Even on my very limited budget, I’ve still managed to procure a few great deals…

To save money and packaging, I buy big bags of chips, pretzels, tortilla chips, etc. Then I repack them in small plastic containers for lunches. More often, however, I was packing them into snack size zip top baggies because they take up less room in Michael’s lunch bag. So I saved money on the chips, but was wasting money and plastic with the baggies. There had to be a thrifty solution. I bought vinyl zip top binder pouches. They have a plastic slider like expensive zip top bags. They are easy to wash. They don’t take up much space. Office Depot had them on sale as a back to school loss leader for the ridiculous price of one penny each. I bought five, so Michael and I each have two, plus one extra.

Herbal Essences hair gel is regularly priced at $2.98 at Big Box Mart. They had it on sale for $2.48. I used my 10% discount card and a coupon for $3.00 off two products. My final cost was 73 cents each.

Goodwill was having a buy one get one free sale on shoes. I haven’t had much luck with shoes in years. But, hey, I’ll give it a shot. I found a pair of Bass sneakers, light blue with stripes like Adidas, that match the new dress code at Big Box Mart. New Bass shoes cost 40 to 65 dollars. My price was $2.25. The other pair is an ugly Aerosoles huarache. I only bought them because they are a really open weave, and the sides are open, but they have a back, so they fit within dress code. I am dying not wearing sandals this year. New Aerosoles retail for 35 to 80 dollars. I did have to buy heel grippers as they were a 1/2 size too big so my final cost was $3.21. Both pairs of shoes are super comfy and that’s the most important part.

I had a coupon for Tennessee Pride sausage. If you bought the sausage, you got $1.00 off ground beef. The sausage was $2.50 a pound. I price matched the ground beef for $1.17. Minus my coupon, it made the sausage and ground beef $1.33 a pound each. I divided each into 1/4 pound portions. So that made each portion 33 cents. (I have a friend who told me she uses a pound of ground beef to make hamburger helper. I told her 1/4 to 1/2 pound was more than enough for two people.)

Green peppers cost 68 cents each. Colored peppers (red, yellow and orange) cost $2.28 each! I found a bag of five peppers on the reduced rack at Meijer for 85 cents or 17 cents each! They were all part green and part yellow or red. They weren’t wrinkly or old. Perhaps they just had too many peppers? I made Michael two stuffed peppers (rice 10 cents , ground beef 33 cents, spaghetti sauce 15 cents, onion 3 cents) for the total cost of 95 cents. The rest of the peppers, I seeded and cut into strips (like you’d use for fajitas). I laid them out on plates and placed them in the freezer overnight. The next day I put them into containers. When I want to use them, like for teriyaki beef and noodles or chicken, rice and peppers, I just take out the amount I need, run them under a little hot water and they are thawed enough for me to dice or add directly to the recipe.

Being thrifty can take some time, but the savings are worth it.