Monday, January 9, 2017

Last Week's Thrifty Moves


How was your first week of 2017?  I hope it was fantastic!

It has been cooooooold here with lows hovering just above 0° until the end of the week when it dipped down below.  Brrrrrr.  We've also had a lot of snow.

Before

After

In the spirit of winter I gloved up, went out to the garage and reorganized the chest freezer.  Not sure what the heck I was thinking, although I think the freezer is much warmer than outside.  I used plastic bins I already had to keep everything sorted and organized.  The bins will also make it easier to get to items, especially at the bottom.


My original shopping list for Cash & Carry started out much differently until I saw they had a fantastic sale on meat.  Since I am on a mission this year to spend as little as possible on everything I can, these prices were just too good to pass up.

40# of boneless skinless chicken breast for $43.90 ($1.09/lb!)
10# package of lean ground beef for $17.90 ($1.79/lb)
5#  package of pork sausage for $6.98 ($1.39/lb)
5# package of Italian pork sausage for $6.98 ($1.39/lb)
5# of grated cheddar cheese for $11.58
10# bag of navel oranges for $5.98

40 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast

I am fairly certain this is enough chicken to last us the entire year.

Picked up these steaks at Alberstons half price $3.70!

On the way to Cash & Carry the youngest and I made a quick stop at the library to return books and check out some new ones.  Even though she got a Kindle for Christmas she still likes the feel of a book in her hands.  I'm kind of the same way, myself.  Books are awesome!


I spent two days laying out chicken breast on baking sheets and rotating them through the freezer.  Once frozen I put then in gallon sized Ziploc bags. 

I used up the sizeable stack of Ziploc bags I had washed to reuse packaging all of the meat I purchased.

Shredded chicken verde

I took two large chicken breasts I already had and some leftover verde sauce from the freezer and put it in the slow cooker.  Once they had cooked down I shredded them with forks and had enough to fill two large freezer containers and one small one for quick meals to enjoy later on.


To start the week off I made a large pot of Taco Soup and a pan of cornbread.  We had plenty of leftovers for another supper and a few lunches.

I made and sent out some New Years cards to a few special people.

I purged a pile of papers, junk mail and receipts.  Most of it ended up in our recycle bin.

Sunday breakfast

I took some fast food restaurant coupons to work and gave them to a co-worker.  I've noticed most of my co-workers go out to eat a lot or have something delivered for lunch pretty much on a regular basis.


Last week I decided to try something new.  I have had an Amazon Prime membership for a few years now and I love their free shipping on my orders, the numerous options for television viewing at no additional charge and loads of music to download.  However, I hadn't tried their Prime Pantry yet.  Until now.

I love free stuff!!

A couple weeks ago I made a list of toiletry and household items I was running low on and after perusing the selections on Amazon I realized I could knock quite a few of them off of my list using Prime Pantry and at a considerable savings.  Not everything they have, mind you, is the best price, but I did find several items that were and with coupons attached!  Score!  And free shipping!  And I realized I had extra rewards points to use which knocked over $32 off my total leaving me paying $14.41 for everything I ordered.  Spending less for the things we need.  Whoo hooo!

Lots of shoveling this week!

Tuesday I took all the leftover cubed chicken and steak from our New Years Day fondue dinner and tossed it together in a pan with some fresh broccoli, carrots and half an onion I sliced up for a quick supper.  It was quite nice.

We made a batch of homemade whole wheat chocolate chip cookies.  They were delicious!


Not so thrifty, but very important, I replaced the battery on our truck.  This was a planned expense.  Now I don't have to worry about getting stranded with a vehicle that won't start.  With all of our snowfall I had to drive the truck last week as it was too deep for the car.  So happy and grateful I have my truck!


I rinsed out the big refill bottle of dish soap after I emptied it into a smaller bottle and used that soapy solution to wash up three loads of dishes.

In anticipation of more bad weather and possible power outages I made some preparations.  I'll post more about all of that later this week.

How was your thrifty week?



10 comments:

  1. I had stored a 10# bag of chicken quarters for my dau, way too long. So, I thawed it out. The end result was 7 sandwich bags of meat, (I then put it in a freezer gal bag) & 8qt of the most wonderful broth. I gave her half. Thought it was fair enuff. Washed out many bags since we are now eating many summer veg's & fruit I've put up. Cut back our 1# of ground meat to .8 & now to .6 per recipe. Love the idea of making your cards. WTG :)

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    1. Sounds like you did a great thing with that chicken. I love to have homemade broth on hand for soups and recipes. Nice of you to share.

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  2. Those are awesome grocery prices, good for you taking advantage. I would of too.

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    1. What a blessing. We will have enough meat to last us pretty much the entire year when all is said and done. I couldn't be happier.

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  3. You snow pictures are beautiful but made me freeze. Then I saw the pictures of your meals and thought they look very warm and inviting! Fantastic prices on your meats! I have been rearranging my freezer today to see what I need to stock up on (nothing) and what we need to consume (lots)

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    1. I will be happy to move from stocking the freezer to the consuming phase, ha, ha. I do love to eat! The snow is pretty, but yes it was cold!

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  4. Those are great prices on the meat! Good that you were able to take advantage of the sale and stock up! I'm trying to eat from my freezer and pantry, this month; so far, I'm doing well.

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    1. That is fantastic. After this month I'll be doing pretty much the same thing. Eating from our pantry and freezer.

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  5. YOu really scored on those buys at Cash and Carry! Good for you! I was wondering, is the school your girls go to one of the ones that got damaged from the heavy melting snow? I was reading about how many schools in your area are dealing with all this mess. I feel so bad for everyone!

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    1. It has been rough, but so far their schools have been okay. They have been closed 5 days so far though and the girls are not happy about it, they are ready to go back to school.

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