Wednesday ads and muffin recipe

It's Wednesday! That means new ads for some stores.

MoolaSavingMom has posted matchups for Harris Teeter, for Lowe's, and for Food Lion. 
SouthernSavers has also posted matchups for Harris Teeter and for Food Lion. Their Lowe's matchup should be posted shortly.

If you have kids, you probably buy bananas every now and then. They're a perfect fruit: very portable and pre-portioned. I don't know about you, but every time I buy bananas, there's at least one sad one at the bottom of the fruit bowl at the end of the week. I have a sneaky suspicion that my kids leave it there so I'll make muffins or banana bread.

I don't know what it is about this generation that's coming along. Maybe the National Prune Council or somesuch has done a great PR job, but kids today don't shrink back in disgust when you say 'prune' like we did when we were kids. It's no longer associated with that vile juice that your great-great-aunt once drank. They are now dried plums or prunes with orange essence.

Our generation still does the grocery shopping, though, so coupons abound. I snag a couple of bags every time they're a good deal, because I found this recipe for Banana Prune Muffins that my kids adore. It works well with regular prunes or the ones with orange essence.

...And, let me just say that the Prune Council and my kids have almost convinced me not to shudder every time I hear the word 'prune'. In this recipe, they taste kind of like big, juicy raisins. Good stuff!

New subscription promo from N&O

The Raleigh News & Observer is offering $1 Sunday delivery again with the promo code. Head over to MoolaSavingMom to check out the info she just found!

Super Doubles Trip #2

If you live in my town, be aware that the Harris Teeter on MLK, while usually open 24/7, will close tonight around 11pm and reopen early tomorrow morning; they're shutting down briefly for routine floor maintenance.

Here's what I got from Harris Teeter last night:

(1) pack of pork ribs at $3.55 (marked down to 1/2 off and $1 q that doubled)
(1) loaf of bread at $0.99 ea
(4) Blue Diamond almonds at $2.59 ea (splurge item)
(4) Dole 4-pk fruit at $1.00 ea
(3) Dole pineapple slices at $0.32 ea
(2) Oreos at $1.50 ea
(2) U for ladies at $1.50 ea
(4) Naturals for ladies at $1.49 ea
(4) Trix at $0.65 ea
(2) Simply Pure half gallons at $1.49 ea
(1) Smart Balance half gallon free
(2) Kraft Singles at $2.19 ea (not a stellar deal but the hubbie requested)
(1) Smart Balance spread at $0.19 ea
(1) Gorton's salmon (not pollock) at $0.97 ea

My total OOP was $44.55
I saved $64.84, or 59.27%

This was not a great trip for Super Doubles. All of my priority items were sold out, and most of my second-tier items were sold out. I still snagged some good deals, but I'll have to go earlier in the day if I stand a chance at getting any of my priority list items.

Have you been to Super Doubles yet? How did you do?

Homemade pizza

When you find yourself with leftover ingredients from other recipes, you need a way to use them so they're not wasted. We do a fair job of planning meals around here to minimize waste. For example, we might make BLT sandwiches one night, have the leftover bacon with breakfast the next day, and use the leftover lettuce and tomato in tacos for dinner. Another favorite around here is salad bar night; if I have veggies, fruit, and meat, I'll chop it all up and let everyone build their own salads.

I made that special bean dip for my husband the other day, and had a little bit of onion and black olives left over. We also made calzones last week, so I had pepperoni and shredded cheese.

I put ingredients in the bread machine for pizza dough using this recipe I found online, and mixed up a batch of sauce using this recipe. It turned out pretty good, for my first attempt. Next time, I'll divide the dough and the sauce into two pizzas; ours turned out pretty thick. The flavor was spot-on, though, and our younger kid raved about it for days. I think she's looking forward to helping with the next homemade pizza.

 Onions on only half, for the adults

Next up: Trip #2 to Super Doubles

Super Doubles Trip #1

I unintentionally lied to a friend who is new to couponing. Apologies to you, 'Lois'! I honestly didn't think I was going to get to the store today. My husband popped in this afternoon and it gave me just enough time to run to the store before he had to head back out. 

Here is an example of what $35 in groceries looks like, retail prices, without sales and without coupons:

Now, if you have a store card at Harris Teeter and keep an eye out for their buy-one-get-one promos and weekly sales, you can stock up on things before you need them. Here is an example of what $35 in groceries looks like with sales but without coupons:

BUT if you shop the sales, plan for the Super Doubles events, and use coupons strategically, THIS is what $35 will get you:

That's two canisters of coffee, two bottles of extra-virgin olive oil, two half-gallons of milk, two half-gallons of chocolate milk, two packs of zipper bags, two bottles of shampoo, two packs of pepperoni, two tubs of really good salsa, one tub of butter spread, three packs of juice boxes, four jars of sunflower seeds, and a five-pound bag of grapefruit. 

First trip to Harris Teeter for Super Doubles:

Spent $35.42

Saved $71.33

Percent savings: 66.82% off retail prices

Have you been to Harris Teeter today? Leave a comment and let me know how you did!

Next: Homemade pizza

Find out what your family likes

Most folks decide to start couponing because they realize they can put in a little bit of effort and score some really great deals at the store. It's only a good deal if you're going to use what you buy. When you first start looking at matchups online, it's really easy to get pulled into the allure of 'saving'. You might try to rationalize: It's only a dollar! or It was only 30 cents! Logically, you know that those pennies add up. If you're not careful, you'll end up hoarding stockpiles of food and personal products that will never be used. That, my friends, is the very definition of waste.

One way to avoid this is to figure out what your family likes. It's a really novel concept, right? Before I started couponing in 2009, there was no such thing as meal planning here. If we wanted a particular dish, one of us would drive to the store, purchase those ingredients, and use them. Other days, my husband would head to the store without a plan, just to pick out whatever looked good. Another night, I might get out of class and pick up something from the drive-through because we had to eat something.

Hear me when I say there is NO judgment here. I get it. It's hard to strike a balance with time, money, nutrition, appetites, and motivation. It's not reasonable to cater completely to kids' whims, or our diets would consist solely of cookies, chips, and chocolate milk. On the other hand, adopting an attitude of Eat it or starve! introduces animosity around the whole concept of healthful eating. What works for us is that we've never insisted that kids clean their plates, but we do require that they at least taste new dishes. We let them serve their own portions, and ask that they eat what they take. If they really hate what's served, they're welcome to substitute by making a peanut butter sandwich and/or having a cup of yogurt and/or fresh fruits/veggies.

The other advantage of shopping the matchups is that you'll end up with variety. If you're able to foster culinary experimentation with your family, all the better. Eventually, they'll not only express what they dislike but what they like. Build on it. Chances are, if you have a kid who loves pizza, it's not a huge leap to try lasagna or tortellini with different sauces. If another kid loves muffins, stock up on packaged fruits to try custom recipes. (Believe it or not, my kids are in love with Banana Prune Muffins!) Even if you have a finicky spouse, you can likely find certain dishes he or she likes and begin to build your repertoire.

One of my favorite tools is AllRecipes. You can create an online recipe box, search by ingredient, search by category, etc. I'll find a recipe I want to try, print it, and stick it to the exhaust hood over the stove with a very sturdy magnet while I cook. After we've eaten, I ask for feedback. If the family hates it, the recipe gets tossed. If they love it, I punch holes in the page and it goes into my recipe binder. There's always plenty of room in the margins to make notes, including who in the family loved it, what needed to be tweaked, and how much the recipe actually yields using my measurements and bakeware.

Today's recipe is a variation of my mom's Seven-Layer Bean Dip. I snag refried beans, salsa, and olives whenever they're on sale. I also keep an eye out for deals on cheese, which freezes very well. We also buy the bags of onions when we find a deal, because the excess can always be diced and double-bagged for the freezer (if you don't mind onion-flavored ice cubes, feel free to single-bag your onions). Then, all I have to do is watch for a deal on sour cream, and we have everything we need. This week, Kroger is running a Daytona Promo; you can load digital coupons to your store card on a whole slew of items. Unlike most weeks, with this promo you can actually use the digital coupon up to five times. In other words, you can buy five of a particular item and the discount will come off of all five at the register, but would not for the sixth one. This made the 16-oz Kroger-brand sour cream $1 today. I bought four, and came home to make dip.

This is what I recommend; my mom adds green chilies, and I'm sure you'll want to swap out something which you can do because once you collect a recipe you get to alter it to fit your and your family's tastes. 

Step one: heat the beans in a saucepan with a pinch of cheese and half the diced onion. Once it's smooth, spread it in the bottom of your serving dish. Sprinkle a bit of chili powder on top. This souffle' dish doesn't get used for much else.

Step two: Spread sour cream on top. Add the other half of the diced onion and black olives.

Step three: Spread salsa on top. Sprinkle cheese all over. Garnish with black olives and jalapeno slices.

Step four: Cover and refrigerate about half an hour.

Step five: Serve with tortilla chips. Be pleased when your spouse proclaims that you did a really good job on the dip, even though that's what your spouse always says because it is a favorite dish.

Next up: Super Doubles Trip #1

Updated matchups and improvisation

Super Doubles starts tomorrow at Harris Teeter! MoolaSavingMom has updated her list, and SouthernSavers now has their first list and one to match the weekly ad. I probably won't be able to go until I get out of class tomorrow night, so don't clear all the shelves, okay?

When you're planning your trips, you might be hesitant to stock up on particular items that you use less often. I'll admit there's a balance in there, somewhere. It's fabulous to get a great deal on something you'll use; getting a great deal on something that you'll never use is just a waste of time and money. Even though I've been doing this for a few years, I still end up with odd quantities of stuff now and then. This is when we improvise in the kitchen.

It snowed here this weekend. We were low on milk, but we were snug indoors and neither of us felt like braving the stores to jostle in line with the Bread! Milk! Beer! folks who crowd the aisles any time weather threatens. This is a perfect example of how couponing comes in handy.

The hubbie rummaged around in the pantry and came up with a box of hamburger helper. No hamburger or beef, and no milk in the fridge. However, I do keep cans of evaporated milk in the cabinet. Our younger kid is a milk monster, and I never know when I'm going to wake up and find the carton empty. I cannot function without milk for my morning coffee. Evaporated milk is great for cooking and an acceptable substitute for my morning java.

• Tip #1: Keep an eye out for deals on any shelf-stable basic ingredients, especially around the holidays. Though less common than coupons for other products, every now and then you will find deals on flour, sugar, salt, spices, evaporated milk, vinegar, baking powder, baking soda, etc. These staples just make sense, on their own merit, and are the key to pulling together meals you otherwise couldn't.

Next, I looked in the freezer. I tend to snag a variety of meats and store the spares away for later. I came up with a bag of beef meatballs I'd gotten with coupons for about 50 cents.

• Tip #2: Freshly butchered meat is not usually a couponable item. Breakfast meats, frozen chicken, frozen meatballs, and frozen fish are frequently on sale and if you can match a coupon to them, you're paying less than a buck for something that can anchor a meal. 

I popped the meatballs in the oven and got started on the pasta. When I substitute evaporated milk in a recipe, I use approximately equal parts canned milk and water to reach the measurement needed for a recipe.

Verdict? The pasta was a little more flavorful than usual, but it hit the spot. If I were to try this again, I'd probably add extra pasta to balance it out a bit.

Next up: What does your family like?

Homemade bread

First... in case you missed it, I posted direct links to four different matchup lists for the Super Doubles promo starting at Harris Teeter this Wednesday. It's a lot easier to use matchup lists than to find your own deals on an event like this.

When I went to talk to folks last week, I happened to mention that I make homemade bread. Of all the things I talked about, that was the one that they made me promise to post about. We go through a reasonable amount of plain loaf bread around here with sandwiches, toast, French toast, etc. It's nice to be able to make a loaf of sandwich bread at home, though, and I finally found a decent recipe.

First, let me reiterate that I am not Suzy Homemaker. I do not have the time or patience to grind my own flour or invest half a day in some of the artisan loaf recipes floating around the web. I do, however, appreciate being able to customize recipes and to feed my family things with fewer preservatives. Homemade bread allows for experimentation, and it's ridiculously easy if you have a bread machine to mix the dough.

I mentioned several years ago that I was looking for a breadmaker, and my sister kindly gave me hers, saying that she never used it. I have gotten so much use out of it since. If you don't have an amazing and generous sister with a spare bread machine sitting around, I suggest looking on Craigslist. You can probably snag one for under $30. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled for yard sales. Bread machines are the sort of thing that folks either use all the time or want to get rid of to free up storage space. I recommend getting one that offers a two-pound loaf capacity, just to have the room for yeasty breads to rise properly.

1-lb loaf of dough in 2-lb machine

When I first started using a bread machine, I followed the instruction manual meticulously, and only baked loaves in the machine. A couple of years ago, I started to branch out, and learned that it's most valuable for making dough. Pop the ingredients in (liquids on the bottom, followed by sugar/salt/fat, then the flour, and the yeast on top), and select the 'dough' setting. When it beeps, you pull out your dough, shape it, let it rise the second time, and bake it. Easy peasy.

Liquids, then dry ingredients, then flour, then yeast

Another thing I discovered is that tiny little packets of dry yeast are a pain. You can get a good deal on them with coupons, but they come in 3-pack strips and you really have to watch the expiration date. Here in NC, summers are humid and one damp packet means you've just lost all your other ingredients on a failed loaf of bread. One day, I was at the warehouse store and stumbled across the 1-lb packs of yeast. They sell at under $5 for two pounds. A pound of yeast has lasted almost a year for us.

The packs are vacuum-sealed and shelf-stable until you open them, and I just keep the opened yeast in a mason jar in the freezer. The last thing I do before starting the bread machine is pull out the jar, measure my yeast, and immediately put the yeast jar back in the freezer. It hasn't deteriorated at all.

I found this recipe for plain white bread and halved it. It's probably the closest I've found to sandwich bread. I made a loaf this morning to share with my sister over coffee.

Straight out of the machine, kneaded slightly to remove air 

Shaped and ready for loaf pan 

Seam side down

40 minutes later, doubled in size

After 30 minutes in the oven 

 

It continues to rise as it bakes

Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes

 Inside texture is just like a fresh loaf of sandwich bread

So, is making your own bread at home going to save money? If you factor in the ingredients plus the electricity to make the dough and bake the bread, plus the cost of a machine (used), versus an 89-cent loaf from the store... probably not. If you actually enjoy dabbling in the kitchen, though, the machine and bulk ingredients are a worthwhile investment, and you have the option of making fresh sandwich bread. Once you've practiced with one recipe for a bit, you'll want to move on to whole wheat bread, multi-grain bread, pizza dough, soft pretzels, challah, dinner rolls, and sweet dough. That's where you'll realize greater savings. Why pay $4 for Texas Toast when you can make a loaf and slice it as thick or as thin as you'd like?

Plus? Nothing's nicer than the smell of yeast bread baking on a weekend afternoon. It just puts everyone in a good mood.

Next up: Improvising a recipe

Get ready for Super Doubles!

If you're just starting to coupon, you're in for a treat.

Harris Teeter is running its Super Doubles promotion starting Wednesday, 2/20. MoolaSavingMom has started a matchup list. SouthernSavers has started their first matchup list. A second matchup list will probably show up later in the week. Folks over at AFullCup have started planning their lists (free registration required to access). So have folks over at HotCouponWorld.

If this is your first time with Super Doubles, just remember that you can double 20 coupons per trip. Read the terms of your coupons so you can be confident you're using them correctly.

Have a plan, but be flexible. Realize that the store may run out of some things. Take extra coupons in case the shelf is empty for your highest-priority items. I usually pull my cart aside and count/double-check my coupons against my purchases before I get to the register.

Be pleasant, but watch the coupons as they come off your total. Try to anticipate what your final amount should be; if anything rings up wrong, head straight to customer service and they'll get you squared away. If you discover a mistake after you get home, take your receipt back during your next trip and they'll fix it then. HT really does have spectacular customer service.

Good luck, and be sure to come back and let us know how you did!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes - with video

Remember that Harris Teeter starts Super Doubles this Wednesday, 2/20. Matchups are already showing up, so you can start printing the internet coupons now to prepare.

So, earlier this week we talked about the benefits of homemade snack foods and the convenience of prepackaged foods. Now, we're going to combine the two.

A couple of years ago, I got an electric griddle on sale for under $20 at a local department store. I love this thing. It takes no time to heat up, fits perfectly on the counter, is a breeze to clean, and I can knock out breakfast in minutes.

When you start couponing, you may end up with odd quantities of things on hand. A few months back, I stocked up on some 'complete' pancake mix. What I love about this sort of mix is that it's shelf-stable and only requires water for mixing. You don't have to worry about whether you have eggs or milk on hand in order to whip up a quick, hot breakfast. I got up one morning this week and asked the kids if they wanted pancakes. They grumbled a bit. I think they're more on a waffle kick these days. I compromised by making cinnamon roll pancakes. I didn't need to make the pancake batter from scratch, though; it works just as well with a box mix.

Now, if you read the instructions, it seems kind of complicated, but it's really not... and it's so worth it. They're very rich, so I wouldn't serve these up every day. In fact, they're a special breakfast that my kids only get every few months. The key is to mix the filling first, so it's ready as soon as you put the first pancake in the pan. I lined a bowl with a gallon freezer bag, filled it with the cinnamon mixture, and didn't snip the corner until I was ready to use it. Know what? This would be easier if I just showed you the process.

I whipped up the cream cheese topping while the pancakes cooled. The kids scarfed 'em up immediately.

Next up: Homemade bread

Heads-up and how to fake homemade cookies

Heads-up! Several sources suggest that Harris Teeter will be running Super Doubles next week. This means it's time to head over to the PrintableCouponDatabase and AFullCup to look for coupons that range in value from $1 to $2. Harris Teeter will normally double coupons that are 99 cents in face value or less, for up to $1.98 off an item; during super doubles, a $2 coupon doubles to $4 off an item. Keep an eye on those matchup sources I posted on Monday, because they'll start posting lists soon!

Now... on to the sneaky homemaker tip.

All right. I know I just posted yesterday about making a move away from prepackaged products, but I also said that the move from prepackaged to homemade is accomplished one step at a time. One product that sucks me in every time is refrigerated cookie dough, especially when I can get the package for under a buck... much less than the ingredients purchased separately, and there's a greater level of convenience involved.

The one thing I don't love about pre-made cookie dough? The fact that it looks pre-made. If you've ever broken apart the little squares of dough and plopped them down on the cookie sheet, you know what I mean. They always come out of the oven with that telltale shape on top.

Then I stumbled across this tutorial last week. The author intended it for folks who make cookies from scratch, but I discovered today that it works just as well for store-bought dough. Check it out:

I left one unaltered for comparison. The best part? It really doesn't take any time at all. I turned on the oven, and had adjusted all the dough on the cookie sheets before it had finished preheating. 

Next up: Combining a prepared mix with what you have on hand for a custom recipe

Interim V-Day Post

I finally got over to Harris Teeter today. I'm glad I waited, because Redbox is offering a free movie tonight. I got one, and the hubbie got one, so we're set up for a free movie night!

There are two different codes available. We did not try the code from KrazyCouponLady but can confirm that the one from SouthernSavers does work.

I also found a great deal on Gorton's frozen fish, so we'll be having lemon pepper salmon pollock with rice and veggies tonight!

Two movies: free

Popcorn for two: under $1, with butter

Salmon Pollock for two: 50 cents

Rice: bought in bulk, less than 50 cents

Veggies: 30 cents, previous sale, in freezer

Wine: Winking Owl from Aldi, $2.89

Babysitter: $0 because we are staying home

That's Valentine's Day the frugal way. 

You can check out the weekly matchup links from my post earlier this week.

Cost, Price, and Value

For me, there are three components to consider when purchasing groceries. I like to look at not just my OOP (Out Of Pocket cost at the register) but also the PPU (Price Per Unit of measure) and value. Value, of course, is subjective and depends on what you consider desirable characteristics of what you bring into your home.


OOP
Let me give you a current example. This week, Harris Teeter has Jolly Time microwave popcorn on sale for $1.49 per 3-pk box. If you look at the matchups this week, you may see there was a $0.50/1 coupon for this product in the 1/13 SmartSource. You know that the store would double that coupon, and that your OOP would be $0.49 plus tax. What a deal! You'd save $2.50 per box!

Pause for a moment. First, that matchup you see is for a regional coupon. The version we got in the paper here in central NC is actually for $0.75/2. So you do some quick math. The sale price would be $2.99 for two, the store would double that coupon to $1.50 off, so you'd pay $1.49 for two, or about $0.75 per box. Okay, so you're saving about $2.25 per box! 

That's about 75% savings off the regular retail price of $2.99 per 3-pk of popcorn, and it passes the OOP test, but let's look at the other criteria.

PPU
The price per unit is usually listed on the price tag at the front of the shelf. However, one of the reasons I love Harris Teeter is their Online Shopping feature at their website. It's intended for folks to add items to a virtual shopping cart, schedule a time to pick up an order, and pay at the curb at a local store. The benefit is that you can select your closest store and browse the items available and compare prices.

If you search the Express Lane database for 'popcorn', you'll find about 120 varieties. First, switch over from the thumbnail view to the list view. Now, look for the sort menu in the top right of the list and switch it to 'Unit Price', and wait for the page to reload. Now, the first Jolly Time popcorn is about halfway down the page, and shows that the sale price makes it $0.14 per ounce. When you factor in our regional coupon, that makes it $0.035 per ounce.

Now you can legitimately compare per-unit pricing of the on-sale item with coupons to the other brands in the online database.

Value
Here is where you'll need to consider what you and your family use, how you use it, and what your preferences are. My kids love popcorn, so I try to keep it in the house to tide them over between meals. I love my kids and want them to be happy, but I also want them to be healthy, and I'm trying to teach them to respect the environment. Now, I'm not picking on any particular brand, here; the ingredient list and the amount of packaging involved in any brand of microwave popcorn goes against my preferences. It's not an earth-shattering, deal-breaking, do-or-die sort of thing, but the little decisions we make add up over time.

Look at the very top of that database list again. My store also offers a 4-lb bag of popcorn kernels (in a plain bag, without the cardboard box, without the cellophane wrappers) for $2.79, or $0.04 per ounce, without coupons. That bag will make about 25 servings of popcorn, and the only ingredient is... popcorn.

We started transitioning to plain popping kernels a couple of years ago. We tried it on the stovetop with oil, with water, or dry. We tried it in the dreaded air-popper (that thing was possessed and threw unpopped kernels and popped corn all over the kitchen). I finally found a solution that worked for us: homemade microwave popcorn.

I snagged a huge pack of plain, brown, paper lunch sacks from the dollar store. The kids put 1/4 cup of kernels in a bag, fold the top over twice, and stick it in the microwave for a few minutes. You don't need oil, you don't need water, you don't need anything to hold the bag shut. You just need one good ear to listen for when the popcorn gets close to being done -- just like you would for regular, prepackaged microwave popcorn.

The Bottom Line
You can take advantage of the sale on popcorn this week, and have six servings of popcorn for $1.49, or about $0.25 per bag.

Alternatively, you can stock up on two 4-lb bags of popcorn and a 50-ct pack of lunch sacks for $6.58, or about $0.13 per bag.

We also like making our own because we're not limited to the flavor choices available on the store shelf. Why not try some of these recipes? My favorite is plain popcorn with just a dash of good chili powder.

Next up: Faking homemade cookies

New week of sales and use of a pineapple

Today is Wednesday! Don't forget that Harris Teeter, Lowe's Foods, and Food Lion all start new sale circulars today. You can check out the online matchups here:

MoolaSavingMom - Harris Teeter     Lowe's Foods     Food Lion
SouthernSavers -  Harris Teeter     Lowe's Foods     Food Lion

Remember that SouthernSavers tends to list matchups for the Atlanta Region, and that MoolaSavingMom posts matchups specific to the Triad of NC, which is closest to our promotions here in the Triangle.

If you're just starting out and are working only with printable coupons, it looks like you can get a good deal on coffee creamer, GM cereals, and store-brand bacon at Lowe's this week. I'll be heading to Harris Teeter later to pick up the offers on tuna, Old Orchard juice, Mrs. Butterworth's syrup, and Buitoni pasta.

Now... on to today's post.

One of my best friends brought her daughter over in December to help bake cookies. Halfway through her visit, she looked over in the corner and complimented me on our houseplant. I was confused, and then burst out in laughter. I'll bring you full circle by the end of the post.

Remember those pineapples I got at Aldi a few days ago?

I sliced one up and stuck it in the fridge for snacking today... but I didn't go hacking it apart all willy-nilly. First, you have to gently twist the bundle of leaves from the body of the fruit:

Next, you want to start peeling those small leaves from the bottom:

Soon, you'll see little buds. Those are roots!

All you have to do is pop it in a mound of dirt, give it light, warmth, and water:

Let's get back to the pineapple. Stand it up and slice it in half vertically, then those halves in half again so you have four long quarters. Use a fillet knife to remove the core from each piece. Then, you're going to make four cuts: one on each end, and then the two longer cuts to create almost a 'V' shape to remove the skin:

Then, you can slice that into bite-sized pieces:

I did this for a get-together at school once, and just put cocktail picks in each wedge. The pineapple was the first thing to disappear from the table.

Instead of using one of those one-size-fits-all specialty corers, this method allows you to very narrowly remove only the parts that are inedible. The outside acts as a little boat, which is handy for serving. The only other part that gets tossed is the core:

If you are very kind to your potted pineapple frond, this is what it will look like in about a year:

...and your friends will come over to bake cookies and compliment you on your lovely houseplant.

Next up: Evaluating the combination of cost, price, and value

Question: What about non-coupon items?

Here is one of my receipts from a shopping trip this weekend:

I bought three boxes of cereal and four packs of pasta. The cereal was on sale for $1.99 and I had three newspaper coupons for seventy cents off each, which doubled; I paid 59 cents per box. The pasta was on a BOGO sale, so I used two $1/2 newspaper coupons; I paid 9-1/2 cents per pack. My total order was $2.28.

Once folks start looking at coupon matchup sites, they might come away from the computer and think: Well, yeah, I can save on cereal and soup and frozen veggies, but what about meat, or milk, or fresh produce? I'm not going to lie to you; there are fewer coupons for these 'store perimeter' items. That doesn't mean you can't save on them, though.

First, let's look at meat.
You will find coupons for bacon, sausage, cold cuts, frozen fish, frozen chicken... anything that's processed by major manufacturers. Every once in a while, you will find printable coupons from farmers' councils for fresh meat.
You can also peruse the beer aisle for rebate forms. North Carolina is a 'no alcohol purchase required' state. You'll see that forms advertise "$5 off beef by mail when you buy a case of Duff beer" but if you read the fine print, you don't actually have to buy the beer in our state. Blue laws or some such. It's usually limited to one offer per household per promotion, but they do exist.
Another source I use for meat is Zaycon Foods. If you sign up with them, they'll tell you when they're headed to your area. Last autumn, I bought eighty pounds of fresh-never-frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts from them. We still have about half left over, after giving some to my brother-in-law and my mom. The hubbie and I simply spent an hour the day we got them dividing portions into one-gallon freezer bags, and put them in the cube freezer. The chicken breasts really are monstrously huge. Three or four of them will make at least three good meals for my family. I haven't tried their other products, but I've seen them offer salmon, smoked ham, and ground beef.

Next, milk.
You will seldom see coupons for regular milk. The store-brand milk is usually most economical. You will see coupons for soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and nontraditional cow's milk products like Smart Balance, Simply Pure, or organic milk. You'll usually pay a dollar for a half gallon with coupons, which is better than the $3-4 for regular milk.
This is where Catalinas come in handy. Here's the deal I got this weekend:

I had a $3 Catalina from my last trip to Kroger. I clipped two 50-cent coupons for cake mix, and found a free-product Catalina for one Luna bar in the grocery cart. The Luna bar was free, the newspaper coupons doubled to take a dollar off each of the cake mixes (on sale for $1.25 each), and then the three-dollar coupon came off the subtotal. I paid $1.01 for a gallon of milk, a granola bar, and two cake mixes.


Produce.
Sometimes farmers' councils will actually issue coupons good toward the purchase of a particular kind of fruit. You can also find coupons for regular and organic salad greens, berries, carrots, and sometimes tropical fruits. If chasing down the rare produce coupon is too cumbersome, you can always locate the grocery with the best produce prices in your town. For me, that's Aldi.
Except for their chips, their mints, and their wine, I usually only buy produce there. Here's the receipt from this weekend:

I paid less than $18 for all this:

That's two pineapples, two cantaloupes, two bags of carrots, two bags of chips, two 4-pks of mints, a bag of bananas, a head of iceberg, a bag of pears, and a five-pound bag of grapefruit. They're down on the south side of town, so I'll visit about twice a month to snag fresh produce. Depending on your Aldi location, you may need to thoroughly inspect the produce before purchase. A half-priced cantaloupe is NOT a good deal if you grab the ONE melon that's bruised and goes bad in a couple of days.

Next post: How to optimize your use of a pineapple.