You Win Some You Lose Some

I try pretty hard to get the best deal whenever I can. Sometimes this is not easy. However, I find that the time I put into it is often well worth it in savings.

One of my favorite deals is to use a prescription transfer coupon like this:


You can find these in the ads usually in the Sunday papers. Rite Aid often puts them out or has them at the store. The deal is, "Transfer your RX to our store and we will give you a $25 gift card." It gets tricky at times using these. You have to keep track of where your RX is and where you last transfered it. Also, the coupons are often not good on new RX, though I found a couple stores that will honor a coupon anyway, despite the wording. Back in the good ole days I use to transfer RX's between Shopko (who would accept a competitors coupon and add $2) and Albertsons (who also would accept competitors coupons plus add $5). Those days are gone as Shopko started limiting coupon usage to every 6 months and Albertsons did away with accepting competitors coupons all together. Well, despite the "inconvenience" of keeping track of transfers, policies, and available coupons I still found it worth it to play the game. After all, my RX were only $4 and I was receiving a $25 giftcard.

Today, I was not successful though. I transfered my prenatal RX from Rite Aid to ShopKo with my RX transfer coupon in hand. My total came to $10. I said, "You guys are more expensive than Walmart and RiteAid. This RX is only $4 there." The cashier re-rang my ticket and I paid and handed her my RX transfer coupon. She then informed me that they couldn't price match and take a competitors coupon as well. I totally lost today, and I'm having a hard time getting over it. Had I paid $10 for my RX I would have come up $15 ahead with the gift card. As it turned out I paid $4 and got nothing.

I'm still going to continue playing the transfer game, but I will probably be avoiding ShopKo.

One Lovely Blog Award

I recently received a Lovely Blog Award from Ashley at getgroceriesforfree.com. I follow her blog by way of the reader on the right hand side of my blog. She gets some great deals.

Cream Soup Replacement

I've been dying to try this recipe. I'm adding it here so that I can find it when I get around to trying it.

Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup Recipe:

• Grind: 4 T of any white bean (lima, navy, etc.) to make 5 T bean flour
• Combine: 5 T bean flour, 1 ¾ c. water , 4 t chicken bouillon into a saucepan
• Cook: On stovetop at medium temperature until thick and delicious (whisk frequently).The soup should cook in 3 minutes! (this may be longer if your grinder makes a very coarse flour).

Use this with cooked veggies and or meat for a complete meal. You can also add this to recipes calling for cream of chicken soup cans (I have found this replaces a can plus the water or milk in recipes). Food Storage Made Easy

Albertsons

The ad for this week has 3 "doubler" coupons on it. There are a ton of items you can get for cheap or free when you combine your manufacturers coupons with the doubler coupons. Last week I stocked up on Breyers ice cream (my favorite) for $1.00 a carton. ($3.00 minus $1.00 manufactures coupon minus $1.00 doubler coupon = cheap bliss to my hips).

Check out this link to the tread discussing doubles on Pinching Your Pennies.

Albertsons Double Coupons

Check your newspapers this morning for more Albertsons "double coupons."

Freecycle

Ever heard of Freecycle? Here is there mission statement: "Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."

What you do is you sign up for a group in your area. FREECYCLE.ORG After you sign up (by way of Yahoo account) you can receive emails of things people are offering or looking for. If you want the item or can fulfill a request you respond to them via email. Recently I got 5 great pairs of gently used boys pants for my oldest son. I also was recently looking for a baseball mitt for my left hander and two people people offered one to me.

Freecycle is a great place to donate big items that you don't want to lug to the dump or can't give to DI. We got rid of a car, a couch, and a broken drier all on freecycle. I have also donated smaller things that I was sick of having around my house including a couple of well used baby strollers and car seats, out dated canned and boxed foods, and other miscellaneous odds and ends.

Anyway, check it out.

Pancake and Waffle Mix

I was born and raised on this pancake recipe. I found it again while going through a recipe box at my mom's.

10 c all-purpose flour (I have been using 8 cups white flour and 2 cups wheat flour)
2 1/2 c instant nonfat dry milk
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c baking powder
2 T salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together. Put in a large airtight container. Store in a cool dry place. Use within 6-8 months. Makes about 13 cups.

To make Pancakes with it:
Combine 1 1/2 c Pancake mix
1 egg
1 c water
3 T vegetable oil
let sit 5 min.

BUT...for my family, I combine 3 c Pancake mix, 1 egg, 2 c water, and 1/4 c vegetable oil. I'm going to experiment with less oil one of these days.

Enjoy!

April Totals are in....

In April I spent $306.96 on all my grocery purchases.

I got the following for free or dirt cheap this month:
12 Post Shredded Wheat cereal: $.24 each
Carolina Smoked deli turkey: $.44 for 5 lbs
5 Kraft Salad Dressings: $.08 each
12 Mentos Gum: Free
5 Glaceau Vitamin Water: Free
5 Dentyne Gum: Free
5 McCormick Grill Mates: Free
2 Huggies Hand Soap: Free
3 Quaker Corn Crisps: Free
6 Post Trail Mix Crunch: Free
1 Nivea Body Wash: Free
1 Rembrandt Mouth Wash: Free
9 Bags of Halls Cough Drops: Free

Google Spread Sheet Here