Awesome shopping trip today!!!

My Mom and I went shopping today. I have come to love grocery shopping thanks to coupons!!! We went to a few stores. We started out at WINCO. I bought: 4 bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce, 3 containers of McCormicks pepper and 8 containers of Kraft individuals mac 'n' cheese, for a grand total of $4.11 Can you believe that!!!! I will explain how I did that. The Kraft BBQ sauce was on sale for .98 cents. I had 4 coupons for $1 off 1 bottle. So there for the BBQ sauce was FREE!! The McCormiks pepper was on sale for I think $1.29. I had 3 coupons for .75 cents off of 1. I paid .50 cents each. Finally the mac 'n' cheese was on sale for about .77 cents each. I had 4 coupons that were $1 off 2. I paid about .25 cents each. I was so excited when I saw my total.

Next we went to Rite Aid and I bought 3 packages of Trident gum regular price $1.29 on sale for .99 cents. I had 3 coupons for .75 cents off 1. I paid .75 for 3 packages of gum. AWESOME!!!

We then went to Fred Meyers where I hit the mother load. Oh my goodness it was so cool. I bought: 8 boxes of Kelloggs frosted mini wheats. They are regular $4.50 each. They were on sale for 2/$6. BUT Freddies had a coupon that dropped the price to 2/$3. Pretty good hu...NOPE!!! There was a limit of 8 with this 1 coupon. When you stack coupons you get even better deals. I used the freddies 2/$3 coupon PLUS 6 coupons for mini wheats that were $1 off 1 box. So that dropped the price from 2/$3 to 2/$1...thats right .50 cents each!!! I had 1 coupon for $1.50 off 2 boxes. So those were 2/$1.50 or .75 cents each. All in all I spent $4.50 for 8 boxes of the cereal. Now that is a great deal.

I also bought 3 boxes of band aids. Regular price $1.99 on sale for $1.40 but I had 3 coupons for $1 off 1 box. That dropped my band aids to .50 cents each.

I bought 2 large boxes of pop tarts. I`m not sure what the regular price is but I believe its just over $3 each. They were included in the 2/$3 coupon that I used on my cereal. But once again I am not satisified with the store prices so of course I had a coupon. It was $1/2 boxes. It dropped the price to 2/$2 which is pretty good. $1 per box.

I spent for all this plus some bananas and 2 bags of salad, which of course was on sale, $12!!!!! Pretty awesome!!!

At safeway I bought 4 bottles of Kraft Mayo, regular price $4.29 (just over $17 for all 4 reg. price) on sale for $2.50. I used 4 $1 off coupons plus a Safeway double coupon. The double coupon doubles upto .50 cents. So it was an extra $2 off. This dropped my price down to $4. That is an incredible savings of almost $14!!!

I tell you I have gotten so into coupons that I have a hard time buying anything at regular price now. I wont spend more than $1 for cereal anymore.

Using coupons might not sound like fun or sound too time consuming but I have come to enjoy it. I enjoy sitting down on Sundays and looking through all the adds and clipping coupons. It has become relaxing to me. It does take time to plan and figure out what you are going to do ect. But think of the savings. $14 on mayo alone. $31.50 on cereal. On those 2 items alone I saved $45.50 today. Who doesnt need the money these days. What a great way to save money and build your food storage at the same time. If you ever have questions or want to start using coupons but arent sure how/where to start feel free to give me a call or email me. I would love to help you.

Enjoy

Graham Crackers

I just learned how to make the best graham crackers I just had to share. They are so much better than store bought and so much cheaper as well. To see a video of how to make these go to

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2009/04/29/graham-crackers-whole-wheat-food-storage-recipes/food-storage-recipes

I just cant tell you how good these are!! In Crystal`s video she says that in a pinch you can use tin foil to roll the dough out in. I tried that and I got so frustrated that I threw it all away. I would not suggest using tin foil at all. I ended up pressing my dough out on the cookie sheet with my fingers. It worked for me. Just find what works for you and go with it!!

Graham Crackers

1/3 c. shortening
3/4 c. + 1 Tbs. sugar or brown sugar
3 Tbs. warmed honey
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 c. wheat
1 1/4 c. white flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. + 2 Tbs (5 oz.) water
1-2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine the shortening, sugar, honey, and vanilla and blend it until it is combine. This will look like cookie dough after you have creamed the ingredients. Add the dry ingredients into the dough. SLOWLY add the water to the dough. You want the dough to slowly clump up like bread does. Divide the dough into 1/3`s to make it easier to roll out. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper the size of your cookie sheet. Put 1 piece down on the counter with the side that wants to roll down. Place the dough on the paper and then place the other parchment paper on top. You will roll the dough out between the parchment paper. You want the dough to be THIN!!! About 1/16" thin!! Grease the cookie sheet and flip the rolled out dough onto the sheet. Trim the edges so they are just short of touching the edge of the pan. Use those pieces you cut off to fill in any empty spaces you have. Score the dough into the size of crackers you want with a pizza cutter but do not cut clear through!! Poke each cracker with a fork or toothpick. Bake 300 deg 22-24 minutes until light brown. Cool before breaking apart.

Enjoy!!