Organic couponing 101

One of the most frequent misinformed statements I hear about couponing is that you can only save on unhealthy food when couponing. That is simply not true! Here are some examples of where you can score some awesome deals on healthy, and even organic, items:

1. Print manufactures coupons from many healthy food companies website's
           
                    Ex: Stonyfield's website offers many coupons if you register to be a member, and so does Horizon. If you use their coupons during a sale, you can get dirt cheap organic dairy products for your entire family.

2. Look for coupons on frozen veggies-- They are not quite as good as fresh veggies, but often you can get them for free during a good sale!
                        Ex: Cascadian Farms has coupons that can be found online, that apply to ANY of their food products. Use them on their frozen veggies, and stock up when they go on sale.

3. Shop in your stores 'damaged goods' and marked down produce areas-- They stuff is still edible and can last for several days before spoiling. Kroger and Meijer are ALWAYS marking down perfectly good produce, up to 75% off sometimes.
       
              Ex: At Meijer today I bought two burger sized organic portabella              mushroom for 99 cents, because they were about to 'expire'.

Happy Easter

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Birds Nest cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toast 1.5 cups of coconut flakes on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 15 minutes. Stir frequently.

For the cookie:

2 stick of butter

2 cups of flour

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Blend together all ingredients to make cookie dough. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll the ball in the toasted coconut. Push the center of the ball in with your finger to make a nest. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool, and fill with your favorite treats....jelly beans, m&m's, any egg shaped candy etc. I also added some bling, by scattering some edible pearls on my cookies.

Homemadec chocolate frosting recipe

 I may have posted this before, but I cant remember? This recipe makes THE BEST chocolate frosting. It is great on cupcakes, and you can add peanut butter to it to make a PB chocolate frosting.

Ingredients:

2lbs powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup boiling water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
optional: 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Mix everything together until smooth, and it is ready to enjoy!

Week of April 1st: Meijer Deals using M-Perks this week

Vlassic pickles are on sale this week two for $4.00!

If you use the available M-Perk coupon (save $1.50 off of two jars), AND use two of the  "75 cents off one jar" manufactures coupon from this week's Sunday paper (assuming you buy 2 newspapers like you should be doing)........your final cost per jar will be only FIFTY CENTS PER JAR!




Allegra is on sale for $15.99 for a 30 count box.

There is a coupon in this week's Sunday paper to save $7.00 of off one box, AND there is an M-Perks coupon available online to save $3.00 off of one box.......reducing your final cost to only $2.99!!








Birdseye Freshlike frozen vegetables and Birdseye Steamfresh vegetables are on sale five for $5.00. There are TWO coupons in this weeks paper, to save '50 cents off of two' of each of the aforementioned products:

If you buy two bags of each product using  your two '50 cents off coupons' (which both double to a dollar each of savings!), your final cost per bag will be only.........
FIFTY  CENTS EACH!!

50% off toys at Target

There are coupon's in this week's Target ad to save 50% off of select Fisher Price, Disney, and Mega Block toys. A lot of them are on sale this week too!

 

I ended up getting this Disney baby doll for about $7.00!

CVS Coca-Cola deal: Week of March 11th

Check out this week's CVS ad.

There is a deal this week on Coca Cola product........ Buy $15.00 worth of product and get $5 in ECBs. 

 All 2-liters are on sale for only 99 cents each, so if you buy 15 2-liters of Coca-Cola products you will pay $15.00 AND get back $5 in ECBs. That is like getting all 15 pops for only about 66 cents each! Score.

CVS Deals: Week of March 4, 2012

Take a look at this week's CVS ad HERE!

"All" laundry detergent is on sale for $4.00

--There is a coupon to save $1.00 on one detergent in today's Sunday newspaper, making the final price only $3.00 per item. Personally, I like to buy detergent at $2.50 a bottle or less, but I may just get one or two of these to ad to my collection.

 

 There is a BOGO coupon this week on Olay product, where you can buy one Olay face wash product and get one Olay body wash for free (up to an $8.00 value).

These Olay face cleansing wipes are on sale for $3.99:

So for $3.99, you get the face cleanser AND a free body was like this one here:

.........................To top it all off, this week you also can earn $2.00 in ECB rewards for the 'purchase' of most Olay body washes.

$3.99 for both products - $2.00 in ECB = $1.99 total for two awesome products!

Meijer Deals: Week of March 4th 2012

Here are a couple of great deals that can be found at Meijer this week:

Slim fast 3-2-1 drinks are on sale two 4-packs for $5.00!

--Print a coupon off of Facebook HERE to save $1.50 off of one 4-pack. You can print the coupon twice.

Smart Ones frozen meals are on sale, five for $9.00, including breakfast meals!!
-- Look for a peel-off coupon on select packages to save $3.00 off of 10 meals. Inside of those packages should be another $1.00 off coupon.

'Louis Kemp' brand imitation crab/lobster products are on sale for $1.00 each!

Back from vacation........Back to coupbloggin'!

CVS has some great deals this week on paper products and razors. Check out the ad HERE!


Colgate Sensitive Pro Relief is on sale for $4.99 (Yowzers!)
--After a $4.00 ECB reward, the final price is 99 cents. If you use the 75 cents off colgate coupon from this weeks paper, it can be yours for only TWENTY FIVE CENTS! There is a limit off 2 per household for this deal, so if you use two coupons you can double your savings.

Glade air freshener spray is on sale, at half off, for $1.00 a can. I couldn't find any coupons for it, but it is still a great price even without the coupon.

Schick Hydro products are ALL on sale, AND there are mega savings to be found in this week's Sunday paper. Check out page three of the CVS sale's ad......see how they tell you exactly which coupons to use? How convenient......


However, the ad failed to mention that there are also $4.00 coupons available to save on Schick Hydro Silk women's razors and carteridges, as well as $4.00 coupons to save on men's Schick Hydro 5 Power Select razors -------> ------->

Meaning that after ECB reward reimbursement AND $4.00 coupon application, both items can be yours for only $1.99!

The best part is that there is a SIX item limit in this sale. Buy multiple papers and cash in on this great deal!

Time Saving Tip: "The rollover meal" and the "Big Batch Meal"

Rollover meals, are meals that have leftovers that turn into a whole new meal for the next day. For instance, you make a ham on Monday and then on Tuesday you make a ham soup. Pretty easy stuff, right? Most people probably already do this anyways. With this method you are still cooking something every night. Here is another idea, that is mainly geared towards saving TIME.....the multi-purpose "Batch Meal". This method of cooking will have you spending less time in the kitchen, AND spending less money on pricy convenience foods that are often bought due to running out of time to cook anything.

Example #1: The stuffed green pepper and meatloaf dinner(s):

Buy:
4 green peppers
About 1.5lbs ground beef or turkey
1 onion
1 cup frozen peas
parmesean cheese
1/2 cup Milk
2eggs
1 6oz. can tomato paste
Seasonings mixture of basil, oregano, garlic, and/or pepper.
2/3 cup Bread crumbs
14oz can tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce.
Ketchup

Mix together the meat, seasoning, peas, cheese, onion, and tomato paste. This is the stuffing for the pepper, so stuff HALF of the mix into 4 hollowed-out bell peppers. Pour your tomato sauce over the whole dish.Then.............

Take the other half of the meat mixture and mix in your milk, eggs, and breadcrumbs. This is now your meat loaf, so stuff it into a loaf pan. You can just put both of these prepared dishes in your refrigerator, and cook one today and one tomorrow. If you want to stretch it out even further, then on the third night eat any leftovers you have, or make the leftovers into a whole new recipe (like meat loaf sandwiches)!

****Cook the peppers at 350 degrees for 30 minutes covered and then 30 minutes uncovered.
Cook the meatloaf for about 60-75 minutes, frost with ketchup and bake for about 10 more minutes.

RN Humor

CVS coupon machine

CVS has a magic coupon machine in the front of most of their stores, which also doubles as their price checker. You can scan your red Extra Care card in the machine, and multiple coupons will print out of it. Make sure you scan your card a few times so you get all the coupons that are available for the day. These coupons are considers 'store coupons", meaning you can combine them with a manufactures coupon when purchasing one item (read this explanation HERE). This is the best way to maximize your savings at CVS. Take advantage of it, and you will find that you will get the occasional 'free item' coupons, and coupons to save money off of your total bill ( like their "Save $.00 of off a $20.00 purchase" coupon) I have gotten lots of totally free item from this little machine!










For example, today at CVS I got a coupon that printed out of the machine to "Buy one Aquafresh toothpaste get one free". I had two manufacturers coupons to save '75 cents off of any Aquafresh product"........AND there was a 25% off sale on selected Aquafresh toothpastes. Triple whammy!

 These pastes were marked down to $3.64 each, and after applying my BOGO coupon AND two 75 cent off coupons (one per item is allowed), my final cost was only $2.14, or ONE DOLLAR AND SEVEN CENTS EACH!! Not too bad!

An ode to my favorite card-haiku version:

 

My red plastic card

Puts money back in my hand

 Rolling in the dough

CVS Deals: Week of Feb 12th 2012

I had a great time this week at CVS. I had my $14 in ECB's from last week to use, as well as some great sales!


Nivea has a great sale this week on their chapsticks. They are on sale two for $5.00, and if you spend $10 on Nivea then you will get $3.00 in ECB's. The Sunday paper has a coupon to save $3.00 off of two lip products, so...

Buy four for $10.00-$6.00 in coupons (you must buy two papers)+ factoring in your $3.00 in ECB's= a total of ONE SINGLE MEASLY DOLLAR for four fancy lip balms!

There are some great BOGO deals for Cheerios, Emerald Nut's "Breakfast on the Go" packs, CVS batteries, Orbit's gum, Bumble Bee tuna, and Simply Asia meals. Look for coupons for these products online, and in your coupon binders to cash in on some great saving. I always like to buy my coupon inserts in an even number, b/c of BOGO sales. You can use two coupons when making your purchase, even when one item is considered 'free'.

Frankenmuth, Michigan

Frankenmuth, Michigan.......my favorite 'local' vacation spot. There is literally something for everyone there, including: famous chicken dinners with a German influence, camp grounds, lots of available alcohol vendors, country stores, knitting/scrapbook/craft stores, farms, river boats, a natural and organic industry, horse drawn carriages, breweries and wineries, an even a military museum!

If you crave a Bavarian-styled oasis in mid-Michigan that is steeped in early American history, then Frankenmuth is the place for you.

I will highlight a few of my favorite attractions here for your viewing pleasure:

Lodging:

Bavarian Inn and the Drury Inn are my two favorite hotels in the area. They are both within walking distance to the main drag.

The Bavarian Inn is the bigge$t, 'fancie$t', and probably most well known hotel in town. It is a mega-hotel with an emphasis on family fun (indoor put-put golf, 5 pools, restaurants, play lands and arcades). Little kids are EVERYWHERE. There is a restaurant, lounge/bar, and a cafeteria style eatery in the play area, and a gift shop. You could check in to this place and not ever leave it, because there is so much to do.

The Drury Inn is a much smaller and less expensive version of the Bavarian Inn with one single pool and hot tub, and no other 'fun' areas. They do offer a free hot breakfast, free pop and popcorn all day, 3 free drink coupons at the lobby's bar area to use during your stay, and a free hot appetizer bar at night. There is no where to really hang out and relax in, outside of your guest room (other than the small amount of dining tables in the lobby). If you are all about free food stuffs, and also actually getting out of your hotel and seeing what the city has to offer, this affordable place is a great place to stay at.

I would say that both hotel's guest rooms have a similar outdated look, with a Bavarian themed decor throughout the building. The hotel staff's friendliness, ease of parking, bathroom size and guest room cleanliness level seem about the same between the two places. If you really want to save some money, then stay at the Drury Inn and visit the Bavarian Inn's Family Fun areas during the day. You wont be able to get in the pools there, but you can go in the playlands, restaurants, and arcades as a visitor.

Dining

  The most amazing dining experience you will have in Frankenmuth is the Bavarian Inn restaurant. It is the quintessential Frankenmuth experience. Home made EVERYTHING, lederhosen-clad wait-staff, a roaming accordion player, and several different dining rooms that are all uniquely decorated with a whimsical Bavarian theme. It can be both a fun family restaurant, and a romantic date night all in one building. The basement of the restaurant holds the Castle Shops, so you can make your trip here a fun couple of hours! The all-you-can-eat chicken dinner is served family style and is about $20 per adults and children over 12 years old. One money saving tip: the lunch menu is available all day, and is much cheaper than the dinner menu (but it is not all-you-can-eat). Also, if you join the Perks Club, you will get a coupon for a free chicken dinner for your birthday!

There are many other places to eat in town, from the Frankenmuth Brewery to 'T Dubs' (Think: the Bavarian Buffalo Wild Wings). The Bavarian Inn Hotel (across the river from the Bavarian Inn Restaurant) has a restaurant called Oma's that has a good breakfast menu, as well as German cuisine! The whole main strip of the tourist area is full of fudge shops, candy stores, coffee shops, sausage and cheese shops, and many, many ice cream vendors. You can stroll around sampling a huge variety of unique delicacies, before deciding which place to dine at! 

The Cheese Haus, where you can see cheese being made and eat sample's of chocolate cheese

Did I mention the Bavarian Inn does great weddings?!

Shopping

The whole town of Frankenmuth is full of unique stores, all which seem to have an emphasis on original and home made items. Aside from the German beer steins, and keychain/magnet huts that are everywhere, there is a wide variety of quality leather, wool, quilts and lace goods. Like seriously nice and expensive stuff. There is the River Place mall (which has less emphasis on German type stuff, and has a food court, inflatable play place, and arcade)  the Castle shops (my favorite!), and the famous Cheese Haus!

You can shop, eat, and have a jolly good time in Frankenmuth!  If you have visited as a child, you may be pleasantly surprised to see that not a whole lot has changed since you left.

*********Things I didn't even mention, but are definitely some of the best attractions in the 'Muth so I dont want to leave them out: Bronner's, Zhender's bakery, the Popcorn Wagon in the River Place mall, the many many outdoor festivals held in town, and the wooden covered bridge in the center of town that you can walk over.

Kroger deals: Week of January 30th

Kroger frequently has a store wide sale, where if you buy 10 participating item, you will save $5.00 off of your order instantly at the checkout. Basically, you end up saving 50 cents off of each of the ten items you purchase. If you can combine this sale with using a coupon for every item, you really maximize your savings.

Here is one of the endless combinations I came up with for this sale using coupons from this week's newspaper ......

#1. Ragu pasta sauce is $1.16 when you buy it in the 10 items you purchase for this sale. This weeks paper has a coupon to save $1.00 off of two jars. Final price will be aprox. 66 cents each at the check out. Buy 4 jars, using two coupons.

#2 Cheez-It cracker are marked down to $2.49 each. There is a coupon to save $1.00 off of two boxes, making the final price per box $2.00. Use two coupons and buy 4 boxes.

#3. Marzetti Veggie Dip is marked down to $2.50, and there is a coupon available in this week's paper to save 50 cents off off ONE dip. This coupon will double to $1.00, so the final cost of one dip will be $1.50. Dip the aforementioned Cheez-Its in said dip. Use two coupons and buy two dips.

So there you have it. 10 items purchased, with $5.00 instantly saved at checkout, and another $6.00 saved from coupons. The total for all 10 items should be about $13.00, which equals a savings of about 45% off of the original price.

This is what real couponing is about, there is no need to go all psycho extreme when you can build your stockpile little by little, each week.

CVS deals: Week of January 29th

The newspaper this week had 3 inserts, including the always exciting P&G insert. I bought two newspapers and one of them even had an extra duplicate insert in it....score!



 Here is my main deal that I got this week.....  SIX "FREE" DEODORANTS!!

 

1. Speed Stick is on sale for $1.99 each. 

2. There is a deal where if you spend $12.00 on Speed Stick (which is six deodorants in this scenario), you earn $6.00 in ECB's. 

3. This week there is a coupon for BOGO Speed Stick.

I used 3 of the BOGO coupons (b/c I had three newspaper inserts) to purchase six Speed Sticks for $6.00. I earned $6.00 in ECB's, which reimbursed my spending.

My store has an amazing variety of soap, body wash, deodorant, make-up etc. that is marked with 50-75% clearance tags. Like HUGE amounts of stuff. I think they are reducing inventory? I ended up buying everything pictured here for $22.00, AND earned $14.00 in ECB's.

All the body wash here was marked down 50%, and with coupons for Irish Spring and Soft Soap from this weeks paper to save $1.00 off, I got them all for about $1.25 each! 

The Dawn dish soap is on sale for $1.00 each, and there is a coupon to save '50 cents off of two' in today's newspaper.

I saved almost SEVENTY DOLLARS today on all this stuff!!!

Cupcake Adventures

Here are a few photos showing you how I turned the ordinary into the extraordinary!

Using yellow Starburst candy for pats of butter, and caramel syrup for the gravy transformed these plain cupcakes into a fun "mashed potatoes' treat!

Recipe of the week......chocolate peanut butter fudge frosting!

I stumbled upon an easy recipe for home made chocolate fudge  frosting this weekend, while making cupcakes. I added the last two ingredients to the recipe, and had great results.....

2lb powdered sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup softened butter
2/3 cup boiling water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Nutella (optional)

Blend all ingredients together, add a little bit more hot water if needed. Yum!

This week's food coupons were not very good :-(

After a few weeks of great deals after Christmas, I was disappointed to find just one measly little insert in this week's paper. .....

Also, at Meijer this week their main sale was the '10 for $10' sale that they do every couple months. Usually there are at least  a few items in this sale that make it worthwhile to use your coupons, but this week all the items are Meijer brand items.

Hopefully the food deals pick up again next week!

Week of January 8th: Kroger deals

I don't usually shop at Kroger, unless they are running some type of fantastic sale. This week they are doing a 'buy 4 items save $4 sale". The items that are included in this sale vary from toothpaste to batteries. If you can apply coupons to these items you can save big!

Check out my local ad HERE!

Here is my example of how I fared in the "Buy 4 items, save $4" sale:

One of the things that caught my eye was the Crest toothpaste deal: $1.69 WYB four items in the "Buy 4 save $4" sale. I have two coupon to save $1.00 off of Crest, so I i'll buy two toothpastes for only 69 cents. Sweet!

For my next two items I bought  two Gillette body washes. They are $2.49 each WYB 4 participating items in the '4 for 4' sale. I have two coupons to save $1.00 off of one body wash, so each wash is $1.49 each. Score!

Overall, I paid $4.36 and saved $8.00!

If you buy multiple newspapers, you can double or triple your same exact transactions to stock up on what you really need.

New favorite recipe....Seafood creamed corn in a crockpot

 Here is what you will need....

-16 oz frozen corn kernels 

-1 diced onion

-1 chopped green bell pepper

-1 chopped red bell pepper

-1 can of Campbell's cream of shrimp soup

-1/4 cup milk

- 1 package of imitation crab meat flakes

- 8oz of flavored cream cheese-I picked chive, but Philadelphia makes a salmon flavor that would have worked great in this recipe.
-Optional extras: jalepeno, cilantro, tomatoes

How to make

1. Combine the milk, crab meat, cream cheese, and shrimp soup together
2. Add the frozen corn and veggies to your crock pot
3. pour the soup mixture over the veggies
4. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, stirring a few time throughout

Free blood glucose meter at Target this week!

Check out this great deal at Target this week

The perfect thing for that special diabetic in you life  lol

Actually, these kind of free deals are great to pick up when you are shopping to 

DONATE to a medical clinic or shelter.

Week of January 8th: CVS deals

Check out this week's CVS ad!

Suave deoderant is on sale for $1.00....and there is a coupon to save 75 cents, which means that each deodorant will be only TWENTY FIVE CENTS!

Axe Shower Gel is on sale for $4.49 each. If you buy three gels you get $4.00 in ECB's. Here is a scenario involving the BOGO coupon and dollar-off coupon available this week:

#1. Buy four shower gels for $18.00. Use two BOGO coupons from this week's paper to make the final cost $9.00 for four gels.

$9.00 - $4.00 ECB= $5.00, or $1.25 per shower gel.

or,

#2. By three shower gels for $13.50. Use one BOGO coupon AND one "$1 off" coupon, which means you will pay $8.00 out of pocket for three gels AND get $4.00 in ECB  back.

Emerald Almonds and Emeral Nut "One the go blend" are on sale two for $7.00.
A coupon is available to save 75 cents off of one product! Final price is $2.75!

Several different varieties of Nabisco crackers are on sale two for $5.00 (or $2.50 each). There is a coupon this week to save $3.00 off of three crackers, so if you buy three boxes for $7.50, your final price after coupon will be $4.50, or $1.50 each!

Last minute CVS couponing trip!

Even if I am just going to the store for one or two items, I still bring my coupon binder with me. Today's trip to CVS yielded me some high savings on necessities. After getting what I needed, I wandered around looking at all the little yellow tags to see what was on sale in each aisle. If I saw something I liked and could use, AND I had a coupon for it, it was mine! Sometimes its just fun to see what kind of last minutes deals you can score! Here is my haul..... and it all cost a mere FOURTEEN DOLLARS!!

My total savings was over $50!

Recap of 2011.........

Here are a few of my highlights of 2011......

1.Dead pig terrorizes Plymouth Township....you know you want to click on the link!

2. This blog, which was started in September, has reached a total of over 1,200 views!

3. I have saved over $1,400 alone at CVS this year by using coupons!

4. I am midway through taking a course in holistic nursing.

5. Mexico City welcomed us for a week's stay back in November

 Hoping 2012 will be just as great!

Back to the coupons-- 2012 edition!

Despite the holiday, coupons were still included in today's newspaper ('Smart Source', 'Red Plum', and "P and G")!

The latest coupons and sales seem to still be focused on medications, soups, and vitamins (all that 'wintery' health stuff), with the added category of healthy foods to go along with the start of the new year. Check out  this article to see how you can predict what is going to be on sale each month.

Check out a few deals I found:


Are you trying to quit smoking for your new year's resolution? This week there is a copon to save $15.00 off of Nicorette gum, AND a *M-Perks coupon to save $15 off of a nicorette purchase. Also, this stuff is on sale for $5.oo off the normal price. This is a triple whammy! A total savings of THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!

*******For those of you who don't know, M-Perks is the website for Meijer, where you can clip coupons to your online account. These are all considered to be 'store coupons', so you can combine 'manufactures coupons' from your newspaper with an M-Perks coupon when buying an item.This is called 'stacking' coupons.


If you are looking to stack your coupons this week, there are also the following coupons that are available both in the newspaper AND on the M-Perks website:


-Heft garbage bags
-Sensodyne toothpaste
-Hefty zip-lock baggies
-Playtex items
-Nature Made Vitamins-- BOGO free this week!


Other deals include:

Nivea body wash is on sale two for $7.00. There is a coupon this week in the newspaper to save $1.00 off of one item. The final price will be $2.50 per wash.

Slimfast 4-packs are on sale for $5.00 each this week. There is an awesome BOGO free coupon in this week's paper, so you can save big on these!