Hy-Vee Bargain Meal of the Week 3-11

Soem pretty good meat deals again at Hy-Vee. I could have come up with several different meal options, but I stuck with 2:

Menu Plan A:


Chicken Oreganato
fresh steamed broccoli
Knorr rice
cottage cheese


You will need-
2lbs. chicken thighs at .79/lb.= $1.58
1 lb Dole Broccoli= $1.38
1 package your choice Knorr rice= .88
1 12oz. container of cottage cheese= .77
Total = $4.61


Menu Plan B:
I'm a St. Louis girl- we LOOVE our pork steaks. At home, people generally cook them with barbecue sauce and grill them, basting with sauce until you get what I've heard referred to as "candy meat". Nice crunchy ends and good bbq flavor. Since I don't get home for this treat often, we'll offer it as an option this week!


Grilled Pork Steaks
Baked Potatoes
tossed salad


Your shopping list
1.5lbs of pork steak at .99/lb= $1.44
2lbs of russet potatoes- (5lbs on sale for .99)= .40
Bag of Dole salad mix= $2.00
Total= $3.84

Bakers Bargain Meal of the Week

There are some strong seafood deals this week at Bakers- $1.99/lb for Catfish nuggets, buy one get one free for shrimp, etc. I really don't know what to do with catfish, so you're on your own with that one :) I decided, after picking up one for myself, to focus this week's meal around pork loin at $1.77/lb. My pork loin was around $5 for 3lbs. I will be dividing that up and using it for a few different meals. Please note that while this recipe says it serves 6, it calls for 3lbs. of meat---a tad much--I am basing pricing on using 2lbs.- you could probably cut it back even more for a family of 4. If you have some cheese at home, a little sprinkling on top would go far!

Your shopping list:
2lbs. of pork loin $3.54
1 can of Kroger corn .48
1 can of Kroger diced tomatoes .48

The recipe-
Pork Tamale Pie

If you're in the mood for a sweet treat after, and you get 10 qualifying items in the Mega Event, you get $5 off. That makes the Haagen Dazs Cups .49!

Cool offer from Earthbound Farm

Take this quiz from Earthbound Farm Organic for the chance to win coupons--for every quiz that is taken, Earthbound Farm will donate $1 to Healthy Child Healthy World.

How do you teach a child to make friends?

I had a good Mommy cry yesterday, and a good look inside myself. Our 6yo is going through evaluation for ADD. It's something that I always suspected was the case, but seeing the evaluation forms and the in class monitoring reports has been very difficult. Our son is doing fine academically, and it appears that he is a very happy, smiley inquisitive child at school. He also appears to be quite loved by the teachers and staff for his sunny disposition and unique personality. Unfortunately, his lack of impulse control and his ability to disrupt the class and distract the other kids has made him quite unpopular with his peers. Here I go, I'm starting to tear up again as I write this---as a mom, I want the very best for my child--to be able to meet his needs, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And I want him to have a wonderful childhood with friends that want to be with him. It's very hard to acknowledge that he's struggling in this area.

I want to be able to positively affect change for my son and help teach him the behaviors and social skills that will help him be more accepted by the other children. My first thought is to show him through example. That's when I hang my own head and have to admit that I'm not the best example. I've let my career consume my time outside of family life, and since most of our family and closer friends live out of state, we've never really developed a close circle of friends here. I have many people that I know through work and who we see socially on occasion, but I don't think those would be big examples for him.

I sort of feel like I can't just talk the talk, but I'm going to have to walk the walk and try to develop some relationships and scenarios where we can both be better at interacting and being social. Going to be doing some reading and looking for some books on the subject on Amazon---think they have "How to Make Friends and Influence People- First Grade Edition" ?

I sure hope we can turn this moment into a positive opportunity for us both.

Looking really nice for budget this week

I think if all goes the way it looks we're going to come in under budget by quite a bit! I took my Walgreens trip Sunday and spent $5.57. (And I'm getting $6.57 back in rebate on my gift card)

Yesterday I hit Bakers for 2 boxes of oatmeal, grapes, lemons, red wine vinegar and tarragon vinegar, along with a Mitchum deodorant, and spent $7.58, thanks to my Pillsbury catalina and other coupons.

Today one more quick stop at Walgreens for a couple more Coffee Mate creamers, more gum, another Glade Sense and Spray (I put one in my office at work and love it--think I'm going to put the other in the ladies room), and some jelly beans--I don't feel good so I buckled for sugar. (It was Mike and Ike's Jelly Beans for goodness sake---willpower evaporated). Total OOP was $1.56.

I have 2 things I'll be ordering from Schwann's, for about $15. Sale ads hit tomorrow, but besides a few items I have preliminarily set my sights on for the Baker's Mega Sale and some milk, I really don't see any big trips.

I have been very happy at how our spending has been so far this year. We have seriously impacted our grocery spending year over year, without trading quality of what we eat. Quite frankly, I think it's far improved, as we've cut down on the convenience foods, which means we're not eating anything processed. Looking forward to seeing March as a whole---think this is going to be my best month yet!