Publix Trip 11/18

Here is today's shopping trip to Publix. I spent much more than usual but I did get everything we needed for Thanksgiving (except the turkey) and I was able to stock up on lots of holiday, baking and party stuff. I also got Thanksgiving items for donating to the school food drive and stocked up on Diet Coke ( four 12-packs). All in all, a very successful trip.

We really didn't need meat again this week since we are trying to clear out all we have in the freezer to make room for the Thanksgiving turkey we are buying on Monday and to make room for storage during the next week of holiday food.

Make sure you keep an eye out for all the various coupon booklets available in Publix right now, especially the Family Winter Savings Booklet (check out my giveaway of those too!) and the All The Trimmings Booklet.

Here is the break down of today's trip:

Total Retail Value: $170.58
Total Saved: $113.36
Total Spent: $57.22
Percent Saved: 66%

Here are the highlights with coupon match ups:

• 2 dozen Publix eggs, retails for $2.09 each
• Used 2 coupons for FREE Publix eggs when you buy any 2 Sargento Cheese products from the All The Trimmings booklet
• Made them both FREE
• 4 boxes of Mullers Pasta, retails for $1.43 a box, on sale BOGO (.71 each)
• No coupons just needed these pasta shapes
• Made them .71 each
• 4 bags of shredded Sargento cheese, retails for $3.99 each, on sale BOGO ($1.99 each)
• Used four .55/1 coupons from the Wounded Warrior Website
• Made them each $1.44 a bag
• 2 tubs of Cool Whip, retails for $1.95 each
• On sale BOGO, made them .97 cents each
• 2 bags of Fresh Express Salad, retails for $3.99 each
• On sale BOGO, made them $1.99 each
• 4 bags Publix Baby Carrots, retails for $1.69 each
• On sale BOGO, made them $.84 cents each
• 2 tubs of Rondale Cheese Spread, retails for $4.59 each, on sale BOGO ($2.29 each)
• Used two $1 off coupons from manufacturer website
• Made them each $1.29
• 2 tubs of Breakstone Sour Cream, retails for $2.69 each, on sale BOGO ($1.34 each)
• Used a $1/2 printable coupon
• Made them .84 cents each
• 6 cans of Carnation Evaporated Milk, retails for $1.36 each, on sale BOGO (.68 each)
• Used three .50/2 coupons from the 10/30 RP
• Made them .43 cents each
• 2 cans of PAM Cooking Spray, retails for $3.09 each, on sale BOGO ($1.55 each)
• Used two .50 cents off printable coupons
• Made them $1.05 each
• 4 packages of Vanity Fair Plates, retails for $2.72 each, on sale for $1.97 each
• Used two $1/2 printable coupons from Wounded Warriors
• Made them each $1.47
• 2 packages of Vanity Fair Napkins, retails for $2.29 each
• Used two coupons for a FREE packages of napkins when you buy 2 Vanity Fair plates from the Yellow Advantage Flyer
• Made them FREE
• 2 bottles of Tums (136 count), retails for $4.89 each, on sale for $3.50 each
• Used two $1.50 off coupons from the Winter Savings Booklet
• Stacked with two $1 off printables
• Made each bottle $1
• 3 bars of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, retails for $2.67 each, on sale for $1.25 each
• Used a $1.25/3 printable coupon
• Stacked with a .50/2 coupon from Target.com
• Made them .66 cents each
• 4 twelve packs of Diet Coke, retails for about $5.75 a pack
• On sale B3G1, and had a special price of $4 each
• Used two $1.50/2 off Publix coupons from coupons.com
• Made them $2.25 each
• 2 packs of O-Cello sponges, retails for $2.49 a pack
• On sale 50% off, made them $1.25 each
• Used two .55 cents off coupons from the Winter Savings booklet
• Made them .70 cents a pack
• 2 bottles of Wesson Vegetable Oil, retails for $4.59 each, BOGO ($2.29 each)
• Used two .30 off coupons from the 11/13 SS
• Made them .99 cents each
• 3 pans of Sister Shubert Rolls, retails for $3.69 each
• On sale for $3.00 each
• Used three .75 cents off coupons from AllYou.com
• Made them $2.25 each

 There were lots of other great BOGOS and sales that I just did not take advantage of because we didn't need or eat the products. Comment if you have any questions or see any great deals!

Cheap Thrill Thursday: Great Deals Currently Going On At Target

Here are some of the best deals going on at Target right now. These are combination of sales I have seen in store, seen in the weekly ad or read about on various blogs. Keep in mind that prices can vary from store to store and not all Targets will participate in price cuts and special sales. Also, know that if your Target is not a super Target it may not carry all the advertised products.

• President Brie on sale for $3.49
• Use a $2.50 off coupon 
• Makes it .99 cents
• Side note: my Target didn't carry this so I price matched at WalMart and it was surprisingly easy
• Birdseye Steamed Veggies, price cut to $1 each for select varieties
• Use a .50/2 coupon from the 11/13 SS
• Makes them .75 cents each
• Assorted Kashi Cereals, price cut to $2.99 each
• Use a $2 off coupon from RecycleBank
• Makes it .99 cents a box (really good price!)
• Earn a $5 Target Gift Card when you buy 2 Gillette Fusion razors or cartridge packs
• There are a variety of coupons from the P&G inserts and home mailers
• Not a great sale but if you love these razors (like Justin does) and you hate buying them full price the gift card could at least soften the blow
• Peter Pan Peanut Butter, price cut to $1.86 for a 16oz jar
• Combine with a $1.50/3 coupon
• Makes it $1.36 a jar, pretty good price if you need to stock up
• Land O Lakes Butter 1 lb. box, price cut to $2.99
• Use a .50/2 coupon from the 10/23 SS
• Makes it $2.49 a box
• Usually runs anywhere from $3.99-$4.99 depending on where you buy it...

Make sure to check out the full weekly ad with coupon match ups and to visit Target.com for printable coupons before you shop!

What Is A Stockpile & Why Should You Have One?

You may have heard me refer to my stockpile in previous posts. If you are not familiar with couponing or you have never watched "Extreme Couponing" you may have no idea what a stockpile is.


A stockpile is a collection of pantry staples and personal care products that one buys at rock bottom prices (or gets free with coupons). Some crazy extreme couponers have stockpiles that take up entire rooms, basements garages and more. I, however, have my stockpile contained to my pantry, an upstairs closet and one shelf in the garage. The idea of a stockpile is that you should never have to go out to the store and buy something full price when you run out and absolutely need it.


What are some items to commonly stockpile? Here are my suggestions:


Pantry
Pasta
Pasta Sauce
Cereal
Granola Bars
Crackers
Soup
Flour
Sugar
Baking products
Spices
Condiments
nuts
salad dressing


Fridge
Milk (if it's super cheap and the exp date is long enough)
Cheese (shredded and block)
Butter (or spreads like Smart Balance, I freeze it)
Yogurts (check expiration dates)
Juices


Freezer
frozen veggies
frozen fruit
smoothie mix
frozen pizzas
meat/chicken
frozen meal/family size entrees


Household Items
toilet paper
tissues
paper towels
laundry detergent
cleaning products
dish soap
dish washer soap (cascade packets are always free)
napkins


Personal Care
toothpaste (should be free or close to it)
toothbrushes (should be free or close to it)
floss (should be free)
shampoo and conditioner
body wash
razors
mouth wash
contact solution
deodorant (should be free)


These are just my personal favorites. Some people might say, "Why buy all these things when you don't need them all right now?" My response would be that if you are still spending less than you use to on groceries and household items (for me it is significantly less), why not build up a supply of things?


There are weeks when I am too busy to go to the store and our stockpile has been invaluable. It is so nice to be able to make lunch or dinner without running out to the store for things. We are able to have people over last minute and not panic about needing some snacks. Best of all, I am spending way less than I use to on these things while buying way more. And if there ever comes a time that I can't coupon or couponing policies change, at least I will have a few months worth of stuff to live off of  : )

My Coke Rewards currently has its Holiday Rewards Catalog open. This has lots of great rewards available at half their normal point values.

You can get a coupon for a free 12 pack of any Coca Cola products for 120 points (half off) and they even have gift cards to restaurants and stores for discounted point values.

If you are new to My Coke Rewards, it is a website that you can join for free. You then enter codes from Coca Cola products and you can redeem those rewards for prizes.

Honey Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is another recipe I adapted off of Pinterest. I had really been wanting to start making my own pizza dough since Justin and I make our own pizzas for dinner fairly often.  We had been buying whole wheat naan bread from Publix to put them on but it was hard to find and it was pretty expensive. This recipe originally calls for regular bread flour but I decided to sub it out for whole wheat flour and we love it. 

The recipe below actually makes enough dough for about four medium sized pizzas. I make the dough on the day we want to make a pizza and then divide it up into four portions. I freeze three and use one to make that night's pizza. That way I don't have to go through the mess of making dough whenever we want to make a pizza. All you have to do is put the dough in the fridge in the morning and it will be nice and de-thawed in time for dinner.

Honey Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 Tablespoons dry yeast (I use pizza crust yeast, it works best)
• 5 cups whole wheat flour (or any kind of flour you want to use)
• 1-1/2 cup cool water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons honey

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, stir the yeast into the warm water until dissolved. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
2. Add the flour, the cool water, salt, olive oil, and honey into the yeast mixture. Knead with a dough hook for about 5 minutes, or by hand for 7. Dough should form up into a ball and loose its sticky texture. I sometimes find that in humid South Florida this takes longer and sometimes I have to add a little more flour to get it to firm up. 

It should pull away from the sides of the bowl like this.

   3.  Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise for 30 minutes or longer if you can.

Try to put the bowl in a warm spot.

4. Punch down dough and divide into 16 portions (for individual pizzas) or four portions (for 16 inch pizzas). Coat each ball of dough in olive oil, wrap in plastic wrap or place in resealable bags and freeze.


I use a serated knife to cut the dough into equal pieces.





Our favorite thing to do with the dough is make a pesto chicken pizza. We top the pizza with store bought pesto, shredded chicken and fresh motzarella. I also season the crust with basil and italian seasoning. The photos below are of our pizza from this week but in the past we have topped it with sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatos and Justin will put onions and other veggies on his too.

The finished product and Tuesday night's dinner.

Lilly Pulitzer On RueLaLa

RueLaLa will have Lilly Pulitzer on sale tomorrow (11/17)starting at 11am eastern time. Lilly is one of my favorite brands but I really only buy it when it is on sale : )

RueLaLa is a discount website that features "flash sales" on brand name clothes, shoes, beauty, home decor and more. Their sales feature a limited selection of deeply discounted items. Popular or majorly on sale items tend to go fast so I would log in right at 11am if you can to get the best deals.

White Chicken Lasagna

This is one of those recipes that I saw on Pinterest but was pretty sure I would never make. However, Justin loves lasagna and I hate red sauce so this seemed like a great compromise. I was expecting it to be way harder than it actually was.

 I made some changes to the original Pinterest recipe. I omitted the butternut squash puree mainly because I couldn't find it in my Publix but also because I am not sure how I felt about it in this recipe.  After making it we have decided that even though we loved it, we will definitely make some changes to it next time, like adding sun dried tomatoes. All in all, we did love it the way it was too.

White Chicken Lasagna

• 1 box cooked lasagna noodles
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 c. chicken broth
• 2 c. nonfat milk 
• 4 c. mozzarella cheese, divided 
• 1 c. shredded or grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 c. cooked and shredded chicken
• 1 small box frozen spinach, thawed and drained; liquid squeezed out

1. Melt butter in a large saucepot.  Add onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until translucent.

2. Add flour, salt, and pepper.  Cook flour mixture 1-2 minutes.

3.  Add chicken broth and milk.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir 1 minute.

4. Turn off heat and add 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese.  Stir in dried spices.

5. Lightly spray a 9×13″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Ladle some cheese sauce onto the bottom to thinly cover.

6. Add a layer of lasagna noodles.  Layer with more cheese sauce, the chicken, and the ricotta cheese.

7.  Add a layer of lasagna noodles.  Layer with more cheese sauce, the chicken, and the ricotta cheese. 

8. Add another layer of pasta.  Top with cheese sauce, spinach, and 1 c. mozzarella cheese.  Add another layer of pasta. 

9. Top with cheese sauce, remaining ricotta and more shredded Parmesan. (this would be where I would add sun dried tomatoes next time)

10. Add final layer of lasagna.  Top with remaining cheese sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

11. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown on the edges.

Let is sit for around 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!