August 2015 Frugal Chatter thread

[saundyl]

Good Morning All,
Looks like I missed a few questions Yes we have two freezers 1 chest and 1 stand up. I swear I inherited this frugal living/stockpiling. Growing up my Mom's family had a farm so we were used to putting everything down for the winter not to mention we did beef farming and 2 of the worlds biggest chest freezers to store whatever we did not sell when the cows became meat (ok that was odd to come up with a nice way to say that). Then on my Dad's side my Oma grew up during the war in Germany where even if you had the money you just could not get it. I cannot even remember how many fridges and freezers they had in their garage plus she had cold storage. Even before I got into couponing we were always stocked up on things. To be honest we probably freeze things most would never think of freezing, since there are only two of us and I do a lot of shopping at Costco when they have sales everything comes home and gets broken down. Right now I have meat, cheese, bread, fruits & veggies in the freezer (just what I can think of off the top of my head) and now I need more food saver bags and we will be adding flour and chocolate chips to the freezer (I got 5 x 1 kg bags of whole wheat flour for $0.99/bag and I think it was 20 bags of chocolate chips for $0.49/bag so we will freeze them to extend their lives, I measure how much fits in the jar we store them in and then freeze in those increments).

As for meat prices, I do not think we could ever go vegetarian, Mom always complains those type of meals are not filling. Plus even though I am not a huge meat eater I do enjoy a little here and there. Like others stretching out meat has become a must. Instead of having a protein, starch and veg I find making them all into one dish really helps use less meat as no one notices the lack of meat when it is all mixed together. Example last weekend I made Mom and a Chicken and Quinoa Fajita dish to take to work I only used one chicken breast cut into small pieces and mixed it in and Mom actually told me next time we could use less chicken and she is the big meat eat and this gave us dinner for both of us plus lunch for me. We rarely ever use a full pound of ground beef now everything is done with a half a pound and this is how we freeze it. Plus we add other things to bulk up the dishes, luckily both of us eat mushrooms so we are constantly add button mushrooms or portabellos to meals to bulk up the dish without the cost of adding more meat. So far we have been able to make it work.

Not odd to me I grew up on a farm too. We had a steer grandma bottlefed...that became supper. Speedy tasted mighty fine as burger.

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[saundyl]

That turkey story was funny( although probably not at the time!). One night a couple of months ago my DH was BBQing a whole flattenend chicken as my sis was over for dinner too. He had set aside the two wings to cook last as they cook so quickly and when he went back out there was only one left. Perhaps a hawk or another bird grabbed it-we have no idea but learned not to leave meat out there uncovered!

It's a good laugh now. 8 was pretty sad when it happened.

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[jasperandchar]

@saundyl speedy was a great burger (haha) @avoncallingu so happy for you and the progress on your water damages @walkonby enjoy the hd channels you're both worth $2.50 each a month (smile

[jasperandchar]

We picked up ds1 at the re-use it centre where he has been volunteering on Saturdays to get his 40 hrs of volunteering to graduate and we got 2 antique dressers, the smaller 1 will go to the cottage for ds2 it so much nicer than the 1 he currently has AND the other I will refinish over the winter AND will replace my current antique dresser which I will post for sale. I have been wanting a new dresser but the funds just aren't available and well the price was right. Got a few pairs of shorts for Jaden it all helps out so much. Really want to drop off uniform pants to be hemmed, I could do myself however don't want to chance it for $12 also need to bring ds2 to get some new tops & pants as they never have his size at the re-use it centre (he's between kids large and men's small are too big). Supper tonight is pork chops as the kiddos really like them no worries as I just stocked up on the pork loin so cheap supper under $5...yippee

[Frugalbigmama]

I just picked up 4 pork loin roasts too- all about $5 each. Double wrapped them for the freezer. Hope to go back and get more and then cut a bunch into chops and into the freezer they will go. Need good crockpot stuff for the winter with hockey etc. Pulled homemade burger patties from the freezer to go with the buns I just picked up ($1.97 LESS $1 coupon) Both boys just ate leftovers when I was heading to grocery store at 4 so they aren't too hungry but it will be wrapped in the fridge for them when they are

[walkonby]

finally used a loaded offer from SDM!! Got 2 x eggs, a loaf of white death ( DD's Wonder bread...ha ha ) and a bag of milk and earned 3,000 points for the $10.00 spend. I am not a regular collector by any means so my balance has been stuck somewhere near 4,000 points for so long, but now I am almost at the first level to redeem! ( 8,000 )

[YOU AND ME]

Wow crochetlady that's a lot of wool lol

@avon Happy to hear your problems are almost over.
@saundyl I`ve heard of foxes in the hen house but never one that steals turkeys.

On Monday the Spinrite tent sale starts. Will check it out but not the first day. It`s sheer madness then. Lineups are so long they only let a certain number of people in at a time. In years gone by this is what the trunk of my car used to look like.


Last year I didn`t find anything I needed so my CC thanked me. lol

[YOU AND ME]

Finally got all the wallpaper off too tried to wash the walls that's will be a job for tomorrow and then on Monday some plastering.I'm now having a glass of wine i think i deserve it as it took me 4 hrs.


Saundyl i grew up on a farm also we had 50,000 chickens at any given time we had a hard time keeping the foxes out of the chicken coup ,many times i was out there with the pellet gun was a losing battle.

[Granger]

Have mastitis. I can see where the plugged/infected duct is. Too much milk and a sleepy baby! I will take it over not enough milk and a colicky one! Felt horrible yesterday...better today (on antibiotics now for 24h). Had newborn photos done and was able to keep appointment.

[YOU AND ME]

Granger i totally agree i had that with my oldest she slept through the night at 2 wks and i had so much milk

[jasperandchar]

@YOU AND ME have a glass for me, definitely well deserved @Granger I agree too much milk is better than not enough, hope you find some relief soon perhaps hot compresses will help as well (just a thought) @walkonby congrats on a great sdm personal offer and the points, I just started really collections sdm points myself in January and I think it's the best rewards system vs. pc point offers (just my opinion) I will admit some of their prices are more expensive but sometimes they have awesome prices/deals that line up with offers too.

[thriftygranny]

Caught up on everyone's post from the last week.

Hope you feel better soon Granger, I know the pain well and it is a big ouch. I hope your family is all well and settling in.

Angela, twins and worrying about harvesting peas..... you are obviously settling in to your new family situation with ease. Don't tire yourself out, rest when you can.

Avon, I grew up on the St. Clair river with a perpetually wet basement and it is no fun at all, I am hoping this is the last fix for you.

Walks, those darn Blue jays!! I have been glued to the TV all summer. I played ball til I was 47 and love the game, have always watched them but boy has it been great summer to watch baseball. I watched the whole game this morning with my husband and wasted half of my Saturday but I'm ok with that!!

A little late for the freezer question but I like my chest freezers, I use an inventory list taped to the large one and add and cross off things as I add and use them. I have never had an upright but I am 5'6" and getting to the bottom isn't an issue. I am with Natalka on the Kenmore brand, I really like them and they are easier on the power bill over an upright.

I had a nice week at the cabin, we taught our granddaughter how to fish and she loves it, but I think she loves going fast in the boat more!! Went to mini golf and go-karting with her, I guess I can cross go-karting off my bucket list, have never done it before and probably won't again but glad I did it!!
Did a bit of back to school shopping with her and everything is labelled and ready to go for September, thought I would give her mom a break.
Whole pork loins were on sale for 1.35 a pound last week at No Frills here last week so I did a big stock up and cut some in to smaller portions and chops, did some chops on the BBQ and they are really good.
Bottom round rotisserie roasts are on a 3 day sale at our Coop for 3.99 a pound so I picked up my limit of two, I asked the butcher to cut me two as big as possible so I have two 5 pounders in the freezer. Not a great cut but Coop always has really good beef and the price is right, I will make them into beef dips or a braise on a nice fall day.I catered a lunch at the golf course before my week off and had quite a few packaged vegetable form Costco left over so we are still working on them, nice to get free veggies so this week will be just a milk run on Wednesday...I hope. Will make some hummus tomorrow as I have lots of chickpeas in the pantry and we have a whole salmon to use up in the freezer so that is on the menu for Monday and Tuesday. After last week of fun and freezer stocking I need a cheap week!!!

[cdngal75]

Nice!! I bought a new vehicle too and the main reason was for safety and room. I have a Rep hockey player too so we travel far and in the snow! I also went from a 4 dr car to a SUV so I'm loving the extra room! But I'm a Honda girl lol

I'm a Honda girl too. Having a husband that has worked there for the last 26 years probably makes me biased though .

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning All,
Slow start to today, have been awake since 5:30 but refused to get up at 5:30 on my day off. Mom said she wanted to go out and do some running around today but just do not think I am up for it. Today is my only day off this week and this week is going to be a bit of a killer, I am all over the place and have a feeling tensions will rise since I will constantly be in and out of the office all week.

There is so much that needs to get done today because Mom has decided to go away for a few days. My leadership coach is working on as he put it giving me a backbone at work but also trying to more speak my mind at home. So I told Mom she had to get help me get some things done before she left. She wants to complain about the house and tell me how it is making her insane but I feel like she keeps running away, every time she has a day off something comes up or she makes plans and I need help when it comes to this house, there is only so much I can get done alone and we are now going in circles which is getting neither of us anywhere. So I have told her she needs to help me for my sanity.

We will see what happens today once she gets up. For now I am going to enjoy a nice cup of tea and some time with my PVR. Have a great day everyone.

[lizzie bargain]

SA-It sounds like your coach is giving you very good support and advice to help you change some patterns at home and at work.