Time To Stock Up

The pantry is running low, and it looks like it is time to make a gigantic Aldi run. The closest Aldi is 30 minutes away, but it is a great place to save.  Shopping and stockpiling for a few months also helps me plan my monthly dinner menus.  Having a stocked pantry also keeps me in the kitchen cooking, instead of grabbing take-out.

Here are a few of my favorite Aldi items that I like to keep stocked:

• Cake Mix, Icing, and Brownie Mix: all are delicious, and make tasty treats for the boys
• Oatmeal and Chocolate Chips: I make a lot of cookies, so these have to be stocked at all times
• Canned Goods: green beans, corn, and black olives too
• Pasta and Tomato Sauce: Spaghetti night is a simple dinner, and I also use the Tomato Sauce for pizza too
• Rice: Aldi has great and inexpensive Rice in a 3 pound bag. One bag will make sides for months
• Canned soups: you can’t beat Aldi’s prices on Cream and Condensed Soup. I use them for fast lunches, or casseroles too.
• Bread, Bagels, Waffles, and Cream Cheese: from breakfast to lunches, these are great time savers
• Chili Supplies: I can buy them for about 1/2 price at Aldi. I usually buy for at least 3 batches of Chili
• Chips and Lunch-box treats: With Thade in school, and taking lunch everyday, these are necessities in the kitchen
• Peanut Butter and Jelly: Thade loves Peanut Butter sandwiches, so I really go through the Peanut Butter in our house
• Potatoes, and fresh fruits and veggies: You can usually pick up a 10 pound bag of Russets for a great price. I like to a little bit of time to mash them and freeze them for future dinners

So what do you like to keep in your pantry stockpile?

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I Got $1.00

I had seen this online, but I didn’t know if our town was participating… This weekend there is a great program called Bucks for Buckles and if you are spotted with your seat-belt on you can earn $1.00! We got stopped yesterday in the school exit line, and sure enough we were all buckled in and I thought it was pretty cool to earn a buck. Keeping the kiddos safe in the car is a number one priority for me, and they are always buckled in safely in their car seats.

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July Coupon Savings

July has come and gone, and I’ve got my coupon savings totaled for the month. I’m pretty happy about these savings too. In the month of July I saved $24.15 by using coupons, and that brings my year to date total up to $86.31! Not too bad. Let’s see how August goes, I’ve got to stock up on a lot of groceries and school lunch supplies this month. Bring on the savings.

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Coupon Bonanza: Pizza Buffet at Home

One of the boy’s favorite meals is called Appetizer Buffet. I pick out a few frozen appetizers to bake at home, and set up a big buffet on the table, pass out plates, and let everybody dig in. Usually I pick up whatever is on sale and looks good, but this time when Appetizer Buffet was on the menu I decided to go through my coupons and see if I could find some good deals.

I came up with enough coupons to make a tasty Pizza Buffet at home. Let’s break down the costs…

• Red Baron French Bread Pizza (2 pk) $3.33 ( I had $.75 in coupons)
• Red Baron French Bread Pizza (2 pk) $3.33 (I had $.75 in coupons)
• Digiorno Flatbread Melts $2.78 ( I had $.75 in coupons)
• New York Toast: Garlic Cheese Bread $2.98 (I had $.40 in coupons)
• 1/4 Jar of Pasta Sauce: the jar was $1.09, so I used about $.25

The Buffet supplies came to $12.67, and I had $2.65 in coupons, so that gives me $10.02 for lunch/ or about $2.50 a person. The best news though, I used only 1/2 of the pizzas and garlic bread, so I had enough left over for a fast dinner for the kiddos. Shopping wisely with coupons gave me 2 full meals for 4 hungry people for about $10.00, I think that is a great deal! No complaints from the boy’s either, they loved the buffet, and I have a few more coupons to keep this simple meal going.

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