Savings at Kroger and Publix

Today I came across some great deals at Publix and Kroger.  Here are the links to the weekly ads.  You can change the location to see the deals for your specific store:

Publix: http://weeklyad.publix.com/publix/default.aspx?action=entryflash&StoreRef=00636&Adref=publixcom
Kroger: http://krogeratlanta.mywebgrocer.com/Circular/KROGER-419/00419619/Weekly/1

Also, I should note that in order to get the Mega-Event prices at Kroger, I had to buy 10 participating items and use my Kroger Plus card.  So make sure you take note of that before you go.  I believe you can just sign up for a Kroger card at the customer service desk or register.



Here's all the groceries I got today all for $16.82!!  Here's how I did it:

Publix
1. This week at Publix, Prego sauce was on sale BOGO so two jars were $2.05.  I had a .50/2 coupon for Prego that doubled at the register to give me $1 off two.  This means that I got two jars for $1.05.  I had two coupons so I bought 4 jars for $2.10, which is  .53 cents a jar!

2. Silk Almond milk was 2 for $5.  I just bought one at the price of $2.50.  And I had a coupon from the Silk website for $1.50 off.  So I got one half gallon for $1

3. The coffee creamers were 3 for $5 but I only had two coupons so I just bought two creamers.  They were $3.34 together.  I had two coupons for .55 cents off so I got two creamers for $2.24

4. The Hillshire Farms smoked sausage was not on sale, but i did have a publix store coupon for $1 off 2 and a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off as well. I got two packages of sausage for $4.78 (normally it's $3.39 for one).

5.  Colgate Total: each tube was priced at $2.73.  I had two .50/1 manufacturer's coupons and two $1 Publix coupons.  After the manufacturer coupons doubled, I saved $2 off each tube, making them .73 cents each!

Kroger:
I did the 10 item mega event, which means I got an additional .50 cents off each item's sale price. 

1. Ronzoni Pasta was on sale for .99 cents a box.  I bought 3 boxes.  With the mega event, each box was only .49 cents

2. Chex Mix: I bought two bags.  They were sale priced at 1.49 after mega event pricing.  I had a .50 cents off manufacturer's coupon for each bag.  My Kroger double coupons (I've heard that most do, but you made need to ask your store's manager before you hit the register), so I got $1 off each bag.  This means I got two bags for .98 cents!

3. Smart Balance Butter Spread: I found a facebook coupon deal for $1.75 off Smart Balance.  I printed one through my Facebook and through my hubby's.  I bought two tubs of the butter at $1.88 mega event price.  The coupons made it .13 cents per tub!

4. Bird's Eye Steamers Rice Blends - Mega Event price was .99 cents a bag.  I had coupons from the manufacturer's website for .35 cents off the whole grain blends.  These coupons each doubled to .70, making each bag only .29 cents a piece!

5. Lastly, Kroger was having a 3 day manager's special on their bread/buns.  I bought a loaf of wheat bread for .88 cents.  It was not a part of the Mega Event but .88 cents for a fairly good sized bread loaf is an awesome deal anyway.

Overall, I spent $12.16 at Publix and saved $17.34.  That's a 69% savings.  I spent $4.66 at Kroger and saved 20.03 which is an 81% savings!  Needless to say, I am getting hooked on this couponing thing.  I cannot wait until October's coupons come out and the holiday sales start so I can stock up on holiday foods and have some left over to donate to the Thanksgiving food drive at our church. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my couponing adventures!  Check back this weekend for more blog posts!

God bless,
Mrs. Hobo

Moe's Burritos at home!

I had a fairly uneventful Tuesday.  Found out that the hubby and I haven't paid "rent" (5 dollars a month fee) for our kitty, Peaches.  I was nervous that the leasing office would be mad at us for just now catching it after 8 months but luckily, they thanked me for being honest and said that someone had forgotten to bill us for pet rent after we paid the pet deposit.  This means from now on, until we move somewhere, we pay $5 a month for our lovely kitty. 
There she is hiding in a box....the cuteness!!!

So after a day of working on couponing, organizing the pantry, and getting a few things ready for the start of Fall semester, the hubby came home from work and we decided to make burritos.  We like to get burritos from Moe's.  Two meals for us there is around $16.  We made our own for much less!

Here are pics of our delicious creations:

Recipe?  I think so!

Ingredients (serves 2):
1 breast uncooked chicken
1 half lime
2 tbsp garlic bits
as much butter as needed
1/2 can black beans
2 cups cooked rice
4 tbsp queso (either tostitos con queso dip or make velveeta and rotel dip)
4 tbsp salsa or pico de gallo
2 medium or large flour tortillas

Here's the drill:
Cook the raw chicken on the stove in the butter/garlic bits. Once it's browned a little, squeeze some juice out of the lime (not too much, unless you want overpowering lime flavor)

Cook beans according to directions on can (microwave or stovetop works)

Microwave the queso or mix up the velveeta and rotel in either a pot on the stove or in the microwave

Make sure you have some rice cooked.

Lastly, warm the tortillas as directed on package (I don't like mine too warm cause it's hard to pick up if it's too hot).

Have your pico de gallo or salsa standing by.

Now, you can construct your burrito whichever way you like.  I did chicken, then beans, then rice, then queso, then pico.  But you can do in reverse if you want.  I won't judge.  These burritos are supposed to be an individualized piece of food art!

Yum, these were almost as good as Moe's (if not better). I can guarantee you can make burritos healthier and cheaper at home than you can if you buy them from Moe's.  And, as stated earlier, you can make a burrito any way you like in the comfort of your own kitchen!  The only downside to making do-it-yourself Moe's burritos is the clean-up...

Dirty dishes are of the devel, enough said.

Anyway, that's all for now!  I will be posting Thursday after I hit Publix to share all the great deals I found :)

Peace,
Mrs. Hobo

Chicken, Waffles, Tupperware, and Blueberry Lemon Cake = my weekend!

Hey everyone!
I had quite an adventurous weekend.  I started by going downtown on Friday evening with some of my girlfriends.  We went to dinner at Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles. It was delicious!  We waited for over an hour, however, because when they called us for our table, two of the members of our party were not there yet so we had to wait longer...Needless to say, by the time we sat down we were all starving!  Here is a picture of the Midnight Train (the famous Chicken and Waffles plate) that I shared with a friend:
Sorry it's such bad quality.  Blame my phone :-p

I think the only thing that would have made this better is if the chicken came in drumsticks and the waffle was a Waffle House waffle.  But overall, this was a great dining experience in Atlanta.

Things to try at Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles:
1. Chicken and Waffles
2. French Fries (so good!!)
3. Mac'n'Cheese
4. Sweet Potato Cheesecake

After our dinner, we went down to a Salsa Dancing restaurant/club (not really sure what it is.  More like a restaurant with a dance floor) called Loca Luna  The best thing I had there was the Xango cheesecake.  It was like a chimichanga filled with cream cheese, fried, covered in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with a berry sauce.  It's a little pricy (around $7 I believe) but it was delicious.  This is a recipe for a similar dessert you can make at home! The drinks at Loca Luna are definitely pricy but the food is really good and decently priced.  We were able to enjoy some Latin music while we ate dessert and watched the women's racing on the Olympics. We watched poor Morgan Uceny fall down in the 1500-M final.  But the rest of races were cool.

The dancing at Loca Luna was far from impressive.  The Salsa music was nice, but it was not a hip-happening place for younger audiences.  Most of the people dancing were middle aged women trying to sing along to the bad dubstep remixes of Katy Perry and Kesha.  Great food, horrible dancing.  lol

After driving home in some horrible storms from my friend's house, I went home and slept for a few hours before getting up Saturday morning to prep for a Tupperware party I threw for a friend of mine.  The party was at my mom's house and all my guests were family members, but it was fun and I won some free things!
Anyway, I made a blueberry lemon cake with cream cheese frosting to serve at the party.  Here's how I did it:
I bought a box of white cake mix (very cheap at Aldi's) and baked it in a 9x13 pan according to box directions.  After baking in the oven, I poked holes on the top of the cake while still warm with the end of a spatula handle and filled with lemon pudding.  This had to sit in the fridge for four hours!  Here is what it looked like after four hours:
Looks a little funny without frosting, huh?

Next, I started the cream cheese frosting . This is a great recipe from Martha Stewart's site.  Here is what I needed:
The cream cheese isn't pictured in it's original form because I had already mixed it up in the bowl before I remembered to take a picture...oops!  Oh well, so I followed Martha Stewart's recipe but added Lemon Zest.  It gave the frosting a very slight lemon flavor without being overwhelmingly lemon-y, since the cake has lemon filling already.

Next step is frosting the cake.  One batch of frosting covered the whole cake:

Mmm!  Looking good already :)

Lastly, I added blueberries.  They came from my dad's blueberry plants.  They were very sweet and tasted great with the lemon flavor of the cake:


Perfect!

So at the Tupperware party, we used the quick chef to make homemade salsa and guacamole.  It turned out very well!  For hosting a party, I got these cute Salt and Pepper shakers, and on-the-go salt and pepper shaker, and an Avocado Keeper!  It was fun.  I got some hostess credit and a free thank you gift as well!  It was a great time for me to buy some Tupperware since I was able to get four things for only around $15!!

Sunday morning I taught preschool at church.  We learned about Moses and the burning bush.  The kids loved the lesson and got to create their own burning bushes with the cardstock coloring sheets and paint.  Church was awesome.  It is Shark Week at church so the sermons are about "sharks" that try to tear us apart during our journey with Christ.  If any of you are interested in hearing this week's sermon, here is the podcast.

Our lunch yesterday was wonderfully nutritious Taco Bell.  We then headed home to chill and relax, watch the episode of Burn Notice we missed Thursday, and then took a drive out to Galt's Ferry at Lake Allatoona.  Then we headed home and made breakfast for dinner.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the first ever crepes I made :/  maybe next time I cook crepes I will take awesomely low quality photos of them with my phone!  Regardless, the crepes were tasty with eggs, bacon, and syrup on the inside.  (yes, we like syrup with our scrambled eggs and bacon!)

Today marks the beginning of my last week of summer.  Classes for my last fall semester ever begin Friday!  I'm beginning to get a little sentimental about my last year at Kennesaw State, but I am glad to be almost done :)  More on that later...I am choosing not to focus on school today :)

I will be posting another Publix  coupon adventure on Thursday.  If I come across anything interesting before then, I will post it as well!  Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Mrs. Hobo

Adventures at Publix

Okay so today I had my first mini extreme couponing trip!  God bless the kind young man at the publix check out.  I gave him all my coupons first, paperclipped together, and organized to try and make it easier on him.  You always want to be polite when you walk up with 20 + coupons!! (yes, I know, it's a lot but it was worth it!)

Before you start thinking I am like those extreme couponing ladies on TLC, let me explain.  My husband and I are trying to start saving more.  We both work, but because I am in my senior year of undergrad school and interning for free two full days of the work week, I can't bring much money in with my part time job at the office.  Mr. Hobo also has a part time job on the side doing server maintenance from home, but we are unsure how much longer he will have that job.  Therefore, we are trying to save as much as we can so that way we can live on just one job :)   Using coupons is a good way for us to save and stock up on much needed items to hold us over until next year when I start whatever awesome full time job God has lined up for me out there.  Also, we do shop at Costco for many non-perishable or freezer friendly items that last a while so we only have to buy them once every couple of months.  Another quick note, if I get stuff for a great deal at the store I and I don't have the need/want/room for it but I know someone else will, I give it away.  Therefore, I am not the woman who freaks out because her stockpile of lasagna noodles has fallen below six boxes!  Anyway, enough disclaimers...lol

Onto the shopping trip.  First off, there are some super great BOGO deals at Publix.  As some of you may know, Publix does double coupons 50 cents or less.  Also, at my Publix, they take competitor coupons for Target, Walmart, and Kroger (check your store's coupon policy for which competitors they take).  HOWEVER: they do NOT double competitor coupons.  You cannot use a competitor and Publix store coupon on the same item.  Choose the one that gets you the best deal.  Also, you can stack a Publix coupon with a manufacturer's coupon or a competitor coupon with a manufacturer's but you cannot do all three. I have heard some stores will, but my store's coupon policy says they don't so I don't push it.

Here is this week's Publix ad:  http://weeklyad.publix.com/publix/default.aspx?action=entryflash&
This is what I bought today.  After taxes, the value of all this would be $59.57.  I got it for $8.90!

Here's the breakdown (starting with items left to right):
1. Suave Naturals Body Wash - on sale 2 for $3
I used four printable coupons.  I signed up online using my email address and was able to print some coupons that way.  Each coupon was 50 cents off one Suave body wash.  Publix doubled all four of my coupons, meaning I got 4 dollars off 6 bottles, making my total cost for 4 $2!!!

2. Temptations Cat Treats: On sale 4 for $5
I had two 50 cents coupons from a Facebook  deal, 2 50 cents off coupons from signing up for an e newsletter and one $1.50 off two from the Publix Paws pet savings online coupons.  It was a total of $5.50 in coupons. This means I got four bags of cat treats for free and had 50 cents left over, with Publix puts toward paying down your total. 

3. Next we'll talk about the Papermate pens.  Target has an online coupon website.  I was able to print two coupons for $1 off Papermate products (most web coupons have a limit of two prints).  They were on sale 2 for $1.  These are actually really nice pens and this a great deal even without coupons!  Luckily, my Publix lets me use the coupons, even though the price of the item of is less than the coupon value, as long as there is one coupon for each item and I do not try to buy a travel size/sample size item with a coupon meant for the regular size item.  Therefore, I made $1 with the coupons for the pens and it was put toward my final total

4. Now, who doesn't love some Honey Nut Cheerios??  Mr. Hobo and I love Cheerios, especially when they are BOGO free!!.  I had two printable coupons for 60 cents off 1 box.  Even though this is a BOGO deal, Publix will allow you to use 1 coupon for each item because the way the items ring up is half price for each item instead of one showing full price and other showing free on the receipt.  This way, one box of cheerios rung up as $2 and other $1.99 (since the full price of one is $3.99).  This means I got 60 cents off each box and saved a total of $1.20 off $3.99, meaning I got two boxes for $2.79 when normally, it would cost almost $8 for two when not on sale!

5. Bic Mechanical Pencils - On sale 5 for $5, meaning each pack of 10 is $1 by itself.  I had a $1 off coupon from the newspaper a couple weeks ago, making my pencils free.

6. Suave Deoderants - this was a great deal.  Right now, they are BOGO free at Publix.  The price for two, therefore, is $1.99.  I had six coupons, four printables and two from the newspaper.  I bought six sticks.  Since it was $2 off each set of two sticks for $1.99, I got all the sticks for free and made 3 cents

7. Morton Iodized Sea Salt - On sale at Publix for $1.69 a box.  I had two printable 50 cent coupons from Facebook.  The coupons said Do Not Double, so unfortunately, I could not save a whole dollar off each container.  So each salt was $1.19 a container.  However, I made a dollar off the pens I bought, so that made up for the dollar I did not save using the salt coupons. 

8. Second to last on my list, we have the Quaker Chewy Bars!  Yum.  I love taking these in my purse to school so I can munch between classes without stopping at the vending machine.  Anyway, the Chewy Bars were BOGO free making it $2.99 for two boxes.  I had a Target coupon for $1 any two Quaker products and a Facebook coupon for $1 any two Quaker items.  Therefore, I paid .99 cents for two boxes

9. Last but not least, Cover Girl Eyeshadows - Regular price Publix is 2.99 for one color.  Now, Publix has some of the worst make-up/health and beauty prices if you don't use coupons.  However, this month there is a Publix coupon for $1 off any Cover Girl item and I also had a coupon for $3 off two Cover girl products from the newspaper.  I used two of the Publix coupons (they will let you use one coupon per item) and my coupon from the news paper and was able to treat myself to two eye colors for .98 cents!!

So the final total?  With $2.38 for two salts, .98 cents for make up, $2 for body wash, $2.79 for Cheerios, and .99 cents for Chewy Bars, and the $1.53 I made off the pens, cat treats, and deoderants, I spent $7.61 before taxes and $8.90 with taxes.  This was definitely a super successful trip.

My advice to other couponing people: don't expect every shopping trip to be like this.  I have been practicing my couponing for months and this is my first really big savings.  I have had a few other days where I saved more than I spent that is good enough for me.  I will not cry if I have to pay more than a few bucks for all my groceries.  The point for me is to aim to save between 40 and 60% each time I go to the grocery store.  A good rule of thumb is plan your meals around what is on sale and save on items that there are frequent coupons for so you can reserve more money for more expensive, yet necessary items that almost never go on sale or have coupons (like milk, eggs, meat, etc.).

Thanks for reading everyone!! I am glad to be able to share savings tips with you all.
God Bless,
Mrs. Hobo

P.S. Most of the deoderant and body wash is going to my mom and also I am giving some of the cat treats to my parents for their two cats.  I am so glad I was able to get some stuff for them because they put so much money into raising me, it's the least I can do to give back a little bit :) 

Revamped blog!! and Cheesy Penne with Chicken :)

Hello Readers!!

This is Julia Townsend... aka Mrs. Hobo!  (If you all don't know, my hubby's nickname is Hobo and he has a vanity license plate on his car that reads: "Mr. Hobo").  Therefore, I am the Mrs. Hobo.  Anyway, I decided to get back into blogging to share some of my passions with others.  I love cooking, baking, shopping, couponing, crafting, etc.  I can't wait to share some of my adventures!!  I will post links to helpful blogs/sites as I go.  I already have a link for Southern Savers (a really great blog on couponing) and a link for my husband's gaming website, if any of you or your friends/family members play online games. 

For tonight, I am posting my recipe of the evening: Cheesy Chicken with Penne.  I am using this recipe for cheese sauce, but with five cheeses rather than just cheddar:

http://southernfood.about.com/od/cheeserecipes/r/bl30103x.htm

Here is a picture of my starting ingredients:






I also used some flour, garlic powder, onion powder, Mrs. Dash seasoning, salt and pepper in the sauce.

Next, I cooked the penne pasta in a large pot.  I always add a little salt to the water.  I noticed it helps keep the pasta from sticking together when they boil. 

Last, I cooked the chicken in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil, onion powder, Mrs. Dash, and pepper.  I cooked for about 7 minutes, then checked the inside of one of the chicken pieces.  It was still pink so I cooked a little longer.  Once finished, I added to the cheese sauce.  Lastly, I added one can of diced tomatoes (drained) to the sauce for flavor and veggies!  With all that cheese, you gotta get something healthy in there!

Here is a picture of the finished dish :)
mmm...looks and smells delicious!!!

Words of wisdom from my first time doing this recipe:
1. Pay attention when making the cheese sauce.  It can burn easily!
2. You may need more milk than listed in the recipe if you don't want really thick sauce
3. The noodles will get cold while sitting there so maybe do the noodle part last. 

I am just about to dig in!! I am very excited.  Hopefully the hubby will like it too!

Tomorrow I will post about my couponing adventures at Publix and also post the recipes/pictures of the meal I am preparing for someone in my church tomorrow! 

Thanks for reading :)