Good Food, Good Deals!

I have been getting so many great deals lately, I'm stocking up! I wanted to show you some of the deals I have found over the weeks (and my newly organized foods!). :)

First, the drink cupboard:

There are 6 bottles of Tree Top juices in there (behind the Magic Bullet, etc.), and I got those for .50 each. Then the Country Time Lemonade--8 of those, I think some were free and some were .50 each, plus I got a catalina for the next purchase). I've got 3 boxes of Lipton Iced Tea, all cheap. 2 boxes of Tazo Tea, very cheap. 3 International Coffee Blends, cheap. I got a bunch of Koolaid packets (only orange and yellow--no red on my carpet! :), and I used my coupons for those at Winco. On the right bottom are canned juices--strawberry, strawberry lemonade & grape! The grape tastes SO good mixed with sprite or ginger ale. Mmmm! I have little baskets (left middle shelf) for my tea--one with a variety, one with only decaf/herbal for people who request it. I have extra tea bags in a little plastic drawer in another cupboard.  

Now, an overview of my pantry:

I just organized it, but it still looks messy to me. I bout some rulers and I want to do labels like this. (I LOVE her blog, by the way--check out the whole pantry article here).

The top left is looking a little bare. I need a good salsa sale and some more salad dressing, and maybe some mustard too, k? :) Ok, so I got those salad dressings, mayos & mustards for .40 each. The bbq sauce was all free. The A1 was .69. The refried beans were .38 per can (using my $1 off of 2 coupon at WinCo!). The olives (right, red cans) were .25 each at Albertsons (this week, you can print the coupons, buy 4, and double your coupons and spend $1, too!), and a couple were .50 each at Walgreens a while wback.

I love my yellow bins (below). I need to label them! Left: potatoes, onions, ginger root--things like that. Middle: taco shells, tostadas, things like that. Right: capri suns and other such drinks. I found these bins at Wal-Mart on clearance a while back.

These all need labels! Oh, what is a pantry without labels?? :) Beans, pasta, rice--all in jars. Except a couple of packages of rice pasta. 

Oh! You can see the original shelving above the jars--just wire racks. We don't like wire racks. We detest wire racks. So--when we first moved in, we measured it all out, ran to home depot & bought cheap wood (melanine, I think--white on the top) and had it all perfectly cut to fit in the pantry. This way, if anything spills, it doesn't go to the next level and the next level, and the next level, making an incredible mess! Also, the cans/jars sit nice and flat, no tipsy-ness going on!

This one looks messy, but I'm stocking up!! Top shelf: will be labeled "extras". Our favorite chips, from Winco (they're at other stores, too, but .11 more per bag, so I stock up at Winco), Juanitas. They're authentic tasting! Mm! Then some Kettle Chips (FM sales--$1.50 per bag), then 14 bags of Pirate's Booty stuff, $1.50 each with sale (FM, this week) and coupons (from paper). Then Chex, I used the $1 off 2 coupon from the paper 2 weeks ago & bought a bunch at Winco (we've gone through a bunch...We've had vbs this week & have been having cereal every morning!). There's a HUGE bag of salt there too (25 lbs!), that I bought for making salt maps & such with the kids (Costco, $3 something), but it also works to refill the salt jars for cooking!

Next row--my baking stuff. Not so organized on the left. On the right, I have SO much sugar!!!  There was a deal at Fred Meyer last week--I got 4 pectin (Sure Jell), picked up 2 coupons on the Sure Jell display for free sugar (up to $2) with every 2 boxes, and then picked up a yellow FM coupon in the sugar aisle for free 5 lbs of Fred Meyer sugar with every 4 boxes of pectin purchased. The pectin was $2 each. So I spent $8 and got 4 boxes of pectin, a 5 lb bag of Fred Meyer sugar, and 2 bags of C&H powdered or brown sugar. And THEN, a $3 catalina printed off for my next purchase...So I turned around and did it again for only $5. I did this over and over and over...So I have lots of sugar!! One of those yellow bins is FULL of powdered sugar & brown sugar!!! The other bin is FULL of marshmallows I got for .70 each on sale--we'll use them all summer over the fire & for rice krispies! :)
Top left (the baking one you saw above is right above this): these are gluten free flours. Notice the 25 lb bag of brown rice flour on the left! This is the cheapest way to buy it. I have more gf flours in another cupboard and some right by my mixer...Oh yes, there are a lot of flours to cook with when you go gluten free!!

Middle: syrups on the left. Fruits/applesauce/preserves in the middle. Then cereals on the right: first hot cereals (brown rice, and gluten free oats), and then the boxed cereals so the kids can reach them.

Bottom: Juices galore!!! Stuffed in the back left corner, tons of Tree Top boxes (free!) and Juicy Juice boxes ( super cheap). Then 10 bottles of Santa Cruz juice that I bought at Freddy's today. Print this coupon and get them for .25 each!

Right side: snacks--popcorn and fruit leather bars in jars. then opened bags of chips & packages of crackers, etc., in yellow bins on the right.

This shelf unit is a recent addition to the pantry. Mostly baking stuff on here: sprinkles, icings (I think I collect these things--I like decorating cookies & cupcakes with the kids, but I never knew I had so many!). I have been picking up cheap pudding & stuff as filler items (.39 each) when I wanted to use my register rewards or catalinas but had coupons for every other item (the rr's and catalinas are considered a coupon, and you can only have 1 mfg coupon per item--so I pick up something super cheap to be the extra "item" and use my, say $5 off catalina/rr to discount the other stuff even more, and basically get free pudding or jell-o, or gum, or clearance nutmeg, or whatever I pick out!). :)

Bottom shelf: chicken broth, parm cheese, pears (grocery outlet).
And now, the freezer! The bottom & bottom shelf left look pretty empty. I need more stuff, right? :)

Top: 6 bags of frozen whole strawberries, a total of 25 jars of strawberry freezer jam in the door & top shelf.

2nd down:a ton of gogurts (I think 18+ boxes) that I got super cheap or free, 10+ bags of shredded cheese that were also super cheap on sale & with coupons (I think .50 each). Some popcicles in there too.

3rd down: a huge box of cheap, end of the year blueberries from a farm my friend Celina knows about. Left side, a couple of packages of bacon, and a few of hot dogs (cheap bacon, free hot dogs)

Bottom: frozen veggies & some ground sausage.

We have a chest freezer for meats, too, and an inside freezer that holds:

ice cream, chicken broth (homemade), minced garlic (home-done, frozen in ice cube trays w/a little olive oil), gluten free bread crumbs (saved for various meals), misc. jars of "lunches" for Karry (soups, stroganoff, whatever I make that can be left over & he can warm up!), more frozen veggies, cooked meats (like shredded chicken ready for meals, taco meat, etc.), yogurt starters, as well as starters for buttermilk, sour cream, and my rennet...I think that's all. There are mini Dryers Ice Creams at Target right now for $1.19 and a $1 off Dryers coupon for Target, online here, and it doesn't specify the size or the amount. So get little ice creams (about 1 cup worth) for .19 each. What a treat for the kids! And for us! :)

I also wanted to share some good food I made last night and am making tonight!

Last night I put chicken breasts in a 9x13 pan and pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.

I made a roux with butter & flour, and garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, poultry seasoning, chicken boullion, and then added milk and some white Sherry cooking wine in and made a thick sauce.

I poured this over the chicken. I topped it with ham (I have tons of Oscar Mayer & Hormel natural lunch meats I got cheap in my fridge). Then I topped it with swiss cheese slices (cheap also!) and a little bit of shredded cheddar. Then I topped it all with some gluten free bread crumbs (straight from the freezer). I baked it for 40 min.

Meanwhile, I cooked brown rice, and steamed some broccoli, and made a salad (CSA greens + carrots & tomato & cheap Lighthouse ranch dressing...mmm!).

I also cooked swiss chard. Here's how I do it: I put olive oil in a pan, and saute about 2 TB worth of minced onions. Then I add the torn up swiss chard & saute it. Then I add chicken broth in, as well as salt & pepper & let it cook a while until it's nice and done. Tasty greens!

THEN, I also made some gluten free shortcakes for strawberry shortcake. These were VERY GOOD and could be made by anyone, even if you don't have GF flours in your house. It's made up of butter, powdered sugar, eggs, corn starch, and baking powder. That's it! We have 1/2 the pan left and have fresh raspberries to eat with them tonight!

And one more thing I am making tonight, to go with the leftover salad we have from last night: Zuppa Toscana. We got Kale from our CSA, so this will make a nice dinner tonight! 

Enjoy! :)