Walgreens: Deals for the week of November 8-14, 2009

Here are the best deals at Walgreens this week, with thanks to Mercedes for her hard work in helping to compiling these:

COUPON DEALS

Hall's Lozenges--$0.99
Use $0.75/1 coupon from 9/27 SmartSource insert
$0.25 each after coupon

Jell-O--2/$1 after in-ad coupon
Use $0.50/2 printable coupon--(IE link) or (FF link)
$0.25 each after coupons

Eagle Brand Condensed Milk--$1.79 after in-ad coupon
Use $2/2 coupon from 11/8 RedPlum insert
$0.79 each after coupons

Betty Crocker Frosting--$1.29 after in-ad coupon
Use $0.50/1 from 10/25 SmartSource insert or $0.50/1 printable coupon here or here
$0.79 each after coupons

Bayer Aspirin (24-36 count)--2/$3 after in-ad coupon
Use $1/1 coupon from 10/25 RedPlum insert
$0.50 each after coupons

Carnation Evaporated Milk--$0.99 after in-ad coupon
Buy 2 and use $0.50/2 coupon from 9/27 SmartSource or 11/1 RedPlum inserts or $0.50/2 printable coupon
$0.74 each after coupons

Cover Girl Lipcolor--on sale Buy One Get One Free (prices start at $3.99)
Buy 2 at $3.99 and use $2.50/2 coupon from 11/1 P&G insert
$0.75 each after coupon

Clearasil--on sale Buy One Get One Free (prices start at $4.79)
Buy 2 at $4.79 and use $2/1 printable coupons (click on Save Now at the bottom)
$0.90 each after coupons

Gold Medal Flour--2/$3 after in-ad coupon
Use $0.50/1 printable coupon
$1 each after coupons

Sun-Maid Raisins (18 oz.)--2/$4 after in-ad coupon
Use $1/2 coupon from 11/8 SmartSource insert
$1.50 each after coupons

WEEKLY REGISTER REWARDS DEALS

Buy one Bayer Glucose Meter at $14.99, Get $5 Register Rewards
Use $30 coupon from 10/25 RedPlum insert (coupon will need to be adjusted down)
Free plus $5 in overage after coupon

Buy $20 of the following, Earn a $10 RR
Benadryl (18-24 ct.,10 ct. Perfect Measure, or 4 oz. Liquid)--$4.99
Tylenol (20-24 ct. Tylenol Cold or Allergy or 8 oz. Liquid)--$4.99
Zyrtec Allergy Relief (30 ct.)--$18.99
Children's Zyrtec (Chewables 12 ct. or 4 oz. Liquid)--$9.99
Sudafed PE or DM (20 or 24 ct., Children's 4 oz. Liquid, or Nasal Spray OM .5 oz.)--$5.99

*Deal Idea*
Buy 3 Tylenol products--$4.99 each
Buy 1 Sudafed PE 24-count--$5.99
Use 1 $3/2 Tylenol Cold coupon from 10/4 RedPlum insert
Use 1 $2/1 Tylenol Cold printable coupon
Use 1 $2/1 Sudafed PE coupon from 9/13 RedPlum insert
Use 1 $1/1 Tylenol Cold coupon from Healthy Savings Coupon Booklet (will deduct $3)
Spend $10.96 plus tax out of pocket, Get $10 Register Rewards

MONTHLY REGISTER REWARDS DEALS

Buy 1 Robitussin DM To Go (2-pack) at $2.49, Get $2.49 Register Rewards
Free after Register Rewards

Buy 1 Almay Pure Blends Foundation at $9.99, Get $10 Register Rewards
Free after Register Rewards

Buy any Breathe Right product, Get $4 Register Rewards

*Deal Idea*
Buy Breathe Right Kids Nasal Strips (12-count) at $5.49
Use $1/1 coupon from the 10/18 RedPlum insert
Spend $4.49 plus tax out of pocket, Get $4 Register Rewards back
$0.49 after Register Rewards

Buy 2 select Rolaids, Get $5 Register Rewards

*Deal Idea*
Buy 2 100-count Rolaids at $4.99 each
Use $4/2 coupon from the 10/4 SmartSource insert
Spend $5.98 plus tax out of pocket, Get $5 Register Rewards
$0.98 after coupon and Register Rewards

New to shopping at Walgreens? Start here.

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Share Your Deals and Scenarios!
Have your shopping trip planned or did you come up with a great deal scenario/idea? Just post about it on your blog and leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Walgreens deals post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your Walgreens deals post will be deleted.**

CVS: Deals for the week of November 8-14, 2009

Here are the best deals at CVS this week, with a big thanks to The Thrifty Mama for her help in compiling them. Don't forget to print your $5/$30 CVS coupon and $5/$20 CVS coupon to further sweeten these deals!

******WEEKLY ECB DEALS******

Buy 2 Root Awakening from the John Frieda Collection at $5 each, Get $5 ECBs (Limit 3)

*Deal Idea*
Buy 6 John Frieda Shampoos and Conditioners at $5 each
Buy 3 Styling products at $5 each
Use CVS $5/30 printable
Use 3 $5/2 coupons from the 10/11 SmartSource insert
Use 3 Free styling product coupons from the 10/11 SmartSource insert
Spend $10 plus tax out of pocket, Get $15 in ECBs
Free plus $5 overage after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Clairol Natural Instincts at $6.99, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $5/1 from the 11/1 P&G insert (not all areas received this)
Free plus overage after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 EARinse at $7.99, Get $7.99 ECBs (Limit 1)
Free after ECBs

Buy 1 Nova Max Monitor at $9.99, Get $9.99 ECBs (Limit 1)
Free after ECBs

Buy 2 Crest Pro-Health (on sale 2 for $6.98), Get $4 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use 2 $1/1 from the 11/1 P&G inserts
$0.49 each after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Rimmel Mascara at $6.99, Get $4 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $2/1 from the November All You Magazine
$0.99 after ECBs

Buy 1 Schick Quattro Razor at $7.99, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $4/1 coupon from the 10/11 SmartSource insert (not all areas received this)
$0.99 after coupons and ECBs

Buy $15 worth of select candy, Get $5 ECBs (Limit 1)

*Deal Idea*
Buy 5 Hershey's Kisses at $3 each
Use 5 $1/1 coupons from the 9/13 SmartSource insert
$1 per bag after coupons and ECBs

Buy $20 worth of select Children's Allergy or Cold Medicines, Get $10 ECBs (Limit 1)

*Deal Idea*
Buy 2 Children's Dimetapp at $6 each
Buy 2 Robitussin at $6 each
Use 2 $2/1 printables here
Use 2 $2/1 printables here
$1.50 each after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Bengay at $5.99, Get 2 ECBs (Limit 2)
Use $2/1 from the 10/4 RedPlum insert
$1.99 after coupons and ECBs

******NON-ECB DEALS******

Nature's Bounty Vitamins and Supplements--on sale Buy One, Get One Free
Buy 2 at $4 each and use 2 $2/1 printables here
Free after coupons

Mom's Best Naturals Oatmeal--$1
Use $0.75/1 coupon here
$0.25 after coupon

******Share Your Deals and Scenarios!********

Have your shopping trip planned or did you come up with a great deal scenario/idea? Just post about it on your blog and leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your CVS deals post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your CVS deals post will be deleted.**

Super Savings Saturday: Organic apples and tangerines for $0.99 per bag!

I went to Aldi and to the health food store this week. Plus, I got some farm-fresh eggs from my family.

Here's what I bought:

I got three bags of organic apples at the health food store for $0.99 each! (One bag isn't pictured because I shared it with my sister.) And the bags of tangerines were on sale at Aldi for $0.99 each, too! Looks like we'll be making some yummy fresh juice over the next few weeks.

All totaled, we've spent $25 from our $160 monthly grocery budget so far this month--and our freezer is full of meals! It's looking like we're definitely going to be able to stay plenty under-budget this month and have lots of wiggle room for some more bulk purchases.

Stay tuned for next week's menu on Monday.

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Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.

Weekend Giveaway: 3 Year-Long Subscriptions to Stolen Moments Menu Planning Service

Kate, from Stolen Moments Cooking, recently offered to let me try out her personalized menu planning service. I was a little bit leery of how it would work for someone like me. I rarely follow recipes or directions and so following a menu plan that someone else made up for me? I really didn't think it would work. But I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful this service was--even for an out-of-the-box, non-systematical person like me!

Here are a few things I liked about Stolen Moments Menu Planning:

First off, Kate doesn't just send you a generic menu for the month. Oh no! You fill out a survey and then she custom creates a menu tailored to your family's likes and dislikes--and it's all factored in with your grocery budget, too. I was impressed with her ability to take the survey I filled out and put together a great menu within our weekly grocery budget which also considered our family's food preferences. It sort of felt like I was royalty or something to have someone else planning customized menus for our family!

Secondly, while I didn't follow the menu exactly (you know that would pretty much be impossible for me to do, don't you?), having a full month's worth of menus all mapped out for me gave me a great springboard of ideas and inspiration to work from. As a busy mom of three little ones, it definitely saved me time and mental energy to have a list already made out to work from.

Thirdly, Kate had a lot of unique ideas woven throughout the menu to help you speed up your efficiency in the kitchen. For instance, she suggested I bake extras of certain items and stick them in the freezer for a later date. One of my favorite ideas was her recipe for Homemade Uncrustables (just make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut out with a biscuit cutter, crimp the edges together with a fork, and freeze). It's such a simple thing, but something I'd never thought to do before. What a fun and economical way to have lunch-on-the-go all made up and at-the-ready in the freezer!

I believe strongly that one of the easiest ways to save money on your grocery bill is to have a menu plan and to follow the plan. It will eliminate dozens of unnecessary purchases and store-runs throughout the month which will invariably save you dozens--if not hundreds!--of dollars.

If you want to plan menus but feel hurried and harried as it is and would rather pay a little bit to have someone do the work for you, I'd definitely recommend that you check out Stolen Moments Menu Planning. The small amount of money it costs each month, could definitely save you more than ten times the actual cost of the service.

Kate is offering a special deal just for my readers if you're wanting to check out her menu-planning service. Just go here and type in the password moneysavingmom to see all the details. You can get a basic menu plan for as low as $5 per month or a complete menu plan for as low as $10 per month!

This might be a great idea for a Christmas gift, too!

Would you like to win a year-long subscription to the Stolen Moments Menu Planning Service? I'm giving away a year-long subscription to three different winners this weekend. Just click here to leave a comment on this post this weekend and you'll be entered to win!

Smokey Bones: Buy One Entree, Get One Free

Print a coupon here for a free entree at Smokey Bones when you buy one of equal or greater value. This coupon expires November 12, 2009.

Thanks, Who Said Nothing in Life is Free?

Viewpoints: Write 5 reviews, Earn a $5 Barnes & Noble gift card

Viewpoints--a website which provides consumer reviews of products--is offering a free $5 Barnes & Noble e-gift certificate when you write 5 reviews. Go here for more details. Qualifying reviews must be written between November 6 and November 13, 2009 and must be a minimum of 900 characters.

While you might not be able to get a whole lot for $5, if you combine that with a free Barnes & Noble gift card or two earned from Swagbucks, shop through a cashback site, and use an online coupon code, you could definitely get a few free Christmas presents for booklovers!

Thanks, Money Saving Madness!

Buca di Beppo: $10 off $20 purchase

Use this coupon at any Buca di Beppo location by December 31, 2009, to save $10 off any purchase of $20 or more.

Thanks, Cha-ching on a Shoestring!

Buy One Steaz Organic Beverage, Get One Free

Go here and here to print a coupon for a free Steaz Organic Beverage when you buy another of equal or greater value. Some of these drinks are priced around $1 each at Target making them around $0.50 each after the coupon.

Plus, you can still get a free Zero Calorie Steaz Iced Tea with this coupon here.

$1/1 Odwalla Pink Poetry Fruit Smoothie

Print a coupon here for $1/1 Odwalla Pink Poetry Superfood Fruit Smoothie. These are very yummy, if you've yet to try them and I often seem them on sale for $2.50 or less at Kroger.

Thanks, Organic Deals!

Eat n' Park: Free Latte with purchase

Print a coupon here for a free small Latte with any purchase at Eat n' Park locations. One coupon per guest check. This coupon expires November 20, 2009.

Thanks, Coupon Cravings!

Free Caress Evenly Gorgeous Exfoliating Body Wash Sample

Go here to see if a free sample of Caress Evenly Gorgeous Exfoliating Body Wash Sample is being offered in your state. I've gotten a free sample of this before and really liked it.

Target: Free Scotties tissues

 
According to The Coupon High, Scotties Tissues are price-reduced at Target for $1 (only through November 7, 2009, according to the sign). Sign up for the $1/1 coupon here (click "no" when asked if you currently use Scotties--provided that's the truth!--in order to get the $1/1 coupon) and you'll be able to get these free after the coupon.

Kodak Gallery: Free $15 gift to the first 100,000 (available again!)

Did you miss out on last week's free $15 gift from Kodak? Well, they are giving away another 100,000 free $15 gift codes. Just go here to sign up for yours. There is a limit of one per person, so you should be able to register an account and get a free $15 for each person in your household.

Be sure to place your order through Ebates or ShopAtHome to get 10% back, too!

I used my free $15 gift code to order a bunch of photo prints of my children and my sister's wedding. I still had to pay shipping, but it came out to be an excellent deal even paying shipping. I already received the pictures in the mail and was very happy with the results.

Did you miss out on last week's free $15 gift from Kodak? Well, they are giving away another 100,000 free $15 gift codes. Just go here to sign up for yours. There is a limit of one per person, so you should be able to register an account and get a free $15 for each person in your household.

Be sure to place your order through Ebates or ShopAtHome to get 10% back, too!

I used my free $15 gift code to order a bunch of photo prints of my children and my sister's wedding. I still had to pay shipping, but it came out to be an excellent deal even paying shipping. I already received the pictures in the mail and was very happy with the results.

Free sample of Dove Calming Night Body Wash and Body Lotion

Go here to sign up for a free sample of Dove Calming Night Body Wash and Body Lotion.

Thanks, Wichita Coupons!

The Method to My Madness: Start Where You Are and Learn As You Go

Every time I blog about a Baking Day or a Freezer Cooking Day, I invariably get a multitude of questions that go like this:

Can you tell me how you package the meals for freezing them? Do you just put them in a metal 9x13 and then cover the top with tin foil? Does this keep out freezer burn for you?

Or this:

I'm wondering if you use aluminum baking pans? I want to make up a bunch of stuff, but then I'd have to go out and buy a bunch of throw away pans for it...I've done it before. Now that I've cut my budget in half for groceries, I'm wondering if there is a way around this?

Or this:

It appears that you have frozen many items in the dish that they will ultimately be baked in; do you purchase additional dishes just for freezing? do you use foil pans? do you just own a billion more dishes than I do? I'm just curious as to your freezer storage method - not so much the wrap in foil/use a freezer bag, but do you use all your dishes and how do you fit them all in your freezer along with milk, butter, etc. that you seem to stock up on and freeze throughout the month?

For a number of months, I've just pretty much avoided these questions because I didn't really know what you'd think of me if I answered them. But I decided this Freezer Cooking Day it was high time I come clean on this whole freezing thing and what I do.

Are you ready for this?

I have no idea what I'm doing. Seriously. There really is no precise method to my madness; I just work with what I have and do the best I know how.

I'm not much of a "follow-the-directions" kind of gal (which is one reason I have a very hard time following recipes exactly!) so it's rather comical anyone is coming to me for advice--especially when it comes to cooking. I have a long history of flopped dinners. In fact, growing up, many of my family members were afraid to eat anything I made for fear of what it might taste like or be made of.

Practice has provided much progress in my cooking abilities, but I still have huge room for improvement. And as far as freezing goes, I'm just learning as I go.

So I'm probably not the person to go to if you're looking for specific and detailed instructions on how to freeze food. But I hope that my admission encourages you: it doesn't take much skill or knowledge or know-how to make up food for your freezer. It just takes some energy, some perseverance, and the willingness to make a few mistakes along the way!

Of course, I think it's helpful to check out books from your library on freezer cooking (you can see a few of my favorites here). But I think book-learning is almost always trumped by hands-on learning.

Now that I've confessed I don't know what I'm doing, here are the answers to your questions as far as what I do when it comes to freezing: I usually freeze half of the meals in the pans they'll be cooked in and half the meals in freezer bags laid flat (to conserve space). I usually try to use the meals in pans first as they are more prone to freezer burn. But I've rarely had a problem with this so long as they are sealed well.

I sometimes use a few foil pans--if I have some on hand--but most often, I just use freezer bags and glass or metal pans. I don't have a huge collection of pans (I'm a minimalist, remember?), but since I won't be doing much cooking because most of our meals are already made and frozen, I can tie up most of my pans for a little while without even missing them. I do try to make sure I set aside at least two pans of some sort since I usually have something or other I have to cook each week!

This is what works for me and for our family. It may not work at all for you or yours so please do what works for you. Amy has a post here with a freezing method that works for her. If you're the type who needs to have a detailed freezing tutorial, I'm sure they are out there. I've just never taken the time to look! (I take that back. I just did a quick search and found many different tutorials, including this one which is rather comprehensive.)

Think you're up for some cooking ahead (and I hope this week inspired you to save time and money by doing so!)? Don't be intimidated! Just start small, make a plan, work the plan, and learn as you go. You'll improve a little bit each time until you're soon an accomplished Freezer Cooking Pro!

Who says you have to have a big deep freeze to cook ahead? I don't! You know all the meals I made earlier this week? All 21 dinners plus 14 breakfasts? That's them all stashed in my over-the-fridge freezer along with some frozen veggies and bread. Get creative with your freezer space and you can probably do a lot more with it than you once thought possible! I know that's certainly been the case for me!