BLOCKBUSTER By Mail Special Offer - 3 Months for $9.99

BLOCKBUSTER is selling gift cards in stores for $9.99 that are good for a 3-month subscription to their BLOCKBUSTER by Mail service.  If you aren't familiar with their new service, it is similar to Netflix, but also includes video games like GameFly.  Once the three month trial is up, the normal price is $11.99 a month.

I picked up one two days ago and expect to get my first game tomorrow.  This is a great deal for gaming enthusiasts.  The only downside is that many of the gaming titles aren't available until three months after their release.  I assume this is because the in-store rentals of the newer games is very lucrative and they don't want to hurt their stores.

For more details on BLOCKBUSTER By Mail, head over here.

George

Amazon Daily Deal (12/16/2010) - "Seinfeld - The Complete Series"

Amazon is offering Seinfeld - The Complete Series on DVD for $84.49.  This set includes:

• Features 32 DVDs with all 180 episodes
• More than 104 hours of amazing extras
• The Official Coffee Table Book: a 226-page bound anthology filled with photos, quotes, and trivia from every episode
• Bonus disc featuring the reunion of the cast plus Larry David on the ninth anniversary of the series finale
• Packaged in a handy collector's case that will look great on your shelf
• Documentaries for all nine seasons
• Inside looks
• Not That There's Anything Wrong With That (bloopers)
• In the vault (deleted scenes)
• Yada Yada Yada (commentaries)
• "Sein-Imation"
• Notes about nothing

This is an incredible collection for the Seinfeld fan.  Pick one up and have your own marathon over the Holiday break.

George

Amazon Daily Deal (12/14/2010) - "24: The Complete Series"

Amazon is offering "24: The Complete Series" for only $139.99.  This is a 56 disk set that includes all 8 seasons, the feature length "24: Redemption" and a bonus DVD.  Get your 8 Days of Jack Bauer today.

George

Kroger v. Martins, Week of 12/12/2010

Not much to inspire this week, but I will head to Kroger to pick up some more chicken.  The $1.79 chicken from Martins from a couple of weeks ago had a lot of hidden "stuff you'll want to cut off" on the underside of the breasts, so it wasn't that great of a deal after all.

Chicken:

Kroger
Boneless/Skinless Breasts @ 1.99/lb
Whole Roaster @1.19/lb

Martins
Boneless/Skinless Breasts @ 2.44/lb


Beef:

Martins
Value pack @2.49/lb (probably 75-80% lean)

If I run across anything good when I am in the stores I will update the post.

George

Redbox / Groupon Deal - 3 Movie rentals for $1 - EXTENDED

They've sold over 280,000 groupons for Redbox and have decided to extend the deadline to buy until midnight tomorrow.  So, if you haven't purchased your groupon yet, hop over to my original post and check it out.

George

Starbucks 12 Days of Sharing - Day 12 - 12 Oz Boxed Mug $6.99

Starbucks' 12th (and last) Day of Sharing features a 12 oz Christmas Mug for $6.99. Swing by your local Starbucks and pick one up.  I hope you were able to enjoy some of the savings Starbucks had to offer this season.

George

Redbox / Groupon Deal - 3 Movie rentals for $1

Hopefully you've heard of both Redbox and Groupon by now.  Normally Redbox movies are $1 a night, which makes this a great bargain.  Buy one for yourself or as a gift (stocking stuffer?).  Head on over to Groupon to sign up and then click here to get to the Redbox offer.  Hurry, quantities are limited.

George

Coinstar Promo - Cash in $40 and get $50 UPDATE

As I mentioned a few days ago, today is the day that Amazon.com has been added to the $40 gets you $50 promotion. Here are the specific details:

Exchange $40 worth of change at a participating Coinstar location between 12/9/2010 and 12/22/2010 for an Amazon.com giftcard, and you will get a bonus $10 gift card for use on Toys and Games at Amazon.com/Toys. Full details are here.

George

Starbucks 12 Days of Sharing - Day 9 - Free $5 Gift Card with VIA purchase

Today's deal at Starbucks is a $5 gift card with the purchase of a 12-pack of VIA coffee.  If you drink VIA already, this seems well worth the swing by Starbucks on the way to work.  And let's face it, if you are an avid Starbucks fan, you were probably going to stop on the way to work anyhow!

George

Save 80% on Restaurant.com $25 Gift Certificates through 12/12/2010

Save 80% off Restaurant.com $25 Gift Certificates! Use code JOY at checkout now through 12/12/10.

In case you've never used them before, for many of the restaurants that participate, you can pick up a $25 gift certificate for $10.  The restaurants often have a minimum requirement on the amount you purchase when you use the certificate, typically $35 for the $25 certificate.  With this discount, you can get a $25 gift certificate for $2, so in essence, you are getting $35 of food for $12.  Not too shabby.

We have a certificate for Melitos that we plan to use soon, and I may pick up a couple more.

George

Starbucks 12 Days of Sharing - Day 8 - Discounted Tumbler and Mug

Today Starbucks is featuring their Red Cup Tumbler for $6.99 (reg. $10.95) and their Red Cup Mug for $3.99 (reg. $7.95).  As always, quantities are limited, so get there early.

George

No-Knead Bread - Finally

I know I am a little late on the No-Knead bread craze, but I finally gave it a shot.  I followed the recipe from SteamyKitchen.com (No Knead Bread: so easy a 4-yr old can make it!) with just a few changes.

The dough seemed firm enough after folding it with a spatula so I actually did pick it up and worked the dough in my hands for a bit, stretching the top and tucking it under to get a nice smooth surface.  I then placed it on parchment paper and set it back into the bowl for the last 2 hours.

While I have a sufficiently large dutch oven, I have my doubts about the handle on the lid standing up to the temperature in the oven.  Instead, I placed the dough on a pre-heated pizza stone (hence the parchment paper above) and poured a cup of water into a pan in the bottom of the oven to create steam.

The result?  The best bread I've had in a long time.  I could have left it in for a bit longer, and will next time, but the crust was looking so good I didn't want to mess it up!

George

Starbucks free VIA coffee with purchase of tumbler. Today only.

It's Day 7 in Starbucks' 12 Days of Sharing and today they are giving away a pack of VIA when you buy a tumbler. Check it out here.

George

Coinstar Promo - Cash in $40 and get $50

Coinstar is running a promotion until the end of the year: convert $40 dollars in change to a gift certificate to one of several stores and get a bonus $10 gift card.  Currently, the following stores are participating:  iTunes, Lowes, Borders, Regal Entertainment, and Rixty.  Starting December 9th, Amazon.com will also be participating.  There are no other fees associated with converting your change to these giftcards.

The $40 gets you $50 promotion ends December 31.

For more information, check out their website or find a Coinstar location.

George

Starbucks 12 Days of Sharing - Day 5

Today, Starbucks is offering their Frosted Starbucks Tumbler for $6.99 (regularly $10.95).  Pick one of these up for your office gift exchange.  Check it out here.

George

Kroger v. Martins, Week of 12/05/2010

Chicken:

Kroger
Boneless/Skinless Breasts @ 2.49/lb
Split Chicken Breasts @.99/lb

Martins
Whole Roaster @.99/lb

I put the Split Chicken Breast price there because I plan on going old school this week and picking up a pack of them to see what it takes to remove the skin and bones.  The costs of the Boneless/Skinless is 2.5 times the cost of the Split, so I'm certain the price per pound of meat is better.  I'll be checking that as well, weighing everything once I am done.  Hopefully I won't have to factor in the cost of getting stitches....  Of course, I'll have to do it when Erin and the kids are out of the house, or they might never eat chicken again.


Beef:

Both have ground chuck for 1.99/lb


Pork:

Kroger
Pork Loin Filet @ 1.99/lb
Pork Loin Chops @3.99/lb

Martins
Hatfield Pork Loin Filet BOGO (not sure of price/lb)
GIANT Pork Loin Whole @2.49/lb
Center Cut Chops (boneless) @3.49/lb
Center Cut Chops (bone-in) @1.99/lb
GIANT Bacon (Oscar Meyer too) @2.99/package

Some interesting choices this week.  For example, at Kroger wouldn't the pork loin chops simply be cut (or maybe chopped) versions of the Filet?  Why would it cost twice as much, and can't you get the butcher to cut it for you for free so that the Filet becomes chops?  At Martins, we have the BOGO on the Filet, which is likely a good deal.  The GIANT loin is marked down 1.50/lb.  For the GIANT Pork Loin, they specifically say the butcher would be happy to cut it for you.


Dairy:

Kroger
Egglands Best Eggs, 18ct, BOGO

Martins
Egglands Best Eggs, 18ct, @2.89


Produce:

Kroger
Fuji Apples & others (local grown) @0.99/lb

Martins
Bananas @0.39/lb


Baking:

Martins had a lot of baking items on sale, trying to take advantage of the season I guess.  Kroger has some of the same, but the most appealing deal was Gold Medal flour @2/3.00.  It only shows the bleached all-purpose, but I suspect other varieties are on sale too.


Cereal:

Kroger
Kellogg's Cereal, Nutri Grain bars @50% off  (Sunday - Wednesday only)

Martins
General Mills Cereals - Buy 4 select cereals and get 4.50 off your next milk purchase


Misc:

Kroger
Pepsi 2 liter bottles @0.79 (part of the buy 10 items sale)
Ocean Spray Cranberry Drinks  @1.98

Martins
A&W, Sunkist, Canada Dry, 7-up @0.79

Starbucks 12 Days of Sharing - Day 3

Starbucks is having another BOGO offer today, December 3rd.  If you buy one 12-pack of VIA Instant Coffee, you get another for free.  I haven't tried VIA yet, has anyone else?  For more details, head on over here.

George

Starbucks 12 Days of Sharing BOGO Offer

Starbucks is celebrating the 12 days of Christmas by offering a new special each day for the first 12 days of December.  Today's offer is a BOGO (Buy one get one) on a pound of their Christmas Blend.  Pick up one and get one for free to share (or not!).

Check it out here.

George

$10 off $10+ Purchase at JCPenny

I just purchased a shirt from JCPenney that was originally $45.00 and is currently discounted to $11.99 for a measly $2.00.  Just use the code GIVEJOY at checkout and you can save $10.00.  Select in-store pickup and you won't have to worry about shipping costs either.

Thanks to MoneySavingMom.com for pointing this out.

George

Free Music from Amazon

Amazon is giving away 25 songs over the next 25 days.  Pop over here and check them out: 25 Days of Free Music  They also have several Christmas Albums / Samplers available for free:

There are more, but that should get you started.

George

Cheap DVD "rentals"

Movie tickets are expensive!  It's hard for me to justify taking the family of four to a movie these days.  It doesn't help that there is a short list of movies both my kids want to watch.  So, we generally just watch DVDs.  We've used Netflix in the past, and love the streaming feature, but found we were keeping movies on the coffee table for longer and longer without watching them.

One great source for inexpensive DVDs is Redbox.  I'm sure you've seen them outside your local Walgreens, Kroger, Martins, etc.  Movies from the kiosks are only $1.00 a day and there are ample opportunities for free rentals.  For example, at Kroger I received several free rental codes from the coupon printing machine.  You can also score free rentals by registering at www.Redbox.com.  You can also sign up for monthly free codes by giving them your cell number.

My new favorite source for free DVDs is the Henrico County Library.  Twenty years ago when we were just married we tried to get DVDs (OK, VHS tapes) from the library and they had maybe 20 movies.  That's certainly changed now, and with the ability to request movies from other libraries and have them delivered to your closest library for pickup, they've made it easy to get what you want.  Do they have every movie?  Nope, but they have enough to make it worth your time.  They have many movies for kids (we've just run through 10+ Bill Nye the Science Guy DVDs) and quite a few for adults (I have Iron Man 2 on my desk right now).  All you have to do is search their online catalog and put holds on the movies you want to see.  (BTW, Doing a search of DVDs shows over 12,000 titles.)  It will take some time to get most popular movies, but the cost more than makes up for the delay.  Oh, and they have Blue-Ray versions too!

George

Preparing meals ahead

With all the chicken I picked up at Martins I wanted to take a crack at preparing meals ahead.  I'm a big fan of the slow-cooker and have had success with quite a few recipes, but I'm always eager to try new ones.  So, combining the two, I decided to pre-make several slow-cooker recipes.

I know, I know, slow-cooker meals are already prepared hours ahead.  That's not important now, I still wanted to try it this way!

First of all, I chopped about 6 cups of onions.  They're good for you and when cooked in the slow cooker they take on the tastes of the rest of the ingredients and stop being so onion (for this kids, of course).  I only teared up a little bit.

Next, I grabbed a handful of recipes from TheBump.com for "Dump Chicken".  Thanks, AnnapolisLari!  I decided to try the Honey Glazed, Creole and Sticky Chicky variants.  I placed each recipe in it's own little freezer bag along with the chicken breasts per the instructions.  Mostly per the instructions, that is, I'm not good at strictly following recipes.

Finally, I sealed them and squished them satisfyingly to mix everything up. They are now patiently waiting in my freezer for their shot at glory.  I'm most interested in the Sticky Chicky.  I'll let you know how it comes out.

George

Apparently I'm having some success...

I made my weekly trip for groceries yesterday (Martins got the nod) with my stack of coupons that were expiring November 30th.  I don't like being forced to use coupons, but we will eventually use all that toothpaste, right?

Anyhow, after the cashier completed running all my coupons she said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you did very well for a man."  I couldn't have been more proud -- and I'm eager to do even better next week.

George

Kroger v. Martins, Week of 11/28/2010

Not much to talk about this week.


Chicken:

Kroger
Tyson Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts @ 1.99/lb

Martins
GIANT Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts @ 1.79/lb
Whole Roaster @ .99/lb


Ground Beef:

Both have Value Packs of 75-80% lean @ 1.99/lb.  It's worth noting that I have seen unadvertised specials on Martins 93% lean ground beef in multiple stores.  I was able to pick up a couple pounds for 1.99/lb.  Worth checking out.


Misc:

Kroger
Pepsi 2-liter bottles for .79 when you but 10.

I hope you had a nice turkey day.