Guest Post: Getting the Most Out of Fresh and Easy

This is a guest post written by my friend Brooke, who is a fellow couponer and frugal living lady!

Getting the Most Out of Fresh and Easy

 

I ran into Fresh and Easy this evening to redeem two $5 off $25 coupons I was holding that were set to expire that day.  I hate to let those coupons go to waste.  I’ll start by saying Fresh and Easy (“F&E”) is not my favorite store, since I’m a heavy couponer and the only coupons they’ll accept are their own.  It’s tough walking by manufacturer items, knowing you have a coupon and not being able to use them….but, if I have a reasonable F&E coupon then I’ll still shop but there is a method.

 

Around grilling seasons (summer, Superbowl, Labor day, Fourth of July) F&E heavily advertises their “grill packs” – they are an assortment of fresh meats regularly priced at $9.99 but during the holiday weekends are discounted.  This trip (in honor of Labor day) they were $6.99.  The packs vary but my favorite contains 4 mild Italian sausages, 4 hamburger patties and 8-10 pieces of seasoned chicken (drumsticks and thighs).  The limit was 2 so I purchased the limit ($6.99 X 2) as well as some discounted slider burger buns (2 packs both marked down to 0.52), some margarine, tomatoes (4 pack $1.99), strawberries and apple pie and a few other pantry staples I needed like sugar.  My total was a little over $25.00 then I redeemed my coupon and paid a few cents over $20.00.

 

I brought home the meat packs and immediately began to break them up for freezing.  I put the sausages in Tupperware containers suitable for freezing.  I bagged up the hamburger patties (2 to a baggie) and froze 4 patties (left 4 raw patties in the fridge).  I put 1 package of the chicken into a freezer safe container and put the other chicken pieces in the fridge.  For lunch the following day I pan fried the burger patties into mini-slider burgers (also using the discounted buns) and we had those for lunch.  I plan to grill the chicken for dinner.  This is an excellent way to affordably stockpile meat to use for several different purposes and storing meat correctly will ensure good meals down the road or towards the end of the month when the budget is tighter.  Below are a few ideas on how to use the meat from the packs.

 

Hamburger patties – fry for taco meat, add to pasta sauce to thicken it up, ground beef for hamburger helper or velveeta skillet boxed meals

 

Italian Sausages – boil and grill like brats or hot dogs, remove from casing and fry to incorporate into pasta sauce with leftover veggies, cook and slice to use as a pizza topping

 

Chicken – grill or bake chicken, debone and use as fajita meat, slow cook in crock pot and shread meat to use for a Mexican style tortilla casserole

 

Brooke is a wife and mother of two great kids.  In addition to being a frugalista, she is also a Thirty-One consultant.

 

If you are interested in writing a post for my blog, drop me an email at cacoupondiva@gmail.com.  Any topic related to money saving or frugal living is welcomed!