Hip, Hip, Hooray for Chick-fil-A!!

Ahhh, readers, I write to you sitting here with a full belly and a happy soul. I didn't cancel my plans yesterday - or today! I spent last night and this morning at my favorite fast-food establishment: Chick-fil-A!

Would you like to know where my $22.50 consignment earnings from last month went to?Let me explain how that seemingly small amount I earned, actually inspired a night of celebration and a morning of happiness.

At about 4:30 p.m. yesterday, I rounded up my daughter, my husband, and the "babies," and we headed via 2 cars over to pick up my son from Gainesville Middle School. He stayed for after school art club. Since the train crossed the tracks causing too much traffic and we were running late, no time to stop and get my "big" $22.50 check at Stuff Consignment. Sigh. :-( If I told you what I used to get paid as a tech writer dear readers, you would cry tears of mud...

I digress. So, we headed to Chick-fil-A. It was family night there and if you bought an adult meal, you got a kid's meal free. Plus, I had a coupon from one of those mailings that come in the envelopes (like 50 coupons per envelope with local specials) for "buy 1 medium waffle fries and drink, get 1 chicken sandwich free." So, my husband got 1 adult meal (chicken sandwich, fries, drink) and got chicken nuggets kids meal for our daughter free. My eldest got an adult grilled chicken meal (no bun, he can't eat wheat) meal with drink and fries, and got the "babies" their nugget meal free. Then, I used the coupon and paid for medium fries and drink and got my chicken sandwich free. It came to about $15 bucks.

Plus, I got free coffee. They give it away EVERY DAY. Did you know this. GO THERE. Unbelievable. Especially if you love caffeine. Another tip. If you don't like the kids toy that comes with the kids meal, or don't want it: DON'T OPEN IT! You can trade it in for a free ice cream! We did! We got two free kids ice creams and the four kids split them. Yummy!

By the time my husband left for his 6:00 p.m. appointment, Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales were getting ready to perform and the Chick-fil-A cow was there, so my kids didn't notice dad was even leaving. The kids got pictures of the characters and free balloons and we entered some drawings for free giveaways this week. It was worth it. Oh, we spent $3.20 more of my earnings; my husband got another chicken sandwich on his way out apparently, a. because they were so darn good, and b. because he had skipped lunch. So our grand total was about $18 bucks.

A little over $4.00 left from the consignment check earnings, right?
Wrong!

Thursday mornings in the DC area (for now) they give away 1 free breakfast item, per person, at Chick-fil-A. So, every Thursday morning, my four kids and I jump out of bed and get ready early so we can drive-through and have breakfast together before school starts. Then, I drop them off at school.

If it's a good week money-wise, we buy hashbrowns (.90 cents per order) per person and order some free waters. If it is an okay week, we buy two orders and the four kids get 8 hash browns each (there is 16 per box). If it is a not-so-great-week, we just eat the free item and our free waters. And I always get the free coffee too. Some weeks, the free breakfast item is a chicken biscuit, or cinnamon bun, yogurt, wrap, you name it. Check it out.

It makes my kids so happy and it is FREE! What a nice company that Chick-fil-A is to care about hard-working families struggling in this economy...

Well, I spent my last $4.00 on hash browns for the kids. There was squeals of happiness all around. The "babies" never finish the free sandwiches so my daughter got some extra; she shared her hash browns with me and my eldest. It was nice to see that even though times are tough, we can make the best of things and still have moments together like that: laughing, sharing food, taking time out to eat together somewhere special before we all start our days. I peeked in the window of Chick-fil-A and noticed many other families doing just the same.

So, here is a potpourri of other topics: Safeway sales and angel food. I will make it quick...

Safeway, if you have one in your area, has MAD crazy deals this week. Please don't ignore the flier. There is a coupon for 1.99 Cracker Barrel cheese and my husband is in love with that cheese and I never buy it as it is insanely expensive. But it is tasty...Also, if you are a closet POM drinker you can buy 5 this week and they are .99 cents a bottle but you must buy FIVE. Okay? Arnold bread is buy one get one free. And Hamburger helper is .99 cents a box if you buy 4 or more. (I WILL). And, finally, Pampers are 8.99 which is not the best deal but is good if you have pampers coupons (I have one for $2.00 and one for $1.50). Look in the Gainesville Times this week; I just got like 3 sets of coupons.

And, I read a great article in the Times about this. I am going to order from a place called Angel Food Ministries. They offer food at discounted prices. You can order a weeks worth of meals (regular or gluten free), meat, or snacks, fruit, and more, all online. Then you pick it up locally at a pick-up point. The prices are AMAZING! There is a family of four package that is food for a week for $30! I think there is a chicken package that is like $20 for like 10 lbs of chicken breast. Isn't that like $2.00 per pound? Here is a link: http://www.angelfoodministries.com The March order deadline is the 16th. I will let you know what I think of the food in my blog...

Until we meet again. My recessionary tale will continue again tomorrow.