ReStore Deals!

As I've mentioned previously, I love the ReStore. If you are patient and willing to look around, there are some crazy good deals to be had.

I had another successful visit this past weekend. I scored a Thomasville dresser with mirror, end table, and chest of drawers. Condition wise, it is probably a very good on a scale from poor to excellent. I cannot put into words how excited I am about these pieces. As an adult I haven't had a set of furniture so it is pretty exciting to finally have a set I love. And even better than it didn't cost too much!
So here it is!
The end table:
The dresser. The flash made it look a little lighter than it really is.


The dresser and mirror. I need some help putting the mirror onto the dresser. It is too heavy for just one person!

Next on the agenda is to find headboards for the master bedroom and the guest room and also a desk.

Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Summer Rolls with a slightly spicy peanut sauce is my new favorite way to enjoy salad. They are ridiculously easy to make, look pretty, and taste great. Here is how you make them.
Start out by preparing whatever you are going to put in the rolls. I chose green and red peppers, carrots, chicken, rice noodles, and lettuce.

Next, soak the rice paper for about 10 seconds so that it becomes somewhat pliable. Then pile up the goodies onto one side of the paper.

Finally you roll the rolls up just like a burrito. Tonight I had mine with some leftover pasta salad and this Thai Peanut Sauce recipe (it is amazing!)

Grocery deals!

I was in the mood for some bargain shopping tonight so I grabbed my coupons, consulted Hip2Save and Southern Savers and headed to Target and Harris Teeter.
I think I did pretty well for a spur of the moment shopping trip!
First up is Target:

I got:
2 packages of Eggo Waffles
2 BBQ Sauces
1 Salad Dressing
1 Brownie Mix

Total OOP: $5.36
Total Savings: $5.72
Best deals - the BBQ sauce was $0.25 each and the salad dressing was $0.76. I didn't have a coupon for the brownie mix but it was regularly priced at $0.77 - SCORE!

Next up was Harris Teeter:
I got:
1 Jar of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
2 Taco Seasoning
1 Chex MIx
1 Coconut Milk

Total OOP: $4.23
Total Savings: $5.80
Best deals - the taco seasoning was $0.40 each and the chex mix was $0.29

So my grand total was $9.59 for a decent amount of stuff! Not too shabby!

More CVS deals!

I have been having such good luck at CVS recently. I thought my deal on deodorant couldn't be beat but this might be coming close.

I ended up with 2 Gillette body washes, 2 right guard deodorants, 1 Gillette proglide razor (which for some reason comes with a battery...), 1 box of pop tarts, and 1 package of wafer cookies.

Here is how it worked out:

The poptarts and cookies were just filler. The cookies were $1 and the poptarts were on sale for $1.67.

The deodorants were $4.49 each regularly but they were BOGO and I had a $3/2 coupon making them $1.49 for both.

The body washes were on sale for $4 each with a $4 ECB (limit 2). I had a BOGO coupon making them $4 for both not counting the ECBs.

The razor was on sale for $9.97 with a $5 ECB. I also had a coupon for $4/1.

Finally I had a coupon for $5/$25 that I got in my email and a $5 ECB from my earlier CVS trip.

So the grand total out of pocket was $5.57 including tax. AND I GOT BACK $13 in ECBs.

Interestingly, I've managed to score deals on a number of 'man products' and yet I have no actual man living in my house. Now, a number of those products I have no problem using on my own but I'm not really in need of that much man body wash so I think I am going to be able to make a nice donation to a local shelter. All in all, I consider it a very successful CVS mission :)

Beautiful Sunset!

One thing I like about living in "the south" is the fact that we have thunderstorms just about every night. While fun on their own, it just gets better when they are followed by a beautiful sky.

Meal Plan, week of 6/14

Here is my plan for the week - it is going to be a busy one!

Breakfasts: Zucchini bread, oatmeal
Snacks: String cheese, brownies, misc veggies

Monday
Lunch: Pork chop, corn bread, steamed veggies
Dinner: Peanut butter sandwich on way to dance class

Tuesday
Lunch: Pork chop, corn bread, steamed veggie
Dinner: My week for hosting Candice! Pulled chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob

Wednesday
Lunch: Pork Chop, corn bread, veggies
Dinner: BBQ Chicken sandwich, corn on the cob

Thursday
Lunch: TBD based on what comes in CSA box
Dinner: Pizza from the freezer as I PACK!

Friday
GO ON VACATION

Mini Freezer Cooking

The rest of my month is going to be pretty busy so I thought I'd help myself out by doing a little freezer cooking so that I won't be tempted to grab take out.
This is what I ended up with:

Slow cooker BBQ Chicken (just as a reference, I use half the chicken but same proportion of liquid) This is the before picture. I forgot to take a picture of the shredded chicken.


Cornbread (From a box - Trader Joe's)


Pork Chops marinated in Italian Dressing (cut in half so they cover more meals). There are 2 missing from the pan because I ate one for dinner (with cornbread and steamed broccoli and cauliflower) and another is packed for lunch tomorrow.


Brownies from scratch! I was in the mood for brownies but I was without a baking mix so I tried this recipe. I am pretty impressed. I think I cooked it a little longer than I would have preferred but overall it had a great flavor.

Oops - someone took out a slice!

I also made 2 loaves of zucchini bread at the end of last week but I didn't take a picture of it.

So not bad for very little work. I marinated the pork chops all day while I was busy sitting at the car dealership. The BBQ sauce mixes up really fast and then it was just a matter of chopping an onion and throwing it all in the crock pot for a few hours. While that was going I mixed up the cornbread and baked it at the same time as the pork. Finally, I mixed up the brownie mix and baked that while enjoying my dinner! Easy! I think I am getting the hang of this freezer cooking business!