We had corned beef reuben sandwiches again last night. So tonight we will be having turkey BLT’s so that we can use up the turkey and tomatoes. Bacon was cooked on Saturday for breakfast yesterday and the BLT’s tonight.
This morning I was up and out at 7:15 a.m. for an eye doctor checkup. My eyes were the same as last year. No cataracts and no sign of any damage at all. I can continue to use my cheap reading glasses. They only put one dilation drop in each eye so I was able to stop at Top’s on the way home and get these two packages of chicken breasts for $ 2.49 a lb. Chicken seems to be scarce in our area so I am grabbing what I can when it is on sale.
These will be preserved with the food saver and put in the upstairs freezer. I have other chicken breasts frozen. Those will come out of the freezer and be thawed and canned because they are older.
I cashed out points for a $10.00 Amazon GC at Pinecone. I am signing up at some more sites to earn points.
I did one load of wash using cold water and hung it to dry. I also did one full load of dishes in the dishwasher using 1 tbsp. of dish soap. They are air drying now.
Hubby is outside watering all of the flowers that are in baskets and pots. I am continuing to go through all of our stuff and either toss it, donate it, or sell it.
Dinner last night was made using the above items. We have leftovers from this dinner and the shrimp fra diavolo which we will use up for dinner tonight. Waste not, want not!
I was given a $ 12.99 haircut coupon by Great Clips so I had my hair cut today and used it and gave her a generous tip. The price is usually $18. I washed my hair at home so I didn’t have to pay for a shampoo.
The Running’s Labor Day sale flyer came so I went and got 10 boxes of regular canning lids for $ 2.99 and 10 boxes of wide mouth canning lids for $ 3.99. Best price I have seen in a long time. They were $9.99 at my N.P. the other day. I also got a Mrs. Wage’s pickling and canning vinegar on sale for $ 3.49. I have more than enough tomatoes, vegetables, and fruit done for the winter. So it is time to can some sale meat to get it out of the freezer. So if you have a Running’s and can, go get yours.
I forgot to buy tomatoes at Niagara Produce the other day so I stopped at Top’s to get some so that we can make some turkey BLT’s. I picked up 2 beautiful beefsteak tomatoes at Top’s for a total of $ 4.60.
We got our electric and natural gas bill today and it was outrageous. The bill was $ 154.00 for using 619 kwh of electricity and 4 ccf’s of natural gas. We used less kwh’s per day than last year same period and the same amount of ccf’s. Last year’s bill was $ 113.05 for less usage. That is a huge increase for supply and demand.
This is what I am thawing to cook in the crock pot out on the patio tomorrow. Hubby is thrilled that I am going to cook this corned beef that I got at a great price last March. I see a couple of dinners and some sandwiches for brunches.
There will be one or two exceptions. I will go if I need fresh produce. If I can substitute frozen or canned veggies for fresh I will. If there is a great price on something like the bacon above, I will get it. That exception will be mostly for rock bottom priced meat.
I had to go to the cardiologist to have an Echo test done today. On the way home I stopped at Top’s and got 4 of their 16 oz. bacon that was on sale for $ 2.99 each. I have not seen such a good price on bacon for years. I only had room for 4.
I have been trying for a couple of weeks to get peaches to make jam. No one seemed to have good ones. I stopped at another store near the doctor’s that I don’t usually go to that had peaches for $.88 a lb. The problem is they were not good peaches. So I stopped at Niagara Produce on the way home and there’s were nice and ready to make jam. They cost me $19.99 for 8 quarts of Red Haven peaches which I have used successfully for jam before. I already have enough Certo and pectin in my pantry to make all of it into jam. I will do that tomorrow. Today is busy enough.
I looked for three months for rhubarb. I could not find it anywhere. So this morning, I spotted a strawberry rhubarb pie in the bakery section of Niagara Produce. They make their own pies and they are delicious. We each had a slice after we ate brunch and it was so good. The filling was so yummy and their pie crust is incredible. The best part is Hubby was very happy because this is his favorite pie. I was happy because it is too hot to turn on my oven to bake plus I couldn’t find rhubarb.
The reason we will not be shopping is I want to use up a lot of what we already have in the house. I especially want to eat down our freezer so that we have room for quite a few turkeys this November. Remember, turkeys and hams will be at their cheapest prices during the holidays. And they will be cheaper than any other meat you can buy right now.
I will be showing you in pictures and words what we are eating from the house each day as we do it. Remember we only eat brunch and dinner and a occasional snack. I will start with dinner tonight.
Hubby will grill the pork ribeyes outside. We will put a dab of garlic herb butter on them. I will make the corn in the microwave and slice the tomato up on a plate and drizzle it with a little Italian dressing.
Are any of you trying to eat down your freezers or pantries? Join along if you would like.
I decided to run out on Monday and do the errands since Hubby’s prescription was ready. I picked that up first and paid $.00 out of pocket for it.
My next stop was Top’s. The pasta was $.99 and the eggs were $1.39 using a coupon for each. I had been watching for a sale on the Johnsonville sausages. They went on sale this week for $4.00 each. So I used a $1.00 coupon on each that the company sent me and got them for $3.00 each. My total was $ 8.38.
I may place a Walmart order later this week. If I do, I will post it. I am running low on eggs and I need some other items since my grandson will be coming to stay for a few days. I have no idea what he eats these days for dinner so I will text him and find out what he wants. I know he loves just about any kind of fish so Hubby will probably fry up some haddock one night.
We have been trying to eat out of the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I have rib eye steaks thawed for dinner tonight. Hubby will grill them outside now that the wall and patio for the grill is done. I will make baked potatoes to go with it. I will bake extra ones to make potato salad from. If I am going to heat up the oven, I am going to fill it. I will also slice up the rest of the tomatoes and some of the cucumbers that Chris brought to go with the steak also.
I ran a few errands this morning one of which was stopping at Top’s. They had a few good deals that I wanted to take advantage of.
We like these Knorr sides especially when we have had a busy day. They were 8 for $ 10.00 which is only $.80 each. When you bought 8, you got the rotisserie chicken for free. I checked the price at Walmart for the Knorr sides and they were $ 1.12 each and no chicken. This was one of the biggest chickens that I have ever seen at my Top’s. I was surprised because they are usually very small. We will be having some of this for dinner since I have had a very tiring day. If I have to go out for any other reason this week, I may do this deal again.
I purchased 4 Cabot cheeses for $10.00 and 2 Crowley cottage cheese for $3.00 each. This deal also gave me 200 free gasoline points or $ .20 off a gallon.
The blueberries were $ 1.99 using a Super coupon. Tillamook Ice Cream was on sale for B1G1F. I bought 4 at a cost of $15.98 for all. This will be our stash for when the grandchildren visit this summer.
It was Senior 6% off Discount Day which gave me $ 2.73 off my order. My order total was $ 42.82.
I have another cost cutting post that I am working on for tomorrow. For the first time ever I am going to tell you what goal I am working on and how much I have left to save to reach it. It is a hefty amount but we can do it! Because of this, you will be seeing many cost cutting posts.
I went to Top’s this week using a 3 day sale coupon. I got Italian bread that was on sale for $ 2.00 and then used a $ 2.00 off Monopoly Q to get it free. I got Porterhouse steaks on sale for $10.99 a lb. and used a $ 2.00 off Monopoly Q for a total cost of $ 42.07. There were 3 steaks in the package totaling 4.01 lbs. The shrimp was pricey but I needed it for a dinner I am making in a few weeks. It was on sale for $ 12.99 and I used a digital coupon for $ .40 off so it cost me $ 12.59. The total for all was $54.66 minus a 3 day sale Q of $5.00 off a $50. purchase for a total of $49.66.
The mayonnaise you just see in the corner of the picture was not bought on this trip. I just took it from my storage to put in the fridge when Hubby empties the jar that has just a little bit in it.
Then I went to Dollar Tree to get 6 qts. of shelf stable milk. We seem to be going through a lot of it between baking, making scrambled eggs, and making puddings for snacks and desserts. Some does get used for cereal once in a while too. These were $ 1.25 each totaling $ 7.50. I really like the whole milk but they had none. The 2% is just fine for what I need it for.
We continue to cut as many costs as we can around here. I started washing my own windows on the inside and one door on both sides and cleaning the blinds in the breakfast room. I have to be really careful because the windows are very tall so I have to climb on a ladder. I am using glass cleaner and microfiber cloths. I did not want to pay to hire someone to do it because it is so expensive. Hubby will pressure wash the outsides when I am done. I will take the screens out and clean them also. In the same room, I cleaned all of the walls and the door. We have a cathedral ceiling in there so that was not easy either. I could not reach our ceiling fan even on a small ladder. So Hubby cleaned that light and all of the fan blades. Onto another room tomorrow.
Hubby has been trimming bushes and weeding. We hired the landscape company to do the spring cleanup and some plantings. But Hubby is hoping to keep up with the maintenance throughout the year. That will save us a fortune. If it gets to be too much, then we will just hire them again.
Our cherries will be ripe in about 2 weeks. We will pick what we can reach and leave the ones at the top for the birds. They love them.
I did our net worth statement yesterday because I do it a few times a year. We are getting very close to our goals.We are so happy about that.
Besides the things we do every day like cook from home, do wash in cold water, cook outside on the grill or in the small oven, etc., that is about it for this week.
It was errand day. Besides picking up a prescription at the drugstore. I stopped at Aldi, Walmart, and Top’s.
For months I had been trying to get this orange sauce at Aldi’s. They were out of stock. I used my last bottle which was not a good thing because Hubby really likes orange chicken. Last night my sister told me that it was back in stock at her store downstate. I was so happy to find it today and picked up 3 bottles at $ 2.19 each. When the hams were on sale for $ 1.49 a lb. for Easter, I did not get one. We were kind of sick of ham from having a large one in January. I was hoping that either Aldi or Walmart would reduce them for quick sale. Neither had. So I decided to get one at the $1.49 sale price at Aldi’s today. This one cost me $12.05. It is the best price we have had in this area. I will keep checking to see if they reduce them. If they do, I will get 2 more. Hubby loves ham sandwiches, ham salad, ham on salads, fried ham with eggs for breakfast, etc. Buying chunks of ham or sliced ham when we want it, is very expensive. So I have instead spent the $ 1.49 a lb. and this afternoon I cut it up into meal size portions and froze most of it. I have slices, chunks, and dices ready to use when we need it. I spent $ 18.62 for all at Aldi’s.
Also pictured is a bag of Tyson chicken strips that I purchased at Walmart for $ 8.77. I have been wanting a KFC chicken bowl. But I did not want to spend the $ 5.99 for it at KFC. So instead I purchased the bag of the strips which will make about 8 bowls for about $ 1.10 each. I just add some homemade mashed potatoes( about 1 potato with shelf stable milk and some butter( $ .65), canned corn( a tsp. of corn $ .04), and chicken gravy ($.33). Hubby does not like them. The total cost for the bowl was $ 3.12. It had been years since I had one and it was so delicious.
When I went in to get the chicken strips, the employees at Walmart were just reducing the price of all of the Easter candy down by 50%. I got enough for us, West, and Alexa for an entire year. The candy came out of our gift budget. The $ 8.77 for the chicken strips came out of our grocery budget.
My last stop was at Top’s where I purchased:
2 Steak-Umm’s that were BOGOF = $ 5.79 for both( I love these with eggs and I had finished our last box over a week ago.)
This is my grocery shop from Aldi’s this week. I got 3 jars of Specially Selected Premium Marinara Sauce. They were $ 3.89 each. We really like Raos but it so expensive. This sauce is as close to being Raos as you can buy. It has very clean ingredients and is delicious. I make my own most of the time but when I in a hurry, this is what I grab. The two packages of breakfast sausage is what I use for Sunday family breakfasts. They were $2.19 each. I picked up 6(the limit) pounds of butter. These and what I purchased last Thanksgiving should give me enough until next Thanksgiving.
I finally found a head of cabbage that wasn’t the size of a baseball. It was $ .49 a pound. I paid $ 1.57 for 3.2 pounds. Hubby does not like cooked cabbage so I will only cook 1/2 of it and he can make his Waldorf coleslaw from the other half. I have a corned beef so these things plus potatoes will be our St. Patrick’s day dinner.
The 3 packs( 4 lbs.) of Organic ground beef were on sale again. They totaled $ 18.99 which is $2.00 more than I am used to paying. But this meat is so good I am willing to pay that increase.
I also purchased 1 bar of white cheddar cheese at $ 2.75, 1 package of fresh mushrooms at $ 1.39, 1 pound of hot pork sausage at $ 2.29, 1 bag of Italian Style Meatballs for $ 5.99( our dinner tonight: meatballs and sauce) 1 Mexican shredded cheese at $ 2.89, 1 package of salami for $ 3.49, 1 bottle of Cocktail sauce at $.79, and 1 bottle of General Tso’s sauce for $2.19. My total for Aldi’s came to $ 74.53.
At Dollar Tree, I bought 5 packages of John Morrell Smoked Sausage for $1.25 each. They come two in a package. One package sliced and mixed into a Mexican dish like Spanish rice or a Louisiana dish like red beans and rice is perfect for the two of us. I picked one of these up a while ago and they were really good in the red beans and rice. Since then they had been out of stock until this week. You can’t beat $ 1.25 for meat for one meal. I also purchased 2 of the oven ready lasagna pasta for $ 1.25 each. Total here was $ 8.75.
Next I stopped at Walmart to use up my last free coupon for the Indiana popcorn.
My last stop was at Top’s gasoline station to fill the car up. I paid $ 2.86 a gallon after using my gasoline points for $ .40 off a gallon. My total was $21.35.
On Monday we had a high of 71 and on Tuesday we had a high of 73. As soon as the sun came up, I had the shades and blinds up on the sunny windows to warm it up in here. We followed the sun around the house all day each day.
I took our car yesterday to the car wash while I was out running errands. It was filthy from the road dirt and salt from the snowstorm last week. It was a perfect day to do it. Our car wash gives out coupons each time you get the car washed. They never expire. I now have collected 5 of them so my next car wash will be free.
I tried an experiment on Monday morning. I use reusable cups in my Keurig. I added some more grounds to the first cup pod and brewed a second cup. The second cup was perfect. I will be doing this all the time now. I used to do this when I made pots of coffee. Why I never thought to do this with the pods I don’t know.
On Monday I took my navy shower. While the water was warming up, I caught that water in a pail. I used it to wash the bathroom floors.
I ran a lot of errands yesterday in a circle. I started with a doctor’s appointment and some testing in the next town where I got really good news. The doctor also gave me a sample of the drug I take. That sample will last me 30 days. Then I went to the bank to deposit some checks. Next I went to Niagara Produce and purchased about 3 lbs. of fresh asparagus for $ .99 a lb. and 2 boxes of canning lids for $ 5.29 each. These are getting very hard to find so I pick them up when I see them. I also purchased a large value pack of fresh chicken tenders for $ 1.99 a lb. I will be doing them up for the freezer with the food saver today. I got 2 lbs. of strawberries for $5.00, 3 pints of blueberries for $ .99 each, 5 lbs. of carrots for $ 3.69, and a 10 lb. bag of onions for $ 4.99.
Next I went to the drug store to pick up a prescription for Hubby and then to Top’s for some loss leader items. They were out of stock on all them and it was senior citizens discount day. I was shocked at how empty the store was. Since I was there and could get the discount I picked up some hot dogs that were on sale but not by much because we are low on them.
My last stop was because of exhaustion. I was out of the house all day and I forgot to thaw something. I stopped at Subway and got two 12 inch subs with a coupon for $ 12.99 and $1.04 tax. I said to the person making them, do you have a way to put the dressings on the side? She said yes and I was thrilled because it was 3pm when I was getting them and we would not eat until 5pm. I never knew they could do this. I did not want them soggy plus I knew that Hubby and I would only eat 1/2 of each of them so we now have dinner for tonight too.
Today I will be dicing up some gallon bags of onions along with cutting up some apples in the refrigerator that are getting old. I will bag up some of the blueberries and strawberries and all of these things will go in the freezer. Waste not, want not!
Most of the day will be spent reorganizing my pantries and updating my inventories.
This morning I went to Top’s for badly needed fresh items and my last 2 fresh meat items for the month. We were down to our last half and half so I picked up 2 cartons for $5.99 each. I drink a lot of coffee so I try to stay stocked with at least 3 cartons. They are dated in April so they will be used before they go bad.
I also got 4 Cabot cheese chunks for a total of $10.00. These are my go to snack items. Hubby wanted grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and we were almost out of American cheese so I bought one for $3.19.
I stumbled upon these NY strip steaks on sale for $ 8.99 a lb. for a total of $ 21.98. These will give us at least 2 meals but possibly 3. Usually when we have leftover steak, we saute it in a fry pan with butter and garlic and serve it with scrambled eggs. My last purchase was a lb. of Oscar Mayer bacon that was on sale with a Super Coupon for $ 5.99.
My total was $ 53.14.
This past weekend and today, we have been cleaning out some more items. I have taken everything out of my kitchen cupboards and rearranged them to make things easier to find. Some items that we haven’t used in a few years were put in the sell box. Things make more sense to the both of us now.
Our clock that we purchased from a relative’s jewelry store in 1967 died this past weekend. The clock always chimed every 15 minutes. It was made in Germany. I hate to throw it out because it has been with us for so long. Hubby looked to see if he could fix it and the mechanism that he thinks needs replacing is over $400. We would hate to buy the part and find out that it didn’t fix it. So he is going to tinker with it and see if he can fix it. His sister gave him the name of an organization who fixes clocks such as these. So he is going to contact them also. If it can’t be fixed, we will have to let it go.
Tonight I am making homemade pizza using the Naan bread that I buy at Aldi’s. I will bake it in the 11 in 1 oven that I bought recently.
Not much else going on. Have you saved on your groceries this week?
