Frugal In Florida

Hey, let's take a walk down memory lane and do a Menu Plan for the week ahead! Ha. Sorry. It's just been quite a while since I've done a real menu plan, I'll admit it. Hubby's currently medical situation has really turned a lot of things upside down and food has certainly been the #1 thing. He goes in for treatment #3 on Tuesday and just told me this evening that he's very nervous about this one for some reason. I would make a safe guess it's because he flies out on Friday morning and well, what if  he does feel like crap?? Then what? It will be fine. I told him so, therefore, it will be. ;-) I'm trying to do a little mini-pantry/freezer challenge this month as well ... to save a little money and to clear out some of the clutter food stuff we have hanging around too! Here's what we are looking at for the week! Saturday - bacon and mushroom burgers on the grill with a wedge salad (we did stop and pick up the ground beef) Need to bu...

Hey, it's been a little while since I've shared a meal plan ... not because I haven't wanted to but more because I haven't been planning with the way life has been lately.  Can I just tell you want a difference life is when you do plan? BIG DIFFERENCE! Hubby was complaining that he hasn't had a "good meal" in quite some time ... well he was out of town for a week and then I dashed off to help the new grandbaby come in to the world ... So this week, here's what I'm looking at ... Sunday - Chinese Fake Take Out - basically, Mandarin Orange Chicken and Veggie Fried Rice from Trader Joe's. Total cost is $13 which if we ordered from a take out joint, minimum of $25 plus as we'd order the egg rolls, the large fried rice, pay a tip and so on Monday - Buffalo Chicken Salad . Been a LONG while since we've made this and I'm excited. Chicken is from the freezer, balance of ingredients are in the pantry/fridge. Will have to use ...

Well, this is the week I head back home. Hubby was to be coming too, but a few things came up so looks like he will be staying a little longer, maybe a week? That’s fine, I have a lot of things to catch up on at the office so I’ll have a few late nights as well when I get back to South Florida. I miss that view! And yes, I am still menu planning and meal prepping!  Prepping is really an understatement as Sunday morning, I believe a mouse might have moved in and died a slow death in the laundry room of the house … sad because Hubby and I have a joke when we open the doors: "come on in family of mice! Come on in out of the cold!" Well, apparently, one did and now (as of 11:30am  10:30am (did you turn back your clocks yet???) Sunday) we still can’t locate him! *The joke is because my father in law makes it sound like the mice are lined up around the corner waiting to dash in the door and garage as soon as an opportunity arises. I will no longer laugh at him as he ma...

Hey, did you see the latest Grocery Shops in Review post? Spent a lot of money but don't see a whole lot of food! Don't you hate when that happens?? That means I'm going to have to Menu Plan and Meal Prep! Wheee!! We had new appliances finally delivered the previous week ... everything is installed, just waiting for the tile to set under the dishwasher so we can slide that bad boy in ... sooooo excited to use all the new stuff! I even had Hubby swap out the faucet on the sink and the lights overhead. What a difference. AND if someone decides they want to buy the house NOW, I'm fine with that as well ... I can do the same to a new house! We are hosting the Princess Baby Shower in two weeks so I need to stay ultra-focused on money and food ... after that party, we head out of town for a few weeks which means I really  need to stay focused!! Sunday - Chinese at Home - going to make up a bag or two of that chicken I picked up at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago,...

We are finally getting back to normal around here. The Princess and her Hubby, along with the cat and obtrusive dog left Sunday morning. The boy's girlfriend is back at her parents house as they got power Thursday (I think? My days are so messed up right now!). The Boy is back to work and the gym, I'm back to work as of Monday and Hubby is back to his usual whatever routine. I am still shocked at people I know who do NOT have power still ! That's just crazy! I figured now is a time to menu plan to get us back on schedule AND because we head out of town next week, hopefully. HOPEFULLY. Yeah, I said that. We are supposed to be driving the Jeep up to NW Indiana to leave it there for a vehicle to use when we visit. Long story but whatever. We are also waiting on the arrival of a new refrigerator, oven/microwave combo AND dishwasher for the main kitchen. It should have shipped this past week but with the hurricane we didn't get any notification of that happening, so n...

Hey hey, it's that time of week again! Meal Prep and Menu Planning time! Whee!!! Yeah, I'm excited ... not! Hubby heads out of town again on Tuesday morning, bright and early ... I'm trying to convince him to take Uber for a the $10 or so it will costs as opposed to ME getting in the car at 5am and driving him there ... ugh. I'm also waiting to hear if Princess and her Hubby will be here Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night as Matt might need to work on this side of the state for 3 days so that could be fun for me to see Princess again! She's starting to really get her baby bump going and I want to see her! So with some of the uncertainties pending, my menu plan could change up a little bit but I'm trying to plan it where I can just fluctuate the amount of food cooked ;-) I did hit up Publix on Saturday while Hubby ran to Target and spent way too much so I'm hoping to hold off on the grocery store til the end of the week! Saturday - $5 Digiornos...

It's been a fairly quiet weekend as we were puppy sitting (12 week old French bull dog) and pressure washing the pavers ... eek! It's hotter than heck too AND we haven't received any rain ... Puppy sitting was fun, but yes, a lot of hands on care. He's so cute but regardless, it's 5pm and I'm waiting for his master to call and retrieve him so I can clean ;-) I've not been to the store myself since last week ... almost 10 days now! Sweet! Hubby did stop on Friday and spent under $50 so that was pretty cool ... and it included a jar of ghee and a 12 pk of Coronas.... Here's what we planned: Saturday - Aussie chicken because I had everything on hand (chicken, bacon in freezer, made the honey mustard dressing, cheese from Costco several weeks ago and shrooms are what Hubby picked up). I also made a bag of frozen chopped spinach for hubby as I know he'd want more than just the chicken Sunday - leftovers ... a few slices of pizza (frozen) from...

Whee ... I'm entering in to WEEK 2 of single girl status! Ok, again, not really. I'm still married to Hubby but he's up in Indiana indefinitely taking care of some business.  Oh, yeah, and the Boy and the cats are still here too ... so single girl status is far from accurate! What I do  mean though is that I get to cook the way I want to ... the Boy is vegetarian and eats odd stuff at even odder times so it's just me! Normally that would mean an abundance of avocados, mangos and steak salad ... but not this time around.  This time, I'm trying to be very mindful and keep a clean meal plan ... not quite Whole30 or Paleo but pretty close ;-) I bought a LOT of stuff last week so I should be good to go without any side trips ... although I am sad that I'm out of the Chameleon Vanilla Cold Brewed Coffee Concentrate ... may make the Boy but it this time since he drinks quite a bit of it as well ... otherwise, I have no intention of stepping foot in a store ...

Hubby heads out of town today for a week or so. Probably 2 weeks or so. I'm actually looking forward to a little quiet time! Whee!!!  My first thought was to have a girls night but then I thought NO because I really want to just ditch the booze while he's out of town. I won't drink alone so I might as well embrace the time, right? Right! Strawberry Margaritas This is actually good for my eating habits in that I can make WHAT I want, the way I want! And if I should happen to eat something that makes me not so very happy (in other words, a bad food choice!) then it's no one's fault but mine. Stop playing the blame game! I anticipate that IF I cook as much as I'd like to be doing, I'll be able to meal prep and freeze some future meals in the process which would make me a very happy camper! I'm hoping to hit up Costco at some point this week for a few things such as chicken thighs, chicken breast and a small amount of veggies but I might just...

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!)...

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...