Saving Money by Combining Deals

So, today I got some flyers! Some would be an understatement! I am swimming in them! So, quickly I would like to post some deals.
Today at Superstore they are having the no tax event. All this week they are having their gas coupon savings. So, combine buying your gifts with no tax today and getting the gas savings! I have found this gas coupon is very worthwhile. Last time they had it it saved me $23.75 at the gas pump, plus I got $3.33 in gas bucks!
Staples has door crashers again, today only. Their Brother Wireless Inkjet 4 in 1 is $29.52. If you need this why not check first at Superstore and price match with no tax?
Staples also has 32GB USB drive for $19.98(I checked, Superstore doesn't carry this one)
Safeway has an offer of buy 2 of their $30 iTunes gift card packs(which contain 3, $10 cards) and get them for $15 off. So that would be $60-$15=$45 for 6 gift cards. Might make nice stocking stuffers or you can save them for upcoming birthdays. I called Superstore and they said they would match this deal as long as I have the flyer in hand.
 Rexall has a coupon for the iTunes cards also. Their deal is buy $30(3X$10)and get $5 off. Maybe a better idea if you don't need 6???
Toys R Us will match any advertised price. They have the spend $100 get a $15 gift card that must be used between Dec 2-15th and you must spend $50.(Toys R Us now has airmiles)
What I do is shop when there are sales like these. In the past I then tried to be efficient and wrap at the same time...BAD IDEA...now I wait and watch the flyers to be sure my item doesn't drastically drop in price. If it does I ask them to price match or return it.
What are your ideas for shopping smart at Christmas???

Handy Dandy Budget Calculator

My thanks to Karen for this great resource! I met Karen in Edmonton when I was there to do a shopping seminar, a few years ago. She and I have stayed in touch via email. She recently sent me this link. It is a Canadian government site for resources to do with money.

I right away tested out the budget calculator. I found it very easy. It also was extensive. Usually these tools are missing categories. The only thing I would have liked would have been the ability to name a few. For example: in the income category it would be nice to add Income tax return, or odd jobs. Otherwise, you have a dollar amount and no idea where it came from.To remedy this, when I printed it I added my own categories by hand.

I loved how it tallied everything up for me! I loved how each page gave you a look at where you are at. In the end it even gave you a percentage amount that you spent in each sub category. I found this is very eye opening as you can see what percentage of your income goes where. At the end it does up a nifty pie chart and graph. You can choose to save it as a PDF, excel, or print it off.  I am definitely going to use this for my planning for next year! I am pretty excited! How about you??!! Thanks again Karen!

Stamps on Sale

Do you, like me, have good intentions of sending Christmas cards??? You are going to need some stamps!

Stamps now have no amount printed on them...so they don't expire, and when stamps go up in price....yours are still good!

This week at Shoppers you can buy your stamps for 10% off(limit 2 per transaction). Combine this by using a Shoppers gift card, preloaded with a money amount, and your Shoppers Optimum card and you'll earn points.(you need to buy the stamps at the front till not in the post office). Want to know more about the Shoppers Optimum Points program??? I am hoping to do a post in the next 2 weeks as I have done a little experiment this last year....it's gone well! :)

Hopefully, with stamps...the cards will get sent????

Keeping a monthly tally....Budget Talk

Again....by M.
So, it's November...only 2 months left in 2011. How's your spending? I have always found that when I keep track it seems to keep me on track!So,for November I am going to keep close watch!  One of the ways I will accomplish this is that I am doing a survey on spending habits. I do this every three months(I think that's right). I get paid a small amount to relay how I spent my money that month. Not only do I find it interesting, I also tend to do better those months! How about you? How do you keep track? Why not try it for one month.  Try tracking everything that you spend money on. If you do it for November and December you'll have a pretty good idea of how to budget for 2012.

Free Special K Cereal

I got this email from Kellogg's this morning for Free Special K Cereal. Click here to go to Websaver and get your coupon. This coupon is only good on Jan 3, 2012. I tried to do this the last time there was free chocolate cheerios, but was unable to find them anywhere! How about you???

Oh, I just heard from Cory! She said she went in to Cooper's on the last free cereal coupon day(I am sure Safeway would do the same)and they gave her a voucher to get a box when they came in! Thanks Cory! :)

Samplicious

I blogged awhile back about the Samplicious offer from Kraft. It arrived today. Thought you might like to see what's inside. Did you get yours?

WestJet Flight Sales

Thanks Lisa for the tip for saving on airfares! Seems WestJet has a Blue Tag sale every Thursday starting at 1pm MT time and going until 4pm. I am going to check it out this afternoon and see what kind of deals they have. Then I can dream about going someplace warm. How about you? Are you needing a flight somewhere? Why not check this out?!
Some info from their website:
Blue Tag quick facts




Destinations change each week


Discounted fares will be for select flights from select cities on select dates


As the destination changes, so too will the details of when you can fly to receive these great deals


Blue tag deals can only be booked through westjet.com


A promo code isn't necessary. All you need to do is select your city, choose your dates, and start booking. (oh, and start packing).

I've Got Lots of Cornmeal: Raspberry/Blackberry Cornmeal Crumble Bars

I have a way to big bag of cornmeal....wants some??? I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this 2Kg bag! Oh wait, I know....it was cheaper than the small bag! :)
So, this recipe made me really happy...look it needs cornmeal! I modified the recipe from Everyday Foods magazine(how I love this little reference book)by using blackberries(grown right here in the Okanagan!)not raspberries.

If you click on this picture you can enlarge it to see the recipe clearly.

So simple, sooooo tasty. A little scoop of vanilla ice cream can't hurt! Enjoy!

I've Got Lots of Quick Cooking Oats!

This morning it was very snowy and blowy.....I decided we could all do without the picture! :)
Instead, it's time for some yummy hot cereal. Now, I know you could just open a package....but why not save yourself some money and some preservatives and make it yourself? Once you do the initial grinding it's just as fast.You can add almost any fruit you have on hand and make a tasty, healthy breakfast(or maybe even lunch?) Add some apples and cinnamon, or whatever your creative brain thinks of! My grandpa lived until he was 96 and he ate oatmeal everyday.

Homemade Quick Oatmeal
Take some quick oats and grind them up in your blender or Magic Bullet,mine died shortly after this picture was taken :( . Grind them up fine. Place them in a small container or plastic zipper bag. Write the recipe on the outside so you don't have to search for it!
1/4 cup quick oats(not ground)
2 Tbsp ground up oats
3/4 cup boiling water
Mix up the oats and your raisins or berries(my strawberries were frozen so I microwaved them for 35 secs first). Add your boiling water and let sit for 2 minutes. Enjoy!!!!

Price comparison? I recently bought Quick Cooking Oats for $1.10/kg. Right now in the flyers the ready made packages are $8.98 for 2Kg. That means the oats themselves would cost $2.20/kg compared to $8.98 for premade!
Just in case you are interested..these are the ingredients in packaged instant oatmeal
Ingredients:




WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, OAT FLOUR, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, GUAR GUM, CARAMEL COLOR, REDUCED IRON, VITAMIN A PALMITATE.

This Week's Sales and Buttered Chicken



Another of my daughter's pictures!
Some of you have emailed to say you want the Buttered Chicken Recipe I used in the last post. It can be found on Video Jug here
This Week's Sales
Superstore 11-17
Dan-O-Pak of Cashews salted or unsalted 908g $10.98 limit 4(you need to go to the International Aisle for this)
Chestnuts .98/lb
Bag of 5 Avocadoes $2.95
Fresh Suet Choy .48/lb
Fresh Bok Choy .48/lb
All Purpose Flour selected varieties 10Kg $6.98(limit 1)
Ragu $1.24 limit 2
Perogies 2Kg $2.98
NN Frozen Vegetables 2Kg $3.48
NN Peanut Butter 2Kg $4.98
NN Pasta 2Kg $3.28
Terra D Extra Virgin Oil 3L$14.99

Walmart 11-17
Gala or Spartan Apples .67/lb
Donatello's Pizzas 355g-775g $3
Celery .88each
Onions 3lb $1

Zellers 11-17
Christie Crackers 100-300g $1.69

Coopers 13-19
Medium Onions .39/lb
Green Cabbage .49/lb
Lots of BOGO



Naan Bread the Easy Way!

I love buttered chicken! Years ago my sister in law introduced me to it. In the past few years my friend Clayton has made it for us several times and it is fantastic! I love Naan bread too. If you are having buttered chicken you need Naan bread(sounds like If you give a mouse a cookie!) I decided to try and make it myself. I found this incredibly easy recipe...which I proceeded to write on a small piece of paper and I neglected to copy the website where I got the recipe from! Oops! So, today when I was excited to share it with you I had to hunt for an incredibly small piece of paper in my recycle!(Happily there was reference to the website!) Why do I do this to myself?! Over and over I find a recipe in a cookbook, or online and I make it and can't find it again! Thus, I blog! My online recipe book....hopeful I won't lose it! :) It is incredibly easy and costs less than a dollar to make!

Naan Bread

1 1/2 cups warm water


1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups flour
Combine the warm water and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it get foamy, about 5 minutes.
Add the salt and flour and knead for 5minutes. Put someplace warm for 30-45 minutes. It won't really rise.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 8 pieces. You can make circles or squares. Mine are far from beautiful!

Add some olive oil to your frying pan. Brown each side for 2 minutes!

This Naan bread is FANTASTIC! It's soft and chewy on the inside! A wonderful addition to buttered chicken or some other wonderful dish you need a nice bread for dipping! Enjoy!

Fruits and Veggies

Mmmm, fruits and veggies!

Quality Greens has Okanagan potatoes $2.99 10lbs
Anjou pears .79/lb
Honey Crisp apples(what a wonderful name!).79/lb

BC carrots 5lbs 2/$5.00
Cantaloupe is .59/lb.

Thanks for the Pumpkin!

My mom and dad brought me a small pumpkin(hehe)!
Thanks sooo much mom and dad!

First I sawed it apart! Seriously! :)

Then I cut up 2 cookie sheets full(to start!). I put a bit of water in the bottom of the pan and baked them for 50 minutes at 400.

 I also used my double decker steamer...have I told you how much I enjoy my double decker steamer???

Then I threw the steamed pumpkin pieces into my handy dandy food processor.( I am always a bit boggled by the instructions saying not to use with hot food....)



This is the result! Pumpkin puree!!! Nothing added. Pure pumpkin yumminess!



Here's the final product mom! 4 huge bowls of puree and 2 large bowls of pumpkin broth! Plus, I already took out 2 3/4  cups for the bread and buns! I put it out on the deck to cool before packaging it up. 

I found a wonderful pumpkin bread recipe here . Thanks Ashley! I was so excited that it needed 2 cups of pumpkin!

As well I made pumpkin cinnamon buns(Yowsers! they are really!!! good) which I read about on my friend's blog here, and the recipe is here. I used the cream cheese and honey icing Heather, it was fantastic! Thanks!



In the end, after much processing(and cleaning up so I could take pictures for this blog!!! :) Here are the rows of 1 and 2 cup freezer bags full of pumpkin puree goodness. A grand total of more than 40 cups of puree!!!What will I do with all that pumpkin? Well, my daughter can take us much as she wants when she's home. She likes to make pumpkin cookies with it. I will definitely be making more bread and buns! I also will be scouring the Internet for recipes that use 2 or more cups of pumpkin. Any suggestions?

Breakfast Ideas: Waffles

These waffles are one of our favorite breakfasts. You can make a double recipe on a weekend, freeze the remainders and have your own ready made waffles in your freezer! (You can put the dry ingredients together the night before so that there is one less step.)This waffle iron was purchased second hand. You can usually find them at thrift stores or garage sales.

This is my grandpa's recipe!
1 1/2 cups flour
2Tbsp sugar
1Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Stir together, make a well.
2 egg whites, room temperature
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup melted marg
1 1/2 cup ,milk
Beat egg whites until stiff. Using the same beaters, beat egg yolks in separate bowl. Add marg and milk. Mix. Pour into dry ingredients well. Mix. Fold in egg whites. Pour batter into preheated waffle maker. Let bake for 4 minutes.
I decided to go to the Kellogg's site and get the ingredients for homestyle waffles so we could compare.
Kellogg's® Eggo® Homestyle waffle
Nutrition Facts
Ingredients
ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), WATER, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL), EGGS, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF SUGAR, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, WHEY, SOY LECITHIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, REDUCED IRON, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN B12, YELLOW #5, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), YELLOW #6.
One of the advantages of making food from scratch is skipping some of the perservatives and additives. Anything with a #6 and a color....hmmm..I'll pass. :)



You can alter this recipe in many ways. Add some whole wheat flour, flax, chocolate chips, or berries.
I decided to figure out what this recipe costs, approximately. I figured it out with the purchase prices of late.(For example the last time I bought sugar and flour.)
The grand total came to $1.40 for a single recipe. Which makes about 12 rectangles.

We had some yummy frozen blueberries which I heated up to pour over our waffles.

When I make a double batch I usually have a dozen to freeze. I lay them out on cookie sheets and freeze them. Then I pop them into freezer bags. They are all ready to go into the toaster! Hope this makes your morning happier! :)