Friday Freebies

It's been awhile since I've posted some freebies. I just don't get as many free things as I used to. This week was pretty good, so I thought I would share.The toothpaste was free after ECB's at CVS. I was so thankful to get this as I am on my last tube of free toothpaste. It's been years since I have had to pay for any! I also got the candy corn at CVS. When I went in and scanned my card, it printed a coupon for .99 of candy corn and it was .99. The spaghettios were from Meijer and were free after a coupon printed online.
My mom scored a deal on the Kashi cereal- 1.12 a box. Tim's parent's gave us 3 boxes of cereal (2 have been eaten) and their leftover camping food. Bratwurst, hot dogs, buns, pb cookies, marshmallows and teddy grahams.

I'm thankful for all freebies, whether they come from the store or from family and friends. They all help the grocery budget!

Last week's shopping trip...

The free...

(All from grocery shopping with coupons minus the Burt's Bee's toothpaste which I got as a sample in the mail).

The cheap...

( I think the cat treats were .19 each. The Goldfish were .25 each and the tuna was somewhere around .20. All bought with coupons).

and the ridiculously cheap!

10 packages of bread from the thrift store. $1.20 for all. (That's .12 each)!

My mom and I are quite a pear!

Yesterday my mom came over to help me can pears. I have a friend who has a pear tree and she picks the pears and I can them. She lets me keep half. I think she has the better end of the deal, but hey, it's relatively free food!Aren't they beautiful?!
14 quarts down, many many many more to go!

Friday Free and 40 on Monday

On Thursday before I went grocery shopping, I stopped at my friend, Barb's house to see the new addition on her house. While I was there, she filled me up on chocolate chip cookies and then sent me with some apple crisp to go. I had mentioned to her husband that I was going to make some salsa and he offered me some peppers from their garden. Well, a couple of peppers turned into a whole lot of peppers and tomatoes. There were several different varieties of each. Here, Spot checks them out.

Free food #2 was a bag of shredded cheese from my friend, Kathy, at work. She had ordered Skyline chili and gotten two large bags of cheese( there was at least a cup of cheese in the bag). When she offered me one, I was quick to snatch it up. She also gave me a bag of oyster crackers, but I ate those at work.
And here is my shopping from last week. Grand Total $42.16. I really try to keep it to $40 which meant that I let some things I had on this weeks list move to next weeks list. Like dishwasher detergent. It is not a necessity and dishes can (and have been) washed by hand. We have also made it without paper towels and the one that was left on Thursday is still hanging there, so I think we'll make it.

Frugal Friday.....Using Free Food

My best advice for today is that if someone offers you free food, take it. Even if you don't know what you're going to do with it, even if it's something you don't like, even if it looks like this bag of fruit, TAKE IT!
On Valentines Day, we had a chocolate fountain at work for the residents to dip fruit and cookies in. Afterwards, there was this bag of fruit that they were just going to throw away. I said I would take it and I am glad I did.
I ended up peeling the apples and making apple crisp (left) and then mushed up the bananas in the bag and used them to make banana bread (right). Before that day, I would have told you that I don't like banana bread. However, when it came out of the oven and I tasted it....mmmmm! I will be trying that recipe again. I believe both recipes came out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

The five strawberries in the bag were part of our breakfast. Nothing went to waste.

Now you may be asking "why would I take food that I don't like"? Well, it can be pureed and put into something you do might like. It could be pureed and added to your kids waffle or pancake mix (I'm thinking fruits and vegetables here, not lasagna- ha ha).

God provides for our needs in all kinds of ways, and I think this is one we often overlook. Some people don't feel comfortable taking "free" food or "other people's leftovers". Once you get over those thoughts however, you will find yourself blessed beyond measure. Now when people are looking to to get rid of some food or send some home after a party, they know I'm open to taking leftovers.