Did you know that September is Hunger Action Month?
Recently I wrote about Porchlight Community Services. This month, they are offering a $5.00 discount on their weekly food share when you mention that you saw this article on my website!
The prices are very reasonable:
Seniors / Individual- $15
Family (Small)- $25
Family (6+)-$35
On average, you will go home with over $100 worth of food each week. And if you have food allergies or a special diet, just let them know and they will be happy to accommodate you as best they can!
In case you were curious, here is a sneak peek of just a few of the types of items they frequently have:
Cow’s milk, non-dairy milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, lunch meats, juice, lemonade- WOW! And that is just a small sample, there are fruits, veggies, frozen food, shelf-stable/pantry items, baked goods… You Name It!
I received this in my email this morning and I thought I’d share! Please pass along to any moms you may know in the area!
No Experience Necessary- You Just Have to Be a Mom!
Are you the next Baby Gear Reviewer for Toys, Tots, Pets, & More?
Do you (or someone you know) live in the New York City metropolitan area?
Are you looking to make some extra $$?
Would you like some free baby gear?
Be available for 2-5 reviews a week?
If you answered YES to all of the above then send an email to BrilliantMinds@BrilliantPRM.com and include 2-3 recent photos of yourself and if you have any videos of you reviewing/talking about products we would love to see those as well!
Want more info? Check out the video review below or check out even more reviews at TTPM.com. While you’re there join their website so you can be in the know about all the hottest products!
Applicants must live in the greater NYC area as filming is in the city. Each Review takes approximately 1 hour. Weekly quantity of reviews typically done at the same time.
Chatting with a friend via Insta yesterday, we were lamenting the “OMG DO THEY EVER STOP EATING!!” of summer vacation.
I’ve never begrudged my kids snackies when they are hungry, but seriously, on days when we are at home, building Legos and watching movies- THEY EAT ALL DAY. I can’t let them rummage through the cupboard and eat whatever, so I started the snack box (for the pantry) and snack drawer (in the fridge).
We’ve had “The snack box” and the “snack drawer” in our kitchen for about 2 years now. In the cupboard, I’ve got a basket like this one. It’s full of various types of treats and snacks. Instead of buying individually bagged treats, I often buy a box of whatever (in the photo below it’s animal crackers) and divide the large box into snack-sized Ziploc bags). It just depends on what is available at Grocery Outlet and 99 Cents Only on my weekly shopping trip. Those are my go-to snack stores.
The Snack Drawer in the FridgePantry Snack Box- Refilled weekly
The Pantry Snack Box contains shelf-stable stuff: Juice boxes, crackers, chips, dried fruit, fruit snacks, individual Peanut/nut butter cups. I usually tuck a couple bags of microwave popcorn too. Sadly, we have none left. I was informed that I *must* rectify that matter tomorrow.
The Fridge Snack Drawer contains some of the following: Cheese sticks, yogurt, Ziploc bags of fruit or veggies (watermelon wedges, strawberries, grapes, carrots, celery, and jicama are just a few favorites), little cups of hummus, guac, ranch dip (homemade with greek yogurt and ranch dip mix).
The snacks vary by week, and I took these pics today- It’s midweek and they are pretty picked over- I did refill the Pantry Snack Box with stuff from the cupboard. That’s my secret- don’t put it all out at once. I stash the extras in the back of the pantry, where tiny arms can’t reach.
For those who read my blog regularly, you know that my weekly family grocery budget is $80. I spend about $25 of my weekly budget on stuff for the snack box/drawer. Sometimes more, sometimes less. During the school year, the function of these becomes for packing lunches in the morning. The Big Kid doesn’t really like sandwiches, and as he’s a vegetarian he gets most of his protein from nuts/seed butter and dairy sources.
I also keep Go-gurt style tube yogurts in the freezer- Those are mostly for Bitty, Big Kid doesn’t care for yogurt too often.
For the grown-ups, there is a basket in the pantry full of protein and fiber snack bars (Along with other more “grownup” snacks- which are sometimes new snacks that the kids veto after sampling). I get those at Grocery Outlet or 99 Cents Only. Grocery Outlet locations in my area always have a great variety of protein bars, snack bars, and protein cookie (Like these, which are also a hit with the Big Kid, so I have to dole them out) for a lot less than grocery or club stores.
Close-up of the Pantry Snack Box. There is a little bit of something for everyone!
This is how my family keeps everyone fed at home and on budget. I’d love to hear about your family’s ideas to solve this issue.
Fetch is amazing! I love it. I’ve earned over $20 in rewards since August 2017- I usually get Amazon Gift Cards. If you’re not familiar with Fetch Rewards, there is a run down here.
Right now,
Get 3 friends to sign up with your referral code, and scan a valid receipt by
Sunday, March 11th, and you’ll receive 3,000 Bonus Points!
That’s on top of the 2,000 you already get for each friend. That’s 9,000 points for 3 friends! Not to mention, they also get 2,000 points for using your referral code.
Here’s how it works. . .
Step 1: Invite at least three friends to join Fetch Rewards.
Step 2: They sign up with your referral code and each scan 1 valid receipt by 3/11/18.
Valid receipts are any receipt that ends up Completed (not Rejected). Receipts don’t need to be Completed by 3/11/18, but must be scanned by then.
Step 3: You get 3,000 bonus points if three friends complete a valid receipt!
The 3,000 bonus points will be awarded on Tuesday, March 13th. You will be notified via email.
If you aren’t already using Fetch Rewards, find Fetch Rewards in your app store. Use my code ND2TB when you sign up and you’ll score 2000 points after you scan in your first receipt with Fetch Rewards.
If you use my code, I’ll get 2000 points when you do. Win/Win, right? Honestly, my disclosure statement is here. I’m here to help ya’ll save money, not make a million dollars!
I love me some freebies… And right now the Kroger family of stores (which for us So Cal peeps means Food4Less and Ralphs) has a bunch of great freebies that you can load to your club card.
It doesn’t matter which card you have (Ralphs, Food4Less, Kroger, etc), you can load all of these great freebies to one card and head to the store!
Kroger has Free Arla Cream Cheese and free Lifeway Kefir Cups! Click this link to get started.
Each Week Ralphs/Kroger has at least one free item!
If you are new to Free Friday Downloads from Ralph’s, here is more info about how it works:
WHAT IS FREE FRIDAY DOWNLOAD? An exclusive benefit to having an account online at ralphs.com is FREE products (yes, we said FREE!). When you download the free product coupon, it will be loaded directly to your Shopper’s Card and applied at checkout in-store.
DOWNLOAD the digital coupon for the free product (make sure to download between 12:01 am and 11:59pm PT). View the coupon under ‘My Coupons’ in your account online or in the mobile app.
You have two weeks to redeem this coupon in store! Pick up the product at your local Ralphs store and digital coupon will automatically apply at checkout.
I’m just posting dinners for our meal plan. The kiddos usually have a small toasted bagel with cream cheese for breakfast along with fruit. Hubs likes Oatmeal (my recipe for an easy almost instant oatmeal mix can be found here) if he’s got time, otherwise he and I have protein shakes with frozen bananas and PB2.
Lunches for Lil’ Man are usually Peanut butter and crackers, fruit, milk, a protein muffin (aka a kid cupcake), and applesauce cup. He takes his lunch every day! Hubs usually has a protein shake or I pack him leftovers or a frozen entree.
Bitty Bird and I usually have leftovers from the night before, or soup, sandwiches, quesadillas. She eats almost anything!
We’re pretty stocked up of food for the next week or so- We’ll need milk, cream cheese, and cheese. I’ll probably hit up Costco tomorrow.
Monday:
D: Steak (it was a gift!), roasted broccoli, green salad, cheese toast. The kids don’t like steak, so they’ll probably have grilled cheese sandwiches on cheese toast (Lil’ Man discovered them not long ago and he told me it’s the “fancy” way to make grilled cheese).
Tuesday:
D: Bean, Rice, and cheese bowls (they also have caramelized onions and peppers) This is a fav in our house. It’s healthy and inexpensive.
Weds:
D: Home made Red Sauce (made in the crockpot- Recipe will be posted tomorrow!) baked with cheese in Zucchini Boats. Thanks to my friend Lisa for the monster zucchini!
The menu may change, as I pull stuff out of the pantry to rotate what we’ve got (I am trying to cut down on waste, and put the older stuff up front to get eaten first).
We’ve got a busy week with ABA Therapy three times, a Lego Movie event, a Lego event at our local Library, and a trip to Legoland on Saturday (just me and my Lil’ Man!). I’ve made sure to fill up our snack backpack and wash out our water bottles.
I’m not sure if ya’ll have been noticing, but the coupon in the Sunday paper and online have kinda sucked lately.
Now that the shininess of New Years Resolutions has worn off, there are no more healthy food coupons, and the Big Game is over, so the snack-y food coupons have petered out too.
Values are lower and lower each week, and coupon redemption has reached an all time low (I read this on Coupons in the News a few weeks ago). So what’s a saver to do when there isn’t much to clip or print?
Don’t fret! There are still lots of ways to save money!
Check out other printable coupon websites. I have my list of old dependables here, but I also like Common Kindness. Common Kindness donates a portion of each coupon amount redeemed to the charity of your choice! At no cost to you! They have mostly Organic/All Natural food coupons. They also have a lot of printables that match up with rebates on Mobisave and Checkout 51.
That brings me to rebate apps! My full list is here. Don’t forget to check those out each week when it’s time to hit the store.
Don’t forget your Price Book, if you’ve neglected it, it might be time to update!
An updated Price Book can help you determine if items are a good deal, and it can also help you withPrice Per Unit (This is super helpful if you shop at warehouse stores, like Costco).
Look for deals other places! I love to check out Living Social for discounted deals on fun stuff for family date night, or the occasional meal out with Hubs.
If you need to do some shopping online, try using an online shopping site/cashback site. I like both Mypoints and Topcashback. You can learn more about how we save while shopping online here. And don’t forget to look for coupon codes while doing online shopping.
Lastly, if you find yourself in need of food, and the ends just aren’t meeting like they used to, please do not be too proud to check out local sources for food. An updated list of local San Diego area food resources can be found here.
Fetch is amazing! I love it. I’ve earned over $20 in rewards since August 2017- I usually get Amazon Gift Cards. If you’re not familiar with Fetch Rewards, there is a run down 
K
roger has Free Arla Cream Cheese and free Lifeway Kefir Cups! Click 
Ralphs has a free Silk Yogurt Singles
I’m not sure if ya’ll have been noticing, but the coupon in the Sunday paper and online have kinda sucked lately.
Hewes Family Fun 