Today we’re going to hear from Brooke over at Saving Supper Solutions. Brooke combines her love of couponing and cooking to come up with delicious meal plans that she shares on her blog every week.

My name is Brooke and I run a website called Saving Supper Solutions. Before starting this journey, I was a pharmaceutical sales representative who was having babies—three in 4.5 years to be exact! Once the third baby came along, my husband and I made the decision that I would be a full-time stay-at-home mom. This sounded like a great idea, but I knew it would have some learning curves. The main challenge was trying to figure out how we were going to live on the one income budget. I quickly learned there was one area where we could definitely save some money: couponing!
There was so much to learn, but I soon realized that I had a knack for this “game.” Friends were calling, asking, “Where is the best place to buy x” or “Hey Brooke, what day should I go to y?” As we all know, it takes time and organization to be a great deal-grabber, but I was determined (like, color-coded binders and charts—yes, charts—determined!) Then I decided I would get even more organized and plan all of our weekly meals off of the Publix weekly ad deals. I chose Publix as my main store because Publix and I go way back –  I’m a girl born and raised in the south and this store has earned my loyalty through quality food and outstanding customer service! As I started menu planning, the rules I set for myself were simple: the bulk of the items needed for each week’s recipes would either be on sale or have available coupon discounts.
Being a Food Network and cooking magazine junkie, I can often be found experimenting in the kitchen by adding personal touches to existing recipes or working on delicious creations of my own. Once I had my menu-planning process in place, I decided to launch my website so I could share my menus with others. My love for food, cooking, and a good deal all make “Saving Supper” for you a joy for me!
My process is quite simple, though definitely time-consuming and thought-intensive. My first step is to look at Publix’s weekly ad and focus on three main areas:
1) Meats/Seafood
2) Produce
3) General Groceries
Since meats and seafood are at the heart of most meals, I begin there. Using sale items in produce as well as general groceries, I brainstorm about what will make up and complement a meal for each night of the week. When I come across BOGO’s and other great deals, I dig deep creatively to come up with something savory.
I then move from brainstorming to planning. While the idea step lets me dream, the planning step makes me work! I spend hours planning, re-planning, and refining the weekly meals, but in the end, “time is money”—in my pocket!
The Publix weekly ad is released on Thursday and my Saving Supper menu (and grocery shopping list) for the following week posts the same day. Everything you need to make ALL of the suppers for the week are included in the Grocery List.
Here’s an example:
The Publix ad for 9/30 featured a lot of higher-end meats like steak and ribs. While my family enjoys these things, we generally don’t eat them several times in one week. So I had to get creative with what remained. I chose a Rump Roast and Chicken Drumsticks. My thought was to come up with two meals for each of these, giving me four meals. (When making meals #1 and #2, we would be cooking double the amount of meat, to ensure we would have leftovers for meals #3 and #4.) And to make it even easier, the two times I’d actually have to cook, I would use a crockpot. (Are you squealing with delight yet?)
Here’s the menu I came up with –
Monday – Crockpot Roast
Tuesday – Crockpot Chicken Adobo over Saffron Rice
Wednesday – Beef Stroganoff (using the left over roast)
Thursday – * Stuffed Chicken (but not using leftovers)
Friday – Chicken Quesadillas (using the leftover chicken drumsticks)

So, that is my “how to.” No big secret, just a good amount of time and creativity. You may want to give it a try yourself, but I am happy to share my family’s menu with you. If you are looking to save time and money AND still eat great, visit Saving Supper Solutions today!
Bon Appetite!
TheCook Brooke

Thanks so much for sharing, Brooke! I think I know where I’m getting my menus for next week! 🙂
In order to keep this new feature going, you all are going to have to volunteer to tell us all about something YOU do when you are couponing!! Your post can be about almost anything to do with couponing. You can tell us about a particularly good or bad situation you’ve dealt with as a couponer, about how you got into couponing or how couponing has impacted the rest of your life, you can make a list of things every new couponer should know…just about anything, really! If you think it’s interesting and it has to do with couponing, email me with your idea at contactiheartpublix @ gmail.com!