Month: November 2023

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Every Day

A Wonderful Four Day Trip

We went to the Adirondacks on a 4 day trip to celebrate my eldest son’s 50th birthday. We returned yesterday afternoon and brought my granddaughter home with us so stay for the rest of the week.

When we traveled last week, there was barely any traffic on the Thruway which is unusual so it made the 5 hour trip very pleasant. Unfortunately most of the beautiful leaves were already down but there were some to admire.

Of course, we packed a lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches and water in case we got hungry. Hubby ate very little breakfast and I ate none before we left. So we did ended up stopping at a rest area and ate it in the parking lot in the car.

I had gassed the car up before we left, so we did not have to do it on the thruway. Usually the prices are about the same on this toll road but I didn’t see that this weekend. They were much higher than we pay. It was the same way on the trip back. So I will fill up at our cash station before my granddaughter and I run some necessary errands in the next town today.

Our planned celebration for my son did not go the way it should have so I was so sorry for him. We had planned on taking the 4 of us and 3 of his best friends to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We were concerned because there were seven of us and it was a Friday night, that it would be a nightmare of a long wait to get a table. However, they sat us relatively quickly. One of his friends didn’t make it which was unfortunate. But she is a paramedic and got stuck at work.

To try to keep this as short as possible, I will tell you that when our dinner was served my son’s dinner was not what he ordered. His steak was supposed to have sauteed onions on it. It came out with mushrooms on it which he hates. They took it back and said a new one would be right up. I felt bad because it was his birthday and we all had our food but he didn’t. When they brought a new one, it had mushrooms on it again. We sent it back. When he got it back it had most of the mushrooms gone but there were still some. My son decided to not make any more fuss and just eat around them. We are pretty sure that all they did was scrape all of the mushrooms off but they missed some plus at this point the steak was cold. When a manager came over to see how our dinner was, my husband who rarely gets upset told him it was a disaster. The manager was very condescending. My husband asked for the head of the restaurant. After they sent another manager( who I think are a dime a dozen), they finally sent the head. At this point hardly anyone was eating. My son’s dinner was less than half gone. My granddaughter was upset and ate very little of hers. The rest of us left quite a bit on our plates. None of our family were the least bit interested in eating.

The manager came finally and ended up taking my son’s and granddaughter’s meals and drinks off of the bill. That in no way compensated for the way this evening had gone which should have been fun. I felt so bad for my son and my granddaughter. We had the best of intentions and the restaurant ruined it. So I paid the $177.+ bill for 4 of us and we left. The friends left and the 4 of us went back to the house to have his ice cream birthday cake. We had a good time at home watching Private Ryan. I should have cooked a fabulous meal at his home and everyone would have been happy!

I will be writing Corporate to let them know about this disaster and that we will never step foot in one of their restaurants again. They, I am sure will not care but it will make me feel better. The service was terrible and the food was mediocre at best. You have all heard me say that we don’t like chain restaurants. However, we went there the last time we visited my son and we all loved it. That is why I chose them. My son and his business partner eat there a lot and I don’t think they have had a prior problem. But they will not eat there again after this either. I am totally done with any chain restaurants.

We had a wonderful time with our family while we were there otherwise. It is so peaceful, beautiful, and quiet where my son lives. When he and I quickly took a trip to Stewart’s for hamburger buns, he took me to a relatively new built area that is very close to his home. I was showing him which homes we would consider buying if they went up for sale. He has been looking for us for a while but nothing has popped up that we would like. Fingers crossed!

I have some good news for you too! My granddaughter who is 16 has graduated from high school. We are so very proud of her! She will be starting her new office job soon while she figures out what she wants to do with the rest of her life, whether she wants to go to college or work. She is young and will take her time trying to make the right choice. Most 17 and 18 year old graduates don’t know what they want to do.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, I quickly made us all grilled cheese sandwiches. Then Alexa was interested in me making homemade chicken tortellini soup for dinner. So I grabbed 3 pint jars of chicken stock and a quart of homemade chicken stock that I had pressure canned, added fresh celery and carrots, the tortellini and seasoned all. She loved it so much that she wants it for dinner again tonight. That will be easy after our day out! This evening we will watch the Buffalo Bills game.

We will be enjoying our granddaughter this week so I may not be blogging much. But if I have time in the morning when she is sleeping in, I will jump on. I hear her getting up now, so I need to get ready for our day out.

You guys have a wonderful week!

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Every Day

Frugal Things This Past Week

These are the things we did to save a little money this week.

I finally uploaded a pile of receipts to Fetch. I usually use the rebates for Walmart or Amazon gift cards.

Philips who makes Hubby’s C Pap machine had a recall a while ago. They replaced Hubby’s current machine with a brand new one. However, we had a second back up machine which they said they would send later. It finally arrived last week. Hubby took the old machine to Fed Ex to send back to them. It was postage paid. Philips really stepped up on this recall. We always keep a back up in case one machine breaks.

Hubby replaced the bad outlet in the kitchen.

I did one load of wash in cold water and hung most of it to dry.

I ordered a $100. cash back rebate using reward points from our credit card. They will apply it to next month’s bill.

At a doctor’s appointment, he gave me a new medicine to try. He gave me enough samples to get me through a month. If it works well for me, he will then give me a prescription to fill. I always ask for samples when I go. They usually have a ton of them in this office.

I made a meal using homemade chicken broth this week. When I don’t have broth, I use bouillon cubes and water. Meals this week were homemade chicken soup for brunch. Bacon macaroni goulash was made for dinner for 2 meals( only used 1/2 lb. of diced bacon) and turkey tenderloin for 2 meals. Leftovers were used from the freezer for others: used up frozen homemade lasagna and some French Fries.

Hubby took bottles back to Fast Cash and got $5.90 in deposits returned to us. He had to leave 2 bags of bottles here at the house because he had no more room in the car. I will take those back tomorrow when I run errands.

I placed a Walmart delivery order this weekend and used a $10. gift card earned from Fetch to help defray the cost of a handheld calculator. Mine bit the dust!

Hubby gave me the best haircut he has ever given me this week. I just love it! I love saving all that salon money I used to spend even more.

I received a $5.00 liquor rebate in the mail.

I have been needing to go to B.J.’s to get some bulk items that are cheaper right now than other stores. It is in another town so I waited until I had other errands and appointments to run there. In the meantime, their sale flyer came. They had a deal that if you spend $150. on certain days you can redeem a coupon for a free Butterball turkey valued at $25. or under. My bulk items came to $ 178. so I will be getting a free turkey. Free turkeys are rare these days! I also clipped a number of e-coupons to my B.J.’s card and saved $ 12.50.

Hubby has finished all of the yard work finally for the year. He cut down all of the irises yesterday. We still had a few heavier things that needed to be put away. My son helped with that when he and West came to visit on Sunday. I made a nice breakfast of French toast and sausage for Hubby and West. My son had scrambled eggs and sausage. Since I am not a huge fan of sausage, I ate some eggs and Fage yogurt. My grandson is taller than Hubby now. He is only 14 and I suspect he is going to be well over 6 ft.

We watched The Kansas City vs. Miami Dolphins football game on Sunday with a Free Trial on Fubo. Then we watched the Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals game in the evening on local TV. Those games were our entertainment this weekend.

Not a frugal thing but our snowplow guy came yesterday to collect our check for the winter and mark our driveway so that he knows where things are. He went up in price this year by $100. but he is still cheaper than most. He does a great job and is very reliable. We are very grateful to have him.

I made my grocery list for this coming week, butter at $ 2.49(limit 6) and organic 80/20 ground beef for $4.99 at Aldi’s. B1G1F shrimp and Tim Horton’s coffee are on sale at Top’s. They have the decaf on again so I will get some for Hubby. And I think that will be all this week.

I called my baby sister last Monday night and will call her again tonight. It is so nice to have free long distance calling. I remember the days when we paid for that.

Hubby and I have made a decision to switch our cellphone service to Mint Mobile. They are going to be offering a Black Friday deal so we will probably switch with that. We have one cellphone but will need another. So it will be two lines instead of the one we have but it will be about $ 26. a month cheaper than we pay now and on the same network.

I have a # of errands to run today. So dinner will be coconut shrimp that is frozen. We are trying to eat down the freezer to be able to fit more turkeys in it. If I can find decent romaine lettuce, we will have a salad with it. Lettuce has been a real issue here. It is already going bad no matter what store I try to get it in. I could find none worth spending the money on last week so fingers crossed for this week.

What did you do to save some money this past week?

Categories
Every Day

The Foods I Am Not Buying Anymore

Food prices have gotten so high that there are many things that I am either not buying anymore or cutting back on the amount that we do buy. By posting about these, I hope it will help other people who may be struggling to buy food.

I no longer buy salmon. With all the regulations that the government has put on fishing, the price has escalated way too high. I refuse to pay it. We do have a few cans of salmon for patties but we have no frozen. If I can get haddock at a decent price we will buy that but it is rare that I do. For fish we are using canned tuna and clams. I find this Great Value Tuna that is pictured one of the best. When I purchased it, it was $ 1.58 each last March. It has only gone up to $ 1.67 which is still a great deal. Occasionally, I will buy shrimp but only if it is on sale and I can get at least two meals out of it for the two of us.

We mostly buy ground beef and chicken, but I will get a roast if they are on sale and I will cut it up into beef chunks for stew meat. Then I make it stretch using lots of vegetables. I will get an occasional chuck roast to make pot roast. But I also stretch that with lots of veggies and potatoes. I usually buy my organic 80% lean ground beef when Aldi’s has it on sale which is rare these days. I have purchased some regular ground beef on sale at Top’s to can but I won’t be doing that anymore after getting bad meat there. I can still smell how rancid it was! If I run out of ground beef, I will use ground turkey. It is much cheaper. We do have some in the freezer and occasionally I will use it to make taco salad. We buy more chicken legs, thighs and whole chickens these days rather than breasts. I will buy breasts when they are under $3.00 a lb.

I don’t buy cold cuts. I cut my own from a boneless on sale ham or a regular ham that I have cooked. I am hoping to get some of these on sale during the holidays at a good price. I also do the same with turkey either a breast or tenderloin. Now that turkeys are on sale, I will be getting a few. It is the cheapest meat you can get right now. Walmart and Aldi’s have Butterball Premium turkeys on sale for $1.28 and $ 1.27 a lb. Walmart also has Shady Brook and Honeysuckle White on sale for $ .98 a lb. The prices for store brand have not come out here yet. But after buying a store brand last year that had hardly any meat on the breasts, I am not doing that again. I will stick to the name brands. They are worth the little bit of extra money.

We do have some prepared foods in our pantry but I am trying to get away from those. We will use up what we have but buy no more. It is always cheaper to buy the ingredients and cook from scratch especially if you stick to basic foods.

I am still buying bacon if I can catch a sale or a good price at B.J.’s. I will be shopping there today after my doctor’s appointment. I plan on getting a few badly needed items so that I can get a free Butterball turkey. My membership expires next month and I will not be renewing it. I can do just as well for most things at the grocery stores.

I am not buying any more soda. It is wasted money. I told Hubby how high it has gotten. He has agreed to ration what we have until it is gone. He is happy with iced tea or flavored waters using the SF powders from the grocery store. I haven’t drunk soda in a very long time. I mostly drink coffee, tea, or water with a lemon or lime. Coffee is expensive but I just buy the cheaper brands when they go on sale.

I am no longer buying snacks. The prices are ridiculous and most of the snack foods are broken in the bags. They are either using pieces that they never did before for more profit or the stock boys are throwing them. We can make popcorn using our popper or do it in the microwave. I buy the popcorn at the Amish store in bulk. We eat carrot and celery sticks with homemade veggie dip or apple slices with peanut butter. For a sweet treat, I make homemade pumpkin muffins or breads, donuts, or an occasional cookie, brownies, cobbler or fruit crisp. We are having company soon for a week so I did break down and buy a Party Size bag of Lay’s potato chips on sale for $ 3.99 to go with some meals and as a treat for my granddaughter. Many times I just make SF puddings and jellos and those suffice for something sweet. When I make my own desserts I can substitute monk fruit for sugar.

We are making our own bread and rolls. We don’t eat a lot of bread so this is not a problem. When I make breads, I slice them and freeze them so that we can pull out one at a time when we want it. Otherwise, it would go bad. I do the same for rolls.

We are not buying any more steaks because the prices are horrid. We still have some filet mignon in the freezer but we will be buying no more for now.

We are using up our condiments and I will be making them as I need them. I have made Italian and Ranch salad dressings and will be trying others as we run out of them in our pantry. We make out own cocktail sauce for shrimp and our own tartar sauce.

I only buy cereal when it is on sale and that is a rare purchase. Hubby likes granola so I make it. I do buy some wheat and rice Chex and Cheerios during the holidays to make our party mix.

Nuts have gotten really expensive so we are rationing what we have. I keep pecans and walnuts in the freezer for salads and cookies. Usually, I pick up 3 lb. of mixed nuts to put in our party mix. This year I found a very large can at B.J.’s which will do my entire batch. So I saved a number of dollars on that.

We never buy take out pizza or frozen pizza anymore. It is so much cheaper to use Naan bread from Aldi’s to make our own.

We no longer purchase chicken, turkey or beef broth. I make and can my own. When I don’t have any on the shelf, I use bouillon cubes or powder because it is cheaper and takes up less room on the shelf.

We only buy Tillamook ice cream when it is on a great sale. It is also a rare purchase for holidays or when we have the grandchildren here.

When I buy fruit or vegetables, I price out the fresh, frozen, and canned and buy whatever is the best deal at the time. I do freeze/and or can some of each when they are in season.

There are many more things that we no longer buy but that is for another day. I have a hectic day today or should I say it has been a very hectic week.

But I do want to add that we do not buy fast food. McDonald’s just announced that they are raising their prices again. Their Big Mac meal will be as high as $18. Just ridiculous! We have not gotten take out at McDonald’s for years…at least 8-9. The last time it was because West wanted some. There isn’t any fast food that I can’t make a lot cheaper whether it is burgers, chicken, subs, pizza, or Chinese food.

We only go to restaurants for celebrations. It is way too expensive otherwise. Don’t waste your money when you could be buying a lot of ingredients for the same amount you would buy at a restaurant. I have never understood how people could go out once a week or even twice a week. We would much rather invest those savings or stock our pantry.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you are no longer buying.