Tag: a little of this and a little of that

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Every Day

Tuesday: A Little of This and a Little of That

Hubby is doing well. I went to the surgeon yesterday and he says my wound has to drain another 6 weeks. So I guess I have to order more large bandages.

So I need to post again to keep my mind off things.

Yesterday, our landscape crew came and did all of the weeding and trimming. Last Friday, my next door neighbor mowed our lawn. Hubby will find out this week what his restrictions are. We have a riding lawn mower so we are hoping he will be able to do that. If not, our snowplow guy mows. So we will contact him and find out if he can do ours for the rest of the season.

I tell you all of this because if we had not saved money over the years we would not be able to hire these people. We prepared for these things. So when you are saving for retirement, make sure you do the same. You don’t know what the future holds.

I am going to make some calls that need to be done today. Then I will spend the day in my pantry. I am writing down every meal on my shelves which will give me a plan to work from. We are still mostly eating from our pantry.

Yesterday on the way home from my doctor, I stopped at B.J,’s. I wanted organic romaine lettuce that can hopefully be trusted. Hubby was craving a chicken caesar salad. So I also picked up 2 rotisserie chickens because they are so cheap and I don’t have to buy chickens and roast them. That would cost me a lot more in price plus a higher utility bill. I stripped all the meat off and put some in the fridge and the rest into the freezer for future meals. As usual, I put all of the skin and bones in the crockpot and made chicken bone broth. It made a 1/2 gallon. I froze that until I need it.

We will have sausage and eggs for brunch today. If Hubby wants we will have another chicken caesar salad for dinner tonight. If not, we will eat some chicken slices with a vegetable.

I purchased a little over $ 75.00 in food at B.J.’s including other produce, meat, some potstickers, etc. Then I was able to use a $10. off coupon that they sent me. After that and some clipped digital coupons, I did well. My membership expires soon and I am not renewing it. Their shelves are 1/2 empty. Besides I have been tracking prices and Walmart beats their prices most of the time. Our new Costco will open soon and I will be buying a membership there. I have missed Costco since we left Arizona.

I have not really shopped Top’s in over 5 weeks now except for one small purchase that I did once. Their sale ads are disappointing so I just throw them away. Besides, I am doing 99% of our shopping in my pantry. If I get time this week, I need to go to Aldi’s for naan bread but that is our only need now. I use it to make our pizzas. Are any of you just shopping from your stockpile?

We have a couple of cookouts to go to that are coming up soon. We are going because Hubby enjoys the people. We will probably not stay long but I do need to bring a dish. Chris gave me some great ideas on what would be easy. Anyone else care to share with me what they would make and bring? I get tired of the same ideas.

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That: Weekend Edition

These are the ingredients for our homemade chicken soup that I made yesterday. I made a pan that was equal to about 3 quart jars. We ate 1 quart with crackers on the side last night. We will eat another quart tonight. The 3rd quart is in the freezer for another meal. I did not have any homemade chicken broth left so I pulled a carton of chicken stock from my shelves. I use about a tablespoon of the better than bouillon to flavor the stock because it is not strong enough for us. I used about 1 cup of rice, 1/2 can of corn, and just 1 and 1/2 quarts of my pressure cooked chicken and juice canned in 2023 from my stockpile. I thought I would need another jar but I didn’t. There was more than plenty in what I did use. I diced up the carrots and celery. The other 1/2 of the canned corn I froze in a baggie for the next time I make soup. I was craving chicken soup since I haven’t felt well. I don’t normally make soup in the summer but it only took aboit 30 minutes to cook. Here is our meal from last night:

I had to pick up a prescription for myself at Walmart. It was $10. for 90 pills. I used a $10. giftcard that I got from Fetch to pay for it.

I made out a $10. rebate form for liquor that we bought to stock up for company this month and next. I will mail it tomorrow.

Energy is lacking these days with this infection. It is slowly getting better but I haven’t gotten a lot done this weekend. I did clean our master bedroom and replaced an LED bulb that wasn’t bright enough for me to read in there.

Our gas tank is just about empty. I only have $ .10 off per gallon in Top’s gas points. The price there is $ 4.25 a gallon. My cash station is $ 3.99. It’s a no brainer to fill up at the cash station tomorrow morning.

Tonight I will be making out a very small Top’s list. They do have a super coupon for a large package of BS chicken breasts for $2.18 a lb. with a limit of 1.

Tomorrow, I will go to Top’s and then to Niagara Produce. I need some fresh peaches and Sure Jell to make Hubby’s peach freezer jam for the next year. He is just finishing up the last jar I made last year. Peaches and Sure Jell are very expensive this year but this low sugar jam I make he really likes. So he is definitely worth it.

What have you been doing this weekend to save a bit of money?

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

I am hoping for good money saving days again this week. It has started off well. I just received confirmation of a $200. cash rebate that will be applied to my next bill from credit card rewards. I also was able to get $ 1.50 cash back on my Walmart household and medical order yesterday. Every little bit helps.

I needed toilet bowl cleaner. I purchased 4 from Amazon and after a subscribe and save coupon and some reward points, I paid $2.20 including tax for all 4. I do not pay much for stuff that goes down the toilet.

Last night we had an easy dinner. I had ham and turkey slices in the freezer. So we had sandwiches. Hubby used some of the meats that I got at the meat market last week along with the ham, provolone cheese and tomato slices on his. We are only buying locally grown produce. I made a turkey, cheese and tomato sandwich. We had a handful of chips and some pickle slices. I had no sesame rolls but did have hamburger buns so that is what we used. We have not done this in a while and it tasted so good. Bonus: no heating up the kitchen.

I will take the time today to food saver some of the pepperoni, salami, and prosciutto and put it in the freezer. We do not want it to be wasted.

Hubby has turned off the A/C. It is cooler here now: low 80’s and high 70’s. So we will see how long we can keep the A/C off. We are also saving on water this summer. We have had so much rain that we have only had to use the sprinkler system about 6 times all summer.

Well the A/C didn’t stay off for long. The day after we turned it off it got hot and very humid again. So on it went.

Hubby has been the best caregiver. He continues to wash my wound with warm water and hydrogen peroxide using a soft gauze pad twice a day. The wound is still oozing infection but it is becoming less and less. I keep praying that it goes away soon. His sister is coming to visit for 5 days in less than 2 weeks. I am really not up to it so unless Hubby cleans the house it won’t get done. I really don’t care. For a change I will put myself first!

I did have a burst of energy yesterday for the first time in a long time. So I did two loads of wash that had been piling up. I hung them in the house to dry and then they got folded and put away before I went to bed last night. As usual I used cold water to wash them. I also picked up two rooms of the house. Today I am going to have Hubby change the sheets on our beds so that I can wash those. They will go in the dryer. Right now, having clean sheets is so comforting to me.

Brunch was eggs and some turkey on the side for me. Hubby ate that last serving of sweet and sour pork. We had a pepperoni pizza in the freezer so we had that for dinner one night. I added more pepperoni to it. They never put enough on. I used up some of the local lettuce that I had to make a salad to go with it. Hubby wanted dessert so I gave him a chocolate chip cookie.

Tonight I am cooking up Bubba Burgers. We will have them on hamburg rolls with cheese, sauteed onions, and a tomato slice. I will also use the air fryer to cook some crispy crowns. Every bit of food I mention here has come from my stockpile.

What have you been doing to save some money this week?

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Every Day

A Little Of This and A Little of That

My son, DIL, and grandson returned last Thursday from a 3 week vacation in France. They even took the train to Switzerland on their anniversary to eat at a steak house. They came yesterday to visit so I made French toast, eggs, and sausage for breakfast. I did not want to waste time going out to breakfast. We just wanted to hear all about their trip and see all the pictures. And get plenty of hugs! What a beautiful country France is. While they were there they spent a couple of days seeing the 2 Disney parks in Paris. They have now been to every park that Disney has worldwide. So that was the highlight of our day yesterday.

My son did alot of things for us while he was here. It had been 4 weeks since they had come. The wind blew one of our outside cameras off kilter and it needed a battery. He fixed that. The painters had taken down all of our beautiful things from the top’s of the cupboards in the kitchen when they painted the ceilings. He put all of those back up in the exact spots where they had been. Hubby had taken pictures before the painters took them down. Lastly, he put brighter lights in our dining room light over the table. We have never had this much light. I am loving it. I am grateful for everything he and my grandson do for us. Hubby and I do not want to climb ladders at our “young age”.

Our friend who is our neighbor brought over 4 of the largest muffins I have ever seen that she baked. They were blueberry and the large berries reminded me of the Maine blueberries that we used to grow in our yard when we lived in the eastern part of our state. I have to get this recipe from her. They were so delicious.

Let’s now talk about our electric and gas bill that came last week. We have been trying our hardest to keep the bill down. The bill was for 33 days and was $213.97. We used 696 kwh’s and 4 ccf’s of natural gas for cooking and heating water.

Last year’s bill(same period) was also for 33 days. It was $ 214.22. We used 774 kwh’s and 3 ccf’s of natural gas.

So we used 78 less kwh of electricity and 1 more ccf of gas this year. However the bill was only $ .25 less than last year’s. The bill probably would have been more if the oil prices hadn’t gone down. I expect that with oil back up that the next few bills will be outrageous.

So we are trying hard to think about what we are doing when we use kwh’s or ccf’s. We have an oversupply of paper plates that we purchased prior to 2021 when they were cheap. So we use them sometimes. That lets us only run the dishwasher once a week. If we have company, then I have to run it more. Recently, I purchased 8 place settings of silverware. Our old ones were pitted and very old! I quickly realized that I needed 8 more place settings so that I don’t have to run that dishwasher often especially when we have other people here. They are being delivered today. I got them on a great sale and with $7.00 off coupons. We love the ones we picked out.

Our new freezer is supposed to only use $47. of electricity a year. Time will tell. Since it is an upright, when you open it the cold air falls out. So since we only stock beef and butter in it, we don’t open it as often as the chest freezer. We only eat beef about once a week and I have no problem keeping 3 weeks worth of beef at a time in our upstairs freezer on our refrigerator.

I only do 2 loads of laundry a week most of the time. If I am doing spring or fall cleaning then I do more. We hang as much as we can indoors which cuts down on the dryer use.

Most lights are kept off in the daytime unless it is dark out. I do follow the sun around the house pulling the shades and putting down the blinds to keep the heat out of our home.

Since it is not as humid as it had been, we have turned off our dehumidifier in our basement. If the humidity comes back then we will turn it back on.

We are having Chinese food that we purchased yesterday from our local take out place. They give you so much food that we have enough for tonight. So 2 meals for each of us for about $23.+ tax is not bad.

Tomorrow, I am doing something for the day that I haven’t done in over 26 years and I am so looking forward to it. I will tell you all about it either tomorrow when I get home or the next day if I am worn out from it.

I hope you are all having a great day.

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

We were invited to a July 4th party and I was making a fruit bowl in a watermelon shell to bring. Trying to find fruit that was decent was not easy. I went to Niagara Produce and got the watermelon for $7.99. I also purchased seedless green grapes for $8.37, blueberries for $3.99, and 4 dozen XL eggs that I needed for $ .99 each. That came to $ 24.30. Their strawberries were small and not in vey good condition.

Then I went to Top’s and got cherries(I pitted them all) for $8.42, more blueberries for $6.99 and cantaloupe for $ 14.97(I had to buy precut because I could not find a whole cantaloupe in the store.). I hate doing that but Hubby really wanted cantaloupe in the fruit bowl. Top’s strawberries were really orange. There was not a red strawberry in the store. They were far from ripe.

So on Friday morning I went to Walmart to pick up a prescription for Hubby. While I was there, I looked at their strawberries. I was shocked to see that they had perfect strawberries. So I purchased 4 small containers for a total of $ 10.32. They are not in the picture. I was so happy that they had them because if they didn’t I was going to head to the next town to go to Wegman’s or B.J.’s.

This was a large party with lots of kids, I brought over a much bigger half of the watermelon filled with fruit. I made this extra one in case it was needed and put it in my refrigerator. I also had a bag of fruit leftover for us to munch on the next few days.

I didn’t find out that the fruit had run out until after everyone had eaten. The hosts of the party said it was gone by the time they dished up their meal. If I had known, I would have gotten this other one in the refrigerator. Looks like everyone was loving it. So yesterday, I brought over this half of the watermelon of fruit to the hosts for them and their 2 boys to enjoy. Lesson learned: Bring double next year and put it in a big bowl.

One of their fathers makes the burgers every year for them to grill. He is a hunter and got a deer this past season. They are the best burgers I have ever had. He makes them out of venison and ground pork and I don’t know what kind of spices he uses. So when I brought the fruit over, they gave me 4 of the burgers that were leftover and not cooked yet. We each had one for dinner last night. The other two I have frozen for another meal. I have always hated venison because it tastes gamey to me. Not these burgers. They were so yummy!

There were so many fireworks in our neighborhood on July 4th night that I could not get to sleep until after 11am. So I was dragging yesterday. However last night, I had to do some work in the basement to make room for a purchase that is coming today.

But now I am rested. I have a very busy day. I have an appointment in the next town and then have to run some errands near me. Then I have more work in the basement to do.

I hope you all had a good 4th.

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

The painters took 2 full days last Thursday and Friday to paint all of the ceilings. I am happy that my house is put back together. They came back on Monday morning and did all of the outside painting. They colored matched the shutters on the house and the shed and planter boxes. They also did the front door the cranberry color that it was and the shed doors to match the color of the trim on our home. All wood on the house and shed is done with two coats. It just brightened everything up.

It wasn’t easy for them because our landscapers came a few minutes after the painters did. They needed to trim bushes and low branches on the trees and do all of the weeding. They were supposed to come last Thursday or Friday but never showed. So each group had to work around each other.

Sunday night I realized that it was 78 in the house so we turned the A/C back on. I am glad we did because it was 86 outside on Monday and 90 today and will be hot the rest of this week and most of next week. They are talking a couple of days could be 100. The humidity reared it’s ugly head today and will be with us for the duration.

Other than taking care of Hubby who is on the mend, we have been watching the World Cup soccer and the golf tournaments over the weekend. I did do some laundry washing in cold water and hanging to dry.

I also cooked up a pound of bacon yesterday for Hubby. He was craving BLT’s so he is a happy man right now. I can’t eat tomatoes or bacon right now. I have been eating soft foods which I hate doing but it is a necessity at the moment.

BTW, I finally found the perfect way to cook bacon. When I did it in the oven or a skillet, grease would get everywhere. Then I purchased special microwave containers to cook it in. They warped after a few times and didn’t do that good of a job either so they were thrown out. I now cook it in a covered dutch oven on the stovetop. It takes two batches to cook up a lb. But no grease to clean up on the stovetop. I save the grease to cook with so the only cleanup is the dutch oven after I have wiped out all the leftover grease with a paper towel that I can’t pour out into my grease container. I have never had a grease build up in my pipes in all the years we have been married.

West was supposed to spend the weekend with us but due to a conflict he didn’t. So my plans to do some things with him in my downstairs pantry were put on hold.

I am considering buying a grain mill so that I can grind my own flour. Do any of you buy hard wheat berries and do this? If you do, do you have an electric mill or a hand crank one. How does it work for you?

Hubby felt good enough to mow our lawn on Monday night. I usually call my sister on Mondays about that time. But I didn’t do that until he was safely back in the house.

It is too hot to cook outside or inside. So very early this morning I boiled some water to cook macaroni. I did it early as to not heat the house up. I added a quart of my home canned chicken from my stockpile to it. I then added mayonaise. I usually add diced celery but I can’t eat that right now. So I diced up plenty for Hubby to add to his dinner dish. We will have fresh fruit for dessert tonight. I believe there is enough salad to last 2 more nights. When that is gone, I will find another dish that won’t heat the house up.

I need to go to Niagara Produce and Top’s but that will probably be on Thursday. I will be purchasing some of the July 4th deals. I will post that shop.

I hope you are all having a good start to your week. I will be back to post again soon.

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Every Day

One Closet Done and Other Things

Have you ever had such a mess than this? Ugh. Small appliances that don’t fit in my cupboards, paper towels that I kept forgetting to take to the basement, canning jars that I have emptied recently and just threw in there temporarily, extra pillows, extra blankets, my cooling racks for baked goods that I hadn’t been able to find and just other clutter. I also keep my winter clothes and all of the clothes that are like new that I wore when I lost 60 lbs. After gaining most of the weight back, they don’t fit. However I am trying to lose it again and I am down 25 lbs. So hopefully this year I will fit back into them. I also had two fans in this closet. We only need one for company. I can use one in the kitchen when it is extremely hot. Hubby is going to have a fan installed in the ceiling there after all our ceilings are painted.

I wanted to get this mess cleaned up and I did. I knew that my family would come one day this weekend and while West was here I wanted him to put some bags in the basement for me along with anything that is here that could be stored down there. I also had two 70 lb. boxes of litter that I was storing in this bedroom. It was just too heavy for Hubby and I to store in the basement. So he stacked them in the laundry room where I keep Eloise’s box. Be aware that when you are almost 80 you do not have the strength to do the things you did at 70. I could have lifted these just 3 years ago. I could have run six errands a day just three years ago. Now it tires me out just thinking about it.

Now it is neater. A lot of things are in the car to be donated and some items got thrown away. Just my foodsaver on the shelf because I don’t like leaving it on the kitchen counter, two large pots for cooking large quantities for canning, and a big bowl to make salads that we bring to parties and cookouts.

The clothes got all squished together to leave room for company to hang their clothes.

We have a lot of art work that was expensive that we are not using in this house. Some day I will take the time to sell it. Storing it in the basement would ruin it.

I keep some canning jars in there so that I don’t always have to run to the basement to get a case. They have been organized and ready to go soon.

Lastly my canner and a basket of extra plates are on the floor. There is enough room for company to keep a pair of shoes or slippers in there.

Today, I hope to work on the dresser and end table in this room.

My son called on Thursday night to tell us that they were coming out yesterday to visit Hubby for Father’s Day. My son had the day off and my grandson is finished with school except for two more Regents exams next week.

I cooked sausage for Hubby and West, salmon for my son and I, French toast, and eggs for us for breakfast. By the time, I did all the cooking and dishes I was exhausted. My back was not holding up well. They stayed a few hours to chat. West drove out here and back. It is amazing to me that he is old enough to drive. It is a 60 mile trip each way. He does well on the thruway. He was born a month after we moved back to NY from AZ. He is so grown up now and will be in college in 2 years. Time flies!

After they left, we watched the USA vs. Australia soccer game. I was glad that they won.

Hubby wanted chicken parmigiana for dinner. By the time I made it and some linguine, I was really beat. Fortunately, we have enough leftover for dinner tonight. Hubby still has steak leftover from dinner the other night so he will make a sandwich for brunch. I will have some eggs and steak-umms. After dinner we will have no leftovers in the fridge which is a good thing.

I have been really watching the beef prices. I believe that beef is in such a shortage that it is just going to get more and more expensive. So that is what I am concentrating on buying. I got that 8 lbs. of organic ground beef on a sale at Aldi’s last week. I have found a sale on NY strips steaks starting next week. Since we don’t have many in the freezer, I will be getting those. Since we have been eating mostly from our stockpile, I have a lot of leftover money in our 2026 budget to stock on beef when I see a good sale.

I want to wish everyone’s Hubby a Happy Father’s Day tomorrow. I hope you all have a great day!

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

While I drink my second cup of homemade cinnnamon roll coffee, it is time to chat with you.

It has been a fun week. We went with our neighbors to the Hilltop Restaurant on Tuesday for dinner. It is a nice place with good food. We had never been there before. Our waitress was phenominal. She was so attentive but not overbearing. We had a great time.

Last week, our neighbors had us over to dinner again. They smoked burgers which were delicious. We now need to have them here. My back isn’t quite up to it yet. We will invite them soon.

Our other meals this week have been chicken salad and chicken on a Caesar salad. I was trying to use up cooked chicken that was in the freezer. Hubby grilled strips steak outside last night. I mixed up a salad from a kit to go with them. We always have some steak leftover so this morning, I heated up some slices with butter and garlic. I ate 3 eggs over easy with it. Hubby wasn’t hungry but later he ate a steak sandwich. He will eat his leftover Cuban sandwich for dinner from our dinner out. I will either have a cheeseburger or a cup of soup. We are trying really hard to make sure all of the leftovers get eaten. Waste not want not.

The only grocery shopping this week was at Niagara Produce. I bought 1 dozen extra large eggs for $ .99 and 6 tomatoes on the vine at $1.99 a lb.

I do have a coupon for $3.00 off Bubba Burgers at B.J.’s. I have a doctor’s appointment next week and I can stop there on the way home. But that will be it unless I see a great deal on beef. Fingers crossed. We have decided that except for beef or an absolute necessity, we are not buying food.

I washed and hung a load of laundry yesterday. My electric and gas bill will be here on June 20th. The company sent us an e-mail to let us know that we had a huge spike in electricity usage. We laughed because of course we did. We turned our A/C on for a about 5 days. The night that they sent the e-mail, we turned it off again. It has been cool again with hardly any humidity except when it rains. If we keep the windows closed the humidity inside is not bad. Do you think they will send an e-mail to let me know my usage is down? I doubt it!

Eloise has been letting me sleep past 5AM almost every morning now. This morning when I got up at 5:30AM(slept 9 hours and 38 minutes) she was wedged against our door. We evidently had a bad storm last night with lots of wind and rain. She was terrified. I couldn’t get her to move from that spot even though I was going to feed her. She finally ate and then sat in my or Hubby’s lap for 2 hours. The sun is out right now but we may get more rain later. But I haven’t been this rested in 2 years. The past week I am able to get some things done because I have the energy.

While Hubby is watching the World Cup soccer games today, I am going to go through the rest of my rooms and get rid of anything that we don’t want, haven’t used, or needs to be thrown out. Anything that is still good will be donated. I also need to update my pantry inventory. It has gotten away from me while my back is acting up. The only way I can do anything is by using a back pain patch and downing some Advil.

I ordered 2 boxes of 72 Delectables from Chewy for Eloise. She was on her last box. I had a $30. gift card that they gave me on a prior deal. So that helped with the cost.

We have a lot of company coming this summer and in the fall. So I will be doing the dressers and closets in those guest rooms first. I will take some pictures of the before and after so that you can see what I am doing. I will either add to this post today or start a new one tommorow.

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

I could not believe my eyes when I looked at the clock this morning when Eloise got me up. It was 5:30AM. I got 8 hours of sleep last night. Today has been productive because I am well rested. I hope this continues.

While drinking my coffee this morning, I got a lot of paperwork done. They were all things that I had been procrastinating about. They are all done now.

Amazon delivered me a package at 7:45AM. this morning. I ordered it last night. There is a warehouse which is not too far from me. Hubby said he needed to replace a solar light in our back garden that was broken. He had me order a 4 pack because evidently you need more lights in the garden. They do light up part of our backyard. I used $ 15.70 in rewards so that helped to defray the cost.

I put some laundry away that I had hung to dry. I picked up the things that I needed to make homemade laundry detergent yesterday when I picked up a prescription for Hubby. I will be making an Amish recipe that they have been making for years. It is safe for my HE washer. Here is the recipe: Stop Buying Laundry Detergent — The Amish $0 Recipe That Lasts a Full Year

With the laundry detergent prices so high, this will be a great money saver. I will be mixing some up and putting it in one of my canning jars. I ignore the $0 recipe on the video. Of course, it will cost you the ingredients but it should last for a very long time.

I vacummed the hallway and laundry room which is where Eloise mostly tracks her litter. Then I cleaned a spare bedroom.

Then it was time for brunch. I cooked up some fresh broccoli, 3 pieces of Canadian bacon, and 3 eggs over easy. I ate all of this. It may seem to be a lot of food for some people but it keeps me satiated so that I don’t eat anything again until dinner. It is carnivore with a little broccoli added that makes it Keto.

Hubby cooked his food. He had canned corned beef which he loves. He ate half of it and will eat the leftovers tomorrow. We rarely eat the same breakfast.

The rest of the day I worked in my food pantry.

Has anyone here ever cooked these? Hopefully you can read the directions. I purchased these a couple of years ago when I was stockpiling. I got them for so cheap that I bought 15 boxes. That was mistake #1. I should have bought one and tried it first. But the price was so good, I was afraid they would be gone fast. I cooked one a year or so ago and it was awful. I followed the directions perfectly and the potatoes did not get soft. Do you have any thoughts on what I can do to make them softer? Should I soak the potatoes first? The potatoes are dehydrated. I hate to throw them out because I don’t like waste. They are in mylar so they should still be okay to eat. But if I can’t figure out how to make them taste better, I will have to toss them. Lesson learned!

It is time to go make dinner. I am roasting a housin marinated pork tenderloin. I will have broccoli for a side and Hubby will have a salad.

Hubby got some pictures of the two baby foxes in our yard today. As soon as he gets them online, I will show you them.

I hope you all have a very nice evening.

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That

I went to Niagara Produce this week to get 4 dozen eggs to fill up my 5 dozen container in the refrigerator. They were still on sale for $.99 each. I also purchased fresh broccoli crowns( $1.49 a lb.) for $ 1.59 to cook as a side for a couple of dinners this week. I always check for marked down meat. While I was looking, I saw this package of on sale cheese and parsley Italian sausage. It was $3.99 a lb. so it cost $ 7.14. This will give us two homemade meals: a pasta one and a pizza one. My total was $ 12.69.

Then I went to Aldi’s to get sliced mushrooms for $ 1.29 for burgers this week and peppers($2.55) to make fajitas last night for dinner. I also got the flour tortillas for $ 1.95 for the fajitas. The organic ketchup was $2.15. The cantaloupe was $ 2.49 and the brioche buns were $3.99. I picked up 2 more butter at $2.89 lb. to add to my freezer stash. The frozen California Medley vegetables were $ 1.15. My total was $21.65.

I stopped at Panera Bread and purchased the dozen bagels Tuesday deal for $9.99 using my Panera giftcard that I purchased 3 to 4 years ago on the Top’s deal at Christmas. They give you 13 bagels so I got 7 asiago cheese and 6 cinnamon crunch. I froze most of them for future meals.

Top’s was my second to last stop. We rarely buy cereal but we do use Rice Chex in our party mix so I picked up 2 boxes on sale for $3.00 a box. The Kraft salad dressings were on sale for $ 3.00 each. We eat a lot of salads in the spring and summer so I am now stockpiled on dressings. The Skinny Pop was a treat for me. It cost $ 3.50. I got 2 Peter Pan peanut butter on sale B1G1F so it was $3.69 for 2 of them. We love this for a snack with celery. The Smithfield pork tenderloins were on B1G1F for $ 9.99 for both. We will cook these on the grill for a couple of meals this summer. The leftovers will get used in pork fried rice. The grapes were on sale for $1.88 a lb. so I paid $ 3.42 for $ 1.82 lbs. They will be used in chicken salad and for snacking. The bread was on sale for $ 2.99. I use this for French toast for my grandson and Hubby on Sundays when we are all together for breakfast. The cheddar cheese block was $ 1.88. My total for all was $ 37.47 minus my 6% senior discount of $ 2.25. So OOP was $35.22.

My last stop was at Consumer Beverage where I returned bottles for $6.00 which I used to defray the cost of a 24 pack of Yuengling Lager that cost $22.99 plus bottle deposits of $1.20 – $6.00 plus $ 1.84 in tax totaled $20.03. I am also submitting an $ 8.00 rebate. This is Hubby’s treat after he is done mowing the lawn.

We needed food so I finally had to go shopping. The only way I could get through it was to use a lidocaine patch. But I was totally exhausted when I got home.

I submitted a $6.00 rebate for 3 bottles of Kendall Jackson wine.

We have not turned on the A/C yet even though we have had a couple of 80+ days. Our home has high ceilings so we stay pretty cool in here. We also have ceiling fans in 2 bedrooms, a portable fan in the 3rd bedroom, and ceiling fans in the breakfast room, which is where we eat all of our meals, the great room, and the office. We have only had to use select fans a couple of days.

Our landscaper replaced the tree that died since he planted it last fall. It was under a year warranty. It is a nice red maple and is a bit bigger than the one that died. I pray that this one survives.

What have you been doing to save a few dollars?