Sunday, August 20, 2017

Frugal Happenings 8/20

Good morning my friends.  Hope you are all safe and well.
I am anxiously waiting for tomorrow to be done - I am so over hearing about this eclipse thing!  I know it is a rare occurance, but I prefer it was even rarer!!!!  LOL
I just know we are going to hear horror stories of people damaging their sight despite ALL the many warnings!

Summer came back to our area this past week with hot temperatures.  We did get rain on Thursday (nice gentle rain) which was desperately needed.  This coming week is supposed to cool off again I believe!
The hummingbirds have been so active and just a delight to watch.

My frugal week:
  • I have been diligently preserving my garden produce - I love harvesting from the yard!!!!!
  • Chopped and froze a dozen bell peppers
  • Stuffed and froze many servings of jalapeno poppers
  • Canned 28 jars of tomato products - pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and plain tomatoes
  • Dehydrated tomato skins, basil, thyme, and rosemary
  • Finished filing a second jar with ground tomato and a 2nd jar with basil
  • Made a blend of tomato skins, basil, thyme, dried garlic, dried onion, and broccoli leaves.  Made a full pint jar.  My own homemade veggie bouillon!
  • Used the scalding canning water along the drive and killed weeds
  • Noticed we have lots of baby cabbage and 2nd round broccoli coming on in the garden.  The peppers are loaded with blooms and baby peppers!
  • Picked round 1 of grapes.  De-stemmed and froze enough for a batch of jelly when I am ready to make.  Lots more hanging out there!  YAY
  • Line dried laundry
  • Made a dozen hard boiled eggs
  • Dr. Housecall came this week for G.  Good check-up.
  • Used rain water for my potted garden plants - cucumbers are really reviving!
  • Went to the Grand Opening of Safeway in the old building of grocery that recently closed (glad they re-used that building)
  • At the stands outside store I received 3 - 16 oz. bottles of Prairie Farms chocolate milk FREE, a cheddar brat sandwich and a bottle of water FREE
  • Got 8 packages of Colby cheese (8 oz. each) for 1.49 a package!  8 was all they had on the shelf.  2.98 a pound for cheese is a bargain every day here!
  • I stopped because ad said they had bananas for .39/pd.  YUM.  I can never find for less than .59.lb.
  • I got a ginormous local cantaloupe for 2.99.  I had never seen one that large and took a chance hoping it would be good.  It is wonderful!
This cantaloupe weighed in at 11 1/2 lbs.!!!!!!!!!!!  Mmmmmmmm good.

I love that we are gaining so much harvest and food for our pantry from the yard.  What a wonderful blessing.  Are you adding to your pantry via your garden?  Are you doing any canning?
I have spent an active week canning and dehydrating.  More to do this coming week!  I LOVE IT!

Meals this week:
Had a leftover day to clean out frig
Skillet goulash (new recipe)
Leftover goulash, steak burgers and sliced tomatoes
Dinner from the 50's diner (I was tired from canning)
Spaghetti with meat sauce, coleslaw and sliced tomatoes
Roast beef sandwiches and salad
Taco casserole
Quick snacks - cheese and crackers, pickles, yogurt, and apples

WHAT did you do FRUGAL this week?  Canning, gardening, crafting, special buys???????
I look forward to hearing from you.

THANK YOU ALL for such interesting posts this past week.  I enjoyed everyone's stories and contributions.  I think it was fun for all.

I pray you each have a safe, healthy and frugal week.  May the Lord bless you and keep you in His loving protective arms.

16 comments:

  1. The eclipse makes me nervous too. I hope that my family is careful. I got the tomatoes all made into juice and frozen. Didn't have time to can it with extra family here. I have not canned anything so far this year but we hope to do our lumpy applesauce in the fall! Nancy

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    1. Glad you got juice made and frozen. you will sure love it this winter.
      I make chunky applesauce too.
      ENJOY

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  2. I canned green beans, carrots and two pint jars of tomatoes. I don't have a garden. I signed up for a CSA and bought Sale items. (The carrots were organic, two lbs. for 1.79. Can't be beat!) I also got cheese at our local IGA. Ours was 3/4.98 or 3/4.78? A great price either way. I bought six for the freezer. I'm still looking for butter. It's on sale this week for 3.49 lb! We may have to start eating dry bread at this rate! I suppose I could try to make my own. That must be cheaper, don't you think?
    Thanks for another thought provoking post! Debbie

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    1. Hi Debbie, glad to have you here.
      Good going on doing the canning from the CSA! That is great.
      Sounds like you got a great cheese deal as well.
      Do you have Aldi around? They usually have good butter sales - but usually around the holidays.

      Home made butter is easy - and depending on the price of cream - could be cheaper. You might give it a try. You can shake, shake, shake it or just use a mixer. Either way YUM!
      Have a good evening, and glad you came by for a visit!

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  3. I too am ready for news of the eclipse to be over. We've had them before. My brother and I used my Dad's welder mask to look at one back around 1980. LOL

    Glad you got some much needed rain. We too enjoy our hummingbirds at the feeders.

    You've been busy canning your garden produce. Good for you, that's great. I love to can too.

    How neat that you got so many freebies from the opening of Safeway. When our Publix opened here my daughter and I won some steaks. It was so neat. I love it when stores do that.

    Great deal on the colby cheese! We bought grapes for 79 cents a pound at Aldi, that was our good deal of the week. I hope you have another great week, Cheryl. :)

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    1. Belinda - it's just so much hoopla! LOL. Kind of like the first snow of the season!

      That is the first grand opening I have been to in years - I thought that was kind of neat.
      Steaks would have been a great win!
      Great price on grapes.

      Stay frugal my friend.
      Have a good one.

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  4. We've been hearing about the eclipse all the way over here on the other side of the world. Hope that it all goes well.
    Cheryl you are obviously not allergic to hard work. I can just see your pantry bulging at the seams with delicious homegrown and home canned goodness. I have a question for you. When you talk about canning are you using a pressure canner or are you just water bath preserving? Over here in Aus the water bath preserving is referred to as 'bottling'.
    This week I made up and water bathed 8 jars of sweet chilli jam. It must be good as one jar has already been used up. I made two jars of microwave lemon butter. Several sourdough loaves have been baked.
    Yes it is winter here but we live in the sub tropics so winter, in our area, is our best growing season, Summer is often just too hot to dry and grow much. We are eating tomatoes, silverbeet(Chard), lettuce, cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, celery, carrots, sweet potato, lemons and all our herbs, straight from the garden. The neighbours gave us some of their oranges and beans. This week we have only purchased potatoes, onions and bananas.
    This week we will need to purchase a few items as we are starting to run low.
    Enjoy your garden and its bounty.

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    1. Jane, no I am not afraid of work. Seems like I keep busy - but I do have may rest days!

      I have been water bathing the tomato products. I have a pressure canner, but have never used it. I usually only make things that can be done in WB.

      It is still hard to imagine for me, that it is winter some where while we are in summer. I guess I think of our winter which can be dreadful and cold.
      Sounds like a great week of bounty for you!!!! So many yummy things from your garden. Wonderful! Nice neighbors.
      It is great that we can just walk out our doors and get food!
      Have a fantastic week!

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  5. I shopped Aldi's for veggies and fruit. Not only are their prices better, but I can find more local "made in USA" veggies there than I can at the bigger chains. Sometimes the big chains have great prices on fruit, but when I see where it's traveled from, I usually leave it. Anyone else feel this way?

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    1. Good for you for buying as much local as possible. I do without sometimes, but I just can't justify my fruit or veggie coming from another country. How can we get them so cheaply, when they have all that shipping and travel? Makes you wonder what we aren't being told!!!
      I try to by local, and also love Mom & Pop shops - I feel like I am helping someone in my community.

      Got to love those Aldi prices! Si my=uch organic there now as well.

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  6. HI Cheryl, from past pictures you posted I think you have a 'Garden of Eating' there ! My frugal this week was to make a trip to camp with TGMan and the trailer. We brought home a cord of wood with another he will get on Tuesday while I am at work. When we got home a quick thunderstorm had brought down five tree limbs, so we have good maple to burn now too...and we got lots of exercise this weekend! Wet wood is heavy wood.

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    1. Hey girl don't over do it. But you are right, loading/unloading wood is good exercise. Oh my on wet wood.
      Sounds like you are really getting prepped for the winter. The way I look at it, it is ALL prep for our pantry in some form.
      Pantry doesn't have to mean just food.

      I do LOVE my little yard - I would love to expand to more food - but the older I get, the more work it is.
      Have a great one.

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  7. Great deals for the opening. I'm so glad they used that building too. So tired of them knocking down the old ones -the new ones are not built as well. Isn't picking out of your backyard great?
    I went to our local farmers market and found someone had zucchini for $2.00 each -organic she said. I didn't know I had a gold mine in my backyard! Have a wonderful day Cheryl!

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    1. Vickie - it is amazing how many dollars we have in our yards!!!
      I stopped one the other day and they had home canned stuff - oh my goodness they prices!

      Yes, I hate when they tea down old buildings and then put up another. We truly need to be mindful of our resources.
      Have a great day!

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  8. That Cantaloupe is huge and all that for $2.99 SCORE!!!! :) I also thought your idea of making your own veggie bullion was genius. I am curious though about how much of the broccoli leaves you put in because I worry that "I" might try it and put too much in and make it taste more like broccoli than anything else. Thank you again for all the knowledge you share here. I always come away learning something new.! Be blessed my friend!

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    1. Debbie it sure was a SCORE! It was so sweet.
      Not a lot on broccoli - I plan on putting up 'sort of' a recipe today.
      Glad you feel like you learn here.
      Have a blessed day.

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