I believe that it's my turn today to post a cookie recipe, so here it is.

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Enjoy!

...about that making and freezing meals thing. I had some ideas for some things I wanted to try. I was writing on my grocery list to get some of those gladware baking pans. For times when I'll be removing the food to plates to serve, these will work. But for times when I'll want to back and serve in a casserole dish, ugh. I'll want to freeze in the casserole dish. But then I'm without dishes forever. So I'm thinking mix stuff up (without a topping) and put it in gallon bags instead. This coming week I intend to make a batch of cinnamon sticky buns, freezing them until the weekend, then baking them on the weekend. We just finished eating the control group.

Also, I'm putting my freezer on a diet. I tend to stock up when things are on sale. But I think we're coming into that season between summer and the holidays when sales are more scarce anyway. Grocery prices are generally much better the week of Thanksgiving through Christmas. Rather than adding things to my list now to stock up for later, I'll sock away a little of my budget for that stuff and buy it when I see it go on sale. You may find that stuff that's on your list that will be sold at regular price for the next several weeks will be practically given away during the holiday season, just to get you in the door. The stiffer the grocery store competition in your area, the more items stores are willing to sacrifice at really low prices (and free with double coupons) for this idea. Things like canned vegetables will go on sale the week of and likely the week before Thanksgiving, and there will also be a lot of coupons out for them then (if you're into that). Baking items will be on sale around Thanksgiving through Christmas. Often things like flour, sugar, brown sugar, etc., can be had for half price. Just something to think about.

On another money-saving note, I used to be really into couponing before I moved to an area where the grocery store competition wasn't so stiff and I started scratch-cooking anyway. I often found Refunding Makes Sense to be a valuable resource. You can subscribe to the website only for 3 months to try it out inexpensively. She posts a list of what coupons are coming out in the Sunday paper each week (I think she does this on Thursdays), and is constantly posting good deals in national chains and online. She does a big advance report on the sale flyers for Black Friday. Also there are a lot of stocking-stuffers to be had for free by doing the pharmacy chain rebates between now and Christmas (especially in September, if memory serves). So, FYI, if it interests you and if you have time.