When you buy a Frosty® key tag, not only do you get a year of free Frosty, but 85% of proceeds go to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption® to help children waiting in foster care find forever homes. Getting a Frosty is always a good thing to do, but this time of year, it’s also the right thing to do. Order one online here (or check with your local Wendy’s location).
Fine Print: *Limited time only at participating U.S. Wendy’s. 85% of every Frosty Key Tag sold between 11/25/19-1/31/20 will benefit the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Key tag price may vary in select markets. Key Tags valid from 1/1/2020–12/31/2020. One free Jr. Frosty per visit with any purchase.
This week is Thanksgiving here in the US, so the kids are off school all week, and I’ve got tons of fun stuff planned! Zoo, making Turkey Cookies with the kids and my niece, playing at the park, and of course, daily visits to the YMCA. Meals will probably be light because we’re super stoked for all the yummy treats on Thursday. I’m taking this dish on Thursday!
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. Last week I did a lot of veggie prep and I’ve got a bunch of bags of veggies in the freezer for meals this week.
Monday: Breakfast for dinner: Smoothies and Dave’s Killer Bagels with Cream cheese.
Tuesday: Quesadillas, green salad, fruit
Wednesday: Chicken and Veggie soup
Thursday: THANKSGIVING FEAST WITH FAMILY
Friday: Some sort of Thanksgiving leftover based meal (perhaps a Moist Maker Sandwich- Friends fans know what I mean)
Saturday: Pizza time (also salad will be served)
Sunday: Leftovers, as per usual
I had someone ask me how we always have enough of anything for leftovers. I always cook enough of the main dish for 6-8 servings, that way we have leftovers for lunches later in the week or leftover night. And really when you make stuff like soup, it’s hard to make a batch of soup that only feeds 4 people.
Talk Back: What are you planning to cook this week?
I’ve written before about how awesome TopCashBack is, and right now if you haven’t checked it out, you can score a Rubbermaid TakeAlongs Food Storage Containers, 40 Piece Set, Ruby Red for free (after cashback)!
It’s quick and easy! Purchase is Required to Obtain Deal.
How do you get it? Visit Walmart through TopCashback, purchase a Rubbermaid TakeAlongs Food Storage Containers, 40 Piece Set, Ruby Red for $9.97 and then shop as normal. Within fourteen days $9.98 cashback will post in your TopCashback account.
Who qualifies for it? This offer is available to TopCashback members with no previous purchases or cashback through TopCashback only. However as TopCashback doesn’t limit accounts to one per household, if you’re an existing member now’s the perfect time to tell your husband or wife, mom or dad, roommate, neighbor or anyone else about TopCashback and perhaps they’ll share their freebie with you.
When do you get your money back? Within 14 days the $9.98 will turn payable in your TopCashback account and you can choose your payout method at that time.
Is there anything else important to know? Transactions must contain at least one Rubbermaid TakeAlongs Food Storage Containers, 40 Piece Set, Ruby Red from Walmart priced at $9.98 to ensure $9.98 cashback is credited to TopCashback accounts. If a different item is purchased under $9.97, the cashback amount awarded will be 1% or less (depending on the item(s) purchased) instead of $9.97.
The deal is:
Open until 23:59 PST on Friday, December 27th
Subject to Walmart’s Stock supplies and availability
Applicable for online sales only, for purchases made directly after clicking through TopCashback.com
Only one TopCashback account is permitted per member
I know a lot of you are excited about Black Friday shopping. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Because the shops are open, that means that some workers don’t get to have Thanksgiving dinner with their families. They spend the day stocking shelves and preparing the stores for Black Friday. Be kind and give them grace.
Workers are people, not robots. Don’t be rude to them.
Most workers do not want to work on Black Friday, because of the crowds, rush, and mass hysteria that Black Friday has become.
I will be posting some Black Friday deals, Cyber Monday Deals, and Giving Tuesday. Some of these will be affiliate deals where I can earn a commission (gotta pay the bills somehow), some will be deals I think are great but I earn no commission, and Giving Tuesday deals and offers will be ways you can help local charities.
I won’t be turning the blog into OMG!!11!! BLACK FRIDAY!!11!!, but there will be one or two deals daily, or whenever they land in my email inbox that seems interesting or cool.
It’s Friday, and holy moly, do I have a busy weekend coming up! Tomorrow I’ve got a full-day conference, and on Sunday I’m going to a cooks and cooking meet up!
These deals are only good at select stores, so check on each offer before adding it to ensure that you can redeem it at a store near you. Here is an example of one of the offers:
Each offer has it’s own terms, including at which stores the offer is valid. While this won’t replace my use of any of my other apps, it is a nice addition.
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I love Dosh- It’s a cashback app that’s a little different from the others out there (You can get the full details here).
Now through 12/5/19, when you refer 5 friends and they link their card, you’ll get $60 cash back in your Dosh Wallet. $60 is a great addition to the holiday budget!
If you are new to Dosh, I love this app because there are all kinds of restaurants and stores that aren’t available on other apps (including Dunkin’ Donuts and KFC). Get started here.
To facilitate this review, the awesome folks at Dinnerly provided our family with 3 meals (4-6 servings each). I received no financial compensation to write this review- All opinions are my own.
I’ve reviewed dinner/meal kits before, and my complaint is always that they are so expensive, upwards of $10 per person, per meal. At that point, I better be going out to dinner, and I am not washing dishes! Secondly, the meals are usually not child-friendly, especially if you have a kid on the spectrum (like we do), who also happens to be a vegetarian.
Enter Dinnerly! At $4.49 per adult-sized serving, Dinnerly is so much less expensive than other meal kits. But how? digital recipe cards instead of paper, fewer ingredients per dish (which means less chopping and cleaning), simple packaging, and no fancy marketing campaigns.
The big kid and I looked at the website and he chose two meat-free recipes, and I chose one with meat.
Mediterranean Meatball Stew with Carrots & Couscous
Coconut Curry Ramen with Snow Peas & Jammy Eggs
Baked Squash & Kale Risotto with Parmesan
What I really like is that the recipe tells you what is in the kit for your recipe, and what you will need from your own kitchen (and trust me, it’s nothing special or fancy).
The directions are great for those who don’t have a lot of cooking experience. My 8-year-old was able to read the steps and follow them. He helped me cook the Risotto, and he measured, stirred, poured, and ripped up the kale into bite-sized pieces.
The 4-6 adult-sized servings are pretty generous, by the way. With every meal, there were closer to 7 servings. I always serve side dishes with the main dish. Most nights we had salad or some kind of veggie side dish. When we had ramen, I picked up a bag of pork potstickers from 99 Cents Only for the grown-ups, and also made a miso dressing coleslaw. If you want to stretch meals further, I suggest adding sides, or maybe sneaking in some extra veggies (I added 1 cup of peeled, diced crook-neck squash to the Mediterranean Meatball Stew).
Tamari Sauce for Ramen
Some of the recipes needed a little “kick”- especially the ramen- so we added ginger, red chili flakes, and a bay leaf to the broth. BUT, since everyone has different levels of spice tolerance, Dinnerly Kits are a great place to start if you want to explore different flavors and cultures without having the buy a bunch of new and/or different spices. For example, the ramen kit comes with two of these cute little packages of Tamari sauce. I did clean one of them out when I was done and now it’s in the kid’s toy kitchen.
Everything is pre-measured and ready to go, even the spices. This is another reason I love Dinnerly- It cuts down on food waste.
The veggies are all super fresh and ready to be cut up! The risotto came with two little cubes of parmesan cheese, that my 8-year-old grated and sprinkled like a pro!
I made the Mediterranean Meatball Stew with Carrots & Couscous and took it to a friend for a night in. It was cheaper, healthier, and tastier than stopping to grab takeout. It was so tasty and filling.
If you want to check out Dinnerly, they have been nice enough to create a promo code just for my readers! The code to use at check out is hewesfamily15, and it’s active through the first week of December and only valid for first-time users. The coupon code is worth 15% off! To get started, visit Dinnerly here.
I think Dinnerly would also make a great gift for a family that just has a baby, or someone who might need a little love.
Butternut Squash & Kale RisottoCoconut Curry RamenMeatball Stew and Cous Cous
99 Cents Only has been running special deals each Tuesday for the past month or so. Sometimes it’s meh, but I am excited about this week’s deal.
It’s a perfect deal, with Thanksgiving coming up next week. Today only, bottles of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider are just $0.99 each! Limit four per household. Shop Dealsday in every store, while supplies last.
To learn more about Dealsday, and sign up to win a $100 99 Cents Only Gift card, click here.
I love shopping at 99 Cents Only. I save money on groceries each week, buying the same name brand snacks and treats that are sold at major grocery chains.
I know a lot of you are excited about Black Friday shopping. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
What I really like is that the recipe tells you what is in the kit for your recipe, and what you will need from your own kitchen (and trust me, it’s nothing special or fancy).
The veggies are all super fresh and ready to be cut up! The risotto came with two little cubes of parmesan cheese, that my 8-year-old grated and sprinkled like a pro!
It’s a perfect deal, with Thanksgiving coming up next week. Today only, bottles of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider are just $0.99 each! Limit four per household. Shop Dealsday in every store, while supplies last.
Hewes Family Fun 