July 2022 Frugal Chatter: All about fresh products and gardening!!!

[coupon girl]

cath-sorry about your nightmare ,listening to music helps.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Stayed up a little too late last night. I spent about an hour and a half or so getting some work done, the stuff I was supposed to get done first thing Friday morning, luckily the branch that needed what I was working was also down. Only 2 of our branches were completely down. Honestly, I should have headed in, the branch I work in 2 to 3 days a week help was fully up and working but I did not expect the outage to be ALL day.

Watched the movie What Lies Beneath. I thought about this movie a few weeks ago and looked on all the streaming sites and no one had it. Turns out we have the DVD. Also found a few other movies I would not mind watching, movies I forgot about.

Today I need to get some meal and ingredient prep done. I am just in such a funk right now, I am so worn down and done and find everything so overwhelming that I am finding it hard to care, if that makes sense. I know I need to get these things done but I also need to get 500 other things done and I feel like I am just kind of shutting down.

But for the past 2 weeks I have been trying to get our meals back on track, dinners have kind of sucked, even last night we had toast. I think the first step is a meal plan and a plan for Breakfast and lunches, no good dinners with no leftovers has made lunches a little hard especially on work days. I will go from there.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

[Ciel21]

Interac seems to have had a bit of a day on Saturday as I checked Downdetector and issues seemed almost resolved by 9pm. Think today is the day to test the ATM/Interac system or try for cash from my cheque. Just checked two digital flyers to make sure I'm not missing a deal that relates to an item on my list! $2.99 Pure Leaf iced tea again at Fortinos-have to see if there's the less sugar one, as Sobey's has it for $4.49.
@HermanH Any chance you are willing to buy from Wellwise or someone on kijiji (or better yet get one from a friend who no longer uses theirs) a Cubii unit? Wellwise has this offer for its compact version and it comes with lots of PC Opt pts? https://shop.wellwise.ca/products/cu...ted-elliptical
My mother and an 80+yr old have both used the Cubii while watching tv to build up their leg strength. Your Mom could try it too. Bonus points if you have an Internet connection to a smart TV with Youtube-Mom can watch Johnny strides walk all around Toronto while she's using the Cubii.


Today's Nikola Tesla Day. If you are visiting Niagara Falls this afternoon, there are interactive workshops for the kids from 1-5pm, 5pm ceremony at the Tesla statue (opposite the Cdn Falls) and 7pm program about the Currents exhibit and 10pm fireworks.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...41885849191829 Event flyer shown in this post.

https://www.niagaraparks.com/events/...currence=10711

[Ciel21]

@cath007 Out of curiousity, were the two people in your dream ones you remember seeing or hearing from in the years after your brother passed away? Our brains are trying to clear things out during our rest periods but it's possible you might get something to click for you in relation to your brother or his social group.
You coped well after waking. Hugs.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning!

Up out and early this morning. Grabbed a coffee at the local coffee place beside the farmer's market. Grabbed a nice bunch of fresh Kale.
Home now and food prepping. I have been eating like crap and I am feeling it. Have BLSL chicken breast thawing. I am boiling eggs now.
Washing the Kale then making up salads for the next 3 days.
Cleaning out the fridge.
We have veggies to use up so will make a stir-fry for dinner.
I need to go buy some fresh fruit and get my steps in today

Enjoy the sunshine!

[lilo0003]

Younger son was up watching the formula one race when I got up so I made him waffles. Older son was home late last night so I left him to sleep and DH is out for a walk with friends so after waffles I brought my coffee and breakfast to the deck. I am going to the lake to paddle but waiting until the laundry is done so I can get it on the line. Dinner will be roast beef done on the bbq. I am trying to keep the ac off a bit longer.

[Angela273]

@Angela273: Great deals like always.You definetely know how to shop for quality things at cheap prices hahah!!!
Do you just see and buy what you need or you have a list and search for deals for those???

I do a bit of both. I have shopping lists in my phone, organized by type of store. The cutting board and measuring cups/spoons were not on my list but I don’t remember seeing it in the rental house when I toured it. Some things have been on my list for a long time, such as a popcorn maker. Dh was very disappointed in the brand new ones at Walmart. Our current popcorn maker is old and we purchased if second hand.

[HermanH]

@HermanH Any chance you are willing to buy from Wellwise or someone on kijiji (or better yet get one from a friend who no longer uses theirs) a Cubii unit? Wellwise has this offer for its compact version and it comes with lots of PC Opt pts? https://shop.wellwise.ca/products/cu...ted-elliptical
My mother and an 80+yr old have both used the Cubii while watching tv to build up their leg strength. Your Mom could try it too. Bonus points if you have an Internet connection to a smart TV with Youtube-Mom can watch Johnny strides walk all around Toronto while she's using the Cubii.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm just not a believer in the efficacy of the device. Of course, if you hook the unit up to a generator to power the TV and then force the user to pedal fast/hard enough in order to keep the TV on, then it might give a sufficient work-out. I know that some movement is always better than no movement at all. YMMV.

[Ciel21]

It's on the hot side of things today with a slight cool breeze! Made it to the bottle drive site before 11am and there was a start to a sizeable number of cans with some small cases of beer empties. I actually found a beer can on my way to the site, so I was glad my contribution was in a bag! On my way from the site and on to the retail area, I spotted a dime!

By the time I got to the bank, I could have used a drink. No problems depositing my HST cheque and withdrawing most of it in cash. Fortinos only had two flavours of Pure Leaf iced tea left and I bought the lemon/hibiscus (so good, I am reviving with it for the past 30min) flavour. Lucky me finding plain Epsom salts 2kg for $4.99 still in stock-this item sells out the fastest of all the varieties!

Shoppers had a few customers-seems no one is running down their stock of Lindt Excellence bars in buying Carlton Cards. I saw the Milk chocolate bar and I'll return for it mid-week when I have more $ to pursue the deal. Got 2 bus fares loaded onto my bus card, a personal care item and box of Perrier Slim Cans. The plexiglass/metal setup at cash has been removed in the past week-it took me a moment to realize something was different.

Enjoyed a can of Perrier on my walk home or I would have lived on a bench for a good half hour! Managed to unload everything, and find some leftovers for "brunch," with a salad intended for later consumption.

OLG Pick 3 fans-the digital Fortinos flyer shows a 1000 PC Optimum PTs offer for every $10 spent on PICK lottery tickets this week. I assume the same offer is in the Loblaws and RCSS flyers? The deal was not in the print flyer.

[Frugalbigmama]

Went out for my fruit and RCSS had Ontario strawberries on for $1.49! (and I had a personal PC pt offer for strawberries I didn't realize I had!) Also grabbed a watermelon for $3.44 and bananas.
I made a smoothie for lunch and took it with me while I shopped. So thankful for my frozen fruit deal we are still enjoying
(If I didn't have so much left I would have bought a flat of strawberries for the freezer!)

I am on a Mexican/taco kick. Bought limes and a bunch of other good things. I am cooking up black beans now that I will season for tacos. I may have to eat this for dinner instead and save the Chicken stir fry for tomorrow (all the veggies are chopped and in a container in the fridge ready for the pan!)

one load of laundry hung to dry and another in the washer. That load will go in the dryer and then I am done

[SassyAshley]

Got most of the things done today, but still a few things I will need to tackle during the week.

Our Waffle Iron broke a month or so ago and I have not replaced it yet but I bought one of those mini waffle makers back at Christmas time. I started thinking about it and thought these would be the perfect size for meal prep. The waffles out of our old waffles iron did not fit in our toaster so to heat them up we had to use the oven. These are about or maybe a little smaller than a eggo and can go in the toaster, so I made a batch and got somewhere between 20 to 25 waffles. For now they are in the fridge and what we do not eat over the next few days I will freeze and they can go right from freezer to toaster.

Well making the waffles because it took awhile to cook them up I start on my ingredient prep:
I had a cucumber that needed to be used to I decided to make a Balsamic Marinated Salad with Cucumbers, a yellow pepper I found that needed to be used and some bocconcini.

Next I cut up some carrots, cucumbers & peppers do be added to salad or wraps this week.

I cooked a bag of chicken strips, just a chicken breast cut into strips, seasoned it with Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and Smoked Paprika, these can be added to salad or wraps.

I tried to make Waffle Hash Browns, did not work so just cooked them up in a pan and Mom had them for Breakfast.

We had some lemons that were going so I juiced them, I will use what I need and freeze the rest.

Cleaned out the upstairs freezer, we want to make it so we can store some meat upstairs so if Mom is having a bad day she can still pull something out for dinner without going downstairs. Also learned we have A LOT of chicken carcuses, We found 5 upstairs and 2 more downstairs so we will need to make some homemade Chicken Broth.

Well I was putting stuff from the upstairs freezer downstairs, I pulled out a Pork Roast. Going to make a Sesame Soy Pork Roast in the Slow Cooker for dinner tomorrow. I had planned to make rice today but did not, will cook up in the Instant Pot tomorrow.

Tomorrow I also need to make a new dressing to try, I found a recipe for a Lemon Poppy Seed I want to try.

I am happy with what I got done. It also felt good to get it done, lately my ambition is none existent and it felt normal again.

I spent about an hour working, still trying to catch up from No Internet on Friday. Everything seems to now be back and fully functional, this morning we were still having some TV issues but they seem to have resolved themselves around noon.

Still have some cleaning to get done but will work on that as the week goes on.

[cath007]

@cath007 Out of curiousity, were the two people in your dream ones you remember seeing or hearing from in the years after your brother passed away? Our brains are trying to clear things out during our rest periods but it's possible you might get something to click for you in relation to your brother or his social group.
You coped well after waking. Hugs.

@Ciel21 : It was totally a random dream.I dream of some period of my life when I was a teenager while living with my brother and mother at our famillial house.
thanks for the hugs,understanding and comment Really appreciate it @coupongirl : thank you ,you too.

[cath007]

@coupongirl : have a safe and happy trip!!! @SassyAshley : wow sorry for all the issues with rogers,that sucks...

[Ciel21]

Lemons-I have two rants about them. 1) Sometimes lemons spoil within a couple of days even in a cool environment (kitchen, not fridge-though some lemons are spoiling in the crisper); 2) The lemons from South Africa with thick skins yield very little juice. The thick skin however makes zesting somewhat easer. Where are the lemons from other countries?

Given the humidity of late: some fruits literally compost on the countertop (reduced price apricots have not held up well!). I had to toss as well a very large tomato that turned a weird brown red-it was 3/4 soggy.

Crispers are where produce might languish without every other day checks. I'm learning but that produce is mostly not mine!

Forgot to point out today's reduced price rack finds (two racks): about 2/3 bananas, some trays of Granny Smith apples or pears *not mixed*, one package of artichokes and some tiny veg or fruits. Considering it was 11:30 am when I was in the store, there was plenty of stock on the racks. Sometimes the racks can be empty by then! I chose one tray of the apples and one of the pears-1/3 of the fruit is on the counter and the rest is in the fridge. I may make some applesauce in the early morning to ensure I don't lose fruit.

After doing a couple of errands in the morning (by bus), I will tackle some clutter and get things moved into the recycling. Then figure out how to keep cool with the heat. 31C feeling like 35C-I'll take a water bottle with me.

[HermanH]

Crispers are where produce might languish without every other day checks. I'm learning but that produce is mostly not mine!

In my experience, crispers are where my vegetables go to die. I find that they go bad/limp much faster there, than on the shelf just above them. I only put gourds in the crisper level.

I also keep veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots in paper bags. It seems to help reduce moisture/condensation on them and extends their longevity. Unfortunately, I can't see them and thus often forget to check. YMMV