I seemed to be the only one in my family who picked up the frugal 'gene.' I have a list of 'plan -overs' to transform baked, roasted or fried foods into a casserole, savory pie, stew, chili, gumbo, chowder, or soup. As a working wife/mother that system was more important as a time saver than even the money. It is too horrid to walk in to 3 guys who say they are 'starving' and trying to get a full meal on the table in an hour so everyone can rush to their activity.

A crock pot, blender/whizzer and a few zip bags can keep meals going like a carousel. Leftovers simmering in a crock pot both eliminates things going rotten in the veg bin/back of fridge while staving off the urge to eat junk food when home made soup gives off such yum aromas.

SO pleased with myself. Back in September, I bought 3 Living Social deals for Whole Foods. I paid $10 for each one and got a $20 gift certificate for each to use.

I was going to buy 2 fresh turkeys at Trader Joe's this week for $1.99/lb which would have been about $60.

Whole Foods just opened here in town and had a Folsom only special. Free-range, fresh turkeys for 99 cents a lb PLUS I had the certificates.

Got 2 15-16# turkeys, a 48 pack of very awesome spinach/cheese ravioli from SF, a gallon of organic milk, scallions, red cabbage, 4 avocados, 1/3lb of shrimp and a baguette of sourdough bread for $15.44! Since I had already paid for the certificates in Sept budget, even the $20 didn't come out of this month.

AND I still have a certificate for $20 left.

Canadagirl: Thank you for answering my question. It certainly did help.

Kimberly: That's a great deal and wonderful shopping.

Blessmymess, BeagleLady, Tinytina, and Cyd: Thanks for posting and sharing your ideas, as well.

I bought groceris on November 15th. I was able to really utilize some sales and coupons and really stretched my dollars. For meat I bought 10 pounds of ground beef, 5 pounds of stew meat, two 15 pound turkeys, an 8 lb ham and a big package of fish.

I'll need to do a little bit of stocking up due to a holiday party, and my DH going in for surgery in 12 days. I would like to have some premade food for breakfasts and get everything else done for the holiday season. In addition to my DH having surgery, my nephew will be having two surgeries in my town, his Dad will be having a surgery a week later in my town, my DH will then be having surgery as well. Another brother had surgery yesterday. (It's been quite a year.)

I already have a meatloaf, two lasagnas and 3 pans of stuffed shells in the freezer. I have ingredients for a tasty stroganoff, fish, plus several pots of soup. I do have some beans that need to be processed for some easy soup and Mexican inspired meals.

This weekend I would like to do some breakfast english muffin sandwiches, breakfast burritoes, and get some yogurt. That will help expedite our mornings.

Now I feel that I have a game plan.

Striving, quite a strssful holiday season with all those surgeries....remember to take care of you while you are helping everyone else. Good planning on freezer meals too.

Bless, loved all the suggestions on meals/waste. I have found that for me, if I am shopping and buying the staples that I use all the time, the waste is minimal in my house too. We splurged for Thanksgiving weekend. SO picked up a couple of pounds of shrimp on sale, so for a ten dollar splurge, we got to snack all weekend. Already had horseradish, catsup and worcestershire in the house so the sauce was here.

Still watching sales. Loving the loss leader items in a big way.
Picked up the following for just $17.38.

2.5 lbs bananas
8 cans water packed tuna(49@)
3 cans each of tomato & chix noodle soups(19 cents @)
6 packs mac and cheese (also 19 cents @)
2 lbs each ekrich salami and bologna(99 cent a pound)
wheat bread
24 cans diet soda ($1.49/12)

Planning a couple trips back as the lunch meat freezes great and is a good lunch item with the soup that I will also be stocking up on and the tuna too(and the tuna is a name brand!) Will spend another $2.49 today for sub buns and will do subs for dinner with the meats and last of other meats and cheese and lettuce in fridge. So my cost for Subway style subs will be about$4 versus the $10 I would spend there....and I will have buns and meats for about 4 more sandwiches!

SO loved his first trip to Olga's, a local restaurant with greek style foods, gyros/salads and such, so gave me money to pick up gift cards at Costco....$70 for $100 of cards, even better than the restaurant itself is offering, and that will be four trips out for us. A trip to Aldi's today for milk at $1.99/gal, coffee cream at $2.19/qt, and eggs at $1.29 should take care of the shopping for the week. Figuring that $30 will finish stocking up on all the sales and needed items.

Striving: That's a lot of surgeries in a short period of time and over the holidays, to boot! Hope all the surgeries proceed smoothly and everyone heals completely, without any complications.

Definitely a good idea to have some premade meals ready in the freezer for those days when you have your hands full with other things.

BL: Those are some great loss leader prices! I was able to buy tuna at $.50/can, earlier this year (around the time of lent) and I stocked up then. Bought about 20 cans - I still have about 10 left.

I have been eating the leftovers from the weekend's prayer meeting dinner, this whole week. I froze some items for future use, but certain things don't freeze well and this way, I haven't had to cook all week!

The plan is to use up as much as I can, in order to clear the fridge, because I am having another prayer meeting in approx. 10 days!

I went shopping today and I don't even want to think about how much money I spent (the joys of northern living) but I know I have enough for the two weeks until I go out plus a few extras for a potluck, Christmas baking for my students, and a sale price on pop. Plus being able to walk across the ice and the sled make groceries alot easier.

I need to make a cupboard and freezer inventory list this week so I know what I need to buy and ship up at the beginning of Jan.

yes bless, those loss leaders are great. I actually made 2 more trips back to the store for the soups, tuna, mac and cheese, and soda so I got them stocked up. Since I got a new microwave for over the stove(stainless, over the stove for under $100....tg for black friday specials-saved $300!!), I will be able to move the table top one back downstairs. The small cabinet it was on also went downstairs and a larger one I already came up as a secondary pantry(the first one is tiny).

This week keeping shopping to a minimum. Milk $1.79/gal, 10 low carb high protein yogurt $4, and a splurge on some archway cashew nougat cookies at $2.29(also on sale)

Made a great dinner with things from the fridge/freezer, a sort of mediterranean style chicken. Garden tomatoes from the freezer were the sauce base, garlic, lots of seasonings, balsamic vinegar salad dressing, diced tomatoes, kalamata olives, carrots, onion(red and white), fresh broccoli, and feta cheese. Served with some leftover pierogi and made a batch of couscous too. Total cost for this was zero as all was in the house. SO loved it soo much he had 2 huge plate fulls. We both have lunch today and we have dinner tomorrow as well.

I also bought a pound of shredded cheddar $3, a pound of butter $2, to add to the flour in the freezer so I can make some cheese it style cookies for a get together we have to go to. Figure a $5 investment yields about twelve to fourteen dozen biscuits and they taste like cheezit crackers, only better because they are homemade.

I haven't bought too much groceries since the almsgiving; just some fish and shrimp that were on sale, milk, etc. And cat food! I go through a 16 lb. bag every week, just for the outdoor cats (& 2 resident possums!)

I've just picked up some perishables, since my huge November trip to the store.

Two weekends ago I used up two of the lasagnas when we had weekend guests. I still have stuffed shells to eat.

Monday evening we had creamed potatoes with hamburger gravy, green beans and a fruit salad. Last night I made vegetable beef soup with biscuits and sliced fruit.

Tonight we may finish the soup or have macaroni and cheese for dinner. We have a meeting to attend, so it's a fast night.

I still have two turkeys in the freezer. Plus there is some ham and a ham bone. I believe there are a couple of packages of salmon as well. After Christmas, I'll have to make a big list of what I do have and build up from there.

I do need to buy some french bread, pretzels rods, bratwurst, and asparagus for the fondue dinner we're having on Christmas Eve. In addition, we'll do marshmallows, pretzels, pound cake, bananas, pineapple, apple/pear slices for the chocolate fondue, for dessert.

I'm in charge of Christmas Day breakfast, too. I have most of the items for that. We're having Southweestern style egg stratas, with cherry coffee cake, and a Christmas fruit salad: kiwi, honeydew, green grapes, raspberries, red grapes and pomegranate. We'll have either cranberry or pomegranate spritzers to drink.

Striving, your fondue dinner sounds lovely! I especially like the dessert part of it!

Stopped at the grocery store, yesterday p.m., and picked up 2 15lb. bags of cat food (store brand, the cheapest there was, $10.59@), 1 gal. milk ($3.29) and 2 boxes of cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios & Corn Chex; on sale for $1.99@).

Today we are having a holiday potluck at the office and I made a lentil curry as my contribution; I like to provide an alternative protein for those who are vegetarian.

Next week, I'll be hosting visiting relatives who are vegetarian (but not vegan; they take dairy although I don't know if they eat eggs - will find out). Even though DD and I are not vegetarian, I think we will adopt a vegetarian diet for the duration, ourselves. I know my DD won't mind it (she loves her vegetables) and it'll be quite healthy, too.