~~~~~~~~~~~~ October 2022 Frugalistas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[JustEm]

3 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

I just did my weekly Walmart order. Whole milk is $3.22/gallon. 

that is the norm here.  

[Condessa]

I picked up some mung beans last week from the bulk section of Winco to try sprouting.  They are a big success!  My kids love sprouts, and this is much cheaper than buying fresh sprouts.  I think they will be a great addition to our emergency food supplies, too, as fresh greens are the greatest lack on an emergency food storage diet.  Also, the sprouts make a great snack that the baby can feed himself.

[saraha]

Garage sale wins this weekend! The Catholic Church was having their seasonal garage sale and I was able to get a coffee table for ds22’s apartment for $8 then spent $22.50 on 2 flannel sheets, 2 pairs of pants, 3 9x13 baking pans for various kids’ apartments, ice cube trays and pot in a size dd19 asked for, colander, air popcorn popper since dd19 took hers with her, an almost complete set of dinnerware in my pattern to replace pieces that have broken over the years, a table cloth, a shoe rack for the mud room and a table cloth for my dining room table! Oh and a tin of poker chips ds12 thought we needed. I felt like I had won the lottery!

Edited October 9, 2022 by saraha

[historically accurate]

6 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Is that normal milk??? Not organic or specialty milk???

Our milk is $4.64 at Walmart - just regular ol' 2%/skim/whole. Great Value brand is cheaper though - $3.02.

[historically accurate]

1 hour ago, saraha said:

Garage sale wins this weekend! The Catholic Church was having their seasonal garage sale and I was able to get a coffee table for ds22’s apartment for $8 then spent $22.50 on 2 flannel sheets, 2 pairs of pants, 3 9x13 baking pans for various kids’ apartments, ice cube trays and pot in a size dd19 asked for, colander, air popcorn popper since dd19 took hers with her, an almost complete set of dinnerware in my pattern to replace pieces that have broken over the years, a table cloth, a shoe rack for the mud room and a table cloth for my dining room table! Oh and a tin of poker chips ds12 thought we needed. I felt like I had won the lottery!

Those are some great deals!

[JustEm]

1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

Our milk is $4.64 at Walmart - just regular ol' 2%/skim/whole. Great Value brand is cheaper though - $3.02.

This was the store brand!!!

[prairiewindmomma]

8 hours ago, Condessa said:

I picked up some mung beans last week from the bulk section of Winco to try sprouting.  They are a big success!  My kids love sprouts, and this is much cheaper than buying fresh sprouts.  I think they will be a great addition to our emergency food supplies, too, as fresh greens are the greatest lack on an emergency food storage diet.  Also, the sprouts make a great snack that the baby can feed himself.

Mung bean sprouts are an awesome superfood! 
 

 

[mommyoffive]

15 hours ago, saraha said:

Garage sale wins this weekend! The Catholic Church was having their seasonal garage sale and I was able to get a coffee table for ds22’s apartment for $8 then spent $22.50 on 2 flannel sheets, 2 pairs of pants, 3 9x13 baking pans for various kids’ apartments, ice cube trays and pot in a size dd19 asked for, colander, air popcorn popper since dd19 took hers with her, an almost complete set of dinnerware in my pattern to replace pieces that have broken over the years, a table cloth, a shoe rack for the mud room and a table cloth for my dining room table! Oh and a tin of poker chips ds12 thought we needed. I felt like I had won the lottery!

That is a ton of stuff for 22 bucks!!   I think you did win the lottery.  I always love getting a deal and it is so much harder these days.

[prairiewindmomma]

My dd was given a watch last year for their birthday by the grandparents (a basic Fossil watch). The battery went dead. Watch battery replacements are $30 now at the jeweler’s (which is the only place that does them). In other states we could do it for like $5.

First we had to order a watch repair kit from Amazon ($17) and a battery ($4). We could finally get the back off with a tool from that kit. We couldn’t get the back put on it, so now we are ordering a watch press (another $17).

It’s been frustrating, but hopefully it will be easier in the future. And, now we have the tools to do link removals, etc.

 

[mommyoffive]

Grocery order picked up.

Gas is going down here.  The places that were 4.19 on Friday are now 3.95 or 3.99.  Lowest price I found on my drive was 3.74 for regular.  

[mommyoffive]

Gas that was 4.19 last Thursday, was 3.99 this morning, and 3.79 at lunch time.  Keep on dropping!!!

[mommyoffive]

Through October 12th, head on over to Amazon where Prime Members can score a whopping $10 Amazon Credit with the purchase of an Amazon Gift Card or Amazon Reload of $50!

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[mommyoffive]

$10 off $50 on toys on Amazon

Amazon.com: Save $10 when you buy $50 of select items promotion

[historically accurate]

I just booked a hotel for 5 days at Mayo Clinic - middle DD has a week of testing there at the end of November. Gonna have to work extra, and I'm taking out my sick time from my second job (since I have to use it up by February anyway) to help cover it. Anyone have ideas of what to make in a hotel room with a small kitchenette? 

 

[saraha]

21 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

I just booked a hotel for 5 days at Mayo Clinic - middle DD has a week of testing there at the end of November. Gonna have to work extra, and I'm taking out my sick time from my second job (since I have to use it up by February anyway) to help cover it. Anyone have ideas of what to make in a hotel room with a small kitchenette? 

 

Tons of ideas! What do you like to eat?

[historically accurate]

34 minutes ago, saraha said:

Tons of ideas! What do you like to eat?

I eat pretty much anything except dairy - I'm trying to continue to lose weight though. DD is a picky one, and she prefers "kid" foods - pizza, chicken fingers, fries, etc.  Usually what happens is lunch is more convenience foods (even if it's homemade chicken fingers or something), and dinner is a little more "grown up".

[prairiewindmomma]

2 hours ago, historically accurate said:

Anyone have ideas of what to make in a hotel room with a small kitchenette? 

 

I’ve got this down to a fine art after our medical adventures. Are you driving or flying? If you are driving, do you have an instant pot or crockpot you can bring? 
 

Eta: when we drive, we have a little laundry basket like basket that we take that has the instant pot, cutting board, chef knife (wrapped in a towel, stored inside the instant pot), spatula, roll of paper towels, dish soap, scrubber sponge, and spices. We use the towel as a way of drying the dishes.

Extended stay type places usually have pots and a dishwasher. Hotel room kitchenettes are usually just a microwave and a minifridge….maybe an induction burner. 
 

Your options are a lot broader if you can bring an instant pot as you can use that like a burner to brown meat or eggs, or you pressure cook. We do hard boiled eggs, egg scrambles, muffins, yogurt, fruit etc for breakfast.

Edited October 12, 2022 by prairiewindmomma

[saraha]

Can you bring an air fryer? Then dd could have her comfort foods.

if you have a microwave, you can cook rice, baked potatoes, all kinds of things

if you are driving can you premake meals and freeze to take with you?

[mommyoffive]

On my other commute gas that was 4.19 on Friday, 3.99 on Monday,  was 3.69 today.

[mommyoffive]

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[mommyoffive]

All the cricket brand kid magazines are $5 for 4 months on Amazon.

[mommyoffive]

Through October 12th, you can get $10 off any $50 purchase at Kohl’s when you use the promo code YOUGET10 at checkout! Or print this coupon here to take to store with you.

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[mommyoffive]

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The $4.95 shipped price is the BEST deal we’ve ever seen on KiwiCo! It’s even better than their Black Friday and Cyber Monday pricing!!

from moneysavingmom

[cjzimmer1]

My frugal activity of the day was to go to the Amish produce auction. I went for onions and squash (for the dogs, I don't eat squash). Onions were sky high (which I expected since they've been that all year) but still came in about half the price of the grocery store.  Normally I pay about a third of what I did but we go through so many onions I just have to bite the bullet and pay it since it will still save my money over the winter. I've now got 250 pounds in the basement. I'll be canning French onion soup, and freezing and dehydrating some over the next month to preserve their longevity.

But my big frugal wins were a bin of butternut squash for $5.00. There were 55 squash in there and most weigh between 6-9 pounds each. Major baking and dehydrating of those this week but my dogs will be thrilled.

Then I got huge gorgeous mums for 25 cents each. You had to buy 10 but the guy who won the bid didn't want that many so sold me two.

Then I bought another assorted box of squash (it was 1 7/8 bushels) for $2.00.  I only wanting the delicata out of it (there was about a dozen of those) and then, spaghetti, acorn, turban and heart of gold as well.  

My sisters are all taking some squash but I still have oodles but the deals were too good to pass up.

 

ETA: Sorry the pictures are so big.  I don't know how to resize them

Edited October 15, 2022 by cjzimmer1

[Shoeless]

@cjzimmer1 you weren't going to feed onions to your dogs, were you? Onions cause a plastic anemia in dogs. Thought I should mention it, just in case.

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, MissLemon said:

@cjzimmer1 you weren't going to feed onions to your dogs, were you? Onions cause a plastic anemia in dogs. Thought I should mention it, just in case.

No no no no.  I knew they were bad for them.  Onions are for me, squash is for them!

[Condessa]

My dog Sunny had her surgery on Tuesday.  The incision was huge—apparently the masses to remove were much more extensive on the inside than we could feel beforehand.  The vet is being noncommittal until the biopsy results come back, but she sounds pessimistic.  We’ve explained to the kids as best we can while trying to avoid using the vocabulary we used concerning ds8’s surgery prior to his diagnosis.  Along the lines of, “The doctor did a procedure to remove some extra tissue she had growing here, and they’re doing some tests to see why it was growing like that.”  The younger kids seemed to accept this explanation fine.  Dd13 picked up on the gravity of the situation more.  Sunny seems to be feeling much better now, though, and missing her walks that the vet said she can’t go back to for two weeks.  I was really hoping we would hear back on the biopsy by the end of the week, but no news yet.

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

My frugal activity of the day was to go to the Amish produce auction. I went for onions and squash (for the dogs, I don't eat squash). Onions were sky high (which I expected since they've been that all year) but still came in about half the price of the grocery store.  Normally I pay about a third of what I did but we go through so many onions I just have to bite the bullet and pay it since it will still save my money over the winter. I've now got 250 pounds in the basement. I'll be canning French onion soup, and freezing and dehydrating some over the next month to preserve their longevity.

But my big frugal wins were a bin of butternut squash for $5.00. There were 55 squash in there and most weigh between 6-9 pounds each. Major baking and dehydrating of those this week but my dogs will be thrilled.

Then I got huge gorgeous mums for 25 cents each. You had to buy 10 but the guy who won the bid didn't want that many so sold me two.

Then I bought another assorted box of squash (it was 1 7/8 bushels) for $2.00.  I only wanting the delicata out of it (there was about a dozen of those) and then, spaghetti, acorn, turban and heart of gold as well.  

My sisters are all taking some squash but I still have oodles but the deals were too good to pass up.

 

ETA: Sorry the pictures are so big.  I don't know how to resize them

You have 250 lbs of onions?? I can't even imagine that.  Wow. 

The mums are huge and so pretty!  25 cents????? That is crazy.

Some much squash.  

I have never heard of an Amish Produce Auction, tell me more.

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

You have 250 lbs of onions?? I can't even imagine that.  Wow. 

The mums are huge and so pretty!  25 cents????? That is crazy.

Some much squash.  

I have never heard of an Amish Produce Auction, tell me more.

I know it's a lot of onions but we go through at least 10 pounds a week.  I could have made do with 3 bags but due to how the auction works it was either 5 bags or nothing.  

Local farmers (mostly Amish but some non-amish too) all bring their produce to the auction grounds (1-3 times a week depending on the time of year).  Most of it is sold in large wholesale lots (quantities of 5 or more, hence the 5 50 lb bags of onions) and it's purchased by grocery stores and people who resell it at farmer's markets or their farm stands.  Individuals are welcome to buy too but most people can't use the quantity (I use a lot of peppers too and it's cheaper to just go buy a bin than to raise my own but it means coming home with 200+ peppers in one shot, which turns into a pepper party at my house where all the kids get put to work helping clean and chop peppers for the freezer).  They also have a small lot line with quantities of 2-4 but prices tend to be higher because there are more people who are willing to buy the smaller lots.  Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the big lots and throw away half of it (which I've never done but as a theoretical exercise) than it is to buy smaller lots.  The drawback is the auction last 2-4 hours and is an hour north of me so it is pretty much a full day commitment.  But then I luck into these crazy deals and it totally makes it worth it.  I know when what I want is in season so I time my trips.  I went 3 times this year and got everything covered for my freezing/canning/dehydrating needs for the year that I didn't already have growing.

[JustEm]

My girls just got their parts for Nutcracker.  My younger girl got one part and my older one got 3 parts and is an understudy for another part.  So, I'm going to have to get pretty disciplined with food prep in order to make it through all the rehearsals and shows without having to rely on take out, which we are trying to avoid like the plague.  Any ideas for easy meals and snacks would be appreciated.

[mommyoffive]

29 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

My girls just got their parts for Nutcracker.  My younger girl got one part and my older one got 3 parts and is an understudy for another part.  So, I'm going to have to get pretty disciplined with food prep in order to make it through all the rehearsals and shows without having to rely on take out, which we are trying to avoid like the plague.  Any ideas for easy meals and snacks would be appreciated.

Oh Nutcracker talk.  What parts did they get? Have you guys started rehearsals yet? I am counting down the days until it is over.  🙂    How many shows do they do? 

Are you trying to just feed the 2 girls?  Or the whole family?

We have done it all I feel like.  Salads(regular and pasta), sandwiches, lunchable remakes, soups, leftovers, oatmeal, chili, frozen sushi (which then is a perfect temp when they eat).   Right now they are on chicken salad or tuna salad with crackers kick.  ETA that these are just the ideas for the people who are eating not at home

I am kicking it with a lot of crockpot meals because then it is ready for whenever we are here, because we are spending even more time at dance.

Snacks they are looking for more filling things with protein and such.  Cheese sticks, greek yogurt, granola bars or protein bars, nuts, trail mix, fruit, veggies, peanut butter to dip things in, smoothies, applesauce pouches, chocolate milk

Edited October 15, 2022 by mommyoffive

[JustEm]

5 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh Nutcracker talk.  What parts did they get? Have you guys started rehearsals yet? I am counting down the days until it is over.  🙂    How many shows do they do? 

Are you trying to just feed the 2 girls?  Or the whole family?

We have done it all I feel like.  Salads, sandwiches, lunchable remakes, soups, leftovers.   Right now they are on chicken salad or tuna salad with crackers kick.

I am kicking it with a lot of crockpot meals because then it is ready for whenever we are here, because we are spending even more time at dance.

Snacks they are looking for more filling things with protein and such.  Cheese sticks, greek yogurt, granola bars or protein bars, nuts, trail mix, fruit, veggies, peanut butter to dip things in, smoothies, applesauce pouches, chocolate milk

Younger dd is an angel.  Older dd is an angel, party girl, polichenelle, and an understudy for soldier. Rehearsals start Monday. They have 4 shows.  I'm so incredibly thankful that the driving will be shared between 3 families.  But man our life will be nutcracker until dec 19th.

Feeding the 2 girls and the whole family, although dh's work schedule is such this year that he'll be able to handle a lot of dinners if I'm doing dance runs.  we'll see. thanks for the suggestions.  

Have rehearsals started for your kids?  How many shows do they have?

[mommyoffive]

6 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Younger dd is an angel.  Older dd is an angel, party girl, polichenelle, and an understudy for soldier. Rehearsals start Monday. They have 4 shows.  I'm so incredibly thankful that the driving will be shared between 3 families.  But man our life will be nutcracker until dec 19th.

Feeding the 2 girls and the whole family, although dh's work schedule is such this year that he'll be able to handle a lot of dinners if I'm doing dance runs.  we'll see. thanks for the suggestions.  

Have rehearsals started for your kids?  How many shows do they have?

Yep, rehearsals started last week.  The kids decided they wanted to do it with their new school not the old school.  That saves me $1500!  It is a lot easier of a schedule too.  Not necessarily the rehearsal schedule, but the show schedule.  Last year the old school did 14 shows this year it is 11. And every year at least 2 of them would be in every show.  And the people we know still there are in every show so no break.  And they are doing 2 on Christmas eve which is new and would take the entire day.  Anyway only 3 shows this year and it is over on Dec 18.  We will have so much free time to actually enjoy the holiday.

Congrats to your girls!  It is so exciting to see them in their roles. 

Edited October 15, 2022 by mommyoffive

[JustEm]

44 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Yep, rehearsals started last week.  The kids decided they wanted to do it with their new school not the old school.  That saves me $1500!  It is a lot easier of a schedule too.  Not necessarily the rehearsal schedule, but the show schedule.  Last year the old school did 14 shows this year it is 11. And every year at least 2 of them would be in every show.  And the people we know still there are in every show so no break.  And they are doing 2 on Christmas eve which is new and would take the entire day.  Anyway only 3 shows this year and it is over on Dec 18.  We will have so much free time to actually enjoy the holiday.

Congrats to your girls!  It is so exciting to see them in their roles. 

Oh wow, there is no way in heck I would do a show on Christmas Eve. And why does it cost so much. Minus the audition fee the only added cost I foresee is dd needing new pointe shoes by the end of it

[JustEm]

That is great that you have so much more time to enjoy the holidays 

[mommyoffive]

10 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Oh wow, there is no way in heck I would do a show on Christmas Eve. And why does it cost so much. Minus the audition fee the only added cost I foresee is dd needing new pointe shoes by the end of it

That was the old school that charged to be in the Nutcracker.  The new school doesn't charge anything at all.  There used to be an audition fee and then the performance fee at the old school.  It was $350 per person if you were not a student there and then $300 if you were.  And because I haven't had my tea yet I did the math wrong.  It would have cost us $2100 to do it this year.  Holy cow.  Dh always did it too because the kids wanted him to.  Why does it cost that much?  Um they always just said that ticket sales didn't support the show so we  had to pay to be in it. 

For us doing it on Christmas eve wasn't really a problem.  The show was at 1 or 2pm.  We would be home by 4 or 5, still time to do some of our traditions.  It did make it a bit more hectic.  It became one of our new Christmas eve traditions.  And we missed it when we didn't have it in 2020.  But doing 2 shows on Christmas eve for us would just mean we wouldn't do anything but that.  We would be there all day long, probably leave at 8am and get home at 9pm or even later.  Honestly it would probably be a bit fun for some of the kids who are older and not into the Santa thing, but dang it would be so exhausting that I don't know that we could get the next day up and running.  

Edited October 15, 2022 by mommyoffive

[math teacher]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:26 PM, QueenCat said:

I just did my weekly Walmart order. Whole milk is $3.22/gallon. 

4.18 a gallon here

[mommyoffive]

Follow these steps on October 31st to score a $6 Chipotle Entree:

Dress up in costume

Join Chipotle Rewards (it’s free!)

Head to your local Chipotle restaurant from 3PM local time to close

Open the Chipotle app

Tap “SCAN”

Have the cashier scan your Chipotle Rewards member ID at the register

Enjoy a $6 entree!

[JustEm]

2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

That was the old school that charged to be in the Nutcracker.  The new school doesn't charge anything at all.  There used to be an audition fee and then the performance fee at the old school.  It was $350 per person if you were not a student there and then $300 if you were.  And because I haven't had my tea yet I did the math wrong.  It would have cost us $2100 to do it this year.  Holy cow.  Dh always did it too because the kids wanted him to.  Why does it cost that much?  Um they always just said that ticket sales didn't support the show so we  had to pay to be in it. 

For us doing it on Christmas eve wasn't really a problem.  The show was at 1 or 2pm.  We would be home by 4 or 5, still time to do some of our traditions.  It did make it a bit more hectic.  It became one of our new Christmas eve traditions.  And we missed it when we didn't have it in 2020.  But doing 2 shows on Christmas eve for us would just mean we wouldn't do anything but that.  We would be there all day long, probably leave at 8am and get home at 9pm or even later.  Honestly it would probably be a bit fun for some of the kids who are older and not into the Santa thing, but dang it would be so exhausting that I don't know that we could get the next day up and running.  

Gotcha. Why would they have so many shows if the the tickets didn't cover the show, seems odd (I know you can't answer that question.) But it's nice that you don't have to deal with that anymore.  

Christmas is my favorite holiday and all the craziness of the holiday only brings me joy.  But I'm not sure the craziness of a performance would be welcomed.  But having traditions everyone enjoys is always nice.

[heartlikealion]

I'm trying to prepare for a vendor booth at the children's school fall fest this week (Thurs night). I am doing a mix of baked goods and craft items. I am sewing some cloth gift bags. Really not sure if I'll make any profit, but worst case I break even on the vendor booth fee (money goes to the school). 

I feel kind of foolish because I don't think the average person will pay much for cookies and the cost of baking supplies is not ideal right now. Several items were already in my home (flour, several types of sugar, baking soda, baking powder). But the butter ugggh. It's pretty high this year. I found out there's a sale at Kroger if you buy in sets of 3 so I'll swing by Monday after my dental appt to see if that's a thing. My baking group is saying it's labeled on the shelf, not listed in the app. 

I made 2 new recipes today and I wasn't impressed with either one. I feel like it was such a waste. The snowballs made my mouth feel so dry. The brown sugar & cinnamon cookies didn't impress me -- would have much rather had a snickerdoodle. Neighbor said the brown ones were okay... so I may still sell those. But the snowballs I think would only be good with a cup of hot cocoa or something. I'm freezing everything I bake this weekend then will decide what to do with it. I won't throw the snowballs away, but might just bring to the church (they always have coffee so maybe people will eat with coffee). My kids might like them with hot cocoa. 

I feel more confident in my mint choc chip cookies but again not sure if it'll even be worth the cost. I bought Ghirardelli chocolate chips, Andes mints, and I'm using Great Value organic cage-free eggs. That was less because of baking and more because I've trying to eat healthier. I also bought a huge bag of Ghirardelli melting wafers from Sam's (like $9) for the holiday season. Haven't decided yet what I'll do with them. Last time I used to make choc dipped pretzels. I do not regret buying the good chocolate chips because I've ruined batches before with Great Value or Dollar store chips. Plus I'm hoping the Ghirardelli brand is less controversial with child labor. Though I haven't researched it. I know many chocolate brands have bad ties.  

If you read all that, do you have any suggestions on pricing for cookies? I'm thinking a small bag with 2 cookies sold together. I worry that if I charge too much, no one will buy. And if I charge too little I'm just throwing money down the drain. I live in a low-cost area so I know I have to lean toward the lower end on pricing. 

Some happy news, I found out by accident that I can get reimbursed after I renew my Child Passenger Safety Technician certification. I spoke to the right person and she said I could just send her proof or purchase and she'd help me get the refund. That's $55 and was part of my hesitation to renew. I finally got my community service event checked off. My current certification expires in Dec. so I have to catch up on my CEUs but I'm much more motivated now. 

My dad is helping me finish a Udemy course I bought by paying for my monthly subscription of Adobe Illustrator at the moment. I'm hoping I don't take too many months to finish. Just trying to fit it in when I can. There are 15 sections and I'm finishing section 4 this weekend. 

[heartlikealion]

Anyone have ideas of what to make in a hotel room with a small kitchenette? 

On 10/11/2022 at 4:54 PM, historically accurate said:

I just booked a hotel for 5 days at Mayo Clinic - middle DD has a week of testing there at the end of November. Gonna have to work extra, and I'm taking out my sick time from my second job (since I have to use it up by February anyway) to help cover it. Anyone have ideas of what to make in a hotel room with a small kitchenette? 

How far do you have to travel to get to the hotel? I wonder if you could prep some stuff and just drive it there and put in fridge/freezer. At my own home I keep a large mixing bowl with lid full of lettuce. For a hotel I'd put the lettuce in a ziplock for portability and because the fridge is small. I bake chicken to go with it. So if I was going to a hotel I would bake the chicken, freeze, then bring frozen and defrost as I needed it. I would store in pint size freezer bags portioned out -- a couple tenderloins or breasts. On a weekly basis I often chop up cucumber and carrots and store in glass containers. So for dieting purposes I would maybe bring those in a cooler with blue ice and put in the fridge when I got there. You could also bring a cutting board and buy fresh. But I can't picture if there's a proper countertop for that. Last place I stayed had mini fridge and microwave but no prep space. I would also pack peanut butter crackers, probably a loaf of bread (or buy when I got to town). I try to buy Ezekiel bread which needs to remain refrigerated so I would freeze before my drive or keep cold til I got there. Other toppings for salads can be non perishable. I keep pumpkin seeds handy. Sometimes nuts or tri color tortilla strips. Some people like croutons but I don't. 

For kids I would pack peanut butter and jelly (or buy in town) along with bread and maybe some convenience foods like "Fast Bites" burgers. Those you toss in the microwave. You could also buy family size casseroles and microwave (Grandma's bake, etc). Really will just depend on your family and what they want. I would pack oats for microwaved oatmeal and bring fruit cups to pour on the oatmeal or eat as a snack. These are standard things I keep at my home and at least one kid eats. Bring some whole fruit (bag of apples, bananas, etc). 

Don't know if any of those ideas help @hjffkj too. 
 

[prairiewindmomma]

10 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

I'm trying to prepare for a vendor booth at the children's school fall fest this week (Thurs night). I am doing a mix of baked goods and craft items. I am sewing some cloth gift bags. Really not sure if I'll make any profit, but worst case I break even on the vendor booth fee (money goes to the school). 

 

Cookies tend to not do as well in the bake sales I've been at. Iced sugar cookies do well if they have fun designs. Brownies always do well. Pies do well. Cupcakes do well, especially if they are decorated to be cute. Things that look novel and cute do well...it's all in the presentation.

Something like these chocolate mummy cupcakes (boxed chocolate cake mix, purchased eyeballs, white frosting): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/239183430200677309/  might be something I would do. These spider ones have the same decorating components (plus oreos): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427349452152590454/  These ghost sugar cookies: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/569986896601627187/  You get the idea....  For the sugar cookies, I would probably price them $1 each, but maybe 2/$1 since there isn't a lot of work into decorating those and this is a school event.

Also, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way, I would not go premium on ingredients for a school bake sale. Use margarine > butter. Buy the basic eggs. Chocolate is hit or miss, but I've made very lovely cookies with the great value chocolate chips. I do use proper melting chocolate when doing pretzel dipping sticks, not baking chocolate. 

 

[heartlikealion]

1 minute ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Cookies tend to not do as well in the bake sales I've been at. Iced sugar cookies do well if they have fun designs. Brownies always do well. Pies do well. Cupcakes do well, especially if they are decorated to be cute. Things that look novel and cute do well...it's all in the presentation.

Something like these chocolate mummy cupcakes (boxed chocolate cake mix, purchased eyeballs, white frosting): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/239183430200677309/  might be something I would do. These spider ones have the same decorating components (plus oreos): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427349452152590454/  These ghost sugar cookies: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/569986896601627187/  You get the idea....  For the sugar cookies, I would probably price them $1 each, but maybe 2/$1 since there isn't a lot of work into decorating those and this is a school event.

Also, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way, I would not go premium on ingredients for a school bake sale. Use margarine > butter. Buy the basic eggs. Chocolate is hit or miss, but I've made very lovely cookies with the great value chocolate chips. I do use proper melting chocolate when doing pretzel dipping sticks, not baking chocolate. 

 

I haven't used margarine in like over 10 years. I also don't use oil in recipes and substitute with apple sauce or butter. Just a personal preference, which I know might cost me more but I accept. And I've tried lesser quality butters and ruined things (Sam's Club butter was disgusting in some baked goods). 

I have a ton of cookie cutters so I could do sugar cookies and decorate to be cute. These are some I've done in the past but not sure they have any wow factor: 

[heartlikealion]

I will consider doing some cupcakes! With cute cupcake toppers or something 

[heartlikealion]

@prairiewindmomma I will reconsider some of the other ingredients next time I go to the store. For now the eggs aren't a big deal I guess since not every recipe I used asked for eggs and the two recipes I made today that did only used one egg each. I made pumpkin crinkle cookies a few minutes ago. They aren't super cute but might sell because of fall + pumpkin flavor. I'm gonna test one once they cool. 

https://www.lordbyronskitchen.com/pumpkin-crinkle-cookies/

I still have half a can of puree left so if they are good I might make a second batch. I mean the can is 15 oz, so it's a little shy of making a second cup... but might work? This year I found Great Value pumpkin puree and am trying that (vs Libby's). 

[mommyoffive]

@heartlikealionI really like the middle leaf cookie!!!  I would probably $1 and up for a package of 2 cookies like that. 

 

Milk is $2.72 a gallon here.  I can't remember what % I got.  Probably 1 or 2 as that is all we drink.  That is at Walmart so I am sure Aldi is cheaper.  And that is for chocolate milk too. 

Grocery order in and will be picked up today.  

Filled up on Thursday for 3.58 a gallon. 

I have been trying to keep the heat lower and that works on sunny and not so cold days, but I don't think it will work over winter to do that at all.   I had normally kept our house at 68 lowish in the daytime in the fall/winter but some windy cloudy days would have to go higher than that.  The past week or so I have had it at 65 and even yesterday that was fine because it was sunny out, but today that just feels to cold so up to 67 or 68.  I am not happy with the below normal cold we are having right now.  

Edited October 16, 2022 by mommyoffive

[mommyoffive]

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[mommyoffive]

3 of the kids needed new winter boots. 

Found out that vision, medical, and dental are not going up for next year!!!!!!!!!  I can't even believe that. 

[heartlikealion]

I decided to try to take the remaining brown sugar and cinnamon dough and use it as roll out cookies. According to this lady that should work: https://cookingwithcarlee.com/cinnamon-brown-sugar-cookies/

My neighbor said the pumpkin cookies were good (I left 2 there but family came over and they kinda fought over them lol). So I will for sure bring the pumpkin crinkle cookies but I had to re-evaluate realistic pricing and will likely do 2/$1 on those and will try to make the brown sugar cookies more presentable/bigger. My neighbor said the snowballs just didn't have flavor and I said you know, I added vanilla but I agree... so I think I will add more vanilla or try lemon extract. The snowballs may or may not make it to the event. 

Instead of the Andes cookies I'll make mint cupcakes. I ordered 9oz clear cups to put the cupcakes in and my neighbor gave me her treat bags (which even though they have holiday print, I'll make work... use the candy cane print on the mint cupcakes). I have Christmas stuff at my booth, anyway. The goal is to do something like this: https://www.cookiemadness.net/2011/04/02/packaging-cupcakes/ And I own an acrylic cake stand I'll put them on. Unfortunately, I think I can only charge $1/cupcake so I'll probably do a box mix, doctor it up, plus homemade icing/top with Andes. Some of the leftover cups will be used to send cupcakes to dd's Halloween class party. 

In order to make back my booth fee I'll rely more on the things I'm sewing. And I'm still not 100% sure what to charge for my bags. I made a couple more this weekend in varying sizes. 

[prairiewindmomma]

One of our instant pots died this last week (after 7 years of being used several times a week) and I need a new one.

I had hoped to get in on the Target daily deal sale yesterday but they were out of stock when I went to buy one.

If y’all see a 5-7 qt instant pot with the yogurt button for under $99 anywhere, can you please let me know? Thanks!