Economic Endeavors

Ok, confession time. While I'm an addicted, maybe even obsessed couponer when it comes to CVS, I really haven't been in the habit of matching up coupons for groceries. This really is silly, considering that I buy 6 -8 papers every Sunday and have all of these grocery coupons going to waste.

So I'm going to try to take the time each week to plan out a menu based either on the deals at Meijer or the deals at Kroger, or both if they're just that good, and plan out a list that matches the coupons to the sales.

This week I didn't even look at the Kroger ad. I'm tempted to now, but I have my week's worth of groceries planned out for under $40 (that wasn't a planned number, just what it came out to be. I was hoping to have it under $50) just from looking over the Meijer ad.

Ok, here's my Menu Plan for Dinners this week (lots of chicken):

Crockpot Thai Chicken, (thanks OrgJunkie!) brown rice, canned veggies
Chicken, Salsa, sour cream, and cheese in crockpot, spanish rice, canned veggies
Marinated Chicken on the grill, corn on the cob
Chicken Helper, canned veggies
hamburgers, fries, salad
Calzones, salad

For the Crockpit Thai Chicken, I'm going to use a whole chicken, because it's on sale at Meijer this week. I have pretty much all of the other ingredients already, including the brown rice.

For the Chicken, Salsa, etc., I have a little stockpile of salsa in my cupboard from a previous week at Meijer. I also have all of the ingredients for the spanish rice on hand.

For the marinated Chicken, I'm working my way through 5 bottles of Lawry's Marinade from a previous week at Meijer when I was able to get them for free.

For the Hamburgers, we bought a box of 32 frozen patties for $12 for the 4th of July, knowing there would be many left over. We still have at least half of the box, so we'll be having them at least once a week until they're gone.

For the Calzones, I bought everything to make them last week, but forgot to buy sauce (spaghetti or pizza). So this week that's all I need to make that meal.


Ok, so here's what I'll be buying at Meijer (I'm doing separate transactions because Meijer only doubles 2 of the same coupon per transaction, and the Colgate toothpaste and Betty Crocker Warm Delights will be free after their coupons are doubled):

Transaction 1:

$9.99 (2) 40oz Meijer frozen chicken breasts, B1G1 (5 lbs)
$2.56 3lb grade a fresh whole chicken ($0.89/lb - $1/1 Mealbox coupon)
$1 (4) corn on the cob
$4 (6) DelMonte canned veggies
$0.79 Meijer 16oz sour cream (on sale $1.29, -$0.50 Mealbox coupon)
$2 Spaghetti sauce
$2.77 Gallon Milk
$3 (estimate) Half price Sargento shredded cheese
::The following is advertised in-store on a shelf tag (not in the ad) as Buy 2, Get 2 free EZ-PIC instant coupon savings, the register will scan the first 3 at $1.99, and when the 4th is scanned, it will subtract $1.99 twice from your total, and will say "Free item EZ-PIC" on the receipt:
$0 (4) bags Malt-o-Meal Bagged Cereal - Buy 2 at $1.99, get 2 free, EzPIC instant savings (use 4 $1/1 printables)
::The following items are 10/$10, get 11th free:
$4 (6) Hamburger Helper (after 2 $1/3 printable coupons)
$0 (2) Colgate Total toothpastes (after 2 $0.50/1 from 6/29 SS, doubled)
$0 (2) Betty Crocker Warm Delights (free after 2 doubled $.50 coupons from 7/13 SS,)
$0 OreIda Easy Fries (11th item free discount)


Transaction 2:

$2 (4) Dole salads (after 2 $1/2 printable coupons)
$2 (2) Aunt Millie's hamburger buns
$0 (2) Colgate Total toothpastes (10 for $10, -2 $0.50 from 6/29 SS, doubled)
$0 (2) Betty Crocker Warm Delights (free after doubled $.50 coupon from 7/13 SS)
$0 OreIda Easy Fries (11th item free discount)

And I'll do these in two more separate transactions, since I have a total of 8 coupons for these to use:

$0 2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights (free after doubled $.50 coupon from 7/13 SS)
$0 2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights (free after doubled $.50 coupon from 7/13 SS)

All in all, my total should be $36.11 before tax. Not bad!

I have plenty of Chef Boyardee (from a previous Kroger sale), PB&J, and ramen noodles for lunches this week, and I'm sure there'll be left-overs as well.

And a big thanks to MommySnacks for the heads up on a couple of the above deals, and for the motivation to go digging for some more!