How I Pinch A Penny

Please check your local flyer to be sure they are running the same deals as my paper. Need help with the abbreviations? Click HERE to see what the HECK I am talking about!!

Here is my coupon match up list for Giant Food stores. I am using an ad from South Central Pa. As always check your local flyer for participation. Also There are a lot of match ups for Martins. There are some great printable coupons! We also are earning those gas rewards points again! We all love those!

• Arnold Whole Grain Classic Or Grains & More Bread B1G1F
• .55/1 10-11-09 RP Use 2 coupons
• savings vary

• Juicy Juice 100% Juice 8 Pack 2/$5.00
• $1/2 printable found HERE
• 2/$4

• SoBe Life Water 10/$10
• $.55/1 printable found HERE Print 2
• 2/FREE

• Progresso Vegetable Classics Soup 10 for $10
• $0.50/2 10-04-09 GS
• 2/$1

• General Mills Cereal 2/$4
• $1/2 printable found HERE
• 2/$3

• Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts Family Pack 2/$5
• $1/1 09-13-09 RP use 2
• 2/$3

• Post Cereal 2/$5
• $.55/1 10-11-09 SS use 2
• 2/$2.78

• Chock Full O’Nuts Ground Coffee 2/$4.00
• $0.75/1 08-30-09 SS (use 2)
• 2/$1

• Mrs. Dash All Natural Seasoning Blend $2.39
• $0.50/1 10-04-09 SS
• $1.39

• Smart Balance Peanut Butter $2.69
• $1/1 10-18-09 RP
• $1.69

• Nature Valley Granola Bars 2/$5
• $1/2 10-04-09 SS
• 2/$4

• Pepperidge Farm Cookies $3.19
• $.55/1 09-27-09 SS
• $2.09

• Del Monte Fruit Naturals 10/$10
• $1/3 Printable found HERE
• 3/$2

• Frigo Cheese Heads String Cheese $5.99
• $.40/1 08-09-09 RP
• $5.19 each

• Heluva Good Dip $1.49
• $.50/1 printable found HERE (print 4)
• $.49 each

• Maggio Ricotta Cheese $2.29
• $.50/1 10-04-09 SS
• $1.29

• Nestle Refrigerated Cookie Dough 2/$5
• $1/1 10-11-09 SS use 2
• 2/$3

• Suave Lotion 2/$5
• $.50/1 10-25-09 RP use 2
• 2/$3

The frost is starting to set in at night so I took that as a sign to pull the rest of the jalapeno peppers from the plants before they got nipped too much.  I was so surprised as too how many were still on the plant!  Check it out:

Now it is time to make the poppers!  I cut off the stems and a bit of the rounded part of the pepper to make a flat opening. Then I insert a sharp knife into the pepper and cut our the seeds and the veins. I kind of twist the knife in the pepper till all the membranes are gone. If you like a bit more kick don’t completely remove the membranes. The membranes and seeds are where all the capsaicin (the heat) resides.

Next step is to blanch them in boiling water. Drop them in boiling water for 3 minutes.  This will partially cook them and make them softer to eat once you fry them with out over cooking them.

Plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking.

Beat cream cheese till fluffy. You are welcome to add shredded cheese or crispy crumbled bacon to the cream cheese. But I didn’t have any in the house so it is just cream cheese.  

Fill a pastry bag with your mixture and use a round open tip to fill the jalepenos. If you don’t have a pastry bag you can use a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off.

This is how many a 8 oz. block of  cream cheese makes. It will all depend on how big your jalepenos are and how full you fill them as too how many you will get out of a batch.  I think this one made about 35.

Pop them in the freezer and pull them out when you are ready to get ready to fry them.

How to fry:

1. Heat your oil to 350*.
2. Coat your frozen poppers in flour.
3. Roll them in beaten egg thinned with about 1T water.
4. Roll them in bread crumbs.

Repeat in egg and then bread crumbs.  You don’t have to do this step but I like a thicker coating of breading on my poppers.  

Fry till golden brown.  Enjoy!

Please check your local flyer to be sure they are running the same deals as my paper. Need help with the abbreviations? Click HERE to see what the HECK I am talking about!!

Here is my coupon match up list for Giant Food stores. I am using an ad from South Central Pa. As always check your local flyer for participation. Also There are a lot of match ups for Martins. There are some great printable coupons! We also are earning those gas rewards points again! We all love those!

No Coupon match up but an awesome deal will be in GREEN

the Giant Shredded cheese(chunk or shredded…6-8 oz.) is B1G1F

Be sure to stock up and freeze what you can’t use this week.

Perdue Boneless, skinless chicken breast. $1.98 lb.  

Be sure to  stock up and vacuum pack your extras.  Want to know how?  Check out THIS post I did a few months ago.

• Purina Friskies, (15) 5.5 oz. cans $.37 each
• $1/24   08-09-09 RP
• $7.88/24 or  $.32 each

• Keeblers Chip Deluxe Cookies  B1G1F  $3.99/2
• $.55/1  printable found HERE Print 2 (will double)
• $1.79

• Giant Butter quarters.  $1.79 each.  GREAT price.  Buy and freeze

• Folders Coffee Grounds(excludes decaf., columbian and flavored)  2/$5
• $.25/1 08-02-09 RP  use 2 (will double)
• 2/$4

• Welch’s Grape Juice 64 oz.  2/$6
• $1/1 printable found HERE Print 2
• 2/$4

• Chef Boyardee Canned pasta  $.89 each
• $.25/2  08-16-09 SS (doubles)
• 2/$1.28

• Old El Paso Dinner Kit  2/$4
• $.60/2 Printable found HERE  Print 2
• 2/$2.80

• Knorr Sides  10/$10
• $.45/1 08-30-09 SS  or $1/3 08-02-09 RP (varies by area)
• $.10 each or 3/$2

• Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes  10/$10
• $.75/3 printable found HERE
• 3/$2.25

• White House Apple Sauce 6 pk. 2/$3
• $.75/2  08-16-09 SS (doubles?)
• $1.50/2

• Kellogg’s Pop Tart  3/$5 MUST buy 3
• $.55/1 09-13-09 RP (use 3)
• 3/$1.67

• Turkey Hill Ice Cream  2/$5
• $1/1 07-12-09 RP (use 2)
• 2/$3

• Freschetta Naturally Rising Pizza $5.99
• $1/1  09-13-09 SS
• $4.99 each

• Hot Pocket  5/$10
• $1/4  08-23-09 RP (use 2)
• 8/$6

• Birds Eye Steam Fresh Meals  $5.49
• $1.50/1    09-13-09 SS
• $3.99 each

• Super Pretzel  Soft Pretzel  $1.99
• $.50/1   08-16-09 RP (doubles)
• $.99 each

• Sorrento Fresh Mozzarella  $2.69
• $1/1    07-19-09 SS
• $1.69 each

• Shedd’s Spread Country Crock  2/$3
• $.55/1 printable found HERE  Print 2
• 2/$.80

• Yoplait Trix Multi pack Yogurt  $2.39
• $1/1 Printable found HERE
• $1.39 each

• Ziploc Containers 2/$5
• $1.50/2   09-13-09 SS
• $3.50/2

• Alpo Canned Dog Food  $.66 each
• $1/3  08-23-09 SS
• 3/$.98

• Healthy Ones Lunch meat  3/$10
• $.55/1  08-16-09 SS (use 3 )
• 3/$8.90

• Hola Fruita Sherbet  $2.49
• $.55/1  06-07-09 SS
• $1.39 each

• Yo Baby Drinkable Yogurt 4 pk.  $2.99
• $.75/1 Printable found HERE  (doubles?)
• $1.49 each

• Barilla Tortellini  $2.99
• $1.25/1    08-23-09 SS
• $1.74 each

• Viva Towels 6 pk.   (must buy 2  2/$10)
• $1/1   08-16-09 SS (use 2)
• 2/$8

• Weight Watcher Smart Ones Entrees  5/$10
• $1/5 printable found HERE
• 5/$9

I got my BJ’s Membership Savings Book and BJ’s journal in the mail late last week.  Over the weekend I pulled out all the BJ’s coupons that would apply to products my family would use.  After all a coupon is no good to you if you aren’t going to use the product!  Then I went to my coupon binder and pulled coupons that would match up with the coupons I had just pulled.  THIS is exactly why I like to get 2 papers on Sundays.  It is so worth it when you are going shopping at a big box store and are going to be stacking your coupons.  Did you know that you can stack your coupons at BJ’s?!  It is true!!  As long as the product is shrink wrapped together and could other wise be sold separately you can stack your coupons.

Ex.  Soft soap hand pumps come in a pack of 4.  If you are able to find 4 coupons for single soft soaps you can use all 4 PLUS the coupon from BJ’s.  YIPPIE!!

When it was all said and done I got:

• 4 pk of Soft soap hand pumps
• 6 pk of Kleenex tissues
• 3 boxes of Cheerios (2 bags per box)
• 1 box of hot pockets (12 ct.)
• 2 boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese (12 boxes per Big box)
• 3 pack of Edge sensitive shave gel
• 3 pack of Soft Soap body wash
• 2 boxes of pop tarts (48 per box)
• 1 box of nature valley granola bars ( 60 ct.)
• 1 box Capri sun 100% juice (40 ct.)
• 1 box Nutri Grain bars (48 ct.)

My sub total was $139.

After all my BJ’s coupons PLUS my manufacture coupons stacked on them my total was: $89.30

For a total savings of $49.70 or a savings of 36%.

How awesome is this?  I went to the store with my shopping list and coupons in hand. I was all set to buy 4 of the Post cereals they had on special for 2/$5.  I had 2 coupons for $1/2 so I was going to be getting 4 boxes for $8.  Not bad at $2 a box.  But I noticed some nice person had left their coupon for $1/2 Post cereals on the shelf. (Thank you person!!)  I snatched that right up and tossed 2 more in my cart.  Here comes the exciting part. When I went to check out a coupon printed out for $3 off my next shopping purchase compliments of Post Cereals!!  (not sure if it because I had 6 boxes of cereal in my cart or not)  PLUS Giant printed out a coupon for $3.50 of my next shopping order of $40 or more.  I am not sure how I got this one but I am guessing it is because I spent $51 before coupons.  But I could be totally wrong.  Any one know?  Whew!!! I am in penny pinching heaven!

Yesterday we had a baptism at church.  For some reason we had it in our heads that we NEEDED a silver bowl for the baptism.  I got a call looking to borrow a silver bowl that I had on my shelf.  They were welcome to borrow it.  Problem was it was sooo tarnished!  But they were just thankful to find a bowl they would take on the challenge of getting the tarnish off.

Turns out she hit the internet and found a super simple way of getting tarnish off that requires no goopy paste or rubbing for hours on end.  There is a scientific way of getting tarnish off!  Here we go!

2 Tablespoons EACH of Baking Soda and Salt

Aluminum Foil, shiny side up, in your vessel.  In my case my kitchen sink.

Pour in steaming hot water into your vessel along with the baking soda and the salt.  It will be STINKY but think of the elbow grease you are saving… never mind your pennies!

Then go ahead and submerge your tarnished item.  

See the line where it is shiny and then tarnished.  I will be generous and say I submerged it for 30 seconds.  Awesome!  Once your item is shiny take it out and dry.  Then buff with a soft cloth or for a super shiny finish use a silver jewelry polishing cloth.

See the before, 30 seconds and after? Awesome!

My daughter wanted a pinta for her birthday party.  There was NO WAY  I was going to pay $20+ (plus the cost for items to fill it) for a pinta that will be busted up.  That is just not my style.  So I hit the internet once again for ideas and came up with the following tutorial on how I made her pinta.

Combine equal parts flour and water.  I used my food processors
to get rid of lumps quickly.  You can also use a hand whisk.

This is what it looks like once I have whirled it for about 30 seconds.

This is my form.  It is what I call a ‘punch ball’.  I found a pack of 4 at my dollar store for $1.  I blew it up most of the way and tied a knot in the end.  You can also use a traditional balloon if you can’t find a ‘punch balloon’.

Next cut up newspaper.  For this size project I cut a newspaper in thirds and then those strips in thirds again.  There is no rhyme or reason or right or wrong.

I found the best method was placing the paper on the surface of the paste and pressing lightly.

Then scrape it along the edge of the bowl to get rid of the excess.  You are looking for a light coating of paste.

Place the paper on your balloon.

Smooth the paper out. I found this to be less messy and faster drying time as compared to dipping the entire piece in the paste.

This is the end where I will fill the pinta.  Make it big enough so you can put in your biggest item.

This is how I dried the pinta ( this is the newspaper layer… there were 4 newspaper layers… be sure to dry COMPLETELY in between layers.)

The final layer was printer paper.  This way if you want to paint it a light color you don’t have to do a base coat to block out the newspaper print.

Once THIS layer is dried (preferably over night) untie the balloon.  It is SO COOL to hear the balloon release from the shell.

Because I had the rubber band at one end and the knot of the balloon at the other end I now have an opening at the top ( for filling ) and a small one at the bottom.  I threaded a rope from the bottom (small hole) out the top (large hole) and tied a largish knot at the bottom.  The extra rope will be used to tie it to her swing set for her party.

We painted it blue with a bright red 5 on it.  She will be five, you know.  Here is the birthday girl and her Aunt filling the pinta with treats and shredded paper from our paper shredder.

I hope you have learned something and hope you are able to pinch your own pennies by building your own pinta!

I don’t know about your mint patch but mine is in full bloom.  I love this time of year.  Sweet mint tea during the day and mojitos  at night by the fire pit.  Ahhh… I love summer!  There is just something about that fresh mint being crushed for the mojito or hitting the boiling water for the tea that just makes me love breathing.  So fresh.  So crisp. So….. minty.  

Before the heat of summer makes the mint wither and before it goes to seed I want to save those lovely leaves for mint tea in the winter.  Every now and then I have a craving for a taste of summer in the dead of winter.  It is hard to make mint tea when you have no mint….so this is how I will solve that problem!

First, pluck the leaves from the stalk of the plant.  Be sure just to take the mature leaves.  Leave the baby leaves so they can mature and give you more mint in the coming days.

See the baby leaves?  Just pluck the leaf on the right.

This is what a stalk looks like when I am done with it.  Looks kind of scrawny but in a few days it till fill back in with mature leaves.

Next tuck the leaves into ice cube trays.  These are the same trays I used when I made my girls baby food.  See, I was a penny pincher even back then!  Each of the cubes will hold 7-12 leaves.  This is the amount I use for each pot of tea.  If you use more put in more.  If you use less put in less.  There is no right or wrong amount.

See the pretty leaves?

Next, cover the leaves with water.

After all the leaves are covered with water (unlike this picture) pop them into the freezer and freeze solid.  Once solid, remove them from the trays and store them in a freezer bag.

When it comes time to make tea just take out a cube and defrost in the microwave.  The ice will melt and any dirt will come off.  Pop the leaves into your boiling water and steep away!

I am all about pinching pennies.  Can you tell?!  When ever I am interested in a product I check out the clearance or outlet section of their web site.  I think Crocs has one of the BEST outlet sections on their websites!  So many options, so many colors, so many sizes!!!  So often an outlet has one or two items in it.  But not Crocs!  They have oodles of stylish and functional Crocs…including my girls favorite… the Disney Crocs!  Who wouldn’t want Disney Caymens for $9.99?  

While you are at Crocs.com be sure to signup for the newletter.  It is chock full of information about Crocs, deals, promotions and you can even specify what category of information you would like to receive info on.  For example I do not have boys in my household so I opted out of the boys newsletter portion.  But I assure you I opted IN for the outlet portion!

Back in April we stumbled upon a free standing Croc outlet and just about pushed others out of the way to get through the door. (we weren’t the only ones doing so!) Check out the blog post HERE.

Now for an added tidbit to get your shopping off to a penny pinching start. How about FREE SHIPPING on your flip flop purchase?   <—— click this link and enter code: flipflop at check out.  This is good through June 30, 2009.  If you want to click the image at the top you are welcome to do that as well.

Oh and if you follow me on Twitter be sure to follow GeorgeGSmithJr.  He is your go-to guy for all things Crocs! Funny guy to boot!

I was such a reader as a child.  I am not real sure what happened as I grew up but I guess I found other things to occupy my time. (unfortunately).  I used to love curling up with a book and locking myself in another world.  I would just devour the pages and crave more.  I want my own children to have the thirst for books and reading.  So this summer we are going to be doing a Summer Reading program at our local library.  We started out by getting library cards for the girls.

They both signed their names to the registration form.  The older one did a great job.  The baby tried her hardest.  Look at the concentration and the grasp on the pen!  

Next we went over the the Summer Reading desk and signed the girls up for the program.  You record the number of hours you read and you are eligible for prizes. FREE!!  You all know how I feel about THAT word.  My oldest had a great experience showing off her knowledge of her address and where she will be going to school in the fall.  She even was able to tell the librarian WHY the school was building a new building.  I didn’t know she had heard us adults talking about why they were building the new school.  It  amazes me how much she listens and retains.  The mind of a child is such a sponge.  Soaking up everything around her.  

Then it was off to select some books.  I took this photo while the librarian was looking for a book we had requested.  E is checking out the DVD we were going to borrow and M was sitting down to check out her summer reading program packet.

We are also going to be participating is the libraries Letterboxing program.  Check out Letterboxing.org to see how much fun we are going to be having this summer.  Here is a quote from the website on what exactly letterboxing is:

What is Letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.Here’s the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called “clues” or “the map”), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don’t have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art. 

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. In addition to the clue and any maps or tools needed to solve it, the hunter should carry at least a pencil, his personal rubber stamp, an inkpad, and his personal logbook. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box’s stamp. The box’s logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks.

Be sure to check out your local library for what they have to offer you and your family this summer.  This can definitely be a penny pinching summer when you visit your library.