Great coupon tips & techniques

ShopSmart magazine, published by Consumer Reports, is at it again with more coupon tips and techniques.

I'm especially psyched about their additional strategies: During a grocery run last week, I watched the cash register ring backward from $142 down to $100.18 after coupons and loyalty-card discounts. Whoo-hoo!

I'm hardly an expert coupon-clipper, but I do my fair share of cutting and clipping, comparing prices, doubling/tripling coupon values on top of sales and trolling frugal mom sites for deals.

But other techniques--like removing wrappers from soup cans to see if there's a coupon printed on the other side or remembering to take automated coupons from electronic aisle dispensers--carry the promise of helping us save even more.

While the cover price of ShopSmart can put a hurtin' on your budget if magazine purchases are a luxury (they are around here), editors were kind enough to post the feature story as a downloadable PDF.

Happy reading---and saving!

Blast off!

When it comes to the latest pool toys from Prime Time International, we've only got three things to say:

Fear the foam.

We found the Max Liquidator line of lightweight, brightly colored foam toys would be an instant hit with kids (think Super Soaker-level water streams) and parents (think cheap!) alike.

Kids looking to escape the early summer heat were especially fond of Blaster Board (about $19.99), a kickboard-shaped shield that houses a giant squirt gun mechanism inside.

What happens when you put all of that action together? Squeals of fun and frenzy at the same time. The company also shipped us a couple of other toys to throw into the mix, including a shark-shaped Monster Blaster that spews water up to 30 feet ($5.99) and the smaller-sized HydroBlaster Pro ($9.99).

We especially liked that the foam toys were gender-neutral, easy to use, colorful and offered a little creative flair for otherwise boring downtime in the water. The fact that they are so affordable sent us to the store looking for a few for the neighbor's kids as well!

Check them out at Kmart, King Arthur's Court and other retailers. Read more at www.primetimetoys.com

Good folks, good food, good book

You know it's a good recipe book when the stories leap off the page and the pictures send you running to the store to buy any and everything in sight.

That was the case when we opened up Lari Robling's "Endangered Recipes: Too Good to be Forgotten." ($17.95, Stewart, Tabori & Chang) The Philadelphia News columnist and public radio contributor knows good food--and good people. The writing was so good that we sat outside on the porch---in 90 degree weather--ooohing and aaahing over it all.

Sunday dinner recipes for crab cakes (yes, Maryland-style, thank you) and Georgia Pecan Pie had our mouths watering. And the striking food photography by Mark Thomas is enough to make you gain 10 lbs. while just flipping the pages.

Robling's wonderful tone makes the stories accompanying these recipes from everyday people--folks she's met through the years--as authentic and real as the instructions handed down from our own grandmothers, aunts and uncles.

"Kitchen Wisdom," a collection of true-to-life tips on everything from how to grind pork butt to the best way to store marshmallows, will stick to you like a plate of good down-home BBQ ribs.

Here's a book that leave you hungry for seconds. Yum!

THE TAKEAWAY: Excellent recipes---many familiar, others worth stepping out of your comfort zone. We've got one copy of Endangered Recipes: Too Good to Be Forgotten to give away at random. How can you make it yours? Dish about your family's favorites via e-mail to productmom at gmail dot com; on Twitter @Tweetymama or leave a note for me here. Giveaway expires 5-21-09.