Going to have to buy some stuff today!!

Well, I'm running out of meat and that's not a good thing when you're on a low carb diet. So I will be heading to the store to make my first food purchase since starting this whole experiement. Ground beef is on sale for 99 cents per pound so that's what I'll be getting for now because we're all out!! I still have some chicken and cornish game hens and roasts in my deep freeze to tide me over for another week or so but it looks like i will need to buy some more meat next week as well. Of course I'll only buy what is on sale! That's the way I roll! I'll be getting some lettuce as well today for salads.

So Far So Good

Well, I haven't been shopping yet so that makes me happy. I'm doing my best to not shop for 8 weeks. Keep on wishing me luck!!

A New Goal

I have been so extremely busy lately with trips out of town, etc. I hadn't gotten a chance to go grocery shopping for awhile and it was actually a good thing because my fridge died and everything inside was ruined! Thank goodness for my freezer full of meat and veggies in our garage. I was able to put some of the salvageable items in there when I noticed it wasn't working but a lot of what was inside my fridge was a total loss. Today I had to restock it with a few things. I just went to Sam's club and did not do my usual coupon shopping. I spent $100.00 on Cleaners, Milk, Cheese, Fruits and Veggies, Tortillas and Frozen chicken breasts. In this past week, we have had to buy a new vacuum, a new fridge and a new battery for our car. So it's just been a peachy week! After spending so much money, I decided that I am going to use my food storage to it's fullest. That's what it's there for right??? When money's tight, I can dig in to it and still feed my family. So my goal until September 1st (yes, September 1st!!) is to use everything from my food storage for all of our meals. That's just under 8 weeks of NO grocery shopping! I talked with my husband and he is on board. So for the next 8 weeks, the ONLY thing I will be purchasing from the store is Rice Milk for my Dairy allergic daughter. I will also go to the store each week to take advantage of any FREE items that I can get with using coupons though I will need to pay the sales tax. So my goal is under $5.00 per week for the next 8 weeks. I will be reporting how I'm doing as often as possible so check back to see how well (or not so well) we are doing. Wish us luck!! NO shopping for 8 weeks!! Are we insane?? Nope.... just poor!!!

Grocery Shopping!

Last night I did my usual grocery shopping. I actually haven;t been shopping for a few weeks because I have been out of town. I didn't take pictures of my loot but I made out pretty well last night. Here's what I got....
1 2 liter diet dr pepper (free)
6 packs of Knorr rice
4 wish bone salad dressings
4 kens salad dressings
2 kens spritzer salad dressings
2 wishbone salad spritzers
4 ragu pasta sauces
1 lysol cling toilette cleaner
1 lysol toilette bowl cleaner
1 6 pack jello
2 mighty dog food cans (free)
3 canisters crystal light lemonade
2 lbs grapes
1 pack lettuce mix
1 frozen kashi entree (free)
1 pack tofu
1 promax bar
5 lbs ground beef
2 pack hot dogs
2 packs loyds beef bbq tubs
1 reach toothbrush (free)
1 pack feminine products
2 packs listerine breath strips
4 nail saver sponges

Total in groceries= $175.01
Total paid= $54.31
Total Saved= $120.70/69% savings

Not too shabby!! Yes, i realize I went slightly overboard on the salad dressings, but they were such a good deal. i paid 24 cents a bottle for some and the most i paid was 64 cents per bottles. I like to marinate meat in the Italian dressing. It makes yummy chicken!!

Lagging!!

Well, I have not been doing so hot on my food storage shopping. Last week I did pretty good but I didn't get a chance to take a picture and post about it. This week, I had some issues with my coupon shopping for the first time. Sometimes I print coupons online and for some reason I had quite a few online coupons to use this week. So I went to the grocery store, bought all the stuff, went way over budget (by $60.00!!!) then when I got to the check out the guy said he couldn't accept my online coupons. I guess my printer is running low on ink and it didn't print out the code for him and the bar code was too blurry to work. Bleh! So I had to talk to the manager. The manager said he couldn't use them either so I have to re-print them and take my receipt back. They said they would reimburse me for the coupons. So frustrating. It was late at night and I was tired. Plus, I just found out my daughter is allergic to a lot of foods so I've become one of those people you see in the store reading every single label. I think it took me two hours to shop last night. I also had to buy special things for her. She is allergic to wheat so I'm having to make my own bread for her out of rice flour. I had to buy some really expensive stuff called xanthum gum for the bread. I also had to buy some shortening which didn't contain soy since she is allergic to that as well. I found it and again it was about twice the price of a normal thing of shortening. So while I'm getting the hang of these allergies, my shopping experience's aren't going to be too fun.
Anyways, my food storage is about the same. I have about 3-4 months. I need more but things just haven't been working out in my budget to get extra stuff for storage. Hopefully I will be posting some exciting food storage accomplishments in the near future.

Water Storage! WOO HOO!!!

Technically, water storage should be the first thing you store in case of a natural disaster and the water sources become contaminated but I didn't quite get to it until now. Over this past weekend, we filled up our new water barrels. We are now the proud owners of three 55 gallon drums. I feel so great having these!! It really is a load off my shoulders. If you're just starting out on your emergency preparedness, start with water. Don't be like me!! Get that water stored and fast!!!

A few months ago, there were some really bad fires around where we live. My dad actually had homes burning all around his. He had to be evacuated and during this time, he stayed with us. I was able to discuss with him the importance of being prepared for a disaster. In the case with the fires, his home was spared, but there were some areas in his city where the water had become contaminated due to pipes bursting from fire damage. Everyone in his neighborhood was without water for a few weeks until they could fix the problems the fires had caused. If you are ever in a situation where your water becomes contaminated, think of how nice it would be to know that you had enough water to sustain you and your family for a few weeks right there in your house/garage.

I'm really excited that we have finally gotten our water stored! YAY!!!!

Diaper Deal

Last night, I went and bought 4 jumbo packs of diapers for $11.94 including tax! Woo Hoo!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Today I finally headed out to the store. I got some pretty good deals. I did really well at one store and was super excited, but my overall savings was just so-so. Here's my loot!

1 Pinesol Cleaner
1 Welches Squeezable grape jelly
3 Duncan Hines Cake Mixes
1 Betty Crocker Frosting
3 Mc Cormick Seasoning packs
1 pkg I can't believ it's not butter baking sticks
1 Barilla Marinara sauce
1 lb Brown Onion
1 Vitamin Water (FREE)
1 Chuck Roast
1 pkg Rib Eye steaks
1 Maries Salad Dressing
2 Mabeline mascaras
2 Sure deodorants
2 Dove conditioners
2 Lysol Wipes
2 Lysol Toilette cleaners
2 Lysol Bathroom cleaners
2 Walgreens Multipurpose cleaners
2 Boxes Hefty Zip bags
4 Jars Skippy Peanut Butter
1 Edge Shave Gel
1 Chocolate Chex Mix (FREE)
1Cheddar Chex Mix
1 Skintamate Shave Gel
1 Pkg Scunci Rubberbands
1 Colgate Toothbrush (FREE)
1 Scotchbrite Sponge

Total Price= $167.06
Total Paid= $58.71
Total Saved= $108.35/65%
I received $5.00 to spend on my next trip as well.

I really needed peanut butter so I was happy it was on sale. I have been scraping it out of the jar for the last few days. Also, my daughters 3rd birthday is coming up and we're having a party for her. I'm going to be making the cakes so I was pretty happy they were on sale and I had a coupon. I just need to get more icing and I'll be all set!

Sorry...

I haven't posted in awhile. In March, I had a couple of parties and I had to go over my grocery budget a bit so I haven't spent any money for a few weeks. I am probably going to have a slow month in the month of April because I am cutting my budget in half for April only to make up for going over budget in March. We'll see how that goes...

Food Storage Closet

Today, I updated my food storage closet. I had organized it a ew weeks ago, but it was in need of some type of shelves. I got these cheap ones at Walmart and came home and got right to work!