAgent.com.  I joined BzzAgent last year, and in that time, I've gotten to try a bunch of free things: Children's Claritin, got2b hair products, Cover Girl products...  I haven't gotten the Sebastian products yet, but I'm really excited because salon hair products are usually so expensive.  I'll post a picture when it arrives.  Go to bzzagent.com to sign up.

Possible Money Maker at Shoprite!

There's a new .75/1 printable coupon for Pops Mix-it.  (I think it's flavoring to mix with Corn Pops but I'm not positive).  It costs around $1.79 at Shoprite - IF you can find it.  It's not in all stores yet.  Plus, the buy 10 Kelloggs, get $10 catalina is still going on.  If your SR doesn't limit to 4 like coupons, you can easily have a money maker with this if you can print from a few computers. I think I can print 8, so here's what I'll try:

8 Pop Mix-it 1.79 each (use 8 .75/1 doubled) = .19 each
2 Eggos 2.25 each (use 1/2 7/25 RP) = 3.50
Pay $3.88, get $10 catalina


It you can only use 4 Mix-it coupons, you can still make this a small money maker:
4 Pop Mix-it 1.79 each (use 8 .75/1 doubled) = .19 each
6 Pop Tarts 1.67 each (use 3 1/2 from 7/11 RP)
Pay $8.18, get $10 catalina



Thanks to Living Rich With Coupons for the idea!

New Huggies Coupons

Coupons.com has a couple new Huggies coupons.
2/1 Huggies Little Snugglers
2.50/1 Huggies Pure and Natural

Also, if you haven't printed them yet, these are still available at smartsource.com
2.50/3 Huggies wipes
4.00/2 Huggies Little Movers or Little Snugglers
3.50/2 Huggies Snug and Dry

My Shoprite Shopping List

Here's my plan of attack for shoprite this week...  Nothing too amazing.  I'm going to try to stick to a few freebies, a few essentials that we need each week (water jugs, bread, and fresh fruit/veggies), and eat out of the stockpile.

Gum toothbrush .99 (use .75/1 8/8 RP) = free
Blue bunny bars 1.49 (use .75/1 doubled June All You) = free
Right Guard Deodorant .88 each (use 2/2 printable) = free
Hillshire Farms lunchmeat 3.99 ($5 in coupons or rebate) (thanks to frugalsuz for posting about this)
Organic baby carrots .99 with in-ad coupon
St. Ives Body Wash 2.00 (use 1/1 from 7/18 SS) = 1.00, get 1.00 catalina
Butterball turkey franks 1.64 (use .75/1 from 8/8 doubled) = .14

See anything amazing that I missed?

Pampers Redeems Itself

I was less than thrilled with the new Pampers Dry Max.  After using the diaper, one of my children got a bumpy rash.  I emailed Pampers about it, and they sent me 3 coupons for free jumbo size diapers.  I won't be buying any more Dry Max diapers, but Pampers informed me that the Baby Dry diapers have not been changed and do not contain "Dry Max."  I'm glad I took the 5 minutes out of my busy day to complain!  It certainly paid off.  Anyone else having good or bad experiences with Dry Max??

(Real) Life Gets in the Way

I took a little hiatus from blogging due to a nasty cold running through the family, hectic days at work, an unexpected trip to the ER due to a door knob inflicted head injury (he's fine, thank goodness), and some   un-blogworthy shopping trips.  I thought about just throwing in the blogging towel.  Then I saw The Coupon Goddess's blog today with her amazing trip to the BlogHer conference.  Wow!  I only hope that I can one day get to the point where I get to experience some of these awesome perks of blogging.  But in the meantime, I'm going to plow along, posting all my shopping trips, even the embarrassingly poorly planned ones with high OOP totals.  And maybe in 2011, I'll even try to achieve some totally impossible goal like $1000 budget for the whole year, diapers, dog food, and all! 
-Nikki