Tag: grocery shopping

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Every Day

Cutting Costs

We had teriyaki noodles ($.89) and filet mignon for dinner last night. We grilled it outside at home. Filet mignon at restaurants is $35.- $ 59. Ours was cut by the butchers at Niagara Produce when I purchased a whole tenderloin almost 2 years ago. I paid $10.99 a lb. Each one is 5-6 oz. so these cost us about $ 4.13 or $ 8.26 for both for dinner tonight. It is so much cheaper to eat at home. It pays to have a food saver because food keeps a very long time in the deep freeze when you remove the air. They were delicious.

For brunch, I had a cheese omelet. Hubby had an English muffin with the homemade peach jam that I made.

Hubby is down to his last bottle of Irish Cream Skinny Syrups to put in his coffee. I looked on their site and there was no sale. So I contacted them online and they gave me a code to get 15% off my entire order. It never hurts to ask.

I have been dealing with a mess that was created by Fetch. After months of trying to get it straightened out, I finally got a person that understood and I finally have all of my points proper on my account and it is under the correct telephone number. I was actually able to scan the last two weeks of receipts and order a $10. Walmart gift certificate with some of the points that I had accumulated. Patience pays off!

Our Rakuten rebate check for $ 5.17 came in the mail yesterday. By the size of it, you can tell that I don’t shop much. But every little bit goes to savings.

I continue to get 3 magazines in the mail that I have never requested and will not purchase because they are mostly ads. But I will be glad to scan them if they keep coming.

The utility meters were read yesterday so I should be getting my electric and natural gas bill within the next few days. I am hoping that it is not as large as last month.

I needed some fresh lettuce. Niagara Produce had the 3 count of Romaine lettuce for $ 1.99. I got 1. Top’s had a Super Coupon for Daisy sour cream which I was out of. With the store coupon you paid $1.99. But I also had some $ .50 off coupons for Daisy products which Top’s doubled so I paid $ .99.

We used up most of our gasoline getting home from the Adirondacks on Monday. Since I had no gas points for Top’s, I filled up at the cash only station for $ 3.35 a gallon which is the cheapest in my area. Top’s right now is $3.55 a gallon. Both Top’s, N.P., and the gas station were on my route today.

It rained here while we were away so we have not had to water except for our hanging baskets that are under the front entry so they don’t get the benefit of the rain. Actually we have not had to water a lot so our quarterly bill should be much less than last year.

We have found a snowplow guy for the winter. He stopped by our home yesterday and we hired him. It will cost $500. for the winter which is the same amount we paid last winter. This winter is supposed to be really snowy so I believe we will get our money’s worth.

I did a load of wash yesterday to clean the clothes we used on the trip and some others that were in the laundry basket using cold water and a couple of tablespoons of detergent. Most were hung to dry.

Every year I have been buying the Passionate Penny Pincher’s yearly planner. It had been very expensive. This year I tried to check the price for 2025 and it is not ready yet. I am assuming the price is going up. I then checked She’s in Her Apron’s planner and it is $ 67.98 for the weekly and for 6 months of the daily it is $ 58.95. So I would assume you have to buy two and that would be $ 117.90. All these prices are ludicrous. I will save my money and put it into investments. I will use a notebook that I got on clearance a long time ago for $ .10. and keep a running list of everything I have to do in it. I will use my outlook calendar to track our appointments.

What have you been doing to save some money?

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Every Day

Why I Don’t Take Hubby Shopping

Our pharmacy closed this weekend. I found a new one 2 blocks from the one we went to. I visited last week and looked around the store and talked to the pharmacy personnel. I have 4 requirements when choosing a pharmacy. It has to be close to where I do other errands, it has to be very clean, it has to be one that it is in our drug plan, and the pharmacist and other people that work there have to be friendly, accurate, and efficient. I was satisfied that the new one most likely would meet our requirements. I came home and told Hubby about it. He was happy to switch there. So we switched to the pharmacy and gave that pharmacy to all of our doctors to send future prescriptions to. Then Hubby ordered two prescriptions. We were amazed that just three hours after we ordered them, they were ready.

I decided that I would pick them up the next day before I did my weekly shopping at Top’s. Hubby insisted on going because he wanted to make sure that he knew right where this pharmacy was. I told him no problem but that we needed to shop at Top’s afterward. He said okay which surprised me because he hates grocery shopping.

First we went to the pharmacy. I was anxious to see how many pills they gave Hubby for each script. We have never had a pharmacy that filled them correctly the first time. We get 90 days of pills with our plan. It would be so aggravating when I would go to pick up scripts and they would be filled with 30 because they paid no attention. Then I would have to wait while they redid them. This pharmacy did them correctly to my amazement.

Then we went to Top’s to get some loss leaders. I had a list and I even ate breakfast before we went so that I would stick to my list. However, it didn’t take long for Hubby to start picking up things and putting them in the cart. The first few were on sale which was no problem. That is the way I shop and then I shop my shelves to make meals. So we are almost always eating food that was on sale. However he decided he wanted cold cuts. I said okay and took him over to the deli and showed him what was on sale. He didn’t want the sale cold cuts. He wanted the Charlie The Butcher roast beef which the girl told me was $ 18.00 a lb. I told him but before I could say I will get some he got mad and went out to the car to saying he couldn’t get what he wanted. I continued shopping and got him a half a lb. of the roast beef. Then I picked the rest of my items on my list and checked out.

I explained to him that I have no problem getting the things he likes. But I will give him the ad every week so that he can pick out the sale items. I explained that almost everything that he would want would go on sale over a 12 week period. I would buy him enough to last 12 weeks. I told him otherwise I would need a raise in my grocery budget. He said that is fine and any time I need a raise I can just take more cash from the bank. I told him I have been doing just fine this year. So when the ad comes in the mail this week for next week, I will give it to him to look at. Then he can tell me if there are any loss leaders he wants and I will add them to my list. He is happy with this arrangement.

The first 4 items that Hubby picked up were 2 boxes of Cheez-It’s that were on sale for $3.00 a box and 2 bags of croutons that were on sale for $2.00 each. We already have 8 bags of them but they are the Caesar ones he always asks for and I guess he is tired of them. Next I got the 1/2 lb. of roast beef he wanted and noticed when I looked at my receipt and this picture that the roast beef was on sale. It was on sale for $ 14.99 a lb. which I still think it outrageous. So it cost $ 7.94 for .53 lbs. It was not advertised in my flyer and the girl told me it was not on sale.

Then I purchased what was on my list which was 2 sirloin steaks on sale B1G1F and cost $ 11.98 for both minus a $2.00 off $10.00 meat purchase Monopoly coupon so it cost me $ 9.98 for the two steaks. I got a bag of frozen tortellini which was on sale for $ 3.34. I make soup and some pasta dishes with this.

We were out of tomatoes on the vine and I want to make BLT’s this week so I purchased these on sale at $ 1.88 a lb. for $ 3.46. The last item was an 8oz. chunk of cheddar cheese on sale for $ 1.99. We eat cheese as a snack sometimes.

So my total for all ended up being $ 36.71.

Did you get any grocery bargains this week?

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Every Day

My Weekly Grocery Haul And The Worst Thing I Have Ever Eaten

I apologize for the blurry picture again today. I will figure out this new camera when I have time.

Hubby is feeling a lot better today. He is just not 100% yet. I think it is definitely my homemade chicken soup that is curing him. We will be having that for dinner again tonight.

Since Top’s is only 3 miles away, he told me to go to the market. He said he would call me if he needed me. I went early and it was not crowded so I wasn’t gone long.

I got 3.05 lbs of Hot Italian Sausage which was on loss leader sale for $3.99 a lb. for the cost of $ 12.17. We had no shrimp so I splurged on a bag of Colossal Shrimp on sale for $11.99 and the 10 Knorr sides on sale for $1.00 each. They were a long term stockpile item. I earned $.20 off a gallon of gas in points for the Knorr deal. I got a 30 count package of bandaids and the Post Cocoa cereal cup for free with 2 Monopoly coupons. West will enjoy that. I purchased a bottle of Ken’s Steakhouse Sweet Vidalia Onion salad dressing on sale for $3.00 and used a $1.00 off coupon that they sent me in the mail for a cost of $2.00.

I have not bought a Hot Pockets since my kids were in school many, many years ago. It was $ .99 with a Monopoly coupon. I will never buy one again. I had one for lunch and it was awful. The dough was flavorless and the pizza fillings inside were like mush. This has to be the worst thing I have ever eaten. I choked down the one I was eating and debated on throwing out the other one in the package. But Hubby said he will try it later in the week. I think his opinion will be the same. It was a total waste of $ .99. The Hot Pockets back in the 1980’s were much better than this one. I think they have either changed ingredients for their profit or can’t get the ingredients. Yuck!

Lastly, I got 2 boxes of SteakUmms on sale for $ 3.99 each for a total of $7.98. I love these with my eggs for brunch. They have new pork ones out too. I have asked the company for coupons.

My total today for this weekly shop was $ 45.13.

Did you get any good grocery deals this week?

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Every Day

I Did Not Do Much Today Because……………………..

So sorry that this is not perfect. I have been taking care of Hubby today who is not feeling well. He woke me up at 1:30am this morning saying he did not feel well. I tried to get symptoms from him but all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. I couldn’t because I was very worried. So I have been up since then. He fell back to sleep and seemed to sleep well.

He got up at 8:30 because he had a late morning dentist appointment. He still did not feel well. He told me some of his symptoms which could have been many things. I gave him a Covid test. He was negative. But I called the dentist and rescheduled his appointment. It could be a stomach bug or something else. I offered to call the doctor or take him to the emergency room but he declined.

So I did the next best thing which is spend the entire day right by his side. I also made him some homemade chicken soup for dinner using a jar of homemade canned chicken and some homemade chicken broth, diced celery, and diced carrots, and added rice. It is the only thing he has eaten today and he ate a bowl full telling me how delicious it was. I made enough for a few days. The pot had just started to boil when I snapped this picture.

Today, my shipment of butter arrived from Amazon. The picture is above. With dairy being a supply chain issue, I wanted to make sure that we had some on the shelf. They were $ 9.48 a can but we like it and it will be on the shelf if the power goes out. So my order was $37.92.

Lastly, Hubby made some hummingbird food this weekend so we could fill up our 3 feeders. It costs him about a $ .25 for this gallon of it vs. $ 8.74 to buy the same size at the store. Every penny counts!

I hope you all had a great day!

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Every Day

What We Did To Save Money This Week

I roasted the Free 16 lb. turkey that I got from B.J.’s last November. We have had it for 3 dinners so far this week and I will be making a big pot of turkey soup dinner tonight. I have already prepped all of the vegetables and cut up the turkey. After we ate dinner the first night, Hubby cut all of the turkey off the bone and broke down the bones, one leg(I like eating a leg), and the wings. The results of all the meat fit in this container. Then I put all of the bones and skin in the crockpot and cooked it for 14 hours. It made the most delicious turkey bone broth that you see in the picture. I will be using that in the soup when I cook it later this afternoon.

I received 2 rebate checks in the mail this week totaling $ 43.02. I will deposit them in our savings next week.

Hubby and I have done more work down in the basement this week getting rid of things we no longer need.

One night after dinner, Hubby opened the cabinet under the sink to throw a recyclable in the wastebasket that we keep under the sink for that purpose. He saw that water was flooding the cabinet. Fortunately, we keep a rubber sinkmat under there. It was full of water but had not yet overflowed. We sopped the water up with old towels and dried the mat so Hubby could get under there to find out what was leaking. It was the sink basket in the left sink and the pipe that held it. When he got the basket out of the sink, he found that rubber seal had disintegrated. He went to Home Depot and got a new basket, the pipe part that screws into it, and a tool to make it easier to do that. Total cost for all was $ 21.35. I can’t imagine what it would have cost to call a plumber if Hubby wasn’t handy.

We got our natural gas and electric bill two days ago for the past month. The total for 27 days was $235.66. We used 536 kwh’s of electricity and 114 ccf’s of natural gas. Hopefully, it will go down and down as soon as the warm weather gets here.

I did two loads of wash in cold water and hung most of it to dry. I do not hang towels.

Today, I finally felt like going out to get some on sale groceries. I went to Top’s because they had a three day sale which was 3 coupons. Two of them I wanted to use. I purchased a Italian shredded cheese blend that was $.99 with one of the coupons. The other coupon I used was for 200 extra gasoline points when I spent $35. or more. I was not passing that up because our gasoline prices have skyrocketed the past couple of days. Every little bit helps!

I also purchased 2 Smithfield smoked sausage for $7.00 for both. Hubby found a recipe on You Tube that he wants to try. I don’t think I have purchased this sausage since we lived in AZ. So it will taste good for a change. I used a Super Coupon to buy the bacon for $3.99.

The last thing I purchased was 3.30 lbs. of wild caught boneless skinless haddock fillets. It was on sale for $ 8.99 a lb. and the regular price was $ 52.77. But the sale price was $29.67 and I used a $3.00 coupon from their flyer to bring my cost down to $ 26.67. This is going to save us a lot of money! The fillets were about the size of the fish fries that I got on takeout last week for about $25.00 for the two of us. For $ 1.67 more I can make 3 meals for us. So this fish purchase along with other fish in our freezer should get us through Lent. I used the food saver to put it in three air tight packages.

We have watched the NCIS’s and FBI’s for entertainment this week. Other than that, I just did some usual cleaning.

Did you save any money this week?

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Every Day

Best Deal of My Day

We do use this cream of chicken soup in many casseroles over the winter. Aldi’s had it on sale as part of their Thanksgiving reduction for $ .49 a can. It is the best deal that I have gotten in a long time and these don’t expire until the end of 2025.

There was no sign in front of it so I didn’t know that the deal was limited to 12 cans. When I got to the register, the cashier called a manager and she said to just do 2 transactions. I was thankful that I didn’t have to go in and out of the store twice because it was very crowded.

I was going to get another turkey there because they reduced them to $.99 a lb. but they were all between 23-24 lbs. Too big for us. So this year I am settling for just the one turkey that I got free at B.J.’s. However, if Aldi’s or Walmart reduce their prices after Thanksgiving, I might rethink that.

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Every Day

A Great Deal, Etc.

Yesterday, Alexa and I went to Aldi’s to get some of the on sale butter for $ 2.49 each. Aldi’s always has the best price around Thanksgiving. I still had quite a bit in my freezer. So we each got the limit of 6 which gave me 12 lbs. to add to what I had for a total of 27 for this next year. That should be enough. Since we were there we each picked up 6 turkey and brown gravy packets for $ .29 each.

Other than shopping, we spent the rest of the day at home. We played some quizzes from many years back on You Tube again. It is lots of fun and would make great party games.

Dinner again was KFC chicken that we reheated in the air fryer. Last night we watched a women’s volley ball game.

Today when Alexa gets up, Hubby is going to make homemade apple cinnamon waffles. He is going to teach Alexa how to do it and put them in the waffle maker. If she likes them, we will send her a waffle maker after she goes home. Other than that the only thing on our agenda today is making hamburgers and French fries for dinner. It is supposed to be a warm day so we may take a walk.

I hope you all have a great day!

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Every Day

Small Grocery Haul

I only needed a couple of items this week. Fortunately, both stores were next to each other.

Do you guys have a Running’s? I don’t shop there a lot but they have a great sale once in a while. They had these Mt. Olive pickles for $ 4.49 each. I got the last 64 oz. bread and butter pickles they had. It is perfect for the holidays. I also bought the 80 oz. dill spears because Hubby and I love them with a sandwich or just for a snack. My total there was $ 8.98.

At Top’s, I purchased a head of local cabbage for $ .79 a lb. I paid $ 2.66 for it. Hubby can’t wait to make his Waldorf coleslaw. The celery was $2.29. We use it it for snacks, soup, stew, and diced in chicken or ham salad.

The can of corn was on sale with a Super Coupon for $ .49. We use these in our homemade soups such as chicken, turkey, and taco.

The white thing you see is 2 whole haddock fish. It was on sale for $ 10.99 a lb. I paid $ 13.41 for both. Haddock is Hubby’s favorite. I am a salmon girl and I am looking for a good sale.

Lastly the sweet pepper bags were on sale for B1G1F. I paid $ 6.49 for both. My total at Top’s was $ 25.34.

I was noticing in Top’s just how much the prices have gone up in a just a week. I again saw items that I usually buy that I would not buy at the prices they are asking. UGH!

Did you get any good deals this week?

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Every Day

Grocery Shopping This Week

We have had so much smoke in the air for at least a week from the fires in Canada. Alerts have been issued for seniors. So I found my cloth mask from Covid and used that to be able to run the errands this week. We have been indoors most of the week.

First shop was at Aldi’s. I was so happy to see the organic ground beef that we love on sale again at the same price as before the inflation hit. Since I had gotten ground beef on sale at Top’s recently I only got 2 of the 3 packs. They cost $ 17.96 for each 3 pack. I also purchased a cantaloupe on sale for $1.99 and an Avocado Oil for $6.79. I needed the oil because I am on my last bottle. Total cost of all was $ 44.70.

Next I went to Top’s on 6% off Senior Discount Day. I purchased a half gallon of Half and Half for $ 6.99. That is the cheapest price in my area. The coffee was $7.49 after Q. The vidalia onions @ $ 1.48 a lb. were $3.32. Onions are hard to find in our area that aren’t rotted especially bagged ones. So when I can buy them separate, I do to make sure they are good and will last a while.

The 2 Prego were on B1G1F so cost $3.69 for both. The peanut butter was $ 2.29 after Q. The Knorr noodles were $ .99 after Q.

We love cheese in this house for snacks. So I purchased 2 Cracker Barrel for $ 3.00 each. Lastly, I got 2 packages of raw shrimp on B1G1F for a total of $ 13.99 for both. After my 6% discount I paid $42.07 OOP.

There were not a lot of good sales but I grabbed the things that were on sale that were really needed to put in my pantry. Hubby loves onions in everything and I was down to my last couple of onions. The sauce and noodles will make a quick meal when we have been really busy that day. That way we avoid take out. I always have meatballs cooked in my fridge so those with sauce and mozzarella cheese heated in the microwave and a quick salad make a fast meal. Another quick meal is adding a half lb. of cooked ground beef from the freezer to the Knorr noodles.

Hubby loves peanut butter so I always make sure to have that. Lastly the shrimp has been so expensive so $7.00 for a bag saves me a couple of dollars each. We have 3 favorite recipes that we use it for.

I forgot to take a picture of my Niagara Produce order before I used the food saver for the meat for the freezer. But here it is anyhow.

I purchased 2 rib eye steaks at $15.99 a lb. totaling $ 39.18 and a 3 pack of Romaine lettuce for $ 1.99. My total OOP was $ 41.17.

We love steaks on the grill. So I have been trying to buy a couple a week lately. They are every expensive but they are about to go way higher up in price soon. My butcher let me in on that. So if I buy them now, it will save me from paying a lot more in the future.

Did you get any good deals this week?

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Every Day

Getting The Freezer Ready

I just spent the morning defrosting my chest freezer. For some reason, the ice built up really fast this time. It was bad!

Before I do it. I gather my tools that I need. A bucket to put the ice in. Coolers to put the food in. My blow dryer to easily take the ice off the walls. A plastic scraper to get behind the ice to knock it off. Towels to dry the inside. Lastly, a plastic dust pan to scoop the ice up with. 

So after unplugging the freezer, I went at it. The blow dryer loosens the ice enough that I can use the plastic scraper to knock it to the bottom. Then I scoop it up and put it in the bucket. When the ice is all out, I dry the walls and bottom. Then I plug the freezer back in.

Next I went through all of the food to make sure it was all good and reorganized it before putting it back in. I only had to toss a loaf of bread that looked pretty sad and a half pound of ground pork that was freezer burned. 

I learned how to easily defrost a freezer when I was 19 years old and first married. We rented an apartment that had a refrigerator – freezer combo. The freezer was not frost free. So when we buy chest freezers to save energy, we always buy ones that are not frost free. That saves us even more energy!


But now I am ready to put those turkeys in that I buy this month when they are cheap. 

I have a 1/2 gallon of milk on the bottom which will come out to thaw later this week. I have one turkey left from last year that I will roast for Thanksgiving this year. Under the top containers are two reusable grocery bags. The one on the right has all of our frozen vegetables and French fries. The one on the left has all of our frozen fruit that I use for smoothies and muffins. I also put homemade frozen meals on the top of that one. 

The right hand container holds 16 pounds of butter that I purchased last year. I also have 5 pounds in my upstairs fridge. So I have determined that if I have that much left, I am not stocking on butter this month.  

The left hand container holds our grated cheeses that I purchase on sale.

You can also see on the left hand side that I have two large containers that stack. I keep meats in those. 


I also found that I had 10 lbs. of bacon in this freezer along with 3 pounds in the upstairs ones. Since I had bacon on my list to buy this week, I was thrilled to be able to take it off the list.

The meat that you can see is meat that we will be using the next couple of weeks. I will transfer it to my fridge freezers as we eat down the meat in those.

It is stacked on top of the containers that hold all the rest of the meat. One container is nothing but chicken and turkey. The other container holds ground beef, stew meat, steaks, pork chops, lamb chops, and all of our fish like haddock and salmon.  

Now I am ready to do my weekly shopping tomorrow. I noticed in the Aldi’s flyer that they have the Butterball turkeys that have been $ 1.29 a lb on sale this week for $ .87 a lb. I will pick up one or two tomorrow since they are our favorite brand.

We will go out to vote in the early morning tomorrow and then I will drop Hubby off at home. I have 4 stores to go to tomorrow. He hates shopping. I love that he hates shopping because I don’t have to worry about extra items that aren’t on my list going in the cart.

So I will be back with my grocery hauls later in the week.