All You Grocery Challenge Week 2 Results So Far

Breakfast most of this week has pretty much been stockpiled coffee with cereal or oatmeal, and stockpiled soy milk or yogurt, with the exception of one day, when I had eggs purchased for less than $0.25/dozen, thanks to my Walgreens score.

Lunch has also been from the stockpile most days this week, with the exception of Wednesday's pepperoni pizza.

I had to re-stock my microwave popcorn supply and a few other items, but my spending is still within the $25.00/week limit:

• $5.98 on Sunday for 2 packages of Boca Chick-n Patties, which were on sale for only $2.99 each. These usually run anywhere from $3.99-$4.99/box, so I jumped on these!

• $0.70 at Walgreens for popcorn, a dozen eggs and a 2 liter bottle of Diet Pepsi (less than $0.24 each item, making my eggs cost less than $0.02/each) thanks to a $5.00 register reward from the purchase of another, non-food item earlier the week before.

• $0.49 at Walgreens for grated cheese, thanks to a second $5.00 register reward from the purchase of another, non-food item earlier the week before.

• $8.49 on Wednesday, which is my day in the New York office: $2.00 for my morning 20 oz. hazelnut coffee, $3.50 for my lunchtime pizza, $2.00 for my afternoon coffee and $0.99 for my weekly post-weigh-in Doritos fix.

• $1.99 on Thursday in Walgreens for a 3-pack of microwave popcorn.

Total as of 6pm on Friday: $17.63

Today's Walgreens SCORE!!!

2 liter bottle of Diet Pepsi - $1.99 plus $0.05 bottle deposit and $0.18 NYC sales tax ($2.22)
ActII Microwave Popcorn 3 pack - $1.99
Dozen eggs - $1.49
Total=$5.70

LESS a $5.00 Walgreens Register Reward from a previous purchase.

Actual total spent - Only $0.70 for all of the above items! It pays to save those Register Rewards!

Wednesday's All You Grocery Challenge Results, and MORE!

Okay, so yesterday, I ended up spending $8.51 of my $25.00 weekly allowance. $7.52 as mentioned in yesterday's blog entry, plus an additional $0.99 for my weekly post-weigh-in bag of Doritos. As far as the weigh-in, I stayed the same as last week. Considering the heat, humidity and that slice of pepperoni pizza I had for lunch, I'm very happy with that!

Today's spend was $2.49 on a 3-bag box of Orville Redenbacher's 94% Fat Free Butter popcorn. It was originally $3.99, but I had a $1.50/1 Walgreens Register Rewards coupon, courtesy of a previous popcorn shopping trip. The cost per serving is $0.83, but I know I'll definitely eat all three bags between tonight and Saturday night. So, my total spent to-date is $11.00. This leaves me $14.00 to spend between tonight and Saturday night. WOOHOO!!! Time for a party, LOL!!!

On another note, those new to this blog will see that I've added some new features, including a coupon survey! I'm considering adding more coupon links and blog entries, but before I do, I want to make sure that the information will be useful to my readers. Most important is the question about internet coupons. My primary supermarket will not accept them (as I found out last year the hard way), but I found out this afternoon that I can use them in my local Walgreens (at least I was able to use one today). I never knew this, because in the past, I don't think they accepted them. Then again, maybe they just like me because I'm in there almost every day. I am the Mayor of my local Walgreens on FourSquare - that should tell you something about the exciting life I lead! The coupon survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DMSNFPF) ends on July 31st, so be sure to vote!

The other new item on my blog is the "Carol's Shared Items" section, which lists the five most recent items I've shared on Google Reader, which I'm still learning how to use. I subscribe to feeds from several coupon and freebie sites, and when I find an item that I think is worth passing along, I'll share it there. Once the coupon survey is complete, I'll post another survey on freebies in August.

Tuesday's All You Grocery Challenge Results and EverNotes

Tuesday was another stockpile day, with a total spent of $0.00.

• Breakfast consisted of a package of instant Quaker Lower Sugar Oatmeal in Maple Brown Sugar, with a mid-morning snack of non-fat yogurt.
• Lunch was absolutely delicious - sliced turkey and jack cheese, on a Mission Jalapeno wrap, with lettuce and some free chipotle Sandwich Shop Mayo, courtesy of Kraft's First Taste program.
• Dinner wasn't the most exciting, salad, light blue cheese dressing and leftover macaroni and cheese.
• My late night snack was the usual bag of microwave popcorn.

Today is my weekly day in the office (gotta love telecommuting!), so I've actually spent some money on food. It's not that I don't have enough stockpiled food to bring in, I just want my 20 oz. hazelnut coffees and more importantly, my weekly slice of pepperoni pizza! It's my treat to myself for having to deal with the subway crazies. So, I now actually have two, soon to be three, receipts to file, for a total today of around $7.52. In addition to saving the actual receipts, I'm also using Evernote and my Blackberry's camera to store a copy of them in a publicly shared Evernote notebook, at http://www.evernote.com/pub/mscarolm/allyougrocerychallenge2010 As time goes on, this notebook will include receipts, recipes, notes and other items related to the challenge, so stay tuned.

Monday's All You Grocery Challenge

Nothing overly exciting, aside from it being another $0.00 day.

• Breakfast was a bowl of stockpiled Raisin Bran and fat-free milk, along with a cup of coffee.
• Lunch was a stockpiled Morningstar Farms chick patty, with a slice of veggie cheese on an Arnold Sandwich Thin.
• For an afternoon snack I had a single-serving container of Yoplait Whippps Chocolate Mousse yogurt.
• Dinner was a salad with light blue cheese dressing, and a serving of Kraft Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese, which I "bought" with a free product coupon from Kraft's First Taste program.
• Evening snack was a bag of stockpiled light butter microwave popcorn.

So, I stayed within my Weight Watchers POINTS, and had a $0.00 spending day!

Today's All You Grocery Challenge Results

Today was a $0.00 day for me! Everything I've eaten today has been from my stockpile:-)

I woke up later than usual, so I skipped breakfast and just had coffee, with stockpiled supplies. Lunch was Kraft Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese that I got free with a coupon from Kraft's First Taste program, and dinner was a tossed salad with lettuce, tomatoes (purchased Friday) and blue cheese dressing from my stockpile with a Morningstar Farms veggie burger on an Arnold Sandwich Thin, also from my stockpile.

My late night TV snack will be a bag of microwave popcorn, also from my stockpile.

Total spent today=$0.00

It's HERE!!! The All You Magazine Grocery Challenge!!!

Today is Day 1 of the All You Magazine Grocery Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to feed your family healthy meals for $25.00 per person, per week for a month. Since my household currently consists of one person and two felines, that translates into a $25.00/week food budget for myself.

One great thing is that using previously stockpiled food counts as $0.00 for any stockpiled item, and I have a nice little stockpile going right now! As a means of documenting my stockpile, I've uploaded photos of it to an online photo album both on Picasa and on facebook.

I think I'm going to do things a little differently this year, as far as keeping track of my meals and costs per serving. Since I really need to do this anyway, I'm going to track my meals in my Weight Watchers Online POINTS Tracker. As far as recording my purchases and receipts, I haven't yet decided if I'm going to do this using Google Docs and blog entries, or a combination of Google Docs, blog entries and Evernote (or some other online organizational tool). It may be trial and error the first week, until I find the combination that's easiest to update and maintain regularly.

So far, everything today has been from the stockpile, and I have no plans to go outside in this heat. So, my total cost for today is looking like $0.00!

Get Two Free Issues of All You Magazine

Currently, newsstand copies of All You magazine are only available in WalMart stores. However, you can get two free trial issues delivered to you via their web site.

Just go to their web site at http://www.allyou.com and click on the "Free Trial" link on the right-hand side of the page. Fill in the online form, and select the "bill me later" option if you're not sure whether you want to subscribe or not yet. Personally, I think you'll love the magazine. I originally subscribed through a fundraiser for my niece's school four years ago, and I've been a subscriber ever since. It's full of great tips, fashion ideas and money-saving coupons for real women like me who can't afford a $600.00 handbag:-)

Join the ALL YOU Magazine Grocery Challenge!

I've decided to try this again this year! The ALL YOU Grocery Challenge (http://www.allyou.com/static/promo/sweeps/grocery-challenge/splash.html) - for four weeks, try to feed your family well-balanced meals for no more than $25.00 per person, per week.

Fill out and submit the online registration form no later than June 16th. The challenge starts on June 20th. The finalist who adheres to the budget and makes the most creative and healthy choices will will $1,000.00 and appear in ALL YOU Magazine!

Similar to last year, I'll be sharing tips and online tools that were/are helpful to me as I go along, so stay tuned! If you decide to join the challenge, post a comment on my facebook page and let me know!

The End of Week 1 of the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge!

Well, I’ve done really well this week using stockpiled food! Yesterday was basically free, because I had stockpiled Special K and Skim Plus for breakfast, and then it was over to my sister’s for a barbecue.

So, aside from eating 1/3 of the black bean dip that I made from a 99-cent can of black beans, 1 tbsp stockpiled “herbs in a tube” cilantro and 1 cup of stockpiled salsa, and then a 44-cent bag of microwave popcorn later last night, my food was free!

Saturday, I had “Mexican Egg Scramble” that I learned to make from the Hungry Girl cookbook using stockpiled egg substitute, 1/4 cup of stockpiled Morningstar Farms “scramblers” sausage crumbles, 1 20-cent slice of Weight Watchers cheese and a tablespoon of stockpiled salsa.

I ended up not eating any lunch because I ate breakfast late, and didn’t get hungry until around 6pm. I fixed myself some Mexican Lasagna that I had made and frozen prior to the challenge, and ended the day with a 44-cent bag of microwave popcorn. For beverages, I had my daily pot of coffee made from stockpiled supplies, and 64 oz water lightly flavored with a stockpiled 4C Peach Iced Tea flavoring packet.

Total cost for the weekend's meals = $1.41

Day 5 of the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

Cost of today's meals - This was a "spend" day, since my sister and I ate breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts:

- Breakfast: 1 large Dunkin' Donuts Hazelnut Coffee and Bacon/Egg/Cheese on English Muffin - $4.76 (sadly, no coupons for either)
- Daily Pot of Coffee - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased 7/3/2009)
- Lunch - Leftover fruit salad - $0.00
- Snack - None (wasn't hungry)
- Dinner - Leftover rotisserie chicken and leftover homemade pork fried rice - $0.00 (Chicken purchased, portioned and frozen 7/3, made the pork fried rice on 7/11/2009)
- Evening snack - 1 bag Walgreen's microwave popcorn - $0.44 (3 boxes/$4.00, 3 bags per box)

Beverages - water/coffee (I drink a lot of both:-)

Total cost for 7/17/2009 - $5.20

Total cost to feed me so far this week - $14.13

Days 3 and 4 of the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

Day 3:
Cost of today's meals - this is a "spend" day, as it's my only day in our New York office, and I treat myself to coffee and a slice of pizza:

- Breakfast: 1 serving oatmeal - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased 6/2009)
- 20 oz Hazelnut Coffee from TAZ Deli - $2.00
- Lunch - 1 slice pepperoni pizza from TAZ Deli - $3.50
- 20 oz Hazelnut Coffee from TAZ Deli - $2.00
- Late afternoon snack at Weight Watchers Meeting - 1 Fiber One bar - $0.00 (stockpiled supply purchased at BigLots 5/2009)
- Dinner - Teriyaki turkey burger on Arnold Sandwich Thin with a slice of veggie cheese - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased prior to 7/2009 (condiments & seasonings), 7/1/2009 (turkey) and 7/10/2009 (veggie cheese)
- Evening snack - 1 small bag Doritos - $0.99

Total cost for 7/15/2009 - $8.49

Day 4:
Cost of today's meals:

- Breakfast: 1 container non-fat yogurt - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased 7/10/2009)
- Daily Pot of Coffee - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased 7/3/2009)
- Lunch - Leftover Rotisserie Chicken - $0.00 (frozen 7/3/2009)
- Snack - 1 serving flavored almonds - $0.00 (stockpiled BOGO sale 7/10/2009)
- Dinner - Teriyaki turkey burger on Arnold Sandwich Thin with a slice of veggie cheese - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased prior to 7/2009 (condiments & seasonings), 7/1/2009 (turkey) and 7/10/2009 (veggie cheese)
1 serving Betty Crocker mashed potatoes - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased at dollar store 6/2009)
- Evening snack - 1 bag Walgreen's microwave popcorn - $0.44 (3 boxes/$4.00, 3 bags per box)

Total cost for 7/16/2009 - $0.44

Total cost so far this week: $8.93

Day 2 of the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

So far, I haven't spent a dime on my meals! I'm making use of food I have stockpiled over the past several weeks/months. To give you an idea of how I'm managing this, below is my log of my meals for today:

Cost of today's meals:

• Breakfast: Cereal and Banana - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased 6/2009 and 7/10/2009)
• Daily Pot of Coffee: $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased on sale 7/3/2009)
• Lunch: Mexican Turkey Wrap ($0.00 stockpiled supplies purchased 7/3/2009 and 7/10/2009)
• Afternoon Snack: - 1 serving flavored almonds ($0.00 stockpiled supplies purchased on sale 7/12/2009)
• Dinner: Mexican Lasagna - $0.00 (cooked on 7/3/2009 and froze single serving portions)
• Fruit Salad - $0.00 (leftover from weekend of 7/12/2009)
• Evening Snack: 1 bag light microwave popcorn - $0.00 (stockpiled supplies purchased 7/10/2009)

Beverages - coffee, water - $0.00

Total cost for 7/14/2009: $0.00

The ALL YOU Grocery Challenge Begins!

Today is the first day of the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge! I have signed up to feed my family of one for $25/week for the next four weeks! This is going to be a major test of my Couponizing and using up stockpiled food skills. (You can use previously stockpiled food as part of the challenge, without using up any of your $25/week allowance.)

To aid me in this effort, I am making use of a free online service called SpringPad to create weekly meal plans, an inventory of my current pantry/refrigerator/freezer contents, a shopping budget, and more. I'm making all of my lists and plans publicly viewable. You can follow me there under the user name MsCarolM.

Do you think I can do this? We shall see!