Had a great morning of shopping today and got some amazing deals. This was Meijer. They had the Quilted Norther 50% off making it $2.34 for a 6 pack and I used 2 $1/2 coupons to make it only $1.84 per 6 pack or 31 cents a double roll. The tummy ticklers were on sale for $3.99 making them just $1.33 each this the first time I saw a sale that good on these. Strawberries were $1. Organic Grapes were $1.99 a pound. The silk was on sale for $3 and I used $1 manf coupon. The little eyeball rings were just to cute and I used a 20% off Mperk coupon to save 60 cents making them $2.40. I also had a 24 pack of coke that didn't make this picture on sale for $5.50. I used a $4 catalina from last weeks trip. I spent $23.99 and saved $26.42

I made the mistake of telling Scotty I was applying for the House party with this cute little monkey. I did not happen to be paying attention to email when my invite came in and missed out. I found a $10 off $20 toy purchase in my Mperks. So I went to see how much they had it for. It was marked down to $20 from $25 so perfect deal. Paid $10.60 and saved $14.99. I will have a happy little boy come Christmas.

I am very disappointed that Kroger has stopped doubling coupons. Makes me dislike the extreme couponing show even more because it helped to take away something that saved me money. Today I lost out on almost $2. The Kleenex were on sale for $1.79 and the Huggies wipes were on sale for $1.99. I had an ecoupon that would take off $5 for 5 items that worked for up to 25 items. So the Kleenex were 79 cents each and I used two 55/3 coupons and one 50/3 coupon making them $6.51 total and I got back a $2 Catalina so $4.51 or 50 cents a box of 160 tissues. The huggies wipes were 99 cents after ecoupon deal and I used a 50/1 coupon so they were 49 cents. Cheerios were free with a coupon I got in the mail. Popcorn was free with an ecoupon. Miracle whip you can almost see was also free with a coupon I got in the mail. The Lunchmeat was also free with an ecoupon. The eggs were also free with a coupon I got in the mail and the butter was on sale for $1.99 a pound. I spent $10.47 and saved $31.61 or 76 percent.

This was my first transaction at Target. Power Ranger costume $20 used cartwheel app to take 50% off making it $10. Captain America shield $10 used Cartwheel app to take 50% off making it $5. Three book covers marked down to 60 cents each (70% off). Two Fruit Bursts on sale for $2.50 used 2 manf $1 off coupons and 2 Target $1 off coupons making them 50 cents each. Two 20 count boxes of Advil $3.99 each used 2 $1 off Manf coupons and Cartwheel took of 80 cents got back a $5 gift card making them 9 cents a box Spent $23.17 with an extra 5% off for using my red card.

Second Target Transaction Two backpacks marked down to $5.98 to donate for Foster Kids (70% off). Prunes $2.19 regular price used $1.50 off coupon I printed on double coupon value weekend 69 cents total. Two boxes of Children's Advil $4.99 each used two $1.50 off coupons printed from Facebook and $1 off from the Cartwheel app got back a $5 gift card for buying 2 making them just 49 cents a box. total $18.87 used the $5 GC from the first transaction and paid $13.87 OOP.

Third Target Transaction after realizing that the Cartwheel app was still working (I wasn't sure what the limit reached on the coupon meant. Turns out it meant nobody else could add it but I already had so it was still good.) I went back and got a Ninja Turtle costume regular price $30 got 50% off with the Cartwheel app so just $15. The two pair of shorts were marked $4.48 which was 70% off. Total was $24.39 and I used the $5 GC from the second transaction and paid $19.39 OOP. Now I can put together a new dress up box for Scotty for Christmas with this stuff and the stuff I got at Dollar tree.

I also stopped at Aldi because we are out of bread and garlic. Bread is only $1.69 a loaf and has no HFCS. Garlic was $1.99 for the jar. The pinto beans are down to $1.79 which I was happy about for 2lbs. I was super excited about the blueberry applesauce it isn't organic but it does not have any HFCS and is all natural stuff for just $1.69 for 6 cups. Scotty loved it.

It's been so long since I blogged but I was super excited about my deals today and had to share. Hopefully back soon with my adventures in Canning. So far so good and so much fun to do.

Homemade Cheese "Ritz Bitz" crackers

Recently I began to realize how bad a lot of the food we were eating really are. I am now working really hard to eliminate all Genetically Modified foods from our diet as well as switching over to as much organic as I can afford.

One of my son's favorite foods is cheese filled sandwich crackers. Everyone I have looked at contains High Fructose Corn Syrup in them. The organic variety are very expensive. So I asked around and found a recipe to try to make my own. I started with this recipe for GF Ritz Bitz but didn't really want Gluten Free crackers. So I was off on a Pinterest hunt for regular crackers. I ended up trying this one out this time Homemade Ritz Crackers.

I had the help of my 4 year old for this project. I love that you mix the dough in a food processor which made it super easy. I didn't end up adding all the water since the dough was already looking way to wet.

 We used a plastic medicine cup to cut out the crackers. Something metal would probably work better I will have to keep my  eyes open for what to get.

 The finished crackers. We got two trays this size from one batch plus some just random ones I cut up at the end to use the rest of the dough.

 And here are our finished cracker sandwiches. Sorry forgot to take pics of the cheese sauce. I used colby cheese because I wanted something semi mild for my son and I couldn't find Asiago at my store. I did end up adding some 3 cheese mix to it that had Asiago in it to add a little more flavor. My sauce came out super runny. Not sure if it was because my milk was all stuck to the bottom of the can which I realized later or the different cheese or what. I ended up adding more flour to it and putting it in the bullet blender to get the lumps out. I only used 1/2 of the cheese for these and put the rest in the fridge for next time. My son liked them but I am not sure he loved them. He has been sick so that might be all it is.

We will be trying a lot more DIY stuff in the future!

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I am so excited about all the stuff I want to try making from scratch

I have recently found a couple of amazing blogs that have tons of things I want to try on them and I love that they are real ingredients not boxed or processed stuff for the most part. I want to make my own stuff from scratch as much as possible. When I look at prices it just confirms for me that it's worth it. This one makes some complicated stuff but also some stuff like hot fudge sauce and chocolate syrup from scratch http://annies-eats.com/. Can't wait to try those and the homemade taco seasoning her her page. :) I also found this one http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/ and can't wait to try some of her homemade breads and dishes like slow cooker baked beans. YUM

Now to hunt down a real recipe for homemade chili beans and angel food cake.

I also love www.pinterest.com and all the great things I get from my friends posting their finds on there! 

I hope everyone can find some new things to try and save yourself some money and cut down on the preservatives and salt that are in your diet from the processed stuff.

Cooking beans from scratch

Every time I use a can of beans I realize how much the price has gone up. Beans are a great source of healthy fat free protein. Canned beans are not only expensive but come with a lot of stuff in them I would rather do without like salt. So I decided to try cooking my own from dried beans. I dumped a couple of bags into the crockpot and added water. I turned it onto high and 4 hours later I had beans ready to go. If I had realized it was that easy I would have done it much sooner. :) I cooked 3lbs of dried beans and bagged up 11 cans worth. I spent $3.34 on the beans because I bought one little bag for $1.25 and one big bag for $2.09 and threw them both in together. Meijer recently had a can of black beans on sale for 69 cents. Eleven cans would have cost me $7.59 so for about 10 minutes worth of work they are ready to go in the freezer.  Oh and the pot didn't even have to be soaked I used a nice green scrubber and it was off in seconds. I am currently making some great northern beans and plan to try my hand at making my own chili beans as soon as I pick up some beans since I must have used the last bag of pinto beans making refried beans. Give it a try you won't regret it.

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