Comments on: Super Savings Saturday: The “I-Cut-Myself-Some-Slack” Edition

By: Julie Campbell

Julie Campbell — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:58:21 +0000

Thanks so much for you great site! You are so inspiring! You have completely motivated me to take couponing and saving to another level. I also have 3 kids and want to aspire to your level of savings.

I have a question about your weekly grocery budget: I know you mentioned it does not include Diapers. But does it include Health and Beauty (shampoo, soap etc) and Supplies (ziploc, plastic wrap etc.)? Just trying to see if I am comparing apples to apples.

Thanks again and keep up the good work! You rock!!!!

By: Antonella

Antonella — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:55:09 +0000

Just a thought for anyone interested in milk. Here in Italy we drink milk only at breakfast, if any, with some cocoa (coffee for grown ups) or plain. All the children drink water at meals, as the adults do (apart from fizzy drinks and wine).
Drinking a lot of milk does nothing for your health and can be not so beneficial.

Antonella

By: Laura@HeavenlyHomemakers

Laura@HeavenlyHomemakers — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:58:38 +0000

Hope this week is going better for you, Crystal!

By: Cindy

Cindy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:36:55 +0000

I didn’t realize that Aldi had natural peanut butter! I will have to try it. I kind of just assumed that they only had the regular kind. I love that they’re carrying healthier options.

By: RAchel

RAchel — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:31:37 +0000

I’m sorry you had a hard week. That’s pretty impressive, all the things you got and the prices with this being your hard week.

I have some questions too. I was about to ask about the milk, but I saw other beat me to it. How do you freeze milk? In the original container? How about thawing it? Does it still taste the same when you thaw it?

The strawberries… do you eat 5 cartons before they go bad, or do you also freeze those?

thanks for the post.

Cha Ching Queen
http://www.chachingqueen.com

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Money Saving Mom here: As far as freezing milk goes, it’s usually best to take out one cup or so from each carton before freezing. I usually just thaw the milk in the refrigerator overnight or else I stick the carton in the sink in warm water. I only use frozen milk in baking.

We can go through five cartons of strawberries in a week, but I can always freeze a carton or two for smoothies if they start getting too ripe.

Hope that helps!

By: Frugal Fritzie

Frugal Fritzie — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:28:44 +0000

I hope you have a better week next week! Thanks for this post, it’s fun to see all the great deals other people got.

By: Lana

Lana — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:55:40 +0000

Sorry you had such a bad week. A house full of littles can sometimes be that way! Here’s a savings tip for you-check out http://www.vitacost.com for supplements. They carry all the healthfood store brands at usually about 50% off. They save us tons of money and their service is outstanding.

By: Lydia Smith

Lydia Smith — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 08:28:03 +0000

i am curious if diapers are part of your grocery budget or if you have a different budget category for those? i’m a new follower of this blog and i love reading all your posts!

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Money Saving Mom here: Diapers were a part of our grocery budget, but since I’m no longer able to get them “free” by working them into deals at CVS (we moved away from Kansas City late last year and no longer have a CVS in our current town), I am now buying them in bulk on Amazon using Swagbucks I’ve earned. So I’m not paying anything out of pocket for them, but I’m also not buying them at the grocery store.

By: Michele

Michele — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 08:10:42 +0000

I have been following you for a few months now and I also wonder about the milk and meat. How much milk do you keep in the freezer at a time. Same for meat. Do you buy an organic cow or something? I haven’t seen meat or chicken. How much do you buy at a time? Can you please please explain your “meat” situation?

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Money Saving Mom here: I usually have anywhere from 2-4 half gallons of milk in the freezer at a time. Right now, I have 4 half gallons of organic milk which I got recently for $0.59/half gallon. I use frozen milk in cooking. We don’t drink milk so we can often get by with only buying a half gallon each week. I already had a half gallon left over from last week, so that’s what we used this week.

I made up a month’s worth of meals before Silas was born and then our church made almost a month’s worth of meals for us, too, so I haven’t bought much meat over the last two months since we’ve just been eating meals brought to us or meals from the freezer. This is why it’s been absent from some of my recent grocery shopping trips. You’ll see it start popping up more in the next few months, though.

By: cathy

cathy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:50:40 +0000

Smart Balance coupons available at the address listed below

By: Ann B

Ann B — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:48:41 +0000

I am working on eating down our freezer inventory. I passed up some good meat sales this week because we have so much in our freezer: chicken, steak, ground beef, fish, pork, waffles… the list goes on. I wrote downd an inventory of what we have in the freezer and the oddball things in the pantry that need to be used up and I am marking through them when they are gone. My goal is to defrost the freezer before the end of July.It’s been 2 weeks and we have hardly made a dent. We have such and abundance and we didn’t even realize it.
So I am doing my own mini freezer challenge. Although I did end up spending $35 at Aldis yesterday (about 1/4 of what we usually spend in a week, but we are working on it). Had to buy milk and produce and it seemed that we were out of every condiment.

I hope you have a better week this week. Your Super Saving Saturday posts inspire and challenge me.

Curious: what types of things do you buy at the health food stores? I am always overwhelmed at the prices but I see that you find some good deals at yours. And I don’t really know what is the best bang for my buck when it comes to organic. We have a Whole Foods, but it isn’t very convenient for me to get to.

By: Sonshine

Sonshine — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:42:06 +0000

I totally agree and I like your thinking about the food stockpile being your edible emergency fund.

Thanks for hosting!

By: Virginia

Virginia — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:50:51 +0000

You are right about extra food being like an emergency fund. I am looking foward to your week of eating out of the pantry/freezer. I have been trying this, but it gets a little discouraging when no one else is doing with me. I am excited to see how you do.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:34:26 +0000

Thanks for all your work putting this site together – it’s such a help. Hope next week is better for you!

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:10:07 +0000

Wow, you did great, but I do have a question. How did you get around having to buy milk? I only have one little one, but I have to buy 2 gallons a week. Did you have some in the freezer?

By: Helen

Helen — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:57:41 +0000

I’m pretty much taking the week off too, and you’re right – it’s great to be able to do! Tomorrow we’re hitting up the huge Farmer’s Market in town to get some produce deals and then we’ll snag some milk at Aldi. So nice to have full cupboards, freezer and fridge and not have to spend much money this week!

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:31:34 +0000

Sorry to bug you anymore Crystal… I messed up, can you remove #18 I put the wrong link. Hope you have a better week!
Tiffany

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:08:03 +0000

I’m sorry you had a hard week, Crystal. I’m praying for you and hope next week is much better!

By: Liz@HoosierHomemade

Liz@HoosierHomemade — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:07:50 +0000

I got strawberries at Aldi’s this wk too, they also had blueberries for .99, I love Aldi’s!
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz