One of the keys to saving money with Coupon Sense is buying low, buying lots.  So, when I make meals, I pull from my pantry and freezer instead of buying items for meals that week that may not be the best deal.  Sometimes I like to be creative and try new things.  For instance, if I have a lot of green chilis, tomato sauce, and sour cream, I can go to www.allrecipes.com and put in those ingredients and it will let me know if there are any recipes that contain all these ingredients.  The recipes are even rated by other people so you can see if they are delicious or not.  I highly recommend this site.  If you ask yourself, “What am I going to do with all this XXX?”, you can just look up recipies with that ingredient in them.

Check out more of my Arizona Grocery Guru blogs about recipes by clicking here!

With Fry’s having Shamrock products on sale this week, and Bashas having sugar on sale, it’s a good week to make homemade ice cream.  Here’s my favorite recipe:

What you’ll need:

* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 cup milk or half & half
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
* 6 tablespoons rock salt
* 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
* 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
* Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don’t increase the proportions more that that — a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

Meal #1 Sloppy Joes

• Sloppy Joes
• Potato Chips
• Grapes
• Chocolate milk

Meal #2  Chicken Dinner

• Grilled or Baked Chicken
• Green Giant Steamers
• Baked Potato w/chili on top
• Milk

Shopping Lists:

Safeway:

• Hamburger Buns (generic brand)  $1.29
• Manwich sloppy joe sauce (use coupon from Sunday’s paper)  .49
• Ground beef 93% lean (use half and freeze rest for later)  1.97 per lb
• Grapes –1 lb for this meal  .67
• Hormel Chili (use coupon from Sunday’s paper)  .49

Fry’s:

• 5 baking potatoes   approx. $1
• Lays Potato chips, Buy one get one Free  ($2 ea)
• Boneless, skinless chicken breast  (get 1 to 1 ½ lb for this meal)  $1.67-$2.25
• Green Giant Steamers veggies w/cheese (use coupon from Sunday paper) $1 ea  (maybe get 2 for your family if you have growing teens)
• 1 half gallon chocolate milk   .88
• 1 half gallon regular milk  .88

Taco Dip

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese,

softened–$1 ea at Fry’s this week!

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream –Shamrock Farms brand is .50 after the coupon from Sunday’s paper, for the 16oz size at Albertsons this week.

1 dash hot pepper sauce—Tobasco sauce is FREE after coupon at www.boodle.com at Albertsons’s this week

1 dash soy sauce

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 (16 ounce) jar salsa –Pace Picante sauce is .50 after the coupon from last Sunday’s paper at Fry’s this week

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 (2 ounce) can sliced black olives

1/2 head iceberg lettuce - rinsed, dried, and

shredded

8 ounces finely shredded Cheddar cheese—only $1.50 with Fry’s promotion this week for Kraft shredded cheese (but look for the blinkie machine with coupons in front of the sliced cheese—it’s an additional .75 off and it works for the shredded cheese!)

2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped—Hot House tomatoes only .33 a pound at Sprouts this week!

Directions

Cream together cream cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, soy sauce, and lemon juice. Spread this mixture into a 9×13 inch glass dish. Layer salsa, green onions, black olives, lettuce, cheddar cheese and tomatoes over the cream cheese mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and gently press the ingredients down to tighten the layers. Chill before serving.

Mexican Chicken

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) chicken - cooked, deboned and cut into bite size pieces—Safeway has boneless, skinless chicken on sale for $1.88 per lb this week!

1 onion, chopped—3 lb bag of organic yellow onions 1.99 at Sprouts this week

2 cloves garlic, minced—bunches are only .33 each at Albertson’s this week!

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with  green chile peppers—Rotel tomatoes are FREE with coupons from Sunday’s paper  2 weeks ago at Fry’s this week.

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese– only $1.50 with Fry’s promotion this week for Kraft shredded cheese (but look for the blinkie machine with coupons in front of the sliced cheese—it’s an additional .75 off and it works for the shredded cheese!)

2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup—use coupons from the Sunday paper a few weeks ago to bring down the price wherever you buy it

8 (6 inch) corn tortillas

1 8oz container of sour cream–Shamrock Farms brand is .50 after the coupon from Sunday’s paper, for the 16oz size at Albertsons this week.

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl combine the chicken, onion, garlic, 2 tablespoons chili powder and salt. Add the tomatoes with chiles and the Cheddar cheese. Mix well.

3. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with corn tortillas. Pour in the chicken mixture. Pour soup over all and spread. Sprinkle with additional chili powder for topping. Bake for 40 minutes or until bubbly. Let cool and serve with dollops of sour cream.

Are you BBQing for Memorial Day? Here are some things to get:

From Safeway:

French’s yellow or spicy mustard, free after coupon
4 packages Ball Park Hotdogs, on sale for only .77! Most Safeways will have a “blinkie” machine in front of the hotdogs with a coupon for a free package of Sara Lee Hot Dog Buns when you buy 2 Ball Park franks. So…
2 Sara Lee Hot Dog packages, free with blinkie coupon
From Frys:

Bush’s Grillin’ Beans, free with cpn
Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, .50 after cpn
Dole Bagged Salad varieties, free after cpns
Hebrew National Franks are 50% off and we have coupon for another dollar off!
Ground beef, 93% lean chubs, $1.97 per pound
Pork Baby Back ribs, only $2.99 per pound!

Tip: if you live by a Spouts, their extra lean ground beef is only $1.99 per pound and it’s not in a chub.

Tip: If you get those Fry’s coupon booklets in the mail, double check those before you leave your house….I had a $2 off a $10 purchase of Pork products coupon, great for the ribs!