Frugal In Florida

Hey hey, hoping you are ALL enjoying your holiday weekend! We had some last minute company come on Friday for the 3 days so there was a crashing stop to the No Spend Week ... I had anticipated holding out til Friday, and thankfully, I did! I broke that spending fast with a trip to Publix ... and then another trip to Aldi on Saturday and then Publix again ... this post shows what I picked up for a pretty penny ... It's just as well, the kids had a few friends over for some pool time on Saturday and then Sunday was a repeat of the same. Monday was a wind down, relax, clean the house, blog, do some laundry kind of day ... and it was good for me to be out of the heat and sun for most of the day. It was brutally hot which might explain that awesome sunset that we say Sunday night! I'm glad the weekend is over. There was a LOT of food, drinks, pool, sun and heat. Whew. Saturday - fish fry ... we had so much other stuff ready to make as well (deer steaks wrapped in bacon!)

I made it! I managed to stay out of the grocery stores for a WHOLE week. Woohoo! Yeah. It's not a big deal but the fact that I opted to do a No Spend Week without any prior thought is sort of a huge deal ... meaning I didn't go out and "prepare" for the week ahead! And we survived! Here's how I broke that spending fast! I didn't buy this many LaCroix cases this week as they were  NOT on sale buy one get one free! Publix - May 26th, 2017 Total Spent - $70.95 sliced pepper jack cheese $3.50 sliced sharp cheddar cheese $3.50 sliced white cheddar cheese $3.50 2 20 bags of ice $4.19 each 12 pk Corona Light $13.99 8 pk LaCroix Blueberry/Cucumber $4.39 12 pk LaCroix Passionfruit $4.00 2 containers strawberries $2.00 each bag of red grapes $4.58 1/4 watermelon $3.17 (this, after I shared the Deconstructing a Watermelon ... long story!) bananas $1.90 container fresh salsa $2.50 loaf of italian bread $2.99 loaf of potato bread $3.49

It's here! It's Here! It's HERE!!! Summertime!! BBQ Season! Pool Season!  Whee!!!!! It's also time for watermelon! Did you hear me squeal? Lately, whenever I walk through the produce section at Whole Foods and Publix, I'm amazed at the amount of prepackage, cut up fruit. Like really? $4.99 per pound for YOU to cut up MY fruit? No thank you. That's not very kind to my wallet and well, to ME, nothing beats the smell of fresh cut watermelon in the kitchen ... too bad we can't bottle it and sell it as a room freshener! We'd all be rich! Anyway. I do understand the fact that some people just don't want the hassle dealing with a whole melon. BUT really, the mini melons they have now days make it much more dealable! Soon, you will be able to pick up 2 watermelons for a mere $5 or so ... talk about cheap summer yumminess! And you can promptly cut one a Wednesday evening, AFTER a long day at work. Yup, you CAN! Because, r

So here we are, day 4  6 of the NO SPEND WEEK (I instituted this on FRIDAY!) and so far ... so good ;-)  I keep looking at that last shopping post and I'm like, REALLY? The money that was spent won't even give me a full weeks worth of meals! $80. 3 bags Geesh. So, here's what I've got going on and what's planned: Saturday - Linguini Spaghetti and White Clam Sauce with some grilled ciabatta bread.  We didn't have any linguini, only spaghetti so we made do. Clam stuff in a can from pantry that I bought a year ago ... and the ciabatta bread was in the freezer as well (Costco - I just take out what I need and keep the rest frozen). I even had a nice bottle of Santa Margherita wine from a month or so ago). Sunday - Chinese Fake Out ... Nope. Didn't happen. 5 hours floating in the pool and we ended up eating Nachos (chips, cheese, salsa and sour cream, nothing fancy at all!) Yup, excellent choice for dinner, don't you think? These were NOT mea

Sooo.... The year to date, 5 1/2 months so far (!!??) has really flown by ... I've married my daughter (with the wonderful abilities of a notary public), hosted her wedding reception in our backyard (thanks to a beautiful home that still  has not sold), hosted my niece on her very first trip away from home, showed the house what seems to be a million times, ate well, entertained tons of friends and well ... drained the bank accounts. Ok. Not really drained, as in EMPTY ... but certainly spent more than I normally would.  I'm not sure when I just said f*ck it and stopped keeping track. Seriously. And you know me ... I can justify spending that $1.99 for that larger avocado at Trader Joe's 😏 because, you know, those 69 cent avocados from Aldi are like half the size. Never mind that the larger the avocado, the bigger the seed. Whatever. I guess I just had a moment this evening that made me realize I was "justifying" a tad too much .... hmmm ... buying s

Hi. I'm Jan and I am the owner and blogger of Frugal In Florida. Do not let the following grocery trips fool you. I've had a slight coming to Jesus while eating hot dogs from the freezer poolside Thursday night. Seriously. No joke. Trader Joe's - May 17th, 2017 Total Spent -$82.66 ... all items fit in to 3 smaller Trader Joe's bags. Mission? Cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza crust AND mashed cauliflower. 2 bags (12 oz) "Jumbo" Shrimp $9.99 each 3 pkgs frozen mac & cheese (the best!) $2.99 each 2 organic frozen pizza crusts $2.99 each (mind you, I went for the cauliflower crust, there were none) 1 lonely bag of riced cauliflower $1.99 (only bag there) 2 16 oz containers of "just chicken" .... cooked, quick protein $6.99 each 1 bottle pink lemonade $2.69 Bottle if cold brew concentrated coffee $7.99 Bowl of chopped slaw $2.99 Ghee $3.99 2 containers of roasted milk chocolate peanuts $3.99 each Large bag of tortilla chips $3

For years, and I do mean, like 45 years (!) I would not even go near cole slaw ... the mere thought of that blobby thick mayonnaise cabbage would make me gag. Seriously. How nice, huh? Now? I looooooove a good slaw ... but no, not when it's just a mass of mayo and shredded cabbage tossed in a bowl and called Cole Slaw. No thanks. So today, I'm giving you the most simpliest, cleanest version of cole slaw you can find ... and please, don't judge my cooking skills on this one, ok? Thank you! Ready Freddy? bag of shredded multi-colored slaw. You know the one with carrots, red cabbage, green cabbage, the works Tessemae's Lemon Garlic Salad Dressing. You can find this in most grocery stores now in the chilled produce section. Pull out how much slaw you want. Shake your bottle of Lemon Garlic really well and drizzle over your slaw. Toss well. Eat. Enjoy. Just a personal preference but I do NOT dress the slaw ahead of time as it will make it w

It's time to start using the Instant Pot  a little more as the days are getting longer, the sun is up higher and it's getting hotter in the kitchen! Who wants to slave over dinner? NOT ME! Just a little inside scoop: Hubby has used the thing MORE than me ... he's become the designated cook lately and well, he doesn't always follow the directions and we've had a few flops ... Back to an EASY meal that only uses a few ingredients.  All you need is the following: 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast (I started using thighs because they are less expensive AND more flavorful! The bag of frozen thighs at costco is perfect for this!) 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp cumin black pepper generous dash of oregano 1 jar chunky salsa (about 2 cups worth - this last time, I used fresh salsa I had in the fridge and it worked out just fine!) Ready?? Mix the salt, cumin pepper and oregano in a small bowl and season the chicken on both sides. Toss them bad boy

I've been making this dressing for a few years now and it's been tweaked quite a bit so I thought, what the heck, let me take a video of how EASY it is to blend and then share the new and improved recipe! I DO have a video of it but because I'm not savvy on how to edit the damn thing, Blogger tells me it's too large? WTF? *if anyone has a link to some easy video editing tips, by all mean, share them with me, puleeasseee??*  You can  catch it on Instagram or Youtube  if you want to see it ... it's just cool how fast it comes together in my opinion! So.  As you can tell, it's Whole30 Approved, Paleo, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, yada yada yada. BUT It's also DELICIOUS! Which, seriously, that's all that really matters at the end of the day, right? I use this on everything, not just salads. I use it to dip my chicken, burgers, pork, shrimp, EVERYTHING ... it  is just plain awesome! So, here's the new and improved way I've bee

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I'm looking forward to a quiet day poolside (providing they locate Mr. Snake that was spotted on Saturday morning!). The Princess and her Hubby were here Friday and Saturday, as was the Boy and his girl so we all celebrated a little early ...  I'm down to, I believe, 4 bottles of champagne and 1 bottle of Prosecco  ... which means, for Mother's Day, I'm having  Prosecco & Pom That there bottle is WAY larger than what I currently have of Pom in my fridge ... the bottle in the pic is from Costco ... what I have in the fridge is from Publix ... hence, Costco size vs Publix size ...  I LOVE this mix ... it's refreshing and although I do love Mimosas ... I prefer this 90% of the time ...  1 champagne flute (well, rather, however many participants there are, in my case, ONE!) fill flute 1/3 with POM juice Fill close to top with the Prosecco Arils (the seeds from the pomegranate)- totally optional but if you make it a poi

It's time to start using the InstantPot  and CrockPot a little more often because it's quick and doesn't heat up the kitchen! I mean, seriously, what other reason do you need?  Oh ... yeah, it makes some pretty good food too! Yup, lunch at my desk was pretty exciting! I had this with riced  cauliflower and green beans ... yummm So ... this recipe comes from  Nom Nom Paleo  ... same place  That Damn Fine Chicken  came from ... and a few other recipes to be shared very very soon as well! Anyway. It seems that beef just does not go on sale much any more so the last time I went to Costco, I just bit the bullet and picked up a big hunk (actually 2 hunks in one package) of beef and tossed in the freezer with this recipe specifically in mind. It was still $4.99 a pound ... and no, it was not grass fed, groomed, petted or anything else special like that. It was just BEEF Ok, lets get to the recipe, shall we? TIP:  Make this a DAY BEFORE you want to e

*This is another repost BUT  I made it at the last minute for our Air and Sea Show Party this weekend and it was a huge hit so I figured yes, it's time to share, yet again! I really love it when I come across a recipe that I have ALL the ingredients on hand to make, except one!  I mean, it's like mandatory that you make it! This original recipe comes from  Skinny Taste  (which, by the way, I got her  cookbook  for Christmas and I'm sad to say I've not cooked ONE recipe from it yet!) and of course, I made a 'few' modifications but the whole idea comes from there! And yes, it's  Whole30  compliant (of course, I made this at the start of Week 2 and was still in the excitable mode!)  It will stay around for a repeat, trust me! Here's how I did it: 1 lime, juiced (Costco) 1/4 red onion, finely choppped (Aldis) 1/2 tsp avocado oil (or olive oil) (Costco) dash of salt (Costco) dash black pepper to taste (Costco) 1/2 pound of cooked, peeled shr

Did you know that my birthday falls on ... Cinco de Mayo? Hmmm ... that may be what my margarita infatuation comes from? Possibly ... However, growing up all those years in small town Indiana, I had no idea that I shared my big day with a nationally recognized MAJOR party holiday ... imagine that! So now, when someone inquires as to when my birthday is, I just reply "Cinco de Mayo" ... I am amazed at how many people have that SAME EXACT birthday :) *And just for the record, I am NOT one of those who celebrate my birthday all month long ... just that long weekend. But honestly, it's not even the birthday celebration, but everything else that seems to happen at that time: Kentucky Derby, Cinco de Mayo, Air Show ... oh, and yeah, my birthday!* Anyways. I've got girlfriends who hope and pray that we have a party so they can celebrate...with ME of course ;-) ... but a few years ago, I kept it low key and we grilled out at home with the kids ... and I