Frugal In Florida

Hey, hey, even though it's a holiday weekend, I'm still trying to stay on task with things around here, so here you are, another Grocery Cart Sunday post! PUBLIX  Where shopping is a pleasure ... well, it used to be anyway. Now, not so much. It seems that their prices are high and the produce is just so-so ... am I getting spoiled from Aldi's you think? I originally intended to go on Friday after work with the thought process that I'd get out of work earlier since we've been slammed and working late every night, but no such luck, I could have left early but I just had to finish up a bunch of stuff just for my own peace of mind over the weekend. So, instead, I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, with the intention of going to Publix to buy the paper products and use my $5 off $40, then drive to Aldi's to get my fruits and veggies and then BACK to Publix to by the cold stuff and use my other $5 off $40 coupon. Guess what? It was pouring rain...

*Time for a favorite salad to have at your BBQ parties and holiday get togethers! It's on my menu today! Most people like this, even if it's based on cabbage. Just an absolute delicious salad for those summer bbqs! Bag of coleslaw (or just plain cabbage, shredded, small to medium size head) 8 green onions, sliced thin 1/2 red pepper, diced 1/2 cup peanuts (or other nuts you like), toasted and cooled 1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted and cooled (can be skipped if you don't have!) 2 pkgs ramen noodles, crushed 1/2 red pepper, chopped Dressing: 4 tbs sugar. You can use a sugar substitute of choice if desired (I  used 3 packets of Stevia in the Raw and it was perfect!! I may do it this way from now on) 1 tsp black pepper 1/2 cup olive oil (or oil of choice) 2 tsp salt (I've always used less) 6 tbs rice wine vinegar *or, you can do like I sometimes do and just use the seasoning packet and omit the salt and pepper* Place all veggies in a large mixing bowl. ...

Not very long ago, I shared with you how to  Deconstruct a Watermelon . What? You didn't see that yet? Ok, go ahead, click on  that there link  and go check it out. It's ok, I'll chill here and wait for you to come back ... Seriously. E A S Y  I figured with Memorial Day Weekend here and a bunch of BBQ parties are happening, now is the time to share! Ready? Let's do this! 1 small, seedless watermelon, deconstructed and cut in to bite size cubes handful of mint, leaves only, rough chopped 1 lemon, cut in half Himalayian (pink) salt Toss the watermelon on a larger serving platter. I ended up using this mint as there were NO mint plants to be found at the store! Squeeze lemon juice over the watermelon. Give a quick shake/stir of the watermelon. Sprinkle salt over the watermelon. I'm not a big fan of salt so I was conservative ... Sprinkle mint leaves over the top. Spear a bunch of cubes with toothpicks and serve up! Enjoy! Looking...

It's time for the big start to summer for many this weekend and well, we are like, O M G it's summertime now AND Hurricane Season ! Eek! So, what do we do? We start evaluating the pantry and freezers to see what we have in there that might need to be moved in a hurry and used up in the event of a pending storm coming at us ...  And then, we see that can of water chestnuts sitting in the pantry and think "uhm, bacon wrapped water chestnuts sound really good right about now" ... and then you just pull the can off the shelf, grab some bacon out of the fridge and go to it ... it's that easy! *And if you are doing Whole30, use a sugar free bacon (normally MOST low sodium bacon IS sugar free, but read your labels!) and you've got yourself a pretty nifty little appetizer to share ... Here you go: 2 cans of WHOLE water chestnuts (not the sliced ones!)  1 pkg of bacon - slices cut in two toothpicks Grab a large baking sheet and lay out a large piece o...

*Here's another re-post of a favorite!* I knew the minute I added the diced avocado and mango that Hubby wasn't going to be in love with it, but Princess and I devoured it, therefore, a HIT and keeper for us, but only for the girls ... Easy enough to do, and surprisingly, I can pretty much eyeball the dressing measurements as I chat with Princess about her adventures as an Office Queen Bee while I make it ... a very fun moment for a mom to see their daughter become something more than just the little girl who so needed her mommy all those years ago... what a relief it is that she is still growing into a fine young lady. Makes me love her even more than I already do ... Ok, back to the recipe ... 1 bag of coleslaw mix ... the one with carrots and such in it 1 lb of cooked shrimp, rough chopped and remove them pesky tails 1 avocado, diced 1 mango, diced 6 radishes, sliced thin and cut in half (totally omitted them this time around and still yummy) 2 green onion...

Did you see yesterday's Grocery Cart Sunday post? Oops ... that was a lot of money out for not a very good amount of food, don't you agree? And to make matters WORSE is that Memorial Day is THIS WEEKEND and well, I need to carefully consider what we are going to do and cook now! $136 for what should have been a simple stop at the store for breakfast foods (to take on the boat) and sandwich material (to take on the boat) ... and I sooooo over bought which is half my problem! To make matters worse, for the first time in my whole life, I was seasick. O M G that made for a very long 7 hours ... I was fine for the first 2 hours and then I just felt like poo. Seriously, like poo. And the boat is open with no enclosed cabin and not a whole lot of shade. Had we not been so far out (10 miles?) I would have begged Hubby to take me back to shore, that's how bad it was.  When we got home, I jumped in the pool to cool myself down and then went and tossed my cookies FINALLY!  Put dry c...

We had family coming in for the weekend and we planned to go offshore fishing on Saturday so when I left the office on Friday, I stopped at Publix. What a shop that was! Not in a good way, necessarily. I've realized that YES prices have been creeping up ... I mean, geesh, I spent ELEVEN DOLLARS on white seedless grapes. I didn't realize that until I was home but wow.  I've told everyone that we are eating every last one of those grapes and the stems too! One stop this week and it was way over what my self imposed, unwritten budget is: $136.03 Yes, really. I had to put groceries away fairly quickly by the time I got home but this was the stuff going to the other kitchen fridge. Let's take a look and see what I bought and then we can do an evaluation, ok? Cracker Barrel cheese slices X 4 @ $2.50 each Chicken breakfast sausage that were B!G!F x 6 total @ $3.29 for two Hillshire Farms lunchmeat X 8 @ $3.67 each Toasted pita chips $3.69 ...