cooking

6/13/2025 Weekly Freebies and Deals!

Abby H.

We’re free! School is over for the year, and the kids and I are so excited for tons of adventures.

Here are a few ways that we will be having fun and being frugal:

  • The Summer Library Reading Program post can be found here.
  • Fun Free Summer Activities for Tweens and Teens here.
  • The Summer Movie Deals can be found here.
  • Don’t forget about Cheap Stuff to do with Tweens and Teens here.
  • Kids Bowl Free is back for 2025- More info here.

I’ve updated my list of freebies for birthdays in 2025, which you can find here.

For free food resources, please refer to my comprehensive list, available here. It is focused on San Diego County, but additional resources are outside my area.

Let’s get onto the Freebies!!

Freebies:

FREE Happy Hippo Sample Pack
FREE Ocean Spray Bold Snacking Chatterbuy Kit
FREE Air Wick Plug In Scented Oil Advanced Gadgets After Walmart Cash (Get 3 Free)
FREE Toucan Mobile Workshop at Home Depot
Free Baby Samples & Full Sized Products from Amazon
FREE 8×10 Photo at Walgreens
FREE NESCAFE Espresso Lemonade Kit on June 13th, 20th & 27th
FREE Sample of TEMPTATIONS Cat Treats
FREE Frozen Drink at Casey’s Every Friday in May thru August
FREE GoVerden Guac It Up Chatterbuy Kit
FREE OLAY Cleansing Melts
T-Mobile Tuesdays – FREE Large Slurpee, FREE Grill Spatula & More
FREE Pair of Garden Snips at Lowe’s
How to Score Free Feminine Hygiene Products and Save on Essentials
Father’s Day Freebies & Deals RoundUp
FREE Movie Ticket to The Unholy Trinity
FREE Full-Size CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 50
FREE Powered by Love Sticker
FREE Samples of Maneuver Men’s Grooming Products
Get The Top 17 Free Baby Boxes in 2025: Walmart, Target, Amazon
FREE $25 Purchase at Nike After Cash Back
FREE Diet Cherry Coke at Kroger
Here Are 6 Ways To Get Free Baby Formula Samples
FREE $5 Shop Cash
FREE Royal Canin Chewable Supplements for Dogs Chatterbox Kit
FREE Sample of Nutree Hair Mask
FREE Sample of Moroccanoil L’Originale Eau de Parfum
Over $1 Million in FREE Chipotle During the Summer of Extras Promotion
FREE Sample of AAVRANI Hair Thickening Blowout Primer

 

Deals:

Women’s Dresses on Clearance – Prices From $7.39 at JCPenney!
Father’s Day Gifts as low as $5 at Target – Free Store Pickup!
Additional Service Benefits BJ’s Members Enjoy
Doorbusters Sale at JCPenney: Save up to 60% Off Select Styles
Shop Sneaker Deals – Save on Top Brands Like Adidas, On Cloud, Vans & More
67% Off Kate Spade Sadie Small Crossbody + Free Shipping
13 Bath & Body Works Fragrance Dupes that Smell Just as Good as Luxury Perfumes

Swap your Coffee Shop habit with Protein Coffee

Abby H.
Nothing better than an iced proffee in the morning!

I love coffee, but drinking an iced coffee every morning doesn’t help me stay full or get me to my nutritional goals.

I started drinking a Proffee/protein coffee every morning about 2 years ago. It’s a good way to hydrate and get vitamins and minerals into your system in the morning. Because yes, even though coffee has caffeine in it, it is still hydrating!

If you are looking for a way to kick your coffee shop iced coffee habit, here is what you’ll need. 

Cold brew. I make cold brew at home twice a week. If you are short on time, there are plenty of pre-made store-bought cold brews available. 

If you want to make your own cold brew, this mason jar brew system is pretty good.

You can also use a cold brew bag and a plastic or glass pitcher that you already have. I have made these in the past, too. It’s a small drawstring bag made from muslin and a cotton drawstring.

Protein shakes. I prefer the Premier Protein premade shakes. They are less chalky and don’t have the weird “protein shake aftertaste” that some other shakes have. They come in 10+ flavors.  Atkins also has some great-tasting tasting ready-to-drink to drink shakes.

This is a nutrition label from the cinnamon roll Premier Protein- check out all of the vitamins and minerals.!

Additives like sugar-free syrups, sugar-free chocolate, or caramel syrups. Even 1-2 T of sugar-free pudding powder can give your Proffee a creamier, more coffee shop flavor and texture.  

Ice– I have a tabletop ice maker. Having your favorite ice helps. As much as I love pebble ice, it goes so fast at my house, so this type of ice is better for cold drinks.

Select the right size cup for you. I have a 30-ounce Yeti that I love. I won it online. I don’t have Yeti Tumbler money. 5 Below has a great selection of Yeti and Stanley dupes. Heck, Simple Modern has a really good one too!

And finally, I love my drink frother for mixing up my Proffee. My drink frother gets a lot of use in my kitchen. Between mixing drinks and making pudding/mousse, I’m constantly cleaning it!

Weekly Reset- Preparing for the week ahead (family edition)

Abby H.1 Comment

This is by no means a comprehensive list of everything I do each weekend to reset, but it does hit all the major points.

On Saturdays, I do the weekend prep for the week ahead. This includes the following:

Laundry. I try to do a few loads of laundry during the week so that it doesn’t pile up, but Saturday is my day to fold clean clothes, hang things up, and make sure everything gets put away. And mate socks. I usually listen to a podcast or watch something on my phone while I do this. I keep my eyes open for deals on laundry detergent. One of my favorite deals is the Buy one, get two free Arm and Hammer detergent deals that happen every 6-8 weeks or so at Walgreens. The deal starts again tomorrow, May 4, 2025.

Put outfits together. I started doing this about a year ago, and it saves me time every morning. I can just go into my closet, pull off an outfit off the hanger, and I will have a top and a bottom already to put on. My youngest picks out their clothing before bed every night, and my big kid does not care what he wears to school. So most of his clothes are mix and match athletic shorts or exercise pants, and a funny graphic shirt or a sweatshirt if it’s cold.

Clean out the fridge. I was up this morning before 7:30, and I reorganized the fridge and pulled out the food that was starting to look a little beyond its days. I prep the fruits and vegetables that may expire or go bad first. For me, that means roasting vegetables, making a fruit salad, or making applesauce if we have some apples that are starting to bruise or go soft. Applesauce is super easy to make and does not take that long at all. If you have a lot of apples, you can make it in the crockpot. My crockpot applesauce recipe can be found here.

Restock the lunch/snack bins. I keep two plastic bins in my pantry full of lunch components for the kids lunches.  I tend to buy snacks in bulk when they are on sale, and then stash the extras downstairs in the garage in a plastic tote so they don’t all get consumed quickly.  For us that includes: Granola bars, goldfish crackers, bags of popcorn, gogosqueez pouches, lunch-size bags of preferred chips, freeze-dried fruit, dried mangoes, crackers, beef jerky, and individual bags of cookies. 

Restock the drinks and the protein shakes. I have a premier protein premade protein shake every morning for breakfast with 20 ounces of cold brew. Every weekend, I go down to the garage, grab enough for the week, and stash them in the fridge.  I will also put drinks in the fridge if we have premade drinks (that does not happen very often), and more juice boxes/Arizona iced teas in the fridge for the kids’ lunches for the following week. I will usually also make a pitcher of lemonade.

I make a batch of cold brew. Previously, I used my French press, but that was taking a while, and it takes up a lot of room. So I started making bundles with oversized coffee filters and cotton twine, but that just made too much waste. So this weekend, I’m gonna make some cold brew filter bags that are reusable. I’ll be using muslin and cotton twine, and I am hoping to make several of them. You can also buy cold brew bags online.

Clean out the kids’ backpacks. Usually, they will do it themselves, but every once in a while, I peek in there and find piles of crumpled papers and broken pencils and other stuff. This also includes pulling out their lunchboxes and making sure that their school iPads are charging. Once a quarter or as needed, I will throw their backpacks and lunch bags into the washer. Nothing is worse than a stinky backpack/lunchbox.

I clean the bathrooms each weekend. This includes taking out the garbage, sweeping, cleaning the toilets, and spraying down the showers. 

Vacuuming and sweeping. My cousin gave me a Roomba recently, and Roomba is currently doing its thing in the living room. And it does a really good job, much better than the Shark iRobot we previously had. Also, this Roomba has the cat on high alert. She sits and supervises to make sure that none of her toys get sucked up. 

Changing the sheets. I changed the sheets every weekend. I usually do one bed on Friday, one bed on Saturday, and one bed on Sunday. And put the bedding in the washing machine as soon as I strip it off the bed, that way I don’t have that much more laundry to do. These are my favorite sheets from JCP. They are on sale frequently, and cotton sheets are great for warm or cool weather!

I’m sure you are asking: What do the kids do? The big kid takes the trash and recycling down. The smaller kid helps gather dirty cups/dishes and gets them ready to load into the dishwasher. They both help with laundry. They pick up their belongings, and they keep their rooms tidy.

Meal Prep the easy way with What a Crcok!

Abby H.

Y’all know I love me some meal prep. And I know most of you are super busy, which is why I wanted to share What a Crock.

I learned about What a Crock a couple years ago when I was looking for a way to send some meals to a family member that lives across country after surgery.

I scrolled through meal kit websites, but I needed something easier. When you are recovering after surgery, you don’t want to chop veggies, brown meat, or stir a pot.

Enter What a Crock.

No Subscription needed. You can choose exactly what meals you want to receive with no commitment necessary.

Got a big family, or is it just two of you? You can buy as many servings of each meal as you need!

Don’t have a slow cooker? Many of the meals can be cooked in an Instant Pot, air fryer, on your stovetop, or simply boiled in a bag.

What I like most is the variety: Stews, soups, casseroles, even desserts and baked goods!

And I’ve got two coupons codes to help you save extra money on your What a Crock orders!

Looking to add Fiber to your Cookies??

Abby H.

One of my goals for the year is to get more fiber into myself and the kids. The average American adult consumes about 15-16 grams of fiber per day, significantly less than the recommended daily intake of 25-38 grams (source).

Besides fruits, veggies, lentils and beans, oats also have fiber.

Making Oat flour can be done at home by pulsing rolled oats in a blender until they are a fine, smooth powder. If you don’t have the time or inclination, Quaker sells oat flour.

Here is the recipe I came up with based on my favorite cookie recipe.

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup salted butter
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1.25 cups brown sugar
  • 1.25 cups white sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 cups oat flour
  • 2.5 cups AP flour
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter.
  3. Add sugars one at a time and mix until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated fully.
  5. Mix in baking powder and flours. Once all are blended into the dough, add chocolate chips.
  6. Drop tablespoon-sized dough balls on cookie sheets that have been greased or are lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking pad.  I prefer silicone baking pads.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Let cookies rest 1-2 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack.

This recipe makes approx. 6 dozen cookies. If you are allergic to peanuts, you can substitute sunbutter or your favorite nut butter. Do Not use Nutella- It contains a lot of sugar and other ingredients that will throw off the chemistry of the recipe and you won’t get yummy cookies.

March is frozen food month: What kind of food can you freeze?

Abby H.

It’s true: March is frozen food month. In previous years, there were deals and sales on frozen foods that you just couldn’t be beaten. But with the changing economic climate, a lot of these offers and deals have sort of dried up.

That brings us to what you can freeze. A lot of us are taking advantage of what little sales we can find, stocking up on pantry staples, and making sure that our pantries and freezers are full of food and ingredients. Freezing food is also a great way to keep leftovers that you may not want to eat within the next two or three days after making them.

I freeze a lot of stuff. When I make batches of soup, I tend to freeze 2 to 4 portions of it so that we can have a meal later, and all I have to do is defrost and heat.

When we have fruits and vegetables that are getting a little too ripe for us to eat, I will chop them and put them in Ziploc bags in the store in the freezer.

Here are other things that you can freeze with a little bit of prep work:

Shredded or grated cheese. Blocks of cheese tend to crumble when defrosted.

Milk: Unopened gallons of milk, can be stored. I recommend you open and pour off/drink about a quarter of a cup before you put the lid on tightly and put back into the freezer. This step is not needed with paper curtains. 

Bread/muffins/tortillas: Make sure you put it in a freezer-safe Ziploc container/bag to keep it from getting freezer-burnt. 

Most fruits and vegetables can be frozen. I recommend cutting everything up into bite-size pieces and storing them in zip-top/Ziploc bags. I do this with vegetables that I can put into soups and stews or casseroles and fruits that could be incorporated into smoothies later. Making sure everything is cut up into bite-size pieces means that it will cook more uniformly, and smaller pieces of fruit blend a little easier. Spinach and some heartier leafy greens like kale can also be frozen!

Soups: As previously stated I freeze portions of each batch of soup I make so that we can have a quick easy meal later on down the road. Just make sure that it is cooled it to room temperature before you put it into the freezer. 

Casseroles: Did you accidentally make too many potatoes? It’s OK, just store them in a airtight freezer safe container, and you could have leftovers down the road. When you reheat it just defrosted it in the refrigerator and then heat like you normally would. 

Pizza: You can freeze leftover pizza. Not that that happens very often to my house, but I have been known to put pieces of pizza between parchment paper in a Ziploc bag and toss it in the freezer. 

Pizza dough: Speaking of pizza, you can also freeze pizza dough or bread dough. I tend to make a triple batch of pizza dough, and once it has had its first rise, I punch it down, knead it, and separate it into greased Ziploc bags. You can either butter the inside of the bag, or you can spray it with spray release.

Once you’re ready to make pizza, just take the pizza dough out of the freezer, leave it in the bag on the counter, and depending on the ambient temperature of your kitchen, in about 4 to 6 hours. The pizza dough will be at room temperature. You can give it one last knead before you roll it out and bake it.

Now that you know how to freeze all sorts of things, you too can keep your freezer well stocked and cut down on food waste.

Recipe: Marry Me Cannellini Beans

Abby H.

Maybe you’ve seen videos or recipes online for marry me chicken. It’s a creamy Tuscan style dish that can be served with noodles or by itself.

Here is my version, but instead of using chicken, I substituted Cannellini beans. Why? Because I had cannellini beans, and I didn’t have any chicken.

If you want to use chicken, substitute about a pound of either boneless skinless trimmed thighs or boneless skinless trimmed chicken breasts for the beans.

Ingredients 

  •  2 tablespoons salted butter
  • 2 tablespoons your favorite cooking oil (I used the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes)
  • One small, yellow onion, diced
  • 2 15.5 ounce cans of Cannellini beans, drained, and rinsed
  • Three cloves of crushed garlic/3 tablespoons of Jarlic
  • 2/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes 
  • 2 cups of chicken broth 
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 
  • 4 cups fresh spinach
  • One cup evaporated milk, or half-and-half (choice) 
  • 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (use the freshly grated variety, not the powdered variety)

Directions

  1. In a large skillet, melt butter and mix oil in with butter.
  2. Sauté onions over medium heat until translucent, about five minutes.
  3. Add in garlic and stir frequently until garlic is fragrant.
  4. Add in rinsed and drained beans, sun-dried, tomatoes, broth, Italian seasoning. Cook on medium, stirring frequently until mixture comes to a boil.
  5. Using the back of a spoon or a potato masher gently mash up about half of the beans. This will add thickness to the sauce or without adding any additional ingredients. 
  6. Once a thickened mixture simmer for about 15 minutes, add in milk/half-and-half, spinach,  and about a half a cup of the grated cheese. 
  7. Stir and turn stove down to low. Simmer on low for 5 to 10 minutes until mixture has thickened. 
  8. Serve with noodles of your choice, or serve mixture in a bowl with toasted/crusty Italian bread. Top each bowl with some of the remaining cheese.
  9. I prefer to serve this in a bowl and eat it with a toasted/crusty bread. 

Substitutions:

  • To make this recipe vegetarian, substitute chicken broth for vegetable broth/stock. 
  • To make this recipe vegan, substitute as above, and additionally substitute milk/half-and-half with your favorite dairy free variety, as well as your favorite dairy free variety of “Parmesan” type cheese. 

3/8/2025 Weekly Freebies and Deals

Abby H.

There is a whole smattering of freebies and deals this week! And I’ve updated my list of freebies for birthdays in 2025, which you can find here.

My comprehensive list can be found here if you are looking for free food resources.  It is focused on San Diego County, but additional resources are outside my area.

Let’s get onto the Freebies!!

FREEBIES:

FREE Products with Fur Buddies – New Mission
Free Amazon Prime for Students for 6 Months
FREE Full-Size BONKERS Purrpops Cat Treats
FREE Glade PlugIns Air Freshener Warmer After Walmart Cash
T-Mobile Tuesdays – FREE Large Slurpee at 7-Eleven, FREE Chicken Sandwich at Wendy’s, 30% off Crocs & More
FREE Movie Ticket to Brothers After War
FREE National Park Pass for 4th Graders
FREE Sample of La Roche-Posay Mela B3 Dark Spot Serum
FREE Leprechaun Lemonade at Raising Cane’s
FREE Pair of Avia Running Sneakers at Walmart After Cash Back
FREE Febreze Fabric Refresher After Walmart Cash
FREE Bulgari Cologne Au The Vert Fragrance Sample
FREE Sample of TEMPTATIONS Cat Treats
Free Creed Millesime Imperial Fragrance Sample
FREE Hartz Delectables Squeeze Up Treats or Oinkies Tender Dog Treats
FREE e.l.f. Blemish Breakthrough Stick It to Zits Pimple Patches
Prime Members Score GrubHub+ FREE ($120 Value a Year)
FREE Duracell Batteries at Office Depot & Office Max
FREE 2025 Defend the Flock Chicken Calendar
FREE $10 for Signing up for JCPenney Rewards
FREE Sample of Grown Alchemist Restorative Hand Cream
FREE Velveeta Queso Blanco Dip Chatterbuy Kit
FREE Cone Day at Dairy Queen on March 20th
FREE NeilMed Sinus Rinse Kit or NasaFlo Neti Pot
FREE Medium Fries at McDonalds – Every Friday
FREE Copy of the Jiffy Mix Recipe Booklet

 

DEALS:

Women’s Clothing Clearance at JCPenney – Some as Low as $2.99!
Kohl’s Cash Ultimate Giveaway – Starts TODAY March 7th
Amazon No-Rush Credits: How to Use Amazon Digital Rewards Effectively
Free Sandwich at Arby’s with Any Purchase
Buy 3, Get 3 FREE Bath & Body Works Body, Skin, & Hair Care
Easter Basket Filler Items from $0.60 – Cheaper Than Dollar Tree

My Favorite Egg Replacers for Baking!

Abby H.

The price of eggs has been increasing, at least in California for a few years. Between the law enacted in January of last year regarding farm animals in confinement, and the avian flu making it’s rounds, eggs can be upwards of $8/dozen.

That’s a lot. I love to bake, and eggs are commonplace in a lot of recipes. After some research and trail and error, here are some of the egg replaces that I use.

You’ll notice that for most of these substitutions, the measurement is 1/4 cup, which is about how much liquid is in a large sized chicken egg.

Not sure which one to use? Here is my handy guide:

For Cookies:

  • Aquafaba
  • Canned Pumpkin
  • Smooth Nut Butter

For Cake/Quick Breads:

  • Plain Greek Yogurt
  • Bananas
  • Canned Pumpkin
  • Carbonated Water
  • Silken Tofu
  • Applesauce

Brownies:

  • Canned Pumpkin
  • Unsweetened Applesauce
  • Bananas
  • Smooth Nut Butter

Looking for some recipes to use these on?

 

Jar Salads- Healthy Meal Prep!

Abby H.

I love salad. We eat a lot of veggies because of our Yasukochi Famil Farms CSA box subscription, and I’m always looking for new ways to serve veggies and keep them fresh.

Jar salads have already had their heyday a few years ago, but they are an amazing meal prep idea. Many of us have Eating Healthy and Losing Weight are New Year’s Resolutions- Jar Salads are a great tool.

It’s quite popular to use wide Mouth quart Mason jars, but I’m a little clumsy, so I prefer Quart-sized deli containers.   I also find that Quart-sized deli containers are a little more economical and can easily be recycled when they wear out. And they stack really well in the fridge.

Whichever option you choose, here are some tips for perfecting your salad creations.

Whether you use a quart-size Mason Jar or a quart-size deli container, start with 2 tablespoons of dressing and build your salad.

Bottom Layer: The base where wetter ingredients go. Putting the wetter ingredients together helps keep the more delicate ingredients like lettuce crunchy. Ingredients for the bottom sections include: Dressing, salsa/sauce, tomatoes, guacamole, avocadoes, strawberries, citrus, and grains (rice, quinoa, pasta, farro).

Middle Layer: Beans, bell peppers, corn, seeds/nuts, onions, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, hard cheeses, sprouts, pickled veggies, hardboiled eggs, tofu, and other protein sources such as chopped chicken breast. Shredded cabbage or coleslaw blend/ shreds can also go on this layer.

Top Layer: Bite-size lettuce or other greens.

 

These salads can be really filling, depending on which ingredients you choose. 3-5 salads a week is a great start. Jar salads like this tend to last 5-7 days in the fridge, stored upright.