A Little Encouragement To Cook At Home

Today was such a nice laid back day.  My oldest daughter and I hit some garage sales this morning (didn't find anything), we all had a nice nap, and this evening we grilled chicken while the kids splashed in the back yard kiddie pool.  We had such a nice dinner using some of the great deals they had on sale this week, and it was just an all around great day.

Some days don't go that way though.  Some days are so busy running here there and everywhere, and you end up not being home at normal meal times, and it is very tempting at those times to pull into a drive-thru and grabs some burgers.  This was a bit of a problem for us this past month, not for dinner, but for lunches.

As we were eating this lovely meal of BBQ chicken, fresh corn on the cob, stuffing, and salad I began thinking about how much it has all cost in comparison to grabbing a quick meal on the run.

I do not have a mouth watering picture to accompany this, but here is what I came up with:

1/2 bag of chicken leg quarters =  $2.95  (10 total in bag for $5.90 this week at Kroger)
5 fresh corn                              = $1.00  (5 for $1 this week at Albertson's)
Herb flavored stuffing               =  $0.79 (in pantry, bought recently at Aldi)
Green Salad Mix                      =  $0.49  (picked up yesterday at Aldi)
     Total                                   = $5.23  


Now, I did not attempt to include the cost of seasonings and BBQ sauce (which I think I got for free), but even adding that, I would be well under $6 for a whole meal for a family of 4.  Plus, all of these things were purchased completely without coupons, just by shopping sale prices.

Also, we didn't even eat all of this.  We still have two whole leg quarters and two whole pieces of corn left, so technically what we ate only cost us $3.41!  You could spend that much on an afternoon snack from a fast food place!  And we have leftovers that we can eat as is or turn into a different meal entirely, already cooked.  I will likely turn it into a salad tomorrow.

Sometimes when things get crazy, it is easy to think that just one time through the drive-thru won't matter, but then it turns into once a week or more, and before you know it you've spent $40+ out of your food budget that could have gone much further (or been put to use on a nice date).

I used to not think twice about dropping $20 on Chinese take out because that was cheaper than going to a dine-in restaurant and we usually had leftovers, but how much less would it cost to prepare that same meal at home?

All it took was a really nice dinner and a little math to put things back into perspective for me.

I challenge you to calculate how much a recent meal at your house cost in total.  I bet it's a whole lot less than you think!


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It started off a frugal day...and then there I was, couponless in Target.

It started off an ordinary summer day.  My husband, who teaches, has one more week home with us before his meetings start up.  This morning he decided to whip us up some French toast.  It's one of our favorites.  Then, I remembered that the Just Between Friends consignment sale was going on right now.  

If you are in the Dallas area, it is being held at the Resistol Rodeo Arena in Mesquite.  If you live elsewhere, check the link to see if they are having one near you.  This event is huge!  They do it twice a year, and it is totally used baby/child gear/maternity clothes/anything kid-related that you could ever think of.  I have gotten several Halloween outfits for my older daughter there, so I decided we should go check it out.

I did not have any luck with the costumes, and since they both just had birthdays on top of a family visit, gifts of new clothing were plentiful, so there wasn't much we needed.  I did come across a cute sweater for my 4 year old daughter.  She had gotten several summer dresses, so this will match nicely with them when the weather gets cooler.  It looks brand new, and only cost me $4.  I also got her some slippers, as you can see. 

When we left there, it was lunch time, but my husband needed some new work pants, so we decided to go look a few places while we were out, so we got fast food which ended up costing $16.  I cringed handing the money over, but it is not a common occurrence for us anymore.

After lunch, we went to three places looking for khakis:  Old Navy, Marshall's, and Target.  We lucked up at Marshall's, finding a $40 pair of pants on the clearance rack marked down to just $10.

In fact, they had more clothes clearanced than not, it seemed.  So, if you are looking for something specific and have a Marshall's nearby, it might be a good place to check out.  This was definitely a great find.

On to Target, where we had no luck on pants, but while we were there my husband recalled that they had their 1-subject notebooks on sale for just $0.15 each.  He has a lot of students who can't afford supplies, so he bought 100 of these.  The manager was more than happy to bring him out two whole cases from the back.

I'm glad he was able to snag this great price and stock up on some notebooks for his kids in need, but I was also beating myself up for not having my coupons with me (or even organized in general!).  There are always great deals to be had at Target--especially when you stack manufacturer coupons with their store coupons-- and I had just said yesterday that I needed to get my stuff together and make a trip over to one.  *sigh*  Oh well, I guess you can't be prepared for an unplanned trip all the time.  But to make matters worse, we passed right by Kroger on the way home, and I knew they had shredded cheese on sale, and we were out.  So my husband let me run in there to get some cheese, so twice today I found myself lamenting my lack of coupons. Sad, I know.  Am I just pathetic, or would you guys feel the same way?

I've completely gotten over it, and I'm happy about the deals that we did get today.  My plans for the evening?  Work on getting these coupons in order.

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Cheap Printer Paper at Office Depot

As I was fishing through the sale ads this morning looking for coupons and whatnot, I sifted past the ad for Office Depot.  Normally, I wouldn't even glance at this ad, but today something caught my eye.  They had printer paper advertised for $1.97 per pack.  It is HP Office paper, 20lb weight and 92 brightness, that normally retails for over $6.  There is a limit of two per customer.   This is an awesome stock up price if you need some paper.  We were almost out, and the lower quality paper sells for $4 at Walmart.

My husband was out running some errands after church today while myself and my daughters were home napping, and he went by there and got two packs.  Then he walked next store to the 99cent store and bought a few things there (including Nestle Toll House Ultimates fudge filled cookie dough!!!).  Then he went back to Office Depot and got two more packs.  Gotta love him.  I've taught him well!

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Teething and Crawling and Laundry, Oh My!

I have not had a chance to post much recently.  We had some family visiting this weekend and the housework went by the wayside, so I've been trying to catch up with that on top of a cranky and quickly mobilizing 8 month old.  I am trying to plan some shopping trips out today, so I will post my plans in a bit and then let you know how it went.  I did add some information under the printable coupons tab last night.  So be sure to check that out.  I will also be adding a page on e-coupons later today.

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