$1/1 Nestle candy coupon and more printable coupons

Since I've been posting vegetable coupons the last day or two, I figured it was high time for a chocolate coupon!

Go here to print a coupon for $1/1 bag of Nestle candy (11.5 oz. or larger) and $1/1 bag of Wonka candy (11.5 oz. or larger). (Thanks, Abundant Food Savings!)

Print a $2/2 Nabisco 100 Calorie snack packs coupon here (IE) and here (FF).  (Thanks, Cha-Ching on a Shoestring!)

Also, in non-chocolate news, there's also a brand-new really hot rebate just released from SC Johnson giving you $5 for every three products you buy. Best of all, you can do it three times! More details here.

Free Clorox wipes sample pack (Sam's Club members only)

If you are a Sam's Club member, you can request a free sample pack of Clorox Wipes here.

Free Fitness Kit for teachers and homeschoolers

If you are a teacher or a home educator, you can request a free Get Fit for the Fun of It! Kit from Subway. Go here to sign up.

Thanks, Coupon Saving Game!

Free Night of Theater--tickets available tomorrow!

On October 15, 2009, theaters from coast to coast will be offering a completely free night of theater. Online ticket reservations begin tomorrow (October 1, 2009) and tickets are limited so you'll want to sign up right away.

Go here to see if theaters in your area are participating.

Thanks, Queen Mother Blog!

Works For Me Wednesday: Making the Most of an Abundant Tomato Supply

While our container garden crop of tomatoes was less than stellar this year, we were blessed to be the recipients of many tomatoes from our friends' gardens. I never turn down garden-fresh produce--especially when it's free!

After eating lots of fresh tomatoes, using them in salads, and making fresh tomato juice in our juicer, we've been freezing the extra ones to use during the Fall and Winter months.

To freeze tomatoes, just wash, core, and cut off any bad spots. Then stick them on a baking sheet in the freezer until they are frozen. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag and store them in the freezer.

When you're ready to use them, all you have to do is run the frozen tomatoes under warm water and the skin falls right off. Once they thaw a little, you can easily chop them and then use them in place of canned tomatoes in recipes.

Using frozen tomatoes is much less expensive than buying canned tomatoes, much fresher, and much more nutrient-rich! It works for me.

What are your favorite ways to use up a bountiful tomato supply?

Wal-Mart: New deals and freebies for this week

Here are the best new deals I see at Wal-Mart right now, with thanks to Centsible Savings and Heather from NWA Deals for their help in compiling these. Please note that Wal-Mart prices vary somewhat by region so these prices might not all be the same at your local Wal-Mart store.

Hormeal Completes--$1.97
Use $2/1 coupon from the October All You magazine
Free after coupon

Reach Floss--$0.97
Buy 2 and use $1.50/2 printable coupon
$0.22 after coupon

Sense and Spray Starter Kits--$4.29
Use $4/1 printable coupon
$0.29 after coupon

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce (10 oz.)--$2.36
Use $2/1 coupon from the 9/27 RedPlum insert
$0.36 after coupon

Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk (5 oz.)--$0.63 each
Buy 2 and use $0.50/2 coupon from the 9/27 SmartSource insert
$0.38 each after coupon

Musselman's Totally Fruit Apple Sauce--$1.48
Use $1/1 printable coupon
$0.48 after coupon

Tabasco sauce--$1.12
Use $0.50/1 coupon from the 8/23 SmartSource insert
$0.62 after coupon

Green Giant Steamers--$1.25
Use $0.50/1 printable coupon
$0.75 after coupon

Snuggle Fabric Softener Sheets--$1.86
Use $1/1 printable coupon
$0.86 after coupon

Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil (30 sq. ft.)--$1.52
Use $0.55/1 coupon from the 9/13 SmartSource insert
$0.97 after coupon

Taco Bell Soft Taco Kit--$1.98
Use $1/1 coupon from All You magazine
$0.98 after coupon

See more current deals at Wal-Mart here.

******Share Your Wal-Mart Deals!********

Did you find some great deals at Wal-Mart? Just post about it on your blog and leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Wal-Mart deals post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your Wal-Mart deals post will be deleted.**

Whole Foods: Free Oikos Greek Yogurt and more

You can get free Oikos Greek Yogurt at Whole Foods Market right now. It's regularly priced at $1.99 so you can stack the $1/1 coupon from the 9/27 SmartSource insert with the $1/1 coupon from the August/September Whole Deal newsletter (available in-store) to get these free after coupons.

See more deals and freebies available at Whole Foods Market right now here.

Tryology: Free full-size box of Nabisco 100 Calorie snacks

Want to try out a free full-size box of Nabisco 100-Calorie snacks? You can do so through Tryology right now if you're willing to send them a video review after you've tried the product.

More details here.

$1.50/2 Kashi cereals

Print a coupon here for $1.50 off any two boxes of Kashi cereal.

Thanks, Pam!

Publix: Deals and freebies for this week

There are lots of deals and freebies at Publix this week. Check them out here or here.

KMart: Huggies Pull-Ups for $2.79 per pack or less

Is your KMart offering Super Double Coupons this week? If so, you can score Huggies Pull-Ups for less than $2.79 per pack. Go here to get the scoop.

Free sample of Tampax Pearl

Go here to sign up for a free sample of Tampax Pearl. (Thanks, Angela!)

Free sample of Dove Therapy hair care products

Play The Word on Hair Care game here and get a free sample of Dove Therapy hair care products. You can also get a $1 coupon here or play the Dove Beauty Matchmaker game here for a chance to win a free full-sized product.

Thanks, FreeStuff4Free.com!

Get a free cookie at Great American Cookies in October

Not only can you get a free cookie at Mrs. Fields tomorrow, but you can also get a free cookie at Great American Cookies anytime in October!

All you have to do is sign up for their email list. Everyone who signs up for their email list through October 31, 2009 will receive a coupon good for a free regular Original Chocolate Chip Cookie. More details here.

Go here to sign up.

Thanks, STL Mommy!

Free cookie at Mrs. Fields (Thursday, October 1, 2009)

Mrs. Fields is celebrating my birthday tomorrow by giving everyone a free cookie. Well, okay, so they didn't know it was my birthday, but they are still giving away free cookies!

Just stop by any Mrs. Fields location from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and every customer will get a free chocolate chip cookie. More details here.

$0.50/1 Green Giant Frozen Vegetable and more printable coupons

Here's a hot coupon for frozen vegetables! Go here (or here in FireFox) to print a coupon for $0.50 off any one package of Green Giant Frozen Vegetables.

The boxed vegetables are often on sale for close to $1 at Kroger making them free or almost free if your store doubles coupons. (Thanks, Frugal Racing Fan Mommy!)

More printable coupons:

$1/1 V8 Fusion (Thanks, Donna!)

$5/1 Neutrogena Acne Therapy System

Target: Deals and freebies for the week of September 27-October 3, 2009

Last week was kind of a dull week at Target but the deals are picking up again this week! Yay! Don't forget that you can now print the Target Corporate Coupon Policy here on their website and carry it with you.

A big thanks goes to Marcy from Stretching a Buck for her help in compiling many of these deals.

Crystal Light To-Go (3-packs)--$1.00 (in checkout lanes)
Buy 2 and use $2/2 coupon from the 9/13 Smartsource insert
Get both free after coupon

Johnson’s Buddies Soaps--$0.99
Buy 1 and use $1/1 coupon from the 9/13 RedPlum insert
Free after coupon

Buy 2 Fancy Feast Appetizers
Use BOGO manufacturer's coupon from the 9/20 inserts
Stack with the BOGO Target coupon here
Get both free after coupons (Thanks, Common Sense with Money!)

Kellogg’s Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts--$1.52
Buy 2 and use $2/2 Kellogg’s coupon from the 8/30 RedPlum insert
Stack with 2 $1/1 Target coupons
Free after coupons (Thanks, Deal Seeking Mom!)

All Laundry Detergent (travel size)--$1
Use $1/1 when you sign up here or $1/1 from the 8/2 RedPlum insert
Free after coupon

Arm & Hammer Toothpaste (travel size)--$1.07
Use $3/2 coupon from the 8/16 insert
Free after coupon

Renu Contact Solution (travel size)--$1.54
Use $2/1 coupon here
Free after coupon

Chex Mix (3.75-oz.)--$0.99 (found in the checkout aisles at some Target stores)
Use $1/1 Target coupon
Free after coupon

Hormel Compleats--$1.89
Use $2/1 coupon in the October All You magazine
Free after coupon (Thanks, KC Penny Pinchin’ Mama!)

Air Wick I-Motion Starter Kits--$5.99 (price cut at some stores)
Use $6/1 coupon in the 9/13 SmartSource insert
Free after coupon

Head and Shoulders Shampoo (travel size)--$1
Use $1/1 coupon in the 8/30 P&G insert
Free after coupon

Chex Mix (8-oz.)--$1.75
Use $0.50/1 coupons here or here
Stack with $1/1 Target coupon
$0.25 after coupons

Buy 4 Kellogg's FiberPlus Antioxidant Bars (5-count) at $2.33 each, Get a $5 Target Gift Card
Use 4 $0.75/1 coupons here or here
Spend $6.32 plus tax out of pocket, Get $5 Target Gift Card
$0.33 each after coupons and Gift Card (Thanks, Surviving the Stores!)

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Pasta--$1.19
Buy 2 and use $1/2 here
$0.69 each after coupon (Thanks, My Frugal Adventures!)

Skippy Peanut Butter--$1.74
Use $1/1 Target coupon
$0.74 after coupon

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls--$2.29
Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon from the 8/30 RedPlum insert
Stack with 2 $1/1 Target coupon
$0.79 each after coupons

Dannon Activia (4-pack) or Danimals (6-pack) Yogurt--$2
Use $1/1 coupon in the 7/26, 8/9, or 8/30 SmartSource inserts
$1 after coupon

Buy 2 Gillette Fusion Razors at $7.94 each, Get a $5 Target Gift Card
Use 2 $4/1 coupons from the 9/27 P&G insert
Spend $7.88 plus tax out of pocket, Get $5 Target Gift Card
$1.44 each after coupons and gift card

See more deals at Target this week here.

Q&A: Does Couponing Only Work if You Eat Junk Food?

Melissa left the following comment on my Super Savings Saturday post last week. I began to respond to it in the comments section and I wrote so much that I finally decided it would be better to make this a separate post:

I've been using coupons for a while, but I've just newly done research on getting the most bang for each coupon. The thing that I notice though is that much of the food you get at really great prices is not really so healthy... chips, candy, cookies, and lots of processed stuff which could definitely be left out of the grocery budget totally. I have a terrible sweet-tooth and really love all that stuff, but if I got that much I know it would not be so good for my waistline. Are there ways to coupon and get healthy stuff, or does the couponing really only work for the junk food? I don't seem to find a lot of coupons for fresh foods, and healthy meal/baking supplies. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place? Any suggestions? -Melissa

Melissa, what a great question! There is a widely-held myth that using coupons means you only feed your family junk food. From a cursory vantage point, it can seem like us couponers buy a lot of processed food. And yes, it might appear like my family must only eat MSG and high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden foods. However, that is very far from the truth.

I definitely do buy some processed foods and my grocery shopping trips are evidence of this. I know that bothers some people and I often receive hate mail about it. I understand that some people want to avoid every ounce of processed foods--and that's okay with me! But that's not where our family is right now. We strive to eat a balanced diet and do the best we can with the time and money we have.

We don't eat all organic, we do eat processed foods probably at least once or twice a day, and I don't always bake and cook every single thing from scratch. But if you look at examples of our weekly menus here, you'll see that according to most people's standards, we do try to eat fairly healthfully. There are definitely areas we can improve in and I'm always seeking to work on those. It's a learning process!

Balance is key to me; it's not an all or nothing thing. We've chosen to eliminate food coloring from our diet, we also rarely eat pork, we are very particular about the meat we buy, we eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables (many of which have come from friend's gardens this Summer--yum!), we make much of our food from scratch, we eat very little fast food, we use primarily freshly-ground whole-wheat flour in our baking, we use all-natural cleaners for at least 90% of the cleaning we do in our home, we don't drink soda pop, and we avoid artificial flavoring whenever possible.

Those are just the things we've chosen to do in our own home based upon the research we've done and what works for our family. Every family is different so I encourage each family to do their own research and decide what are their own family's goals and priorities and then stick with those.

While we mostly eat foods cooked from scratch, I do buy some processed foods (such as granola bars, ice cream, and cereal--and occasionally even Oreo Cakesters!) when I can get them at rock-bottom prices. We enjoy these for treats, I pack a few in my husband's lunches each day, and we often share some of our extra goodies with others.

That said, there are quite a few coupons for healthful foods. To give you an example, this past week I was able to get All-Natural Dannon Vanilla yogurt and Musselman's All-Natural Applesauce for over 66% off the retail price thanks to coupons. The week before that, I got 12 organic CLIF bars for free and five boxes of Kashi products for free. There have also been some great Target coupons out recently for fruit and vegetables. Coupons for organic foods and produce are becoming more prevalent than they used to be, and I'm excited about this trend!

If you don't want to buy processed foods at all, but you still use traditional household items (such as toilet paper, toothpaste, and the like), you could just use coupons on household items. By watching for sales on these and pairing the sales with coupons, you can significantly slash your grocery bill--without ever even using a coupon on food items!

For example, I never pay more than $0.20 for toothpaste and toothbrushes. Every few months, these go on sale for $1 and there are quite a few $0.40/1 and $0.50/1 coupons available--which our Dillon's store doubles. I save these coupons and use them during the week of the $1 toothbrush and toothpaste sale to stock up!

It's the same for laundry detergent, deodorant, dish detergent, shampoo, conditioner, and so on. By combining coupons with sales, I often get these items for free or for pennies on the dollar thus saving us a significant portion of our grocery bill.

Unless you truly cook everything from scratch, don't use shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and use cloth toilet paper, you likely buy at least a few items which you could use coupons on. If you even just use coupons on 5-10 items per shopping trip and pair these coupons with great sales, you could probably save at least $20-$30 off your grocery bill per month--and that's money which is then freed up to be invested elsewhere in your grocery budget or put into savings!

I will be quick to say that while I'm a big advocate of using coupons, there are many more ways to save on your grocery bill without using coupons. In fact, I see coupons as just a part of the reason we're able to have a $40/week grocery budget. I also recommend that you have a budget, plan a menu, plan your menu around your store's sales, learn the sales cycles so you can buy ahead when an item you regularly use is at it's rock bottom price, shop with cash only and a calculator, shop at more than one store (if you're crunched for time, just glance at your local stores' ads when planning your shopping trip and determine which one has the best sales that week and then shop there), and bake and cook from scratch as much as possible.

Not everyone can do every single one of these things (and if you're new to the world of bargain shopping, coupon-clipping, and frugal living, please do not burn yourself out by trying to do it all at once. Take babysteps, okay?), but a little time invested in some of these things can go a long way towards shrinking your grocery budget without requiring you to expand your waistline or consume loads of junk food in the process!

For more information and ideas, be sure to read my article on how to lower your grocery bill without using coupons. Amy is also doing a series on her blog on 20 Ways to Save at the Grocery Store Without Using Coupons. Check out the first installments of her series here and here.

In addition, if you're new to frugal living and want some great ideas to slash your grocery budget without using coupons, I'd definitely recommend checking out the book I am currently reading Family Feasts for $75 a Week.

What other suggestions do you have for Michelle? Please share in the comments section. In addition, if you eat primarily unprocessed foods and blog on how you do so on a budget, would you be kind enough to leave your link in the comments section?

$0.50/1 Bird's Eye Steamfresh Veggies and more printable coupons

Go here to print a coupon for $0.50/1 Bird's Eye Steamfresh Lightly Sauced Vegetable or Pasta Variety  (Thanks, Saving with Shellie!).

These are 50% off at Publix this week making them only $0.24 per bag after the coupons (Thanks, The Thrifty Mama!). These are also often on sale at a number of other stores and if your store doubles coupons, it should make for a great deal on frozen veggies.

More printable coupons:

Save $1/1 pint of Starbucks ice cream

$1/1 Barbara's cereal

$0.75/1 Wasa Crispbread

$0.55/1 Mueller's Whole Wheat Pasta (Thanks, Frugal Homemaking!)

CVS: Three links for $5/$25 coupons!

Thanks to Couponing to Disney, I just learned that you can actually get three different $5/$25 coupons if you take a flu survey at three different links:

$5/$25 #1

$5/$25 #2

$5/$25 #3

Each of these have unique bar codes, so you should be able to use each of them once per card!

See the deals available at CVS this week here.

Another new link for $1/1 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Toaster Strudels

I posted two links here yesterday for $1/1 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls or Italian Bread and $1/1 Toaster Strudels, but Money Saving Madness was able to dig up two more links. You should be able to print each of these two times as well.

::Save $1/1 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls--IE or FF

::Save $1/1 Pillsbury Toaster Strudels--here

There are going to be some good catalina promotions on these at Meijer and Kroger (and likely elsewhere) beginning October 5, 2009, so print these while you can. (See details on the catalina deals here.)

Free sample of Always Infinity

Go here to sign up for a free sample of Always Infinity.

Thanks, The Freebie Blogger!

Free set of six Thank You cards from Dove--first 20,000

Go here and sign up for the Dove Dimensions Sweepstakes and the first 20,000 to do so will receive a free set of six Thank You cards.

Free Gold Medal Whole-Wheat Baking cookbook download

Click here to view a free copy of Gold Medal's Whole Wheat Baking cookbook.

Thanks, Coupon Saving Game!

QuikTrip: Free sandwich, wrap, or salad

I just stumbled onto a really hot coupon! Go here to print a coupon for a free sandwich, wrap, or salad at QuikTrip. No purchase necessary.

My coupon printed with an expiration date of October 8, 2009. Limit 1 coupon per customer. You should be able to print two coupons per computer and use one for yourself and let someone else in your family or circle of friends use the other.

I am guessing this coupon will reach it's print limit very quickly so hurry and print yours while you can!

Also, be sure to sign up here for the QuikTrip email list and you'll get a coupon for a free hot dog and drink plus periodic other great coupons.