Food Storage

In all honesty, by far the number one way that we save money on food is through our absurdly huge food storage.  I have incredible in-laws who have taken over responsibility to ensure than none of their children or grandchildren starve when the Zombie Apocalypse hits. A few times a year they send me a "case lot sale" sheet where we can order cases of foods we commonly eat from their local grocery store, and in return they get a significant discount on gas when they fill up their construction equipment. So I usually order a few things I know I'll use: corn, chicken broth, soup, tomato sauce, and maybe a few other things. And then the truck shows up with what I ordered plus about 10x more because my in-laws are sure that we will starve if we just receive what we order! For instance, at one time I had 12 cases of cake mixes. Yes--that is 144 cake mixes. So that year we learned a lot of creative things to do with cake mixes. But all the extra random food does come in handy because usually we have everything we want to make anything we want. These pictures don't even begin to do justice to what we have. I am constantly scrambling to cook or donate things that will go bad.

Canned food: fruit, vegetables, soups, beans, jams. 

Condoments, dry foods, on other shelves we have every pasta and rice you could ever need. Cases of  different kids of sugar and flour. 

Cleaning and breakfast stuff. Last summer we had about 80 huge bags of different kinds of cereal and now we are down to about 10 (my boys eat a lot of cereal). The boys also love oatmeal and so we have cases and cases of it.

My in-laws also often trade work they do for farmer's for cows or pigs, so we end up with a lot of meat in our TWO big   freezers. Hamburger, steaks, roasts, pork chops. And then I buy chicken in bulk when it is on sale. My mother-in-law also orders bulk food items from a catalog and we end up with a lot of it--frozen vegetables, fish, kitchen spices. 

The other freezer contains the non-meat items. Cheese, frozen fruit and vegetables, etc. I buy bread and cheese when it is on sale and freeze it so we always have some ready.

With all this food storage, most weeks my shopping just consists of fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, cheese-sticks, and yogurt (although I sometimes buy that in bulk and freeze it as well).  I feel so lucky to have such generous in-laws, not only to us, but to all the people around us who we are able to help in tough times by contributing groceries to their families.

Transferring Prescriptions

If you have a prescription that you refill every month (i.e. vitamins for kids, etc.) have I got a deal for you! Many pharmacies offer a gift card if you transfer a prescription to them. In the last few months I've received a $50 gift card from Walgreens, $20 gift card from Smiths, and $20 gift card from Target. All you have to do is call the pharmacy you want the prescription transferred to, tell them your name, the prescription, and the place it is transferred from, and then you just go pick up your prescription and a gift card. Different stores have different policies about how many you can do at a time, but I've never had a problem just transferring the same one back and forth between two pharmacies.

Papa Murphy's Pizza

Recently a Papa Murphy's Take and Bake pizza opened a few blocks from us and we thought we would try it out. Right now they have a deal for a large pizza (cheese, pepperoni, or pepperoni and sausage) for $5 (family size $7). You can call ahead, have your husband pick it up on the way home from work while you preheat the oven, and serve it with a salad 15 minutes later. No coupon necessary.

Deals of Ages Past

Okay, so I just wanted to brag about inform you of some deals I've found in the last few months. They may not be immediately available, but hopefully will be available again if you keep a good look-out.

* Dilliards New Years Day Sale--This one is HUGE. I look forward to it almost as much as Christmas. They really don't do any advertising for this at all, so mark it on your calendars. Everything that is marked down (with a pink tag) is another 50% off of that.  This means that the Merrill hiking shoes I bought that were normally $129 were only $20 and the Keen water shoes that were normally $100 were also $20. The best deals are always shoes, purses, and kitchen supplies so a strategy is important. This year I bought 5 pairs of shoes (one for Marshall), 10 shirts for Mason for next year, a mixer, a nightgown, 3 shirts and two pairs of jeans for Marshall, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. The best deal I ever got from this sale was last year when I bought a beautiful Coach purse regularly $429 for $129. So mark your calendars, get up early New Years Day, and head to your local Dilliards. But not the Provo one because I will not hesitate to RUN YOU DOWN if you are going for something I want. Just kidding :)

* Target Turkey Breasts-- I love turkey breasts, and have discovered that they make a fantastic base for a Sunday dinner. I just thaw it the night before, but it in the crockpot with a little broth and herbs d'provence, and when we get home from church we have a fantastic dinner waiting. Turkey is also one of the few things my kids love to eat. But. . .turkeys tend to be huge and expensive, and turkey breasts tend to be just plain expensive. BUT. . .every year around Christmas Target has a weekend where turkey breasts are 99 cents/lb AND for every $50 you spend you get a $20 gift card. So this year I bought 12 turkey breasts (they last a long time in the freezer) for about $30 after the gift card (which is handy for Christmas toy shopping). That makes it cheaper than the cheapest hamburger!

* Rumbi Island Grill-- Okay, this one I feel a little sheepish about.  A few months ago they were offering a $7.50 gift certificate for every 2 cans of food you brought in. UNLIMITED. Well, if there is anything I have a lot of it is canned food (free, thanks to my in-laws). So the first day we went in and took 10 cans and fed our entire family (plus leftovers for 2 more meals) for free. When we were there we saw people bringing in lots more and taking the gift certificates home. I asked and they said that was totally legit. So. . .the next day I came with a few cases of canned food and got 32 $7.50 gift certificates for Rumbi Island Grill. They made fantastic Christmas presents for all the kid's teachers, my teaching and research assistants, and we even saved a few for some date nights.

This one's for you, Melissa!

The body shop has their body butters for $5 plus free shipping. They are normally $19 so it's a big discount. They also have a lot off gift sets for sale.

Target kids clothes

I hit target on Monday before my kids doctors appointments. There were so many great deals we almost didn't make it! Kids  circo long sleeve shirts were marked down to $2.50 (normally $5 or $6) and they had pants that were $4. I love buying baby jeans there because when they are only going to wear them for a few months, I don't want to pay a lot. I was able to stock up for next years winter clothes for my 3 year old and got a few things for my 6 month old (who is now wearing size 12 month clothes!)

Target Toys!

Jessica has lots of tips for Target (like price matching) but I just happened to go there after I dropped the kids off at school today and found that 4 isles of the toys were 50-70% off! For example, some Thomas sets were regularly $29.99 for $9.99 and some super-hero Lego sets regularly $22.99 for $7.29. There was a great Jake and the Neverland Pirates play set (Max's favorite) regularly $29.99 for $11.99 that will make a great birthday present in August.  Also on sale were lots of Hotwheels sets and marvel superhero sets.  There were lots of Barbie, kitchen, pink-type stuff for those of you with girlie-girls.

My boys are at the age where they are invited to a bazillion birthday parties and it is nice to have some presents on hand to avoid last minute runs to the store. Now I have a whole closet of fantastic presents for pennies on the dollar!

Papa John's Pizza

On Tuesday, it was my sons 3rd birthday. He loves pizza and decided that is what he wanted for dinner. I'd seen a discount code for Papa John's pizza so we ordered from there. We got a large specialty pizza (regular price was $15) for $7.50. Even with tax, delivery fee and tip, it only came to just over $12! Use promo code Papa50 until Jan 20th to get 50% off regular priced items.

Introduction to the Saving Sisters

Jessica and I (Melissa) are both married, working mothers of a combined 5 darling little boys. We have a lot in common (like showing up places wearing the same outfit, each bought independently), but the thing that bonds us the most is probably our love of saving money! We weren't necessarily raised with this mentality, but independently we have both discovered the thrill of knowing that we scored a great deal on a product that will be well-used.

We are in no way in the same category as those Extreme Couponers that you see on tv (one of our favorite shows of course). We both have adequate family incomes and lifestyles, but when we see a product we like we know how to get it for the best price. And we like bragging about  sharing our great deals with each other. Hence, this blog is for Jessica and I to share our great finds with each other and with our family and friends. If you have a great find, please feel free to share it in the comments and you can bet we will either go out and snap up the deal or try to beat you with a better price!

Let the savings begin!