03/11/2015 Grocery Haul!

03/11/2015

Every now and then when I get AMAZING deals I like to post my grocery haul on here, that or when I'm trying to convince myself and you that eating well on a budget is a cinch! Today was my grocery day, and lets just say I definitely went a little crazy!

My fridge and freezer are COMPLETELY full. I even had to take out the ice box and turn off the ice feature just to fit everything in! I had to rearrange the top section to make sure all of my older meats were in the front so they would be eaten before the meats I just bought! I always try to remember to do that so I don't have old freezer burnt meat hiding in the back of my freezer!













For this haul I went to 3 different stores: Knights, Kroger, and Dollar Tree.

Knights was my first stop, and the only one I planned on making. Knights is a locally owned discount grocery and fast becoming my favorite grocery store! I used to only make it to Knights on occasion, because the only one I knew about was 30 minutes away... I found one much closer, and that is the one I hit up today!
Here are the best deals I got there:
(2) Cocoa Pebbles Cereal $2/ea
(2) Fresh Jalepanoes $.50
Artisian Tomatoes Pack $.99
(2) Artisian Cherry Tomatoes Pack $.99/ea
(2) 1 lb Strawberries $1.18/ea
PICKLES .99 for a BIG ole' jar
Celery bunch $.97
(16) Chicken Cuts .99
(these are for the pictured packages!! to the right)
Asparagus $2.49/lb
Fresh Green Beans .53/lb
(15) Catfish Nuggets $1.39/lb
Boneless English Roast $6.61
Eye of Round Steak $4.46
Chuck Tender Steak $3.45
These are just the best deals, but certainly not everything I bought there. In total I spent $111.44 there!

After Knights I hit up the Dollar Tree, which is right next to Kroger in this town so I always run in Dollar Tree first! The good deals there are for their canned seafood. Vancamp oysters are $1 there, $2 most other places. I also buy canned clams there for clam chowder. Other than those two items I found some frozen blueberries and mixed berries (same brand sold in Kroger) for just $1, and I bought some spring rolls, coffee syrup, feta cheese, and evaporated milk. In total I spent $31 here, all but $4 of that was for food items with about 1/2 of it being just on stocking up on oysters!

Last but not least are my Kroger deals!
The best deal I got at Kroger by far was on cereal! I got 15 boxes of Raisin Bran Crunch for $1.49 a box, being the angel that I am I did leave a couple boxes on the shelf... but I bought 15 cause my husband loves him some Raisin Bran Crunch and I swear that boy eats like 1/2 a box a sitting!
Organic Mushrooms .99 (pictured above, King Trumpets)
(4) Ole Wrap Tortilla's $2.19/bag of 10
(2) Pineapple $1
My total at Kroger was $84.62!

All together today I spent $227! That is the majority of my grocery budget for the MONTH! I also got about 135 items which makes my total come down to $1.69 an item, which is pretty impressive considering the bulk of my haul is meat, fish, produce, and cereal and I put no extra effort into shopping, just shopped the sales and clearances!

For the rest of the month I have $50 left of grocery money. I'm planning on spending that money on milk, lettuce, peppers, and soda!

Our Dogs got BLING!

03/09/2015

I have been volunteering with a rescue in my area for about a year now. In that time I have had 4 foster dogs. Our second foster, Annie, was a puppy and had a MUCH nicer collar than my Nina-Bina! As soon as I actually noticed Annie's nice leather studded collar I thought of Nina's... I am actually embarrassed to say I don't think Nina has gotten a new collar (or had her collar washed) for 4 years!
My dogs both had regular nylon dog collars. Nina's at least was colorful, but it was red which made people think she was a he. Shadow just had a black collar, on a all black dog. For their new collars I opted to go with a leather like material. Nina got two, since I couldn't decide which one I wanted for her and figured they might not last as long (different material and low price). Pictured below are Nina's 2 collars (still waiting for the pink one to arrive), and Shadow's collar.

If your interested in any, they are all sold on Amazon. You can drag and drop the images to google to go directly to the page to buy them.

Here are pictures of them on my dogs... not the best pictures, cause Nina has a double chin and Shadow wasn't cooperating! Since those two aren't great I'm throwing in a freebie of my dogs looking adorable together!

What did I pay for the collars?

Nina's Blue: $10.50

Nina's Pink: $4.87

Shadow's: $9.90

I spent about $25 for 3 collars! A collar like Shadow's would cost much more than that all by itself, but what is the quality of these like?

So far I'm not seeing ANY issues with Nina's blue collar. It looks super cute on her, although the rhinestone bow makes it a little heavy so I wouldn't recommend it for super small dogs!

Shadow's collar, on the other hand, is already showing wear (one week of having it). He wears it 24/7 and does scratch... and is scratching the red right off the collar! It is super cute but probably not the best choice for a everyday collar. I might have gotten a defective one, but there wasn't a way to contact the seller directly about it... still for $10 it isn't worth returning. It is attractive, and might make a great choice if the dog rarely scratches.

What do ya'll think?

Edit: Got Nina's pink collar in and I'm less than pleased. The bow is much smaller than it appears and not a vibrant pink at all. Still for the money I can't complain too much, but don't expect too much if you decide to buy it!

No more Chickens

03/09/2015

The title says it all with this new blog entry. We have said goodbye to our chickens, although I will miss Snowball and Sparrow they needed to go. Our precious wolf-dog, Shadow, finally got into their tractor and killed one of the chicks! Until we have a better layout/chicken area I'd rather not risk it!

As a final good-bye I thought I would post a picture of the silkies snow day, taken a few days before they found a new home!

As a former regular BYC member and contributor I feel like I lost an online forum of similar minded people! I just went on today to post that I no longer had chickens, and unsubscribe from most of my forums there.

In the future after we move I am hoping to once again have chickens & ducks! I'm just waiting for circumstances where I can have them and they will be safer (Shadow cough cough)!

Snap Challenge: Failure!

03/01/2015

So as many of you know I tried the Snap Challenge last month, what you may have guessed from the title is that I failed. I am not devastated over this fact though, for a couple reasons.

Reason #1- If you have extra money than your less likely to take the challenge super seriously, not that I didn't try but that I did give into wants and cravings because at the end of the day I had money to pay for those things.

Reason #2- As I have been saying SNAP stands for SUPPLEMENTAL Nutrition Assistance Program. It is not designed to cover the average recipient's complete grocery bill, however some people CAN make it stretch if they are thrifty, couponers, hunters, etc.

Reason #3- I am not a chef. Although I am an adult I was never taught to cook, so I don't know how to make a delicious meal out of just about anything... in fact there are many ingredients I don't even know how to use/cook!

Reason #4- I am sure someone COULD live healthily on just SNAP. Given the amount I pay for lettuce, which is super healthy and all the fruit/veggies I have found cheap I know it could be done. The fact I didn't do it equates to me not having the will power to do it, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Due to my reason #4 I think in the future I will do the SNAP challenge for a shorter time period. Trying to change my diet abruptly and maintain that change for a month was too much for me and my husband, but I think a week would work to show it is possible. What do ya'll think?