eat what you have – Frugal Things Every Day

August 11: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

This is all the grocery shopping I am doing this week.
Aldi’s was my first stop. I got 2 dozen eggs, some shells and cheese(for West’s stay), peanut butter cookies (also for West’s stay), unsweetened applesauce, 4lbs. of chicken wings, 2 cans of mushrooms, a party size box of Ritz crackers, a large bottle of Zesty Italian dressing, 2 containers of iodized salt, 1 box of tissues(not pictured) and a bottle of Avocado oil. I also purchased a mug and some reading glasses that will not be included in the food total. Here is my receipt:

I couldn’t resist the mug and I needed the reading glasses. So my total for food was $ 29.81.

My last stop was Top’s:

I am only showing the food prices here but I did get some greeting cards and some other non food items that Hubby wanted. We had a death in the family and Hubby’s secretary is retiring after 46 years. We wish her the very best of luck in whatever she does now.

The popcorn is a treat for Hubby and was $ 2.99. He also loves the peanuts so I got two bags since they were on sale for $ 4.99 each. The hoagie rolls were needed for dinners. They were $ 3.99. The family size oreos are a treat for West and were $ 2.99. The large box of goldfish is also a treat for West and was $ 6.99.

The potatoes are for brunch on Sunday and were on sale for $2.49. The au jus packets are needed for future meals and were an outrageous price of $ 2.49 each. The bacon was a coupon item and cost $ 3.99. The two cans of tuna( $2.09 each) and 2 cans of chicken($3.19 each) were stockpile items.

The SF marinade is for a future meal and was $ 4.29. The coffee was B1G1F so they cost $ 4.99 for both cans. The strawberries were a coupon item and cost $ 1.99. The ice cream is for West and was $ 2.99. The mozzarella cheese was needed for our hot Italian dinners and was $ 2.50.

So my total for Top’s was $ 65.72. So the total for my shops was $ 95.93. That leaves $ 99.68 in my budget for the rest of the month.

West is coming to stay with us starting Sunday for two weeks so I needed to load up on some treats and things. My son has been back at work for a month or so and my daughter in law is a college professor and needs to go into work for a couple of weeks. So we will be having lots of fun over the next couple of weeks with West before school starts.

For brunch this morning I again had 2 eggs and some mashed avocado. Hubby had some banana bread.

Neither Hubby nor I want take out tonight for dinner. Since we had take out for lunch over the weekend, that was enough for now.

So with my zero waste policy, we will again be having hot Italian sausage. Mine will be just on a plate like last night. Hubby will again use a hoagie roll.

I have ordered a new Keto cookbook that should come tomorrow. It is highly rated so I am anticipating making a couple of different meals from it next week. I have to mix it up so that I don’t get bored with my diet.

I have been having trouble with my camera. Hubby is looking at it now to see if he can find out what is going wrong with it. Sorry about the blurry pictures.

I hope you all have a good day.

August 5: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

It is a gorgeous day, sunny, and the air is crisp. It is 61 as I start to write this at 8am. The high will be 75! I love days like this. I will get a lot done.

I did the weekly shopping yesterday. Besides going to Target for the almost free chicken, I went to Aldi’s and Top’s.

This is what I purchased at Aldi’s. Romaine lettuce because we are finishing our last head of iceberg. I use heaving whipping cream in my coffee and I used my last bit yesterday morning. Hubby was almost out of provolone cheese for his sandwiches. It was on sale for $ 1.49 each which is a fantastic price.

Do you remember the great deal I got a while ago on
salmon? Well, I always look for salmon that is expiring now. However, I have never found it again and we had none left. So this week’s ad showed salmon portions on sale for $ 6.99 a lb. I decided I needed salmon. I found the portion ones and then quickly looked at the whole ones. I bought a whole one because they were $ 6.75 a lb. You can bet that the night that I have fish sticks on my menu Hubby will be eating those and I will eat some salmon. That is how much I hate fish sticks. I am lucky that he does not like salmon.

So I spent a total of $ 24.09 at Aldi’s on needed products.

This is what I purchased at Top’s. I decided to do the bacon deal since we needed it badly. It was on sale for B2G3F. They charged me $ 9.99 each for the ones I had to buy so a total of $ 19.98 for 5 lbs. or about $4.00 a lb. The Hellman’s mayo was a Top’s coupon item so I got that for $ 2.99. The new Frank’s Red Hot Thick sauce items were a request from Hubby. He saw a commercial on TV and could not wait to try them. Since he loves wings in the air fryer so much in football season, I stocked up. They were on sale for $3.00 each. So before my senior discount, my total came to $ 31.97. My senior discount was 6% or $ 1.92 so my total OOP was $30.05. I can’t find my receipt so it’s a good thing I remember prices. I don’t know whether the cashier didn’t give me one or I dropped it when I thought I was shoving it into my purse.

So the total for this week’s shopping OOP came to $ 54.79 including the Target total of $ .65. I have $ 195.21 left for the rest of the month.

I did not eat any breakfast or brunch today. I am just not hungry. Hubby had a ham sandwich.

I just finished packaging up the salmon and chicken with my food saver. I put one piece of salmon in the fridge for dinner tomorrow night. The rest of the fish and all of the chicken went into my freezers. I added them to my inventory list.

Tonight will be our leftovers for dinner night. I pulled everything out to see what we have. Hubby has opted to have the linguine with sauce and meatballs. I will have the chicken and some broccoli. Any leftover broccoli with be put in my eggs in the morning. The roasted potatoes with be warmed through in the air fryer and eaten with eggs for breakfast tomorrow. We always use up our leftovers. I don’t like throwing money in the garbage.

We are going to spend some time sitting outside today. Hubby is going to run an errand and I am going to pick up the garage. It’s not bad but just needs a little organizing.

I hope you all are having a terrific day!