Wednesday, June 29, 2016

What I'd buy at Kroger this week

Trying a new format out for this post! Let me know what you think.

Bakery
□ Kroger Buns -- 10 for $10
Beverages
□ Coca-Cola, Pepsi or Canada Dry  -- 4 for $11 (this is my price point for name brand soda)
□ Gatorade or G2 32 fl oz or Propel, 24 fl oz -- $0.69 each when you buy 10
□ Big K 2 Liter -- $0.69 each + ibotta
Meat & Seafood
□ Hormel Pork Tenderloin or Loin Filet -- BOGO free *
□ Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs -- 10 for $10
□ Perdue Split Chicken Breasts or Drumsticks, Thighs or Whole Fryer -- $0.99/lb **
□ Snow Crab Clusters -- $5.99/lb ***
Produce
□ Blackberries or Raspberries -- 2 for $5
□ Blueberries -- $2.99 each
□ Cucumbers or Green Bell Peppers -- 2 for $0.98
□ Kroger Vegetables 10-12 oz -- 10 for $10
□ Mangos -- $0.69 each
□ Organic Strawberries or Raspberries -- $2.99 each
□ Southern Yellow Peaches -- $0.99/lb
□ Strawberries -- 3 for $5 ****
□ Sweet Corn -- 3 for $0.99
□ Whole Seedless Watermelons -- $2.99 each
□ Yellow or Zucchini Squash $0.98/lb

* Only buy the pork deal if it gets you the loins for $1.89/lb or under. 
** If you have the time to do a little bit of work, buy these chicken breasts in bulk. Debone and de-skin them and freeze. This is the ideal price for chicken breasts. (Note: I would not pay this price for thighs.)
*** I prefer to pay $4.99/lb, but this is a decent price as well
**** this is a STEAL for strawberries

IBOTTA matchups:
-- $0.25 back on any brand of cola 2-liter. This gets you soda for $0.44 cents for a 2L. 

Kroger Ibotta deals for generic items:
-- $0.25 back for any brand of: bananas, diapers, baby food, frozen pizza, ice cream, orange juice, ginger beer, chips, granola bars, jelly, shredded cheese, laundry detergent

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Other Ways I Earn: Receipt Hog


Receipt Hog is another app to which you upload receipts and get rewards. This is my slowest-earning app because the reward for each receipt (payed out in "coins") is small. However, this app also accepts almost all kinds of receipts, and it does not matter what you purchased (as opposed to Find&Save and Ibotta). For this reason, I continue to use Receipt Hog.

I have earned $30 in Amazon credit from the app (you can also earn PayPal dollars) and am about to earn a second $30. I wait until I earn $30 worth because it is a better "deal". You can cash out faster if you need the money, but it takes more coins to equal a dollar if you cash out at $10 or $20 than it does if you cash out at $30 (the maximum).

Something that helps me earn faster is uploading receipts from other people. My mother-in-law saves her receipts for me, which earns me rewards much faster.

This post contains referral links.

What I'd buy at Publix this week

I'm trying a new format for this post. Let me know your opinion!


What I'd buy at Kroger this week

I was not impressed with really any meat specials this week, but summer always wins in the produce department! Ibotta (referral link) match-ups are good this week, also.

Cucumbers 2 for $0.98
Green bell peppers 2 for $0.98*
Vidalia sweet onions $0.98/lb*
Mangos $0.69 each
Zucchini or yellow squash $0.98/lb* (ideas to use zucchini here)
Broccoli crowns $1.58/lb**
Blueberries 2 for $3.00
Cantaloupes $1.99 each
Personal size watermelons $1.99 each
Sweet corn 3 for $0.99*

*Ibotta (referral link) rebates match-up:
Green bell peppers $0.25
Onions $0.25
Corn $0.25
Zucchini $0.25

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Aldi haul 6/16/2016

I got up the energy to finally get to Aldi (because Athens has so spoiled me that a store 10 minutes away is just. so. far.), and I'm so glad I did! They not only had their typical excellent produce deals (bananas for $0.29/lb?!), but also had grass-fed ground beef for $2.89/lb! That is by far the best deal I've ever seen on grass-fed beef, and it's even less than you can usually get the cheapest ground beef at any store.

Here's what I got for $50.54:

6 lbs of grass-fed ground beef
Bag of spinach
2 lbs of strawberries
1 pint of blueberries
12 oz of blackberries
1 mango
1 avocado
5 bananas
3 lbs of sweet potatoes
2 lbs of Vidalia onions
4 cans of cut green beans
4 cans of very small young peas
2 boxes corn muffin mix
6 lunch-sized applesauce cups
6 bagels
16 oz heavy whipping cream
1 lb butter
1 package of gallon freezer bags

Please ignore the mess behind the loot! At least one of everything I bought is pictured.


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Recipe Ideas for Kroger Deals

Pork tenderloin: http://laurenkellynutrition.com/garlic-balsamic-crusted-pork-tenderloin/

Zucchini: http://www.jocooks.com/main-courses/pork-main-courses/stuffed-zucchini/

Salmon: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/114490015505694612/

Shrimp: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/114490015498337299/


I bought pork at Sam's Club, now what? Part One: Chops

So, you listened to my sage (lol) advice and purchased a pork loin at Sam's Club. You even braved asking an employee to slice it into chops for you. Awesome! You now have pork chops for approximately $1.89 or cheaper per pound. Way less than pre-cut chops at the store, which can run around $3.per pound. Now... what do you do with them?

I like to freeze my chops into dinner-sized portions. For us, that's about 4-5 chops at a time. For this, I use my FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System (affiliate link), but you can certainly just use freezer grade ziploc bags (I buy mine at Aldi). If you are using ziploc bags, make sure you remove as much air as possible before sealing and freezing.

On pork chop day, I almost always use my favorite chop recipe from All Day I Dream About Food. I love this recipe because it is so quick and easy to make. I like to serve it with whatever vegetables were on sale that week. Or canned veggies from Aldi if there were no great veggie sales. Baked sweet potatoes (favorite recipe here) also go well with this, although they require a little planning ahead due to baking time.

The recipe calls for whiskey, but if you don't keep liquor in the house (what?!?), it works just fine without the whiskey. It also works just fine without the chicken broth, if you're like me and sometimes are too lazy to thaw pork chops AND broth in the same night. I have actually adapted this recipe and use wayyyy more heavy cream than the original calls for, because heavy whipping cream is this family's favorite ingredient. I also have adapted the cream sauce recipe for other meats (for instance, I botched the steak so we need to cover it with cream).

This pork chop recipe turned pork chop night from something my husband tolerated into a night he enjoys.

What to buy at Sam's Club

Southern Savers has a great post about what to buy at Sam's Club. Here's my take:

Nuts. I have done the unit price comparison, and buying nuts at Sam's Club is by far the cheapest option. They beat Aldi by a good bit. If you use a lot of nuts, it's a steal. My husband eats nuts for quick and easy snacks, uses them to make his favorite homemade protein bars and flavored nut mix, and eats them as salad toppings. We always run out before they go bad!

Tires. Yeah, I've bought tires at Sam's Club. They are usually a great deal, and I love that they will put them on for you right then and there. I'm a fan.

Fresh fruit. If you have a big family or are hosting a party, then absolutely shop at Sam's club for your fruit. When I'm being very frugal, I'll buy berries and freeze them for my husband's smoothies (almost always cheaper than buying frozen fruit). But for my smaller family, I found that buying fresh fruit at Sam's club often means it goes bad before we can use it.

Cheese. I love buying cheese at Sam's Club. I like fancy shredded sharp cheddar cheese, personally. I buy the 5 pound bags (which are a great deal when you look at unit price). Then I freeze the cheese in smaller ziploc baggies (or you could use a FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System -- I love mine!). Shredded cheese holds up remarkably well to freezing. I just take a baggie out of the fridge as I need it.

Meat. My favorite deal at Sam's Club is the pork loin. At the club in Athens, pork loin goes on sale for $1.89 or less every couple of months. I buy multiple and have them cut the loin (which they do for free) into either smaller roasts or pork chops, which I then freeze in dinner-sized portions. This saves me a lot of money on pork.

I also buy laundry detergent, oxi clean, and Carnation Instant Breakfast at "the Club". What are some items you have found to be better deals at Sam's?

Deals this week at Publix

Publix has some produce deals this week that are cheaper than Kroger.

Raspberries 3 for $6
Blueberries 3 for $6
Strawberries 2 for $5
Avocados 10 for $10

Deals this week at Kroger

Pork loin $1.79/lb*
Kroger brand canned veggies $0.44 per can
Peaches $0.99/lb
Cucumbers 2 for $0.98
Sweet corn 3 for $0.99
Salmon fillets $4.99/lb
Key West shrimp $4.99/lb
Strawberries 2/$5 ($2.50/lb)
Zucchini or yellow squash $0.98/lb
Mango 2 for $0.98

*This is a decent price for pork, but I still prefer to buy mine at Sam's Club because they slice it for me. #lazymom

Did I miss any great deals on things you regularly buy?

Friday, June 10, 2016

How I Buy Chicken Breasts

Have you heard of Zaycon Fresh (referral link)? They are a company that provides bulk meat that you pick up at a location in your zip code on a specific date.

I just ordered my second case of chicken and spent an hour divvying up the breasts into dinner-sized portions. I also pre-cut some nuggets and chicken tenders for easier thawing and prep.

I first heard about Zaycon Fresh from a coworker. Intrigued, I bought a case (40 lbs) of chicken and was hooked. These chicken breasts come from giant chickens -- they are definitely the largest breasts I've ever seen (on a chicken). I also have found them to be of superb quality.

When I was unemployed and we were broke, I had a rule that I never spent more than $0.99/lb on chicken. This is very doable, but you have to really search for chicken breasts at that price, and you have to be willing to de-bone them yourself. This is not very difficult (I learned by watching a YouTube video), but it is time-consuming. Now that I work and have a child, I find it reasonable to spend slightly more for a little less work. Eventually, I would like to go back to the $0.99/lb rule, but for now, this will do. I buy my Zaycon Fresh chicken when they have deals, so I spend $1.95/lb on it. This price includes tax.

Zaycon Fresh has many other products, but I can only personally vouch for the chicken.

Our favorite thing to do with the chicken breasts is make chicken nuggets or chicken tenders. For this, we use our countertop deep fryer (affiliate link). This appliance has been one of my favorite kitchen toys. It makes delicious nuggets/tenders in about 8 minutes, can fry from frozen, and is also excellent for french fries or sweet potato fries. Mmmmm. We fry in beef fat from the half cow we purchased, but I have also had success with peanut oil (which I used to buy in bulk at Sam's Club before we began using the lard).

Thursday, June 9, 2016

What I'd Buy at Kroger this week

18 ct large eggs 2/$3
Sweet corn 3/$0.99
Cantaloupe 2/$5
Blueberries $2.99 for a pint
Raspberries 4/$5 for 6 oz
Peaches $0.98 per lb
Zucchini or yellow squash $0.98 per lb
Green beans $0.98 per lb***
Mangoes $0.99 each

Tide 50 fl oz $4.99 each if you buy 5 items of the mix-n-match "buy 5, save $5". There is also an electronic Kroger coupon for $2 off a Tide product.

*** I am so excited about this. Green beans are easy to freeze and cook well from frozen. I'd buy a large amount if you have the freezer space.

Did I miss any good deals on items you regularly buy?

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Other Ways I Earn: Swagbucks

This post is something I wrote a few years ago on my personal blog, but I thought it was worth sharing. Some things have changed for me since then, so I don't spend nearly the same amount of time on Swagbucks as I used to, but I still earn a gift card or two a year based on online shopping and the daily poll on my iPhone app. 

So, I've been getting some requests to explain how SwagBucks works, and I thought I would put it here so that I only need to explain it once.

WHAT IS SWAGBUCKS?

SwagBucks is a site by which you earn points and in turn redeem those points for prizes, such as coupons, gift cards, trinkets, etc. The prizes for which I am saving are all gift cards because I believe in using SwagBucks to truly save me money.

WAYS TO EARN: this list is by no means exhaustive -- I'm just hitting what I consider to be the high points.

ONE-TIME EARNINGS:

  • Go to the survey page and complete your survey profile. It is a series of mini-surveys about your habits so they can better match you up with outside surveys. You will get a minimum of 5 SwagBucks from each profile section.
DAILY EARNINGS:
  • Visit SwagBucks Surveys -- 1 SB
  • Proceed through the NOSO tab. That's No Obligation Special Offers. By clicking through, you should earn 2 SB.
  • Invite a friend
  • Take the daily poll. 1 SB
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES:
  • I visit the Special Offers section every day (specifically the Peanut Labs tab) because there are often free offers that require only watching an ad video, etc.
  • You can also take surveys to earn points. I quickly learned that a survey over about 15 minutes makes me want to die, so I weed out my options by length and then by potential SB earned. 
  • You can earn SB by playing games, but my opinion is that the time to SB earned is not worth the effort. 
  • You can also earn by watching SwagBucks TV, but again, I believe it takes too long to earn too little. Decide for yourself!

ADVICE:

If you are going to start participating in SwagBucks, ordering freebies, etc., I highly recommend that you go to gmail.com and make an email just for your "frugal" escapades. Mine is frugallagurf@gmail.com. I use this only for savings sites, which means that my REAL email is not tied up in a million offers or updates / day.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

GO HERE TO SIGN UP!

What to do with zucchini

I am not a huge veggie person, so I love it when zucchini, one of those green things I actually like, is on sale. Unfortunately, zucchini does not freeze very well, and I personally don't think it's worth the effort for the gross soggy thawed mess you end up with. That begin said, what do you do when you buy lots of on sale zucchini?

Just plain zucchini

My husband loves zucchini oven-roasted or pan-sauteed. He likes to mix it in with ground beef and cheese for a (very) hearty meal. There are also recipes online for zucchini fries and zucchini chips.

Zucchini pizza bites

Zucchini pizza bites are surprisingly good and easy to make. There are lots of recipes online. This one looks delicious. Moment of honesty here from your favorite lazy cook? I'd totally omit the pre-cooking of the zucchini and pop those suckers straight in the oven. It has worked for me in the past, and I'm all about fewer pans to clean. You can also top your "pizzas" with whatever toppings you prefer. I usually stick to cheese, but ground beef or any other meat toppings would work if you don't want to waste your money on purchase those adorable mini pepperonis.

Zucchini noodles ("zoodles")

I just ordered myself a Veggetti Spiral Vegetable Slicer (affiliate link). Those things fascinate me, and I cannot wait to use it! Plus, it was on sale and I had a $5 giftcard that I earned from Swagbucks (referral link), so I only spent $3.19 on it. With how often we make veggie "pasta", I'm sure it'll get put to good use.

If it's not in your budget to buy a Veggetti, you can still eat vegetable pasta! It's my favorite way to use on-sale zucchini. All you need is your trusty peeler (I use the OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler (affiliate link)), but I'm sure any peeler would work.

Toss the zoodles in some butter or olive oil on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce. (They are delicious with an impromptu lemon cream sauce.)

Shredded zucchini in burgers

Call me crazy, but one of my favorite ways to use zucchini is to sneak it into burgers. Then I don't even know I'm eating those pesky vegetables! Seriously, though, adding in 1/4 or so of shredded zucchini into a pound of ground beef makes for some juicy burgers. I also like to mix shredded cheese into the burger patties (and jalapenos for my husband).

We cook our burgers in the oven  and they are delicious. We also eat them naked, but I'm sure they'd also be yummy inside a bun. This recipe calls for using an oven-safe cookie rack (affiliate link), which is how I cook mine.


What I'd buy at Publix 6/1-6/7

Publix has some decent steak deals this week, with steaks ranging from $6 to $9 per pound. Their other meat sales, however are significantly more expensive than those at Kroger.

Raspberries 3/$6
Mangoes 10/$10
Vidalia Sweet Onions $0.69/lb***


***Ibotta rebates for this week at Publix

  • $0.25 back for any brand of mayonnaise, bread, eggs, bacon
  • $0.25 back for loose apples, potatoes, onions***, broccoli, oranges, red bell peppers, brussels sprouts
  • $0.25 back for any brand of laundry detergent, baby food

Did I miss any good Publix prices?

What I'd buy at Kroger 6/1-6/7

Chicken Drumsticks or Thighs $0.69
Boneless Pork Loin $1.79
Cantaloupe $1.88 each * (buying point $2 each)
Simple Truth Almond/Coconut/Organic Soy milk 2/$5 **
Southern Yellow Peaches $0.99/lb
Strawberries $1.68/lb * (buying point ($2.50/lb)
Avocados 2/$0.99* (buying point $0.99 each)
Zucchini $0.98/lb* (buying point $1.29/lb)
Kroger or Private Selection Bacon $2.99 each***
Vidalia sweet onions $0.98/lb***

*This is a great deal
**These are usually $2.79 each. Not a fantastic savings, but as cheap as I've seen these products get.

Ibotta Rebates at Kroger this week:

  • $0.25 back on any brand of bread, eggs, bacon***
  • $0.25 back on loose apples, potatoes, onions***, broccoli, oranges, red bell peppers, brussels sprouts
  • $0.25 back on any brand of baby food