More for Less

 

Frankie was almost out of food, so first thing I had to do once I was unpacked, was make her some grub.  Luckily, we had fixin's in the freezer, so I didn't have to shop in order to get a batch going. My willingness to accept food other people don't want helps a lot.  This batch was chicken, salmon, venison, oats, carrots, and plantains.  If I had paid for this commercially or through a service, it would have been very expensive.  The salmon and venison were given to us, and the chicken was $1.79 per pound (a 2.25-pound tray).  The carrots were a buck on Flashfood, and the plantains part of a FF produce box which had probably 24 pieces for five bucks.

Start to finish in the crock was about three hours. It only took about 20 minutes to cube the chicken and salmon, then dice the plantains.  I also made a batch of oatmeal using refrigerator scraps.  This is enough food for a week.

This morning, I realized that I had missed the remains of a bag of slaw in the crisper. So I made another batch of oatmeal.  Just water, veggies, oats and one baby yogurt.  Feeding Frankie is not expensive because I am cheap!

 

I needed to stop into Tops to grab unbleached flour. My dinner plan was tacos and the veggies came from Aldi -- which only sells bleached flour.  That meant I needed to go across the street to Tops. One of our splurges are sugar cubes, and we needed more of them too.  Checking FF, I noticed these sea salt crackers marked down to $2.50. Tommy really likes these and they are not worth it at the full price of around $7.50.  Another Tops had them on FF for $3.49. So I grabbed three.  We like fancy food, but only if it's a deal!

As for dinner, it was venison and beef tacos.  Would you eat that combination? I can tell you it was good! I had a marked down of fajita beef as well as a tray of venison steaks in the freezer. The beef was marinated already, and I sliced both the beef and venison and let them marinate together.  I already knew the beef was salty, so with the added venison, that cuts down on the sodium.  We had plenty left for Tommy to take to lunch. And he loves crunchy tacos for lunch. And I like it when I can make him happy.  The shells were a clearance item at Gabe's -- a discount store that mostly sells clothing and some home goods. I find some odd things there, like these shells -- at huge savings.

I also spent some time putting a sympathy care package together for my neighbor.  Her husband died suddenly last week.  We've not had the best relationship, but I couldn't not do something for her. I ordered a cardinal wind chime, which was delivered here today. I added a block of suet for cardinals (she feeds birds), a card, and a couple of packets of flower seeds.  If loved ones that have passed come to visit as cardinals, I hope this gesture speaks to them both.

Do you send flowers or make up your own offerings when someone has passed? I feel it is sometimes overwhelming to deal with flowers and like to do something more personalized.  What do you do?