There is a new show called Extreme Couponing on TLC. Caroline and I have a sick obsession with it and sometimes Brian will watch it. I won't watch it when it first airs or even record it but I do find myself watching it when I am off.
That being said, I am not a fan of the show. I think couponing can be a useful tool when shopping. I am not against couponing at all. I grew up with my mom couponing but the extremes these people go to is just wrong. Most of the stories start out like "My husband/wife lost his job and now we can't afford our lifestyle, what are we going to do?". I get that feeling and don't fault them for going to couponing but they have made a healthy, smart way to stretch a dollar into something that I find is just wrong on every level.
Why?
1) They have become hoarders. Their beloved stockpile becomes SO large that they have to turn their garage into a grocery store while storing the rest under kids beds, in bathroom closets, any space they can. That is not healthy
2) They are obsessed with their stockpile. Their stockpile seems to become SO important that nothing else matters...not the husband or kids.
3) They are greedy. They don't need ALL that stuff! One person got 75 mustards when NO ONE in her family liked mustard just because she got such a good deal. One person had a stockpile of Diapers and Cat food when she didnt have a cat or baby. They also get rain checks when the store only has 50 of a product when they wanted 75.
4) I believe you should pay for what you purchase. Sure getting something for free is a nice treat and I don't believe you should ever pay more then you should for something but ringing up a grocery bill for $2000+ and only paying $180 is just wrong. The grocery store should and deserves to make a profit. The manufacturers do not Double/Triple coupons. The store does that out of their pocket books. They can afford to lose a dollar or two, not $1000+. If they don't make a profit they will close and people lose their jobs. The proper tax isn't being collected which isnt good for the current economy and governments are going to have to raise taxes elsewhere because they are not getting it here and no one likes taxes going up.
5) They never get anything healthy and I never see them getting anything to actually make a meal outside of spaghetti with jarred sauce. They get 75 jars of mustard, 100 packs of Ramen type noodles, 100 cans of dog food, 50 candy bars, 50 boxes of fake cereal, 50 boxes of pasta, 50 boxes of Ragu/Prego, 50 things of toiletries, etc. My numbers are just examples and I guessed low for a lot of the families. Where are the meals? What are they actually eating? Sure they saved 98% of the bill but if they only have $50 a week to spend on groceries and you've spent it with your couponing, how are they eating? Where is the meat? The vegetables? Heck, the lunchables? The Hamburger helpers? I do not get it.
6) These people are selfish on multiple levels. They go grocery shopping at 6am and empty the shelves so if anyone else wanted that product, oh well. They get mad at the store because the registers can only scan 1000 items in one transaction because no one dreamed people would "buy" like they are. They get mad at a store because a store has policies in place that are made clear so if the couponers had really done their homework like they say they do, they would know that.
7) Couponing is not as cheap as they try to make it seem like. There is overhead. Your time is worth money. Some people spend between 50-70 hours a week planning, clipping, organizing and prepping for the next trip to the store. Some of these people are Stay at Home Parents but others are working a full time out of home job on top of this. Your children deserve your time. If you are waiting for them to be in bed, you need your sleep too! Plus coupon mailers intend for one mailer per household. If you buy more newspapers you get more mailers but you are spending $X more to get the extra papers which lowers your savings. Plus if you use online coupons, you have to print them out. Paper and ink, especially ink, gets expensive. Those expenses get taken out of your savings. Some people use clipping services as a way to cut down on time, that costs money which lessens their savings. Some people go dumpster diving (literally) for them or beg hotels for extra Sunday papers. Yes technically you are not spending money doing that, but again your time and dignity is worth something as well. People have actually gotten separate home insurance policies to cover their stockpile and that takes money away from their savings. I think if these people really looked at the cost of everything they would find that they really weren't saving that much for all the the time and trouble it takes.
8) You create a stockpile of a certain item so you don't have to buy that item for X long. Like you buy enough shampoo to last six months and you don't shop for that item again for maybe 5 1/2 months (so you don't technically run out). These people make a stockpile and keep buying the items in their stockpile. Some people have enough toiletries to last them 10 years and they keep buying! I think I might feel A LOT better about the show if they got everything for almost free but then never went back for more until they actually got close to running out.
I would also feel better if they were giving the majority, heck any, of it to a charity. I have seen one person on the show do this. I can definitely understand the obsession/addiction they have and if they used it to help others in need like giving it to soup kitchens, sending it over to the Military personnel in care packages, donating to schools to help feed the kids who come to school without food, it would make some more sense to me.
This show makes Caroline, Brian and I sick though it has been a good source tension release for Brian and I as we vent about how wrong this is. I am fascinated by it but horrified that this is going to cause more people to go to that extreme and I am worried about the side affects. I have already noticed updated fine print policies highlighted in red on coupons.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Someone is 9 months old...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
I'd like you to meet...
the one person who was able to put a smile on my face today...
Meet Robby. He is the 5th baby to be born this year to the hotel. He is the youngest being around 6 months but is already 20lbs (he is bigger then Xavier). He has the prettiest eyes and the cutest chin. SUCH a sweet baby. He is also definitely his fathers baby.
Today we got some more bad news about our dear friend Judy otherwise known as Gamma Judy. She helped train me and has become like a Grandma to me. She was diagnosed with Lung Cancer a little over a year ago and was back at the hospital this past week as they think the cancer has spread to her brain. I went to the hospital on Friday to see her. It does not look good. Her personality is still there but it does not look good.
We found out today that she has been moved to home under hospice care and it will be any time now. The doctor's say she has less then 6 weeks. All I wanted to do was cry but right as I hung up the phone, my coworker brought in this cutie and how can you cry when your playing with this sweetie pie?
I am so thankful my co-worker brought him in. Robby was just the diversion I needed. We had a blast playing on that chair. He is almost standing up on his own! He even started "talking" with me! We played airplane and went pffffffft like a motor and played patty cake. I was oblivious to the world except for this guy which was just what I needed. Robby has met me once and never whimpered or anything when I scooped him up, took him a few feet from his Dad and played with him. He was full of smiles. I am SO impressed...his parents are doing SUCH a good job! Plus this little man is a Giants fan and it isn't because of me!
Meet Robby. He is the 5th baby to be born this year to the hotel. He is the youngest being around 6 months but is already 20lbs (he is bigger then Xavier). He has the prettiest eyes and the cutest chin. SUCH a sweet baby. He is also definitely his fathers baby.
We found out today that she has been moved to home under hospice care and it will be any time now. The doctor's say she has less then 6 weeks. All I wanted to do was cry but right as I hung up the phone, my coworker brought in this cutie and how can you cry when your playing with this sweetie pie?
I am so thankful my co-worker brought him in. Robby was just the diversion I needed. We had a blast playing on that chair. He is almost standing up on his own! He even started "talking" with me! We played airplane and went pffffffft like a motor and played patty cake. I was oblivious to the world except for this guy which was just what I needed. Robby has met me once and never whimpered or anything when I scooped him up, took him a few feet from his Dad and played with him. He was full of smiles. I am SO impressed...his parents are doing SUCH a good job! Plus this little man is a Giants fan and it isn't because of me!
Mexcan Lasagna, Part 2
Don't skip the rice. It still taste good but it is very soupy and not very lasagna-ey. Adding the diced tomatoes was a good idea :)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Mexican Lasagna
This is Brian's famous Mexican Lasagna recipe. It is also, however, a dish that doesn't really have a recipe.
What you will need:
An Old El Paso Gordita Dinner Kit
1 can Hunt's Manwich Bold Sloppy Joe sauce
1 can Hormel chili with NO beans
1 lb either ground beef or ground turkey
2 lbs of shredded cheese (Chedder, mexican blend, taco blend, etc)
9X13 pyrex baking pan
Mexican Spices (garlic powder, paprika, etc)
1 box of Spanish rice mix cooked
Ranch dressing
1) Cook ground beef/turkey in a large pot with Mexican spices that you have lying around the house
2) While that is cooking, cut the tortillas from the box kit into triangles and line the bottom of the 9X13 pan with half of them so that you cant see the bottom glass
3) Spread half of the ranch sauce on top
4) Cover ranch sauce and tortillas with half the cheese
5) After turkey/beef is cooked, drain and put back in the pot
6) Mix in the rice, Hormel and Manwhich and keep on the stove until hot
7) After it is hot, pour on top of the tortillas, ranch and cheese in the pan
8) Pour some more of the ranch sauce on top of the meat sauce
9) Cover the top of the ranch/meat sauce with the rest tortillas so you can not see the meat below
10) Pour the rest of the ranch (if you don't have enough use the ranch salad dressing) over the top of the tortillas
11) Cover that with the rest of the cheese.
12) Bake in an oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly
This is not a meal for side dishes...it is very filling. I would make a salad and that is probably about it. I also wouldn't serve it in large portions. We first cut 9 slices out of it and then cut each slice in half and we are fine. Sometimes we do go back for more later. When we were each eating 1/9th of it we were eating WAY too much. It makes a LOT!
Right now we have substituted the rice for 15 ounces of drained diced tomatoes so we will see how that is. Also if you have some cheese you haven't used, feel free to dump it in this dish. We used 1 full bag of Mexican blend but had 1/4 bag of Cheddar that we used as well to use it up. We also had Brian's chili sauce left over from taco night last week which we layered in as well. This is definitely a recipe that can be tweaked and added to based on what you have on hand.
Buying the Gordita Box so far is the cheapest way of getting all the ingredients. Technically you can buy all the ingredients separately but so far it is cheaper to just buy the Gordita box. Also, the Gordita Box's are kind of hard to find so we buy three at a time and always keep 3 Hormel Chili cans and 3 Manwich cans so we can make this in a pinch if need be. All we are ever missing is cheese and the turkey.
What you will need:
An Old El Paso Gordita Dinner Kit
1 can Hunt's Manwich Bold Sloppy Joe sauce
1 can Hormel chili with NO beans
1 lb either ground beef or ground turkey
2 lbs of shredded cheese (Chedder, mexican blend, taco blend, etc)
9X13 pyrex baking pan
Mexican Spices (garlic powder, paprika, etc)
1 box of Spanish rice mix cooked
Ranch dressing
1) Cook ground beef/turkey in a large pot with Mexican spices that you have lying around the house
2) While that is cooking, cut the tortillas from the box kit into triangles and line the bottom of the 9X13 pan with half of them so that you cant see the bottom glass
3) Spread half of the ranch sauce on top
4) Cover ranch sauce and tortillas with half the cheese
5) After turkey/beef is cooked, drain and put back in the pot
6) Mix in the rice, Hormel and Manwhich and keep on the stove until hot
7) After it is hot, pour on top of the tortillas, ranch and cheese in the pan
8) Pour some more of the ranch sauce on top of the meat sauce
9) Cover the top of the ranch/meat sauce with the rest tortillas so you can not see the meat below
10) Pour the rest of the ranch (if you don't have enough use the ranch salad dressing) over the top of the tortillas
11) Cover that with the rest of the cheese.
12) Bake in an oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly
This is not a meal for side dishes...it is very filling. I would make a salad and that is probably about it. I also wouldn't serve it in large portions. We first cut 9 slices out of it and then cut each slice in half and we are fine. Sometimes we do go back for more later. When we were each eating 1/9th of it we were eating WAY too much. It makes a LOT!
Right now we have substituted the rice for 15 ounces of drained diced tomatoes so we will see how that is. Also if you have some cheese you haven't used, feel free to dump it in this dish. We used 1 full bag of Mexican blend but had 1/4 bag of Cheddar that we used as well to use it up. We also had Brian's chili sauce left over from taco night last week which we layered in as well. This is definitely a recipe that can be tweaked and added to based on what you have on hand.
Buying the Gordita Box so far is the cheapest way of getting all the ingredients. Technically you can buy all the ingredients separately but so far it is cheaper to just buy the Gordita box. Also, the Gordita Box's are kind of hard to find so we buy three at a time and always keep 3 Hormel Chili cans and 3 Manwich cans so we can make this in a pinch if need be. All we are ever missing is cheese and the turkey.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Sausage and Zucchini Skillet Lasagna
Apparently people can't leave comments...I am not sure why it is not working but I did catch wind that I should post the Sausage and Zucchini Skillet Lasagna and the Mexican Lasagna recipes :). The Mexican Lasagna is one of Brian's recipes so I have to wait till he makes it to write that one down. In the mean time here is the Sausage and Zucchini Skillet Lasagna
Ingredients:
3/4 lbs Italian pork sausage (casings removed)
2 (8 ounce) zucchini sliced into "chip" form
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb part-skim ricotta cheese
White from 1 large egg
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 cups jarred tomato sauce
8 no boil lasagna noodles
1/3 cups fresh basil leaves
Directions
1) Heat oven to 400F
2) Saute sausage and zucchini in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes or until sausage is lightly browned and zucchini tender
3) Remove skillet from heat, cool slightly
4) Combine ricotta, egg white, mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, salt, and pepper
5) Spread 3/4 cup of the tomato sauce on bottom of a 10 inch oven proof skillet, preferably cast iron or nonstick (I use my red enamel "pot" I would use for Mac and Cheese or Turkey Tetrazzini)
6) Top with 2 noodles, long sides touching
7) Spoon 1/3 each of sausage mixture, cheese mixture and basil leaves over noodles
8) Assemble 2 more layers, beginning with 2 noodles, then 3/4 of sauce, 1/3 of the sausage mixture, 1/3 of the cheese mixture, and 1/3 of the basil leaves, ending top layer with the last 2 noodles
9) Spread the remaining 3/4 cup sauce over top and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
10) Cover tightly with foil
11) Bake 35 minutes
12) Let rest 10 minutes before cutting into wedges
Serves: 6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 42 minutes
Total time: 1 hr 2 minutes
Calories: 535
Total fat: 29
Total carbs: 40
Protein: 29
Ingredients:
3/4 lbs Italian pork sausage (casings removed)
2 (8 ounce) zucchini sliced into "chip" form
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb part-skim ricotta cheese
White from 1 large egg
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 cups jarred tomato sauce
8 no boil lasagna noodles
1/3 cups fresh basil leaves
Directions
1) Heat oven to 400F
2) Saute sausage and zucchini in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes or until sausage is lightly browned and zucchini tender
3) Remove skillet from heat, cool slightly
4) Combine ricotta, egg white, mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, salt, and pepper
5) Spread 3/4 cup of the tomato sauce on bottom of a 10 inch oven proof skillet, preferably cast iron or nonstick (I use my red enamel "pot" I would use for Mac and Cheese or Turkey Tetrazzini)
6) Top with 2 noodles, long sides touching
7) Spoon 1/3 each of sausage mixture, cheese mixture and basil leaves over noodles
8) Assemble 2 more layers, beginning with 2 noodles, then 3/4 of sauce, 1/3 of the sausage mixture, 1/3 of the cheese mixture, and 1/3 of the basil leaves, ending top layer with the last 2 noodles
9) Spread the remaining 3/4 cup sauce over top and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
10) Cover tightly with foil
11) Bake 35 minutes
12) Let rest 10 minutes before cutting into wedges
Serves: 6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 42 minutes
Total time: 1 hr 2 minutes
Calories: 535
Total fat: 29
Total carbs: 40
Protein: 29
Saturday, June 11, 2011
First grocery trip under new Food Plan
I had a lot of toiletry/pantry items I needed to add to my list but I did have a fair amount of coupons. Don't worry...I am not going to go to "Extreme Couponing" extreme (I actually believe that you should pay for things you buy and that it is more wasteful to have a stock pile that extreme) but I could be a bit better about it.
This is what we ended up buying (I have pointed out which things I had coupons for):
Meat:
5 lbs beef brisket
2 packages Ball Park hot dogs-coupon
Produce:
6 large onions
Garlic
Limes
2 green peppers
1 Jalepeno pepper
4 zucchini
Frozen Peas
Carrots
Potatoes
Red Onions
Acorn Squash
Dairy:
Butter
Ricotta cheese-Sorrento (coupon)
Fresh Mozzarrella-Sorrento (coupon)
Sour cream
Half and Half
Provolone
Feta Cheese
Parm Cheese
1 package Breakstone cottage cheese-coupon
4 yogurts
Dried:
Lasagna noodles
Hamburger buns- Ballpark (coupon)
1 box Fiber One-coupon
Ritz crackers
1 box of Couscous
Baking:
If you follow VERY closely you will notice I took out tomatoes and crusty bread. I also need to pick up a can of cream of chicken soup for one of my recipes. I thought I had enough but when I was putting the food away this morning I realized I didn't. We didn't get the crusty bread or tomatoes because Brian didn't think they would last long enough. So we will need to go back to the store for those 3 three things. We did get a lot of produce so I may be moving dishes around in case some of the produce doesn't look like it will last as long as expected.
This is what we ended up buying (I have pointed out which things I had coupons for):
Meat:
5 lbs beef brisket
2 packages Ball Park hot dogs-coupon
Produce:
6 large onions
Garlic
Limes
2 green peppers
1 Jalepeno pepper
4 zucchini
Frozen Peas
Carrots
Potatoes
Red Onions
Acorn Squash
Dairy:
Butter
Ricotta cheese-Sorrento (coupon)
Fresh Mozzarrella-Sorrento (coupon)
Sour cream
Half and Half
Provolone
Feta Cheese
Parm Cheese
1 package Breakstone cottage cheese-coupon
4 yogurts
Dried:
Lasagna noodles
Hamburger buns- Ballpark (coupon)
1 box Fiber One-coupon
Ritz crackers
1 box of Couscous
Baking:
Brown sugar
Duncan Hines Brownies-see coupon
Canned:Tomato soup
Prego
Toiletries:Neosporin-coupon
Bandaid brand-coupon
Energizer batteries-coupon
Venus Razor-coupon
Venus refills- coupon
2 Oral B toothbrushes-see coupon
Charmin toilet paper-coupon
2 Head and Shoulders-coupon
2 Pantene shampoo-coupon
Q-tips-coupon
Condiments:Gulden's mustard-coupon
Juice:2 V8 Splash- coupon
If you follow VERY closely you will notice I took out tomatoes and crusty bread. I also need to pick up a can of cream of chicken soup for one of my recipes. I thought I had enough but when I was putting the food away this morning I realized I didn't. We didn't get the crusty bread or tomatoes because Brian didn't think they would last long enough. So we will need to go back to the store for those 3 three things. We did get a lot of produce so I may be moving dishes around in case some of the produce doesn't look like it will last as long as expected.
Our total was $178.83. I saved $31.91 in coupons and $11.97 with my Food Lion MVP card. I was very excited because some of the stuff I was going to buy with my coupons happened to be on sale with Food Lion! I know real couponers plan that out...but I don't have time for that so it was a nice surprise. So in total I saved $43.94!! And as I said before, a lot of what was on our list that wasn't produce/dairy/meet was pantry/toiletry items that we don't buy all the time so for the next few months we will not need to purchase those items.
I can't wait until we start seeing results on whether this system is working or not...I believe it should.
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