Consumer Critique: Marie Callendar's

I recently received some of Marie Callendar's Home-Style Creations to try out and review. I loved the chance to try out some quick lunch products!

Home-Style Creations are shelf-stable meals. They come in six varieties: Traditional Stuffing & Turkey, Classic Stroganoff, Garlic Herb Chicken, Sweet Sesame Beef, Meatball Lasagna, and Creamy Parmesan Chicken. I tried the Garlic Herb Chicken and Stuffing & Turkey.

If you've ever tried Betty Crocker Bowl Appetit, these are the same idea - shelf stable, add water to the given line, cook. However, these have some extra features. The noodles, rice, or stuffing are cooked, and there's a strainer in the lid to drain away extra water. Then the sauce/meat is in the top part of the lid, which gets mixed in with the noodles.

No convenience meal can completely capture the at-home taste, I think, but these do a pretty good job. The chicken actually tasted like chicken, and was tender without being chewy or rubbery like some frozen meals. The stuffing ended up a little bit soggier than I like (I always like the crispy drier stuffing) but the sauce part was good. They cooked in minutes, and were a nice change from sandwiches for lunch. Even my toddler daughter liked the noodles, and she's normally very reluctant to try new foods.

I will definitely try the herb chicken again. Stuffing isn't my favorite, so I probably won't get that again, but I do really want to try the chicken parmesan for sure, and possibly the stroganoff. These meals can be found in the aisle with soups and pastas. If you're interested in finding a store near you, use the ConAgra Foods Store Locator.

Soul Sustenance: Children

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. - Kahlil Gibran

Thrifty Thinking: Make Your Own

Here are some easy make-your-own foods instead of paying for the prepared version at the store.

Bacon bits - Cook bacon, then chop finely and freeze. When needed, break off a chunk and crumble.
Buttermilk - Mix 1 T vinegar or lemon juice with 1 c milk and let sit for 5 minutes.
Croutons - Cut bread into cubes, coat lightly with oil, then sprinkle with seasonings (garlic, salt, vinaigrette dressing mix, etc). Toast on a baking sheet at 350 until crisp.

Shopping Savings: Cub

Because not all Cub stores accept printable coupons, deals are not shown that include Internet printables. You may find more deals by visiting one of the websites below if your store accepts printables.

Note: mc=manufacturer's coupon, pc=printable coupon, sc=store coupon, oyno=on your next order, wyb=when you buy

I'm back - at least for now. If you like this feature, please comment. If I don't receive any (or many) comments, I won't spend the time to do this every week. I'm also changing it up a bit - instead of focusing on $1 or less items, I'm going to focus on ones where you save 50% or more off of the regular price.

Honeycrisp apples - sale - $0.88/lb
Fleischmann's yeast - $0.50 mc - $0.79
Carnation evaporated milk - $0.50/2 mc - $0.75
Pillsbury Flour - sale - $1.50
Ragu pasta sauce - sale - $0.88
Heinz gravy - $1/2 mc - $0.78 each
Healthy Choice soup - $0.75/2 mc - $0.81 each
Quaker instant oatmeal - $1.25/2 mc - $1.35 each
Aunt Jemima Syrup or pancake mix - $1/2 mc - $1.48 each
Southeastern Mills mix - sale - $1
Quaker Life cereal - sale - $1.88
Keebler Wheatables, Toasteds or All Bran - $1/2 mc - $1.49 each
Zone Perfect Bars - $0.55 mc - $0.45
Propel - sc - $0.50
Apple & Eve Fruitables - $1 mc - $1.49
Quaker chewy granola bars - $0.75/2 mc - $1.50 each
Jolly Time popcorn - $0.50 mc - $1
Fisher dry roasted nuts - $1 mc - $1.49
Beech Nut baby food - $2/13 mc - $0.24 each
Swiss Miss cocoa mix - sale - $1
Cadbury XL - sale - $1
Extra or Wrigley's Gum Slim Packs - sale - $0.89
Gold N Plump chicken - sale - $2.99
Jones Dairy Farms Golden Brown Sausage - B1G1 sc - $2.59 each
Green Giant Boil in a Bag - $0.6/3 mc - $0.80 each
Lean Cuisine - $1/3 mc - $1.66 each
Breyer's ice cream - $0.75 mc - $2.24
Smucker's Magic Shell - sale - $1.49
Sargento cheese - sale - $1.99
Dannon 4-pack - $1 - $1.19
Kemps OJ jug - sc - $2.50
AirWick Freshmatic - $4 mc - $1.99
AirWick 2 in 1 - B1G1 mc - $0.50
White Mountain toilet paper - B1G1 sc - $2.99
Purina ONE cat food - $2 mc - $3.99
Equaline Vitamins - B1G1F sale - $6.50


Other Good Deals
- $5 wyb 5 General Mills products (Bisquick, General Mills cereal - various mc available, Cascadian Farm cereal - $1 pc or here or here, Betty Crocker Warm Delights - $0.50 mc, Betty Crocker Pouch Cookies - $0.40 mc, Betty Crocker Frosting - $0.50 pc or here, Green Giant Vegetables in Sauce - $0.50/2 pc or here, Pillsbury rolls - $0.50/2 mc, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies - $1/2 mc)
- Free Roundy's Pasta wyb 10 Del Monte products ($1/5 mc)

To find more deals, visit Coupon Mom (use referral cobberreb@yahoo.com), SavingsAngel (use referral 19411), or Grocery Gathering at BeCentsAble

Help support this blog by printing coupons using the Coupons.com ad to the right or signing up at one of the sites listed above!

Shopping Savings: Rainbow

Remember that Rainbow doubles 5 coupons $1 and under on Wednesdays for each transaction over $25. Put your highest value coupons on top to maximize the doubling! For large shopping trips (over $50), split the trip into two transactions. Prices shown here without coupon doubling.

Note: mc=manufacturer's coupon, pc=printable coupon, sc=store coupon, oyno=on your next order, wyb=when you buy

I'm back - at least for now. If you like this feature, please comment. If I don't receive any (or many) comments, I won't spend the time to do this every week. I'm also changing it up a bit - instead of focusing on $1 or less items, I'm going to focus on ones where you save 50% or more off of the regular price.

Squash - sale - $0.99/lb
Honeycrisp apples - sale - $1.49/lb
Asparagus - sale - $1.69/lb
Green Giant Canned Vegetables - sale - $0.58
Nestle Cookie Dough - $1 mc - $1.50
Duncan Hines cake mix - $0.55/2 mc - $0.60 each (plus use on Great Taste Big Savings rebate)
Betty Crocker frosting - $0.50 mc - $1.16 (qualifies for $5 Off turkey onyo wyb 10 General Mills or Roundy's products)
Skippy peanut butter - $0.75 - $0.73
Progresso broth - $1/2 pc - $0.85 (qualifies for $5 Off turkey onyo wyb 10 General Mills or Roundy's products)
Muir Glen soup - $1 pc - $1
Betty Crocker potatoes - $0.40 pc - $0.85 (qualifies for $5 Off turkey onyo wyb 10 General Mills or Roundy's products)
Chex - $1/2 - buy 3 and get $3 off making them $1.16 each (qualifies for $5 Off turkey onyo wyb 10 General Mills or Roundy's products)
Coffee Mate - $0.50 mc - $1.16
Blue Diamond Almonds - $0.75 mc - $1.75
Hershey Theater Box candy - sale - $1
Roundy's Poek Loin - sale - $1.68
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter - $1/2 mc - $1.50 each
Yoplait yogurt - $0.40/6 mc - $0.43 each
Breyer's YoCrunch - sale - $0.60
Dannon yogurt multipacks - $1 mc - $1
DanActive - $1/2 mc - $1.50
Lean Cuisine - $1/3 mc - $1.66
Carefree Pantiliners - $1 mc - $1.50
Stayfree Pads - $2/2 mc - 1.50 each
Johnson's baby products - $1 mc - $2 (plus use towards Johnson's rebate)
Listerine Whitening Rinse - $1 mc - $2.99
Tylenol products - $3 mc - $1.19
Sudafed - $2 - $2.19
NyQuil/DayQuil - $1 mc - $3
Halls Cough Drops - $1/2 mc - $0.79
Carmex - sale - $1
Opti-Free Express - 4/2 mc - $3.66 each
Scotch Lint Roller - $1 mc - $1.50
Renuzit Adjustables - B2G1 mc - $0.67 each

Kellogg's products are 4/$10. Stack with coupons and buy 8 to get free milk oyno!


Other Good Deals
- $5 wyb 5 General Mills products (Bisquick, General Mills cereal - various mc available, Cascadian Farm cereal - $1 pc or here or here, Betty Crocker Warm Delights - $0.50 mc, Betty Crocker Pouch Cookies - $0.40 mc, Betty Crocker Frosting - $0.50 pc or here, Green Giant Vegetables in Sauce - $0.50/2 pc or here, Pillsbury rolls - $0.50/2 mc, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies - $1/2 mc)
- Free Roundy's Pasta wyb 10 Del Monte products ($1/5 mc)

To find more deals, visit Coupon Mom (use referral cobberreb@yahoo.com), SavingsAngel (use referral 19411), or Grocery Gathering at BeCentsAble

Help support this blog by printing coupons using the Coupons.com ad to the right or signing up at one of the sites listed above!

Freebies!

Graffiti Safewipes
$10 gift card when you convert $40 of change to a gift card at a Coinstar machine
Huggies Little Movers size 3, 4, or 5
New MacHeist bundle until 11/11

World Wisdom: Oven Cleaning

Many ovens nowadays come with a self-cleaning feature. What this basically does is superheat the oven to bake off anything that has spilled. It takes a tremendous amount of energy (not to mention smells as it's burning off the dirt). Many conventional oven cleaners contain very caustic and toxic chemicals (hence the warning to wear gloves and use proper ventilation). There are many options, though, that aren't as hard on the earth - they just take a little extra work.

- Sprinkle baking soda on the oven. Dampen several times with a spray bottle and then let sit overnight. In the morning, scoop out the baking soda and scrub to get rid of any remaining spots.
- 1/4 c baking soda, 2 tbsp. salt, hot water as needed to make a paste; let sit 5 minutes and wipe off. For tough stains, scrub with very fine steel wool and baking soda.
- washing soda can be used in place of baking soda
- Vinegar can be used but may not work for truly stubborn stains
- Restore Oven Cleaner or Orange Plus are two commercially available cleaners that are less toxic

Ideal Bite - get eco-friendly tips and Marie Digby's new album!