Sweet Savings

I am currently on a "saving money" kick. We aren't usually extravagant spenders, but don't pinch our pennies either. I am the one to balance the checkbook and so I see how much we spend on certain things--eating out for example. Now don't get me wrong; I love to eat out. If I don't have to think of it, make it, and clean up afterwards, I'm all for it. But there for awhile, it seemed like every third entry in the checkbook was for "dining." (and we had some big grocery bills this month, mostly due to C's party). So I decided to be a good steward and see how much money I could save at the grocery store and how little we could go out to eat in a week.

A friend from college has a website dedicated to saving money at the grocery store. (www.mysweetsavings.com) I started getting some ideas from her, starting with getting a paper for the coupons and sale ads (I don't know that I will ever be as extreme as she is). I've gotten the paper for 2 weeks now. (This past week I had 2 papers given to me--with all the ads and coupons still in it! Thanks Miss J!) I do have to say that it takes me awhile just to get ready to go to Wal-Mart! First I make my menu list. Then I write down all the ingredients I need. Then I see what I have and cross out what I don't need to get. Then I look in the sale ads (Wal Mart does comparison shopping; very nice) Then I go through my coupons. I've also looked on the internet for coupons, especially for name brand stuff. For example, this week I needed sunscreen for the kids. I love the spray on kind but it's so expensive! I got on Banana Boat's website and there was a coupon for $2 off! Nice.

Now to my bragging time :)
This week I only spent $109 at Wal Mart. That's groceries for an entire week. Actually it wasn't all groceries. I bought a phone card for my phone and had a price match for it too! (Usually it's $19.88; I paid $17.99). I saved $10.09 just in price matches and had $7.15 in coupons for a grand total of $17.24 in savings!

I was so excited! I called Daddy twice to tell him all that I had saved. He kiddingly asked if I was going to blog about it. Of course! It's very note worthy! Now that I see what I have saved, I'm very excited to try again next week. I think I'll go start now. (anyone have any inexpensive dinner suggestions?)

Product Review/What's for dinner?

I've never done a "product review" on here before. The other day my mom and I were discussing dinner options, and I told her about these stuffed chicken breasts. These are YUMO! Most of you know that I am the Queen of quick, easy, out-of-a-box-type dinners. So these are right up my alley. They are Sam's Choice but I found them at my Wal Mart. They have 4 or 5 different "flavor" choices. I've tried the artichoke and something or another stuffed one and it was pretty good too. This flavor is accepted by all of my family. I made a Past-a-Roni box of angel hair pasta with herbs to go with it and some garlic/cheddar biscuits (Bisquick recipe). The chicken is no prep; just put it on a foil covered cookie sheet and bake. It does take 30-35 minutes, so be prepared. Very little clean-up is another plus! Try them!

A Fondue Experience

Daddy and I got to go to The Melting Pot last night. It was mostly a Valentine's dinner. We had the best time. We have done fondue at home before, so we kinda knew what to expect. However, we had never done cheese fondue before. We had a spicy Mexican cheese and had breads, veggies, apples, and chips to dip. Next was a Cobb salad (what makes it Cobb?) It was very good.

Now for the main course: BBQ tenderloin, fillet, salmon, shrimp, chicken, spinach ravioli (the one thing Daddy turned his nose up at but turned out to be both one of our favorites), and veggies (mushrooms, broccoli, squash, potatoes). We had a Coq A Vin base for the fondue "type" It was OK, but we both said we would try something different next time. There were also 7 different dipping sauces--the best was the teriyaki.

The final course was the dessert course: chocolate fondue with crunchy peanut butter melted in. YUMO! There were many choices to dip in the chocolate: graham cracker crumb covered marshmallows, Oreo crumb covered marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, brownies, Rice Krispie treats, pound cake, and cheesecake. Doesn't it make your mouth water just thinking about it? The best course by far was the dessert course. Daddy and I have decided that if we ever go again (if, if, if) we would just get the cheese course and the dessert course.

We had such a good time, but I was so full at the end that I was almost uncomfortable. If you ever get to go, be prepared to spend a lot of money, a lot of time, and be very stuffed when you are done. It was AWESOME!

Here are pictures before we become overly stuffed.

Side notes: (Yes, I was the nerd who took her camera into the restaurant to take pictures. And C wanted to know why he couldn't go on the date with us. #1: It's a Mommy and Daddy date #2: I am not paying those prices for him!)