Friday, January 21, 2011

Full Circle Farms Produce

I am always looking for ways to save money on produce.  That is one area that I really cannot use coupons (on a regular basis at least) and that you can't really stockpile (other than being able to freeze or can some items).  I heard about this Full Circle Farms from Tiffany Dirks at Become Shoppertunistic and decided to give it a shot.  This is the "Who We Are" from their website:

"Full Circle is an organic farm and produce delivery service located just 30 miles outside of Seattle, Washington. We cultivate and distribute our good food to subscribing members and the general public. Our history is rooted in a successful Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and the same traditions and values direct our practice today.
Full Circle's farms span 400 acres of farmland and grows over 50 crops and 200 varieties of produce. We deliver to customers throughout the greater Puget Sound and Alaska hungry for the best tasting, healthiest food possible."

You can get produce from them weekly or biweekly and they have options for Standard Size ($32 a week, feeds two adults and probably a young child or two) or a Family Size ($41 a week, feeds 4).  This "per week" is only for the weeks you get produce, so if you get it biweekly, it would only be $32/$41 every other week!!

This is what they say about the contents of their orders:

"Each order contains between 10-12 fruits, vegetables, and herbs, with the amount of each item increasing from the Regular to the Family size. Contents will vary to bring you a balance of variety and staples from week to week, depending on seasonality, availability, quality and pricing.
For Example
The following list details contents in a Standard Box received by our members in the last month. And to make sure you receive food you love to eat, we offer several options for substituting and/or adding items to your order.

Red Leaf Lettuce Full Circle
Baby Red Beets Full Circle
Green Chard Full Circle
Celery Full Circle
Baby Bok Choy Full Circle
Yellow Onions Washington
Carrots Washington
Lemon Cucumbers Full Circle
Fire Dapple Pluots Washington
Yellow Flesh Nectarines Washington
Peaches Washington
Cantaloupe Washington"


That is A LOT of produce for $32!  I decided to go with the Family size because we have 4 very active eaters at our house who love produce.  I normally spend at least $100 every other week in produce, so this is going to be a HUGE savings!   

They do not actually deliver to your door in the Thurston County area yet, but they do have several "drop off" locations around town.  I picked one that is probably only about 10 minutes from here, and I figure I would be spending that much time at least going to the store and picking out produce, checking out, etc.  They also have drop off locations in the Seattle Metro Area, Eastern King County, Snohomish County, Pierce County, and Kitsap County.  And I am pretty sure that they do deliver to quite a few areas (just not here yet).  Delivery is $3 more per week than pick up.

You are able to make substitutions before the delivery goes out and you can have a list of permanent things "blocked" if there are veggies/fruits you know you will never eat.  AND if you are not satisfied with any part of your order, you can let them know and they will credit your account!  Also, you are not obligated to continue the service if you don't want to.  You can cancel at any time for any reason.  :)

If this is something that might interest you and you decide to sign up (at FULL CIRCLE FARMS), PLEASE let them know that I (Sandra Shaw) referred you!  For each friend that is referred, they offer a $30 credit on my next bill(s)!  I would absolutely LOVE you for it!!  :)  Thanks!!  :)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Get $20 in magazine subscriptions for $3-$8

Deal Pulp is another new daily deal site.  Today they are offering $20 worth of magazine subscriptions from Discount Mag for $8.  If you signed up with them a couple of weeks ago, you were able to get a $5 credit (and you might still be able to, I don't know since I did a couple of weeks ago), so it would be $20 for $3!!

Review of Tinbucktuna

I think the best explanation for Tinbucktuna would be it is a skillet version of Tuna Noodle Casserole.  I thought it was pretty good.  Could have maybe used a little bit more flavor (maybe like some salt?), but super easy and fast to make!

I made this meal, start to finish, with a green salad for the side, in under 30 minutes.  I LOVE these kind of meals!  It also didn't take a whole bunch of ingredients that were hard to find or that had to be prepped.  The only vegetable that I had to actually chop was the onion, but other than that, everything else was frozen or canned/packaged.  I know that sometimes this isn't the way you really want to go with your meals, but some days it is just easier and some days I just really need easier!

The recipe did come from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry Cookbook, so it is a lighter version of the regular old Tuna Noodle Casserole.  I think the recipe does call for whole grain pasta (I used the vegetable pasta again), light cheeses, lower fat condensed cream of mushroom soup, and light sour cream.  I used some stuff "light" and some regular because I was going with what I had in my pantry.  I am sure if you used all the "light" ingredients, it would definitely cut down on some calories!! 

My whole family seemed to like this meal, so I think I will be making it again.  Probably on another day that a fast, easy meal needs to be made!  :)

Parents Magazine 1 Year Subscription for $1.09!!

Wow!  What a smokin' hot deal!  You can get a 1 year subscription to Parents Magazine for $1 plus tax, so $1.09!!  And, if you do it through ebates, you get an additional 4% back (in the form of a check, see this post for explanation) and if you are new to ebates, you automatically get $5 credit making this FREE!  This magazine always has some great coupons in it (like 20% off Gymboree or Amazon) and some pretty neat articles/crafts/ recipes.



Here is how you do it:

1.  Go to Ebates, register if you are a new user and then search for Barnes and Noble.  Go to Barnes and Noble from the Ebates site

OR

1.  Go directly to Barnes and Noble

2.  If that link does not automatically take you to the Parents magazine, search for it.

3.  Add it to your cart and begin checkout

4.  Use coupon code K9B9J4H.  This will drop the price down to $1 (you have to go to the last step before actually purchasing it to see it) plus tax.  Shipping is free.

It says that the subscription should start in 6-10 weeks.  :)




Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Target Trip

So, I went to Target this morning because I had heard that they were having some pretty fantastic deals/sales.  They are, but I think that they are starting to pull some of the stuff because it was pretty hard to find the clearance and yesterday's pictures off of other people's blogs showed aisles of clearanced items.  Oh well.  I had seen some free/cheap deals that I wanted to take advantage of.  I ended up spending $10.54 plus tax, but I saved $39.45.  Not too bad.  My goal is always to save at least 50%.  Here is what I got:

Transaction #1

Scrubbing Bubbles (Originally $6.99)-
      On clearance for $5.94-$1/1 Target Coupon and $5/1 from the Sunday Paper = $0.44

Quaker Oats
      $2.14-$1/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 from the Sunday paper = $0.14

GE Reveal CFL Bulb
     On sale for $5-$1.50/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 from the Sunday paper = $2.50

GE Energy Smart CFL Bulb
     $4.04-$1/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 from the Sunday paper = $2.04

Halls Cough Drops
    $1.19-$0.50/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 here = FREE

Tax  $1.10
TOTAL OOP $5.91 (less than the Scrubbing Bubbles were originally!)

Transaction #2

Scrubbing Bubbles (Originally $6.99)-
      On clearance for $5.94-$1/1 Target Coupon and $5/1 from the Sunday Paper = $0.44

Quaker Oats
      $2.14-$1/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 from the Sunday paper = $0.14

GE Reveal CFL Bulb
     On sale for $5-$1.50/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 from the Sunday paper = $2.50

GE Energy Smart CFL Bulb
     $4.04-$1/1 Target Coupon and $1/1 from the Sunday paper = $2.04

Halls Cough Drops
    $1.19-$0.50/1 Target Coupon and $0.50/1 from All You Magazine = $0.19

Reach Dental Floss
    $0.97-$1/1 from here = FREE

4 Hartz Crunch and Clean Cat Treats
    On sale for $1.49-$1.50/1 coupon from the Sunday paper = 4 FREE

Hartz Crunch and Clean Dog Treats (would have gotten 4, but they only had 1 :( )
    On sale for $2.49-$2/1 coupon from Sunday paper = $0.49

Tax  $1.92
TOTAL OOP  $7.65

There was also a deal for Garnier Nutri-pure Towlettes.  They are on sale for $4.04.  Target has a coupon for $2/1 and there was a $2/1 coupon from the Sunday paper so this would make these $0.04!  No wonder they were all gone!

To see which Sunday papers those coupons were from go to We Use Coupons and look them up in their coupon database.  It will then tell you all the different places a certain coupon can be found (or if you are looking for a coupon, it will tell you if there are any, etc.).  :)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Strategic Shopping Seminar

I am hosting a Strategic Shopping Seminar next Friday (the 28th) here at my house. It is from 7-8:30.  If you would be interested in attending, please shoot me an email and I can give you the link for registration.  You can find out more about the seminar and Tiffany Dirks (the lady teaching it) at www.glammore.com.  The seminar does cost $10, but she guarantees that you will make your money back within the first week in savings.  :)

Agoo (similar to Baby Legs) Warehouse Sale

Agoo is having a warehouse sale right now on all their leggings for boys and girls!  Their leggings are $3 instead of $12!  Agoo leggings are made out of bamboo and are super soft!  I think I might even like them better than Baby Legs, but their selection isn't as big.  Click here to view the sale.

I have a boy, but I still LOVE to put these on him.  They not only keep his legs warm in the winter by adding an extra layer of clothing under his pants (kind of like a onesie for the legs), it also keeps his legs warm when I have to change his diaper.  They will be great when he starts crawling because they will protect his knees.  I am also looking forward to using them in the spring when it is kind of warm, but not warm enough to just wear shorts.  I can put these on under the shorts and he will be warm enough.  Here are some pictures of him in his Baby Legs.  Like I said, Agoo is a similar product, but they are up in Canada.