Garlic Green Beans (AKA Crack Beans)

Crack is whack ya'll, but these green beans are not!  These are my newest addiction.  These green beans are so delicious and so easy to make.  I never realized how cheap fresh green beans were, but for a handful to serve both me and husby it cost me about $0.65-$0.70.  Husby dubbed these "Crack Beans".

1 lb. fresh green beans (I just usually grab a nice fistful)
enough water to boil green beans (I dont measure, I just fill a pot full of water)
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons salted butter
dash of salt
dash of pepper

1. Add beans to a pot full of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Drain the beans and set them aside.
3. In the same pot you used to boil the beans (minus the water of course), saute the garlic in the butter until the garlic is a nice light brown color.
4. Add green beans and salt and pepper to taste. Heat through.

Frugal Tip: The water you used to boil your green beans in would be good to use to water your indoor/outdoor plants once cooled.

Food Lion 9/4

2 Heinz Ketchup $4.00
Bacon $3.99
Ground chuck $2.36
Ground chuck $2.63
T-bone $6.17
T-bone $6.04
Beef bites $3.12
Chicken breasts $4.89
Minced garlic $1.99
TGIFriday wings $4.29
Pushups $3.99
Shredded cheddar $1.67
2 Block cheese $3.33
Hanks orange soda $1.00
20 cans of Friskees $10 (I had a coupon for $1/20 cans but the cashier couldn't get the coupon to work, so he just subtracted the cost of 3 cans of cat food which was $1.65.  Whatever, i'll take it!) = $8.35

Total - $59.05

Wal Mart 9/4

Shocker!!  So I actually went and did some grocery shopping at Wal Mart today.  It wasn't as terrible as I had pictured beforehand, but I definitely don't think im going to make this a habit.  Here's what I got:

Dried fruit snack thing $0.88
3 applewith dips$3.00
1/2 doz eggs $0.98
Bread $2.42
English muffins $2.48
Grapes $2.65
Pineapple $2.50
Sugar cookies $2.58
Cottonelle $7.47 (used $0.75/1 coup) = $6.72
Steamfresh corn $1.25
Steamfresh corn on the cob $1.88
Steamfresh rice $1.25
Honey butter biscuits $1.77 (someone at work told me these are delicious)
1/2 gal whole milk $2.76
1/2 gal skim milk $2.25
Palmolive dishwasher soap $2.73
Kens salad dressing $1.42
Wishbone Italian dressing $1.88 (used $0.50/1 coup) = $1.38
Apple jelly $1.44
Miracle Whip $2.78
Granola bars $1.88

Total - 48.49

CVS 9/4

Went to CVS to pick up a few things, particularly the Purex laundry detergent which was on sale for $1.99 a bottle this week.  This definitely wasn't one of my better shopping trips, but not too bad.

4 bottles Purex $7.96

2 bags Emerald cashews $2.00

3 Degree deodorants $8.97

1 Carefree pantiliner $1.00 (used $0.50/1 coup) = $0.50

1 Skintimate shave gel $1.99 (used $1/1 coup) = $0.99

1 Dove chocolate bar $0.79 (coupon kiosk gave me a coup for a free Milky Way or Dove) = free

1 Hershey's air delights $0.99

I also used a coupon for $4 off your $20 order.

Total - $17.66 plus I got $1.99 in ECBs to use on my next purchase.

CVS year to date savings: $520.31

Menu Plan 9/3 - 9/9

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile ya'll, but we got hit with Hurricane Irene last weekend and i've just been too flustered this week to really worry about blogging.  Hopefully things will start getting back to normal.  Im hoping I can conjure up the energy today to head out to the grocery store.  We had to throw everything in our refrigerator and freezers away due to power outage caused by the storm so this will be a big grocery spending week.  Its inconvenient, but i'm not complaining.  It gave me the chance to really scrub down my freezers and refrigerator good.  Anywho, here is our menu for the week.

Saturday: salisbury steak
rice
green beans

Sunday: bbq chicken
macaroni and cheese
corn

Monday: Mine and husby's 2nd anniversary.  We're going out to eat!

Tuesday: steak
buttered egg noodles
salad

Wednesday: I have a cake decorating class to attend so i'll be eating out somewhere or having leftovers or a sandwich

Thursday: chicken and rice
peas

Friday: bbq beef tips
some kind of side...probably one of those Knorr sides
green beans

Food Lion 8/21

Food prices are seriously getting scary!!

Chocolate frosting $1.25
(2) Snackwells popcorn $5.00 (used coup $0.75/2) = $4.25
Lemon frosting $1.25
FL raisin bran $2.79 (used coup $2.29/1) = $0.50
Honey $5.49
Brown sugar $1.19
Cookies $2.50
Fruit cocktail $1.79
Soy sauce $1.49
Fruit cups $2.69
Baked beans $1.69
Canned peaches $1.79
Baked beans $1.69
Cream of potato soup $1.69
Lemon cake mix $1.25
Strawberry cake mix $1.25
Brownie mix $1.25
Smoked sausage $3.19
Bacon $3.00
Ground beef $3.56
Ground beef $3.54
NY strip $3.56
Ground beef $2.27
Ground beef $1.79
Chicken wings $4.17
Banana $0.21
Fresh green beans $0.37
1/2 gal milk $2.93
French fries $2.39
Frozen veggies $1.79
Cat litter $7.99
20 Friskees $10.00 (used $1/20 coup) = $9.00
Fancy Feast $0.60 (used coup for free can) = Free

I also used a coupon for buy two DH products get one free (-$1.39)

Total - $83.96 (Yikes!)

I need to think of ways to bring down our grocery costs.  I suppose I could start shopping more at Wal Mart (ew!), buying more store brand/generics (I dont mind those), maybe finding cheaper name brands to use, and trying to find more coupons to use.  I do have an $8 rebate to send in for the meat I purchased today so that will help to offset the costs a little bit.  Any suggestions on how to lower the grocery bill are welcome!  Please just leave a comment :)

Menu Plan 8/20 - 8/26

Saturday: bbq beef cups

Sunday: bbq ribs
baked beans
garlic green beans

Monday: chicken pot pie

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: chicken wings
french fries

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: out