2025-05 May Frugal Thread

Good Morning Everyone,
It is prep day. Yes, maybe I am trying to hype myself up a little bit as I would love to just not today but that won't get prep done.

I did end up making Peanut Butter Blondies yesterday as I was craving something sweet for an after dinner snack, those are made.

I have a plan but I also need to be mindful of space in the fridge because it is super full, I am hoping once I start prepping I will make some room so I can prep cook for the week to come.

Yesterday as much as I wanted to do nothing and I know a deserve a day of nothing, I also know mentally I do not handle getting nothing done well. So, I decided to catch up on my budget and update some of lists and to-do stuff.

I knew I was under budget but there was one grocery shop I "forgot" about but still I have only spent about half my budget this month. I also came in under budget at Costco which is weird for me but I am loving the carry-over, but now I need to not go to costco this week, which I don't plan to do, although I do really want bocconcini.

Time to kick my butt into gear and get this done, the produce is already soaking and now I need to start the cooking.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

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Good sunny Sunday morning. It’s been amazing weather here. Yesterday was 25.5 degrees and thankfully a bit cooler today so it will make our ride later much better.

Today is kinda a frugal day. We are riding into town today and stopping by the bank to deposit a bunch of cash I have been sitting on. I’ve been meaning to deposit it but I’ve been too busy. Then the not so frugal part is that our favourite vegan food truck is downtown so we’re stopping by for a refuel :biggrin:.

Last week I had a good shop at NF. Spent $60 earned 15,000 pts. All good stuff like apples, broccoli,bananas, wraps, avocados, strawberries and pasta and spices. Not too shabby.

Have a great weekend everyone

Had a heart-stopping moment at Walmart, yesterday. I sat down on the bench at the door to change from my trousers to shorts and left my wallet on the bench. I already did this once or twice in the past and have taken precautions against losing my wallet by having one of those little chains and attaching it to my waistband. However, in order to remove my trousers and expose my running shorts beneath, I had to detach my wallet chain.

Luckily, I realized my stupidity after walking across the store and sprinted back to the bench, my heart pounding all the while. No harm done, this time. I need to be saved from my own idiocy.

Good Evening Everyone.
Pretty good day here, I got most of my prep done, two things did not get done so maybe tomorrow. I still need to make my peanut butter oat bars and a batch of rice for the fridge. I purposely did not make the rice because of fridge space.

I did make my Blueberry Muffins I have craving last week.

Cooked the Ground Beef, one package I just cooked and will portion for the freezer, love these for Slow Cooker or Instant Pot recipes but also lately I have been using them when I want Burger Bowls. The second package became Taco Meat also for the freezer.

Produce was washed, Strawberries and Zucchini have been chopped and are in the fridge. Mushrooms were also cleaned so just need to be chopped as needed. Still needed to do the grilled veggies, Mom said tomorrow.

Made a batch of spreadables as we were almost out.

I also made a batch of Pasta Sauce so I can make a Chicken Parm Bake later in the week, I also cooked extra pasta which is in the fridge ready as well.

Cleaned out the fridge, really did not have any food waste except for a little bit of ricotta left in the bottom of the tub. That is on me I meant to use it last weekend and didn't.

The package of Ground Beef I Price Matched at No Frills was smaller than the one I got from Food Basics, thinking I might go grab another one this week I have room in the budget so why not, especially since I am obsessed with Burger Bowls.

Built the new light for our living room, I bought it last week but it has been living in its box so I build it, took out the garbage, plus the old lamp when I took out the kitchen garbage. I do not know why, I am so bad at dealing with these things, I buy them but leave them like it a present to be opened and I want to savour it. Yes, I am weird, I know.

I do still need to build and put the grocery wagon I bought in my car, maybe tomorrow.

Food is prepped, kitchen is clean, need a few more dinner ideas so off to Pinterest I go.

The start of a new work week! Hurray said no one. Good part is the guys have their work meals pretty much organized.
( thanks to DH's burst of energy Sunday afternoon).
He roasted a decent sized chunk of pork tenderloin, did up spuds and steamed veggies. Filled 4 of their Anchor dishes with
portions of each item. Then into the small fridge they went.
Next he did up 2 more meals but swapped slices of roasted turkey breast ( from the Butterball " football " we had cooked )
in place of the pork. Made some boxed stuffing and slathered turkey gravy over most of the dishes.
They'll enjoy a different fruit to take this week thanks to a decent sale on peaches at NF.

This reminds me of the amount of prep work you did @SassyAshley. It can alleviate the level of indecision over what to take
in for a meal or what to eat once one gets home from work and the stress that can bring each day.

My only plan this week is to make up a taco/cream cheese 5 layer dip at some point. Not a huge one, just something to scratch that itch.
We did a half way decent frugal shop early Sunday hitting all 3 stores ( GT, NF and FB ) to get what we needed.
Also we both still be be on a Caesar salad kick. These stretches of " I could eat these everyday ! " come and go.
Atm, we're both still reaching for them...lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SassyAshley

Good Evening Everyone.
Pretty good day here, I got most of my prep done, two things did not get done so maybe tomorrow. I still need to make my peanut butter oat bars and a batch of rice for the fridge. I purposely did not make the rice because of fridge space.

I did make my Blueberry Muffins I have craving last week.

Cooked the Ground Beef, one package I just cooked and will portion for the freezer, love these for Slow Cooker or Instant Pot recipes but also lately I have been using them when I want Burger Bowls. The second package became Taco Meat also for the freezer.

Produce was washed, Strawberries and Zucchini have been chopped and are in the fridge. Mushrooms were also cleaned so just need to be chopped as needed. Still needed to do the grilled veggies, Mom said tomorrow.

Made a batch of spreadables as we were almost out.

I also made a batch of Pasta Sauce so I can make a Chicken Parm Bake later in the week, I also cooked extra pasta which is in the fridge ready as well.

Cleaned out the fridge, really did not have any food waste except for a little bit of ricotta left in the bottom of the tub. That is on me I meant to use it last weekend and didn't.

The package of Ground Beef I Price Matched at No Frills was smaller than the one I got from Food Basics, thinking I might go grab another one this week I have room in the budget so why not, especially since I am obsessed with Burger Bowls.

Built the new light for our living room, I bought it last week but it has been living in its box so I build it, took out the garbage, plus the old lamp when I took out the kitchen garbage. I do not know why, I am so bad at dealing with these things, I buy them but leave them like it a present to be opened and I want to savour it. Yes, I am weird, I know.

I do still need to build and put the grocery wagon I bought in my car, maybe tomorrow.

Food is prepped, kitchen is clean, need a few more dinner ideas so off to Pinterest I go.

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Your food prep is phenomenal!

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The weekend just flew by.
I need to manage my week, it will be a busy one. I will do better once I write it all out until then.. hot mess

At least the weather will be nice today and today should be a no spend day.

Hugs to all

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Good morning,

Had a fantastic weekend. Headed to the dentist today but that’s under insurance so $0 but we need to do grab some things from Costco so that’s where we’ll be spending today.

It's another short week for us as we only work Tuesday, Wednesday and then we leave Thursday for a short road trip.

Good Morning Everyone,
I know it is not a reality but honestly, I feel like if every weekend was a 3-day weekend I would have half a hope of keeping up with life.

My on-site meeting has become an online meeting so it is a full work from home day. Which is probably good because it seems like everytime I feel like ok, I got this, I can make this work there is another curve ball. I feel like right now I really need time to sit down and plot everything out so I can see what needs to be tackled.

It shouldn't be but the house is overwhelming me a little bit. I am behind on some of my cleaning and I really feel like I need to just tackle a big project and get it done so I can have that big accomplishment but life just keeps happening. Plus It feels like there really isn't anything I can tackle without input but every time I mentioned oh we should do this or that, there is a reason why now is not the time. But I also keep getting asked will things ever get done so honestly, I am feeling some mixed messages here.

Not sure of the plan for today yet, obviously work stuff needs to get done, but around the house I don't have a plan as I thought I was heading into a branch but that has changed. Also need to figure out dinner, thinking maybe Enchiladas, we will see.

Happy Monday Everyone.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SassyAshley

Good Morning Everyone,
I know it is not a reality but honestly, I feel like if every weekend was a 3-day weekend I would have half a hope of keeping up with life.

My on-site meeting has become an online meeting so it is a full work from home day. Which is probably good because it seems like everytime I feel like ok, I got this, I can make this work there is another curve ball. I feel like right now I really need time to sit down and plot everything out so I can see what needs to be tackled.

It shouldn't be but the house is overwhelming me a little bit. I am behind on some of my cleaning and I really feel like I need to just tackle a big project and get it done so I can have that big accomplishment but life just keeps happening. Plus It feels like there really isn't anything I can tackle without input but every time I mentioned oh we should do this or that, there is a reason why now is not the time. But I also keep getting asked will things ever get done so honestly, I am feeling some mixed messages here.

Not sure of the plan for today yet, obviously work stuff needs to get done, but around the house I don't have a plan as I thought I was heading into a branch but that has changed. Also need to figure out dinner, thinking maybe Enchiladas, we will see.

Happy Monday Everyone.

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I do better with a plan... writing it out just helps.


And house stuff. Hugs. Totally feel ya

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Hubby is putting a few touches to the gazebo ,he still has to cap it .A little each day i suppose when you are older.

I just hubby to a small pizza and a sub for me -chicken sub was on sale .

I agree @SassyAshley there needs to definitely be more long weekends. I think more and more it’s needed for people’s mental health.

Good Morning! We have sunshine!
Going kayaking after work today since it looks like an amazing day (and seeing rain starting tomorrow!)
So excited to get out!

Today- Back to work. Started early and have already been through all my emails and have my list of things to deal with. Have a busy day but should go by quickly!

Kitchen- I have 2 packages of ground beef to deal with. One package I will use half to make meatballs for dinner (for tomorrow night) and the other half I will make burger patties for the freezer for a bbq another night. The other package I will split in freezer bags for the freezer. Will pop in FB today and see if I can get a few more packages for the freezer.
The chicken marinating in the fridge will be dinner tonight with asparagus and perogies/rice.

I have started posting stuff for sale. Will post a bunch of things this afternoon since I will be around all week available for pick up. I sold 2 things last week that I picked up on the side of the road :) ($25) so that is starting my new crap sold envelope :) Will move my portable table to the garage so I can sort and post!

Have a wonderful day!

Good Morning Everyone,
Another day of I am not even sure at this point.

Yesterday morning I was really struggling with focus so I decided I needed to walk away from my laptop so I cleaned the bathroom.

Had my meetings, on Monday I have 3 maybe 4 staff members changing jobs and all needing training. They are trying to come up with ways to help me but really, there is no help. Because of all of the changes at work, none of my training plans work so I need to try to rewrite 3 training plans today, normally it takes me a week to write a phase. In these 3 training plans there are 7 phases. I will do my best, I have one meeting today and an appointment so we will see how it goes.

Still thinking I might run out to No Frills and Price Match a second pack of Extra Lean Ground Beef for the freezer. I will cook it and freeze it as cooked ground beef.

Will see how work goes today, if I need a break I think I will clean the kitchen floor, ugh, it one of my least favourite jobs, I hate our kitchen floor. I keep offering to replace it (well have it replaced, I am not doing it myself) but Mom keeps blowing it off.

Happy Tuesday Everyone.