Frugal In Florida

It's been a little while since I've posted a Menu Plan post ... not that I haven't been planning, somewhat, but, man, life has been busy as heck around here ... but I did make time to hit up the grocery store on Sunday morning, do a little prep (salad stuff, made regular mayo and basil mayo and divied up the chicken thighs for lunches) and I also have a few blog post set up for the week ... This is my morning view Monday through Friday as I drive to work ... it's a great way to start the morning, see those lovely palm trees (and the ocean behind them) and then when I get to work, the next 8 to 10 hours are consumed and just make my mind frazzled ... then I come home, Hubby has cooked dinner 75% of the time, eat, change clothes and then hop on the laptop for an hour or three of my new side gig I've been doing ... which honestly, I LOVE as I'm averaging $20 to $25 an hour which is pretty sweet for a work at home job (before you hound me for details, let me j...

Hi Hi! It's that time of the week again and whoa .... we are coming in to the HOLIDAYS fast!! Is anyone else in panic mode that Christmas is like, FIVE days away?? How did that happen?? And then the following week is the New Year ... which also starts a new Whole30 for January! I started a new blog just for that and have been posting my Whole30 recipes over there. I'm also hoping to share my experience there as well so go check it out ! Anyway.  I haven't been posting the menu plan the past few weeks as it's just been busy as heck at work and we've been traveling so really, not a whole lot to share. Doesn't mean that I don't plan, I do! I've started writing on the whiteboard the plan for the week so the rest of the folks in the house can see what I'm looking at too ...  Are you ready for Christmas?? I'm so not. But this year, I said I wasn't going to kill myself (mentally or financially) and so far, so good. Although, I am feelin...

Hi Hi ... here we are again, Menu and Meal Prep Time! Wheeee! Yeah, I'm really excited, NOT!  Too much drama in the household this past week AND I went to Orlando for a few days to the Halloween Horror Nights ... which, by the way, was scary as all get out! Whew. Glad I made it home intact ;-) The Whole30 has officially ended, even though I did not complete the 30 days ... however, I have found out that BEER (!!) does NOT do me good ... so I'm skipping that for the most part ... glad to have met with LaCroix Sparkling Water and even happier that I'm able to introduce others to that wonderful stuff .... so glad! Did a quick stop at Aldis after stopping to see my dad at the rehabilitation facility ... he's doing much better speech-wise, his right arm movement is improving but walking and standing is still a major issue. Received a phone call at 12:30am to let me know, yet again, that he had fallen when he tried to go to the bathroom on his own :-( I am going to s...

And ... here we are again, Funday Sunday ... This past week has been hell.  Princess came home from the hospital on Tuesday (yeah!) but had a few follow up appointments throughout the week. Yes, she's almost 25, but she's still my daughter so I'm active with her when she needs me ;-) Then Hubby went again for back injections. It's been a rough few weeks for him, and still, 4 days later, it's still bothering him bad. I hate to seem him in such discomfort :-( THEN .... my dad fell in the bathroom early Thursday morning. Nothing like that phonecall from the facility at 4am. Ugh. Originally taken by transport as his shoulder was bothering him. Ended up in ICU for bleeding on the brain and is showing stroke like symptoms. The only good news here is that they moved him out of ICU on Saturday morning and tonight (Sunday) they are moving him to an acute rehabilitation facility. Excellent. If he can't transfer from his bed to his wheelchair he will not be able to s...

And ... Week #2 is here for Whole30 ... I think I can do this ... I really do!  I wish Hubby was on with me but he's eating what I make and then some so I guess it's a start ... We've had a little excitement this past week between Princess being in the hospital and then Hubby's having some serious back issues again (crud, this last round of shots did NOTHING) for him ... to the point where when he went to see Princess on Saturday, he asked how far he was going to need to walk and I was like, crap, maybe you should ask for a handicap hanger for times like this :-( He refuses as he doesn't "need it" but I told him that there are times when he DOES need it ... even today, he's pretty much immobile which really stinks ... I can see how people under pain management can totally abuse and over-medicate themselves now. Keeping a close eye on him so that doesn't happen! Anyway. A Costco trip came along, finally, last week ... did you catch that post ...

Ahhh ... did you notice that I've NOT shared  menu plan these past two weeks?  I was away on vacation and well, it was a little difficult to plan while away ;-) We actually sort of winged it by asking each other and family members around what shall we eat this evening? Can I just tell you how much I HATED not knowing what we were going to eat until the last minute?Those dashes to the grocery store to pick up something to complete a meal were killing me. It's a 30 minute drive, minimum to a store around those parts ... much as I loved the solitude (and sketchy cell and Internet service) I do miss the easy access to a grocery store when needed! So, we're back. Which means, YEAH I get to menu plan! And boy, am I ever ready to get back in the groove of things again ... I've got several things that I'm looking forward to doing besides menu planning so keep an eye out! First off, I want to get the grocery budget back under control. It hasn't been so bad the past...

Hi hi ... it's that time again, ALREADY! Sunday Funday and time to get ready for the week ahead! Can you believe it, the 2nd week of August. Those of you with school age children have got to be sad that, already, summer is coming to an end way quicker than years past, it seems.  The tax free shopping week is here and that means I need to stay away from the stores, more so than usual, as I don't want to get in the middle of those who NEED to be buying supplies and those who WANT to buy supplies ... hmmm ... it's that Want vs Need thing again ... Hubby's traveling again this week from Tuesday to late Thursday. We've got friends coming in for a week on Tuesday so Friday and Saturday should be fun entertaining nights, hopefully. I need to get seriously get focused on my eating, drinking, living habits. Exercise? Yeah, that too. Doing 50 crunches, 50 squats and 50 walking lunges is nice and all, but not if it's only 1 day a month, you know? The weight is creepi...

Ugh. Can you believe it's AUGUST?? I mean, seriously, where has the time gone?? The week ahead should be an easy week ... Hubby travels on Tuesday and comes back Friday night. I'm dealing with allergies which is new to me but now I realize it's not the onset of a vicious cold, just a serious allergy to something ... I've no clue what but seems that whenever we get a sprinkle of rain, the flood gates for the sinuses open up. Must be pollen related, I'm sure. Food prep was a slight miss this weekend ... I boiled 10 eggs. Cleaned a head of butter lettuce. That's it. Whoops. Blame the sinuses. I'd like to stay out of the store this week after breaking the Pantry / Freezer Challenge with a stop at Costco ... and, quite honestly, I should be able to feed whoever is around this week with what we have on hand (mental note to self: cook green beans!) Here's what I'm looking at: Sunday - Flat Bread Pizzas on the grill ... the boy and Hubby found ...

Well, here we are, Day 12 of the Pantry / Freezer Challenge and so far, no issues to be had.  I DID add some stuff to the freezer this past week, 15 pounds worth of chicken for FREE using the Target $5 off $20 and Cartwheel AND some gift cards I had stashed. Since I was getting low on chicken breast, I didn’t feel bad about doing this! PLUS it was FREE! Oh, and yes, there was a stop at Costco, again, that was free as I used my rebate check and a gift card (and still have a few dollars left). I am also extremely happy to report that I ate all three meals at home this past week … even with Hubby traveling, I stayed on task. Granted, I had a lot of leftovers since Hubby had to travel at the last minute for the majority of the week … I spent a total of $66 this past week on food out of pocket, and yes, that did include $20 for beer and ice for our boating trip on Saturday … So, technically, I stayed under budget which is ALWAYS a good thing! Sunday always involves a little meal p...

Hi, Hi! Do you know what today is?? Today is Menu Plan and Meal Prep Day! Sweet! Ok, maybe it's not all that exciting but it should be! Oh, did I mention it's also the official week start of the Pantry/Freezer Challenge? Even better, don't you think? Let's get the Pantry/Freezer Challenge out of the way first, shall we?  For the month of July, my goal is to buy ONLY produce, dairy and bread. Mind you, we don't really eat a lot of bread or dairy, but there are a few in the household who eat cereal and make smoothies with milk ... so I got to make sure they are taken care of. The bread? Well, it's only because the boat is back in the water and boating and sandwiches (and beer!) go hand in hand. Beer? Not sure yet about what I'm doing with that. I need to lay off it for awhile but not sure if the other family members will follow suit so that's up in the air still. My goal is only spend $240 for the month of July on actual groceries, the produce, dair...

Here we are again, another Funday Sunday has come and gone and now it's time to post the Menu Plan! Hope everyone is enjoying the Memorial Day weekend? We sort of laid low on Saturday, floated in the pool on Sunday and I have a single girlfriend coming over Monday afternoon to float ... not to mention, Hubby flies out Monday morning for a fun filled week in Germany. Is that said sarcastically? Sort of. He's a little anxious about the trip, the 11 hour flight from Atlanta is how he starts off and from there, he is just besides himself. He'll be fine ... he doesn't mind flying but I think he keeps focusing on the ELEVEN hours ... So ... it's just me, the cats and the kids (well, sort of hope the kids hang out at their respective boyfriend/girlfriend houses a few nights to give me some well deserved quiet time) ... I'm still not sure if I even want to entertain any of the girls during this time ... I could really use the quiet time and maybe get some de-clutter...

Hello! Welcome to the weekly menu plan setup! I have a confession to make, right away. I have NOT been following the plan these past few weeks. Ahem. I've not been cooking much at all. I don't know WHY but I've been in a bit of a funky mood ...almost like PMS'ing like a b*tch but not quite ... I don't know what it is ... so everyone has been pretty much fending for themselves with tuna sandwiches (I make a large batch of tuna salad on Sunday for Hubby's tuna sandwich lunches during the week), the leftover pork I made on Sunday and Monday (this was AWESOME on a bed of baby greens with a balsamic vinegerette) AND ... some nights, I personally SKIPPED the whole dinner think myself, flipped the kitchen the bird and just had an adult beverage or a beer. NOT very healthy whatsoever, I'm well aware.  Thankfully I eat a good breakfast and lunch daily ;-) So. With this weeks episode of True Confession out of the way, I'd like to say that I don't like bein...

It's that time of week again ... time to Meal Prep and Meal Plan for the week ahead! It's going to be a fairly busy week at work, I think, being the end of the month and a short month at that ... and I have a few things I need to take care of to stay on the Frugal living line ... primarily, cancel the gym membership AND the extra classes that I'm paying for and NOT taking ... total waste of money and so not Frugal ... I've got tons of work out stuff at the house that I just need to get back in the groove with ... So ... last weeks plan was useful in some areas, but mostly not ... we did the potato soup because I mad that Monday when I was home ... and I used the ground beef to make tacos instead of chili ... and everything else, well, real life happened and the menu plan didn't. We went out to eat on Thursday (me, Hubby, the Boy and his girlfriend) ... the rest of the week was salad, tuna salad sandwiches and whatever else anyone could scrounge up. Honestly, I ...

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and getting ready for the Monday morning that will be here before you know it ... I really tried to relax over the weekend and do a few things ... I did some of the things I wanted to get done, a few other things that were NOT on the list and then the usual, everyday Sunday Funday things ... Most importantly? I sat on the dock, in the sun, in a bikini with sunscreen and a book I picked up from the library. Read 3/4 of it already ... is it an easy read? Sort of. Interesting, more than anything. See, I have this book on my Kindle and just couldn't get in to it ... so I put a request in for the library to have it delivered to the beach location so I could pick it up on Saturday. Started reading it and had to put it down ;-) Things needed to be done, you know? Oh. The name of the book? It Starts With Food. I don't know if I can do the Whole30 thing but I have been eating pretty close to the guidelines, with the exception of the vodka/tequ...