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...