July Shopping Totals

June 29:

Dollar General  $10.oo pet food

June 30:

CVS:  46.82 (saved $5.42) earned $6 in ECB

Kroger: $165.04 (saved $56.84) Got FREE 2 single serving Kraft Macaroni and Velvetta cups, 2 boxes of Triscuit Thins, and 1 12pack of Dr. Pepper

Target: $9.72 (saved $7)

July 10:

CVS: $19.99 (saved $38.85 and used $12.50 ECB) earned $6 ECB

Food Depot: $53.75 (saved $3.76)

subtotal: $304.32

Frugal Friday

Whew!  I thought earlier this week that I was going to get time at home, not have to go anywhere, etc.  Not true!  The week has been every bit as busy as the past few weeks.  Chance and I ran errands and went to breakfast on Tuesday, doctor for Kay on Wednesday followed by going to lunch with Mama and Granny, hospital for IV vitamin treatment for Kay on Thursday, and today I had to pick up a prescription for Chance.  And while out, I took advantage of my solo state to run into the nearby discount grocery and gather a few things towards next week's Big Shop.  I did very well and will share that with you all later.  In the meantime, I've got at least two weeks worth of savings to share.

First, though I want to account for my waste.  I don't remember, really I don't, what I threw out last week if anything.  I'm not sure I even looked hard at the fridge last week.  This week however, I have had some small waste.  Two bananas, which I'd meant to make into banana bread sat on the counter beyond mushy and black.  I put those in the compost.  A single serving of clam chowder was put in the trash, container and all.  It was that bad.  Mama had gifted me with half a deli roast chicken.  About 1/2 of that went to the dog earlier this week, along with a slice of roast beef,  because I have a hard and fast rule about meats after three days.  And finally, today I tossed 1/2 cup of peach salsa.  I made too much that's all there is to it.  I should have made 1/2 as much, since I knew full well Kay wouldn't touch a bite of it.

Now, on to savings for the week. 

I tried hard while Kay was in the hospital to avoid the vending machines and takeout meals.  Although I did give in on Saturday.  We thought Kay was coming home and only after waiting all day long on the doctor did I give in to hunger and go out to find fast food.  I opted for the value meal as drink and sides were far less expensive than the overpriced sodas and such at the hospital.

Temptation made me want to stop for takeout on the way home.  We didn't see the doctor until 8pm and then found out Kay wasn't going to be discharged until the next day.  As it turned out, nothing was open because it was July 4th, and so I came home where we reheated the leftovers in the fridge.  Much better value for the money, and took less time than waiting in the checkout line for the fast food.

Used ripe peaches to make salsa and muffins.  The muffins went into the freezer to be thawed individually for breakfasts and snacks.  (If I'd thought about it Monday I could have frozen the leftover salsa, too.)

Extra gas has been needed the last month, but so far we've managed to stay near our budgeted amount.  Thankfully we've gotten very good gas mileage.

I bumped up the AC to 77F daily and turn down to 74F at night.  I've found that if I make it a habit to go straight to the thermostat and turn it up when I rise each morning, I don't forget about it.

Sunday I took the time to plan meals for the first four days of the week just past.  Then I planned out meals again on Thursday night for the weekend.  I think I'm liking this twice a week plan, as it allows me to see what leftovers might be used up.  For instance, today's taco meat was stretched with 1/2 a can of black beans leftover from our meal on Monday.  And Chance carried smoked chicken legs to work in his lunch yesterday, and has leftover potato salad to go with hotdogs for tomorrow's meal. 

Stayed out of the grocery stores for ten days.  That is a HUGE savings right there.  My sole 'shopping' this week was to run into the dollar store and pick up a candy bar, and go into the pharmacy to buy vitamins for Kay.

Today's trip to the grocery: shopped the perimeter of the store only.  No wandering up and down aisles letting things find their way into the buggy.  Produce, meats, frozen foods and dairy products that was it.

At the pharmacy today I steered away from temptations (nailpolish, magazines, sigh), went over the sales paper and pulled coupons to match to sales while waiting on the perscription and then used coupons, ECBs to make my deals.  I did very well, which I'll share in the next post, Shopping Totals for July.

Vacuumed our AC filter.  I need to stock up on these once more, but they are much much less expensive out of town.  I'll pick up a dozen on Big Shop (Thursday of this coming week).  In the meantime, Chance assured me that simply vacuuming the one we have will be a tremedous help.

Made bread, three loaves.

Made pancakes from scratch and then put leftovers into the freezer for early morning breakfasts. 

Bought fresh peaches at the packing shed, far less expensive than at the grocery store.  And the fruit is guaranteed fresh!

Bought a pound of jalapeno peppers.  Two reasons for this.  I've found that seeded, diced jalapeno can be flash frozen and used in cooking more often if I do this job as a batch.  I just store in a freezer quality zippered bag.  Second:  I want to experiement and try making my own poppers.  Kay and I love these as an occasional treat.  I thought I could seed and stuff the peppers and freeze then fry or bake as wanted.

Very occasionally, I skip breakfast altogether.  This was one of those mornings.  I thought about picking up takeout but opted to pick up the necessary items to make tacos instead.  I had shells at home and lettuce, but needed meat, cheese and tomatoes.  I spent less than the cost of one person's meal and have enough food to serve three generously.

Everyone in the house was looking for something sweet to eat the other night.  It was far too late to bake and no one in my home even considers running into town anymore unless we're running multiple errands.  I remembered I'd bought a box of gingersnaps at the grocery.  Perfect sweet treat to go with our coffee.  Cost for the box was just $1 on sale and we've got plenty of cookies left.

I own up...I hid that box of cookies.  I often do this when I don't want all our snack foods to be eaten in the first week of purchase.  I also hide other goodies, like sodas,speciality crackers,  razors, pricey shampoos, batteries, hair color, chapsticks (all gotten for free or almost).  It's amazing how seeing an item makes my family want it right away.  On the other hand when put away and 'saved' for use when other items are used up, we have that nice surprise tucked away.

Kay suggested I stop buying a pricey drink that she's liked rather well for the past year and purchase another drink instead.  The cost is less, and the quantity will be limited as they are sold only in 4-packs and not singly.  She is aware that it will cut back on her calories as well to have less, so we will both be happy with the switch.

When we ran out of bagels before the pineapple cream cheese ran out, I stuffed celery sticks with the cheese for Chance's snack.  He was very pleased with that and I used up the last bit of cheese.  No fear that will get lost in the back of the fridge.

Chance wasn't especially happy with the last brand of decaffinated coffee I bought (we normally mix it with a premium special order coffee but were cutting back on that treat for two months).  I purchased two more brands this time and told him we'd try them to see if he likes either one better than the other brand.

I finally read the label on the coffee brand I've been purchasing at the grocery and discovered that I could earn reward points for my purchases.  I'm halfway to a $25 Visa card now that I've gotten wise. I enter codes the day I bring the bags home from the grocery.  That way I don't forget and toss a bag in the trash.   Look on your favorite brands of products and visit the website to see if you can earn reward points for purchase.  (I've been giving a friend my points from soda purchases for the past year.  She told me she had enough points for two adult tickets to Universal Studios theme park, plus several free magazine subscriptions. )

We continue to hang clothes to dry.  Chance doesn't like to leave clothes on the line when we're going to be gone.  I haven't yet purchased another drying rack since our last one broke, either.  Instead we've used the wire shelf edge to pin up those items that won't hang on a hanger.  It's worked very well for us.

We continue to run washer and dishwasher only when we have full loads.  Typically that's every other day for the washing machine and every third day for the dishwasher.

When we were out of fresh fruit earlier this week we used canned varieties to carry us through.  I keep peaches, pineapple, applesauce and pears on hand, stockpiling when they are on sale. 

I've been purchasing ice to keep my groceries cold on Big Shop, then storing in the freezer to use throughout the pay period. This week we ran out of ice.  Kay suggested I go buy a bag.  I laughed and pulled out my plastic ice trays, filled before bed time and emptied them twice a day thereafter.  We've plenty of ice and it didn't cost us a thing.

Unsweetened powder drink mixes are still one of the best bargains out there.  Kay asked for ten packets (the sale price) last Big Shop.  For the cost of the packet ($.10) and 1/2 cup sugar (less than $.30) she has two quarts of flavored drink.  I get sodas very cheaply but not that cheap!

A temporary fix kept our computer up and running.  The internal fan went out and the computer wouldn't run without it.  We removed the side panel, set a small fan in front of the open side and used the computer.  I searched in vain for one in the stores to save on shipping.  We finally ordered one online.

When our insurance rates went up by nearly $100 for six months I called our insurance agent and found a company that will give us the same coverage for even less.  Since Chance and I have good driving records we have no problem asking for better prices.

I sat down earlier this week and went over our budget, adjusting figures and carefully going over our past six months history.  I found that we were in pretty good shape, but also saw areas that could use an improvement.  We'll be making some changes and increasing our savings over the second half of the year.

I love my homemade laundry detergent but when I noticed bras and panties turning gray, I wasn't pleased.  I followed advice from bygone days and used a cup of vinegar in the final rinse.  All that gray disappeared.

Ants have been bothersome to say the least.  We have been sitting with the animals as they eat their dry food each morning, and putting leftovers back into the container when they're finished.  It's cut down on the ants very well.

Chance was home alone Friday when he found ants in one of our main food storage cupboards.  He emptied the cabinet and sprayed well then left the foods for me to put away when I returned.  We put items that might be tempting in zippered bags and jars with screw on lids.  Now I know my investment is safe.

FYI: How to read country of origin on a barcode

I received this email earlier today from Chance.  It's making the rounds and likely some of you have already seen it. Given our current financial condition as a nation, we all ought to try and support America first.  One way we can do this is to buy American made products.  Since many items don't list the country where the product originated  we don't always know what country we're investing our money in.  Now we can tell at a glance, simply by reading the barcode.

00 - 09 … USA & CANADA
30 - 37 … FRANCE
40 - 44 … GERMANY
47 ... Taiwan
49 … JAPAN
50… UK
690-692 … China

Currently Marjorie Morningstar By Herman Wouk see related

Thankful Thursday

This week I am grateful for:

Kay feeling somewhat better.

Great gas mileage.

Good food without making a trip to the grocery.

Maddie and Trudy and Misu, all wanting their own bit of love.

A good book to lose myself in.

A stack of magazines to read, all free to me.

Rain.

Chocolate.

A clean home.

A good night's sleep.

Rest.

Peace of Mind.

Air Conditioning.

Tried and True Thursday

Fried Green Tomatoes

Growing up in the South and in a gardening family, we had plenty of vegetables to eat fresh all summer long.  Often lunches were vegetable plates only, no meat.  And it wasn't uncommon to have cucumber sandwiches, tomato sandwiches or vegetable garden sandwiches (whatever was fresh and ripe and ready to eat along with a lettuce leaf between two slices of white bread!).

Occasionally we'd have green tomatoes on the vine come end of season and at that time Mama and Granny and Big Mama went into a frenzy of making up huge batches of green tomato relish.  Boy was that stuff good, especially on a mess of black eyed peas mid-winter.  (A mess is a potful)  During the relish making it was inevitable that we'd want lunch.  And with all those green tomatoes on the counter it seemed only fitting that we'd eat them for lunch. 

In later years, we often didn't wait for relish days to make fried green tomatoes.  When tomatoes were plentiful and in various stages of ripeness they were brought indoors and put on the windowsill.  Just let Mama think for one minute she didn't have a green vegetable to go on the table.  Why right there was a green tomato on the windowsill.  She'd take two, slice them and fry them right up.

I do things a bit differently.  Number One, I don't garden.  I know it's a darned shame, but Chance was city born and bred and truly did believe for many years that gardens were for those who couldn't get to the grocery store!  He's changing his thinking though and perhaps next year, he says, we shall plant a small garden of our own.  Being limited to the grocery store, meant I didn't have access to green tomatoes for a long time, unless someone with a garden blessed us. 

Then Fannie Flagg wrote a book, which was made into a movie, both titled Fried Green Tomatoes.  Suddenly, everybody wanted to try those fried green tomatoes.  Nowadays many  groceries carry green tomatoes as well as ripe ones, so I can buy them.  And do you know they charge more for green tomatoes?  Well they are worth it.

Number Two, I have perfected my own method of making Fried Green Tomatoes.  Mama's method was straightforward, dip the sliced tomato in flour, drop in a skillet of hot oil, brown, flip and brown and eat.  They are perfectly edible prepared this way.  A neighborn of ours used to dip them in corn meal, which was pretty darned good, too. 

Several years ago a friend from up North happened to drop by as I started to prepare supper, which happened to have Fried Green Tomatoes in the menu.  He was fascinated by the whole concept of eating a green tomato.  My kitchen was very small and as I took up the tomatoes from the pan, I put them on a plate on the counter behind me.  I urged him to "Try one..."  Well I should have known better!  The man not only tried one, he tried every single tomato slice that came out of the pan.  Imagine my surprise when I turned to pick up what was supposed to be a platter full of tomato slices and found just three lonely little slices on the plate!  Needless to say, he was a convert to eating green tomatoes!

Here's my way of making them:

Fried Green Tomatoes

2 or 3 large green tomatoes (some red streaks are okay but all green are even better)

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup corn meal

1/2 cup flour

Oil

Slice tomatoes thin (I know in the movie they sliced them thick, but honestly no one I know ever cut them that thick to fry.  Thin is best.  The tomatoes will crisp up a little).  Pour buttermilk over tomato slices.

Mix the dry ingredients in a pie plate.  Heat oil in skillet (you don't need to deep fry, just cover the bottom of the frying pan with oil.  You'll be adding more as you go).

Take a tomato slice that is fairly wet with buttermilk, dredge in dry mixture, drop into hot pan and repeat until pan is filled but not overfull.  They will fry fairly quickly and about the time you drop in the last that will fit in the pan you'll be turning the first one over.  By the time all the slices in the pan are turned over, it's time to take up the first one.  The slices are best put on a rack over paper towels to cool slightly, rather than right on a plate, if you want them to remain crispy.  Otherwise, as you layer them on a plate they will get soft, but believe me they are still wonderful.  Repeat process until all slices are cooked.