Shopping...from the freezer

Sunday is the one day of the week, that I pull all proteins & frozen items from the deep freezer that we will be consuming throughout the upcoming week.  This is what was pulled for this week, & a general idea of how the items will be used.

Beef Roast; Top it with a mixture of dry onion soup mix & cream of mushroom sauce before baking. YUM!

Pork Shoulder; Pulled pork sandwiches for dinner sometime this week. 

Bacon; Breakfast & crumbled on top of baked potatoes.

Chicken; Legs & drumsticks saved from fryer chickens, good for homemade chicken noodle soup.

Corn; We must have at least 6 pks of corn, time to use up!

Ham; Sandwiches for lunch, & omelets on the weekend

Orange Juice; Haven't been feeling very well the last couple of days  :-(

Zucchini bread; I had no idea this was in the freezer!  Will work great for our work week breakfasts.

Butter; All out of margarine, just butter for the next 2 weeks.  Thankfully I still have more in the freezer. 

**As you can see, some items have a clearance sticker on them, this is the best way to purchase perishables as long as you have freezer space for them.**

Versatile Hoagie Rolls

I love buying products that can be used multiple ways!  We purchase packs of hoagie rolls at Costco, you get 3, 6 packs for less than $2.00 a pack. They freeze easily and quickly thaw when needed.  Here are some of the ways I use hoagie rolls.

Meatball sandwich: meatballs, marinara sauce, & parmesan cheese on a warm hoagie.

Toasted chili & cheese: chili, & cheese on a toasted hoagie (you could add a hotdog too!).

Garlic bread: butter & garlic parmesan mix slathered on a hoagie & brown using broiler.

French Dip sandwich: roast beef on a toasted hoagie, with a side of au jus. 

Do you have any tasty recipes using hoagie rolls? Shoot me an email & I'll be sure to try them out :-)

Walgreens

I'am still working out the kinks in earning Register Rewards.  Below are posts of 2 different trips to Walgreens with the latter of them to be a good example of how not to use your Register Rewards  :-(

Trip 1
Dentek floss, sale $2.00, final $2.00
Halls Refresh sale $1.39, coupon .50c, final .89c (earned RR $1)
Chapstick, $3.49, sale $2.99, final $2.99 (earned RR $2)
Mini Highlighter, .65c, sale .15c
Used RR = $5.00
Total oop = $1.03
Earned RR = $3.00  (should have earned $2 for the floss, not sure why I didn't)

Trip 2
Hershey candy bars, .89c, coupon 2 for $1.00, final .50c ea (2)
Zantac, sale $8.99, coupon $5.00, final $3.99 (earned RR $9)
Used RR = $4.00
Total oop = .99c
Earned RR = $9.00

Then

Almay eye concealer, $8.99, sale B1G1 free
Almay eye liner, $9.49, sale $8.99
Mini Highlighter, .65c
Used RR = $9.00
Total oop = .64c

*On the second transaction, I figured that the higher priced Almay item would ring through (didn't know it was on sale), so between the 2 Almay products it would still be over the $9 and thus able to use the RR from the previous transaction.  I had a $3.00 Almay coupon and not thinking I would need it, I failed to bring any other items to the register.  With a line behind me I grabbed the closest thing to make it over the $9 mark, this time the highlighters were no longer on sale for .15c, urgh!  If I had played it a bit better, I would have had $3 more to spend in store and nothing out of pocket.  This is an example of what not to do when you shop at Walgreens!

The Walgreens Game

Over a year ago, when I first started up my original blog, I was figuring out the best coupon deals available.  In the last several months, Walgreens has opened 2 stores here in Anchorage and I figured that I would start working the Walgreens Game that seems ever so popular on many frugal websites. 
This is my first attempt, but I think that so far I am doing ok.  I have made two trips this week, here is how I did.  My second trip was purely to score more RR (Rebate Rewards) and to pick up some milk.

Trip 1
Herbal Essences, sale $3.49, coupon $1.00, final $2.49  (earned RR $2)
Venus Razor, sale $7.99, coupon $2.00, final $5.99  (earned RR $4)
Dentek floss picks, sale $2.00, coupon $1.00, final $1.00  (earned RR $2)
Chapstick, $3.49, sale $2.99, final $2.99  (earned RR $3)
Oral-B toothbrush, $3.79, sale $3.00, coupon $1.00, final $2.00  (earned RR $3)
Halls Refresh sale $1.39, coupon .75c, final .64c  (earned RR $1)


Total oop = $15.11
Earned RR = $15.00

Trip 2
Fat Free Milk, $2.99
Dentek floss picks, sale $2.00, coupon $1.00, final $1.00  (earned RR $2)
Oral-B Toothbrush, $3.79, sale $3.00, final $3.00  (earned RR $3)
Hersheys chocolate, sale 2 for $1.00

Used RR = $6.00
Total oop = $1.99
Earned RR = $5.00

So...not to bad for my first attempts at the Walgreens Game, we'll see how well I can keep it up  :-)   For more frugal shopping tips, check out the Saving Money Blogs List in the left column.