The Cheapskate Mom

I am extremely late on posting this, it's been busy around here! But regardless of the fact that the sale week is over I wanted to make an example of this trip in particular. Here's what I got:

Approx 17lbs Tysons Boneless Chicken Breasts (3pkgs) @ $1.69/lb (Reg. Price 3.89/lb)
2 Marcal Small Step TP 4 pack @ $1.39*
1 pack Spiderman tattoos $1.00
4 O-Celo Scrub Sponges @ $1.29
1 2 pack Women's Socks $1.00
1 pair Men's socks $1.00
1 Value Time Corn Muffin Mix $.50
3 Onion Soup Mix packets 3/$1.00
1 Stress Candle $1.00
2.24lbs Bananas @ $.69/lb
4 Breyers yogurts 4/$3.00*
3 Campbells Pork & Beans 3/$1.00
2 Campbells Cooking Soups @$1.35
2 Cans DelMonte No Sugar Added Fruit @ $1.59
2 Gallons Turkey Hill Tea

Total Before Savings & Coupons: $82.64
Total OOP: $46.98

Coupons Used:

2 $.75/2 O-Celo Sponges Doubled
2 $1.00/1 Marcal Small Steps TP
$1.00/2 Turkey Hill Teas
$1.00/2 Campbell's Cooking Soups
2 $.40/1 Del Monte No Sugar Added Fruit

I had the "FREE" Marcal Coupons to use and they didn't have the single rolls. The 4 pack is actually a softer toilet paper even though it's a smaller roll. This made it less than 10 cents per roll and the comparable packaged at the dollar store is of course $.25 per roll. I am here to tell you, short of getting the free rolls (which isn't the best toilet paper but free's free) IT DOES NOT GET CHEAPER! If you prefer a softer more quilted type toilet paper, and want to get a cheap deal, use these FREE or $1 off any coupons on the Marcal 4 packs. Best deal other than the Dollar Tree's "Softelle".

If you only count what I spent on food items this week, I stayed pretty close to budget (including my $8 Martin's trip) but, I was stocking up on chicken for future weeks. I plan to better track my budget starting on the 1st. But anyway, the chicken. I have mentioned before that Memorial Week IS the week to buy chicken. Never have I ever seen chicken go lower. Other grill meats go pretty cheap, but chicken doesn't usually dip down this low at other times of the year. If you have seen it happen at other times, PLEASE let me know. I apologize that I'm writing this too late, but watch the chicken prices and try to stock up when it gets at LEAST 50% off it's regular price. This was a little more than half off but it's to late for that math!

I opened one package already and baked two breasts for dinner. Usually, I freeze two breasts in small freezer bags. I try to make all my meats a component of a meal, not the main part of the meal in order to make it stretch. This means that we don't have a lot of meat centered meals. I make chicken chilli, chicken taco salad, chicken quesadillas, chicken casseroles, chicken pot pie, chicken noodle soup, chicken and dumplings, chicken sandwiches, chicken BBQ, chicken fried rice. All these things don't require too much chicken per person and are combined with ingredients that are inexpensive, that really help stretch your budget.