May Haul, week 2...non stop disco preppin!! haha

It's finals week but somehow I still made time to fit in some stuff in the last few days. I just wanted to clarify that when I call it a week - it's 7 calendar days. So week 1 is May 1-7, week 2 is May 8-14 etc...

It's getting a bit harder to get deals and I haven't had time to run to and from my usual stores - but I am doing what I can when I can and that includes buying non food related preps. I've also decided that I have to can at least once a week. 1 full batch of canned stuff whether it's meats or fruits or pickles - 1 batch has to happen per week MINIMUM.

My kitchen is really busy these days since I just had 3 1/2 moms here and there are still 2 Moms here. That kind of crowding encouraged me to take a break from dehydrating. Besides I'm waiting for the boys to build my sun drying rack things.

I started off week 2 with 6 lbs of strawberries. I was told by a friend that the FDA approved a pesticide for strawberries known to cause cancer - so that will be in effect by next years harvest. Since I'm not so talented at gardening and Mr. Man loves strawberry I might as well get the jump on it. These ones came in at $1 a pound from Sprouts Market.







The first 6 lbs of strawberries were dedicated to preserves. To me preserves are more whole and to be enjoyed on desserts, ice cream sundae's or maybe even belgian waffles. Trim and Wash and Rest in Sugar...

Follow the Blue ball book for heirloom strawberry preserves and you can't go wrong.



They are so pretty I had to take a picture of them












Boil hard and skim...then rest for 12-24 hours












Wouldn't you know a few days later the darn things went down to 87cents a lb so Mr. Man picked up another 10 lbs.

This is the 3rd batch we've bought this month and definitely the most delicious.








I even managed to throw in 4 quarts of chicken teriyaki. So the 16lbs of strawberries made 3 quarts of sauce, 1 quart preserves, 8 pints preserves and 3 pints of loose jam. The sauce can also be used as sugar in your strawberry green tea. The reason I made loose jam is so that it can be used for strawberry ice cream - I find the best strawberry ice cream is made of 50% preserves mixed with 50% fresh berries. But that's just me.



Walgreens deal:
Sugar 1.99 w/coupon
Kleenex .89 cents w/coupon
Nexcare Bandaids: free from rebate










I stopped by the local Dollar Tree looking for some more 2.5 gal buckets but they were all out. They did have my favorite fuze drinks for 50 cents and the Butler GUM toothbrushes 2 for 1. My aunt is a dentist and actually suggests butler GUM as her preferred toothbrush.







Fry's Grocery/Marketplace had these arrowhead stackable 1.5 liter bottles for .49 cents. Personally arrowhead is not my favorite tasting water but I feel a strong urge to put stuff up lately. Stronger than usual. So even though we have water stores we are buying these more for the reuse possibilities of the containers. The price is still holding this week so I may just buy another 20.




Fry's best deal of the week is their American beauty pasta 1 lb for .49 cents. So I picked up 20 bags of it since it does not expire until 2014.
















The Ragu brand stuff was only $1.09 and I picked up some tuna as well for Mom 1 (she only likes the one in oil)....69 cents each on those.










Mangoes at Fry's Marketplace were only 3 for $1 and the quality was there.












I had a totally random list from Mom 1 about what she wanted for the house and in filling that list I found 3 clearance tables at the local Fry's. A dozen wide mouth lids and bands were only $1.79. The pickling stuff was only .49cents, The funnels were only .59 cents. I took them all. Why? Because now I don't have to worry about back up. But I did treat myself a bit...




To the "NEW" secure grip jar lifter...in the faux brushed nickel and modern looking rubber. I paid 10.99 for this thing. But I didn't want to wait and I didn't want to pay shipping and handling either.

I'm excited to see that Fry's carries canning jars and accept competitor coupons so I will end up buying jars there for a bit cheaper than Walmart.




Basha's has very good whole corn and this week it was 5 for $1. The chicken was also 1.77 a lb for breast so I bought eh maybe 7 or 8 lbs of it...I don't remember. It made 4 quarts canned.









I popped by the 99 cent only and El Super to look for another cuticle trimmer since Mom2 said she really wanted my sally hansen one and she couldn't find it at any of the drug stores lol. Instead I found 4 pkgs of melba toast at a buck a pop and the large valentina hot sauce for $1.29 that's 50 cents off the usual price - and I forgot to snap pics - but braeburns 3 lbs for 99 cents, and broccoli crowns - 3 lbs for 99 cents. and this fantastic curry stuff...see below.


I love Kikkoman Brand stuff...I was really surprised to find teh Curry Sauce with beef or chicken with vegetables that you can heat and eat over rice. I will taste test this - or Mr. Man will and we will review it on youtube.

But I know these will be at the MINIMUM good. Best case scenario they will be GREAT and I will have to buy 2 cases instead of half a case for variety. They were only .79 cents ea.


I bought a couple of these to cut into 16 pieces to make mini starter logs in case we can't get the fire going right off the bat. I will just saw them into disks and wrap them in old Christmas wrap so they have something you can light.









Oddly enough they had the off clipons (replacement disk and 2AA batteries included) for only $3 each compared to the usual 10 bucks that these cost. I figure it wouldn't hurt to have a couple besides Mr. Man could always use this while golfing.








Today Mom1 comes home from the Doctors office and romping around and says,"here do something with this..." I said what lol - she said 4 for $1. Great right.

Yeah great more work for me haha.








The prep I didn't take a picture of is my 2 new pairs of glasses and contacts. Don't ever go to America's best they suck big giant rhino balls. But I needed my scrip asap and just took care of it. BUT...next to the optometrist was a little store called Dd Discount...it looked like Ross but not Ross. My Mom2 was in there picking around while I was picking up my glasses, so while I was looking for her I found this speckle pot thing that would be good for making rice over a fire or soup - neither too big nor too small...



The little pot was only a little under 4 bucks - and I also picked up a couple sundresses for about 5 bucks each since I knew that Mr. Man would "get on me" about not doing anything for myself and just always put everything into the prepping lol.


I'm very happy that even if we are in the prepping together we still live in today...





Also stopped by another Walgreen's today looking for these Johnson's Q tips since I had a $1.99 coupon - don't you know they had them hidden in the baby stuff lol. 500 count q tips for 1.99. I also picked up 2 totes golf umbrellas on clearance for $4. Normally these are 12-15. Hey it never hurts...and at least they are quality.







Last stop - Bashas Grocery for their whole ground chuck which is really good to me - it even smells good I think it was like 1.97 a lb and the beef bouillon only came to about .75 cents a piece.










6 lbs of ground beef made 2 quarts and 4 pints of beef. Instead of just boiling water I put beef bouillon and a teaspoon of red chili flakes. That's just a preference. Since there was room and I had the produce around I also bottled up some jalapeno, cauliflower, and carrots with a bit of pickling stuff and it came out looking pretty good. It has a bit of space from the shrink but that's better than over stuffing and not getting a seal at all.





Tough business this prepping...but I'm glad we do it. Sometimes when I'm tired a do a little preps tour and I feel like I can sleep even better.

I had about a 7 day period where I felt extremely exhausted to the point where I could barely lift my head at 3pm and keep it together. Saturday Sunday and Monday I spent almost the entire day and night asleep. Then today I woke up and felt normal. Very strange business.

My last final essay was assigned last night in Bio Ethics. I will dedicate the time to it and see it through. I got an A on my Math Final and can relax until July or August. I would really like to reorganize the house and work on the Ghetto Garden more. But I can't shake this feeling of urgency that I need to get things together very quickly. It is what it is...I still have a couple days left for week 2 - lets see what we can do.