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Grocery and Other Shopping This Past Week

We did a bit of grocery shopping this week because we needed a few things and I am making a meat and cheese tray to take to a party soon.

I also needed to pick up a few things at Dollar Tree that I needed to take food to the party on. By buying it at Dollar Tree, it does not matter if the dish doesn’t come home with me. I picked up two different trays because I don’t know yet which one will get used for the party. Which ever one becomes the spare will get used eventually. I am not crazy about the Christmas one but it was all they had. I will be covering the center of it with parchment paper to put the food on if I use it. I also purchased little cup things to hold mustards, olives, and pepper rings. The gold forks and knives will be put next to the tray for people to dish onto their plates with. And lastly, rather than make a second trip, I picked up a birthday card for West who will be 10 in January. So I spent a whopping $ 5.40 including tax.


Here is my Top’s shop:

3 Fresh Express Salad Kits $ 10.00
5 packages of Margherita Pepperoni – $ 7.98(B2G3F)
1 Peter Pan Peanut Butter – $ 1.49 with Store Q


Total was $ 19.47.


Here is my Aldi’s shop:

6 Avocados @ $.69 each = $ 4.14
Bag of Peppers – $ 2.99
Summer Sausage – $ 2.99
3 Prosciutto – $ 2.75 each = $ 8.25
1 Regular Salami – $ 2.79
1 Bite Size Salami – $ 3.99
2 Heavy Whipping Cream – $ 1.55 each = $ 3.10
1 Half and Half – $ 1.55
1 frozen Riced Cauliflower – $ 1.89
1 Irish Cheese – $ 3.99
1 Whiskey Cheese – $ 3.99
1 jar of Olives – $ .79
1 Avocado Oil – $ 6.99
1 Beef Snack Sticks – $ 3.49
1 Pepper Rings – $ 1.65
3 dozen Eggs @ $ .49 each = $ 1.47

Total was $ 54.06.  

Most of the money was spent on the party items. The eggs, salad kits, peanut butter, avocado oil, whipping cream, half and half, and riced cauliflower were needs. We use the cauliflower instead of rice. The pepperoni was such a great deal so I got all 5. Some will go on the platter and the rest we will eat for snacks and in salads. So they won’t last long. We were almost out of each of the rest of the items that get used all the time.

Not all of the meats will get put on the platter. I wanted to buy enough to fill them but there will be leftovers. So anything left from the party platter will be used for an antipasto dinner later in the week.


Yesterday, I cooked a pound of bacon in the oven that I pulled out of the freezer. Since it was an entire pound it took two pans. I really like this method. I may never cook bacon on top of the stove again. 


And after we ate. What was left on this pan and on the other one got bagged up to go with eggs for our breakfasts the rest of the week.


Last night Hubby cooked lots of chicken wings in our air fryer oven.  I made a Buffalo wing sauce with Frank’s hot sauce and butter. They were delicious and will last us two meals.

Did you get any good deals this past week when
you grocery shopped? 

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Every Day

2020 Goals: Second Goal

My second goal for 2020 is to lose 30-35 more lbs. My doctor and I have determined that this will be a perfect weight for me. It is actually the weight I was at when we got married. I would like to do it by June 30th.

Can I do it? Yes, but it is going to be tough without exercising more. Hence, instead of exercising sporadically which is about 3 times a week, I will be exercising 7 days a week for one hour each day. I have actually already started that regimen.

I am finding the more weight I lose the harder it comes off. So I will be working out not only on the recumbent bike and treadmill but using small weights. I will also be exercising using You Tube. I love the fat burning dance videos. I desperately need to tighten things up.

When winter is over, I will walk outside too. I love to do this while enjoying the fresh air.  

I track my exercise using my fitness watch. I find it fun to track my progress. It also tracks my sleep which I am finding is one of the most important things. My sleep was terrible before I started taking magnesium every day. Now I sleep like a baby, usually 8-9 hours a day.   

I will continue dieting using a combination of Keto and Carnivore. My doctor says they are excellent diets for me to follow. 


Throughout my diet, I have used supplements to make sure that my body is getting what it needs. So I take a multivitamin every day. I also take 4000 iu. of Vitamin D, 500mg. of Vitamin C, and 200 mg. of magnesium. These have all been approved by my doctor for me. Always check with your doctor to see what supplements are safe for you and that won’t interact with your prescription pills. I get dairy in my SF puddings and some cheese so I don’t take calcium. I have great bone density according to tests. This all works well for me.

So do any of you want to join me in the weight loss journey for 2020? If I can do it at my “young age”, you can definitely do it!

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Eating Down the Stockpile;Keeping It Real

On Thursday night, I grabbed a beautiful pork tenderloin from my basement freezer and thawed it. Then I roasted it for about an hour in our toaster oven at 375 until it registered 160 on our meat thermometer. This will give us about 3 meals with leftovers for a lunch. That lunch will be salad with thin slices on it or I will cook it up with some peppers and onions.

As you can see I made a little pork gravy(about 1 cup) that will last us all three meals  from a packet mix that was on a shelf. We don’t normally eat gravy but it needed to be used up. A little gravy doesn’t hurt our diet once in a while but we don’t make a habit of it.

I also grabbed these brussel sprouts from the freezer and just cooked them in the microwave. It was a bag of petite ones and they were so tender. They will last us again for the other two meals. 

This was an easy simple meal that we enjoyed. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. BTW, these are small luncheon type plates that I purchased when I first started dieting to use for my meals. I have found that the size of the plate does matter when you are dieting. We never go back for seconds.

Just keeping it real!

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2020 Goals

We have been working on our 2020 goals. Today I will tell you the first one. It is one that will save us the most amount of money.

We are planning on eating down our stockpile which we have already started doing. As you have heard me talk about, we have been doing it for months.

The difference between then and now is that I was still stockpiling some things (like turkeys, chicken, and other meats as I saw them on sale). Because of that, my freezers are again full. I plan on no stockpiling until all of the food is gone. The things we eat will get eaten and the things that we don’t will get donated.

The reason for this is two fold. First, we are eating different foods than we used to eat. Now that Hubby is on board with his diet, there are a lot of things in our stockpile that neither of us will eat. Before they expire, they will get donated. Secondly, I want to use up all of the food that we have in this house and not be putting large amounts of money out for food that we don’t need. It is time to use up everything that has been stored that we can eat and use up that money that we spent to buy it.

Then I can defrost the basement freezer and put it to better use than before. I have used it for frozen vegetables and fruits, bread, an occasional frozen pizza, meats, poultry, fish, ice cream, cool whip, etc. 


I have come to the conclusion that my 7 cu. ft. freezer would better serve us if I only stored the expensive proteins mentioned above. Those are the things that I save the most money on at rock bottom prices. I have also recently found a few more places to shop that have rock bottom sales on meat, poultry, and fish. So when I am buying these items again, I will have more prices to scrutinize.

The other items that are frozen can be stored in my 2 freezer drawers in my refrigerator. We don’t eat bread anymore so there is no reason to store it. Nor do we eat fruit with the exception of occasionally eating some applesauce. When the last frozen pizza is gone(cheat nights once a month will be instituted), we will not be buying those. The SF Cool Whip and the ice cream for my grandchildren can be purchased when needed. Some kind of frozen veggies are on sale almost every week and can be found by doing a quick search on Flipp. I can always purchase them at Aldi’s where they are usually the cheapest. Hubby and I also eat a lot of fresh veggies which we can always buy at the store even if they are not in season.


So because of all of these changes, my plan had to change. We will still purchase necessary items like half & half, eggs, breakfast meats, milk and fresh veggies as we need them and anything else that we run out of that we deem a necessity. But if we can substitute something else that we already have, we will. 

By donating what we no longer eat, it will get it off our storage shelves and make it easier to move all of our storage when Hubby is ready to carpet the pantry floor. 

When we are starting from scratch, I will document how I do it at rock bottom prices for those who may need a refresher or be new to my blog.

I will also occasionally show you what we used up in a week’s time and what we had to shop for or if we had to shop.

So if you are in the same situation as we are you might want to make this one of your goals for 2020. It seems senseless to keep buying food when we have so much.

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Every Day

Grocery Shopping This Past Week

Grocery shopping was done after the roads had been salted and sanded. Finally the sun came out yesterday. We had about an inch of ice coating our trees and roads on Sunday evening. We could not even see out of our windows the ice was so thick. Then on Monday we got about 4 inches of snow. For we in the Buffalo area, this was really nothing.

My son, DIL, and granddaughter went home on Saturday because they were supposed to get hit with a huge snowstorm starting on Sunday. My son and his family also were watching the weather and they went home from NH on Saturday also. 

My granddaughter had yesterday and today off from school. She is delighted. My DIL also has had these days off because of the snow. They ended up with 22 inches of snow. I am happy that they are all cozy and warm at home and that I didn’t have to worry about them traveling home in bad weather.

But yesterday, I was able to maneuver the roads and go to Top’s. This is what I purchased:  

Fresh Haddock – $ 8.79

6 Hass Avocados – $ .79 each – Used 2 $.75/3 cpns. that doubled = $ .29 each = $ 1.74

3 Black Olives – 3/$5.00

1 dozen Organic Eggs – $ 3.99

2 SF Cool Whip – $ 2.19 each = $ 4.38

1 Half & Half – $ 2.69

1 Box of SF Popsicles – $ 4.99

1 Riced Cauliflower – $ 2.89

1 Large GG Mashed Cauliflower – $ 5.49

1 Gallon of Distilled Water – $ 1.00

1 bag of Skinny Pop – $ 5.49 

Total OOP after 6% Senior Discount($ 2.97) was $43.50 including $ .02 tax. 


Hubby loves haddock and I love salmon. I am still using the salmon that I purchased at half off for $3.84 back in July.


The Hass avocados were a great deal at $.79 each but even better when my DIL found me coupons for $.75/3 that doubled. I have been going without avocados because I refused to pay $ 2.50 each for them. The olives will be used for a meat and cheese platter that we are taking to a Christmas party soon.

I was almost out of eggs so I got a dozen. I only had one half & half in the freezer and we drink a lot of coffee.  SF Cool whip was needed to go with our dessert of SF jello. SF popsicles and the Skinny Pop are my guilty pleasures once in a while. I love these cauliflower products. They are so yummy as a side dish. The water was needed for a medical device.

I am back down to spending about $ 50. each week and I am hoping to lower that in 2020. We have so much food in our pantry, fridge, and freezers that we are eating out of them continually and just filling in with what is needed each week. 

Did you get any great deals this past week? Please share with all of us.

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Every Day

Frugal Things Every Day

These are the frugal things that we have done over the past week:

– We got our electric and gas bill and it was $35.00 lower than last year with the same average daily temperature. Cutting little things( like using lights only when it is dark out), keeping the heat down, washing large loads of clothes, etc. all adds up in the long run.

– I purchased a $50. Home Depot gift card for $40. through a Top’s supermarket gift card promotion the morning that Hubby was going to Home Depot. Hubby had to get a few things to make a repair in the house. 

– I purchased a 4th turkey at Aldi’s. Top’s had sold out of their Plainville turkeys. Since I had nothing worth $25. to buy at Top’s, I purchased a Honeysuckle White at Aldi’s.  Eating out of our freezer paid off by letting me have room for these. One turkey was used for Thanksgiving. The others I will cook once a month over the winter. The meat will be eaten the first night and the rest will be food savered and frozen in meal portions. The turkey portions will be used instead of chicken.

– I have a crockpot of turkey soup cooking today. We had side dishes left over that I food savered in portions and froze for future meals.

– When I went to get the turkey, I purchased 6 more lbs. of butter for $1.99 a lb.

– We purchased beautiful gray carpeting for my pantry in the basement on clearance and used a coupon code for 35% extra off thanks to my son alerting us to this deal. He had purchased the same carpeting for his office and we loved it. 

– Beside carpeting the pantry, we are hoping to sheetrock it and paint it too. We just need to find someone with a truck to help us get the sheetrock. These will be Hubby’s winter project. But first I have to move all of the stockpile which will be quite a lot of work but it will be worth it.

– I baked a pumpkin and apple pie for our Thanksgiving dinner instead of buying frozen ones. 

– I read a book on my Kindle that was free.

– We are researching for a better deal for our cellphone for next year. We are looking at a Spectrum plan for $ 14.99 a month but since we have such lousy cable service, we are a bit leery. If anyone has Spectrum for cellphone, could you let me know how the service is.

– I have been using our treadmill and recumbent bike for exercise. That is one of the reasons that we cancelled our YMCA membership. Why not use what you already own!

– I sewed a button back on one of Hubby’s shirts.  

– When we decorate for Christmas, we will use decorations that we have used for years. Nothing new will be purchased.

– I purchased a new pair of slippers for Hubby from LL Bean going through Rakuten for 2% back. His were so worn out. I used a 25% off coupon code which saved us $19.75 and used $ 6.36 left on a discounted gift card that I bought at Raise to help pay for it. I also got free shipping. LL Bean sent me a $10. reward card for making this purchase.

– All of our Christmas shopping was done a few weeks ago. I was not going to buy anything on Black Friday either in the stores or online. However, Jordan’s Skinny Syrups had their sugar free coffee syrups on deep discount(40 & 50% off) so we stocked up. We use these every day in our coffee.


– Hubby printed out an 8×11 and 2 wallet sized pictures from Alexa’s 7th grade school picture for us. He also printed out 1 – 8×11, 2- 4×6’s and 4 wallet sizes that he gave to my son and daughter- in – law when they visited us. Doing it this way instead of buying them at school saves a fortune. 

– I purchased two pairs of sneakers a long time ago at a deep discount(less than $10. each). This week I broke into the second pair to use as house shoes only. They are so comfortable.  

– I have been watching Thomas DeLauer on You Tube to get Keto meal ideas. 

– We are going to a large Christmas party in a couple of weeks. I am going to be taking a cold appetizer but I haven’t a clue what to make. Does anyone have a really delicious cold appetizer that they make that everyone loves? Would you be willing to share the recipe with me?

– I redeemed rebates for a $20.00 Walmart gift card.

– We finished the jigsaw puzzle that we had been working on for entertainment. 

– We so enjoyed having our son, DIL, and granddaughter here for Thanksgiving which was Priceless. My granddaughter is now 3 inches taller than me. She has grown into the most delightful and smart young lady. I value every moment spent with her. We didn’t do anything special. We just enjoyed being together.

What did you do frugally this week?

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Happy Thanksgiving

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We wish you and all of your families a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Black Friday Shopping

Well, it won’t be long before Black Friday is here and all of the craziness and stress to get that most cherished deal. Here is a list of questions you should ask yourselves before you make a purchase:

1) Do you really need it? Or are you buying it just because it is a great deal?

2) Will your purchase really get used or will it end up as so many other things that you are not using?

3) If you are purchasing a gift for someone, will they really love it? Or are you buying it for them because it is a great deal?

4) Are you buying things that you really don’t need because they are cheap?

5) Are you trying to compete with the Joneses? Remember so many of the Joneses don’t have any money. 

6) And most importantly, can you pay cash for this purchase? Or are you putting it on a credit card because you have no cash? Do you really want to add more debt(stress) into your life? Mortgaging your future is not a smart thing to do. All those great deals that you think you have to have will end up costing you a lot more than you think when the interest accumulates on your credit cards. So will they really be a great deal? 

I am not Scrooge! I just want you to think about what you are purchasing and how it will affect your future.

If you have the cash, go for it! Just stay safe! It gets crazy out there. Personally, we will not be doing any Black Friday shopping. Our Christmas shopping was done a few weeks ago and there is nothing we need. Sure we have a lot of wants but they are long term goals.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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So Grateful This Week

I am so grateful this week for all of my family. Those who will be spending Thanksgiving with us and those who won’t. I love my sons, daughter-in laws, my granddaughter and grandson so very much!
 
I am also grateful for all of my readers of my blogs over the years. I hope that I have helped some of you just a tiny bit. Some of you have become great friends and some I just know from your comments. It’s been a wonderful almost 10 years since I started blogging. 

I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I pray that those of you who are traveling have a safe trip. Enjoy your families, your turkey dinners, and maybe some football. Our Buffalo Bills will be playing on Thursday so I am happy about that. 

Before I get busy preparing for company, I want to give you our party mix recipe again. Hubby made a huge pot on Saturday.

Party Mix

1 Box of Wheat Chex
1 Box of Rice Chex
1 Box of Cheerios
1 Bag of Thin Pretzel sticks
3 lbs. of Mixed Nuts( no peanuts- Hubby doesn’t like them)

2 cups of Canola oil
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. salt (optional)
1 1/2 Tbsp. Garlic Salt

Combine
the cereals, nuts, and pretzel sticks in a large pot. Blend remaining
ingredients well. Then pour them over the dry ingredients mixing well to
ensure equal distribution. Cover and bake 1 hour at 250 degrees.
Uncover and bake for 1 hour stirring every ten minutes. Let cool and
enjoy!

Our
tips: Hubby makes a double batch of sauce. He likes it better that way.
He blends the sauce in our Vitamix so that it blends really well.


What are you grateful for this week as Thanksgiving is on the horizon?

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Every Day

Grocery Shopping This Past Week

I did a bit of grocery shopping this past week:

Top’s:

1 Turkey – $ .48 lb.- $ 6.29

1 Celery – $.77 

1 Perry’s Vanilla Ice Cream – $ 3.34

1 Mushrooms – $ 2.50

1 Organic Lettuce – $ 2.99

2 dozen Egglands Best Eggs – $ 3.00 for both after Q

1 Red Onion – $ 2.14

1 Top’s Chicken Broth – $ .99 after Q

1 Apple Juice – $ 2.29

2 SF Cool Whip – $ 4.38 for both

1 PF Herb Stuffing – $ 2.50 


1 Hellman’s Mayonaise – $ 2.99 after Q


Total OOP was $ 27.89 plus $ 6.29 for the turkey = $ 34.18. I found the mayonaise still in the car the next day so it is not pictured. I had to spend $ 25. in order to get the turkey for $.48 lb.

Wegman’s:

1 Turkey – $ .48 a lb. = $ 9.38 


1 Crest – $ 2.29 after Q


1 Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Mayo – $ 7.99

1 Primal Kitchen Italian Dressing – $ 5.99

1 Green Olives – $ 1.99

2 Black Olives – $ 1.39 ea. = $ 2.78

Half Gallon Egg Nog – $ 5.29

1 Lay’s Poppables – $2.00

2 Skinny Pop – $ 2.99 ea. = $ 5.98

Total including tax before the turkey was $ 34.60 plus $ 9.38 for the turkey = $ 43.98. I had to spend at least $ 25. to get the turkey at $ .48 a lb.

Aldi’s was two trips: 


12 lbs. of Butter – $ 1.99 a lb. = $ 23.88


1 Prosciutto – $ 2.75


1 Sour Cream – $ .89


Total for both trips was $ 27.52.


I am shopped out. Except to go get another turkey at Aldi’s next week , I will not be doing much more shopping. So far I have purchased 3 different brands of turkey. I got a Butterball, a Top’s, and a Shady Brook. I will get a Honeysuckle White at Aldi’s. I want to see which one is the best. I have always cooked a Butterball for Thanksgiving because we really like them. But it is time to experiment again and see which we like best. 

Some of the things I purchased are for Thanksgiving and some are for the stockpile. I had to replace the ice cream for Thanksgiving that I had purchased since West ate some last weekend. I also have a big turkey so needed another package of stuffing mix.  

I will be back with a post on Monday but then I am taking the rest of the week off to get ready for company and to make our Thanksgiving dinner.

I am off of here to bake 2 loaves of cinnamon swirl bread and some chocolate chip cookies at my granddaughter’s request. Fortunately, I have some room left in the freezer to put them until Wednesday night. I hope you all have a great weekend.