Prep Genrl PREP THREAD, 1/19-1/25

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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Looks like no one has gotten us started yet this week, so I guess I'll do it.

Went to Walgreens and got 2 more boxes of cold meds on sale and w/ coupons and used coupons/points I had on my card. That makes 9 boxes of cold meds that I just put in the medicine closet.

A quick trip to the grocery store--2 boxes of 60 dishwashing tablets-they were BOGO and I had coupons for each box, so the overall price was really good. With the ones I bought a couple of weeks ago, I have the start of another stockpile and a year's worth already (have another 1.5-2 years to go from my other stockpile). Also picked up some cat food that was on sale. Better half picked up some Splenda (100 ct boxes) that were BOGO and we had coupons for each one, making them a very good deal as well. BH uses the splenda in morning coffee and we now have at least a year's supply put away from the sales and coupons of the last month.

Ordered a couple more tops for work. Great price with sale and coupon code. Worked out to $10 each. Look professional and wash up well. Don't need them to last forever. Also found out at work (temp for tax season) that I'm making more than last year (yay!!!) and I will get more hours this year as well.

Sales and coupons have been scarce on items we use. Always thankful when we run across something that helps out.

What is everyone else up to?
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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The 15% off sale at Honeyville ends tomorrow. I'm still debating a couple of items. The sale caught me off guard and I didn't have it planned in the budget so I gotta decide if it is a want or a need.
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
We went to Sam's today for a monthly run. Bought some extra kitty litter (had a $3 off special) and a big bottle of generic extra strength tylenol--these items had not been on the regular list. Then I went and bought 8 books of stamps, since the price increases on the 26th. Thought I would save a few cents. Still cost $73.60 for the 8 books. That should last most of the rest of the year.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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prudentwatcher said:
We went to Sam's today for a monthly run. Bought some extra kitty litter (had a $3 off special) and a big bottle of generic extra strength tylenol--these items had not been on the regular list. Then I went and bought 8 books of stamps, since the price increases on the 26th. Thought I would save a few cents. Still cost $73.60 for the 8 books. That should last most of the rest of the year.
Click to expand...

Use forever stamps. I'm still working on a roll from over a year ago.
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Kathy in FL said:
Use forever stamps. I'm still working on a roll from over a year ago.
Click to expand...

That's what I got. I was down to my last book and I wanted to get the forever stamps at today's prices before they go up again this weekend. I'm thinking it is 2 cents a stamp increase, but don't quote me on that. Buying the stamps today saved me some money. It was also a head's up to folks who forgot about the price increase.
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
My prepping since the beginning of the year has been to stay home and not spend money. So no Internet shopping either!

I've been cleaning out linen closets and organizing and putting stuff aside to either sell, gift or donate. I have a good sized stack of towels on my sewing machine for mending. The towels are starting to ravel so I will run a tight zigzag stitch around all fraying edges. I've found doing this adds several years to a towels useful life. I also have several towels that are going to be moving to the rag bag after I cut them into rag sized portions and again zigzag the edges. Found a stack of new wash cloths and put them into usage and pulled a stack of old stained cloths for the rag bag. Actually, I keep old wash cloths in baskets under the sink in each bathroom and in the kitchen to use to clean up spills or to do a quick wipe down cleaning.

This past week I've been feeling very antsy and unsettled. I feel like I should be doing something "more" to prep, but have no idea what. I almost never get these feelings so I'm not sure what its all about or what I should be doing. So I'm going to continue going thru things, organizing and looking for holes in my preps.
 
Green Co.

Green Co.

Administrator
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Doesn't happen often, but in the Houston area, The Food Fair grocers are running the chicken leg quarters for .48¢ lb, no limit. We've been digging into our canned chicken reserves lately, so time to replenish. Bought 30# so far....
 
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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Brrr! Down to -3*F yesterday, with a wind chill of -24*F when I left work in the morning. Since I don't have my grandsons 48+ hours a week now (more like 20, but on days of my choice), I've gotten back to going to the Y on my way to or from work; it's amazing how quickly you lose strength when you don't go. The temp yesterday morning convinced me to skip - just couldn't see hopping in a pool, no matter how warm, when I'd have to face the ccccold when I was done. I did make two stops quick stops on the way home - ran in to CVS to do two coupon/ECB deals:

Boost - on sale $6.99 & $7.99 a 6 pk; buy 2, get $4 ECB. Bought 2; total &15; used 2 - $4 coupons and a $2 ECB; paid $5 out of pocket; got back a $4 ECB. Hubs has finally decided to give up on his tetracycline damaged teeth and get dentures, so this will help keep him nutritionally sound during the process. If you happen to have a 'cycline' drug in your med stores, put a note on it that it should only be used by pregnant women in an major emergency because it can really damage the baby's teeth.

Diapers - CVS brand on sale $6.99; get a $2 ECB. Bought 1; total $7; used the $4 ECB from the Boost deal, paid $3 out of pocket; got back $2 ECB.

Milk - on sale $2.99/gal; get a $1 ECB. Bought 1; used the $2 ECB from the diaper purchase; paid $1 out of pocket; got back a $1 ECB.

Friends and family have helped me out by doing the Boost/Diaper/Milk deal with their CVS cards and coupons and cash I've provided them, so I've managed to put back 12 - 6pks Boost, 6 pkg diapers, and 6 gallons of whole milk this week. 5 gallons of the milk will be frozen for use in cream soups, fortified puddings, etc... during Hub's recuperation.

Then I stopped by the grocery store, whose sale on split chicken breasts @ 99 cents/lb started yesterday. I picked up 18# to work up; plan to pick up another 12# today. Will pull off the skin and toss it in one of my canners, then slice off fillets and vacuum seal them in marinade (mostly salad dressings I've bought on sale/with coupons) - this makes them very tender when cooked. Since I'm fairly well stocked up on home canned chicken - 5 cases of pints - I'l go ahead and cut most of the meat from the split breasts, vac sealing thestrips plain and tossing the smaller pieces in a bowl. What's left after that will be tossed in the canner, a gallon or more of water added, and cooked under pressure for about 20 minutes. While that's going on, I'll cut the smaller pieces of chicen into bite size chunks, then pull out some frozen veggies and canned diced tomatoes and pop it all in pint jars. When the chicken is done, I'll first ladle off the top layer of fat and put it to cool in metal cake pans - doesn't take long when it's this cold outside! - then I'll add broth to the veggies/meat in the jars and can them as soup in another canner while I finish working up the cooked chicken. I'll can what broth is left, pick any meat that's left off the bones for a chicken pot pie for supper - using some of the chilled chicken fat in the crust - then run the icky bits and softened bones through the meat grinder a couple of times to add to cat/dog food. Any harder bones will either be given another run in a pressure cooker or saved in the freezer to bury deep in the compost pile come spring. The remaining, hardened slabs of fat will be cut in to recipe size chunks (abt 4 oz), then wrapped and frozen for use in cooking later. I'm hoping to work up a minimum of 50# of chicken while the sale is ongoing - may get some help from my sister-in-law, who we gifted with a refurbished canner for Christmas; she's still a bit scared of it so this would be a good lesson!
 
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moldy

Veteran Member
Wow, Renee!! And I thought I was frugal! Please post more - you are a fount of knowledge!

DD had surgery yesterday - by using my facility, I saved over $300 on co-insurance. She is doing well. For pain, I am alternating ibuprofen and vicodin. It seems to be working well. I am trying to get some potatoes into the freezer for spring/summer before they start to go bad - so I am cooking them until barely tender on top of the woodstove, then cooling and shredding for hash browns. Next week, I am going to try to do up some French fries and twice baked potatoes.

I am still trying to figure out how to cut costs on the milk cow. She is so dang picky - only alfalfa and corn for her highness! DH is working on tax stuff - with the ranch, it gets complicated. Teaching DD how to make yeast bread.

I have to work the weekend - so my stuff done at home will be minimal.
 
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