Penny Pinching Peach

For the semi crunchy, homeschool friendly and totally frugal!


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Spicy to Sweet: Dinner & Dessert Discounted with Coupons!

Penny Pinching Peach

Penny Pinching Peach

I love the kind of meal you can throw together all in one dish. It means less clean-up and it’s easier to keep an eye on one dish while watching my munchkins destroy the housecleaning I just finished than it is to babysit multiple fancy dishes. I can do it, but the headache is sometimes not worth it or I just plain don’t have time to do that and everything else I’ve got going on. With a nice coupon available right now for sausage, and taters always being cheap, this Sausage Potato Dinner in a Dish fits right in with my laidback frugal mommy vibe. My family also has a super duper sweet tooth, so if I find a simple dessert that uses ingredients I usually have on hand, I’m tickled pink. With strawberries being in season right now, they are always in my fridge, so the Strawberry Yogurt Pastries were perfect for this time of year!

I’m putting the savings information after the recipes. There are double savings this time, which makes this a really sweet deal! πŸ˜‰

Sausage Potato Dinner in a Dish

4 small red potatoes, cubed
2 small zucchinis, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound Hillshire Farms smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon pepper

*Place potatoes in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
*Meanwhile, sprinkle zucchini & onion with garlic salt. In a small skillet, stir-fry zucchini in butter until crisp-tender. Add sausage; cook until browned.
*Drain potatoes; add to skillet. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and pepper; heat through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
*Yield: 4 servings.

Strawberry Yogurt Pastries

1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) Yoplait strawberry yogurt
1 1/3 cups strawberries, halved

*On a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, separate crescent dough intoΒ 4 rectangles; seal perforations.

*Bake at 375Β° for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.

*Cool on a wire rack. Spread yogurt on each pastry; top with strawberries. Serve immediately.

*Yield: 4Β servings.

Now for the savings part of the menu! πŸ™‚

Got to http://www.coupons.com

Select and print Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Yoplait Yogurt coupons.

If you have joined SavingStar, Pillsbury and Yoplait also have coupons available with that program right now, which will double stack your savings together on those two items. If you haven’t joined, please check out my blog on SavingStar under Sites for Savings to learn more. It’s a great program! πŸ™‚


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Deciphering Diaper Deals

Blissful sleep in discount name brand diapers

Blissful sleep in discount name brand diapers

If you’re the parent of a diapered darling, you know that the the little stinker is going to to keeping doodying in those diapers and you’re going to have to keep wiping those bottoms. Unless you are one of those brave (and commendable) souls who ventures into the world of cloth diapers and reusable wipes, it’s an inevitable part of parenting a small, drooly being. They are going to poop & pee and you’re going to keep buying something for them to stinky up over & over & over &….well, you get the picture. πŸ™‚ I have a few simple strategies which have kept me rarely buying full price diapers or wipes, and have saved us a truckload of money.

First of all, sign up with all of the diaper makers for their email lists or clubs or whatever they have available. They will often mail, email or post on their sites very high value coupons to get you to continue buying their products. Huggies and Pampers also have rewards programs you can use to earn different things. I’ll probably write more about those another day. πŸ™‚

Secondly, check the online printable coupon sites at least once a week, and print any coupons for diapers and wipes they have available. They will usually let you print them at least twice, so try to do that. Keep these coupons in your purse all the time, in case you run across a real bargain you can stack the coupons on top of. One site that frequently has baby product coupons is http://coupons.com

Third, sign up for store loyalty cards, and don’t forget to use them. They track what you buy, and since you are obviously buying diapers & wipes, they will often wind up giving you coupons for those items to keep you buying them in their stores. Many stores, like CVS and Walgreens, will allow you to “stack” their store coupons on top of a manufacturer’s coupon, which makes for some great bargains.

Fourth & finally, never wait until you actually need bottom wipers or poopy catchers to buy them. If you do, you’re probably not going to get the best deals or even close! Always stay ahead. Buy them when they are on sale and you have coupons to help pay for them. It’s easy to check when you’re already shopping or glance online briefly before you head to the store and see if there’s a good sale going on.

See? All of that is super duper easy, and hardly takes a few minutes each week. The pay-off is huge when you compare it to the time you put into it, too! I rarely pay more than half price for diapers and the wipes are usually deeply discounted, as well. Just by spending a few minutes a week on this, and only counting these two items, I would estimate that I save at approximately $60 to $70 a month. If you count that like wages, I’m making pretty good money for my time! πŸ˜‰

Diapered dude and discount diva proving frugal is cool!

Diapered dude and discount diva proving frugal is cool!

Try these little strategies out, and let me know how they work for you. They’ve been budget savers for us! Diapered dudes and divas aren’t discounted, so anything to make them less costly is great by this frugal mama! πŸ™‚


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Pudding and Printable Coupons

Penny Pinching Peach

Penny Pinching Peach

This week I thought I’d go for a recipe that is both quick & simple, all while being light on the tummy and the pockets.

Refreshing Rice Pudding

1 cup cooked (Uncle Ben’s) white rice (approximately 1/3 cup uncooked)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup (Dixie Crystals or Imperial Sugars) white sugar
1 cup (Dole) crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup shredded coconut

*Be sure to rinse, drain, and chill the cooked rice.
*In a small glass or metal mixing bowl, whip the cream, adding sugar gradually until cream becomes fluffy.
*Next, fold the whipped cream, drained pineapple and coconut into the chilled, cooked rice.
*Spoon the mixture into dessert dishes, serve and yum it up! πŸ™‚

Coupons for: Uncle Ben’s Rice http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/ and
Dole Canned Fruit and Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar http://www.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=MKRU3JAAR6CCY
Total Value of Coupons: $3.50

Savor the savings! πŸ™‚


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Saving and Slow Cooking

Penny Pinching Peach

Penny Pinching Peach

If you’re like me,Β  a slow cooker is your best friend! I received a slow cooker (aka crockpot) as a wedding present. We Β use it soΒ frequently that it never gets put up in the pantry with all of my other bulky kitchen gadgets, unless we are prettifying the house for company. Since I’m not only busy, but habitually frugal, I love finding delicious dinners that can be quickly thrown together in the crockpot and hardly cost a thing. That kind of meal makes me happy on many levels! It satisfies my love of all things yummy, simplifies my life, and keeps my purse a little fuller. What more could a girl ask for?

This recipe is super simple and should be a hit with adults and kiddos alike. Are you ready for this? It is Slow Cooker Pizza!! On the count of three, we all say “YUM!!!” 1, 2, 3….YUM!!! Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system… πŸ˜‰

There are a few coupons available for the ingredients in this recipe, so that spices things up a bit, too. Link and savings will be after the recipe…

~Slow Cooker Pizza~

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (we use ground deer or turkey as a substitute for ground beef)

1 (8 ounce) package rigatoni (or other shaped) pasta

1 (16 ounce) package Kraft shredded mozarella

1 can Campbell’s condensed cream of tomato soup

2 (14 ounce) jars pizza sauce

1 (8 ounce) package Hormel pepperoni

Veggies of choice (i.e mushrooms, peppers, onions)

*Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cookΒ about 8-10 minutes, Β until al dente; drain and set aside.

*Brown the ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain off grease.

*In slow cooker, alternate layers of ground beef, noodles, cheese, soup, sauce, pepperoni and any veggies you chose to add.

*Cook on Low setting for 4 hours.

Total number of coupons for this menu: 3, but I added Sargento cheese to the list to print because I didn’t see the Kraft one there when I went to publish, so it shows 4.

Now go print ’em, redeem ’em, cook it up and enjoy!

I’d love to hear how it turned out for you. πŸ™‚

The coupons should be pre-clipped at the link below, but if it didn’t stay clipped for you, just look at the items above that have a brand name and that’s what to look for.

http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/


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Saving At CVS

CVS Trip Feb. 16, 2013

Saving at CVS

So, I’ve made it clear that I am by no means an extreme couponer. This little mommy doesn’t have the time for it! πŸ™‚ I honestly didn’t plan out today’s trip at all, other than making a list of things I needed and taking my coupons with me. Normally I’m much more prepared, but I was busy the past few days and just trying to get out of here with the munchkins this morning.

The above photo is today’s haulΒ at CVS. I used a 25% off non-sale items, CVS coupons, in-store sales, and manufacturer’s coupons. Since I don’t get things I won’t use or be able to quickly give away/donate, there are alot of deals I completely ignore, and I buy the things we really need whether it hurts my final tally or not. Anyway, today was not my best score by a long shot, but it wasn’t too shabby for an unplanned trip to CVS to get several things we were needing. πŸ™‚

Grand Total: $131.23
Total Spent: $51.63
Total Saved: $79.60
Savings Percentage: 60%

I also have $14.00 in Extra Care Bucks to spend for my next trip, since I didn’t have time to plan it out well enough to use them up during today’s transaction.

Since I was mostly buying things we really do need, and other things we’ll very much enjoy, I’m happy with that. Hopefully next time my savings percentages will be more “normal” for me, though. πŸ™‚