All The World Is Art: frugal

Showing posts with label frugal. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Free Great Frugal Ebook Feed a Family of 4 for less than $200 Month

Wow! Here's a way cool free ebook to help you save money on groceries! Called "How to Feed a Family of 4 for less than $200 Month: ", it has loads of tips on how to save money making sure your family doesn't starve, even in these tough economic times. Don't forget to read her update on the Budget101.com website either, it adds to the resource.
Here's what the author says to pique our curiosity: "According to the US government, the average family of 4 spends between $713-$1,113* a month on groceries.
Learn how we feed our family of 4 for less than $200 a month! Download our free E-book, complete with recipes, a monthly menu and more."
Are you like me and know you HAVE to read this book to survive? I can tell this is the very next book I'll be reading!
To download your PDF copy, go here:
http://www.budget101.com/budget101-free-ebook/free-ebook-groceries-200-month-2547.html
'via Blog this'

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Kroger Ralphs Pizza discovery means I might never have to get delivery pizza again!

FAMILY NIGHT WITH KROGER^®

Ralphs Brand chicken, bacon and ranch pizza rocks!

I recently got to review it and other things, and might never have to order delivery pizza again!

As I mentioned in some former blog posts, I was excited to be able to participate as a Bzzagent in the Family Night with Kroger Bzzcampaign. Even though I knew due to unfortunate circumstances I wouldn't be able to get my whole family together at once, I was happy to have a chance to have what fun I could with them.

Bzzagent promised that I would be able to"delight and unite my loved ones with convenient, affordable and great-tasting foods from Kroger, Fred Meyer and Ralphs!" So I couldn't wait for the samples to arrive!

http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/Kroger_CartBuster/Page/SelectCouponsPage

Since I often shop at Ralphs, as does my daughter, but had not tried the products they were sending, I figured this was a great opportunity to try yummies that might help me save money at the same time.
As you know, I love being frugal and try whenever possible with coupons etc. to save a very high percentage on my grocery trips.

Speaking of savings, check out the deals info to the right! There are storewide specials plus Deal of the Day through Aug. 11 to help support our Olympic athletes, at all Kroger-affiliated stores. Great chance for you to go try the items I'm reviewing here, lol.

When my box arrived, I opened it quickly. Inside my goody box were
- one personal-size bottle of Peach and Blackberry Vitamin Enhanced Water
- one regular-size bag of plain Tortilla Cupz
- 2 free coupons to use for my review: one for any Ralphs Frozen Pizza, and one for their Frozen Fruit bars.
- some other coupons I shared with others.

Ralphs brand Frozen Pizza:

I'll review the pizza first, since my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Here's how Kroger Brand describes their pizzas:
" Order up pizzeria-size fun for the family without the pizzeria-size wait. Kroger® frozen pizzas bake in minutes and come with a variety of crusts and toppings for plenty of options to keep everyone at the table satisfied. When it's time for a pizza party, Kroger has what you need.! "

We chose to get the thin and crispy crust chicken bacon ranch pizza, in the green labeled box. Boy did it sound good. It was even rectangular like one of those artisan pizzas.

I have to admit that even though the ingredients had sounded wonderful together, I was skeptical because I've found it rare to find a good frozen pizza. Either they are so expensive if they do taste good, or they have fake cheese and pepperoni and taste like cardboard, rubber, mush, or too spicy. Also they often cook unevenly, it seems, with parts remaining cold and icky. Not so with this pizza!

Now when my oldest son or daughter or hopefully my youngest son and I have a family night get-together, for instance, we can buy one of those instead of ordering in Domino's. It tastes better plus costs less because we can buy just one. And it cooks up quickly in the oven.
It smelled so good while it cooked! Wow!
Then, it was as tasty and delicious as it looked! Isee my photo of the results at right.)
First I noticed I was pleasantly surprised by the totally real cheese. :) That's because for some reason I'm not as fond of the Ralphs brand block cheeses as I am of Kraft or Land o Lakes. (The same with the Ralphs provolone: I prefer Sargenti.) But the cheese on this frozen pizza was excellent and seemed to be just the right amount. (although you can never have enough cheese, of course, they were not stingy with it or the other toppings besides maybe the bacon. (Ok, so we can never have enough bacon either, lol.)
I also loved the sauce! Tomato sauce is tough on my stomach. So I was pleased to see a frozen pizza offering ranch sauce. I was afraid it would be too spicy or salty or too bland, but it tasted wonderful and was loved by all present.

Kroger-brand Tortilla Cupz:

The Tortilla Cupz are similar to those name-brand scoop chips you see advertised on television a lot lately. Only of course they cost less.
They sent me a full bag of plain salted tortilla chips. I love plain tortilla chips. These taste good. Not too salty. Not at all greasy. Relatively thin for heavy dips, but the cupz work on dip when they are intact.
(When not crushed by transportation via mail in a box right next to a bottle of water, lol.) Most of mine arrived in pieces because the small piece of cardboard separating the bag and the bottle wasn't enough to protect them. But I assume in the store they've been transported more safely :)
Krogers has a great dip recipe I've made my own version of long ago, and will be happy to make again with the next bag of their chips I buy:
"Our Fiesta Dip Platter is made of layers of refried beans, salsa, sour cream and Cheddar cheese topped with olives, tomato and green onion. Serve it with tortilla chips for a dish that will keep your guests racing back for more."

Zero-Calorie Vitamin Enhanced Water
Here's how Kroger describes their water: "Quench your thirst guilt-free. New Kroger® Vitamin Enhanced Water is delicious and refreshing without the calories and artificial flavors. Try one of three flavors: Orange Starfruit, Peach and Blackberry, or Black and Blueberry,
I gave my oldest son the Peach and Blackberry bottle of water they sent. He's pretty picky now at the age of teenager, but he said he liked it. So I'm looking forward to trying it and the blueberry flavor. They should have variety packs :)

Frozen Fruit Bars:
My youngest son is currently in an extremely hot location and LOVES frozen treats like ice pops etc. So I sent him the coupon to try the frozen fruit bars. I'll let you know his opinion when he shares it with me. :)
Kroger Brand Product Montage

Visit Kroger.com, Ralphs.com, or FredMeyer.com to learn more about all the exclusive products available at the Kroger family of stores. I also like to load their online coupons to my savings card, makes saving money even easier than just printing out or clipping coupons.
If you don't shop at those 3 stores, rest assured – Vitamin Enhanced Water, Tortilla Cupz, Frozen Pizza, and Frozen Fruit bars can be found in your stores – but just under a different name. Replace the "Kroger" in Kroger Tortilla Cupz with your store's name (Fred Meyer Tortilla Cupz, for instance). They’re the same quality products, just for your store.

You can find them at these stores listed below:

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Free Frugal Family Fun Activities Ebook

There's nothing I love better than doing fun activities with my kids. Admittedly, many of ours have included arts and crafts in the mix because of my artsy bent, lol. But frugality has always been important to us considering our low budget. Activities with my family make my fondest memories. How about you?
One of my favorite idea sources has been "Family Fun" magazine, for instance. Now, Jim Erskine has added to the mix with his latest freebie offering: "Our Favorite Family Fun Activities -- Volume One: At Home!" The ideas are fun for families of all kinds, whether homeschooling or not.
Here's how he describes this fun resource: " in Volume One we have a great collection of “real life” ideas for fun, frugal activities for the family – when you want to have a fun evening or afternoon AT HOME."
"Entertaining the family doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. (You can save those to buy gasoline.) There are all sorts of creative ways for the Family to have fun, be together, and spend little if any money. All it takes is a little resourcefulness, creativity, an open mind and a young heart. After all, nothing’s better than laughing with your family, and laughs are free."

Treasure Hunting on the beach
Raycan | Stock Free Images

One of my favorites in the 12-page PDF is the Treasure Hunt idea. I have so many wonderful memories of treasure hunts we've made in our family. We even do Christian-theme treasure hunts at Easter. (Search Easter for that post here on this website soon.)

To download your copy of the ebook, go here: Homeschool Freebie of the Day:

Here are some more fun activities and resources:

Friday, July 6, 2012

Free Cool Money-Saving Coupon Mobile Ap

As a member of One2One Network I get to find out about some awesome things I get to share with you. Yay! This time it's an awesome new free app that'll help you save money when you shop. You should download it. It's free, so why not! I wish I were blessed with an Iphone so that I could too :)

Here's the lowdown on this freebie RetailMeNot download:

Key Points:

The RetailMeNot Coupons app helps you find the best coupons to your favorite places to shop so you can save online or in the store directly from your phone. It's never been easier to save when you want, where you want!

The app also provides access to a selection of RetailMeNot’s best online coupons from thousands of merchants and more than 1,600 in-store redeemable coupons from stores consumers shop at regularly.

The simple, easy-to-use interface with curated “Hot Deals” from popular stores is updated daily and allows access via search to RetailMeNot’s best online coupons from thousands of merchants.

App price: Free

On the app, their new motto is “Save when you want, where you want.”

There are 4 main areas within the app that are beneficial:

1. Get thousands of online and in-store coupons

2. Simple drag and drop function allows easy online coupon redemption