New Napkin Rings

We are a cloth napkin family. We use them partly because I grew up in a cloth napkin family, but also because they save resources - water, paper, landfill space. I keep a tall stack of white cotton napkins in the pantry. White? Because they can be bleached, and because new ones added to the old will always match. We expect each family member to use their napkin for several days, until it begins to look stained. Then into the wash it goes. We each have a unique napkin ring so that whoever sets the table can easily identify napkins.

Recently we have had frequent dinner guests and I saw the need to have some spare napkin rings on hand. But, surprise, individual napkin rings are hard to find; they most often come in sets of four. Until I hit Pier 1 this morning. I found these three napkin rings on clearance: $1 for one and 58 cents each for the other two. That's the kind of deal I like.

A Pie NOT to Repeat!

I felt like baking a pie the other day.

I spied a tub of dried apricots in the pantry that needed to be used. I searched my cookbooks and found an apricot pie recipe using dried apricots. The apricots required a soaking and simmering before being dumped into the crust. I envisioned pulling a golden brown pie from the oven, filled with tasty, tender apricots.

It was golden brown. It did look delicious. But on eating, the apricots were so chewy that it was not a pleasure to eat. But at least the crust was good!

Free in the New Year

Here is what I got completely FREE during the month of January. Click here to read a previous post explaining each category.

Publix Mystery Coupon Items:
3 boxes Frosted Flakes (charity)
saltines
grape juice
paper towels

CVS Extracare Bucks With Sales and Coupons:
Garnier Fructis shampoo
Nasogel
3 greeting cards
2 bottles Gillette shampoo
4 Throat Coolers
2 Venus Embrace razors
Gillette body wash

Great Sale Prices Combined with Coupons:
3 boxes Betty Crocker mashed potatoes
18 boxes Betty Crocker hash browns
Post Trail Mix Crunch (10 cents)
2 cans Progresso soup (15 cents ea)
3 jars pimientos (9 cents ea)
14 Reece's Whips candy bars
6 boxes Jolly Time microwave popcorn
2 cans Del Monte green beans
30 cans Rotel tomatoes (12 cents ea)
9 pkgs Cottonelle bath tissue
3 bottles Garnier Fructis shampoo
5 Johnson's Bath Buddies soap
4 pkg Stayfree
2 pkg Kotex
2 Well Patch heat patches
2 shopping bags
2 rolls Reynolds foil
2 travel size Tide

Spent Free Gift Cards (from transferring rx):
2 gallons Mayfield milk
2 pkgs shredded cheese
2 cans Hormel chili
4 boxes Triscuits
4 blocks Kraft cheese
Rosarita refried beans
1 lb noodles
2 Yakisoba noodles
2 Nature Valley nut bars
True Lime
avocado
1.65 lb green grapes
2.5 lb apples
1.25 lb pears
2 bottles Glucosamine Chondroitin
2 boxes Prilosec
Bic razors
Acetaminophen

Full Rebates:
Garnier Fructis shampoo

Free Deals:
French's Worcestershire sauce
Cascade rinse aid

Given to Me:
frosted flakes

A Mail Problem: Solved

With six adults in the house now, we really have a mail problem. It gets scattered from counters to tables to desks to bathrooms. Not having a convenient or reasonable mail stop is our main problem. First we tried "piles" on a section of the kitchen counter. Didn't work; always cluttered. Next we tried mail slots, one per person. Didn't work; too small for today's oversized envelopes. Finally we bought a 7-pocket magazine file at The Container Store (about $20). I labeled each pocket with a name, plus one for restaurant coupons. At first we hung it on the metal back door with magnets. But even heavy magnets couldn't hold it up. So we used nails in the wall next to the back door. It's accessable but hidden, tidy, and organized. All features to make Mom happy!

Homemade French Bread

I tried out an interesting French bread recipe today. It took almost all day, and part of yesterday, to complete. But it turned out well. A tad salty, but tasty otherwise. It made eight (!) loaves. One we ate this evening, the other seven go in the freezer. Maybe.

Delicious when split lengthwise, buttered, wrapped in foil and heated in the oven for about 15 minutes until warm and melty. A great accompaniment to spaghetti and tossed salad. Plan on half a loaf for each adult appetite.

Menu Plan Monday

I broke down and decided to plan weekly menus now that I have a larger, more varied crew to feed. I began with this list of questions from Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter to ask the family. I ended up with about 80 complete menu suggestions! Next, I arranged and rearranged most of them into weekly menus, keeping in mind variety in flavors, ethnicity, main protein, and cost. I now have eight weeks of menus to rotate through.

Some of the ideas will have to be shelved for an indefinite length of time due to their outrageous cost. Prime rib? I don't think so! Other ideas were too vague to be of use to me at this moment. Chinese food. That's not much help to me. Or I have no recipe at the moment. Spanakopita. Uh, you'll have to go to a Greek restaurant to get that.

Next step was to write down all the ingredients I need for all the dishes for this week. I had a very LOOONG shopping list, but, surprisingly, I spent about the same as I usually spend for the week's groceries.

So we'll see how it goes...

What I'm Buying This Week

Publix:

Mystery Coupon item: I hear it's not-too-exciting saltines. But they are free.

Ken's salad dressings, BOGO, $1/2 coupon, net $1.10 ea

Del Monte tomatoes 14 oz, BOGO, $1/4 coupon, net 50 cents ea

Smart Balance spread, BOGO, $1/2 coupon, net 90 cents ea

pork chops $1.89 lb
Publix butter, $2
Friendship sour cream, $1.39, $1/2 coupon, net 89 cents
Publix ice cream, $3
family size frozen vegs, $1.99
Angel Soft tissue 6 roll, $3.99, $1 coupon, net $2.99
Tortilla chips
bananas (minimum of 7; Luke loves them)
I also bought Roma tomatoes at $1.49 lb

Kroger:
Braeburn apples. $1 lb (I bought 12 lbs!)
frozen vegs, $1
Honeysuckle ground turkey, $1 lb
Worchestershire sauce, get one free coupon
beef bouillon
Softsoap, $1, 70 cent coupon, net 30 cents
Cottonelle 4 pk, 99 cents, $1 coupon, net free
Dial soap 3-pk, $1, 70 cent coupon, net 30 cents
Suave deodorant, $1, $2/3 coupon, net 3/$1 (for charity)

Aldi: (The Professor buys these on his way home from work)

flour
frozen green beans
honey

Costco: (The Professor also buys these)
letuce
2-lb cheese block

Walgreens:
mandarin oranges, 50 cents with in-ad coupon

Celestial Seasonings tea, BOGO, $1 coupon, net 75 cents. I didn't buy any because the flavors weren't interesting.

Hall's cough drops, 99 cents with in-ad coupon, 50 cent mfg coupon, net 49 cents

I hope I can use my Reece's Whips raincheck from last week. 6 candy bars free

Rite Aid:

Zip Loc containers, $1.49 with in-ad coupon, $1.50/2 coupon, net 75 cents ea

Reece's Whips deal is the same as last week's deal at Walgreen's. So I'll do it one place or the other. I got 8 of them at Rite Aid.