To all my Tampa Bay readers, I have a very very very last minute request of all of you.  For those of you who have overflowing stockpiles, tomorrow my church, Calvary Baptist Church, has their semi-annual Calvary Cares Day where they go throughout the Clearwater area and bless the community. 

I received a call this afternoon that RCS (Religious Community Services) Food Bank in Clearwater is very low on food right now and I was asked to help out.  If you are going to be in the Clearwater area tomorrow (Saturday 9/25) between 8 a.m and 12 pm and if you have non-perishables to donate, my church will be collecting non-perishables, toiletries, pet food, etc etc to bring to RCS.  I realize that this is extremely last minute but anything that you can put together and donate would be a huge blessing.  Below is the address and info for dropping off your donations:

Calvary Baptist Church
110 North McMullen Booth Road,
Clearwater, Florida 33759

Calvary is located on the corner of McMullen Booth Rd & Drew Street.

**Important: Please drop off your groceries on the Drew Street aka High School side of the building. Look for “Calvary Christian High School” which is written on the building. There will be volunteers there ready to take your donations from you so you should be able to pull up into the circular drive and drop off your donations quickly and easily.

I have three great giveaways going on from now through this Sunday night!  Make sure you enter them!  🙂

Addicted to Saving – Aquaterra Salon & Spa in Trinity $190 Spa Package Giveaway

Addicted to Saving – 9 Lives Gift Pack Giveaway

Addicted to Saving – $20.00 Chili’s Gift Card Giveaway

Addicted to Saving Giveaways Reminders

Kraftmaid Dream Kitchen Giveaway

Addicted to Saving – 9 Lives Gift Pack Giveaway

Addicted to Saving – $20.00 Chili’s Gift Card Giveaway

Addicted to Saving – Aquaterra Salon & Spa in Trinity $190 Spa Package Giveaway

https://www.addictedtosaving.com/14940/

Below are some of the highlights from this past week.   (Many of the freebies may be gone now but you might want to check because sometimes the pages reset.) 

Freebies

Free Cottonelle Wipes for you and a friend

Check Your Email for HOT $26.00 Survey

I am receiving my first Ebates Rebate Check

Free $40.00 Leather Photo Book from Picaboo

Receive Free General Mills Samples & Coupons

Free Quaker Life Soft Baked Bars Sample

Win Free Contacts for Life (giveaway is still available, free sample is not)

Free Glade Sense & Spray to first 3,000 Responders

Free Ginnero Chocolate Sample

Free Swiss Miss Cocoa Sample

Free John Frieda Root Awakening Sample

Another/Different Free John Frieda Root Awakening Sample

Free Jergens Overnight Repair Lotion for Viewpoints Members

Free Wisk Sample

Free BioTrue Sample

Free Dove Damage Therapy Daily Moisture Sample

Free Latina Magazine Subscription

Free L’Occitane Divine Eyes Sample

Deals

Cooking from My Stockpile (this isn’t a deal but it is an example of how I cook meals using the food I have in my stockpile:))

$10/$10 Naturalizer Coupon

Disney Club Penguin for Nintendo DS $9.99 (available again)

Ongoing Groupon Deals (most of these deals are available through tonight at 11:59 pm EST)

Wine Enthusiast Magazine $5.52/yr, Automobile Magazine $3.75/yr, Family Fun Magazine $3.75/yr, Parents Magazine $3.75/yr

Coupons

Join Right at Home and Receive High Value Coupons

Sign up to Receive NikeStore Coupons & Offers

*HOT* Breyers, Ben&Jerry’s and Popsicle Publix Store Coupons – if these are still available (I have printed mine so I can not tell) and you shop at Publix, print now

Receive Pampers Coupons, Offers and a chance to win a 1year supply of Pampers

*HOT* Starburst Gummiburst Coupon

New Dannon Yogurt Coupons

New Coldstone Hot Chocolate and Dove Chocolate Coupons

B1G1 Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese Coupon

Hot $0.55/1 Ronzoni Pasta Coupon (will get you Ronzoni pasta this week at Publix for $0.10 or less)

*HOT* $1.00/1 Tidy Cats Coupon and Purina Coupons

*HOT* $1.00/1 Clorox Wipes Coupon

New Home Made Simple Coupon Booklet

*HOT* $1.50/1 Pillsbury Sweet Moments Coupon

$1.00/1 State Fair Corn Dogs Coupon and more

*HOT* B1G1 Wholly Guacamole Coupon

Coupons.com – Print these coupons before they are gone

$2.00/1 Joffrey’s Coffee coupon

B1G1 Edge Coupon and CVS Scenario

New Weight Watchers Printables

$0.50/1 Green Giant Frozen Veggies

New Right Guard and Dove Body Wash Coupon

Today was an awesome package day.  I received the Freshsaver Hand Held Vacuum Sealing System I posted about HERE, I received my five de-luxe lotions and liquid soaps I ordered for a penny each from Drugstore.com (posted about HERE) AND I received the box of delicious cookies I took a picture of!  I ordered the $22.00 Insomnia Cookies Groupon deal (this deal is not going on as of today but I will post next time it is available) and I received my shipment of cookies today!  They are AMAZING.  There are 24 cookies in this box and they are either individually wrapped or wrapped in pairs of twos.  (Like flavors are kepts together so as not to merge flavors.)  I have been LOVING Groupon.  I have taken advantage of so many of their deals lately. 

Have you all received anything fun in the mail lately?  Have you taken advantage of any fun Groupon deals?  Would love to hear!

I know a lot of you probably wonder what I eat.  You will see one Photo Show and Tells where I buy 12 boxes of pasta and Eggo Waffles and then nothing else.  Then you will see another Photo Show and Tell where I buy lots of green beans and zucchinis, buy a ton of chicken broth and then not much else.  Here is the secret to saving money at the grocery store – you have to build up a stockpile.  Stockpiling is basically stocking up on items when they are at rock bottom prices.  This means that when an item can not get any cheaper you should buy as much of it as you will need either before the sales cycle comes around again or before the item’s expiration date.  When you have a stockpile, each week you have the luxury of only buying rock bottom sales price items and necessities like milk and fresh produce. 

Last night I cooked off my stockpile.  I didn’t follow a recipe at all.  I made a “well rounded” meal that consisted of protein, veggies and complex carbs.  And, I have enough of this for us to eat at least two more meals and then maybe even freeze another couple of meals.  I typed up a “rough” ingredient list and recipe of what I made.  I say “rough” because I totally go by taste when I cook and I don’t measure anything – unless I am following a strict recipe.  I am typing this up for you for two reasons 1) so you can get an example of how we eat and 2) so you can see how to throw together a meal using whatever you have on hand.  The main ingredients in this dish is canned beans, pasta sauce, pasta and  fresh veggies.  Who would have though you could use black beans in an Italian dish?  I never would have guessed but it came out amazing.  You can make this too!  Just add your own twists!  Use frozen veggies if you have those on hand, use tortellini or ravioli, throw in cheese, make your stockpile meal the way you would enjoy it! 

**Tip – if you end up trying to follow my recipe – to make a thick pasta fagioli use less water and chicken broth and to make this into more of a minestrone like soup, add more 🙂

Italian Chili or Pasta Fagioli (I haven’t decided what this should be called :))

approx 3T Extra Virgion Olive Oil
1/2 Red Onion
1 Green Pepper
3 Large Zucchini (diced)
5 cloves Garlic
1 cup Red Wine
One Half Used jar of Ragu Pasta Sauce
One Full Jar of Barilla Sauce
1/3 carton College Inn Chicken
1 Can Chickpeas (drained)
1 Can Black Beans (drained)
3/4 Box of Healthy Harvest Pasta
Crushed Red Pepper
Hot Pepper
Black Pepper
Dried Basil

All I did was saute the onion, garlic and green pepper in the olive oil in a large soup pan.  Once everything was cooked through and the onion was translucent, I added red wine to deglaze the pan – you totally don’t have to add the wine but I use wine a lot when I make my own red sauce and enjoy the sweetness it brings.  Then I added the diced zucchini.  To that I added the jar and a half of sauce and seasonings (use more or less of the peppers according to what you like – we like spicy so I added more).  I then added the chickpeas and black beans.  I brought all of this to a boil and then added 3/4 box of pasta.  Once the pasta was cooked, the meal was finished 🙂

Do you have any fun stockpile meals you have concocted? 

https://www.addictedtosaving.com/14114/

Coupons.com has a new $0.75/1 Newman’s Own Salad Dressing coupon and a $1.00/1 Newman’s Own Thin & Crispy Pizza coupon.  (That sounds good right now).  Go HERE to print out your coupons.  Use zipcode 90210 and click category “Foods” to find them quickly.