Many of you will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house this year. It doesn’t take long to figure out that this feast can break your food budget.  Here are some tips to help you to spend less and hang on to that money for upcoming Christmas expenses.

Prepare the foods yourself.  Don’t go out to the ham store and order a precooked ham or turkey.  I’ve heard of some people paying $30-40 for a precooked ham.  Yikes!
Shop the pre-Thanksgiving sales.  Some stores offer tremendous weekly specials to lure you in.  Look for buy 1 get 1 free specials on vegetables, …read more

We’re all looking to include more vegetables into our meals. Here are some ways to help you save.

1)  Grow your own.  Growing your own can help to drastically cut your food bill.  As an added bonus, you get to control the use of fertilizers and pesticides. 
2)  Can and freeze for the winter months.  Many people plan a large garden so that they will have enough to can and freeze for future months.  These come in handy for soups, casseroles and crock pot meals.
3)  Buy in-season produce.  I am more likely to buy cucumbers, tomatoes, and other produce when they’re at …read more

Since having kids, I find myself buying quite a bit more bread. The kids enjoy sandwiches, toast, and other sorts of things made with bread. Here are some ways to save on your bread purchases.

1)  Shop at day old bread stores and close out stores. Sometimes you can find great deals at Merita stores, Big Lots, and Dollar Tree has even had some Nature’s Own bread.
2)  Look for coupons.  Just last week I was at Food Lion and found a great coupon.  It was to get a free bag of Sara Lee bagels with the purchase of a loaf of …read more

I don’t do as many deals, steals, and coupon match-ups as I used to so today I’ve been searching around some of my favorite sites for you.  Here are some of this week’s deals for all of you bargain shoppers.  Multiple sites have similar lists, so perhaps you can compare the lists to get the most savings.

Rite Aid Deals for October 4-10 at Money Saving Mom
Rite Aid Deals for this week at Deal Seeking Mom
Food Lion Deals for September 30-October 6 at Thrifty Mommy
Target Deals for October 4-10 at iMommies
Dollar General Deals for September 30-October 11 at Bargain Briana
The CVS …read more

Food Lion is having some great bargains this week which includes some three day sale deals.

Three days sale items:
Edy’s ice cream (reg $5.39) $1.99, limit 4
Scott or Cottonelle 12 roll bath tissue (reg $9.79-$9.99) $4.99, limit 4
Gain laundry detergent, 100 oz liquid or powder (reg $13.29) $7.99, limit 2
Bounty paper towels, 8=12 giant rolls (reg $14.59) $7.99, limit 2
Kraft shredded or chunk cheese, 8 oz (reg $2.79) bogo, limit 2 free
–These were supposed to be 2/$2.79 but they were ringing up 2/$2 at my Food Lion because they are also on sale for $2 the rest of the week.
Other sales …read more

I had become used to purchasing large eggs from the grocery store.  This came from months of seeing that large eggs were the best bargain on the shelves.  I had compared the sizes of the large eggs with the extra large eggs and decided to change my normal purchasing routine.  Large eggs it was.

Little did I realize that I had become patterned in my buying again and was no longer conscientious of egg prices.  Finally, this week when the price of large eggs went up once again, I looked around the shelves.  To my surprise, I noticed that extra large eggs were …read more

One way to save on your grocery bill is to check the dates on the food products before you buy them.  Just tonight I was shopping and found shredded cheese and flour tortilla shells that were several weeks out of date.  The cheese was moldy and I’m sure it won’t be long before the tortilla shells taste badly. 

While many items are still good for a while past their best by date, it’s important to get fresh products so that they’ll last longer and taste better.  If you like to stockpile groceries while they’re at rock bottom prices (or buy ahead), …read more

Food Lion is having a great sale this week.  I stopped by twice today to pick up some of their bargains. Many are worth stockpiling, which will help save you money later.

3 day sale (Friday, Saturday, Sunday):

12 inch Food Lion self rising or thin crust pizza 5/$10, limit 5
5 oz Food Lion chunk light tuna 3/$1, limit 6
64 oz Food Lion apple juice $.99, limit 4
6-16 ct Food Lion ice cream sandwiches, bars, and cones 2/$3, limit 4

Other sales:

26-32 load Wisk laundry deterent (includes H-E) $2.99, limit 2
48 oz Edy’s ice cream buy 1 get 1 free, limit 2
seedless grapes $.99/lb
half …read more

It’s time for another friendly reminder to get a raincheck!  If your grocery store is having a spectacular sale and they’re out of the item, be sure to ask for a raincheck. 

For the past few weeks, I have been looking for a great sale on hamburger meat.  I wasn’t able to find one but while I was cleaning out my van, I found my old coupon pouch.  I am so glad that I found it because inside it I found some rainchecks and one of them was for ground beef.  Hooray!
Yesterday I went to the grocery store.  I got 18+ …read more

This month you can get $18.70 in coupons for Pillsbury from General Mills.  To get the printable coupons, simply register to be a member of the Pillsbury community.  Members will also learn about special events and offers from Pillsbury.
The coupons available this month are:

$.75 off Kix cereal
$.55 off Trix cereal
$.55 Honey Nut Cheerios cereal
$1 Pillsbury Savorings products
$.55 Pillsbury Simply refrigerated cookie dough
$1 two Pillsbury Grands biscuits
$1 two Pillsbury cookie dough
$.40 off two sweet rolls
$.55 two Totinos pizza rolls
$.55 two Toaster Strudel pastries
$.40 off Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad mix
$1.50 off Wanchai Ferry frozen entree
$.75 off Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, or Chicken Helper
$.60 …read more