Zaycon Fresh – Frugal Things Every Day

My son was visiting for 3 days. He had business in this area and stayed with us. We did go out to dinner one night but ate in the rest of the time. I enjoyed getting up in the morning to make him a nice hearty breakfast. We had lots of fun, laughter, and just generally a good time catching up on things.

Yesterday, my other son and grandson came for our usual Sunday breakfast. He brought a dozen donuts from Tim Horton’s which we all enjoyed immensely. I couldn’t even remember the last time I enjoyed a donut. We also got subs for lunch. This Mama was too tired to cook.

So today it is back to the usual money saving here. It is 8AM as I write this today. I already have a loaf of homemade banana bread in the oven. I had three very ripe bananas that needed to be used up.

I have made my grocery list for the week and plan on shopping later today. There are not a lot of things or deals that I need this week.

Just a moment ago I cancelled Netflix. We weren’t watching it enough to pay the $ 10.99 per month. Some months we wouldn’t watch it at all. Plus I do not like some of their programming. So that is $131.88 annually that we will keep in our investments. We have Amazon Prime so there is plenty of movies, etc. to watch. Have you checked your viewing on Netflix to see if you are really getting your money’s worth?

I went and did my grocery shopping at Top’s and this is what I purchased this week:

1/2 gal. milk – $ 2.39- Top’s Super Q which took off $.79= $1.60. I bought the wrong milk. It would have been $ .88 if I had gotten Top’s milk. The cashier forced the coupon. It won’t be the first or last time mistake I make. It is not worth my gas to go back.

4 Arm and Hammer Baking Soda – $.99 ea. – $.50/2 MQ = $1.96 for all 4 or $ .49 each (Tip: Baking soda never expires.)

1- 128 oz. Tops Vinegar – $ 2.99 (clean with this and use it instead of Jet Dry in my dishwasher)

1 – 64 ct. Pampers Wipes – $ 1.99 – $.50/1 MQ = $.99 (cheap cleaning wipes)

4- Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes – $ 1.49 each-
$1./1 MQ’s = $ .49 ea. or $ 1.96 for all. (We put these in our salads.)

1 – McCain Craft Beer Battered French Fries – $ 1.88 and I will get back $ 1.00 from Checkout 51.

2- Body Armour Drinks – $1.00 – $ .50/1 MQ’s = Both Free

1 – 59oz. Tropicana OJ – $ 1.49 with T Rex Monopoly ticket. (We don’t drink OJ so I will be making many, many loaves of cranberry orange bread this week.)

My total OOP was $ 12.95 including tax. I am getting $1.00 rebate from Checkout 51. My budget is $75.00 for the week so that leaves me $ 62.05 for the rest of the week.

We only have a little produce left in our fridge: grapes, apples, tangerines, some lettuce, carrots and peppers. So I will be going to the produce market soon to stock up.

Besides all of this, I am washing 3 loads of clothes, sheets and towels etc. I am using the dryer since there are so many!

BTW, I promised to tell you about the chicken that I purchased at Zaycon Fresh . I made stir fry with it the other night and the chicken is melt in your mouth like butter. It is so tender. I will be purchasing my boneless chicken breasts from them from now on. I am very happy! Yes, this is my referral link. I do not monetize my blog so anyone who is signing up new I would appreciate if you would consider using this referral link. No pressure meant!

Feel free to leave a comment if you have saved any money this week.

I will be back soon to finish the 100 Frugal Things List.

So Many Things Going On

It’s been a busy week and it seems to be getting busier. Yesterday, I went and picked up my Zaycon Fresh chicken order. I was so impressed at how organized they were.

I went down about 1/2 hour early because my pickup was at 5:00PM which is the middle of rush hour here and it was a 40 mile+ round trip. Before I left I set up the food saver and bags, cutting board, and all the bowls that we would need.

When I got there, I found that they were all set up early. I pulled up to the tractor trailer truck and gave a man my name. They put the 40 lbs. of chicken in my trunk and I was on my way home. I had put a large blanket on the carpet in my trunk in case anything leaked but it wasn’t necessary. The chicken was packed in a heavy duty cardboard box and inside was a huge heavy plastic bag. Inside that were 4 bags each with 10 lbs. of chicken. I kept this box because it has a nice cover, was very clean inside, and will work perfectly for storage in our basement.

On the way home, I stopped and picked up Subway subs so that we could eat sometime before or after we got all of the chicken prepared. Being it was dinnertime, we were hungry.

Hubby put all of the chicken on a tray in the refrigerator and then we ate. Then I started draining a bag of chicken. It was my job to trim the chicken and then Hubby food savered it all. It only took us about an hour and a half to get it all done and in the freezer. Lastly, I sanitized the kitchen and all of the utensils we used.

As you can see in the picture at the beginning of this post, it fit beautifully in the freezer with lots of room leftover. This morning I will get it into a larger bag so that I can easily find it when I need it. We need to use up the 14 lbs. that we already had first though.

I have to thank my DIL for helping me out by telling me how my son did up all of their chicken last week. Her tips really helped us. She also said they ate some last week and it was good.

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how big the chicken breasts are. They are huge. Hubby decided to only put one in a bag after doing a few with two. They are more than big enough for a meal for two of us. I had very little trimming to do. No more than when I buy it at the market. I think this chicken should last us at least 6 months, if not more.

The chicken cost me $ .79 a lb. with the use of a coupon code. I don’t think I have paid that price in at least 40 years. Our on sale price here is $2.00 a lb. The total was $ 31.60 and was taken out of my grocery budget of $ 75.00 a week. You can see from prior posts that I don’t use all of my grocery budget each week so that I can save for big orders like this. I have 20 lbs. wild Argentine red shrimp coming in July.

With the chicken and shrimp orders and hopefully getting a great price on ground beef and steaks, we should be set for the entire spring, summer and fall. Of course, I always have to pick up bacon and sausage because of our Sunday family breakfasts.

Once we have eaten some of the chicken, I will let you know how we like it. If it is good, we will continue to purchase our chicken this way if the price is right.

The other day I cooked the last turkey in our freezer that we purchased at a rock bottom price last Thanksgiving. I don’t like heating up my house once it starts getting warm outside which should be soon. That is when the grilling begins. We have been enjoying all of the leftovers and I will make turkey soup today. I usually put rice in it but Hubby has requested noodles this time.

Today will also be grocery shopping day. I will post my trip tomorrow. I don’t need that much.

Have any of you purchased chicken from Zaycon Fresh? Have you purchased any other meat or seafood item from them? I would love to hear of your experiences.