Tag: grocery shopping

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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. 

  

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Every Day

Busy Monday

 I spent part of the morning cooking in the kitchen. I pressure cooked 14 eggs for breakfasts, snacks and salads this week. I cooked a pound and a half of bacon. I ate 2 eggs for breakfast with 2 strips of bacon.

Then I decided to try a recipe that I have seen everyone rave about on You Tube. It was a slow cooked roast beef recipe in a You Tuber’s cookbook. Everyone kept telling me that it is the best roast ever. I had the cookbook but never looked at that particular recipe. So I dug out the book and read it. It was no different than the same recipe that I have cooked in my slow cooker for years.

Her’s called for onions instead of onion soup mix. But then I read the cooking directions and a big NO resounded in my head. It called for roasting it in the oven for 10-12 hours at 250 degrees depending on how big your roast is. Why would I turn on my big oven instead of using the crockpot? I am sure that I am saving energy using the crockpot on low for 8 hours over using the oven for a greater amount of time.  


So in the crockpot went my onion soup mix, cream soup, and the roast beef. I just put Hubby’s potatoes in a few minutes ago. I will check it all at the 7 hour mark and if it is done to our satisfaction we will eat. I am cooking spinach for our vegetable tonight. 

After I cleaned up all of the pots, pans and dishes, I gathered my grocery lists and coupons and off I went to Walmart and Aldi’s.


At Aldi’s, I picked up 2 packages of bacon for $2.99 each. That is $ 1.01 less per package than the bacon I purchased at Top’s yesterday but it isn’t as good. But I decided at that price we would try a couple again. We use so much bacon for breakfast during the week and for our Sunday breakfasts when my son and grandson visit. So it will add to my stockpile of it.

We were out of sea scallops and they were $9.99 so I got one. I was so happy to see macadamia nuts in the store again. I got my 2 bags of pork rinds which is a snack for me. The Hass avocados were $.69 each. I have been out for a while so was happy to see this sale.

Hubby has been asking me to pick up or make an apple pie. Well, if I make the pie or buy one, we will eat it all and I really don’t want the temptation. So when I saw this German apple strudel, I grabbed it. There are two in the package and I can cook them separately on two different days for him. That should satisfy him.  The broccoli and cheese were needed for recipes the next couple of weeks. 


Here is my receipt. I spent $ 39.77.


At Walmart, I picked up the last of the OTC medicines that we may need over the winter. Walmart had the best prices locally and were lower than Amazon’s prices.

I had a $5.00 off coupon on any Hormel product that was expiring soon so the ham will be a good addition to our stockpile. The crescent rolls are needed for a recipe. The snacks are always needed and hopefully now we have enough until the holiday shopping. I had a Free coupon for the big bag of Cheetos.


Here is my receipt. I spent $ 14.09 after the coupons and a $10.00 gift card rebate.  

I have to be completely honest. I am tired of grocery shopping. I am hoping to not go out the door again to do it unless it is for dairy or produce. I will just be scouring the ads for those things next week and any meat sale that I think is rock bottom. Otherwise, I need some time home to finish the fall cleaning and work on my blog posts.

Are you getting any good deals this week?

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Every Day

Sunday Means Football in our Home

 I did not sleep well last night. So after I finally fell asleep, I woke up a little after 1PM. The Buffalo Bills game had already started. YIKES!


After watching the first half, I decided to get my weekly shopping done for Top’s. I figured that most people would be home watching the game. I guessed right. There was hardly any traffic and only about 10 shoppers in the market. So I was in and home in no time to finish watching the game.


I only had a few things to pick up this week at Top’s. The bacon was on sale B2G3free. It worked out to $ 4.00 a lb. We go through a lot of bacon pretty quickly for breakfast so it seems like I am always buying it on sale.  

The cold cuts were on sale for 3/$10. but I only purchased 2 because I had 2 Free coupons. But it looks like the coupons came off at the original price of $4.99 each.

The Chobani was $1.00 each. Since I am adding more dairy back into my diet, I picked up 5. I like to eat one with a little of the above granola once in a while for breakfast. It is delicious! 

I needed more cheddar and mozzarella cheese and these were on sale for $ 2.50 each.

This is my receipt for everything. I spent a total of 
$38.15. 

Tonight was our third night of eating the chicken tortilla soup. Hubby made some garlic bread out of leftover rolls.

After dinner, I put the leftover soup in a Ziploc using my handy stand and it is now in the freezer. There is enough left for another dinner for the two of us if I make small side salads to go with it.  

So did you do anything special today? Did you watch any football? BTW, our Bills won. They looked pretty good today.                                                                                                                                                                           

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Please Buy More


I told Hubby this morning that my Top’s gasoline points are expiring so I needed to go fill up the car. He asked if there wasn’t some way that I could buy more of the sausage meat that he loves and fit it in the freezer. After giving it some thought, I decided to food saver some meat that was in boxes and that would give me some room.

So off I went to the gas station to fill up at $.30 off a gallon. Then I went just up the street to Aldi’s hoping that they would still have the sausage.  I purchased 5 more rolls at $ 1.49 each.

We only have 1 more shredded cheddar cheese in the freezer so I decided to pick up a package and I planned a meal for the next couple of days that I needed cream cheese to make.  

 


When I got home, I threw everything in the fridge. Then I got out my food saver and started repackaging the boxes in the top drawer of my kitchen freezer. By doing that, I was able to fit the sausage rolls in.   


A while ago, I purchased chicken breasts with the bone on sale. At the time, I deboned them all and threw the bones in the freezer. I have two big bags of them and they have plenty of meat still left on them. Since it is starting to be soup season, I decided to make some bone broth. So I put one bag of them in the crockpot. I will be simmering them all afternoon and evening. Then I will take the bones out and add the meat to the broth and freeze the broth for the next time I make soup. 

 


Here the broth is cooking which I will strain when it is done and then add the meat. 


It is all strained and the meat has been put in it.

I have now put the other bag of bones into the crockpot and I will simmer it all night. In the morning after I take the meat off, I will freeze that broth. I will have soup broth for two big pots all set to add my veggies and rice or noodles to when we feel like soup for a meal.  I love prepping things ahead for meals. It saves a lot of time when I don’t really feel like cooking and prevents me from getting take out.

 

I made this recipe for dinner tonight: 

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

 

Hubby hated it. He said there was not enough sauce. I thought it was okay but not the best recipe I have tried. Perhaps someone out there has a better recipe. 

We are awaiting the start of  the NFL football game. Hubby has been waiting for football season for a long time now. He is excited.

I hope you all have a great evening.

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Every Day

August 22: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

I went out the door early this morning to go to Niagara Produce. They had their turkey cutlets on sale again for $2.99 a lb. Hubby loved this turkey recipe that I made a week or so ago so he wanted me to get some more cutlets.

I only had room for 5 packages in the freezer so that is what I purchased. Since we are having hot dogs for dinner tonight, I picked up hot dog rolls too. I have given up wasting precious space in the freezer for bread.

As I was driving back home, I remembered that West had mentioned that he would like donuts for breakfast one day. So I stopped at Tim Horton’s for a dozen donuts. They have gone up a $1.00 in price to $ 9.99. They were so good that there are only two left. 

I had $ 99.68 left in my monthly grocery budget. I spent $29.47 this morning. I have $ 70.21 left for the rest of August. 

Dinner tonight was easy hot dogs on buns. This was Hubby’s. West opted last minute not to eat hot dogs. He does not like Sahlen’s hot dogs because they have the skin on the outside that he does not like.  I always have meats and cheeses in the deli drawer so he had his choice of many different ones. He opted for sliced pepperoni and cheese. He ate a plate full and was very happy. He and Hubby had oreo cookies for dessert.

I haven’t heard from West’s parents this weekend but I imagine they are loving having a weekend to themselves. West texted them earlier and they were out in the car geocaching. I had no idea what that was but West explained it to me.

We are about to play a board game. I hope you all are having a great weekend.

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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.     

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Every Day

The Last Few Grocery Items I Had to Get This Week

I told you on Monday that I had to go get a few more grocery items when I ran my other non-food errands. I did that in the next town over today. 

I have been waiting for the organic grass fed ground beef to go on sale at Aldi’s. This is the one we almost always buy. I was down to one package and we have ground beef almost every week. So I was very happy when I opened the Aldi flyer this week and saw it on sale for $ 17.96 for 4 lbs. or $ 4.49 a lb. It is 85/15.  I got 8 lbs. If I ration it, it should last 8-12 weeks. I also needed milk there.

Since I needed ice cream for West’s visit and for Hubby, I stopped at Dollar General to pickup 2 containers of Edy’s. The sale price was $3.00 each which is a great price for this favorite ice cream. 

So I spent an additional $ 43.37 this week.  

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Every Day

I Am Practicing For Next Month

I am practicing this week for something I will be doing all next month. To do this I am watching every penny that I am spending this week.

Making a shopping list was a priority yesterday. Today I shopped at 4 stores. Don’t worry, I didn’t spend much gasoline running around. I get 19 miles per gallon with the SUV. I ran my errands in a circle so I drove a total of 11.6 miles round trip. My gasoline cost me $ 1.859 per gallon the last time I filled up. So my shopping trip cost me about $.84 in gasoline. I am pretty sure I saved that much money by shopping at 4 different stores.

First, I went to Niagara Produce which has the best freshness, quality and price on cold cuts in my area. Hubby has not had deli cold cuts since the illness hit. He asked for some this morning so I obliged. The ham was on sale for $ 5.99 a lb. and the turkey was $6.99 a lb. I only purchased about 1/2 lb. of each.

I also picked up some turkey breast cutlets that were $ 3.99 a lb. Chicken breasts are on sale at Top’s this week for $ 1.99 a lb. but we have so much chicken that I wanted something different. I got a loaf of rye bread because I will be cooking a corned beef( bought on sale last St. Patrick’s day) later this week and Hubby loves his reuben sandwiches.


Next stop was Dollar Tree. I had a $ .75/2 coupon that I was not going to waste.


Aldi’s was my next stop. I picked up two more packages of blueberries to freeze for pancakes and muffins. They were still at the great price of $ 1.69 each. Applesauce was on sale for $ 2.50 each at Top’s but I was pretty sure that it was cheaper at Aldi and I was right. Pistaschio’s are my guilty pleasure. They were still on sale for $ 5.99. We needed creamer and Hubby needed swiss cheese for his reubens.


The last stop was Top’s. Hubby was craving corn. They had them at 5 ears for $2.00. I don’t normally eat corn but it is a favorite and in season so I will have one with dinner tonight. I will be cooking 3 of them in the microwave for dinner.


Cheetos and the Poppables are for snacks in the stockpile. Bacon was a coupon item for $ 3.99. The lettuce was also a coupon item for $.99. Fresh green beans are $.69 a lb. I am soaking them in vinegar right now since who knows who touched them. Eggs were on sale for $.99 each. The 18 pack of Gatorade was on sale for $8.99 and you instantly got a Free 6 pack of Gatorade Juiced with it. It was a great deal especially since West will enjoy the Juiced when he comes to stay for two weeks soon.


My total for today was $ 58.48. It would have been much higher but I crossed 17 items off my list last night that were wants not needs this week. I do have to pick up a few more needed items later in the week on my way to run a non grocery errand.

I will be back tomorrow with a post about what I am going to do in August.

Did any of you get any good deals lately?
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Every Day

This Week’s Grocery Haul

I have been so busy today with cleaning and cooking that I almost forgot to put up this week’s grocery haul. 

These are the prices I paid. As you can see I shopped at Aldi’s and spent $ 44.96 which came out of my July grocery budget.

Hubby was asking for blueberries which he loves in muffins and pancakes. This price of a $1.69 is the best I have seen. So I picked up two packages and froze them flat right away. When they were frozen, I transferred them to a freezer bag so that I can just take out what I need when I make these things for him.  

The broccoli, romaine and celery were needed for our meals this week. My lemon juice bottle is almost empty.

Hubby requested this Italian dressing so I got him a big bottle. I love the cheese wraps and I am so happy that my Aldi’s is carrying them now. So I picked one up. 

I have to admit that the roasting chicken sauce was an impulse buy. We will try it and then if we like it, I will try to make it from scratch. I also treated us to the Panino tray for quick snacks. Both Hubby and I like these. Usually, I make our own but I grabbed it anyhow.  

The half and half was needed for coffee. The tomato sauce will be added to my stockpile.

The pistachios are my favorite nut besides macadamias. But macadamias are not in season right now which makes them expensive. The pistachios were a great price of $ 5.99. These I snack on.

Lastly, the cherry pie filling will be subsidizing the pie cherries that Hubby picked from our tree. I wanted to make sure that I have enough to make pies for the holidays.  

The one thing that you see missing is meat that we cook with. The prices have risen so high here and the sales were non existent. So we ate meat, shrimp, and poultry out of our freezer this week. We used chicken legs, organic grass fed ground beef, filet mignon, and shrimp. Until I see a good deal or the prices come down, I am not buying meat or seafood.

Did any of you get any great buys this week? Please share with all of us.  Did you have any good meat deals this week?

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Every Day

Busy Shopping Day Yesterday

After doing some things around the house yesterday, I made my shopping lists for the week. I decided to go to Top’s with plans to go to Walmart and Aldi’s afterward. My plans changed because Top’s was so very crowded. Thinking that the other two stores would probably be worse, I decided to wait to go this week while people are working.

I did both regular grocery shopping and stockpile shopping.

The regular shopping was 2 pizza sauce($1.00 ea.), flour($1.99), lettuce($.99 with store Q), monterey jack cheese($1.79 with store Q) and T bone steaks($19.00) that I needed for this week. I was out of pizza sauce. I don’t have enough flour to make bread. The lettuce is for salads. Hubby loves the monterey jack on his hamburgers.  The T bones are to be grilled for our 53rd Anniversary dinner. Since we are not going out to a restaurant, we will make a nice dinner here at home which will be steak, salad, and strawberries and raspberries with SF cool whip for dessert. We might even enjoy a glass of wine if I get to the liquor store to buy it.

In order to get the lower price of $ 8.88 a lb. for the steaks, I had to buy what they consider a big package of 3. So 1 of them will get frozen for the future. 

The rest were stockpile items. I got 10 Gatorade Zero which were $.80 each when you purchased 10. The pound of bacon was $3.99 with a store Q. The hand sanitizer was $ 5.99. The Softsoap refill was $ 8.98. The yeast was $ 5.99. The canned mushrooms were $1.00 each. I got 2- 50 oz. Purex for $2.50 each. Lastly, I got 1 of the gallons of distilled water for $ .69 with store coupon and 2 gallons on sale for $ .88 each.

Right now I am stockpiling things that I know we will use in case the sickness comes back to our state. I am not waiting until fall because if we lock down again, the supply chain will be affected. Just look at Texas and the supply problems they are having. If it doesn’t come back, we will be set for the fall and winter.

I spent $ 25.77 on the regular groceries and $ 43.76 on stockpile groceries. That leaves $ 458.78 in the July grocery budget. My stockpile budget was $ 1200. minus $ 43.76 = $1156.24. 

Did you find any good buys this week?