Menu Plan Monday-September 1

Menu Plan Monday-September 1

Happy Labor Day! Here is our plan for the week:

Monday
Hot Dogs
Tater Tots
Baked Beans

Tuesday
Spicy Skillet Chicken
Rice

Wednesday
Ham
Macaroni and Cheese
Peas
Salad

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
Sweet and Sour Meatball
(didn't make last week)
Rice
Veggie

Sunday
Cowboy Hash and Eggs
Salsa
Toast

Be sure to visit I'm and Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Have a Great Week!

Another Gift Card Giveaway!

Another CVS Giftcard Giveaway!



Jenna, over at Newlyweds! is also giving away a $25 CVS Giftcard just for leaving a comment at this post. Be sure to visit her blog and get some great ideas and recipes!

Win a CVS Giftcard

CVS Giftcard Giveaway!



Shannon at The Savin' Maven is giving away a free CVS gift card for $25. Just visit her blog here and post a comment to be entered into the random drawing. Even if you don't win, you can get some great money saving ideas.

Testimonial at Church

My husband, Tom, recently spoke at church. He was the final speaker in an eight week series at church entitled "Unlocking Passages". This series focused on passages in the Bible that had special meaning in the speaker's life. Tom's testimonial was very moving. I hope you enjoy it.

Click here to listen!


Leave a comment and let us know what you thought.

Menu Plan Monday August 25

Last week the menus didn't quite go as planned, but I still managed to use what I had on hand. I only shopped for milk this week. I am recycling menus from last week and continuing to search for new recipes (especially for pork!).

Monday
Pork chops w/ gravy
bow-tie pasta
veggie
pears (from neighbor's tree)

Tuesday
Chicken stew
rice
broccoli

Wednesday
Hamburger Stroganoff
egg noodles
vegetable medley

Thursday
leftovers
brownies
Ga Tech Football opener on TV!

Friday
Chicken Fajitas
homemade salsa
chips
homemade guacamole

Saturday
Sweet and sour meatballs
rice
veggie

Sunday
Chicken Breasts Pierre
Noodles
green beans

Be sure to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Have a great week!

Walgreens Coupon--Two days only!











Check out the latest coupon from Walgreens--$5/$20. This coupon is good for two days only-- Friday (8/22) and Saturday (8/23). Go here to print your coupon.

Thanks to Money Saving Mom.

Rick Warren's Forum with Obama and McCain

If you missed the CNN special with Rick Warren last Saturday night check out the link below. The website has several video segments that you can choose to watch. Pastor Warren asked great questions, and I think these interviews give real insight to the character of each of the Presidential Candidates. CNN will also replay the Forum on Sunday at 8 p.m.



http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/


Interesting stuff!

Menu Plan Monday - August 18

We still have a freezer full of meat and an overstocked pantry and thanks to a great Publix trip yesterday, we have lots of frozen vegetables. My husband informed me that I need to take a break from shopping, simply because we are loaded with food. We need to use up what we have stockpiled and be on a much stricter grocery budget for the rest of the month. I am going to budget myself to only $20.00 for the rest of the month for milk and produce.

Monday
*Nephews over to swim
Adults - leftovers (either home made chicken & rice or home made Bar-B-Que)
Kids - Chicken nuggets, Shells n Cheese & grapes

Tuesday
Pork Chops
Pasta-Roni
Broccoli

Wednesday
Chicken Breasts w/ mushroom gravy
Rice
Vegetable Medley

Thursday
Eggs
Bacon
Grits
Toast
Fruit

Friday
Homemade pizza
salad

Saturday
Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Rice
Vegetable Medley

Sunday
Bar-b-cue Pork Sandwiches
Oven fries
Watermelon

Be sure to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas!

Have a great week!

The Check is in the Mail!

Rebate Checks - Are they worth it?

Here are some rebate checks that I got in the mail this past week. Individually, they don't really look like much. Some people ask me if it's really worth it to do all that work for just $2.69.

These four checks total to just over $30.00 and there are more on the way.

So is it worth it?

Yeah, I think so...

Menu Plan Monday- August 11

Saturday we made a trip to Dublin, GA to visit my sister, Ann, and her husband, Thomas. (More on this trip in a later post--with pictures.) They own a large farm. We went to pick up a whole hog that they got for us. Before we left, they loaded us up with eggplant, figs, and tomatoes from their garden. I have another sister, Carla, who lives in a rental house on Ann & Thomas' land. Carla sent us home with 7 dozen eggs from her chickens. Needless to say, the menus this week are using meat from our over-stuffed freezer and other items from our trip.

Monday
BBQ pork ribs
Oven fries
Watermelon (Also from Carla)

Tuesday
Eggplant Parmesean (trying new recipe)
sliced tomatoes
carrot sticks

Wednesday
Bacon
eggs
grits
Orange juice

Thursday
Chicken and rice
green peas
sliced tomatoes
Watermelon (if any left)

Friday
Homemade pizza
salad

Saturday
Leftovers

Be sure to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas!

Have a great week!

My favorite thing this week doesn't belong to me. A friend asked me to embroider two linen dish towels as a gift for someone with my professional embroidery machine. As you see from the picture, the message was simply "Lakein' with the Meads". These towels will remind the receiver of a special time spent with good friends. A simple, but very meaningful gift that I know will be appreciated. My friend, Su, always knows just the right personal gift.


Be sure to visit Fiddledeedee for more of My Favorite Things!

Wal-mart Shopping 8/8/8

I stopped at Wal-mart just to run in and get some Huggies wipes and the newest All You magazine. I ended up getting a few other items--big surprise! I actually clipped coupons right out of the magazine in the grocery aisle. Here is a breakdown of the transaction:

All You Magazine x2 $1.77 each
Kool-aid x 9 $0.20 each
Kraft dressing--free wyb 3 Kraft items (kool-aid) coupon in All You
Kraft mac & cheese x 6 ($0.50 each)
Blueberry Mini Wheats-- $2.92--$1 coupon from All You (rebate form on box for free)
Oscar Mayer beef franks--free wyb 3 Kraft items (kool-aid x 3) coupon in All You
Huggies Clean Team wipes x2--$3/2 coupon from 7/20 insert making them $0.14 each
Kraft American singles--free wyb 3 Kraft items (kool-aid) coupon in All You
Wheat Thins--free wyb 3 Kraft items (mac & cheese)--coupon in All You
Crystal Light--free wyb 3 Kraft items (mac & cheese)--coupon in All You

My total before coupons: $28.04

Total after coupons: $10.54 and I will send in the rebate for cereal ($2.92 back)

Be sure to pick up the All You magazine. It has some great articles and recipes, as well as a lot more coupons.

Menus for Aug 4-10

As a result of my awesome Kroger trip yesterday, this week is heavy on the chicken dishes. School is starting Monday, so my daughter and husband will be having lunches at school. Breakfasts will be cereal--need to be quick since the first week of school is always hectic.

Dinners:

Monday
Chunky Chicken Barley Soup
Homemade Bread
Watermelon

Tuesday
Colorado White Chili
Tortillas
Fruit

Wednesday
Spaghetti
Noodles
Garlic bread
Fresh Cherries

Thursday
BBQ chicken in crockpot
Rice
Corn
Grapes

Friday
Homemade Pizza
Fruit

Saturday
Chicken Breasts Pierre
Rice or Noodles
Broccoli

Sunday
Ham
Macaroni and cheese
Green peas
OR--Leftovers

Have a great week!

Kroger Mega Sale 8/2/08

Super Savings Saturday

Sometimes you have to have flexibility in your grocery budget. A new month has just started so my goal was to spend $400 for August--the same as July. Well, two opportunities have come up. First, my sister who owns a farm in central Georgia let me know of an opportunity to purchase a whole hog. The price for a 200 lb hog is $210.00 processed. We planned ahead for that and I thought we still might get by with the remaining $190 for the month. That was until I went to Kroger today and saw organic chicken marked down. Breast $1.19/lb, thighs $0.59/lb, drumsticks $0.79/lb! Rather than miss the opportunity, I gave myself permission to go over budget on groceries for August. It was really an easy decision. I knew we were very low on meat in the freezer, and I had actually prayed for good deals this week to replenish our freezer. God certainly answered my prayers! I stopped right there in the meat department and said a prayer of thanksgiving! I bought 19 packages of organic chicken--mostly skinless boneless breasts, about 6 packages of thighs and two packages of drumsticks. In addition to the organic chicken, I got Hormel ham, chicken wings, and Tyson breaded tenders. By having flexibility in this months grocery budget, I will be able to spend far less for the next several months!

My original reason for going to Kroger was to get in on the Mega Event. I still did this and got other awesome deals. My total savings was 73%! I paid only $85.39 for all of these groceries. I praised God all the way home!