Dinner tonight -- using up the remains of the lettuce (romaine and baby greens) and tomatos from the burger fests. Toss in some olives, corn, fritos, cilantro dressing (aging), sour cream (also aging), shredded cheese from the freezer...this and that...and O organic kidney or black beans, from the $1 O coupons (5 cents or less!).

Add in some flour tortillas from the freezer, they thaw right out without sticking on the defrost microwave setting...hmm, who knew it had more than one power with the LoL cheese and more aging non fat sour cream...voila! dinner.

Tomorrow, well, I'd really like to do some manicotti, but I need to fry up chicken for a meal first, as I use the left overs for manicotti. Nonfat ricotta, handmade traditional pancake wraps...sigh.

But for today, the Corgi went to the vet, and he has a TREATMENT twice a day for pink eye (thanks sis!), and tomorrow, dentist. for a quiet week...it isn't!

Last night we had the grilled portabella mushrooms and used up romaine, tomatoes, munster cheese...and a bottle of Lawry's marinade. I haven't purchase that brand in years, but it was free after coupon, and I needed something to add a bit of flavor. WOW. They turned out GREAT, and I think I made up a bit of ground in getting DH back to a veggie diet! YUM!

Tonight...broccoli and beef. A steak left from last week, just a touch, loads of broccoli, and the rest of the marinade. Serve on some rice...that'll do!

We finally received one of the Canon rebates, $20, the Biotene rebate ($2), and a survey payment $5, so $27 into the challenge.

Current savings:\\
2006 $20 challenge: $4956
2006 grocery savings: $6661

Still trying to think of another way to add up grocery savings for NOT spending. Hmmm...must think...

Okay, I'm a bit excited. I did a bit of spontaneous shopping to conclude the "article", and found some great savings. Shopping sales, using coupons, rebates, and relying on my own "store" of a.k.a. the stockpile, to suplement my purchases, I was able to purchase $600 of groceries for almost nothing.

Photos and receipts, and details are in the article, which Jeffrey has posted on www.grocerycouponguide.com, at

Success Story!

No brags, but I do hope that it's a bit inspiring. Those of you on our coupon trains know I don't cherry pick and keep the best coupons for myself, and I didn't "cheat" with free product coupons.

Lot of assistance from DH, who made sure we only purchased items WE can use (I think it's cheating to show great savings that you can't use yourself! Nothing wrong with giving away, but I want to show REAL LIFE savings).

For someone like me, who was spending $400 or more a week last year, no coupons or sales in sight, it's nice to see I can get back to the saving mindset.

And, turns out I'm SPENDING much less than I thought! I've been tracking the savings, but the spending is MUCH less than it was.

Hope you find it enlightening and inspiring!

I am getting better at reporting problems. I purchased 4 bags of salad greens at the store, only to find ONE expired that day. We were in a hurry, and I forgot to check.

I emailed Fresh Express. Even though I never received an email, today I received FOUR coupons for FREE product.

I hate complaining about things. I hate wasting money more. It's a huge leap for me to take the time to contact companies, but the rewards are definitely there.

I do enjoy contacting companies to tell them I love their products, and am so glad they are available. But, it still takes time, which is valuable in it's own right.

So far, I'm just accumulating the coupons and letters. DH will NEVER contact a company, no matter how much food we've thrown out or money we've wasted. But, he's budged a bit, to at least writing down package info if there's a problem. Hopefully after awhile I will have enough "rewards" accumulated for him to see that it does make a difference in our grocery budget. Or, maybe at the end, I'll see it's a wash. At the very least, I'll have a bit more discipline in focusing my produce choices BEFORE we spend the money.

With compliments to a fellow blogger, I liked the statement.

Today, well, DH's radiation irritations have flared up, so we haven't been eating the mango. I peeled and diced the 6 remaining mangos and put them in the freezer. If nothing else, they will be blended and used in muffins, along with the aging ice cream.

Also, the last of the asparagus, and the corn from last weeks shopping. Tonight I will fry the chicken I picked up at a great price yesterday, and call it a simple meal. If we have any left over chicken...homemade mannicotti. Fatfree ricotta was on sale, with coupon, and it makes a nice high protein meal. I make my own manicotti pancakes to roll, old style. YUM.

The frig is PACKED, but I'm working on it.

Last night, to add some greens as a side to sushi, I took a pound of fresh spinach, chopped finely, added in the remainder of the artichoke stuff in the jar, remainder of the parmesan shreds package, remainder of some low fat dip, and this and that to make a surprisingly good spinach artichoke dip. On pita chips, actually went well with the sushi. DH was impressed, and he's difficult to impress after all these years.

DH offered to finish up the mulching without me, just around the bases of the trees...so I've been online getting through email and taking SURVEYs. Since I posted on the evil marketing of the unpaid survey, they swamped me with free product trial surveys, much to my delight. Actually, my arm is numb...too much time and the office is really set up for my DH, not my ergonomics.

He worked on the grape arbors, maybe we will have grapes planted some day. Blueberries are thick and full, and even though we've been having heavy downpours, quite a few of the fruit trees held their fruit. Quite a bit on the ground, too, but Ms. Deer will take care of that.

Dinner tonight was to be spinach salads, but I've changed to spinach omelets. Frig is still heavy laden.

So, buying all that wonderful fresh stuff, tonight we are having a great meal. BUT, I'm also NOT tossing out the corn I purchased last week, just because it's a bit wilted. Or the salad greens, just because they are a bit less fresh, and the frig is a bit full. NO WASTE. It ain't easy. But I'm working it.

Stockpiling does involve a bit of use it or lose it.

Jeffrey got my husband's article up before he (Jeffrey) left for the US...

Grocery stockpiling, and savings, from my husbands perspective!

My DH's Guide to Stockpiling


Before you view the pictures...they were taken BEFORE yesterday's shopping and AFTER I have seriously been trying to use the stockpile up. And I do have other stashes that aren't getting photographed...like under the bathroom sink!

Ah, we have had several nice days of eating salads.

Earthbound boxed baby greens (the large box), was on sale, and I had coupons from the Earthday booklet. I picked up two boxes for $1 each.

The trouble with produce, is that you must use it or lose it, at least with baby greens.

The benefit...YUM. And, you can use up almost any leftover in a salad.

We've had spinach salads, taco salads, and last night, my personal favorite...

baby greens
mandarin oranges (delmonte fresh cup, free with sale/coupon)
chopped almonds (sale, coupon)
remaining half block of fat free feta (good protein, and it was on edge of date)
dried cranberries
raspberry dressing (Ken's, $2 sale and had a $2 coupon! FREE)
Bit of swiss and parmesan cheeses, fresh (sale, coupon)

DH figured out we spent 50 cents on each salad, and I'm talking two quart bowl salads. Served with a delicate broiled bread slice side.

Tonight, taking a break. DH will cook...well...we'll see. We had Taco Bell for lunch so probably light. But it will definitely be from the stockpile, and since he knows how to cook soup and tv dinners, it will probably be less than 50 cents each again. A bit of bread left.

when I was twenty, my Mother challenged me to modify her base ice cream recipe to be a "Foster Freeze" like soft serve.

While this isn't the healthiest recipe, it's quite tasty, and very versatile. You can substitute almost anything in this recipe with something else...Equal for sugar, evap non fat milk for half and half, leave out the eggs and cream, add fresh fruit, or even stale cookies that need to be used! Perfect for using up stockpiles

So, here is the original recipe. It's for the large ice cream maker, but can be resized as needed.

3 eggs, beaten
3 1/4 c sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 pint whipped cream
1 pint half and half
fill the container with whole milk and freeze.

Tonight, DH wanted Thai, and chicken strips. Why? Not a clue...but he's mulching in the rain.

So, fried up a bag of chicken strips from the freezer, half will go into a different meal. Sliced up more of the bulk mushrooms, sauteed with asparagus tips that were, well, aging, and another bag of shredded carrots from earlier in the week. Added the remnants of a bottle of teriyaki sauce, some seasoning, a bit of water and orange peel. Will serve with a side of Lipton Thai noodles. Something that I always have too much of, since it's always "on sale" and always have coupons, so always free...so time to use some of it.

Pup got into the garbage and was eating raw asparagus ends...ugh...he really doesn't under he's a dog yet.

Tonight will be heat and eat.

Need to use some of those shredded carrots, some parmesan, and a few stockpile items, so dinner tonight will be quiche and a simple salad. I keep pie crusts in the freezer stockpile; usually great sales, and a pain to make in a hurry.

Carrot-Dill Quiche
9 inch unbaked pastry shell
1 1/2 cups peeled shredded carrots
4 green onions, sliced (optional)
2 cups milk (evaporated milk makes it richer, non-fat evap milk adds protein, some people use half and half)
2 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 eggs, slightly beaten (it's fine to use Egg Beaters, or replace two eggs with two whites)
1/4 grated parmesan

Bake pastry shell at 425 F for 10 minutes or until firm but not browned.

In saucepan or microwave, combine carrots, onions, milk, dill weed, salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Cool slight.

Stir eggs into carrot mixture. Pour into pastry shell. Sprinkle with cheese

Bake at 375 F for 25 - 30 minutes or until filling is firm and top is golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes to set and cool before cutting into wedges.

Been with the pitchfork and DH since 8 am. Dirty and sore!

Threw together dinner first...went for mediterranean salads...spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, the remaining 1/2 can of olives, 1/2 block fat free feta (use by 25th! ACK), bit of shredded cheeses (Sorrento was 1/2 off this weekend, and with $1 off coupons, very good price!). Italian dressing, always free for stockpiling. 2 quart salads each, throw in some bread sticks or something, it's a meal.

today's mail, two freebies from Walmart. Received the free razor and case...don't forget to look in the instruction booklet they send for the $2 coupon on refills.

Haven't had time to log in and get new trains going...we do have TWO new people to run trains, so I hope to respond and get things moving along again.



But for now...rest...

Today, leftover ribs and two LARGE salads. It's finally produce season.

One store had Fresh Express, BOGO, and I had 2 $2 on one coupons...so 50 cents or so a pack. Safeway had O organic carrots BOGO, and a $1 coupon on any O, so again, fairly cheap.

I like BIG salads...so one bag of Fresh Express makes two salads. I make up the salads first thing in the morning: if I wait until the end of the day I'm always tired and that is how we waste POUNDS of food each year.

So, two giant bowls of baby greens, I grated the carrots, saving several zip bags full for future use...if I don't use them for salads this week I'll freeze them for muffins later.

Toss in some leftover corn...I prefer it off the cob, but wrong season. Add some olives from the pantry stockpile, some grape tomatoes (one splurge, but bulk at Costco wasn't bad), some fresh mushrooms (sale), some Kraft crumbles (sale, coupon, 50 cents for the bag).

A bit of South Beach ranch dressing -- never tried it, but it was also BOGO and coupon meant less than 50 cents for the bottle. Although I've broken DH down to a healthier level (his cholesterol was 250 when we got married!), he still believes lettuce is just the carrier for dressing. So, come summer, we pour through it (with apologies for the pun).

Crunched up a tiny bag of Doritos, some promotion, to sprinkle on top...and we've got us a salad!

I'd usually put in a bit of protein, but we have the ribs, and some broiled bread, to eat.

Tomorrow, maybe a spinach salad or a greek salad...got to stay on top of the produce.

My secret for keeping bulk mushrooms fresh...add a paper towel to the tub and reseal with plastic wrap. I know, that's not supposed to work. But it does...allows the mushrooms to "breathe" but not shrivel or get slimy.

So, that's my cheap but healthy salad meal.

Now...the weather has turned...no longer rainy, but windy. Should make for an interesting day with the mulch!

Today brought $5 in rebate from Green Giant (I don't even remember this one!).

The Kraft food and family magazine did arrive, with an insert, but only one coupon for my region.

Working on the mulching. It started to rain, so I took a break and wrote up some Rx savings tips (you did ask for them ). Now...back to the mulching!

Dinner, agh...was supposed to cook beef ribs, but didn't get them started yet, so tv dinners, Lean Cuisine and lots of protein bars, probably.

Back to the MULCH PILE (it's winning the war so far!)

Current savings:\\
2006 $20 challenge: $4351
2006 grocery savings: $5825

I rarely surprise myself, but the onion soup was really good! The only part left from the pot roast dinner was two onions, and I added the last 3 onions from the bag, chopped it all up and caramalized, added the water/bouillion/stock. Tore up the bread DH bought and put on top with the last of some Emmanthaler cheese and provolone (holidays) and broiled.

The rest of the bread, checked for mold...then used a jar of artichokes that came from a Christmas basket, processed them up to a tapenade, added in home dried tomatoes from Dad's garden, spread on the bread, sprinkled with some Kraft mozzarella that was free with something awhile back, broiled...YUM!!!

Just enough for a rerun tonight.

No waste, lots of WANT!

Today, well, I sent out the pacific train, sent a welcome packet to BignRichFan, sorted out the Southern train, prepared welcome packs for 8 to be sent tomorrow.

It wasn't too bad, except for the two people with wishlists 30+ long. Impossible to remember when I'm sorting through my coupons.

I did receive the organic coupons for earth day, and I think they are really nice. $9 worth, good products we actually have here.

Watered the yard a bit. Hubbie is planting. Replacement plants, and he's depressed. It's such a waste of money to have to replace plants, but we have one area where the birch trees fight for water and knot up other plants roots. Planted, it's beautiful. Otherwise, quite ugly, and the animals use it, well, it's not nice.

So, down to cook up the leftover roast onions and such into a nice french onion soup. Use up that bread and cheese, too!

DH and I are still catching up on all those little projects. Today is rainy and cool, so up into the attic to get that insulation in! He asked me NOT to join him this time, something about me still being a bit sick, and the possibility of my fainting or otherwise falling through the ceiling. DON'T ADD TO THE PROJECT LISTS!

He did run out of insulation so, off to Home Depot for a small amount more. Also picked up some fertilizer, twine, and a second pitch fork. Lesson of the weekend...do NOT try to SHARE one pitchfork with someone else while you are both trying to put down mulch with it...OUCH.

So, $98.28, and had the $100 gift cards from MyPoints, so NOTHING SPENT! The trick of using those cards is to not spend extra money!

Then, a quick run into the grocery; Birds Eye on sale 40% off, plus coupons...saved $32, paid $12.

Rebates came today, $60, and another $12 in surveys. That brings totals up to...


Current savings:\\
2006 $20 challenge: $4174
2006 grocery savings: $5825

Not counting the home depot, as it's not groceries, and I spent the cards, so not adding to anything.

Pot roast is in the dutch oven...it's not a savings if you throw it out, in my book. I'll throw in the carrots, onion, and potatoes later. Leftover onions...onion soup! Yum!!!

Well, DH had another 100 yards of mulch delivered, so that is going to take up the day. I am NOT good at preparing dinners after a full day of physical labor!

So, my trick the last year has been to pre-fix everything in the morning, before I do anything else. Today I sliced up the onions, meat, bell peppers, broccoli for a side dish; made sure we had a can of tomatoes and some seasonings; shredded a block of cheese I SERIOUSLY needed to use up. Checked that the sour cream was still good, tossed one thing of some rice dish DH had made not so recently. (oaky, maybe another pound out the door).

Tonight ... FAJITA's! Even if I'm too tired to hold a spatula, DH and I can work it together from this point.

They came, DH cooked what I assumed was two. He didn't care for them, and said we should use the remaining ones for fajitas.

Sounded good. In a few weeks, maybe a month, when I'd gotten through a bit more of the pantry...

Stopped into the store next to the DMV to pick up some broccoli. DH said we didn't need any. So, I looked to see what they had, and suddenly he says, you do have all the stuff to make fajitas with, right?

Hmmm...well let's see, no tortillas, no bell peppers, no onions, no meat...

Oh, BTW, he cooked ALL the meat. AND he wanted fajitas!

So, no coupons, no sales, no list. Grumpy wife!

So, I continue to pay for those "free" steaks, and those silly rewards!

Lesson learned. Again. And Again...

It has been a busy day.

Pulled weeds, helped DH get started on the mulching. My thumb doesn't want to work right now!

Received 7 coupons from Barbara's Bakery! Only two days after I asked if they had any available. Very nice.

Received a $2 coupon on Post-a-notes, came with the free sample, and some others.

The big break came on survey payments, I received a total of $110 today from 3 different sources. YEAH.

That brings my totals to...

Current savings:\\
2006 $20 challenge: $3883
2006 grocery savings: $5681 (plus NOT spending?)

Other totally bizarre news...

I received an offer from Insider Pages to be a local rep, but they wanted 50 reviews written in 2 weeks. Who has that kind of time?

Another email from Club Mom to become a regular author for finance, but I just don't have the desire.

A request to become a shopping insider and scan grocery bar codes...not quite sure about that, wouldn't they throw you out of the store? How would I get all those coupons then?

Tracking down a few coupon trains. Hopefully the guidelines for trains will be up soon, so everyone understands WHY they need to be responsible and responsive when the trains come around. Enough said.

We've been eating split pea and ham soups, and a few frozen dinners lately. Still working the stockpile. Tonight, Hamburger Helper (not a favorite), with ground turkey, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, garlic, some parmesan. Fresh broccoli, and some garlic bread.

I did throw out the remaining acorn squash/apple dish. So, two pounds tossed. Total of three so far. Not too bad...but summer is coming!

It's been raining, and it's supposed to pour this weekend. Actually a GOOD trhing for me, because I never had time to get things together and contact the coordinator to sell my things. AND, double blessing, they are closing the ONLY road that accesses our area tomorrow. So, I will have another chance to get my act together!

Been running through my reward, rebate, survey sites looking for $$ to cash in.

Still wondering a fair way to count grocery savings for not spending anything as opposed to just tracking sales and coupon savings off of regular prices...but I don't want to admit what I spent per week last year on groceries, before we got back to practical shopping.

Summer, well, yes it is my grocery shopping weakness. Fresh produce. Last year I did great keeping things flowing in and using them before they needed to be tossed out. But it's so easy to decide NOT to fix something at the end of a long day gardening (two years ago DH and I cut and removed 1000 pounds -- his calculation -- of sod for two garden beds). Or working out, or shopping, or just being out in the heat.

My solution last year was to prepare everything in the morning. Individual giant salads, with all the veggies and trimmings added. Get meat ready to cook, casseroles ready to bake, even just bread ready to broil. At the end of the day, we just pulled salad meals out of the frig, or everything was ready to cook, no mess, no fuss, no clean up.

We'll see.

The Corgi pup has just discovered french fries (a weak moment for take out lunch), and I think is wondering why we give him such horrible kibble when such wonderful grease kibble exists.

Dinner tonight, leftover ham chunked, with two packages of Hamburger Helper mix, couple of cans of mushrooms, leftover peas and some frozen ones. I'll add in some sour cream, parmesan, etc. to up the flavor to a more creamy sauce.

DH bought a loaf of bread last week, NOT in a plastic bag...I told him to use plastic wrap but he didn't. So I sliced what I could tonight, dipped in a mix of olive oil and olive oil balsamic vinegrette, and am letting it soak through before I broil it.

Continuing to chip away!

I have a shrew in my pantry.

Seriously.

If you haven't experienced a shrew, they look like tribbles (Star Trek original series). Furry little sweet things, fast as fury, and true terrors when they fight.

Ours is named speedy. Mainly because he kept zipping by last summer, and DH and I kept asking each other if we "saw that"? Seeing things...but no, just a shrew.

Would have called him zippy, but Zippy and Twitchy are two of our squirrels. Figi is the deer begging for Fugi apples and white grapes (Chardonnay only for the lady, it would seem), and Skippy is the chipmunk that skips on and off of the deck.

So, a new challenge to get the stockpile down, before the shrew does!

AGH!

Well, actually it was interesting. I haven't really purchased groceries in weeks. I'm still working at getting the stockpile down. But, I wanted to look for some organic product coupons (new train member!), and blow off some steam.

I found the coupons. AND...remember it is Easter weekend! In all the commotion I lost a week, I'm afraid.

I *did* have the $5 off any purchase and the 5% off next purchase check out coupons from Giant still in my purse, with a few others. So, sent DH to get a ham. I hadn't thought through a menu at all. He wanted yams. They aren't in season, and last winter when they were, we were in yet another crisis and didn't buy and stockpile in the freezer like I usually do. So, I suggested we do the acorn squash/apple dish. Asparagus WAS on sale.

I made the mistake of telling DH that I didn't have a plan, and to just get what he wanted. So, we also have blackberry cobbler, biscuits, real butter.

Still, everything we need for $50.

And, I am using the stockpile a bit. Skipped the pineapple/apple jelly glaze and used the apricot preserves from the pantry stockpile, along with horseradish and mustard I needed to use. Great glaze. Old brown sugar softened up to replace maple syrup, with cinnamon and raisins and such to go in the squash/apple dish. Everything is prepared and ready to cook. Guess I'd better get to it!

Happy Easter!

Well,

it's been a tough few weeks, and cooking has been a low priority. But a great opportunity for DH to heat up all those tv dinners. Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine, a frozen pizza, lots of bags of frozen veggies. So, we are continuing to make progress, even if I'm not "cooking".

Haven't really been shopping, other than to look for coupons and pick up a few things like soy milk (has to be fresh refrigerated). I just had to laugh -- DH said he was going to pick up "a couple of donuts", which we haven't eaten since my nephew lived here. We went to the checkout, and there was a dozen! I asked him, and he said they just sounded good.

Next morning, he's getting breakfast together, and I said what about the doughnuts? He responds that he can't eat them for breakfast, because of the caffeine/sugar rush (will feel ICK). So I ask if they are for dinner/desert/evening. He says no, can't have sugar late at night or he won't sleep.

So I ask him when he plans to eat them, and he says he doesn't, they just sounded so good!

Another BUDGET BUSTER. WANT but no NEED.

But, we are back on track. Last night I used up chicken strips from the freezer, added teriyaki sauce, two bags of frozen veggies and some leftover broccoli, put it on a Lipton side of rice (with extra Minute Rice thrown in to cut the salt).

Tonight, the remaining chicken breasts, with some enchilada sauce, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes, taco chips or something, cheese, all from pantry.

And, I continue to send my coupons off to the trains. Removing temptation. ACK. Great when I hear that other's are able to use them, though.

It's that time of year. Everything has suddenly decided Winter is done and gone, and it's time to blossom. Which means DH and I go into overdrive.

We have an "easy maintenance" landscape, 2 acres of botanical gardens carefully chosen for low maintenance. After all, we were both working 24/7 when we bought the house, and it had two acres of bad grass, all the way up to the doors!

Gardening in San Diego was easy. Well, maybe that isn't the right word. I always wondered how the apartment and hotels had such perfect gardens, always blooming, until I drove in to work at 6 am and saw the landscaper pulling pots out of the ground of the "old bloomers" and replacing them with identical plants that were fully in bloom. Cheating!

On the East Coast, we had not a clue. But we've dug and pulled and eventually converted most of the land over to gardens. And they are pretty easy to maintenance. Except for twice in the year: Spring and Fall.

Spring means pruning, trimming, whacking, removing, cleanup, fertilizing, and everything in between. Usually we attack this in early March, after the "last frost" (that never is). But this year is OBE. Catchup time. And it's working well!

Spent two days cutting down ornamental grasses, old perennials, lilyturf and St. Johns Wort, raking, piling.

Now, I may stockpile groceries, but DH stockpiles gardening supplies. I made a focused effort to use up all the Holly Tone and Miracle Gro, etc., last year. But we have 75 trees, and every year he purchases more than enough tree fertilizer spikes. Then we never find the time to dig them in. The basement has PILES of evergreen, fruit tree, regular tree stakes...and so many bottles and containers of this and that.

We have the huge pile of mulch he just purchased, spontaneously, then decided we wouldn't have time to do it ourselves. He only purchased 30 yards, and we use about 100. But, we CAN do it ourselves, it's exhausting, and we need to weed and fertilize and all that first. My goal is to get this done, get caught up, and support his idea to mulch ourselves this year. BIG savings. But SO much work.

So for now, time to COLLAPSE.

Sister's visit was a bit shorter than I realized. Spontenity does that.

So, DH is running her down to the airport and doing errands.

Dinner last night, Dreamfields spaghetti (low carbs, and was $1.29 minus a $1 coupon, so 29 cents!) with a jar of sauce, added tomatoes, onions, olives, mushrooms, tomato sauce (cracking down on that pantry stockpile!), a few herbs and spices, and YUM.

A trick everyone should know - if your sauce is sour or too acidic, a touch of sugar (or sweetner) will soften the blow. A touch of parmesan melted in will make a mellower sauce and reduce the acidity too!

So, a quick run through breakfast, dog to vet, sister packed. She is joining the website, so guess I'd better not vent too much anymore

It really hasn't been bad. Still able to work against the stockpile of food. Sister's blood sugar is doing fine. She keeps commenting that we are eating so much healthier than usual, but seriously, we are eating the same, I just tucked away all the sweets we rarely eat!

On the stockpile: First, gave 10 paper bags filled with non-perishables to Second Harvest, and another 10 to Harvest for the Hungry. And, two bags of personal items to the woman's shelter. No bragging intended. I grew up in poverty, and when I have, I try to share. Getting it free with all the coupons and sales and challenges, and trying to be reasonable on what we are going to get to before the expiration date, it's just an anonymous gift to pass on blessings as I've been blessed.

Anyway, barely made a dent. So...Sunday night we had large salads, mixed greens, the remaining fat free feta, grated carrots from the veggie tray, mushrooms from the veggies, and dried cranberries, slivered roasted almonds, and grated parmesan and swiss cheeses from the freezer. Used up the rest of the raspberry dressing bottle #2. Also broiled 6 grain pumpkin seed bread with a drizzle of butter and honey, just a touch. Dessert was diet Breyers ice cream bars. B-day gifts were freebies: a $30 diabetic cook book, a $25 set of these games she plays, and a leather organizer for her briefcase. Yeah freebies! All things she wanted.

Dinner last night...leftover pasta. Hadn't cared too much for the Bertolli bag sauce, and adding Bertolli alfredo sauce (pantry) made it a bit soupy. So, for last night, I took a bag of the Fast Fixin's popcorn chicken and baked them, sauteed mushrooms, broccoli and a few tomatoes from the veggie tray, added in leftover cooked broccoli, leftover veggie dip, half a carton of non-fat sour cream (leftover), some parmesan, some milk, and the chicken. Served with Pillsbury garlic bread twists (free item). Everyone thought it was great, so guess we're doing okay. Still wishing for the potroast myself...

Tonight, using up the fresh spinach bought for the sister's visit. Made spinach salads. Added the last of the mushrooms and tomatoes from the veggie tray. DH will only eat boiled eggs if they are GRATED, so boiled 6 from the free Land0Lakes pack, removed most of the yolks to soften pups food with (still teething), shredded the whites and mixed with mozzarella and a touch of parmesan from the frig/freezer storage. Bacon from freezer (3 pounds still to go) fried in shreds, drained. Newman's Own honey mustard lite dressing. I'll serve with the remaining broiled honey bread.

Summer I often use garbanzo beans and zucchini instead of the eggs and mushrooms. But, going with what we have

So, that blows the stir fry I was going to do with Jen's alternative to soy sauce. Used up all the fresh veggies. Still not sure what tomorrow will be.

We are doing pretty well, sister and me.

For last night, I had meetings the entire day, so when I arrived home, DH popped 3 pizza's (Trader Joe BBQ Chicken) into the oven, and I pulled out the remaining veggie tray. Pretty tasty.

Corgi has decided he likes to eat raw broccoli. He hovers under me and waits to see if I drop anything when I'm preparing. Last night he snuck some off sister's plate. SIGH.

Tonight, birthday dinner, and I'm back to the stockpile! First, received $3 in Barber chicken coupons from the train, and they were half off on sale last week. So, for $1.50, we picked up 6 stuffed breasts. Perfect for tonight. I also fixed up the fresh asparagus DH bought last week, sale, some bread sticks (pillsbury 10/$10, bought one with a doubled 0.50 coupon, FREE), and a family size bag of the new Uncle Ben's ready rice. Again, coupon/sale/FREE.

Today, sent sister shopping. She had brought coupons for me to do her shopping, but the grocery had Schiff's Niacin half off, $7, on a bonus package, and she had brought a $3 coupons, so she did well. Don't know what else she bought, but *I* didn't have to go shopping and spending.

YEA for coupons!!!