Hy-Vee - Buy a Freezer for $199, Get $200 in FREE Food!

That's right! If you are in the market for a new deep freeze, this might just be the deal for you! For the entire month of March, Hy-Vee has their annual Freezer Stock Up Sale going on. March 4-6, you can actually purchase a Haier 5 cu. ft. deep freezer for $199 and get a $15 Hy-Vee gift card and $200 in coupons for FREE food! There are some REALLY great coupons too that I can't wait to use! I was really excited that my cousin Kiley (who bought a freezer yesterday morning) contacted me right away to tell me about the awesome coupons that she got with this deal! We have two giant, totally energy-draining deep freezers in our basement right now, costing us between $30-40 a month to run for each one (that is around $800 per year!) This new, energy efficient freezer costs just $26 a year!!! The energy cost savings alone will more than pay for the cost of the freezer!!! I will also have a freezer full of yummy food to "shop" from for the next few months! In fact, I'm going to try and incorporate some of the foods into next month's meal plan and OAMC. The manager I talked to last  night said that they sell out of these every year so if you are interested in getting one for yourself I wouldn't wait too long! Here are the coupons included with the purchase of this freezer (Thanks Kiley!):

Hy-Vee coupons-
$15 Hy-Vee Gift Card
Sunbelt family packs-limit 2 max val $3.32
Wonder classic or wheat bread free up to $2.99
Tombstone pizza free up to $3.66
DiGiorno or California pizza for one free up to $2.88
Post cereal free up to $2
Hefty one zip bags-limit 2 free up to $3
Michelina's lean gourmet frozen meal-limit 3 free up to $3.75
Breyes or Klondike ice cream free up to $3.50
Edy's ice cream free up to $3.50
Hy-vee ice cream pail free up to $4.99
kraft cool whip free up to $1.99
hungry man dinners free up to 2.50
welch's juice-limit 2 free up to 2.36
grand frozen veggies limit 2 free up to $3.32
hyvee frozen juice limit 3 free up to 2.97
kemps premium ice cream or yogurt free up to 3.48
snickers ice cream free up to $3
hyvee cheese sticks or jalapeno poppers free up to 2.50
bagel-fuls free up to 2.39
rich's sea pak shrimp free up to $5.99
hyvee bread dough limit 2 free up to 3.36
farm rich snacks free up to 5.99
birds eye veggies free up to 1.98
hyvee potato patties free up to $3
coffee mate creamer free up to 2.68
dannon activia free up to 1.99
snickers candy bar limit 3 free up to $2
nestle fun size candy bars free up to $3
handi-foil basics limit 3 free up to $3
3M sponge limit 2 free up to 3.38
land o'frost free up to 2.50
Di Lusso deli meat free up to $3
tyson tenders free up to $14.99
pepsi 2 liters limit 3 free up to 3.75
soup dujour free up to 4.99
hyvee veggie dip free up to 3.49
hormel fully cooked bacon free up to 2.99
tennessee pride sausage free up to $4
Tony's snacks or Larry's potatoes free up to 2.50
rostello sliced deli meat free up to 2.50

Manufacturer coupons
Jones sausage
Mr. Dell's frozen potatoes
Old orchard juice
$5 off fast fixin
Weight watchers frozen novelty b1go
blue bunny frozen yogurt granola novelty b1go
Johnsonville breakfast sasage
Healthy choice frozen meal
Spice island or tones spices
asian sensation product
Tony's pizza
Mrs. T's Pierogies
Klement's brats
8th ontinent soy milk
ziploc freezer bags
3 free redbox rentals

My March OAMC Recipes and Links

By popular demand, I have gathered together a list of recipes that I used this week to make my OAMC meals. I have used lots of tried and true recipes that have been "lightened" up so that they fit into our Weight Watchers diet. For instance, in a lot of the recipes I cut the amount of cheese or ground beef in half, saving us lots of calories and WW points. I have plugged all of the meals into the WW recipe builder and have the points values listed in the recipes. These are certainly not fancy meals but they are definitely low on fat, calories, and sodium. I am blessed to have really non-picky-eating children so as long as they get an occasional "healthy" cookie, they are more than happy to eat things like beans and spinach and rice!

Spinach, Rice and Chicken Casserole - 3 points

Spaghetti Pie - 3 points

Corn Bread Muffins/Corn Dog Muffins - 3 points
You can go here to see tutorial on how to turn them into corn dog muffins. Also, if you use light hot dogs, the points value per muffin stays at just 3 points!


Zucchini Bread - 4 points


Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies - 2 points

Crock Pot Low Fat Refried Pinto Beans - 2 points

Brown Bag Burritos - 3-4 points
(I followed this basic method for making and freezing burritos but used my own fillings. In half of them I used 1T. refried beans, 1T. cooked brown rice, 1 T. of ground beef and a sprinkle of cheese. These are 4 WW points. For the other half I just used 2T. refried beans, 2T. cooked brown rice and a sprinkle of cheese. These are 3 WW points.)

Money Saving Mom's Pizza Crust - 3 points

Money Saving Mom's Whole Wheat Waffles - 6 points

Baked Brown Rice - 2 points (per half cup serving)

Got a yummy, easy-to-freeze meal that you'd like to share? Please leave your recipe in the comments section!

Recipes - Test

I am not sure how to go about posting my OAMC recipes. I'm not sure if I should just post them directly on my site or link them to a Google Document. You can go here to view them in Google Docs. I am just testing out a couple of recipes to see how this works. Please let me know if you have any trouble viewing them. Thanks!

Spinach, Rice and Chicken Casserole - 3 WW points

Spaghetti Pie - 3 WW points

Happy Hump Day - 3/03/10

Wow! Looks like a pretty good shopping week to me! Though both stores seem to have good deals, I will have to say that if this were a competition, Fareway would be kicking Hy-Vee's tail end this week!

Hy-Vee - click here for weekly ad
Applesauce, $.99
Kelloggs cereal, Buy 5, Get $5 off
Capri-Sun, $1.88
5lb potatoes, $.97
Hy-Vee ketchup, $.88

3-Day Sale: Thurs, Fri, Sat.
85% lean ground beef 16 oz., $1.88
Sunkist oranges 4lbs, $1.99
Hy-Vee chips, $.99
Hy-Vee salad bag, $.77
Purchase a Haier chest freezer for $199, get $200 in coupons!
(Thanks to my cousin Kiley for telling me about this deal! She asked a manager what would be in the coupon book and he said it would mostly be for items that are included in their frozen foods sales for March. I'll let you know as soon as I have more details on this one!)



Fareway - click here to view ad
Red or green grapes, $.99/lb.
Gold Medal Flour, 5lbs, $.99 with in-ad coupon
-use $.75/1 printable = $.24!! STOCK UP PRICE!!
Kelloggs cereal, 5/$10 (Corn pops, Apple Jacks and Rice Krispies)
-use $5/5 in-ad coupon = $1 each!!
-used various manufacturer coupons = even cheaper!! STOCK UP PRICE!!
Betty Crocker brownie mix, 5/$5
-use $.75/2 printable = $1.25 for two!
Betty Crocker pizza crust mix, 2/$.69
Fastco cheese puffs, $.99
Sunbelt granola bars, 3/$5
Bar S Hot Dogs $.88
-use $1/2 printable = $.38! STOCK UP PRICE!!
Fastco frozen veggies, $.88
Dole bag lettuce, $.99
Red delicious apples, $.69/lb.
All Detergent, $2.99
-use $1/1 MFC

Aldi - click here to view ad

My OAMC Master Plan is DONE!

Whew! Finally I am done with my March OAMC. Or should I call it TAMC (Thrice a Month Cooking) as it took me three days to get everything accomplished? Regardless of how long it took me, how many hours I stood in the kitchen, how many dishes I scrubbed, how many spatulas I licked (kidding), how many cookies I taste-tested (four. no lie.), or how many baby puffs I had to feed to my seven month-old to keep him from crying so that I could do just "one more" batch of something - regardless of all of that, I am SO HAPPY with the results! I have SO MUCH food in the freezer. I am pretty sure that I can just hang out in front of the TV everyday eating bon bons because I don't have to cook supper for the next 29 days. Okay, so maybe I'll have to get up now and then to do a load of laundry or to change a diaper or vacuum or bathe the kids, but NO MAKING SUPPER for me! Yay! Check this out people! How cool is this?!?

 

Here is my final OAMC list for March:

10- Beef and bean burritos

10- Bean and rice burritos

2- Chicken, spinach and rice casserole

2- Spaghetti pie

2- Sloppy Joe meat

4- Brown Rice

10- Refried beans (2 C. portions)

24- Corn dog muffins

24- Corn muffins

3- Chickpeas (for salads and soups)

2- Whole wheat pizza dough

20- Whole wheat belgian waffles

24- White cupcakes

12- Zucchini muffins

2- Zucchini bread loaves

5- Dozen "healthy" chocolate chip cookies

What I learned:

1. Be PREPARED!!! I thought that I had everything ready to go before I started but ended up running out of tin foil and muffin liners. Not a big deal, but having to run to the store definitely slowed up the process a little bit. I also should have multi-tasked a little better. There were many times when I should have had the oven and stove-top going at the same time to get things done quicker.

2. Be PREPARED for the unexpected!!! When you have little ones at home, you can pretty much plan on something happening that will keep you from getting as much done as you had planned. For example; a fussy baby that just wants to be held. It is really hard to assemble burritos while holding a flailing child. Another example would be kids puking all over your house the night before you start your OAMC. (This one REALLY slows down the process!)

3. Be PREPARED to be really tired!!! I fell asleep on the couch at 8:00 last night and did not get up until almost 8:00 this morning. I know - I am a loser but that is just how tired I was.

4. Be PREPARED to feel like you really accomplished something big!!! I might be tired and my kitchen may be a little messy and my kids might have been a little neglected for a few days but I am really pleased at everything that I was able to get done! I know that for the next month I am going to have healthy, budget-friendly, and wholesome meals ready to serve to my family.

Check back tomorrow for recipes and Weight Watcher's points values for all of the meals that I prepared!

Yesterday's OAMC Results

Well, I thought that yesterday was going to be a total bust (with the stomach flu hitting our house and all) but as it turns out, I was actually able to cross a lot of things off of my OAMC master plan. I am still cooking away today, but I think we are going to be able to get it all finished up by late this afternoon! Yay! Check out yesterday's cooking results:

I've got my batch of brown rice cooling and my whole wheat waffles cooking....

 

The yummy pinto beans are cooling while I cook up some whole wheat spaghetti for spaghetti pie......

I have the shredded zucchini thawing out on the counter while the waffles cool down on racks...

 

Ta Da! Two baked spaghetti pies!

Ta Da! Two Chicken, Rice and Spinach Casseroles!

 

Ta Da! This is what I was left with when all the cooking was done!

Here is what is on the agenda for today:

Cook one batch of pinto beans (in progress)

Puree beans from yesterday to make refried beans

Assemble bean, rice and cheese burritos

Throw together a double batch of chili (beans and hamburger are ready to go)

Cook up black beans and freeze

Cook up chickpeas and freeze

Cook up small red beans and freeze

Hey- it's a "beans and rice" kind of life in this house!

Make a double batch of whole wheat pizza dough and freeze

Make cookies

Make rhubarb shortcake muffins

Make double batch of zucchini bread

Okay, I'm starting to panic a little now. That list is a little bit bigger than I thought it was going to be. Time to get my rear end in gear and get BUSY! I'll post my final OAMC results tonight (if I don't fall asleep on the couch at 8:00 like I did last night. Oops.)

OAMC - Almost a Disaster!

Wow. I had really expected to have a lot more done by 3:00 today. I had really intended to start cooking right away this morning and maybe even be working on cleaning up by now. I had really NOT planned on two of my kiddos getting up in the middle of the night with the stomach flu. UGH! After cleaning beds and sheets and doing laundry and bathing four kids, I was FINALLY able to start my master plan around 11:00 today. I realized that I had forgotten to soak the pinto beans overnight so I had to do a quick-soak method right away and get those cooking. Then, because I only have one large pan, I had to wait for the beans to finish cooking so that I could get the spaghetti cooking for spaghetti pie (remind me to pick up another one of these if ever I see a good sale would ya?). I made about 24 whole wheat belgian waffles, 2 spaghetti pies, 2 chicken, rice and spinach casseroles, a whole bunch of pinto beans (to be made into refried beans later) and 9 cups of cooked, brown rice. Okay, so I guess I did get quite a bit accomplished, huh? Check back later tonight for some pictures of everything that I made today!