I blew it! You can beat me up over it.

There was a deal so good at my double coupon grocery that I had to do it; I bought 10 lbs. of Hormel Black Label bacon. After Qs, I paid $21.73 for 10 packages. I have gone over my budget by $10.85; however, I still have some outstanding rebates. If they come in before the end of the month, it might pull me out of the hole.

I talked to my neighbor this morning. He really went on and on about the chicken I cooked last night. He had to know what the coating was. When I told him that it was French's fried onions, he said he would have to try that sometime. I was cooking breast tenderloins and didn't really know how long to bake them, so, I just guessed. I put them in a 400 degree oven for 14 minutes. It was perfect! They were done through and through, but, still very moist and juicy. For once in my life, I didn't overcook the chicken.

As I mentioned before, I have to fast tomorrow, then have a surgical procedure on Thursday. I'm just going to forage out of the fridge today. I'm not going to cook anything.

A big thank you to the person who told me about using the French's fried onions to coat the chicken. It was a big hit.

I did really well today at the grocery.

I had to buy cat food, no way around it. I had a $5 off a $40 order at the grocery and I only had about $40 left for the month. The subtotal was $43, I was able to use that $5 Q, then all the other Qs I had for everything else. Bottom line: $22.71. I think I am up to $46.04 spent this month, starting out with $50.42, so, I have, hm, $4.38 left. I also splurged and bought some shrimp. They were BOGOF and at my store, you can buy only one item and get it 1/2 price, so, I bought one bag. And still, I had 1/2 off my whole order in Qs. The cats are taken care of for the month and I can't think of a thing I need to buy for myself.

I also went to CVS. I know, I know, I promised not to chase the deals there, but, I fell off the wagon. The Right Guard deodorant was $2.99 w/ a $2 ECB. I had $1 Qs. I bought the limit, 5, and a couple of other items. I used a GC, so, no money oop. I now have $10 ECB to use later.

I just redeemed more MyPoints for another $25 CVS GC. They say to expect it in 2-6 weeks. Wow, don't they even know how long it takes to process it? That's a big window.

Well, tonight it's chicken breast tenderloins. I might fry it. I had some chicken tenderloins at Chick-Fil-A last week and they were really good. I don't know if I can do as good a job as they do, though.

I don't want to rub it in, but, that fried okra last night was fantastic. I'm pretty much weaned off of fried foods, but, sometimes I have to give in. When I was growing up, my grandmother fried everything. I'm not kidding. She could fry just about every vegetable. We'd even have fried corn. No joke!

O.K. Just had to add this note. I used a package of chicken breast tenderloins from the freezer, 2 cans of French's fried onions as the crumb crust for the chicken, some whole grain brown rice, a can of southwest veggies (I'm not really sure what it was), broccoli, and rolls. Everything from stockpile or freezer. Nothing from the store recently. Oh, yeah, and a sliced tomato from my dad's garden. He says the season's over and he's pulling up the vines tomorrow. I shared with my neighbor and I was able to cook just about enough for two. I do have one tenderloin left which I will probably have for lunch tomorrow. All in all, a good stockpile dinner.

I'm having fried okra tonight!

For those of you unfortunate enough to have been born somewhere other than the south, you do not know the ecstacy of fried okra. My dad had given me some several days ago and I just hadn't gotten around to cooking it. It's in the fry pan right now, the aroma wafting throughout the house. It's simple enough; cut okra into fairly thin slices, coat in a mixture of flour and cornmeal, season with salt and pepper, pour some vegetable oil in a skillet, and then, and then, you get this delicious dish. I'm rather embarrassed to say that I'm not making anything to go with it. When I eat fried okra, I tend to go overboard. I didn't want to have anything else on my plate to detract from this delicacy.

I'm taking some chicken out of the freezer this evening, so, I will be forced to do something with it tomorrow night. I have so many side dishes in my stockpile; potatoes, pasta, and rice of every flavor and description. Surely I can find something to compliment the chicken. I might even have ice cream for dessert. Who would have thought that?!

I'm going to have to buy cat food tomorrow. Those little critters eat like horses! The two kittens are growing bigger by the day. They need a lot of food. The two older females need to keep their "girlish" figures.

Beginning on Wednesday, I will not be able to eat anything. I can have clear liquids that day, then, in the evening, start the colon cleansing process. I shudder to think of the taste of that stuff you have to drink. The procedure is Thursday and I have a feeling that I will do nothing but come home and go to bed afterwards. Look for very light eating for a couple of days after that.

I'm swimming in Haagen-Dazs

I had an unpleasant experience at a Walgreens last week and I complained to corporate. The manager called to smooth things over with me. I went back to the store to meet with her. She said she was going to give my a GC as an apology. I was expecting maybe $25; her idea of "I'm sorry" is a $10 GC. Anyway, I spent it all on Haagen-Dazs with those $2/2 Qs out right now. I'm in Atlanta right now and they have the 4 oz size of HD ice cream for $1 ea. The Q says $2/2 pints, but, I tried using them with the 4 oz and the register didn't beep. I now have 10 pints and 12 4oz cups.

I'll be here overnight. I really didn't want to fool with going out to dinner. There's too much baseball on TV this afternoon and tonight. While at Kroger scooping up all the ice cream, I bought a single-serve entree to microwave for dinner. I think I spent $2.68 of "real" money as well as $12 in Qs for the ice cream. Breakfast here is complimentary and usually pretty good.

I promise, I'm really going to buckle down next week and do some real meal planning and preparation. I'm going to use stockpile items and enjoy it! It's so easy to say and so hard to do. There's no excuse for me to go to the store again this month except for cat food.

I've been AWOL for a few days.

My apologies. I've been under the weather for a few days.

I'm off my grilled cheese sandwich kick, at least, for a while. Y'all knew I'd get tired of that soon enough. I had a great Q on deli meat last Monday, so, now I'm enjoying turkey and swiss sandwiches.

I hate like all heck to admit this, but, I left that leftover chicken just a little too long. I decided that it had to be thrown out. The cats loved it, but, I wanted to kick my own butt for not using it soon enough. I'm still going to try those new recipes I found on the Leftover Wizard, but, I can used canned chicken, which I have absolutely "goo-gobs" of. You do know that "goo-gob" is an actual numerical designation, don't you? I think it means "more than you can count."

I have a Walgreens GC and I'm going to use quite a bit of it before Sunday. They have Haagen-Dazs ice cream for $3 a pint. I have a lot of $2/2 Qs on that. I've lost a lot of weight lately, more than is healthy, so, I can safely eat the ice cream without worrying about extra pounds.

I know this blog is supposed to be about using stockpile, maximizing coupons, and saving. Just a little off-topic for a moment, though; I am having a colonoscopy on 9/11. I am past 50 and I know that I should have done it years ago. It just seems so "unfriendly." I have a history of ulcerative colitis, thankfully, no flare-ups in many years, but, the damage has been done to my colon. If you are 50 or older and have never had this done, you really should. Colon cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death in the US and it is one of the most preventable kinds of cancer that we know of.

Now, back to our regular programming.

I didn't realize just how fast I can go through an 18 lb bag of cat food. It's time to buy once again. If my calculations are correct, I have spent $14.14 in "real" money this month, leaving me with $35.86. I may have to blow it all at once; I have a $5 off $40 purchase Q at Bi-Lo. I hope that means $40 before Qs. If that's the case, I can do pretty well with it. I was able to get a couple of good Qs on Purina. The Q pictures some varieties of Purina, but, not the Friskies, which was bought by Purina in the past few years and I would think, technically, Friskies is a variety of Purina. I guess I'll find out.

20 boxes of cereal, no milk!

I reported yesterday that I took advantage of the Kellogg's rebate offer and bought 20 boxes of cereal. Of course, it made me want to open one, but, NO MILK! I had to make a quick trip to the grocery today for milk, nothing else.

I did a lot of housework today, very unusual for me. I am not a domestic goddess. Anyway, didn't get around to using those 2 new recipes I found to use up that leftover chicken. Will definitely do tomorrow. As I was rambling around the kitchen this morning, I spied some shrimp in a ziploc bag. I put it in the fridge to thaw. Just had a marvelous dinner of nothing but a 1/2 pound of shrimp and a glass of wine. I thought I was at the beach.

My dad was here today. We shared a big sandwich of meat and cheese that I had purchased yesterday with a $2 Q. He supplied the tomato for the sandwich. It was nice to visit with him and have someone to join me in a meal, even if it was just a sandwich.

One of my trading buddies is sending me some $2/2 Haagen-Dazs. It's on sale for $3 per pint at Walgreens this week. I think I will stock up. I know, I know, I said I wasn't going to stockpile, but, really, is having some ice cream on hand considered stockpiling? After all, it won't last long! I think it goes without saying that it is something that I will not be sharing!

Oh, I spent $4.46 today for milk. I require Lactaid for lactose intolerance. It jumped 5% in price since last week. I did get a nickel off for bringing my own cloth bag. That's the same as a Q, right?

I went a little crazy today.

I bought 20 boxes of cereal at Rite Aid today. I know that sounds like a lot, but, can you say rebate? I spent $44.27 of my GC there. I had to pick up a few things at the grocery today, too. I spent $9.68 of my $50.42 "real" money. I also used $12.35 in Qs. I was also able to get 6 trial size bottles of ReNu at Target. I also ate free today. Chick-Fil-A was having a promotion and I got 3 chicken planks there for lunch. I still had one more of the free chicken sandwich w/ drink purchase at McDonald's.

I used that leftover wizard I told you about earlier. I found a couple of ways to use the leftover chicken from the crock pot dinner a couple of nights ago. I'll let you know how they turn out. They both use several stockpile items; the only thing I had to buy was celery.

I'm definitely going to have to watch myself closely this month. Spending practically my whole Rite Aid GC on cereal probably wasn't the wisest use, but, I will get some of it back sooner or later.