Tag: a little of this and a little of that

You all know that I have an old meat slicer that I would cut up cold cuts from meats that I would roast. I didn’t always have big boneless roasts that I could cut them from. So while we were waiting for those roasts to go on sale, we would buy cold cuts just like everyone else especially if we were having company for any length of time. Or when we would be having a large party.

Well this Boar’s Head listeria scare really made me think. If you don’t know what I am talking about, it is everywhere in the news and on the CDC and FDA site. Here is an article for you: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bugs-mold-mildew-inspection-boars-head-plant-listeria/ .

This article disgusted and sickened me. Mold and mildew and bugs everywhere. So I told Hubby that we were never going to buy another cold cut anywhere whether it is Boar’s Head or any other brand. I was going to make all of our own cold cuts and never buy them at a store again. He agreed but he had one request. He said our meat slicer that we have used for years had served it’s purpose but he wanted to buy a commercial meat slicer that would not only do meats but slice our homemade bread. I agreed.

We picked out the one pictured above at Amazon. It was $348. plus 8% tax. Knowing how outrageously expensive cold cuts are, it will pay for itself pretty quickly. Plus I will have the peace of mind that I am not buying something that could potentially kill us.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened our Top’s ad that starts this Sunday and saw beef Roasts on sale for $ 4.99 a lb. I have my choice of sirloin tip, top round, eye round or bottom round. I will be getting a top round since it is the most tender. We will roast it, chill it, and cut it up on the new slicer. Then I will put some in the refrigerator for next week and food saver the rest into small portions to pull out for sandwiches when we want one. Roast beef cold cuts cost between $11.99 to $18.99 at the grocery stores in my area.

It has been another busy day of errands, post office, drugstore, library, etc.

After I got home, Hubby went outside to weed some more gardens. He quickly came back inside after he took a header onto the ground. His head and, arm, and knee were bleeding.. I patched him up but he has been complaining about his left shoulder since it happened. I tried to take him to Well Now to get it looked at and possibly Xrayed but he refused. If it is not better in the morning, he is going whether he likes it or not. I am keeping an eye on him.

I hope to be back with my married life series tomorrow.

I will write the post on the ’80s and ’90’s tomorrow. It has been a crazy day.

Hubby had an appointment to get our car inspected and an oil change this morning at 8am. My plan was to go to Top’s because it was senior 6% discount day when he got home. Meanwhile while he was gone I took a cup of coffee out to our seating area in front to see our neighbors get on the bus since it was the first day of school. They are 2nd grade and younger. One of them was going to kindergarten and was so excited. They were all so cute.

When Hubby got home I asked him about the appointment and he said all went well. I asked him because I was curious how much the NYS inspection is now. He looked at the bill and did not see it on it. He assumed that they had just done it and that they would have told him if there was a problem. I told him to go out to the car and see if the new inspection is on the car. It wasn’t. They never did it. He went right back with the car and they apologized and took it right back in to inspect it. Moral of the story is you can’t trust anyone anymore. Go over any bill with them to make sure you get the services you requested.

After Hubby got home for the second time, I got ready and went to Top’s. I got a bunch of bananas on sale for $ .44 a lb, using a super coupon which cost me a $ 1.10, a bunch of celery for $ 2.00, and a half gallon of half and half for $ 5.99. My total after a 6% discount was $ 8.54. Every penny always counts. By the time I got there, the store was so crowded that I couldn’t wait to get home. I was in line for quite a while because they had no express line open. The self service checkouts are now cash only and I wanted to pay with cash. That will be all the shopping I do this week.

Hubby and I had a peaceful weekend watching college football, grilling outside, and just relaxing for a change. I also visited a friend who has had long Covid for 3 years now. I hadn’t seen her in a while. We had a nice chat and caught up on our lives.

I also went over our budget for August. We got our school tax bill the end of August and I paid it the same day. It was for $ 5961. This is only for our school district. Our property taxes for the county will be billed January 1, 2025 and is almost as much as the school taxes. NYS taxes are horrendous but we choose to live here to be close to our family. But this payment took a big chunk out of what we saved this month. That and a couple of large purchases that we made this month too. I will talk about one of them by the end of the week.

We grilled filet mignons, made chicken stir fry, and had chicken parm over the long weekend.

Hubby and I are about to go sit outside for a while today before we grill hamburgers with sauteed mushrooms for dinner. But I wanted to let you know that we saved $ 4354.49 this month towards our goal.

How did you do with your savings or debt payoff in August?

I will be back tomorrow with the continuation post of our life. I promise.

West came to visit for 5 days. His tastes in food have changed so we chatted on Tuesday night and made out the menu for the time he would be here. Most of it we already had in our home. Here was the menu:

Wednesday dinner was hamburgers which Hubby grilled for us. I sauteed up some toppings and made corn on the cob in the microwave.

Thursday night we headed to our local Wagner’s Restaurant for fish fries. When we got there, West no longer wanted that and picked a chicken tender dinner instead. Hubby had chicken wings and a salad. I had a ribeye sandwich dinner. Starters were little neck clams. It was all good and we did not need dessert.

Friday night, we cooked shrimp sauteed in butter for West and shrimp with cocktail sauce for us. Sides varied.

On Saturday, we ordered pizzas and Parmesan twists with various dipping sauces from Domino’s. I wanted to get it from Little Caesars because we like their pizza. We don’t like the crust on Domino’s pizza but West informed us that they now have a thin crust pizza which we decided to try and it was very good. You can tell we haven’t ordered pizza from there in a very long time. West has enough of his pizza for lunch today. He is going home to eat dinner with his parents. We have 3 large slices left so we will heat it up in the air fryer for our dinner and I will make a small side salad for each of us.

One thing I found out about West is that he is a growing boy. He is over 6 ft. tall now. I forgot how much teenage boys consume.

For breakfasts he had asked for pancakes and French toast. I cooked bacon, ham, and sausage to go with it.

Yes, we spoiled him. With his sports schedule and school coming up soon, we don’t see him as often as we would like.

Pizza and restaurant food has gotten so expensive. Wagner’s was $ 130. for the three of us including tip. The Domino’s was $ 51.91 after a 20% discount. This is why we don’t eat out very often. But we don’t mind spoiling a grandchild once in a while. Needless to say we will be eating at home more often after this summer of eating out is over.

I can’t even tell you how many “Ticket to Ride” board games we have played. West won them all. We also watched the Buffalo Bills preseason game on TV. They got stomped on by the Chicago Bears. Fortunately, it doesn’t count. Josh Allen got pulled in the early 1st quarter after a run with the ball. I am sure Coach did not want him to get hurt in a preseason game. Coach played our 2nd and 3rd string people 98% of the game. They did not do well. But I believe that Coach has a much better idea on who to cut after that.

Before West came to visit, I went and picked up another medication for Hubby. This medication always had a $60. copay. However, it cost me nothing this time. Hubby must be in the donut hole. Then I ventured into Walmart. I rarely do that since I have Walmart+. I was on the hunt for a boneless ham and a boneless turkey. The turkey was more expensive than buying deli turkey so I passed. The ham was much cheaper than buying deli ham, so I got a boneless quarter for $ 4.63 a lb. Hubby will slice this up on our meat slicer when we open it and I will freeze some in portions for sandwiches. I do have a large ham in the freezer that I could have cooked. But I did not want to heat up the house with the A/C on. That ham will get cooked when I know that Fall is actually here. The next time I travel to appointments, I will stop in B.J.’s and look for a boneless turkey at a good price. I also picked up some turkey breast meat to hold us until I get to B’J.’s This was handy while West was here for lunches. For him, I also got his favorite ice cream, a dip because we have potato chips for a snack, a tomato for sandwiches and a box of Bubba burgers to restock our freezer.

West also ran some errands with me on Thursday. We went to the bank to cash in the piggy bank that I fill up for the grandchildren. Alexa and he take turns cashing it in. It was West’s turn so he was happy for get $106.50. I also got some grocery money and gave them a small rebate check to cash. I realized after I got back on the road that the teller did not give me the money for that. Rather than go back and waste gas, I decided I would just call the bank when we got home. I didn’t have to because the teller had already called and told Hubby of her error and she deposited it in our account for us. West also was patient while I stopped in Wegman’s for a boneless turkey which was not at a good price. So I did not buy it.

It has been a whirlwind of a week but I will miss him when he goes home tonight.

Thank you for being patient while we have hosted company this summer. We still have more company coming soon but after that I should be free to blog. I have lots of topics upcoming so stay tuned.

We ate most of our food last winter. Some is still left from then but it wasn’t much. So I have been restocking for this coming winter. I usually concentrate my canning on meats, tomatoes and fruits. Most of the rest is purchased.

One of the items that seems to be in short supply this past year is potatoes. We don’t eat many of them but we keep some in our long term storage like hash browns, canned, and some other potato dishes.

We also like to supplement our own canned tomato products with store products because we use a lot.

I have been shopping to fill in the gaps. It’s hard work. Then you have to bring it home and put the new in the back rows. First in is first out.

Hubby has had a construction crew here for 4 days building a wall to protect our grill from the wind and a patio that replaces the old small patio. Hubby picked the pattern and the colors. It looks fantastic. We have already lost one grill to the wind and the one we have now has been blown over once. This project was supposed to be done the beginning of July but the boss got sick. So it is not done yet because the very last capstone was cracked in half and had to be reordered. It should be in sometime next week.

You can easily see that the short wall is where the black capstone that was broken belongs. The patio and wall abuts our very large patio. Hubby picked the colors and stone to complement it.

As you can see they did a job on our lawn where the stones were cut and laying. However, they left us with topsoil and seed to fix it. They fixed the edges and seeded around the patio.

I also wanted to let you know that we have a lot of company coming in July and August. So bear with me and I will be here when I can. I hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are.

I woke up the other morning craving fried chicken and corn on the cob. Momentarily, I thought about going to Popeye’s or the gas station that makes delicious fried chicken every day. But I decided to make it at home for dinner. I had chicken breasts in the freezer that only cost me $ 1.88 a lb. I grabbed 2 breasts and weighed them. They totaled 1.5 lbs. I cut them in half lengthwise. That gave me 4 pieces that cost $ 2.82 for all or $ .705 for each. I coated them with seasoned( garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and paprika)flour and egg. I fried them in about $ .30 worth of oil. When I was frying them, I couldn’t help but notice the big bubbles that were in the pan. That told me these breasts would not be greasy and they weren’t.

Then I wrapped two ears of corn in 2 wet pieces of paper towels and microwaved them for 4-5 minutes. The corn cost me $ .29 each. or $ 1.16 for 4 ears.

Each meal ended up costing us $ 2.14 each plus the minimal cost of spices and a pat of butter for the corn. That cost is for 2 people.

I know I would have spent close to $15.+ tax for Popeye’s and about $16.+tax at the gas station. So I saved quite a bit of money and I think my chicken tastes much better.

Because we cook at home most of the time, we can afford to go out to dinner on specials occasions. Hubby and I celebrated our 57th Anniversary on Monday. We had a wonderful lazy day, talked to both of our sons, and went out to dinner at the Village Eatery for Italian food last night. We had not been there since before Covid. Their food was delicious. We came home with dessert and half of each of our meals for dinner Tuesday night. I had Chicken Pietro: sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, spinach, portobello mushrooms, and chicken sauteed in a white wine sauce on a bed of angel hair spaghetti. Hubby will finish his veal parmigiana. The waitress wrapped us two pieces of Italian bread to go with our leftovers. We had 3 drinks( $ 1.00 off each, a Happy Hour Special) between us and our total bill with a 20% tip came to $ 115.00. It was a wonderful celebration without a very high price. We like to support family owned restaurants.

I have been reorganizing our pantries. They don’t take long to be a mess when I don’t have time to put things away as I buy them. So I have been concentrating on that. Hubby asked me the other night when we cooked rib eye steaks if we had steak sauce. I looked and told him no. So I picked up 2 bottles the other day. When I was rearranging, I found 5 bottles, Now we have 7. This is why I should inventory more often. Yikes.

I hope you all had a great July 4th. We were invited to a cookout at our neighbor’s next door. It was mostly family but our neighbors on the other side of me were invited too. So we decided to go for a bit. But we ended up having a fantastic time chatting with their parents who are all about our age. So the bit turned into 3 hours. There were about 20 young children there who were enjoying the pool. Then later the oldest child who is 13 organized a bunch of games for the little kids. We enjoyed watching them because it brought back memories of our childhoods and our sons’ childhoods. There was so much food offered. Hubby and I just grabbed a cheeseburger, some macaroni salad, and a beer. Then later the hostess brought me a piece of strawberry cheesecake that a family member had made. I shared with Hubby and it was delicious. We could have pigged out on all of it but that would have only made us feel stuffed. We are finding that as we age, we eat less and two meals a day is plenty.

I did some shopping yesterday also. Walmart is having sale days and since I have Walmart+, I was able to shop a few days earlier than everyone else. I looked at what was on sale last night after we got home from dinner. I have been looking specifically for summer pajamas since mine have worn out after 24 years. I lucked out and got 3 summer lounge wear sets for $59.83. I also found 2 dressy tops for the summer for $ 24. I have what I need for years now.

I will write more in the next few days. I am tired tonight so I am going to bed early.

Have you done anything to save money this week? We did some spending also. You will see more frugal things we did when I write later.

I needed very few groceries this week. On my trip to Top’s, I purchased 4 bars of Cabot Cheese on sale for $ 2.50 each. This cheese is our very favorite so I tend to stock up on it when it is cheap. We needed cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches so that was $ 2.79. The bread is for sandwiches and to make French toast for West. It was $ 1.69. The Ken’s Blue cheese dressing was $2.49 using a $ 1.00 off coupon. The last items were 2 SF wafer cookies that Hubby asked for. They were on sale for $3.00 each. So my grocery bill this week totaled $ 22.97. I also got a 100 free gas points with a monopoly ticket. The cashier reminded me that gas points are expiring on Saturday. Since I had $.40 off a gallon, I filled up while I was there. I paid $ 3.30 per gallon after the reduction.

In the mail I received these coupons that I had requested. We love the Chung’s Egg Rolls to accompany our dinner when I make Chinese food. The Smithfield coupons will come in handy for smoked sausage, ham, and hot dogs. I take time once a week to write the manufacturers of products that I use to ask for coupons.

A while ago my son in the Adirondacks told me that the fire department he volunteers at was having a raffle so I purchased a couple of tickets. I totally forgot about it until this morning when he told me I won the Yeti Tundra 35 cooler. I rarely win anything so I am very excited. This will come in handy for picnics, parties, and if the power goes out.

Yesterday, I ran out and did some errands for Hubby. He wanted me to get some geraniums for the back patio. I had sticker shock when I saw what they cost. I needed a flat of 12 and they cost $ 38. for just 4 plants. That was $ 114. for the flat. There was no way I was paying that. So instead I got a flat of fire hot(color) salvia. That cost me $19.99+ tax. What a huge difference. I wonder why the geraniums are so expensive. I know things cost so much more but I deemed this a complete rip off.

I am lazy this morning. But as soon as I have my shower and get dressed for the day, I will be cleaning.

What are you doing this week to save money?