January 20, 2008

You Go Girl!!!!!

Good grief! lol

good for you!

How do you do it? What is your secret? Please teach us!!!!!!!

I would love a full freezer. I see your shopping list and wonder how your oop is so low.
I know it takes time to get to that point but please teach me step by step. You should start a business helping people reduce their grocery spending.

Teresa

I started with just my freezer attached to my fridge, and quickly outgrew that, so we got a second fridge for the garage since I get so much bottled water and drinks anyway...and started filling that freezer...within a few months of great deals I found myself looking for a full stand alone freezer...I got the one in the pic off Craigs list...It was only a year old and paid $100 for it...and it works great.

most of you who know me know I don't get the paper...unless there are mounds of killer coupons in them like the 1/6 inserts. So then...with ECB and GC, I ended up with 10 of those. The Heatly Ones lunch meat coupons were in there, so I ended up with 10 free packs of lunch meat since Kroger clearanced it since it was not moving...still has a week of shelf life left...so I toss it in the freezer and I am good to go.

All the fast fixin nuggets and popcorn chicken are on sale this week for $1 and there are $1 IP...plus as a bonus if you save 10 UPC and mail it in...you get a coupon for a free fast fixin product...which I will use to get the biggest bag possible of chicken patties for free.

It took me some time to get to this point, but now that all my freezers are full and same with the pantry...I dont have to spend so much money on groceries and I can spend more money on fun stuff like vacations. And I really only need to shop for fill in items like milk, eggs and produce...unless it is free, lol...then I will still stock like crazy if I have the space.

Wow, that is amazing you're able to do that without insert coupons! Great job!

No, actually I do use insert coupons...just trade for them...I almost never buy the paper myself...too cheap..so I will just trade for the ones I need

I've been thinking about trading recently myself. Only done one so far so it's new territory for me. It's probably more economical than using a clipping service.

to me it comes out better in the long run...that way I am only getting the coupons I need...on the occasion I do buy the paper, I take what I need and trade the rest off for other ones I need.

Goodness, I wish you lived near me! I live near Indianapolis, you wouldn't happen to live close would ya?! LOL I'd love to get to this point.

Wish you lived closer to me I could just go shopping in your garage.. LOL :)

I've tried freezing lunch meat, hot dogs etc. Thaw them in my fridge, but the meat texture seems different. What are your tips for thawing lunch meat, hot dogs etc?

I am so impressed with your budget and ?i always look forward to reading your latest scores! :BigHand:

I sure wish we had a Kroger or Albertson's here in Austin. all we have are HEB's and the sporadic Randalls...

I just take out the lunch meat the day before we need it and thaw in the fridge...sometimes it is still icy so i just pat it dry before putting on bread. The texture does not change...at least none that I know of or get complained about, lol.

We don't have Albertsons anymore...last time I went to one was in Austin on 81, lol...I think I ran them out of business...sorry!

I almost never shop at Randalls or HEB because of their coupon policy. Except this week when you get free stuff at Randalls, lol

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely have to try the freezing and thawing again. This time without my DH knowing :wink7:. He was the one who stated it was a different texture but he knew they were frozen and was skeptical how they would taste-sheesh-I think it was all in his head. :hysterical:

I did several transactions at Randalls on Sunday and wanted to go tonight for another round but my Cedar Fever is kicking into full gear. Closest Randalls near me is 20 min drive eachway on the toll road. :frown:

But I gotta go back in the next few days because on my last transaction, $10 was not instantly taken off for the breakfast deal :frown:. Trying to figure out when the best time to go to get my $ with my baby and preschooler and the 40 min round trip drive-blech....

wow,
i hope i ever get as good as you are .I really like looking at all the pictures you post and reading all you post.it is alot of help and makes me more motivated to get more coupons and start saving.
thank you for all you do to help everyone.i know it probably takes alot of time to set it all up and post it.