1-14-2011 Friday

We had company over for dinner tonight. My grandparents came over to partake in some scrumptious turkey with the fixings. I know, you want to know my cost breakdown. We'll get there. As I like to say, "Hold your horses". Normally my kids respond with, "I don't have any horses to hold". To which I think...smartie pants! I'd never say that outloud. But, I do think that! I did go out and run some errands today.
Here is a list of what I picked up when I was out today:
Winco -
pop tarts...they were marked down because the box was slightly damaged...but it had no effect on the pop tarts. $0.50/box. I purchased 2. Spent $1.00
Maruchan beef yakisoba $0.24. I purchased 2. It was on sale and I had 2 mfr coupons. Spent $0.48
Hamburger helper $0.63/box. I only purchased it because the price was low. We'll use these on a busy Wednesday evening. I purchased 3 boxes and used a mfr coupon plus it was on sale. Spent $1.89
Uncle Ben's rice $0.85/each. There are packages inside that provide 4 meals per box. It was on sale and I had a mfr coupon. I purchased 3 boxes. Spent $2.55
Campbells cream of mushroom soup $0.55/each. On sale and I used a mfr coupon. Purchased 3 cans. Spent $1.65
Kens buttermilk ranch dressing (our family favorite!) $0.78/each. On sale and I used 5 mfr coupons. Purchased 5 bottles of dressing. Spent $3.90
Jolly time popcorn $0.28/box. It was on sale and I had mfr coupons. I purchased 5 boxes. Spent: 1.40
Total spent at Winco: 12.87
Amount saved using coupons: 14.65

Next I went to RiteAid and picked up 2 boxes of Motrin PM FREE! Not a bad deal at all. : )

Dinner tonight was turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, banana bread. My grandparents brought a salad. We did not have dessert. The adults drank water, my kids had milk. I like to cook my turkey in a roaster oven and I season it with salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary. I put some water into the pan to keep the turkey nice and moist. I cooked it at 325 degrees for 4 1/2 hours. It was amazing! Plus I picked it up last summer when it was on clearance at Safeway. It doesn't get much better than that. The price tag was labeled $0.19/lb and it was a 13.65 pound turkey making it $2.59. I can't even get a whole chicken for that price. Our potatoes were on sale at Summit Trading Post in Puyallup. I picked up 10 lbs for $0.49. I made the gravy with juice from the turkey and 2 TBSP of cornstarch. The banana bread had the bananas in it that I spent $0.10/lb on. Wow! Deals are out there...you just have to keep your eyes open.
By the way, we have more than 1/2 a turkey in leftovers!

Dinner cost breakdown:
turkey: $2.59
mashed potatoes: $0.13
gravy: $0.03
seasonings: $0.12
2 loaves of banana bread: $0.38
3-8oz glasses of milk: $0.19

Totals for today:
Food purchases: $12.87
Coupon savings on food: $14.65
Dinner costed: $3.44 (breakdown $0.49/person - remember...there were 7 at the table tonight)

Tally for January 2011:
Food purchases: $57.90
Coupon savings on food: $49.26
Dinner costs: $21.37 (average is at $1.526 per dinner)