Food Friday – Frugal Grocery Shopping

So you might have noticed there isn’t a recipe in the title, that is because I just had to share the most amazing, frugal, grocery store news!! I have tried coupon clipping several times since I started staying home with the kids. I never found a good system so it never stuck and I never consistently saved $$$$.  It seemed pointless to even put much effort into it because a savings of $3.25 or some other small amount just wasn’t much incentive to keep working at the coupon thing.

I found other things to do to help save a little money but none of them where huge savers. I avoid Target like the plague, which is easy now since it is about 25 minutes away. Target is one of my favorite places but I used to not walk out their door without spending at least $100 and I would leave with one little bag of things that we didn’t really need! So I now only go there if I need something that only they have, which, lets be honest the things I buy there you can get at almost any grocery store for a much cheaper price usually.

I also only go to the grocery store for our large shopping trips twice a month. I stock up on everything we need and things that are on sale. The idea behind avoiding Target and the grocery store is that I don’t have all those impulse buys because I’m not there that often. Plus it is much less tempting to wander around browsing when I have a whole list of things I need while trying to get out of there in a reasonable amount of time with my kids in tow. We still have to stop for milk and fresh produce occasionally but I really stick to the list or send Gabe with the list after work because he rarely gets things not on the list!

About a month ago I decided to try Aldi’s. Now let me tell you I was a bit skeptical at first but we were willing to try it and see if we liked their food and see if we saved any money. I made my list just like always and off we went to Aldi’s. I bought most of what I could off my list from there and then took the rest of my list to Wal-Mart. For the next 2 weeks I made a mental note when we would eat meals from Aldi’s; Did we like it? Was it good? Was the size the same as the size I got from Wal-Mart?, a.k.a. did it last as long? The answer to all of these were YES! Some things tasted better than the brand that I would have bought at Wal-Mart!

I should note that I don’t have time to run all over town, Aldi’s is right across the street from Wal-Mart. I take my cold food bags for all the cold stuff and it only takes me 10 – 15 more minutes to shop at two stores as opposed to one. And you will see in just a minute that 10-15 minutes it totally worth the savings!

So here is the proof, after my second visit in which I bought absolutely everything I could from Aldi’s (there are a handful of items that they don’t carry or we just prefer the name brand) I decided to compare the prices. I took my receipt from Aldi’s, made a list of all the things I bought and we went to Wal-Mart for the sole purpose of writing down prices for everything so I could compare the two stores. I purchased 70 items from Aldi’s for $112.16, priced the same 70 items at Wal-Mart (I had to adjust some of them because of different sizes at the two different stores) for$167.35.

Total Savings $55.19

That’s right!!!! $55.19!!!!!!!!!!! I did absolutely nothing, no clipping coupons and no looking at ads. Just by going to a different store I saved over $50.

I am hoping to take the list of things that I still buy from Wal-Mart, this trip it was only 26 items,  and start watching for coupons on those things to save even more. Hopefully since the list is much, much shorter I will have more luck with the coupon thing! I’ll keep you updated but right now we are spending approximately $115 on groceries per week (that includes stuff like toothpaste, shampoo, etc.). I am hoping to get it down to $100! I’ll keep you updated and would love to hear how you stretch your families money? What are your frugal tips?

 

 

Father’s Day Weekend

We spent Father’s Day weekend enjoying the great outdoors with Gabe. Saturday we spent the day at the lake, finally for the first time this season. It was also Keenan’s first time out on the boat!   

Sunday we started the day with Gabe’s present and Biscuits and Gravy, Gabe’s favorite breakfast. After church we spent the afternoon at Wildlife Prairie Park. Lots of the animals were out, we watched them feed the Bison and Elk and we hiked to a special slide! Trinity wanted her turn to ride on Daddy’s shoulders since Keenan had been riding in the backpack.  

These Bison were HUGE, it was really neat to see them up close.

Trinity braved the huge slide on her own, after her first time down she didn’t put her brakes (a.k.a. her feet) on and just flew right on down. She laughed and smiled the whole way down every time she went :)!

Keenan need a little more help, he and Daddy hiked up the steps and then went down!

After the slide we hiked back to the car and went home to take much needed naps!

We ended the day with my parent’s arriving for a visit :)! It was great to see my Daddy on father’s day! It was a wonderful weekend spent with the best Daddy my kids could ever have!

Happy Father’s Day

Several months ago I came across a gift idea online that I thought was really cute and I filed it in the back of my mind (where things usually get lost!) for Father’s Day. Well this time my memory served me well and about a month ago I started collecting the items needed for our Father’s Day present for Gabe.  It turned out wonderfully!!! I’ll save the final product for the end and show you some of the fun we had on the way.

The original way needed a vertical, 5, 4x6 opening picture frame……….we looked everywhere and couldn’t find one without spending a fortune online so we improvised. We spelled out WE (heart) DADDY, instead of just DADDY. Here are our many attempts to get good pictures and by “our attempts” I mean me and the kids. I usually enlist Gabe’s helps on projects like these because photographing a 20 month old is near impossible!

Mmmm, look Mommy dropped fruit snacks in the grass.

  Wow, was that a bird!

That dirt looks like fun!

Keenan this is how you do it!!! Keenan…  Keenan…..aw he’s not paying attention, go figure!

Mom, I’m outta here, you don’t need the “Y” do ya?

Drum roll please------------- Introducing the final product!

As you can see, after two packs of fruit snacks for Keenan throughout the photo shoot and one for Trinity when we were finished, we took some great pictures. Most importantly Gabe loved it and proudly took it to work this morning to hang it in his office!!!

Food Friday – Saucy Pork Chops

Do you have an evening coming up when you know that you are not going to have time to make a yummy dinner, well this is your solution! I love this recipe because it is quick and easy. 

Saucy Pork Chops (in the crock pot)

4 pork chops

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. oil

2-2 1/2 cups ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. hickory-flavored liquid smoke

1 cup chopped onions

1. Season chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Brown on both sides in oil in skillet, Drain.

2. Combine ketchup, brown sugar and liquid smoke in bowl.

3. Place onions in slow cooker. Pour Sauce over chops.

4.Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours.

I usually avoid crock pot recipes that require you to brown the meat in a skillet because I use the crock pot to have a quick and dish-less meal. This one really is worth it and it only takes a few minutes to brown the pork chops.

Trinity calls them ketchup  pork chops, but don’t be fooled the sauce turns into a very delicious BBQ type sauce as it cooks in the crock pot and really doesn’t taste anything like ketchup by the time it is done cooking. We usually have this with wild rice and/or potatoes, green beans and corn.

This recipe is from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook, Feasting with your Slow Cooker.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Wildlife Prairie Park

We visited another great park! Wildlife Prairie Park is about 45 minutes away and definitely worth the drive! 

The main attraction is the buffalo that roam a huge open field that has several observation decks. This is Trinity enjoying the view from one the decks. There are lots of other animals that are native to this area in natural enclosures (not like exhibits at the zoo), you wander through a path in the woods to discover all of them.  We found this pretty dragonfly and thought it was worthy of a picture!There was also a pioneer homestead complete with animals that the pioneers might have brought with them to settle the area, a garden and  a schoolhouse. This is Keenan, with the pioneer house in the background,  picking me some clover flowers that he loves to give me :).    The donkeys and horse were a big hit in this area of the park!  The donkeys came right up and through the fence to see if we had food for them. It was feeding time and the park employee that feeds them was right behind us on the trail; she let Trinity talk her ear off :) and watch her feed the horse. The other pictures of the buffalos I used the zoom on my camera but this one was really that close! Trinity was very impressed that he was really that big and that close and requested this picture!If you look closely in this one you can see the babies, they are the light brown spots in front of the buffalo on the left. They were very cute in person!Trinity wanted her picture taken with them and since I got Keenan to stand still and smile I took his too.There was  a snake house. Yes, that is a snake skin. My girl isn’t afraid of much! She wanted to touch one of the snakes that a park worker was placing back in it’s tank.

There was also a train station and museum! Keenan was in heaven in the museum :). Trains (and tractors), he just loves them!! The museum was a bit of heaven for all of us…it had air conditioning! It was VERY hot the day we went, the heat index was 95, thank goodness most of the day we were in the shade. And what would a train station be without a train!! Keenan was a little tired by this point, but Trinity and Cameron were all smiles!

We ended our day at the train station playground and then enjoyed a nice cool ride home in the air conditioned car! We will be heading back to Wildlife Prairie Park soon with Gabe in tow :). Some things are worth doing again so that we can enjoy them with him!

Memorial Day

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed back home for a visit. We stayed with my sister and her family. It always makes for an interesting stay with 5 kiddos, under 5, in one house! We played at the park and had a picnic, we feed the ducks, visited all the Grandparents,celebrated my Dad's birthday, ate at Olive Garden, went to church and played on the slip-n-slide and the baby pool! We had a great time, here are a few pictures of the fun!

Keenan and Ainsley playing in the water table, Keenan enjoyed this more than the pool!

The big kids played in the baby pool more than the “babies” :).

                            They all enjoyed the slip-n-slide!

Ainsley was taking a break sitting on the “front porch” and        

she got totally upset when Keenan tried to join her! I love her expressions, notice her hands turned up like “Why is he trying to sit here with me!”.

The kids and my Dad with his birthday cupcakes, complete with candles and Transformer rings!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I did not go missing!

This past week we have been busy just enjoying ourselves and trying to keep the house from falling down around us :)! I have started several blog posts but not been able to finish any of them  because blogger was not working correctly or my computer was being painfully slow. Well on to the good news…. thanks to my parents who got us this new spiffy laptop (this should solve the slowness) and my bloggy/real life friend Fatima for suggesting some new software to blog from (this should solve the issues with blogger) I should be able to get this thing going again!!! A big THANK YOU to Mom and Dad and Fatima!! Now if anyone can solve the business of life causing my house to fall apart just let me know, I will be more than happy to thank you on my blog ;).  I will see you all again in a few days when my wonderful husband gets my photos transferred to my new laptop so that I can finish up my posts and share them with you. Thanks for reading….it means bunches!

Food Friday - Chicken Crescents

This is a very yummy recipe and it is also quick and easy to make!

Ingredients
3 oz. package cream cheese
3 T melted butter
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 T milk
1 T chives (I leave this out)
1 can (pkg. of 8) crescent rolls
Crushed croutons

1. Bake chicken (I usually bake 3 good sized chicken breasts) and cut it into cubes.
2. Blend 2 T butter with cream cheese until smooth. Add the next 5 ingredients and mix well.
3. Separate crescent roll dough into 4 rectangles, sealing perforated seam.
4. Divide mixture into 4 parts and place in center of dough. Bring dough edges together over mixture and seal edges.
5. Brush with remaining T of butter and sprinkle with crushed croutons.
6. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

I usually serve this with wild rice and green beans.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Flowers from my Little Man

Last night we were enjoying our backyard; swinging, playing fetch with Rufus, the kids were playing "fetch" with each other (what else do you call it when neither one of them catches the ball they just run and get it after the other throws it??) and checking out our garden when the sweetest thing happened! Keenan started picking flowers, a.k.a. weeds, and started giving them to me :)! He has never done this before and it just seemed so sweet that it melted my heart.

Here are my first flowers from my sweet little boy! He is just so sweet sometimes I could just gobble him up!

Wordless Wednesday