[Shopping trip redacted]

We went to Publix last night to shop. It was going to be an okay-ish trip, but we made some last minute additions to our list and I didn't hand the cashier all of our coupons (realized this in the parking lot) and it was kind of a fail.

It was my first real mistake in this process.

I had a meltdown. I don't know why.

Actually, I know exactly why. I'm Type A and put way too much pressure on myself. Perfectionism mutates into this monster where I can't handle not succeeding in something.

(On top of the fact I was already on edge emotionally before I even got to the store. That had a lot to do with it.)

I gotta get over that. This hobby is supposed to be fun, not make me cry.

So I'll try again next week. Hopefully it'll be better.

100% Challenges

We had a mission to save 100% tonight, and we nearly accomplished it. 

Under normal circumstances, you won't find us buying ridiculously large quantities of stuff just because it's free or discounted. In addition to the fact that I have zero space for a large stockpile, there's only two of us. We just don't need that much stuff. And it's reprehensible to buy way more than you need of something and leave other people who may need that product without it.

But we happened to have a lot of this past Sunday's inserts. 12 Red Plums and 8 Smart Sources. I can't tell you my secret source for these inserts, but I can assure you that it doesn't happen every week. We just lucked into it this time. 

So when WalMart and Kroger had coupon matchups (I can't thank Southern Savers enough) that corresponded with my ridiculously large number of inserts, I couldn't resist seeing what we could save.

Grand total: $.75 (tax only); Total savings: $11.99 (before tax)

At WalMart, Black Flag fly swatters and fly paper were on sale for $.98. This matched with a $1 off coupon from Red Plum, and I bought 8 fly swatters and 4 packages of fly paper. Disposable razors were also on sale for $.98, which matched with another $1 off coupon, making them free as well. 

We actually ended up paying $.75, just the tax on the items. The actual subtotal was -$.02. Even thought it was only two cents, I'd never seen a negative before. That was pretty cool.

We have every intention of giving away most of those fly swatters. We'll keep a couple around here, but who needs 8 fly swatters?

Our trip to Kroger kind of made me feel like a crazy person. 

Remember the Wisk deal going on right now? It's on sale for $3.99 and there's a $2 off coupon in the 5/15 Smart Source. Buying the Wisk will also cause a $2 Catalina coupon to print, essentially making your purchase free. 

So 8 Smart Sources, right? We may have gone a little overboard. 

Grand total: $5.48 (out of pocket); Total savings: $44.45 (before tax)

Well, actually, 7. We used one of them last night before I figured out what a good deal this was. 

But we definitely bought 7 bottles of Wisk laundry detergent. Including coupons and Catalina (We had to pay $1.99 plus tax up front to start the madness but got a $2 Catalina to use later), we spent $2.17 on those 7 bottles--basically just the tax.

The unfortunate thing was that we had to do all of it in separate transactions to get the Catalina to use on the next bottle. We could have paid for it all out of pocket and kept the Catalina to use later, but Boy wanted to see those 100% savings receipts (after the first one). 

We also got another bottle of the $1 Benefiber. Fiber supplements are expensive, so we snatched that one up. The cashier was less than thrilled about the separate transactions, but I apologized to her and she was pleasant enough.

All in all, it was pretty neat to be able to walk away from a store and feel like you were legally robbing them blind. WalMart was fun because the cashier was rude and annoyed but we won in the end.

We won't normally buy such large quantities, but tonight was a fun little game and I'm glad it produced some things we could use :)

Turn that frown upside down

It's sick that I'm actually unsatisfied with 70% in savings.

We got $42 worth of groceries for just over $14 tonight at Kroger, and I was actually disappointed. My math wasn't quite right, as I estimated our before-tax-total to be around $10, when it actually proved to be about $12.

So why am I unhappy? Your guess is as good as mine. 

We got a lot of really useful stuff for pretty good prices. We even got some freebies. But we got spoiled with the Mega Event savings. I have to be able to accept that not every shopping trip is going to be a home run, especially if we are buying things we need and not just buying things because they're cheap or free.

Boy, to his credit, has a much healthier perspective on it and is really happy with our savings tonight. I need to get on his level. 

Here is our haul from tonight, minus some free oatmeal that I forgot to include (like a dumb dumb):

Final cost: $14.64; Total Savings: $29.73

In the interest of full disclosure, the milk was a separate transaction. The Wisk detergent was a great price at $3.99, minus a $2 coupon, and then it printed $2 in Catalina after that. We used the Catlina on the 2 half gallons of milk. If you need milk, go to Kroger. Half gallons are $1 right now, making a gallon $2, as opposed to the 1 gallon container price of $2.89.

The Garnier shampoo and conditioner were on closeout and with a coupon, were just $.88 cents each. The cereal, the biscuits, and the cheese were all under $.80 after coupons and the Benefiber and the Almond Breeze milk were $1 after coupons.

We had an oatmeal freebie, but I forgot to include it in the picture. 

All in all, we got a lot of great stuff. Breaking it down just now made me feel better about it. The Wisk is an especially good deal. We have a plan that we're going to try tomorrow, and if it goes well, I'm sure you'll hear about it :)

In excellent news, I borrowed my old computer back from my mom and I'm able to print the coupons.com coupons. I've heard of several other people who can't print them on Macs (and other people who can), so I don't really know what to do about my actual computer. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. 

Kabobs and vino

So we've been known to experiment in the kitchen a little. But to keep weekday meals simple, we buy ground beef or turkey and chicken thighs when they're on sale (Yes, I know the breast is leaner and healthier. I do. But Boy and I both detest chicken breasts and I'll sacrifice the calories for edibility) and freeze them. It keeps us from constantly having to run to the grocery store for something to cook for dinner.

Thankfully, our penchant for keeping weekday meals easy helped us get our cooking experiment off the ground this weekend.

After watching a Bizarre Foods where Andrew ate kabobs (probably some exotic meat or organ), Boy wanted to make some for dinner. We had already marinaded some chicken thighs (we de-bone them and take the skin off) so it was the perfect scenario.

[Rabbit hole: Boy's marinade is the best. It's actually his dad's, but it's so simple and delicious. We throw the protein in a zipper bag, cover it with low sodium soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic. Fresh garlic is a lot better, but Boy had used it all in the veggie marinade, so garlic salt worked just as well.]

We cubed some zucchini, sliced some onion, and skewered whole baby portabellas--next time we're springing for the big container. We combined it all in a bag and covered it with olive oil, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper. I should probably point out that this is where I got in trouble. I kept plucking zucchini pieces off of the plate and that got me yelled at :)

After we soaked the skewers for a couple of hours (100 bamboo skewers were on sale at Kroger for $1.50), we assembled the kabobs, keeping vegetables and protein separate.

Raw chicken grosses me out, but here is the "before" shot with kabobs assembled.

We have a gas grill my parents gave us so we fired it up and Boy went to work on the cookin. I'm not a huge fan of warm tomatoes, but he wanted some so we put a few of the yummy cherry tomatoes in a foil packet with some olive oil and veggies that broke during the skewering process and threw it on the grill.

I love tomatoes. Probably my favorite food. But not so much the warm ones. These were good though.

After laboring over the hot grill all afternoon (or for like 30 minutes, whatever), Boy brought everything inside. Keeping the veggies and protein separate was a great idea, because raw vegetables are one of my biggest pet peeves about kabobs. Vegetables and meats cook at different rates, so keeping everything separate helped us keep our kabobs perfectly cooked.

I think Boy did a pretty good job.

Grilled onions, zucchini, mushrooms, and chicken: On a stick!

This was really one of my favorite "random" meals that we've cooked. That marinade for the chicken (we use it for steaks, too) is just so good and grilled vegetables are one of my favorite foods. It was a nice, light change from the hamburgers we had the night before.

Oh! At the suggestion of a friend and co-worker, I tried a new brand of wine. Lucky Duck is inexpensive but really really good. I opened a bottle of the Shiraz while we were cooking and it was the perfect complement to the hectic kitchen.

I love ducks :)

We also bought the Sauvignon Blanc, so look out world.

I love summer for a ton of reasons but grilling is up there near the top. Can't wait to experiment a little more and see what we an come up with!

Well yay.

Looks like the posts came back. 

Thanks, Blogger! 

Rebekah saved the day!

I thought all hope was lost for the Publix win, CVS fail post when Blogger kind of lost it, but Rebekah told me her posts were still in Google Reader. Mine were too! So here's the lost blog post. Thanks again, Rebekah!

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We've settled on a shopping routine. Kroger on Mondays (or even Sunday nights if we have time) and Publix on Wednesdays.  

This afternoon, after a WalMart trip that made me cringe (so few sales, so few coupons but this one was Boy's project so whatever), we went to Publix with a very specific list and a very specific plan. 

I think we came out pretty well, even though some of the deals had already expired unexpectedly. We were fortunate enough to run across some tear pad coupons that we weren't expecting and that really helped with the bottom line.

Plus it was Penny Coupon day!

Grand total: $5.55; Total savings: $29.07

 The Yogurt was was completely free (printables and store coupons, score!) and the dish soap and the mac and cheese were both under $.30. Originally I had a coupon for $.55 off of one jar of pickles (BOGO priced at $1.34), but there was a tear pad that spit out two coupons for $.75 off so we ended up with an even better deal and got two jars instead of one. The bug spray was another fortunate find. It was BOGO priced and there was an on-product $.55 off coupon. We had coupons for everything we bought, including the Penny Item (Publix paper towels--they may feel like sandpaper, but hey, they were a penny).

I think the cashier was a little annoyed with the number of coupons we had, but she was pleasant enough. I really do love the Publix people. Even though they have to be nice, it's refreshing for store employes not to be rude (cough cough WalMart cough cough). 

So Publix was a win today. Lots of good deals and useful stuff. 

CVS, however, was a big fat fail. 

I had two coupons I was going to try to use with a store coupon to get enough off to make spending at least $15 to get 7 Extra Care Bucks worth it. But they didn't have any of those products listed on my coupons. I couldn't really tell if they were out of stock or if they didn't carry them at all. And unfortunately, I had no backup plan (so unlike me). So I abandoned it. 

Luckily, I had another coupon for brownie mix so the trip wasn't a total wash.

$.44 brownie mix. I'll take it.

CVS will take more practice. I might try it again next week. But grocery shopping is going okay so at least there's that :)

What the heck, Blogger?

My whole post about Publix and CVS just disappeared. What in the world? I clicked the direct link I posted on Twitter and Facebook and it says that that post doesn't exist.
Wtf? Grrr.

Publix #win, CVS #fail

We've settled on a shopping routine. Kroger on Mondays (or even Sunday nights if we have time) and Publix on Wednesdays. 

This afternoon, after a WalMart trip that made me cringe (so few sales, so few coupons but this one was Boy's project so whatever), we went to Publix with a very specific list and a very specific plan. 

I think we came out pretty well, even though some of the deals had already expired unexpectedly. We were fortunate enough to run across some tear pad coupons that we weren't expecting and that really helped with the bottom line.

Plus it was Penny Coupon day!

Grand total: $5.55; Total savings: $29.07

The Yogurt was was completely free (printables and store coupons, score!) and the dish soap and the mac and cheese were both under $.30. Originally I had a coupon for $.55 off of one jar of pickles (BOGO priced at $1.34), but there was a tear pad that spit out two coupons for $.75 off so we ended up with an even better deal and got two jars instead of one. The bug spray was another fortunate find. It was BOGO priced and there was an on-product $.55 off coupon. We had coupons for everything we bought, including the Penny Item (Publix paper towels--they may feel like sandpaper, but hey, they were a penny). 

I think the cashier was a little annoyed with the number of coupons we had, but she was pleasant enough. I really do love the Publix people. Even though they have to be nice, it's refreshing for store employes not to be rude (cough cough WalMart cough cough). 

So Publix was a win today. Lots of good deals and useful stuff. 

CVS, however, was a big fat fail. 

I had two coupons I was going to try to use with a store coupon to get enough off to make spending at least $15 to get 7 Extra Care Bucks worth it. But they didn't have any of those products listed on my coupons. I couldn't really tell if they were out of stock or if they didn't carry them at all. And unfortunately, I had no backup plan (so unlike me). So I abandoned it. 

Luckily, I had another coupon for brownie mix so the trip wasn't a total wash. 

$.44 brownie mix. I'll take it.

CVS will take more practice. I might try it again next week. But grocery shopping is going okay so at least there's that :)

Quick shopping update

We went back to Kroger after I spent a little time on Southern Savers designing a 10-item Mega Event list. Separating each Mega Event group into individual lists helps with organization and counting (things I struggle with sometimes). I was pretty excited with how it turned out. We only had to get one .49 water (our Mega Event fall-back) and got a lot of other great deals!

Grand total: $5.97; Total savings: $17.18

I was surprised at what good prices we were able to get on some of the "healthy" foods. The garden and whole wheat pastas were free with our coupons (4 more freebies!), but they were $.49 with just the Mega Event and Kroger card pricing. The Silk Pure Almond milk was $.74 with the coupons and the Mom's Best cereal was $.24. The pretzel was  $.79 (just the Mega Event and Kroger card price--our printable coupon didn't print correctly dang it) and the Sunny D was only $.74. Most of our money went to the Cheez-Its (a bit of a splurge) at $1.38.

The good news is I got my printer and we started gathering internet printables! All of my coupons for the Mega Event were printables (except for one e-coupon on my Kroger card). We were excited. Being able to pair those with paper inserts and e-coupons will help a ton. 

I have a problem getting the coupons.com coupon installer to properly install on my computer, though. It keeps asking me to re-install even though I've already installed (like 4 times) and none of the coupon websites that use that particular application will print. I've missed a couple of freebies because of this, and it's not a huge deal but it's still sort of irritating. I've contacted the website people, so maybe they'll be able to help me. Or I'll have to steal my roommate's computer. We'll see. 

We are trying our first CVS trip tomorrow. We have a couple of coupons and we'll only buy a few things. CVS is a bit overwhelming right now, so we are taking it slowly. Really slowly. But if we play our cards right, we'll spend roughly $8 (after coupons) and get 7 Extra Care Bucks to use later. 

Fingers crossed :)

Big scary first shopping trip

Well we did it.

We went on our first shopping trip with coupons. We've bought individual items with coupons before, but before tonight, we'd never gone out on our regular shopping trip with the intention of using coupons for most everything. 

Since it's pretty terrifying, we decided to keep it small and only buy the few items that we had coupons for, that were on sale, or both.

Publix was having some great BOGO deals and combined with a few manufacturer's coupons, we managed some pretty nice savings.

Grand total: $15.44; Total savings: $22.05

We saved $8.80 with coupons and $13.25 with in-store savings. Since the Publix BOGO policy allows you to just buy one at half off, the Shout spray, priced at $1.50 with BOGO, became $.70 when we put a $.40 coupon (doubled) with it. We thought that was pretty cool. 

And the dog treats (way in the back behind everything--sorry for the crummy picture) were on sale for $3 per  bag and with 2 $2 off coupons, we snagged them for $1 each. Unfortunately Logan is a giant dog and can eat 6 of the little treats at a time, but since they were only a dollar, I guess it's okay. 

The only items we didn't have coupons for were the hotdogs (half off with BOGO) and the Knorr sides ($.74). Not too shabby. 

Then we ventured over to Kroger to get our own Kroger cards (we'd both been using our parents') and picked up some items from their Mega Event (Get $5 off when you buy 10 participating items).

Deer Park 3 liter waters, regularly $1.19, became $.99 cents with the Kroger card and $.49 with the Mega Event. Needless to say, we bought 10. 

Rabbit hole: We buy water because Auburn City water tastes like sewage. We've debated a filter, but buying the gallons and having them cold in the fridge is just too convenient. Finding nice deals like this Mega Event allows us to stock up and donate the rest. 

I also picked up 10 Campbell's Soups, averaging out to $.89 a piece, thanks to the Mega Event. 

And in one of the more exciting parts of the night, I got another freebie! Mahatma 1 lb bags of rice were 10 for 10 with the Kroger card. I had a coupon for $.50 off and since Kroger doubles $.50 and under, the rice was free! 

This may all be extremely boring to you, but we had so much fun tonight. The Publix trip was awesome super easy because we were well prepared. I printed off a detailed list from Southern Savers, gathered our coupons and organized them before we left, and only bought what was on the list. 

We are definitely looking forward to gathering more coupon inserts (the size of our advertising market makes it difficult to get all of the coupons. See Phillip's awesome breakdown here), getting better organized, building a little bit of a stockpile, and becoming more comfortable with store policies and coupons in general.

We are need to get comfortable with printables. The first step in that process, though, is getting my printer from my parents' house. Since I can't print coupons at work (can't download the applications onto work computers), I'm stuck until I can get my own. It'll just take a little time.

But for now, we're pretty happy.

Scary first shopping trip: Check.

Ode to the forgotten sides

Day 3 of lunch-bringing has been successful. Another Lean Gourmet, another wonderfully inexpensive lunch. Threw a three-cheese ziti in my little lunch box this morning along with some reduced fat Cheez-Its, a pickle, and a pudding.

In all its glory

Today I plan on showcasing the unsung heroes of the diet world: the side items. While diet entrees can seem tiny and unappetizing, if you can force yourself to eat them, sometimes pairing them with lots of other low-calorie snacks can make quite a satisfying meal. 

One of the smarter things I've ever done was take entire boxes of Wheat Thins and Cheez-Its (all reduced fat, of course) and divide them into single serving snack bags. It's a time saver and a way to limit my intake. I can grab one when I'm throwing my lunch together in the mornings and it keeps me from grabbing handfuls because I don't have time to count servings out (16 Wheat Thins, 31 Cheez-Its, just FYI).

I used to be a Vlassic pickle kind of person. Exclusively. But over the last two years, I've developed a taste for Mt. Olive Zesty Garlic Kosher Dills. They're super low calorie, super delicious, and super expensive. They're one of the only things I don't try to buy only on sale. I don't mind paying full price for them. These pickles are another reason why I'm glad I was blessed with low blood pressure. The sodium is through the roof, but I can't get enough of them. I even drink the juice. Don't hate.

I know it's sinful, but lower-calorie desserts are almost a must-have for my diet meals. I usually try to alternate pudding packs with apple sauce (though I went with pudding two days in a row this week--I'm bad) to take care of that sweet tooth that develops toward the end of a meal. Back in my college days, I always bought Jell-O 60 calorie pudding snacks. Now that I'm on a budget, I've had to gravitate more toward store brands. But the caloric count is a bit too high, so when I am ready to buy again, I might go back to Jell-O. Mott's no-sugar-added apple sauce is a favorite as well.

But sometimes what suffices for lunch just isn't enough food for dinner. A few other things I throw in with a lean cuisine when I'm trying to stretch it into a dinner are celery, tomatoes, a quarter head of lettuce, a quarter head of cabbage, turnips, or Baked Lays. I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I eat most often. Obviously I wouldn't eat all of those things at once. I'd substitute the chips for the Wheat Thins and the cabbage for the lettuce, but you get the idea. And instead of making a salad that would tempt me to use full-fat dressing, I break up the salad into individual components that I can usually eat just with salt or pickle juice or even those Wishbone Salad Spritzers (1 calorie per spray--balsamic vinegar is the best!).

So next time you're at a loss for what to make for a quick lunch or dinner on your own, don't be afraid to pull out a frozen entree and get creative with the side items. They really do make the meal.

Rabbit holes

I've managed to bring my lunch to work two days in a row now. Please try to hold your applause.

Since we were bad and went to Louie's last night for dinner (didn't end up eating with my parents), I didn't have any leftovers to pick from. So I went with a Michelina's Lean Gourmet, more wheat thins, a pickle, and a pudding pack.

Why do I explain my meals in great detail? Gives me more motivation to keep going.

And that brings us to what Justin likes to call a rabbit hole. A rabbit hole is when I am telling one story and then suddenly launch into another story of added information. I like to think that I'm giving a complete picture. He likes to think I'm crazy.

Anywho, this rabbit hole involves frozen diet meals. I consider myself somewhat of a Lean Cuisine, etc., connoisseur. I was fortunate enough to have the willpower to drop 30 lbs during my last semester of college. Obviously, I've put all of that back on, but I still remember how to do it. And most of it involved pre-portioned frozen diet meals. Note: for this post, if I mention lean cuisine lowercased, I could mean an actual Lean Cuisine, a Smart One, a Healthy Choice expensive so-and-so, or even a Michelina's Lean Gourmet (even though I've only recently given those a chance).

During the great weight drop of ought nine, I ate a lean cuisine for dinner probably 5 or 6 nights a week. I learned which ones tasted good (spaghetti and meatballs and sesame chicken), which ones didn't really save any calories (Salisbury steak, plus dessert), and which ones were so bad they shouldn't have been produced (roast turkey with dressing and chicken fried rice).

As part of a low-calorie diet combined with exercise (a post by itself), these lean cuisines helped me shed pounds. But they're not for everyone. Some people just think they taste bad. And some people should steer clear of them due to sodium content. I was fortunate enough to be blessed with genetically low blood pressure so the amount of sodium in these meals (sometimes alarmingly high amounts), doesn't affect me as much.

So when I moved to Auburn and started making grand plans to drop weight again, I ran into an unforeseen roadblock: Money.

Beginning to see a theme here?

Diet food, or healthy food in general, is really expensive. This fact is nothing new. But paying my own bills and attempting to be self-sufficient has slapped me in the face with it again. Combine that with cooking for two every night, because Justin and I usually eat together.

If I can catch lean cuisines on sale, I stock up (and use coupons when I can). But Justin doesn't want to eat that for dinner. It probably wouldn't fill him up for lunch. I can put a lean cuisine with a big lettuce wedge, a pickle, some celery, a handful of grape tomatoes, and a 60-calorie pudding and I've got a satisfying dinner. It takes much more than that to fill him up. So what do I do?

I have no idea. Lately we've been ignoring healthy eating. Trying to save money and trying to eat healthy are two separate lifestyles that are hard to merge. And I'm trying to do it.

Which brings me to Michelina's Lean Gourmets. They're about $1 regular price and sometimes down to 88 cents on sale. These make perfect lunches because I can build a meal around them that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. And they're really not bad. Trust me, I know my lean cuisines. The baked ziti, lasagna, and chicken rigatoni with broccoli are all fantastic.

And while that doesn't solve my dinner conundrum, it does solve the lunch problem. And maybe by saving money on lunch, I could reallocate some of that money to dinner? Eating more grilled chicken and fish plus fresh vegetables will help. I just have to save enough money in other places to buy fresh ingredients for more than one or two meals per week. I welcome any and all suggestions.

So that was a rabbit hole. I don't really have a proper conclusion to tie this neatly together. It's really more of a cry for help. How do we eat well while saving money? Is it even possible?

We'll see. I'll keep you updated.

Save money, live better?

Today, I continue the never-ending quest to save money by installing phase 2 of my "I don't want to be broke all the time" plan:

Bringing my lunch to work.

Remember the oeufs au plat and the green onion sausage and chicken gravy over homemade mayonnaise biscuits from last night?

BAM! Instant lunch!

When you subtract the eggs (there's no way to make eggs over easy good leftover), this actually made a decent lunch. I added some no sugar added apple sauce and a serving of reduced fat Wheat Thins (also trying to lose weight. More on my "I don't want to be a fatty anymore" plan in the future).

The best part? I didn't burn 12 miles worth of gas round trip. This is going to cut my work-related gas consumption in half. I'd say that's pretty cool.

When we were stocking up on some of the Kroger Mega Event items, I selected a few things I knew would make good lunches. I may start bringing a book and actually taking a lunch break instead of internetting/working while I eat. We'll see.

The only downside is that I won't be able to go home to let Logan out. I've enjoyed being able to spend about 40 minutes at home relaxing with him everyday, but gas is just too expensive. He'll be fine, though. He is able to make it through an entire night without needing to go out. I'll just miss him.

Look at my sweet baby. Isn't he precious? :)

No other lifestyle breakthroughs to report right now. I think we're going to take part tonight in that oldest and most celebrated of 20-something money saving rituals: mooching dinner from my parents. But hey, free food is free food. And it just happens to be my mommy's spaghetti, one of my favorite foods. So it's a win all around.

Until next time.

Lately

So we've been busy. 

It seems like yesterday we were celebrating a national championship for our little Auburn and we turned around and it's May.

I have every intention to devoting a full post to this, but I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the complete devastation in the South caused by those April 27 storms. I quite literally had a meltdown when I saw the first images of Tuscaloosa. My friends, my school, and what was once my life were all in Tuscaloosa. Places I ate, visited, worshipped, and lived. Some completely gone. And that was only one affected area. Please continue to keep those families in your prayers and donate your time and resources when and where you can. #WeAreAlabama.

I've got pictures and stories from this past weekend's foray in world of manual labor and tornado cleanup, but I'll save most of them for next time. Here's a sneak peek, though:

One of the pecan trees in the front yard of my late grandparents' house. I thought this one was the biggest. I was wrong. 

This post is mostly an introduction to what I hope will be two regular blogging topics: 

1. Justin and I like to cook. Well, he likes to cook and I like to assist. I want to share our adventures; the trails, the errors, the freaking delicious things we cook sometimes.

Tonight, for instance, Justin wanted to cook John Besh's oeufs au plat with a creole sausage and chicken gravy. So he did. He had the day off today so he spent most of the day making stock and prepping vegetables so it would be ready to throw together when I got home from work. That man really knows his way around a kitchen. 

This was before we opened the biscuits and let the eggs fall. Just trust me. It was delicious. 

I was feeling frisky as well and decided last week that I wanted to make mayonnaise biscuits. I'd heard wonderful things about them and they have three ingredients (two cups of self-rising flour, one cup of milk, and six tablespoons of mayonnaise) so I figured I'd give it a shot. Tonight provided the perfect opportunity. Even with a little improvisation, like pulling out the silicone muffin pan at the last minute, they turned out wonderfully. 

Please excuse the plate. But I was proud of my first scratch-made biscuits :)

My photography skills aren't up to par yet, but believe me, dinner tonight was fantastic. Almost as good as the short ribs we made when I got Justin the dutch oven for his birthday. Almost. That one will have to be its own post one day. 

2. Since Justin and I like to cook, we spend a lot of money on food. To combat this, we have attempted to start couponing. It kind of started when I was reading our friend Bekah's blog and got inspired. She and her husband are adopting a baby from Ethiopia and are saving every penny they can. Just reading her stories of savings got me interested in how using coupons could really make a difference. 

Then came "Extreme Couponing" on TLC. Justin and I are both addicted. I don't have the space in my place to have a stockpile on the level that these couponers have, but it's really interesting to watch. 

My couponing world changed, however, when a friend on Twitter suggested I check out SouthernSavers.com. Phillip's suggestion blew this thing wide open. It had been on Bekah's recommended sites the whole time, but I'd never noticed. This website has everything a couponer needs, whether he or she is a novice like me or practically a professional like the extreme couponers on TLC. I noticed several of their lists are from Souther Savers. They even have videos on how to get started. I found those immensely helpful. 

We are currently in the "compiling our coupons" phase. Every Sunday, we pull the coupon inserts (I have an advantage because I work at the paper) and put them in our new accordion file folder. 

Not much in it yet, but we'll get there. Baby steps. 

And tonight, we achieved our first milestone. We got our first freebie. Nivea women's body wash was on sale for $3 and I had a coupon for $3 off! I paid 24 cents for a whole bottle of body wash! That's where Souther Savers is really useful. Without it, I'd have never put 2 and 2 together to realize this coupon made a freebie. 

Our first freebie!

And since there are some good deals at Kroger right now with one of their Mega Events, we decided to make a practical pantry since my duplex doesn't have a real one. The cabinets were getting a bit full so we took a shelf and added bins. I'll add more bins as I can afford them, but this is a pretty good start. 

Our make-shift pantry. Not too pretty, but pretty useful. 

Hope to make this sort of thing a regular occurrence. We usually cook something neat at least once a week and couponing is becoming a bigger part of my life everyday. I don't plan to let it take over my life like the Extreme Couponing people, but I do hope to be able to save a little. 

We'll see how it goes.

Spare a thought and a prayer for Tuscaloosa every now and then. Be safe.