$14.95 for Flip Covers & Organic Inserts

Flip diapers are a great cloth diaper made by Cotton Babies. They are one of the easiest cloth diapers to use -- just tuck the organic cotton insert into the one-size cover, and you're ready to go!  The Flips offered for $14.95 are seconds. I have bought many second-quality diapers from Cotton Babies and I have never been able to determine why they're actually seconds.  This particular product is normally $19.95, so this is a pretty good deal.

$25 for a Della bag worth $53

These bags are gorgeous, and by purchasing one you are supporting economically vulnerable women in Hohoe Ghana.  Each is handmade by Ghananian women of hand-woven textiles. I'm in love with the nautical pink one!

Coupons & Organic Food, Part II

One of the better sources for organic coupons is Mambo Sprouts.  In the six months since I have signed up with their website, I have gotten 2 coupon booklets in the mail and several emails chock full of printable coupons.  This month's selection is particularly terrific.  Available printables include Organic Valley Milk and Lifeway Kefir.

If you sign up for free, you will be sent 5 coupon/recipe booklets per year, and various emails with links to printable coupons.  In the past, I have seen coupons for Nature's Path and Barbara's Bakery products as well.

$.75 off 1 Silk Soy, Almond, or Coconut Milk

Several people in my house have milk sensitivities, and Silk is my favorite cow's milk alternative. I especially like the Almond milk!

Switch to Silk  (Click "Get Coupon" in the top right corner)

A facebook offer

$.75 off 1 Coconut Milk
$1.00 off 1 Coconut Milk (I found the coupon on the last page; you may have to scroll through)

$.75 off 1 Almond Milk

$.75 off 1 Soy Milk

You should be able to print at least one of each.  Since my store, Wegmans, doubles coupons up to $.99, these coupons amount to $1.50 off the regular price of $3.29, making your out of pocket only $1.79 -- a good price for a half gallon of any type of milk.

Organic Cereal on Amazon: $2.53/box

Obviously, I have an addiction to cereal. Here’s another great Amazon deal, this time on Nature’s Path Organic Whole Os!

Choose the Subscribe & Save option (make sure to cancel after it ships if you don’t want this sent to you -- at regular price -- again), then enter coupon code NATPATH6 at checkout, making this $2.53 per box, which is a great price for organic cereal.

Stock up!

$5 Fridays

One of my menu-planning goals that helps keep me accountable is to try to keep my meals under a certain amount per recipe. In order to make this work with our budget of $80 a week for food (or $20 per person), I’ve had to come up with some meals that are hearty, healthy, and cheap.

This has been a busy week, so I decided to start with something basic, but with infinite variations: beans and rice. I found a recipe in Rachael Ray’s Express Lane Meals and adapted it to fit my family’s taste and the contents of my pantry.

Rachael calls this a “Stoup” -- something between a stew and a soup -- but I know from experience that my husband Chad does not consider soup a complete meal. So I modified the recipe by decreasing the amount of liquid (in the form of stock and tomato sauce) and cooking the rice separately.  The bean mixture --which was delicious -- was the consistency of thick chili, and we ladled it over the rice.  It was definitely filling, and both kids ate it happily. 

Also, it came in well under my $5 budget.  I used canned beans, which I don’t like to do because of the BPA used in the can liners, but I had them in the pantry, and didn’t have any dried beans soaked and ready to go.  Dried beans would make this meal healthier and cheaper.

Hearty Beans & Rice

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil  ($.25)

1 chopped onion, chopped  ($.50)

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped  ($1)

1 package frozen corn (I used Wegman’s Frozen Tex-Mex Corn) ($1.29)

2 15-oz cans beans (I used one can kidney beans and one can cannellini beans, because that’s what was in the pantry.) ($.59x2= $1.18)

1 recipe Homemade Taco Seasoning ($.10)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce  ($.15)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 can diced tomatoes ($.59)

1 1/2 cups white rice (you could use brown, but with the beans, and the corn. . . let’s just say it’s at your own risk.)   ($.25)

In a microwave safe bowl, mix the rice with 3 cups of water and microwave for 15 minutes, stirring once.

In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft.

Add the corn and one can of beans with their juice. Add half of the second can of beans but mash up the rest of the beans in their can with a spoon before adding them to the pot. This will make the mixture a little more creamy.

 Add the taco seasoning and Worcestershire sauce.

Add the tomatoes and let the mixture come to a boil.

Spoon mixture over rice & serve. Grate a little colby jack cheese over the top if desired.

Total Cost? $5.31 

Rochester-Area Groupon: $9 for $20 at Aja Noodle

Aja Noodle is one of my favorite places to grab a bite with my husband. This is a great deal, especially if you buy it now, then use one of the B1G1 coupons for Aja that often run in the D&C or the ShoppingBagAdvertiser!

Must use for dinner, dine-in only. Exp. 11/12/11

Weight Watchers Magazine as low as $9/year

I'm a sucker for magazines, and when I can get a year's subscription for less than I would pay for 2 issues at the newsstand, that's a "Rock Bottom Price" for me.

Today's Mamapedia deal features a 1-year subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine for $10.
Weight Watchers Magazine lots of great ideas for healthy recipes and fitness tips.

If you are one of the first 1000 new buyers, you can use coupon code WWMAG10 at checkout to get an additional 10% off your subscription, making it only $9.

This can only be used for new subscribers and is only available between May 12-15. Make sure to snatch this up quick!

Coupon for Homeopathic Earache Remedy

I Love finding coupons for homeopathic or all-natural health products. Click here and get a coupon for $1 off Similasan Homeopathic Children's Earache Remedy!

Welcome to the Cereal Room

I have a "root cellar" in my basement that looks like this:

Ok, so before you either call the producers of Extreme Couponing or have me committed, let me explain.  What you are looking at is 46 boxes of cold cereal.  I couldn't even fit all of them in the picture. They are stacked two deep.  So you're probably thinking, WHY would I buy 46 boxes of cereal in one week?? 

No, my family doesn't go through that much cereal in a week, or even a month (close, though!) Basically, when buying non-perishable food items that I know my family likes and uses, I always have in the back of my mind the "Rock Bottom Price."  When I find a deal for a certain item that is at or below my rock bottom price, I stock up, so I never have to pay full price. 

What is a "Rock Bottom Price?"  It is the lowest price I have been able to buy an item for in recent (last 6 months) history.  This includes the use of commonly available coupons (usually coupons worth between .50 and $1 found on coupons.com or in the newspaper inserts.)  It obviously doesn't include occasional coupons I get for free products (more on this in upcoming posts!), because free is the Ultimate Rock Bottom Price. 

So here's how I ended up with 43 pounds of cereal in my basement.

First,  I routinely find coupons for General Mills and Kelloggs products in the newspaper and on coupons.com.  I try to use the $.75 off ones first because they are doubled at my store, making a box of Cheerios that retails for $3.29 cost only $1.79 (which, by the way, is 20 cents cheaper than the store brand "toasted Os").  That is my Rock Bottom Price for cereal using coupons at the grocery store, so I used all the coupons I could clip and print because many were about to expire. 

Next, I made a trip to BJs Warehouse Club.  I had a BJs store coupon for $5 off any three Kelloggs' items, which I stacked with a $1 off 3 Kellogs manufacturer's coupon (usually found in the Red Plum newspaper inserts), for a total of $6 off my three items -- 2  double packs of cereal and a box of Special K chips. 

Finally, one of the blogs I follow occasionally lists special Amazon deals.  Using AmazonMom, the Subscribe&Save option, and an online coupon code, I was able to buy a 4-pack of Raisin Bran Crunch -- one of my husband's favorite cereals -- for  $5.37, making each box only $1.39. Since this price is well beyond my rock-bottom price of $1.79 per box, I snagged 32 boxes!

Here's how it all went down:

Grocery Store

10 boxes: Retail Price=$33.00 My price= $17.90

BJ's

4 boxes: Retail Price= $14.76 My price= $7.20

Amazon

32 boxes: Retail Price $102.08  My price= $44.48 

Retail Price= $149.84

My Total= $69.68

Total Savings= 46% 

  

Coupons & Organic Food, Part I

When people find out that I’m “into” couponing, I invariably get the response, “but there are never coupons for the products I use” or “but there aren’t any coupons for organic food!”

Not true!

There are many organic products that I haven’t paid full price for in months.  This week I’m going to show you how to get dairy products at a discount using coupons.  Milk products are a great place to start with because it’s really important to me that my kids aren’t exposed to the antibiotics and growth hormones non-organic cattle are fed. 

One of my kids’ favorite foods is Stonyfield Farm yogurt. There are two ways to get free or reduced price yogurt.  First, go to Stonyfield Farm.  This link brings you to the "coupons and offers" section. Click on Coupons.   Coupons are available for a variety of different products, including the YoBaby and YoKids individual yogurt cups. Usually, there is a print limit of one coupon per computer, but they refresh the coupons every 2-4 weeks. The coupons are for $.50 or $.75 off, so if you bring them to Wegmans (which doubles coupons up to 99 cents), you will get a dollar off your purchase. If you’re like me and purchase this product every week, you could save $100 a year!  

To get free yogurt products from Stonyfield Farms, click on the My Stonyfield Rewards tab.  After you sign up, you simply input the code from each package of yogurt you buy. You will earn between 3 and 6 points per product, and can get a coupon for a free YoBaby 4 pack for just 20 points. You can also redeem points for Happy Baby and Nature’s Path brand products as well. Depending on how much yogurt you buy (my kids go through a LOT), you could possibly get one free pack of yogurt a month. 

Make it Yourself Monday

One of the things I would like to share on this blog is versions of popular processed foods that I usually make from scratch -- which saves money, packaging waste, and more often than not, time!

I’m starting with something small. Everyone in my house loves Mexican food. For years, I would always buy those pre-made packets of taco seasoning, or chili seasoning, or enchilada seasoning. One day, I didn’t have any of those packets (retail $.99-$1.29) and it occurred to me -- why don’t I just make my own?

After a little tinkering, this is what I came up with:

2 tsp. chili powder

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp cumin (I usually am a little heavy-handed with the cumin -- love it!)

1 tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp salt

Feel free to make any substitutions like onion salt for onion powder. Just be sure, though, that if you do use more onion salt or garlic salt, you decrease the amount of table salt.

Also, this is the recipe for the equivalent of one seasoning packet. You could easily double, triple, or quadruple the recipe and keep it in a sealed container. If you do that, use about 3 tablespoons per recipe.