Beef, It's What's For Dinner

After my speal about Zaycon Foods a month or so ago, I thought that I would show you what an order looks like.  Last Friday I got an order of beef.  This is what it looks like straight out of the box:

 My husband and I then divided the 40 pounds into one pound 'patties' wrapped in wax paper.  Because let's face it, every recipe calls for beef in one pound increments.  We then placed four 'patties' into freezer bags and placed them in the freezer.  Here is what that looked like:

We have a standard side by side freezer.  The beef took up the entire top shelf and I was able to fit a few bags of beef from my last order on the same shelf.
Obviously this is not for everyone.  Ideally, we would still have our chest freezer but this will work for now.  Hopefully that is helpful for anyone that is considering ordering.
Here is my referral link again: https://www.zayconfoods.com/refer/zf37347
Or you can just go straight to their website www.zayconfoods.com and set up your own account.

What We're Eating?

This is what I had planned to eat all of this week.  Even the best laid plans sometimes go awry.  We are way off already, but I will give you the plan nonetheless.

Saturday:  Frozen Pizza (My Favorite Meal.)
Sunday:  Vegetable Lasagna.  I used a zuchinni from our garden and lasagna noodles I had left over from the last time I made this.
Monday:  Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili.  I found this on Pinterest and wanted to try it.  Plus I love a crockpot meal.
Tuesday:  Sloppy Joes.  Wanted to use some of my Zaycon Beef while it was fresh.
Wednesday:  Chicken Noodle Soup over Mashed Potatoes.  If you've never had it, you are missing out. 
Thursday:  Meatballs.
Friday:  Leftovers.  Since I have only made the lasagna and sloppy joes so far this week and already have tons of leftovers, I am sure this day will come in handy.

Plan on seeing some of these on my meal plan next week because we are already so off this week.  Enjoy!

December--Week 2

I ran into three stores this week, didn't use a a ton of coupons and spent $24.76.  I will denote anything that I used a coupon on with an asterik:

3 packs Wholly Salsa* (sidenote:  This stuff is delicious.  Definately worth $1 each.)
2 packs Hummus
3 boxes Honey Nut Cheerios*
1 ricotta cheese
3 cans olives* (two were free)
1 onion
1 stalk of celery
1 pack of mushrooms
1 pack romaine
1 package taco seasoning
1 package sloppy joes
1 pack frozen corn
1 pack carrots
2 gallons milk
1 bag Cheetos (This is my contribution to saving companies so that they don't go the way of Hostess by buying snack foods that I love occassionally.  You are most welcome.)

I am waiting for some good coupon deals to come around the corner.  Either I am getting too picky or food really is getting outrageously expensive.  But if these stores don't get their act together, this blog is going to get increasingly more boring.

Weekly Meal Plan

I am a bit behind on all things blogging, so Monday Meal Plan is now Tuesday Meal Plan.  But without further delay, here it is:
Saturday:  Hot Dogs & Oven Fries.  The hot dogs were free from forever ago and the oven fries were part of my Alexia BzzAgent Kit.  So all I had to buy was hot dog buns.
Sunday:  Marinated Chicken & Mashed Potatoes.  My inlaws brought us some potatoes from their garden and I used my Zaycon chicken.
Monday:  Pancakes & Sausage.  Love the Bisquick Shake n' Pours that I got cheap a few months ago.  Very quick meal on a night that Dad isn't home.
Tuesday:  Spinach Salad with Pinapple and Chicken.  I am counting calories and so I am trying to incorporate a salad each week.  Plus I love Spinach!
Wednesday:  Tacos.  Remember those free taco shells I got the week of my first posts?  Plus, my kids l.o.v.e. tacos!
Thursday:  Chicken Helper.  I got these free last month and wanted to try them.  So why not?
Friday:  Leftoevers.  My husband is out of town and so I am anticipating a lot of leftoevers.  Nothing is more frugal than making your kids help eat the leftovers for dinner one night.

I feel succesful this week.  But I feel successful as long as we aren't eating hot sauce.
Next weeks ads aren't looking that exciting, so I am looking for a bit of inspiration.  Anyone?

December--Week 1

I didn't use a single coupon on this trip.  I just made a quick run to my favorite store for some things we need for meals next week.  This is what I got:

Borax
Sour Cream
5 lbs of oranges
Bag of Spinach
2 packs of shredded cheese
3 packs of pop rocks
Hot Dog buns
Off Brand Fruit Loops
Fruit Leather (not pictured)

The Borax, Pop Rocks, and Fruit Loops are for activities I am doing with my kids next week.  The rest of the stuff is all I needed for meals.  I spent $18.29 out of pocket this week.
I have more money in the budget this month, so I am going to make a quick coupon trip on Monday to Fry's for some things for the stock pile.
I will also post what we are eating next week for dinners, it doesn't look like much.  Even I am surprised by how little I needed to buy this week.

I'm Back.

After a glorious holiday and a few weeks of computer woes, I am back.  Things have been pretty slow in the couponing world so it was probably a good time for both of our family computers to go on the fritz (if there is anything as a 'good time' for that).
So my thought this week is:  What to do when nothing good seems to be on sale?
This happens from time to time.  Usually at least one week of the month.  Lately it seems to be happening a lot.  It seems like sales are slim on the ground.  I am hoping this is the calm before the storm and that I will see some good sales in the run up to Christmas.  But in order to stay postive, I am telling myself that it is much easier to stay on budget if there is nothing to buy.
So this is what I do when I am not letting the ads dicatate what I buy:  I make a list of the items that I need for the next weeks meals.  It is usually a small list since I try to keep lots of staples and all of my meats in stock at home.  Now this is the tricky part.  Everyone has a different opinion on where is the least expensive place to shop in general.  Some say Wal-Mart.  Some Fry's (Kroger).  And I personally like Winco.  Winco doesn't have ads and you have to bag your own groceries to help keep costs down.  I like it, but it's not for everyone. 
So my little shopping partner, Brisbane (he's one and a half), are off to Winco for a little shopping trip tomorrow.  I will post my trip from tomorrow after we get back to show a trip that is more than just Hamburger Helper and chocolate chips (although is that really such a bad thing?).

November--Week 3

Another week of shopping has come and gone.  This was a bit of an off week for me, I had such high hopes, and then when I got to the store nothing seemed to go right.  That just happens sometimes.  We are also going out of town for Thanksgiving and so I didn't need much for meals and whatnot.  But here is what I got:

2 boxes Ritz crackers
2 boxes Onion Soup mix
2 stalks celery (preschool snacks)
1 loaf of bread
1 carton whipping cream
1 4-cup bag of walnuts
1 jar pasta sauce
1 jar kalamata olives
1 bag carrots
1.5 pounds oranges
1.5 pounds apples
5 pounds bananas
2 packs batteries
1 package sliced cheese
1 pack Alexia sweet potato fries
1 pack Alexia seasoned fries
1 pack Alexia garlic bread

My total out of pocket was $23.05 and I saved $52.86.  I had another ecoupon that did not come off for my produce.  So next time I am at Fry's I will just swing by customer service and get those $2 back.  No biggie.
All of the Alexia products, in addition to the pasta sauce, olives, and cheese, I got for free from a BzzKit (I have posted about being a BzzAgent before).
I came in way under budget this week.  I had to swing by Safeway to get some milk (2 gallons) and some eggs.  Since I learned that Hostess is going out of business, and I am a snack cake fanatic, we got 2 bags of Donettes (Reese wanted to try to 'white ones') and a box of Ding Dongs.  That trip was obviously a total splurge, but it only cost $12.25.  So even with that little trip I was still under budget this week <sigh of relief>.
I am glad this one is over and am looking forward to a better trip after Thanksgiving.