Frugal In Florida

A while ago, I ran across these at Bed Bath & Beyond and of course, I had to try them out. No, this is not a paid review or sponsored in any way. I am NO WHERE near that big or on any one's radar (but hey, feel free to send me free stuff to try, but I am brutally honest!) Anyway. Now that we have that out of the way ... here's what I think. These cost a mere $9.99. Of course, I used my 20% off coupon which made them a magical number of $7.99 ;-) ahem, a quick look at Amazon shows me they have them at $7.19 IF you are a Prime Member! *yes, THAT is an affiliate link!* I wasn't really SURE what to expect when I opened the package.  Certainly not this: They reminded me of cable wires ... like what we have on the boat lift. Hmmm... The cool thing was the tabs on the end, although, in the end, I did not use them the way the instructions told me to ;-) So, I had all these peppers that were going down hill fast and I wanted to grill them babies up ... my...

Yup, I've made it quite clear that I love kitchen gadgets. I try to go based on the recommendation of others just to save the "oooohhhh, it can do ALL that". The Magic Bullet is a perfect example. Don't get me wrong, I like the bullet, just not all that much! So, today's star is the Crockpot. I can't exactly remember HOW I acquired this ancient thing, but I do know it's from my g/f Chatty and she didn't have room in her little kitchen for extra stuff to be stored. So since she knew that I use crockpots all the time (especially during holiday parties!!) she gave it to me to hold on to. Oh, 5 or 6 years ago. :) I have 3 other ones. Well, 4 actually. But 2 of them are the little tiny ones which I'm not fond of all as there is not a temperature control. But here's what I made for dinner all day long on Saturday: BBQ Pork. Tossed in two small roast that were onion marinated (still frozen) that I had picked up awhile ago on markdown, covered, set...

I think I've made it pretty well known that I love a good kitchen gadget. I try not to buy things JUST to buy them. And normally try to get someone elses opinion first. First up: This has been the best $15 I've spent in a while. Grab this little gadget and you can have this within 5 minutes, if not less: All this is was 2 tomotoes, 1/2 white onion, 1 jalepeno and a squeeze of lime juice. Tada! Next Up: The crockpot!

I love kitchen gadgets. I could almost say that I am addicted to them. I do make the spontaneous purchases, like the magic bullet I've got the at Costco a while back (don't do it!), or how about that stupid whack the top thingy and it chops and dices in a minute? Forget that too...what a pain to clean, and it really doesn't work all that well in my opinion! Then there are the thought out purchases, like the food processor, blender, Vidalia Onion chopper thingy. Or the fryer. And then...you have the Want List. You know, the things you WANT but just can not justify purchasing at the moment for the full price. Things, like, oh the panini press. Or a new waffle maker to replace the one that works so so. A griddle. You know, the big one, 2 feet long and just not practical to put anywhere. Well, the church had it's annual rummage sale over the weekend. I took a stroll down there at 9am on Saturday. Browsed, got caught up in the frenzy of grabbing things to hold JUST IN CA...

Has been: Of course, mine is not black. Nor is it sleek & state of the art looking. Rather, it's a faded white, almost dingy cream looking, dating back probably from the late 1980's. Oh. And the reason its frugal? It was dumpster dived (doved?) / retrieved back in the late 90's. And the reason it's the most used? Because its been borderline freezing cold down here in South Florida. I've got the heat cranking on both sides of the house. I know, 43 is not cold by alot of your standards right about now, but for us it is!!! Oh, and the headline I find of interest this morning? This extended 'chill' may just kill off the iguanas! Ok, not that I wish they were dead, or die off, but rather, relocate anywhere but MY yard ... this is sort of 'good' news!

Would be this or for those of you who HATE to click on random links, it's the Vidalia Chop Wizard. My g/f loaned me hers to try out. Then I decided I HAD to have one of them since it does a nice small dice on stuff. Woohoo. $19.99 with my $5.00 off $15.00 purchase at Bed Bath & Beyond ... not a 'bad' price in my opinion.