Super Saving Saturday and Freezer Cooking

I was so excited to pick our first sugar snap peas out of the garden. It was only two handfuls but enough for all of us to have a snack. We should be enjoying peas fresh out of the garden for the next few weeks to come. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen this photo below.

Don’t they look delicious! I have lettuce that is almost ready to harvest and I wrote about our radish failure earlier this week. But one of the readers was nice enough to share that the watermelon radishes should be planted in the summer or fall. So now I know what I did wrong. I planted them too early.

My shopping this week was limited to two stores. I made my big shopping trip to Winco Foods and then I went to pick up a few deals from Safeway. I was too tired after pushing around a shopping cart full of food at Winco Foods to lay it all out to take a photo. I picked up all of our non-perishable items for the next 5 weeks of dinners and I stocked up on staples too. I ended up spending $155. 38. Not too bad for a huge heavy cart of food.

Later in the week I stopped by Safeway to pick up a few deals they had running. I realized after I had waited in line for 10 minutes that I forgot to grab the All detergent and Ziploc bags that were on sale. I didn’t feel like waiting in another long line to go back and get those two items. If I have time before Tuesday, I’ll go back and pick them up if not, I know there will be another sale soon.

For some reason there wasn’t a doubler in this week’s Safeway ad. But I saw that the doubler should be back next week. I could have really used that doubler this week.

 

Safeway Purchases

6.5 pounds Ground Beef $2.99/lb
Ball Park Beef Franks $2.99
Bananas $.69/lb
Turkey Deli Meat $5/lb
Kraft Mayo $2.49 with ad coupon, Used $.50/1 coupon, Paid $1.99
Ken’s Dressing $2.50 each, Used $1/1 coupon, Paid $1.50
KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce $.99
Peanut Butter $1.69 each with in ad coupon
Cookie Crisp Cereal $1.67 each, used $.75/1 coupon, Paid $.92 each

Total Spent $40.24

When I’m able to find a good deal, like the deal I found on ground beef this week, I like to get it ready for the freezer right away. When I came home from shopping, I looked at my menu plan to see how we would be using ground beef for the next month. I’ll need hamburgers three times and six times we will need ground beef for the dinner recipes.

I took the time to make 12 hamburger patties and wrap them into meal sized packages. Then I cooked the rest of the ground beef for our meals for the rest of this month. It took me about a half an hour to get the beef ready for the freezer and it will save me, some time when it comes to getting dinner ready later in the month.

The cooked ground beef I will portion out into meal sized packages, so when I need ground beef for tacos or for spaghetti sauce later this month, I’ll just need to grab a package out of the freezer. All the cooking will be done. I just need to add seasoning or add the ground beef to the pasta sauce making for a simple and quick dinner. This is just one of the ways I keep my freezer stocked with meal starts without having to spend much time in the kitchen.

What are some things you do right when you get home from shopping or soon after that help you to save time later? I would love to hear your tips and tricks in the comments below.

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