Stocking up the Pantry/Freezer

 If you are looking to stock your pantry/freezer this might be the time of the year to start. We have some great sales going on this weekend for meats and staples. Here is part of my haul from this morning. I forgot to take a photo until after I had put away most to the noodles and tomato juice.

 One super deal was on rice. Scored 9 pounds for $5.47 from the close out shelf. A quart size mason jar will hold almost 2 pounds of rice. I like to tape the cooking instructions to the side of the jar, I seem to be having more and more brain toots as I age. Rice is a great long term shelf stable food. I also keep lots of instant rice on hand for quick meals when I find it on sale but regular white rice gives you a whole lot more bang for your buck!!

 Another good deal was BOGO on black and green olives. I use a lot of olives during football season and the upcoming holiday's in different recipes for dips, appetizers and even soup. I try to keep 8 to 10 jars put back when they are on sale. Want to try a GREAT football season recipe? Check out Paula Deen's Taco Soup, oh my!! We love this recipe, its crock pot friendly, gotta love that, and super good. Our family likes it as a topping on nacho chips instead of soup. The recipe makes a ton so you better invite friends and family over for the big game. BTW Bama plays at 5:30 EST today, Roll Tide!

 Whole beef tenderloins go on sale a couple of times a year, seems to run on 4th July and Labor day in my area. The everyday price for tenderloin steaks run $19.00 a pound. A whole tenderloin is $9.99 a pound this weekend. Time to stock the freezer. I had the butcher cut up 2 beef tenderloins for me this morning, got a total of 24 nice thick steaks to vacuum pack.

 The end pieces I use for veggie beef soup. I know it looks nasty in this photo but once it's cooked up the yucky fat just falls off so you can remove it from the pot.

 I pack most of our meats for just hubby and I, two steaks per pack works for us. If the family is cooking out with us I just pull out the right amount for the day. So the math on this deal is 24 tenderloin steaks for just under $6.50 per steak, heck you can't buy a good hamburger for that price if you were eating out! The two packages for soup is a bonus for free.

 When you fill the freezer a MUST DO is to rotate food!! Yes it takes more time but you are less likely to lose bits an pieces if you keep the freezer organized. Using up the oldest first insures you are always going to have a nice piece of meat. Our beef shelf is looking pretty good.

 Pork loins were also on sale. I kept the butcher busy this morning!! I knew we were in pretty good shape on pork chops so I only bought one. Once I tucked them in the freezer I realized we could use some pork roast so I will run by later today to pick up another pack or two for roasts.

One loin worked out to 20 pork chops, price per chop. $.95 each.

I had a surprise day off today as Kara's Daddy had a rare Saturday off. Whats a Nanny to do? Meet up with friends for breakfast and an extra cup of coffee, Ahhh.  My buddy's headed off to some estate sales, me...my favorite place to shop, the grocery. Its a toss up between the grocery and fabric shops as to which is my favorite, groceries won out today. I have WAY TOO MUCH fabric.

Lots of great deals were to be had today at the grocery. Store brand Tomato juice was $1.02 for a 64 ounce bottle, I bought 8. Why 8 you ask? We like tomato juice for drinking but it would take forever to drink up 64 ounces, however my veggie beef soup recipe calls for 3/4 of a bottle. The leftovers are the perfect amount for us to quench our tomato juice craving. Does 8 bottles still seem like a crazy amount? When you get in the habit of buying ONLY on sale you sorta know how much you need of an item to see you through until the next sale. I know we will for sure have at least 8 pots of soup this fall/winter, humm now that I think about it maybe I need more! Ha The shelf life on tomato juice is 2 years. No way will I ever have to worry about it going bad on us. BTW the name brand of tomato juice is almost $3.00 and only 46 ounces per can. I pays to give the store brand a try, in the case of this juice there is NO difference.

Another nice surprise sale was on noodles. We are some noodle eating fools, or pasta eating fools if you want to use the correct term. I make up a few gallon baggies of home made noodles over the fall/winter for the freezer but store bought noodles have their place in the pantry. Today's surprise sale was 2/$3.00 or $1.50 each. Regular price is $2.89, can't pass up a deal like that now can you?  The package's are 12 ounces each. If the gang is all here it takes a full package for whatever side dish/soup I am making. For Hubby and I maybe 1/4 of that amount. I picked up 10 packages. Seem like a lot? Na, not for us when you break it down to how many meals I will make with it. The shelf life? Now that is an interesting question, this particular brand had no use by date. Generally you can figure 2-4 years for packaged pasta. Let me assure you the only thing that lasts that long in our home is fabric. (maybe dust as well)

This is really a good time of the year to stock up on some staples for the pantry. Grocery stores seem to run pretty good sales at the beginning of the school year. Makes me wonder if they have to run good deals this time of year to get families in the store after they have spent so much on clothing/school supplies. Keep your eye out for some of these super deals during September to build up or beef up your own pantry. I know this month will be a spending month as far as the grocery shopping goes for us but the savings can't be beat. My weekly shopping trips during the spring/summer tends to run under $50.00 a week with some weeks as low as $10.00-$15.00. Milk, eggs, OJ, and banana's pretty much is all that's on the list during summer months. The pantry and garden are my go to store's during the summer. Since this summer was a tea total bust in the garden I figure our yearly grocery spending well be more than usual, gotta watch the sales even more closely!!

Lots more BOGO items that I paired with coupons. Nothing went in the buggy that wasn't on sale here's the damage.
Total bill $354.41 - GULP!!!
Total coupons/sales - $149.43 BINGO
Total spent - $204.98 - Much Better.