My "new" pans

Shawn brought home a surprise the other day. He located these pans while he was working. The pans that are stacked on top of each other share the same lid. I used these Thursday night to cook dinner in. I have included a picture of the bottom of the pans in case anyone knows anything about this brand. There is a lone T-Fal pan. It's the one with the one red spot in the middle.

A House Divided *PIC ADDED

Well, Shawn and I got some interesting looks tonight at Ford Field. Normally football is the name of the game at this stadium. Tonight though it was the site of one of the games of the 2008 ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tonight's game was Michigan State vs North Carolina. As the title of the post indicates, we are a house divided. Shawn was born and raised in Michigan while I was born and raised in North Carolina. We both chose to support our respective teams with our clothing choices tonight. I hope to edit this post tomorrow with pics of our outfits.

MSU put up a valiant effort but UNC took them to school. Final score: UNC 98 - MSU 63. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of Carolina Blue I saw in the crowd. Shawn and I had an enjoyable evening for about $60 (tickets, parking and refreshments). Tonight's game was a test run for the city as Ford Field is the site of the Final Four for this season's NCAA Tournament.

I hope to be seeing my Tarheels back in town in March/April. Also, before I have any haters from the Big 10 say anything, I will root for a Big 10 team as long as they are not playing an ACC team.

Search & Shop For Kids

Ok, the title can be a bit misleading. Some may have noticed that I added something new to my sidebar. The POHI Parents Group that we are involved with for Samantha's school has teamed up with GoodSearch. The button below will link you right to a search page for our organization. The group raises funds to help provide equipment and/or supplies that are necessary for the children but the school may not be able to obtain in their budget.

The way it works is that you would use GoodSearch just as you would use Yahoo!, Google, etc. For each regular search (images searches don't count), the group earns 1 cent. There is also a program called GoodShop. It teams with numerous merchants. You would go to the merchant's website through a link with GoodShop and a portion of your purchase would be donated to the group.

Feel free to look at the site and make up your own mind. If you have any questions please ask. I will answer any question asked. If I don't know the answer, I will find it for you.

C.O.R.N.

We had some interesting meals this weekend and lots of leftovers. I decided to have a CORN (Clean Out Refrigerator Night) dinner.

I combined:

1 lb box of uncooked radiatore
1 cup (?) cubed ham (not sure on amount, just cubed up some from the half ham we had this weekend)
1/2 jar salsa
1/2 can black olives (I sliced them up)
1 small onion sliced
1 can tomato soup
1 can water
leftover chili with beans that Shawn & Nick used when trying to make nachos this weekend
shredded colby cheese

I combined them all in a 9x13 casserole dish and currently have it in the oven at 350 degrees. We'll see how it comes out.

Another Kroger Trip

I got home from yesterday's trip and sat down with my coupons and started matching things up. I went today armed with a whole pile of coupons. I felt sorry for the person behind me although both them and the cashier asked me to write down the websites for ShortCuts and CellFire.

Here's what I got today. I started writing down prices and coupons I used but stopped partway through. I'll post totals at the end.

1 box Corn Chex

1 box Rice Chex

2 box Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa mix

1 bottle Tabasco sauce

3 Betty Crocker cake mix

1 Kotex pads

1 Betty Crocker Frosting

2 cans Libby's pumpkin

1 Suave lotion

2 Colgate toothpastes

2 cans Progresso soup

1 Goody Ouchless ponytail holders

2 5lb Domino sugar

8 cans Kroger sweet peas

4 cans Kroger green beans

4 cans Kroger french style green beans (donated to food drive at storage place to get 10% off rent for the month)

4 cans Kroger corn

10 boxes Uncle Ben's rice

1 box Active Lifestyle instant oatmeal

4 pouches Bettty Crocker potatoes

4 pouches Idahoan potatoes

4 bags Pillsbury frozen dinner rolls

2 cans Reddi Whip

2 boxes GoGurt

1 Pillsbury Dough Sheets

2 Pillsbury Ready To Bake Cookies

3 Buddig Deli Cuts Ham

6 Yoplait yogurt

2 pomegranates

2 cans Grands biscuits

3 cans Crescent rounds

2 boxes Green Giant veggies

1 Kraft Bagel-fuls

1 Pepperidge Farm Texas Toast

2 Coffee Mate liquid creamer

I think I have everything listed. Everything is in the pictures though. Now for the totals.

Total Coupons: $99.45

Total Savings: 58%

Total Spent: $71.72

Target & Kroger

I made a trip to Kroger & Target today. I did pretty good at both stores. I recently discovered ShortCuts and CellFire. Both sites allow you to load E-coupons onto your Kroger loyalty card that you can stack with Manufacturer coupons. They also have coupons on ShortCuts for Kroger brand items. I also found some awesome Manager's Specials (MS) at Kroger.

What I got at Kroger:

1 24 pk Ice Mountain Water - Free with coupon Kroger mailed me
2 loaves Kroger Wheat Bread - $1 for one, $0.49 for one (MS)
1 loaf Jewish Rye Bread - $0.89 (MS)
1 Betty Crocker Frosting - $1.67 minus $0.55 coupon from Shortcuts
2 15 stick packs Juicy Fruit
2 15 stick packs Big Red
2 15 stick packs WinterFresh - All the gums were 10/$10 and there were coupons by them for B1G1
2 14 piece packs Orbit gum - $1.19/pack on B1G1 special
5 Honeycrisp apples - $1.98/lb. - $5.17 minus $1.50 off $5 of fresh fruit from Kroger mailing
3 cans Pilsbury Crescent rolls - 3/$5 minus 2 $0.50 Shortcuts coupons and $0.75/3 Blinkie
2 boxes Green Giant Veggies - 10/$10 minus $0.50 Shortcuts coupon
2 Healthy Choice microwave soups - They rang up $2.69 but I thought they were a different price. I did have a $0.45/2 blinkie.
3 Betty Crocker Cake Mixes - 10/$10 minus $0.50 Shortcuts coupon - Looks like they gave me a Shortcuts $0.50 off frosting one off them also
1 Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Cookie Mix - $2.29 minus $0.55 Shortcuts
1 pkg Kroger Shredded Cheese - 3/$5 minus $0.45 Shortcuts
3 pkgs Ore-Ida Steam & Mash potatoes - 2/$6 minus $1 Shortcuts, 2 $1 manuf. coupons and 1 manuf coupon for B2G1 (We weren't that impressed when I tried them for SheSpeaks but for $1/pkg we'll take them)
1 pkg Private Selection German Chocolate cake ice cream - $2.50 minus $0.75 Shortcuts
2 Pilsbury Ready to Bake Cookies - 2/$5 minus $0.50 Shortcuts and $1.50/2 Blinkie
1 box Active Lifestyle Instant Oatmeal - $1.99 Free with E-coupon from Cellfire
2 12 oz pkgs of deli style Honey Ham lunch meat - $0.99 each (MS)
4 pkgs Kraft 2% chunk cheese (Colby) - $0.65 each (MS)
2 pkgs Kraft 2% chunk cheese (Mild Cheddar) - $0.75 each (MS)
2 pkgs Kraft 2% chunk cheese (Sharp Cheddar) - $0.50 each (MS)
1 box Peperidge Farm Texas Toast - $2.50 minus $1 Cellfire
1 Old El Paso Enchilada Dinner Kit - $3.19 minus $0.50 Shortcuts

Total Spent (after $9.50 bottle return and $0.25 bag credit): $32.82


Target's haul was much smaller but was better overall savings I think.

2 3.5 lb bags of Kitten Chow - $4.19 each minus $4 internet coupon for each
2 bags Friskies cat treats - $2.89 each minus $3 internet coupon for each
1 pkg Goody Ouchless ponytail holders - $2.19 minus $2 internet coupon
1 bag Flat Earth Veggie Crisps - $2.50 minus $1 peelie
2 boxes Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic Taters - $0.79 each minus $1/2 manuf. coupon
1 box Market Pantry tea bags - $1.87

I do get a 10% discount at Target due to my job. I had a total discount of $2.14. There is also no tax on food in Michigan. I did pay $0.88 tax on the cat products that I will be giving to my Mother-in-law who recently got a new kitten.

Total paid at Target: $3.04

Having Some Fun With Santa

Those from KF will get a kick out of this: