Ring in the Savings - January 2014 Frugal Chatter thread

[jasperandchar]

Wow Nancy! That is a lot of meat for the freezer. I cooked a turkey yesterday so will make some freezer meals and turkey vegetable soup.
This year my ultimate goal is to get as much paid on that darn CC debt as I can. I`m hoping that now that I have extra income the bank will give me a line of credit which will be a much lower interest rate.

Great goal Crochetlady, debt is never fun but the extra you have coming in will come in handy towards that repayment, best of luck & happy new year to you and your family, all the best in 2014

[Frugalbigmama]

Yes and I was super happy as I paid 1/4 of what it should have costed. I joked with dh that maybe I should have gone back in again as perhaps they would have run out of the chickens and replaced with something else .

Please share what types of turkey meals you will be making to freeze as I really need some ideas as I will be cooking a turkey on Saturday and PLAN on making soup x 2 types (turkey rice & turkey veggie and chickpeas or mixed beans, whatever I have on stock) on Sunday this way dh won`t get tired eating the same soup over and over and I got 2 sets of 24 pieces each of the purex containers with lids....so easy to see!!!

I`ve never make turkey pot pie anyone have any suggestions or even recipe for the crust?

Also anyone have recipe for turkey cream sauce like terrazini

I will be watching the recipes for turkey stuff too. Have 3 in the freezer (54 cents a lbs after Thanksgiving) Will use one in the next few weeks for sure (want some freezer room) have 3 delissio pizzas in the snow outside! $1.88 after pm and coupons I couldn't resist even with all the free pizza from RCSS we still have.

[jasperandchar]

Happy New Year, everyone! Love the name of the thread!

Wowsers, I'm SO jealous of the chickens above; never had peameal bacon, though... oh, now that I've googled it, it's what we call back bacon here, but the edges aren't rolled in cornmeal! Others call it Canadian bacon.

I think I've only bought back bacon once - way too pricey here.

Happy New Year to you as well.

The pea meal bacon that I got looks almost like this, normally it's cooked thinly sliced and it so yummy but ya very expensive
never would have purchased it otherwise but since the price was right it was too good to pass up.

[SassyAshley]

Happy New Year Nancy

Our worlds are still swaying which is really sucking, stairs seem really bad which is horrible since I am doing laundry which means two flights. I am doing well but mom still seems to have her cold. Thanks for asking. We ventured out yesterday because we needed milk that was kind fun. Hoping to be better by the weekend to do a big shop.

Happy New Yea to you Ashely, what a ride 2013 was, hoping you & your mom a very wonderful 2014.

PS how are you feeling these days?

Gotta love boys, my step mom is constantly trying to find ways to get the boys to stop eating everything in sight especially when some have special dietary needs and they eat dishes and meals meant for those people.

good morning and a VERY Happy New year to everyone.
doing the same thing here, laundry and cleaning up corners.
I really hope I can get our monthly grocery budget under $500 a month here. OMG..
as well as implementing meal planning. I know dh does not eat dinners during the week, so its going to be just the kids and I. easy and cheap meals will work. as for weekends. there is SO much in the freezer to use up.
the only thing i really purchase fresh is milk, eggs, bread. anyone know where I can invest in a cow. LOL. my son goes through at least a 4L bag every day to two days.. i think i may implement a rule for him, if he wants a drink its a $.50.. bowl of cereal is $1. maybe this will prevent him from helping himself to 2-3 LARGE bowls of cereal anytime he wants it.
once dh and I get spare a weekend and get some rhubarb/strawberry jam made.. i'll have 3/4 of my freezer back.
maybe then stock up on bread too.
anyway. have a good day all.

Amazing meat deals Nancy.

Hi everyone,

Wishing each and everyone a prosperous & healthy New Year.

What a ride & journey 2013 was for most of us on the Frugal Chatter thead, with the ups & downs & unexpected expenses that arised but fortunately it was nice in my opinion to have the friends on here to bounce ideas, offer advice and kindness to put our minds to ease. AND The joyous births of the new babies like another SC member mentioned in Dec. thread.

May you achieve all the things you wish to accomplish or wish to learn in this 1st day of 2014.

___________

Yesterday I caught a ride with dh to a town where there was a NF & well I didn't get to use all the coupons I wanted because of lack of stock or items they just didn't stock I still did extremely well.

I got 8 packs of peal meal bacon (big slabs of meat not sliced) on for $3.00 a pack . I spoke with dh and said you know I should run back in and get a few more packs, he said go ahead, there were none left but they replaced with PC air chilled, grain fed chickens that were marked down from $10-12.00 for $2.00 & $3.00 so grabbed 11 and they also have the utitlity turkeys on for .75lbs which I was glad to see as I was not able to get any around Christmas time so I grabbed 4. So all in all I got a huge meat order (8 pea meal bacon, 11 whole fresh grain fed chickens, 4 turkeys) and stocked up on Lipton dry soups, sidekicks (for my lazy days) and a got free OIKOS, 1 using an FPC and the other 2 using $2.00 as they were marked down to $1.00 each x 2 = FREE.

So the freezer is well stocked coming into 2014 now I only need a good sale on ground beef.

Hope everyone has a great start to the new year, enjoy your day

[lizzie bargain]

Mrs S-I don't know your son's age but check the number of dairy servings he should have for his age according to the Canada Food Guide and try to limit milk/dairy servings to this amount per day. He can always drink water if he is thirsty and if he is having a growth spurt there are likely less expensive, but still nutritious foods he can fill up on like bread, pasta etc. Buy a big, cheap bag of oatmeal and tell him to help himself. Maybe you can get some marked down bread or bake some( or he can) to cut bread costs too. Review the food guide with him and the costs and like you say charging him from his own earnings for excessive milk consumption might just get his attention! Good luck!

good morning and a VERY Happy New year to everyone.
doing the same thing here, laundry and cleaning up corners.
I really hope I can get our monthly grocery budget under $500 a month here. OMG..
as well as implementing meal planning. I know dh does not eat dinners during the week, so its going to be just the kids and I. easy and cheap meals will work. as for weekends. there is SO much in the freezer to use up.
the only thing i really purchase fresh is milk, eggs, bread. anyone know where I can invest in a cow. LOL. my son goes through at least a 4L bag every day to two days.. i think i may implement a rule for him, if he wants a drink its a $.50.. bowl of cereal is $1. maybe this will prevent him from helping himself to 2-3 LARGE bowls of cereal anytime he wants it.
once dh and I get spare a weekend and get some rhubarb/strawberry jam made.. i'll have 3/4 of my freezer back.
maybe then stock up on bread too.
anyway. have a good day all.

[lizzie bargain]

Well today is a pretty lazy day-so far we have taken down the tree, washed one load of clothes and shoveled the snow. Out to a friends for dinner tonight and leftover Chinese food for lunch so that takes care of the meals. The kids had homemade waffles for breakfast and that waffle maker we bought in August has been well used. We have gradually changed the white flour to 50% whole wheat to make them more nutritious. They especially love them with Nutella!

[lizzie bargain]

Nancy-it sounds like you need to keep going back to that No Frills. I often get lean ground beef there marked down to $1.00 per lb and if you can spot a good deal then your meat stock will be complete. Great shopping!

[Natalka]

When our son was at home, he was a HUGE milk drinker, always was, right from when he was a kid.
Now he's on his own, he still is - and has milk here when he comes over.

I just let it be - he still drank a lot of water, and having milk was better than having pop!
He's also a huge cheese lover - and what's funny is now that he's feeding himself, he's buying what I'd call 'fancy' cheeses - the kind that I would only buy once in a while because they were expensive, but he loves havarti, smoked gouda, etc.

Mind you, now that I think about it it isn't that bad, because he'll make a grilled cheese sandwich with that cheese, in place of meat... so, not really awful!

I love milk and cheese too, but have to limit it because I'm lactose intolerant, and those darned Lactaid pills are pricey - so I have to spread out any meals with dairy.
And, if I accidentally have too much dairy for the pills to counteract, that's no fun.... (like the new poutine I tried to McDonald's - it was good, but too much cheese - I'll have to go back to having BK poutine when I get the urge!)

[MrsSunshine]

I wouldn't mind him drinking the milk so much if he left a little for his Dad to have his cereal before he goes to work. ya know. he thinks its a never ending supply.

[Granger]

Happy New Year friends!

Rang in the New Year watching Netflix with DH. It was perfect.

I accidentally left the garage open last night and we had an opportunist burglary…most items we won't miss too much (one tool of my DH's we will have to replace). Not enough to even consider insurance. It could have been much worse, so I am grateful. I hope 2014 brings our "robber" face to face with karma.

I look at the world and people through rose-coloured glasses. I would not even consider going into someone's garage at night if it were left open. I would not even, until now, consider knocking on the door to let them know.

[MrsSunshine]

oh Granger thats horrible.. hope Karma kicks their butt.
for all that person knew.. someone could have fallen inside their home and be hurt or worse as they went to close door...instead they thought.. heh free stuff..

[coupon girl]

happy new year all-just cleaned my bathroom floor on my knees-wow sometimes I can still do that -even thou I have arthritis in my knees-just watched "guilt trip" on neflix -gee I love this Netflix-am dong laundry while its cheaper today-ohh and ordered some coupons from websaver and save.ca to built up my stock

[SassyAshley]

That is horrible.

It sucks because you want to trust people but one bad person can ruin it for everyone and it is shocking what people will take.

Happy New Year friends!

Rang in the New Year watching Netflix with DH. It was perfect.

I accidentally left the garage open last night and we had an opportunist burglary…most items we won't miss too much (one tool of my DH's we will have to replace). Not enough to even consider insurance. It could have been much worse, so I am grateful. I hope 2014 brings our "robber" face to face with karma.

I look at the world and people through rose-coloured glasses. I would not even consider going into someone's garage at night if it were left open. I would not even, until now, consider knocking on the door to let them know.

[Insane]

I wouldn't mind him drinking the milk so much if he left a little for his Dad to have his cereal before he goes to work. ya know. he thinks its a never ending supply.

Mine too!! Apparently dairy products just magically appear in the fridge. I can spend $75+ per week on dairy between milk, cream, cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, ect....

[jasperandchar]

I wouldn't mind him drinking the milk so much if he left a little for his Dad to have his cereal before he goes to work. ya know. he thinks its a never ending supply.

kids...