Spent $32.56, saved $71.79= 69% saved! Plus I got $4 back!!

Here's my latest trip to Albertsons....

• 3 boxes of Kraft Velveeta Cheesy Skillets, Sale 3/$5 or $1.67 each

Use 3 $1/1 from SS 8/21

Pay $0.67, get $1 coupon back for meat= $0.33 moneymaker on each!!

• 7 Ken's Steak House Dressing, 16oz, Sale 10/$10

Use 7 $1/1 from SS 8/14

Pay $0.00, FREE!!!

• 6 Chex Mix Sweet & Salty, 8.75oz, Sale 10/$10

Use 6 $0.50/1 from SS 7/10

Pay $0.50 each

• 1 Frigo String Cheese, Sale $3.49

Use $0.55/1 from SS 8/21

Pay $2.94

• 2 Fresh Express Salad Kits, Sale 2/$6

Use Buy 2 kits, get free bag of Tyson Cooked Chicken Strips

Pay $6 for both bags of salad and bag of pre-cooked chicken

• 2 Pam non-stick cooking spray, sale 2/$5

Use 2 $0/35/1 from SS 8/7

Pay $4.30, get catalina for $1 on next order= $3.30 for both or $1.65 each

• 1 Minute Maid Lemonade, Sale 10/$10 (no coupon, but Auntie Sissy is babysitting and she likes lemonade)
• Eggs $2.79 (not a great price, but what are you gonna do?)
• Pluots $2.65
• Don Francisco coffee, sale $6.49 (Crud! I had a coupon and forgot it!)
• Albertsons English Muffins, Sale $1.39 (this is a great example of saving with generics if you don't have coupons for the items you want/need)

My heart beat a little hard when the register read $104.35, but after Preferred Club Card and coupons, my total came down to $32.56, and the cashier handed me $4 in coupons back. Phew! This, my friends, is how you get coupons on meat....use coupons to buy things that earn you meat coupons! It's just that easy!

And there you have it! I cleared no shelves, so you should be able to grab these deals too! I especially recommend the free salad dressing, thank you very much! ;)

Rocket Cake

Here's my latest adventure in cake decorating.... Rocket from Little Einsteins!

My nephew wanted a Rocket cake for his 4th birthday, so I did my best. I used a 1/2 sheet cake for the base and iced it in a sky blue. The Rocket itself was made of 1 oval cake baked in a Pyrex dish and a round cake baked in a Pyrex. I chose Pyrex so there wouldn't be any hard edges. The boosters are Twinkies with graham crackers cut at an angle. I put a couple of orange Candy Melts (the kind used for molds) as headlights, an unwrapped cherry Blowpop for the antenna, Twizzlers Pull-n-peels for the seeming, and red hots for the rivets. (The red hots were a last minute idea from Dahubby. Brilliant!) The clouds were just good old-fashioned white icing squeezed out of a Ziploc freezer bag that was snipped 1/2" at the corner and generously mounded. Not perfect, by any means, but recognizable to Jaxen, and that's all that matters!! I think the key is to just get in there and do it. Be fearless in the kitchen!