Cooking through THM

THM Kroger Deals 1/17/21

January 17, 2021 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Save money on your favorite Trim Healthy Mama products this week. Here are the best THM Kroger Deals 1/17/21.

When I was in my mid-20’s, I moved across the USA from Tennessee to Texas. I spent what seemed like a ton of money at the time to move. And I also quit my job before I left with no job in TX waiting on me. Smart, right?

So after spending a bunch of money and no way to replace it (remember no job!), I had to find a way to survive while I found employment.

I found out about these cool things called blogs and started reading some that taught you how to save money and coupon. I even took a class in Houston by one of my favorite bloggers, Tiffany at MyLitter.

She taught me (and a bunch of others in the class) the grocery game. How to get tons of products for very little OOP (out of pocket) money. And it helped me eat and pay my bills during that time period!

And now that I’m a Trim Healthy Mama, I want to show you how to get the best THM Kroger Deals 1/17/21.

Never Miss a THM Deal – Join the Protecting Your THM Pennies Facebook page.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

THM Kroger Deals 1/17/21

*Prices listed are my local prices in West TN. Check your store for accurate pricing.

Bubbly Sparkling Water $3.99 (Buy 2)
Coupon 1: Save $3 on 2 (With Pickup or Delivery)
Coupon 2: Save .75 on 1 (Best Customer Bonus May not be available to everyone)
Expires: 2/7
Total Cost: $4.23 or $2.11 per 8 pack

Chobani Complete Single Cup $1.25 (buy 4)
Coupon 1: Save $1 on 4
Ibotta Rebate: .75 Back
Expires: 2/16
Total Cost: $4 OOP + .75 Back on Ibotta (.81 per cup)

Need a free Ibotta Account? Get one here & start earning rebates that transfer directly to your bank account or Paypal.

Simple Truth Organic Sprouted Bread $4.00
Coupon 1: Save 0.75 on 1
Expires: 1/26
Total Cost: $3.25
*This is probably my favorite on plan bread

Prego No Sugar Added Sauce $2.00 (buy 2)
Coupon 1:$1 off 2
Ibotta Rebate: .75 back
Expires: 1/26
Total Cost: $3 OOP + .75 Back on Ibotta ($1.12 per jar)

Bai or Bai Tea 18 oz Bottle $1.99 (Buy 2)
Coupon 1: .50 on 1 (will take off twice)
Ibotta Rebate: .50 back
Expires: 1/26
Total Cost: $2.98 OOP + .50 Back on Ibotta ($1.24 each)

Try this Bai Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet.

Truvia Naturally Sweet Calorie-Free Stevia Sweetener 9.8 oz $6.49
Coupon 1: $1.50 off
Ibotta Rebate: $1.50 off
Expires:2/28
Total Cost: $4.99 OOP + 1.50 Back on Ibotta ($3.49)

Love Grown Original Power O’s Cereal 8 oz $4.59 (Personal Choice)
Coupon 1: $1 off
Ibotta Rebate: $1.50 Back
Expires:2/21
Total Cost: $3.59 + $1.50 Back on Ibotta ($2.09 per bx)

See how I like to eat Love Grown O’s on this THM No Cook Meal Plan.

Banza Chickpea Pasta $3.00 (Buy 2)
Coupon 1: Save $1 on 2
Ibotta Rebate: $1 back (will be redeemable 2 times per receipt)
Expires:1/26
Total Cost: $5 OOP +$2 Back on Ibotta ($1.50 per bx)

Lily’s Chocolate Bar $2.99
Coupon 1: Save $1 (Use up to 5 times)
Expires: 1/26
Total Cost: $1.99 per bar **Great Price**

Who says you can’t eat well on a budget!?!

Tips for Saving the Most Money

There are a few things to make your couponing journey a little easier & to ensure you get your deals.

Download Ibotta & Check Rebates On Shopping Day

Sign up for a free account here. Ibotta rebates do expire so it is best to search the app on the date of your shopping trip to ensure everything is still available.

It is no fun to think you are going to get a rebate only to find it expired after you bought the item.

Remember that at this time, Ibotta doesn’t allow the pick up receipt from Kroger. This means you have to shop in store and get a traditional receipt for the Ibotta rebate items.

Check the Current Sales Price + Coupon Expiration

The expiration date listed is for the coupon. However, if the item is on sale right now, buying it before the next sales cycle would be beneficial to get the best price. For example, the Lily’s bars are on sale this week so when you combine with the coupon, you get the best possible price.

Never Miss a THM Deal – Join the Protecting Your THM Pennies Facebook page.

Cooking Through Trim Healthy Mama Week 4

January 29, 2020 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

A fun week of cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook included classic comfort foods like peanut butter, chicken pot pie and more.

Cooking through Trim Healthy Mama Week 4 included four new recipes and one repeat from last week. If you want to see all of the recipes that I’ve cooked so far on this journey, check out the first post here.

This week was a lot about comfort food. I love getting to eat some of my favorite things while eating healthy and losing weight.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Cooking Through Trim Healthy Mama Week 4

Here are the THM cookbook recipes that I made on

Peanut Junkie Butter Pg. 481

Cabb & Saus Skillet Pg. 58

Chicken Pot Pie Pg. 137

Trim Bouillon Mix Pg. 491

And more Deviled Eggs from week 3!

Review of THM Recipes

Peanut Junkie Butter Pg. 481

Overall Impression?

The taste is good. Really I like it better than “real” natural peanut butter because it is sweeter.

The only thing that I didn’t love is that mine came out a little runnier than I would have liked. It was definitely not as thick as normal peanut butter. But lets be real, my 2 year old learned to get out of his crib this week and moved to a big boy bed. So no one is sleeping.

I could have totally measured incorrectly!

I kind of liked the thinner consistency that it was to smear on top of the BAM cake that I made at the end of last week. Peanut Junkie Butter and BAM cake are made for each other.

But the way I made it would not be great for a PB& Polaners on sprouted bread.

Make It Again?

Yes! I can think of a bunch of ways that I could use this. I LOVE peanut butter.

Cost:

$1.85

Tip and Tricks:

Measure correctly! Unless you want Peanut Junkie Drizzle like I made.

Subs:

None

Cabb & Saus Skillet Pg. 58

Overall Impression?

I have made this recipe before and I love it. It is so simple, nutritious, quick and cheap.

As suggested in the book, I served it with another batch of Deviled eggs from last week. So good!

Make It Again?

Yes!

Cost:

$5.06

Tip and Tricks:

Use a bag of slaw in place of coring and slicing a head of cabbage to make this quick dinner even easier.

Subs:

I have made this before without Nutritional Yeast. I bought some nutritional yeast for this cooking through the THM cookbook challenge. However, I’m still getting used to it so I reduced the recipe amount by half.

Chicken Pot Pie Pg. 137

Overall Impression?

I thought it was really good. The filling had a good consistency and tons of flavor.

Unfortunately, my husband was not a fan. He said it would be good if it had a normal topping. He does not follow THM 100% so almond flour/baking blend are not something that he generally enjoys.

The topping is definitely not the same as a traditional pie crust or biscuit topping. However, I enjoyed the meal and the kids ate it too.

It also took me a lot longer than I had planned to actually prepare the dish. I tried to make this after work, with kids running through my kitchen and we ended up eating later than usual. I would probably save this for a weekend meal in the future.

Make It Again?

Probably. Since my husband was not a fan, I will probably make it when he is traveling for work.

Cost:

Approximately $10 depending on ingredients and subs

Tip and Tricks:

If I made this again I would make it in a smaller dish to get a thicker pie and more crust in every bite. That would make it more calorie dense but I think it would be worth it.

And I drizzled with a little hot sauce before serving. I love hot sauce!

Subs:

This recipe had a ton of ingredients. I didn’t use mushrooms or onions because my family members would not have eaten it.

Trim Bouillon Mix Pg. 491

Overall Impression:

I feel like this review is a bit boring because you don’t eat this on it’s own. Or I guess you could but I would not recommend it.

But the chicken pot pie that I used this mix in had amazing flavor and I have to assume that a lot of that flavor came from this mix. I’m excited to continue to use this in other recipes.

Make Again?

Yes. I love having ready made spice mixes made up to make cooking quicker.

Cost:

around $2.75 but you only use a small amount at a time so it should last for a while!

Tips and Tricks:

Label the Trim Bouillon Mix and store it in a storage container or ziplock bag.

Save yourself some time and just throw the ingredients into the container. I didn’t blend it up and it was fine. A good stir vs. the blender worked for me.

Subs:

I didn’t use Turmeric because I didn’t have it.

Cooking Through Trim Healthy Mama Week 2

January 11, 2020 by Stacy Craft 2 Comments

Cooking through Trim Healthy Mama week 2 brought on some new challenges for this girl!

We are on week 2 of my 2020 goal of cooking through the entire Trim Healthy Mama cookbook.

This week I had several of the well known recipes on my plate like green fries, cottage berry whip and the ever popular (and oh so scary) Secret Big Boy.

For dinners, Pearl’s Chili and the Smarty-Pants Stroganoff made the list. The stroganoff is not one that I have heard many people discuss, but you will definitely want to check it out.

Cooking through Trim Healthy Mama Week 2 will give you a review of each dish that I cooked and ate, the general costs to make those items and tip/tricks and subs that I may have done to slightly alter the recipe.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Cooking Through Trim Heathy Mama Week 2

Here is what I made on week 2 from the cookbook:

Green Fries Pg. 218

Cottage Berry Whip Pg. 374

Smarty-Pants Stroganoff Pg. 44

Choco Secret Big Boy Pg. 415

Choco Nut Big Boy Pg. 415

Pearl’s Chili Pg. 101

This week was tougher for me to try a lot of the main meals. My husband was out of town for the week so I entered survival mode.

We got dinner every night (thanks to my mom one night and breakfast for dinner a second night).

I even created one new recipe that my kids loved so I will share that with y’all soon!

But back to the cookbook for now!

Green Fries Pg. 218

Overall impression:

I like these a lot. In fact I ate the whole bag over the course of the day.

To be honest, I don’t know if my family would like because everyone else refused to try.

I’m the only one that really enjoys green beans in our house though so it was fine by me.

They get crunchy, a little salty and roasted. They have a mild green bean flavor so if you hate the veggie, you might not love these. However, mostly I noticed the crunch.

Make It Again?

Absolutely!

Cost:

About $1.60! A frugal side!

Tips and Tricks:

I did the entire frozen bag of green beans in my air fryer. I did let the beans sit out on the counter for about 45 mins to thaw out some before air frying.

The beans took about 20-25 mins to get to the crunch level that I prefer. After about 10 minutes, I just checked on them and shook the basket every few minutes to make sure they didn’t burn.

Subs:

I did not sub anything but I did omit the Nutritional Yeast. I am thinking about buying some for the upcoming week since it pops up so often.

Cottage Berry Whip Pg. 374

Overall Impression:

I made this the time that I started THM and quit after a few weeks.

Spoiler alert: it is still good a few years later!

It is so nice to have a quick and easy NSI dessert or no cook breakfast.

Make It Again?

Yes!

Cost:

About $1.30

Tips and Tricks:

If you hate cottage cheese, still try this recipe.

I was a full fledged cottage cheese hater until THM. Now I eat it by the bowl full for breakfast with tons of yummy add ins and love it!

If I can do okra in a chocolate smoothie (keep reading) you can do this!

Subs:

The only sub that I made was using my 2 year old Gentle Sweet in place of the Super Sweet. I just use the same measurements (mostly because I didn’t feel like looking up the conversion).

It was still sweet enough for me!

Smarty Pants Stroganoff Pg. 44

Overall Impression: definitely the favorite of the week! The whole family enjoyed it and my husband even got seconds (something he rarely does – if only I could be more like him!)

The sauce had really rich flavors.

I had my over zucchini noodles.

I wish my sauce had thickened a bit more. I’m not sure if it was because of the sub I made that it was a little runny. But it tasted good and no one else seemed to notice.

Make it Again?

Yes!

Cost:

Around $24 (cost was calculated using zoodles and not the Not Naughty Noodles – read below for money saving tips)

Tips and Tricks:

Use baby bella mushrooms to intensify the flavor of this dish! If you want to save money, use the white mushrooms.

The crockpot will make a cheap cut of meat yummy by dinner time. I ended up using a nicer cut of meat (my husband had been out of town and this was his first night home so I wanted to amp up dinner a little bit). But using a cheaper cut of meat could save you could save quite a bit.

Subs:

Portabella mushrooms, xantham gum for Gluccie.

Choco Secret Big Boy Pg. 415

Overall Impression:

My first thought after my first sip was “well I didn’t die!”

For all the okra scaredy cats like me: blend well and you will not have a texture issue.

There was no chocolate okra slime. No seeds.

My first impression of the drink was that it had the consistency of a thinned out Wendy’s Frosty and tasted somewhat similar.

It was good. I’m not on the OMG I love the okra smoothies quite yet but it was good.

I did detect the slightest bit of an okra after taste. I’m not sure why so I will have to research that. If you know, please drop me a comment!

Make It Again?

Probably not but I will be making more secret big boys because there are a bunch of them still left in the cookbook.

Cost:

<$1 if omitting the optional items

Tips and Tricks:

Blend, blend, blend. And then Blend again.

Subs:

I omitted protein powder because I don’t use it or buy it. Adding protein to the meal eliminates the issue of not using the powder.

Also omitted were the ingredients that are marked as optional in the recipe.

Choco Nut Secret Big Boy Pg. 415

Overall Impression:

I don’t know if this is cheating or not. But since it is my Cooking Through the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook, I’m going to rule that it is not.

I tried the Choco Secret Big Boy. And then I added the extra ingredient to make it the Choco Nut Secret big boy.

I was really expecting to love this because peanut butter is my life. But I actually preferred it as just the chocolate variety.

Pearl’s Chili Pg. 101

Overall Impression:

I liked it!

It was simple to make using the precooked ground beef that I always keep in the freezer as a time save.

I love that I typically have all of the ingredients in my pantry and fridge that you need for this recipe!

Make It Again?

Yes

Cost:

$6.71 (half recipe)

Tips and Tricks:

None really. I just loved that I didn’t have to get out my blender! And that I got to eat some beans in my S chili.

Subs:

I added beef broth in place of water just to add some extra flavor. I also used no sugar added marinara in place of tomato sauce because that is what I had on hand (and it is a trick my husband uses in his chili recipe).

Overall, cooking through Trim Healthy Mama Week 2 went well. I’m glad that I went ahead and tried out the blended okra Secret Big Boy.

I think future recipes will be easier because I conquered that little fear.

Check back next week for more cooking through THM fun.