food

6/17/2022 Friday Freebies and Deals!

Abby H.

We survived the first week of summer break!

We did a bunch of free/frugal activities, including stopping by our local county and city libraries to sign up for their summer reading programs, we swam, played with friends, and built a lot of Legos. If you are looking for some frugal adventures for this summer, check out this post.

There are so many awesome freebies and deals this week, and the weather this weekend is supposed to be AWESOME (AND WARM) here in San Diego.

Mask Mandates are changing constantly in California and can vary by city and county, so please do your part if you are going to any in-person freebies.

2022 Birthday Freebies are here!

Freebies:

Free Sample of L’Oreal Revitalift Hyaluronic Acid Serum
Free Subscription to Wine Spectator Magazine
Free Meal at PDQ
Free Wild Planet Wild Tuna Pasta Salad
Free Bikini Wax at Hello Sugar
Free ASPCA Pet Safety Magnet & Window Decal
Free Poise Light Leaks Pads Sample Pack
Free Hartz Disposable Dog Diapers and Male Dog Wraps
Free 19 Crimes Coasters, Hat, Tumblers & More
Possible Free $125 iPhone App Research Study
Free Ice Cream Magnet at JCPenney
Free Super HongKong Baseball Cap
Free Happy Hippo Kratom Sample
Free Rael Miracle Clear Barrier Cream
Free ZEISS Anti-Fog Wipes at Select Stores
4+ Free Disney Movie Insiders Points
Free Sample of Lancome La Vie Est Belle
Free $10 Every Friday with Samuel Adams
Free Azzaro The Most Wanted Fragrance
Free Mixmi Frozen Yogurt
Free MAC Cosmetics Studio Radiance Moisturizing Primer
Free Sample of Astroglide Toy ‘N Joy
Free Mars Chocolate Minis at Sam’s
Free Smoothie at Tropical Smoothie Cafe – Today
Father’s Day Freebies RoundUp
Free Twix Cookie Dough Bar on June 21st
MySavings is Hiring a Work from Home Deal Expert
Free Subscription to The Red Bulletin Magazine
Free Original Family Meal Pollo Tropical Locations
Free Lane Bryant Gift Card Giveaway
Free Books, Journals, Stickers & More
Free Costa Brazil Face Serum Sample
Free Supraland PC Game
Free Fishing Days 2022
Free Father’s Day e-Card
Watch It Had To Be You for Free
Free PepsiCo Coupons Mailed to You
Free Cirque du Soleil 60 Minute Specials

 

Deals:

Compact Organizers ONLY $10 (Reg $30)
Bella Essentials Griddle ONLY $14.99 (Reg $30)
Linden Street Bath Towel 6-Piece Set ONLY $29.99 (Reg $80)
Morphe 8-Piece Rose Gold Brush Set ONLY $18.40 (Reg $46)
St. Ives Face Scrub ONLY $2.26 Shipped at Amazon (Reg. $5)
Name Brand Makeup Starting at $1.18 on Amazon – Stock Up
Professional Hair Cutting Kit ONLY $8.99 (Reg $23)
Amazon Essentials Men’s Fleece Jacket ONLY $9.32 (Reg $25)
Bella Pro Series Rotating Waffle Maker ONLY $26.99 (Reg $50)
Free Medium Fries w/ Any $1 Purchase at McDonalds – Every Friday
Kate Spade Kali Small Dome Crossbody ONLY $59 (Reg $239)
Samsung Galaxy Smart Watch 4 LTE ONLY $179.99 (Reg $300)
Funkoverse Marvel 100 4-Pack ONLY $15.74 (Reg $40)
Automatic Pet Feeder & Water Dispenser ONLY $21.99 (Reg $32)
60% Off adidas Toddler to Big Kids + Extra 10% Off at Checkout
75% Off Wildfox Athleisure + Extra 10% Off at Checkout
LOL Surprise OMG Present Doll ONLY $15.98 (Reg. $30)
Philosophy Beauty Sale + Exclusive Extra 10% Off
Medal Sports 7-In-1 Combo Game Table ONLY $50 (Reg. $110)
Shampoo Massager Brush Scalp 2-Pack ONLY $6.97 (Reg. $13)
60% Off Lucky Brand + Exclusive 10% Off at Checkout
Chuckit! Ultra Tug Dog Toy ONLY $5.10 (Reg. $10)
Calvin Klein Pillow Standard/Queen ONLY $7.99 (Reg $34)
Sloosh Pool Volleyball Net & Basketball Hoop ONLY $19 (Reg. $38)
Kids Preferred Disney Princess Ariel Plush Toy ONLY $5 (Reg $19)
VTech Workout Buddies Bag ONLY $13.37 (Reg. $28)
Woods 6-Foot Extension Cord White ONLY $1.99 (Reg $10)
Curiod TV Stand for TVs up to 36-In ONLY $39 (Reg $99)
HART 5-Tool Combo Kit ONLY $79 (Reg $198)
Target Deal Days Sale July 11-13
Save 40% on Select Kitchen Appliances at Target
70% Off Photo Gifts + Free Same Day Pickup = HOT DEALS
Melissa & Doug Bath Book and Tugboat Toys ONLY $6.99 (Reg. $15)
Nike Benassi Slides ONLY $15.96 (Reg $25)
Amazon 50% Off Bed Sheets Coupon – All Sizes
Save 50% on Lady Gaga Makeup on Amazon
Ryan’s World Aquaplay Playset ONLY $19 (Reg. $40)
Macy’s Father’s Day Gifts Coupon + Free Same Day Pickup
Little Tikes Super Slam ‘n Dunk ONLY $99 (Reg. $250)

Dream Dinners: Earn Free Dinners & Special Offer for your Friends!

Abby H.

Dream Dinners in La Mesa has a new Meal Prep Workshop program.  This is an exciting new twist on the in-store party and it’s a great opportunity for you to introduce your friends to Dream Dinners and earn fun rewards!

Here’s how it works:
As the host, you attend the workshop for free! You also have the opportunity to earn up to $75 in host rewards!

Your friends pay $50 to attend and learn about Dream Dinners. This includes three pre-prepped medium-size meals, and everyone will get to assemble the Campfire Cobbler Trio, at this private, in-store event with your friends. They’ll enjoy delicious samples of our food. They also have some exciting perks for them if they place an order at the workshop!

Call/Text 619-460-6800 to learn more and schedule your event!
If you’ve never tried Dream Dinners, it is a great meal prep company with locations all over the US. I love Marsi and her staff at the La Mesa Location. When compared to other meal prep/meal plan programs, the prices and freshness are out of this world. For more about why Dream Dinners is tops in my book, check out this post.

Introducing Ripple Street’s NEW Loyalty Program!

Abby H.

Ripple Street, formerly House Party, has announced a new  Loyalty Program.

The Ripple Street Loyalty Program is where engaged and passionate community members can get more out of their experience with Ripple Street. Ripple Street has seen all the great stuff you do for our brands, and now through our Loyalty Program, they track your Ripple Street event and activity progress while you earn fun rewards along the way and achieve tiers of status to unlock exclusive community perks.

To get started, click here.

 

6/13/2022 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgSummer break is here! We’ve got all sorts of adventures planned, you can check out some of our adventures here.

We’re headed to the library in Santee today to get started on our summer reading journey.

I did some meal prep yesterday (cooking veggies and chopping up fruit). This week we’re taking a hiatus from our CSA box to use up all of the produce that we have in the fridge/freezer.

Our veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $28, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $28. Seriously. It’s a deal. They email a preview of what will be in the boxes over the weekend, so I can start thinking about what I’d like to make.

With the increase in food costs, we are leaning more and more on our CSA box each week as the base of most of our meals.

We’ve been trying a lot of new foods lately, thanks to the really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods. On Friday night I ran to Sprouts and picked up the monthly freebies, and redeemed all of the Social Nature Coupons I had in my wallet. We’ve got all kinds of yummy snacks and treats!

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste.

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 are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. Lately, the big kid has been digging protein shakes in the morning. This is his favorite kind. 

Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. This is really helpful for the summer when for some reason, kids are starving all the time. We’ll be hitting up the free lunch sites several times a week over the sum

Dinner: We’re still working our way through our Dream Dinners order for the month, and I’ve got two meals ready for this week.

  • Monday: Meat Loaf, Green Beans, mashed potatoes
  • Tuesday: Lasagna, roasted veggies, sliced strawberries
  • Wednesday: Chicken Sandwiches, fruit salad
  • Thursday: Breakfast for dinner- Pancakes, protein shakes, fruit salad
  • Friday: Takeout night!
  • Saturday:  Leftovers
  • Sunday: 

Score a Free Taco at Rubio’s!

Abby H.

Thanks to the Padres, we all can score a free taco today at Rubio’s! Any time the Pad’s steal a base at a home game, we win! Valid for 1 a la carte taco with any purchase. Limit 1 per person/account. Valid in the following counties: San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire. Check with your local Rubio’s to verify participation.

Not valid on 3rd party apps. When ordering through the Rubio’s App, use coupon code: GOPADRES

What kind of taco are you getting?

Checkout 51: SAVE on Real California Milk products!

Abby H.

Dairy loving peeps! Check out these sweet deals from Checkout 51! Earn Cash Back on cheese, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and ice cream—and feel good about it! When buying a product with the Real California Milk seal, you’re supporting Golden State farms and the farm families that run them. Now go dig into some dairy!

Checkout 51 is one of my favorite cash-back shopping apps! Most of the deals/cashback rebates are not store-specific, so I can save at stores that don’t accept coupons, like Grocery Outlet and 99 Cents Only.  You can also stack with store sales and other discounts!

  • Real California Milk Chunk/Block Cheese & Specialty Cheese $1.00 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Drinkable Yogurt $0.50 Cash Back
  • Buy 2: Real California Milk Yogurt $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Cream Cheese $0.75 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Sour Cream $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Cottage Cheese $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Ice Cream $1.00 Cash Back

And in addition to sweet deals on groceries, you can also save on gas at select stations. Information and specific participating stations can be found in their app.

To learn more about all of the Cashback apps I use, click here.

June 2022: New Healthy Freebies From Social Nature!

Abby H.

 If you are into Organic/Natural/Healthy products, then Social Nature is right up your alley. Sign up and apply to sample products that you are interested in. I get probably 1-2 products to sample each month. And most of the time it’s full-size products, not just a tiny sample.

Social Nature has rounded up products that are available to try at a local grocery store or mass merchandiser near you.  Apply to Try the products that interest you to see if you’re a match here.

Here are some of the new sampling opportunities:

  • Mac and Cheese by GOODLES
  • Veggie Pasta by Veggiecraft Farms
  • Cocoa & Blonde Truffle Bars by Honey Mama’s
  • Meatless Breakfast Patties by Nature’s Fynd
  • Gluten-Free Mochi Ice Cream by Bubbies
  • Plant-Based Ice Cream by Eclipse Foods
  • Plant-Based Alternatives by Big Mountain Foods
  • Plant-Based Ice Cream by Wildgood
  • Oat Crackers by Bob’s Red Mill USA
  • Various Comvita Health products

 

And More!

And one of the things I love about Social Nature is that they don’t leave our friends with food allergies out.

There are sampling offers for Gluten-free, nut-free, meat-free foods frequently.

Canadian Friends- You are in luck, there are sampling opportunities for you too! So if you love trying new products, check out Social Nature!

Arm & Hammer Complete Care Chatterbox!

Abby H.

Check out this awesome party opportunity from Chatterbox!

Introducing ARM & HAMMER™ Complete Care™ Toothpaste, now with a new and improved taste and ultra-smooth formula. Don’t brush off this chance to try it for FREE and experience up to 3X more plaque removal than a non-baking soda toothpaste. Now that’s something to smile about!

If you are selected, you will receive:

  • 1 Sample size ARM & HAMMER™ Complete Care™ Toothpaste
  • 1 ARM & HAMMER™ Complete Care™ Toothpaste info postcard

You must apply and complete the required activities by June 28th to be considered.

6/6/22 Weekly Meal Plan!

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgIt’s Monday Morning, and that means Meal Plan time! Can you tell I’ve had my coffee already?

I shopped over the weekend and did some meal prep as well. We should be set for the week!

School is over on Wednesday, and we’ve got two weeks off before summer school starts. I’ve got two lazy days planned for the end of this week, but after that, we are starting fun activities and we’ll be out and about!

Saturday is Bitty’s Birthday Party and we are having a fairy themed affair. Snacks, wands, and wings (fairy wings that is).

Our veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $28, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $28. Seriously. It’s a deal. They email a preview of what will be in the boxes over the weekend, so I can start thinking about what I’d like to make.

With the increase in food costs, we are leaning more and more on our CSA box each week as the base of most of our meals.

We’ve been trying a lot of new foods lately, thanks to the really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods. On Friday night I ran to Sprouts and picked up the monthly freebies, and redeemed all of the Social Nature Coupons I had in my wallet. We’ve got all kinds of yummy snacks and treats!

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste.

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 are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. Lately, the big kid has been digging protein shakes in the morning. This is his favorite kind. 

Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I’m back to packing lunches again. However, school lunches are free this year- Little Bit has been buying her lunch and expanding her palate.  The big kid still brings lunch from home.

Dinner: We’re still working our way through our Dream Dinners order for the month, and I’ve got two meals ready for this week.

6/3/2022- National Donut Day!

Abby H.

Today is National Donut Day! Did you know there are two donut days?

Ok, so first let’s find out why there are two National Donut Days... Thanks Mental Floss.

Now that we’ve figured out that mystery, it’s onto the free donuts….

There aren’t a lot of free donut deals here in California, but there are some BOGO offers.

And more: National Donut Day Freebies & Deals RoundUp Today June 3rd!