What we Spent on Groceries this Week (my grocery haul) 7/30/26

.  With the high cost of groceries I decided to let you know how I save money grocery shopping.  This is my last week's grocery haul.  

We stopped at a farmers stand alongside the road.  We bought a dozen ears of corn, 6 cukes, 4 peppers, and 3 tomatoes for $9.00.

 Farm stands (individual) gave me the most bang for my buck this week.

Then I came home and picked my first cucumber out of the garden..wouldn't you know it.  

We bought two packages of spareribs from Meijer on Flashfood for $13.01.  One was $5.81 and the other $6.24

Total $13.01

 

Meijer Shopping

4 quarts of strawberries

Cherries

Watermelon

Bananas

2 quarts of low carb ice cream and one box of low carb ice cream bars (2 of which are not shown-straight to the freezer)

Jar of Mayo

2 jars of pickled beets

2 gallons of milk

a loaf of Aunt Millie's low carb cinnamon swirl bread

Total $50.15

 

We went to Williams Cheese Store in Pinconning MI and bought ...cheese!  

  There were actually 3 (3 for $10) little blocks of cheese ...who knows where he put the other one so 

fast.

Big wheel of cheese 11.01

Total:   $21.01

We stopped at another farm stand later in the week and spent $5.00 on  zucchini, corn, and cukes. 

Total for this week:  $89.17  

Sunday -we had bbq spareribs with cukes and tomatoes sliced up on the side.

Monday -bbq chicken wings with mashed potatoes and corn

Tuesday- We went to Culver's on the way back from Pinconning and split a 3 pc fish meal with extra fries for $20.00-I came home and sold a item on Facebook for $20.00. That was perfect. 

Wednesday:    BLT (ok -BT's no lettuce)

Thursday: ham and cheese omelettes  

Today Friday:   Hamburgers on the grill-I plan on making zucchini bread this morning.

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).     

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What we Found at Garage Sales Yesterday..7/25/26

 It was a nice day for a ride (smoke was gone and the temp was around 70).  Before we left I made sure to look up garage sales on Facebook and we had a great time.  Here is what we found.

I found 3 tops and a pair of capri's for $1.00 apiece. The capri's and one top still had tags on them.

Found a very nice office chair for free along side the road for the grandson. He broke his and told us to be on the look out for one. We didn't know we would find it along side the road!   They also had some great looking desks out there but we didn't need them.  

We went on down the road and found 5 plastic lawnchairs for $15.00 total.  They need power washing (today hopefully)

Husband also found a whole can of brake fluid for $2.00 and an invertor thing for $10.00 (sorry no picture -it's out there in the garage somewhere).

The chickens are doing great...the garden is so so.  I'll be watering and weeding this morning.

How's everything in your neck of the woods?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).    

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

No Fresh AIr Just Smoke!

I watered the garden on Thursday morning...covering my face with my tshirt. (the air quality is very bad here in Michigan due to Canadian wildfires).   I got down the masks from my pandemic box for next time.   

It was my quickest watering session ever but  I found produce growing!  

Two cukes-there may be more but who has time to look -got to save my lungs.

Just about every tomato plant has ....tomatoes.  Yeah!  

I was just wondering ...what if you don't have a/c?  Like the Amish...how in the world do they breathe and that smell has been awful!

So my time outside has been limited.  I run in and out.  Hope next week is better but I've seen the pictures and videos...those forest fires are massive.  It might be a summer long problem, who knows?  I wish we would help them instead of complaining about their smoke.  

How's the weather where you are?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).    

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

What Else is There to Talk about: THE HEAT!

 

I'm pretty sure the cat saw something under the bushes...he wouldn't even look my way when I called. 

On Monday and Tuesday the oppresive heat was gone for a little while and we finally felt like we could get something done. I even turned on the oven and  made a birthday cake.

It's called Chocolate Marshmallow Cake and you can find the recipe here.  It was very good, so I made sure they took it home with them.  I hope I get my pan back LOL.

On Thursday the heat came back but I made it to the garden in the early morning to weed. I almost passed out ...the humidity was oppressive.  The rain  was scattered, they said.  

After giving up on it scattering on our garden we got out the hose, of course then it rained.  ha ha  It wasn't enough.  We might have gotten a 1/4 of an inch.  FYI:  You need at least one inch of rain every week in your garden.  I'll water on Saturday morning.

I did harvest the garlic this morning ...it was a good crop!  

How's the weather where you are?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).   

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

Catching up...Up North living, Garage Sail finds, a Menu and the Garden!

We traveled up north a couple of weeks ago and had a mini vacation.  It was so nice to take it easy.  We took our fishing poles but no luck this time.  

Then we came back and that night there was a storm that knocked down two big branches out of our tree.  Just missed our van!  Thank God for grandsons!  With this wood I think we are good for the winter.

We have been garage sailing every Thursday and Friday if life doesn't get in the way.  This has to be our greatest find these last few weeks.   A radio in a toaster for $2.00.  Everything works!

Our Menu for the week we went up North:

Mornings:   We are basically on our own for breakfast.  We are three grown adults so we eat what breakfast makes us happy.  Here are mine:

Monday:  Left over low carb, no sugar chocolate Gravy

Tuesday:  low carb blueberry muffins. bacon, and coffee

Wednesday:  leftover muffins and hard boiled eggs

Saturday:   Fried eggs with tomatoes and muffins I froze

Dinner:

Monday........ Roasted chicken in the crockpot with a side of green beans and carrots

Tuesday........ Chicken Fajitas (low carb tortillas-I'm using peppers that are frozen and vadilla onions.

Wednesday .....Up north Cracker Barrel

Thursday..........Cereal for Breakfast and KFC for dinner

Friday..............Big Boy for Breakfast then home yeah!! I was glad to see my bed again!  

I looked on Flash food while we were up north and was able to get two Koegel's chili sauce for hot dogs for $1.25 (reg around $5.00).

The Garden:

We've had to plant some of our white half runner beans three times-where the seeds too old or was it too much rain?  Who knows but I ordered new bean seeds and we are good to go.    I also replanted some pumpkin seeds that didn't come up.  Everything else is growing good so far.

I cleared out a bed and I now have an abundance of green onions in the fridge.  They keep longer in a glass of water.  Today I'm thinking about making ham roll-ups with cream cheese and green onions.  That will probably use two... What to do with the others, I'm not sure!  

How's everything in your neck of the woods?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).   

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

Book Review: The Busy Mom's Decluttering & Home Cleaning Challenge: The Simple 7-Day Plan to Clear Clutter, Tidy Your Home, and Feel Organized Again in Just 15 Minutes a Day

 

The Busy Mom's Decluttering & Home Cleaning Challenge: The Simple 7-Day Plan to Clear Clutter, Tidy Your Home, and Feel Organized Again in Just 15 Minutes a Day

⭐ Built exclusively for busy moms — not minimalists with empty schedules
⭐ Just 15 minutes a day — no free weekends or perfect conditions required
⭐ Combines decluttering AND cleaning — two problems solved in one daily routine
⭐ Fixes the cause of clutter, not just the surface — results that actually last
⭐ Backed by real science — UCLA, Princeton & University of Bath research
⭐ 10 exclusive done-for-you bonus tools included — free inside the book
⭐ FREE audio podcast you can listen and learn the decluttering technique anywhere
⭐ Works around real family life — kids, partners, school chaos and all

My Review:

I knew there were rooms in my house that needed deep cleaning but life seemed to keep me too busy to get to them.   I downloaded this book when it was free a week or two ago and it has helped me make time to really get down to business.

I started with the computer/sewing room and I feel like I've had amazing results! It's a room that has started to be a catchall and I just let it go.  Now it's not a make over ...but it feels like it!.

The before:  

The After:

The Before:

                                                  

The After:

I was tempted to finish projects but then I knew I would never get done. Those projects will be there this winter after gardening season.  I just folded, cleaned, and donated.

It didn't overwhelm me at all ...just 15 minutes a day.   It has taken about 1 week and half.

One secret I might as well tell you ...yesterday I looked up and saw the ceiling fan.  Well that was enlightening to say the least.  

This book gave me a system that helped get it done.  I feel like I can keep this room looking nice and tidy now.

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.