Monthly Menu Teaser

Well, it's a new month and I am working on my new month menu.

Stay tuned, it's coming soon.

And don't forget to pitch those expired coupons!

Frugal Friday- Crockpot Bread

I will admit that I stole/borrowed this recipe from another blogger. You can get to Emily's website by going here. She has a great tutorial on baking this bread with even more pictures and detail versus what I will put up here.

The idea of using the crockpot to bake bread is genius to me. I love the idea of baking our bread, but I lack the knowledge of allowing it to rise properly and I don't want to tie up the oven all day. I like how you let it rise on the warm setting of the crockpot, then switch it over to hot to allow it to cook.

I used Emily's basic recipe. For next time I will likely add a little butter and/or sugar as that may affect the rising time.

These are regular cans from diced tomatoes that I saved when I made chili. Two fit perfectly in my crock pot. Here is my bread rising. It took my crock about 1 hour on warm to have the bread rise sufficiently.

This is the finished product. The cooking time was also longer in my crock versus the recipe.

I love the size and shape of the loaves. They will be great for sandwiches (no crusts for the kids to complain about).

This bread has almost completely disappeared and it finished only an hour ago. My kids gobbled it up! I did manage to save a little.

I am intrigued to the possibilities of making sweet breads this way as well. I will definitely be making this bread again, and hope to feel comfortable enough to start using different flours and combinations. Baking my own bread is after all one of my goals this year!

Do you make your own bread? Do you cook something different in your crockpot? Let us all know by leaving a comment!

Pierce's Highlights for the week

It's a new week and I've got a big problem. I am out of money in my grocery envelope and there is one more week before I get more. Yikes. I have enough in my checkbook 'buffer' that I always keep, but that is not the point.

January is the first month that we were going to try and lower our monthly grocery budget. apparently this is not going to be as easy as I thought. Hubby and I talked about it, and we are going back to the original amount for awhile. I guess we'll try that again in a couple months.

But now, it's on to the deals. As always check out the entire flyer either in the stores or online. Here are the deals according to me...

Page one
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Bananas $0.38/lb
Quaker Savings: theses are all good prices and there are the following coupons available:

• ad coupon $3/5 products
• $1/2 Aunt Jemima syrup
• $1/2 for chewy granola bars
• $1 IP for Old fashion oats

Page two

Claussen pickles $2.50, use $1 IP

Johnsonville brats $2.50, $1/2 MQ

Grands Biscuits $1.25, use $1/2 IP

Yoplait gogurt $2, use $1/2 IP

Page three

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Creamette pasta $1 (good price if at least 16 oz)

Chinet plates $2.50, use $2 MQ (expires 1/31 I believe)

Page four

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Cauliflower $0.98/lb

Taco Bell salsa $1.66, use $1 MQ

Don't forget they also have a $0.98/lb special going on with pork this week as well. check it out!

Piggly Wiggly Internet coupons

Thanks to Cindy for the full scoop....

Piggly Wiggly in Pardeeville (and I am assuming Poynette as well) are now accepting internet coupons up to $2 value.

Yippee! Wanted to pass the word along. I'm still working on getting Pierce's to loosen up their policy a little. I got an email back but I am responding to them again.

A couple Walgreens orders

I made my weekly Walgreens run today. While there are many sales going on this week, I didn't need much. I tried to make the most of my $10 RR that I earned last week. Here's what I came up with.

Transaction #1: (bottom picture)

• 2 Mini Wheats 2/$5, used $1.50/2 IP and got $1 RR
• 1 paper plates $0.99 with ad coupon
• 1 Organix hair conditioner $6.99. It has a full price rebate on it so it will be free after rebate

My total after coupon above and the $10 RR from last week was $1.92 with a coupon/ad savings of $15.30. In addition I got a $1 RR for next time and will get a $6.99 rebate on the conditioner.

Transaction #2: (top picture)

• 2 Mini Wheats 2/$5, used $1.50/2 IP and got $1 RR
• 4 Frito Lay salsa
• 4 tostito chips, used $1 MQ when you buy salsa and chips.

My total for this transaction was $19.50 after coupons. The coupon and ad savings was $16.42 and I received a $10 RR from the chips/salsa and $1 RR from the cereal.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the haul, now excuse me while I fill out my rebate and get it in the mail ASAP!

A use for your Swagbucks

Hopefully by now you are using Swagbucks to earn point for all your internet searches. If not, click on the photo and it will take you to the site to sign up.

Another place to sign up right now is Alice.com. This website is a place to purchase things we all need in our homes; dish soap, toothpaste, toilet paper and so much more. Shipping is always free, prices are fair and they feature clipless coupons as well for further savings. Click here to sign up at Alice.com.

Now I have a great way for you to combine both of these things. If you have 20 swagbucks in your account this is a great deal.

Under your swagbucks account, go to the 'swag store' and choose the gift card tab. You will find a Alice.com $5 gift card available for 20 swagbucks. Redeem and wait for the ecode, then go to Alice.com to place your order.

I did this deal a few weeks ago and got all of the following for $0.83 (after the giftcard)

• Bounty basic paper towel
• Bounty napkins
• Angel soft toilet paper 9 pack

You usually need to purchase 6 items on alice except for your first order. I think that is a pretty good haul for $.83!

If I find any other good deals for you on swagbucks or alice, I will keep you posted.

My second Walgreens run of last week

I had to return to Walgreens in order to do the Pepsi deal--which is awesome!

2 Planters nuts $1.99 on sale, used $1/2 MQ plus $1 Wags Q on each --- $0.49 each

4 salsa, 4 soda 2 liters, 2 bags chips ~ total $20. used $1/4 Pepsi, $1 off chips + salsa.

I also used my 7 Register Rewards to get my total down to $12.26 and I received a $10 Register Reward for my next purchase. My ad and coupon savings in this trip was $22.90.

The sale is going on this week as well, and I plan to get some more chips and salsa since we go through a lot of it! Yummy.