You Should Shop at Aldi's

If you don't already shop at Aldi's, you should.  I especially like their fruit because it is usually ripe and ready to use.  Aldi's almost always has the lowest prices in Topeka on fruit.  For example, last week I purchased a pound of blueberries for $1.29, a pound of cherries for $1.29 and a pineapple for $1.29.

Cherries are "on sale" this week for $2.49 a pound at Dillon's.  Aldi's usual price is about half  Dillon's sale price.



Great Prices on Fruit

 

Fruit is normally cheapest when it is in season.  I am trying to purchase fruit now to use this winter.  So what is one of the best ways to preserve fresh fruit?  I like to freeze it.  A lot of people do not know how to freeze properly.  First, wash the fruit really well. 

I once was visiting Mexico and watched several men pee all over the field they were picking.  After all, what would you expect them to do?  They were outside with no near bathrooms that I could see. I washed my fruit before this display but ever since, I have washed it exceptionally well.  You really should wash fruit before cutting it up or your knife will simply transfer the dirt and germs from the outside of the fruit to the inside.  I got very sick once eating watermelon and I suspect it had not been washed properly before it was cut.

First Wash the Fruit

Next, remove the excess water from the fruit.  I like to use my salad spinner to spin off the water.  Whatever you do, DO NOT remove the lid of your salad spinner to take a picture of spinning blueberries. Removing the lid will result in a flinging of fruit all over your kitchen.  If you don't have a salad spinner, just lay them out to dry.  They will get just as dry and be less dizzy.



Remove Excess Water

Then lay the fruit out on a baking sheet, plate or similar flat device.  I like to use an old plastic lid that goes to a square baking dish I own.  I use it because it fits easily in my freezer.  Put the fruit, uncovered into your freezer for an hour or two, until they are completely frozen.  They will resemble hard marbles when done.

This is the most important step.  A lot of people do not remove moisture before freezing and just end up with food with a lot of ice crystals which is rarely appetizing. Or better yet, a clump of berries frozen solidly together. This method works well for most fruit.

Flash Freeze for a Couple of Hours

Scoop into a plastic freezer bag for storage. I like the zip lock type of bags so I can easily scoop out fruit as I need it.  A hand full of frozen blueberries are a delicious treat.  They also defrost quickly for use in any dish.

Store for Future Use

This baggie contains 5 pounds of blueberries.  I paid $1.29 per pound or $6.45 for all five pounds. In the winter (or really most times of the year), Dillon's and HyVee sell blueberries for around $3.99 for 6-8 ounces (about half a pound).  You probably just walk on by, thinking you can't afford healthy fruit.  Yes, you can.  Buy it now and freeze it. You can thank me in January through your blueberry stained lips.

Dillon's Odds and Ends

Back to School Specials are Starting

19 cent notebooks

Close Out V05 at Dillons

50 pounds for $6.99 on close out

The sale cycle ends tomorrow so move quickly on these deals.  I forgot to post that many back to school items are on sale at Dillon's. This is the time of year to stock up up on paper, pens and markers. If you miss this sale, I'm sure many other local stores will be running similar sales in the next couple of weeks.  I always try to buy enough notebooks and highlighters to last me a year. 

I also cruised by the discount rack and picked up some chai tea mix at half price and some cheap dog food. The last time I purchased Kibbles & Bits, I paid $27 for 35 pounds.  "This is ridiculous," I thought as I hefted the bag into the grocery cart.  "I can't afford to always eat exactly what I want to eat, so why can the dog?"

I was so excited to find the 50 pound bag of dog food for $6.99.  "Look!", I said as I proudly pointed at the bag of dried chunks. My husband frowned.  "I've heard it can upset your pet's stomach if you switch brands," he replied with concern.  "Well,  it's cheaper to feed him Tums than Kibbles," I retorted.

Since I have began really tracking my household expenses, I have noticed pet food and supplies make up about 10% of my weekly grocery expense.

A friend once commented, "You will never know true freedom until all the kids leave the house and the family dog finally dies."  I found her comment hilarious.  Then at a business conference, I repeated this bit of humor to another woman about my age who responded, "My dog just died". 

I laughed uproariousy at her dry sense of humor. 

"No seriously, my dog of 16 years just died. I am heart-broken without my little Rags," she said, stifling a sob. I never make many friends at conferences.

Our large dog is a light eater but the two little cats demand a mighty gourmet buffet of soft food, preferably with lots of cat gravy.  Then there is the litter issue.  Until recently, I was buying the very expensive clumping cat litter which cost about 8-9 dollars a week. "Why couldn't I just have a gambling problem instead of a cat?" I would think each time I purchased litter.

My cats love to sit outside on the deck all day.  It is apparently beneath them to use the "outside facilities".  Both will lounge outside all day and then literally run to the litter box the moment I let them inside.

 "Pee in the grass, you say old man?  How barbaric!" they seem to sniff.

They even purr with a bit of an colonial aristocratic English accent.

At one point, I attempted to make my own cat litter. Whatever you do, DO NOT make your own cat litter. You are probably already living on the edge by storing diluted fabric softener in a bottle. Especially do not attempt to make your own cat litter out of paper from your shredder.  While it may give you immense emotional satisfaction to line the cat box with your shredded credit card statements, trust me you will soon tire of picking up tiny pieces of paper your cat will most definitely track all over the house.  Even I have my cheap limits.

Dillon's Deals - Mega Event through July 17

Here are today's money-saving adventures:

Clearance Rack Deals - $1.42 for all!

  Today's clearance rack at Dillon's was fantastic!  Here's the breakdown:

6 bags of Jolly Rancher candy at .50 each..............$3.00
3 Oral B toothbrushes at .99 each .........................$2.97
1 scrub brush.........................................................   .75
3 Kroger pantiliners at .50 each ............................$1.50
5 Pantene shampoo/conditioner at .99 ea...............$4.95
5 Suave shampoo/conditioner at .45 each..............$2.25
                                            Subtotal .................$15.42

3 coupons for .50 off two bags Jolly Rancher ..... -  $3.00
2 coupons for $3.00 off 2 bottles of Pantene....... -  $6.00
3 coupons for .75 off one Oral B Toothbrush...... -  $3.00
1 catalina coupon for $2.00 one bottle Pantene....-  $2.00
                                            Total......................    $1.42

This is the best I have ever done using coupons and is a rare event.  I don't want anyone to think I get these kinds of deals every week.  I just happened to have great coupons for almost everything I purchased off the clearance rack. And remember, Dillon's doubles coupons up to $1.00 which is reflected in the above totals.

In addition to the coupons, I received .50 cents additional off 5 of the above pictured items because they qualified as items included in Dillon's Mega sales event this week.  If you counted this additional savings, I actually had $1.08 credit to apply towards other groceries. 

I am a big believer is being honest with coupons so I always try to make sure I am purchasing the exact item for which the coupon was intended.  Not only would it be fraud to try to use a coupon for a purpose it wasn't intended, if people try to cheat the system, coupons may become a thing of the past.

I have watched TLC's extreme couponing show and find it very unrealistic.  Also, the show never demonstrates exactly how the individuals featured managed to purchase the items for the amount claimed. For that reason, I have documented the exact breakdown of today's shopping trip.

Dillon's Mega Event - Buy 10, Save $5.00

This week Dillon's is having another one of their save $5.00 when you mix and match any 10 participating items.  I purchased the above 10 items.  Here is the breakdown:

3 V-8 juice for $2.49 each.................$ 7.47
3 Secret for $1.99 each.....................$ 5.97
4 Cream Cheese for $1.49 each........$ 5.96
                            Subtotal.............. $19.40

minus 3 .40 V-8 coupons doubled....- $ 2.40
minus $5.00 mega event savings.......- $ 5.00
                            Total ...............    $12.00

Basically, I ended up paying on average $1.20 per item (10 items divided by 12).  Even Suave deodorant and store brand cream cheese cost more than $1.20 each. 

Chicken is $1.88 a pound through July 17 at Dillon's

Finally, if you do nothing else, go stock up on chicken this week.  Boneless chicken breast is on sale for $1.88 a pound this week.  I purchased three packages, then divided up the packages and used my foodsaver.  I usually add a little Italian dressing, worchestershire sauce or teriyaki sauce to the bag before sealing and freezing.  This way when I remove the bag from the freezer, the meat will marinate as it defrosts.

Buy in bulk, freeze for future use

So here is my menu for this week (my menu's usually run Thursday-Wednesday with the grocery ads):

Left Over Pizza (found in back of freezer)
Lasagna (using some of the .98 cent sausage and cheap cheese I bought last week)
Leftover Lasagna
Club Sandwiches (using some of the cheap bacon I purchased last week)
Fajita's (using a lot of fresh ingredients out of my garden)
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Baked Chicken and Baked Potato (using some of the $1.88 pound chicken)

So, is this post helpful?  What do you want to see more of? Less of?  What deals are all of you finding?

Fajita's for dinner

Clearance Shrubs at K-Mart on Wanamaker

$2 Buck Shrubs

I forgot to mention when I was at K-Mart on Wednesday, they had these clearance shubs right by the front door.  Most were originally priced $6.99 but some had been as high as $13.99.  All are now marked $2.00 and in pretty good shape.

My Dad always says you can plant anything, anytime of the year, as long as you water it daily.

Fake Febreze

My husband and I have a dog, Wiley the Wonder Dog, and two elderly cats, Howard and Kibo. Because we allow the animals in the house, he worries excessively our house will develop an odor.

"Really?"  I asked incredulously.

"You don't smell like a rose when you come home after working outside all day in our lovely 105 degree Kansas weather.  Plus, in case you haven't noticed, that's not perfume I'm wearing, it's Ben-Gay. Instead of being worried our house smells like the dog, you should be worried our house smells like us".

I sometimes wonder if animals come inside and think, "Oh great, the house smells like people. Gross!" 

Because we both like a strongly scented house, I burn lots of candles and spray lots of deodorizers.  I started wondering how I could save money on  this smelly obsession.  Of course, I am not alone in this scent obsession since Febreze is Proctor and Gamble's fastest growing brand and just crossed over the one BILLION mark in sales. 

Almost $6 bucks for Febreze? Give me a break!

So I started looking around the internet and found several recipes for homemade Febreze.  It's simple:

Dissolve 3 Tablespoons baking soda in enough hot water to fill your spray bottle.  Add 1/8 cup fabric softner to water, fill bottle with the mixture and spray around your house to your content. I would use common sense and not spray, say directly on your grandmother's antique dresser.

I also went to Hobby Lobby and bought some additional fragrance to add to my mixture.  A bottle of Lavender fragrance cost $2.99 at Hobby Lobby (found in the candle making section). I added about 7-8 drops of fragrance to make my Fake Febreze exceptionally smelly.  I really can't tell a difference.

I told my daughters about my Febreze experiment.  "I've been making my own Febreze for about five years," said daughter number two with obvious disgust at my lack of knowledge of how to make your own products.  I seem to always be embarrassingly behind the curve.

"I even saw a warning on a bottle of fabric softener warning to not dilute with water and store in a bottle," she laughed. "Do-it-yourselfers must really be cutting into the market."

So I guess proceed at your own risk--I certainly am. 

$2.99 for scent at Hobby Lobby

K-Mart Deal Good Through July 14

Good Through Saturday, July 14

I do not do a lot of shopping at K-Mart. However, this week K-Mart has a decent "Shop Your Way Rewards Members" deal.  You must have signed up through the K-Mart website to be a member but you earn points anytime you show your card (one of those annoying little plastic tags you put on your keychain).  I believe you earn 10 points for every dollar spent at either K-Mart or Sears.  The nice thing about this rewards program is you can redeem your points as cash towards your purchase.  This week the cashier asked me if I wanted to redeem my rewards points.

"What?" I responded. 

Until this point, I had no idea I earned points or could use them towards purchases. Turns out I had $3.74 in "credit" I could have used towards this purchase.  This is amazing because I spend very little at K-Mart.  I suppose this would really pay off if you bought an appliance at Sears or your husband had just purchased a giant toolbox and you had remembered to show your card.  Life is full of lessons and most are not pleasant.

I think I even received a $5.00 rewards card just for signing up for the program.  Anyway, they handed me a $5.00 rewards card the last time I shopped at K-Mart--I'm not really sure how I earned it but decided to redeem it this week.



All FREE

 So the deal this week was buy Oscar Mayer Grilled Chicken Strips for $2.99 and get FREE Ragu Pasta and FREE Barilla Pasta.  You could probably make a whole meal for your family just from these basic ingredients for $3 bucks (Chicken Alfredo, anyone?).  I had that rewards card so I was wandering around the store looking for something to buy for another $2.00.  I am sure the purpose of these cards IS to get you to wander around the store and hopefully buy more stuff. I decided to buy two cans of Chef Boyardee pasta for $1.00 each.  I was expecting to spend a few cents in tax but they handed me back the receipt and told me I still have a dime on my rewards card.  When it seems like it's in your favor, it's better to not think too hard about numbers.

If I was you, I would sign up for the K-Mart rewards program and then go get me some free pasta and sauce.  But then again, I'm not you.

Really Cheap Blue Bunny Ice Cream

HyVee Ad good through July 10th

Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984. I assume this is what made him such a popular president.  While I could live the rest of my life without ice cream (I am more of a potato chip kind of gal), I know it is loved by most.

Now, head over to:  http://www.bluebunny.com/.  Click on coupons at the top of the page and join their "club".  As a club member, you will be able to print a couple of dollar off coupons.  Using the coupon, you can get some premium ice cream for just $1.99. 

A final note:  many companies make you sign up for emails to receive coupons or other offers. I recommend creating a seperate email account  to sign up for such offers. While I personally don't use "Facebook" to keep in touch with friends, I do have a "Facebook" page (middle name, maiden name) I use just to sign up for coupons.  Many companies require you "like" them on "Facebook" to receive a coupon.  I don't want the hassle of a Facebook account but I do want the coupons.  I use this Facebook account merely to receive offers.