Restaurant Supply Warehouses

     In my quest to cut costs I have looked at all my options for saving money. Not far from my house I have found a grocery and restaurant supply warehouse. They sell food as well as restaurant supplies and professional appliances. The warehouse is open to the public and doesn't require any membership fees. I have found that they have a better price on some things, but not everything. I probably visit the warehouse about once a month. I always stroll the aisles to see what new things they have in.  My latest find has been restaurant  kitchen containers. They sell a whole selection of plastic and stainless steel storage bins in sizes ranging from tiny to huge.


      I have been on the hunt for something to store flour in. I wanted some sort of container that had a wide top so it would be easy to scoop that flour out. I have searched a number of department stores and thrift stores looking for some sort of jar, crock or tin that would serve the purpose. Unfortunately I didn't have any luck. Most of the containers I saw were small little jars that did not have the wide mouth I wanted and would not hold a whole 5 kg bag of flour. Last week I saw the perfect size plastic bin at the warehouse store. I was able to purchase a sturdy plastic 12 qt wide-mouth bin with a tight-fitting plastic lid. The bin is the perfect size to fit on a shelf in my cupboard. Restaurant Supply warehouses can be a great source of commercial grade kitchen supplies. I am so pleased with my new flour bin. Of course, I have a ton of ideas about how I can use more of these types of containers.  

     

  

Making Meal Starters

     This week there were a lot of good meat sales. Our freezer stash was getting low, so it was perfect timing. My husband and I went to a few different grocery stores to get all the specials. Most of the meat came in the big bulk packs. We spent about 2 1/2  hours preparing all the meat for the freezer.

     Some of the meat required only dividing into smaller meal-size portions (stewing beef, chicken thighs and pork tenderloin). I cut up a roast beef into strips and make packages of stir-fry meat. Some of the hamburger was frozen raw, in small packages, but most of it I precooked. I do not care for traditional OAMC recipes because I do not like the texture changes of some of the ingredients. I do like to make some meal "starters" to freeze that make it easier and quicker to get supper on the table when I am busy.

  For spaghetti starter, I brown ground beef, onions, celery and peppers together. Then I divide the cooked ingredients into in freezer bags. It's quick to make a meal on days that I work . I just add the contents of one freezer bag (frozen or thawed doesn't matter) to jarred spaghetti sauce . While it heats, I cook the noodles. Dinner can be on the table within 30 minutes.

      I cook a more generic hamburger mix, with just celery and onions for recipes like shepherd's pie, hamburger helper, sloppy joes etc. Again I just add different ingredients to make different meals.

      When we got home from the grocery store we set up and assembly line to get everything done.  We clean and chop all the vegetables we will be using. I use my large, rectangular electric frying pan to cook the ground beef. An entire large family pack of hamburger will fit in it. While it is cooking, we work on re-packaging all the other meat. We removed the skins from some of the chicken thighs (we save the skins for making stock). We bag all the meat, using kitchen scale to make packages all close to the same size. Everything is labelled with a sharpie. We pack the bags as flat as possible to save room in the freezer. Last of all we make a list so we can keep track of what we have in the freezer.

     In less than 3 hours we froze 6 spaghetti starters, 2 shepherd pie starters, 9 packages of stew meat, 2 packs of beef stir fry meat, 3 packs of chicken thighs (one skinless), 4 packs of plain raw ground beef, 3 pork tenderloins and 3 roasts. I love to look in the freezer and see my "stash".

  

Project 333 Review

Today marks the last day in the initial Project 333 challenge. In September I devised my list of 33 items and on October 1st I packed away all my other clothes and only had my 33 items in my closet to wear. I'd like to review how I did.

Positives

I loved my stream-lined closet. It was easy to pick out what I needed each day. Everything was easy to find. I knew exactly what I had. I noticed if anything was missing. All the clothes on my list were things that I liked to wear and felt good wearing. I didn't have anything in my closet that was tight, worn looking or in need of mending. I know that some of the clothes I packed away did not fit this criteria!


All the items I chose were easy care. There were no delicate items that required special laundering. I valued what I had, because there was a limited supply. I carefully rehung things I planned to wear again. I was careful to turn up my pant legs, when it was wet or snowy out.  I  attended to any mending/damage right away. The hem unravelled on a t-shirt I had just purchased it in September. I took it back to the store and exchanged it. Most stores have a policy that will allow you to return/exchange items that does not wear the way it should. In the past I probably would have wore something else and never got around to returning the item.

In formulating my list I really had to examine what my "style" is. I had many clothes in my closet that fit some style that I aspired to, but not the way I actually lived. There wasn't any room for non-essentials. My "get real" 33 list was composed of the clothes that I usually wear, comfortable slacks, casual t-shirts and sweaters.


The biggest revelation for me was that NOBODY noticed I was taking part in the challenge. I did not share with friends/coworkers that I was doing the challenge. Nobody mentioned a thing about what I was wearing. Nobody made any comments about me wearing the same clothes and shoes over and over. I learned that I should dress to please myself, because nobody else really notices what I wear.

Challenges 

I had a cruise planned with my sister. my plan was to not take my formal dress because I did not include it on my 33 list. My sister was disappointed when I let her know I was not planning to bring a dress. I ended up trading the dress for a pair of pants that I hadn't worn yet. I had to go over 33 items to include some dressy shoes and costume jewellery.  

Another challenge was weather related. Our area got an early dumping of snow and -30C temperatures. The little blue ankle boots and corduroy coat I had chosen were not adequate. I traded them out for a warmer jacket and warmer snow boots.

Plans For The Future

There is a second phase of the Project 333 Challenge. I have decided not to participate. I feel that I have learned a lot in the initial challenge and want to use my experiences to make some changes that work for me and my lifestyle. Instead of limiting myself to a specific number of items I want to make sure my clothes meet certain criteria. I am using today to ruthlessly go through my packed-up wardrobe and weed out anything that:

1. I do not love or feel good wearing.
2. That is uncomfortable to wear or doesn't fit perfectly.
3. Needs repairs I will not do.

I realized that I definitely do not need to buy anything. Even though I wore the same clothes over and over, not a thing "wore out". I have enough clothes, pajamas and shoes to last for a long time. I know I can manage with much less. I am challenging myself not to buy any clothing/shoes that are not absolutely necessary. I want to make sure that I continually review my wardrobe and donate anything that does not meet my criteria. I plan to do a follow-up post about what made the cut in my revamped wardrobe.

An Expensive Lesson

I came home from working the night shift this morning to a house that was freezing cold. Checking our digital thermostat I noted it was only 12C. The thermostat was set for 18C. The heat sign was flashing which it does when the furnace is on, only the furnace was not on! I did the usual, checked the pilot light and the filter. Turned the furnace on and off using the thermostat. Reset the thermostat. I even banged on the side of the furnace. Nothing made a difference so I called a repairman.

Luckily the repairman was here within the hour. He checked the furnace and found nothing wrong with it. He finally determined that our digital thermostat needed new batteries! Although it appeared to be working normally, the display was lit and it was displaying the temperature settings etc. the batteries were so low they did not initiate turning the furnace on. So I ended up having a $113 service call to replace my thermostat batteries! From now on I will be changing my thermostat batteries every year when I change my smoke detector batteries.

Check those batteries everyone!

Merging Family Traditions

A post at Small Notebook For A Simple Home   regarding Christmas traditions got me to thinking about how my husband and I have merged our family's traditions and created our own.

The first Christmas we were married we went crazy making sure we saw everyone. We spent the day driving from our parents to grandparents for hurried visits. We even had two Christmas dinners. One at lunch with my family and another at supper time with his.  By our next Christmas we had a baby. We decided Christmas eve and day would be time at home instead of madly rushing around. We planned our extended family dinners for the weekends before or after Christmas.

My husband and I looked at what our traditions were as children and decided which things we enjoyed and would carry-on. We also decided what we didn't like and would drop. My husband was happy to dump his family's tradition of eating breakfast before opening presents. I was thrilled to let go of my family's tradition of leaving for grandma's house right after the last gift was unwrapped Christmas morning. My parent's filled stockings for each other. My husband and I tried that, but we didn't really enjoy it so we stopped. Now stockings are just for the kids.

One of the new traditions we developed was making Christmas eve more of an "event". As I child I remember Christmas eve being so hard to get through. I was so excited and it lasted so long because our family didn't do anything special except for opening one present (always a pair of new pajamas, a tradition I gladly incorporated into our family's Christmas eve). Now our family fills Christmas eve with activities. We go to church followed by a drive around town looking at all the lights. We have certain Griswald-like houses that we go back to every year. We go home and have hot chocolate and some savoury delicacies like shrimp. We stay up late watching all our favourite Christmas movies. (over the years I've replaced our videos with DVDs).

On Christmas morning we do things a little differently than when we were children. Our families used to hand out all the gifts and then everyone would attack their own pile. You always had that one person who was a much slower un-wrapper than others and was still working away when all the others were done (that same kid always saved their Halloween candy too and teased when they ate it in front of the others!). Now we take turns doing one gift at a time. That way Christmas morning lasts longer and everyone gets to be the centre of attention. Everyone gets to see everyone else's gifts. The giver gets to savour the moment when the recipient opens that perfect present.

We have learned to be flexible as well. I am a nurse and I'm required to work every other weekend and every other Christmas.  I don't want to feel that Christmas is ruined because we cannot do everything exactly the same every year. The year my kids were 11 and 16 I had to work 7 am to 7 pm. We talked to the kids about how they wanted to do things. The kids nixed the idea of getting up at 5 am to do their presents. They ended up choosing to open their stockings when they got up. They waited to do their presents when I got home at 8 pm. My husband cooked Christmas dinner and they brought plates to the hospital. We all ate together, in the hospital cafeteria, on my break. Everyone agreed, it was fun stretching out Christmas day like that.

As our family has grown and changed, our traditions have had to evolve. With a daughter away at university and home only for a limited time at Christmas we have had to shake things up a bit. We always decorate our tree on my first weekend off in December. Usually we make tree-decorating an "event". We went ahead and decorated the tree but we have saved some of my daughter's favourite ornaments. She can add them to the tree when she gets home on Christmas eve.

There is a certain security in practising the same Christmas traditions year to year. But it can also set you up for disappointment if you feel that everything has to be the same. When you merge two people's expectations and traditions being flexible will allow you to compromise and enjoy the holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone!

What are your favourite holiday traditions?

Travel Medical Insurance

I love to travel. Big trips, little trips, day trips and weekend trips. My sister lives in Texas and I visit her at least twice a year. I live 3 hours from the USA border. It's not unusual for us to zip down for an overnight visit. Next month I have a vacation planned that will take me to Mexico. While I look for deals on hotels, restaurants etc. One thing I won't skimp on is travel medical insurance. Even if I am just over the border for an hour, and that has happened when I have had to drop someone at the airport. I want to make sure I'm covered. Of course, my frugal nature has meant I have searched out the best deal!

There are many different options when it comes to purchasing travel medical insurance. There are multiple companies that offer travel medical insurance. Including banks, traditional insurance companies and auto clubs. Some employer benefit plans even include emergency medical trip coverage.

As for the type of coverage there are also multiple options. In the past I would buy an emergency medical plan for the specific duration of my trip (called a daily plan by my auto club). If I knew I had an upcoming vacation I'd buy travel medical insurance that would cover me for that specific period of time. Insurance companies base the cost on the age of the applicant. For my upcoming vacation a travel medical plan to cover me would cost $24.24 for 8 days. If the entire family was travelling a family plan for the same duration would cost $48.48. For a day trip to the States it would cost $12.12 for 1 days coverage for a single person or $24.24 for a family.

Another option is an annual plan. An annual plan covers you for the entire year, for multiple trips up to 15 or 30 days in duration (depending on the option you choose). For me, a 15 day annual plan would cost $75. A family would cost $150/year. This coverage is for the entire year for multiple trips. The advantage of this plan is that I can plan a spur-of-the-moment trip across the border with no worries about arranging for travel insurance. Because I travel frequently, the annual plan is a much more cost-effective option.

Since purchasing our annual plan in March, we have crossed the border multiple times. In March my daughter took a 10 day vacation. I drove her to, and picked her up from the Buffalo airport. In April the rest of the family took a 10 day vacation. Next month I will be away for 8 days. Separately, travel medical insurance for each of these trips would have cost $139.38. That is close to the cost of the annual premium, and we still have 6 months left!

Linking to:


For Works for me Wednesday.

The Clothes For Project 333

I've organized my closet with my 33 clothing items. You'll notice that the clothes I picked are very colourful. I very seldom wear black and haven't included anything black in my 33 items.

Bottoms: 7 pairs
blue slacks, blue cords, beige cords, brown cords, blue jeans, beige capris, beige skorts

cardigans: 2
blue cardigan, beige cardigan

tops: 11
1 striped sweater

blue/white patterned blouse, orange/white patterned blouse

blue long sleeve shirt, green long sleeve shirt, blue striped t-shirt, 2 off-white striped t-shirts, pink t-shirt

red t-shirt, blue t-shirt

jackets/coats: 3
plaid jacket, Blue corduroy winter coat

1 brown fleece jacket

shoes/boots: 5
winter boots, rubber duck boots, Teva sandals, 2 pairs sketchers slip ons

Accessories: 5
mittens (solved the mitt vs. glove dilemma with convertible mitts) , wool toque

Not Shown:
1 gold chain with charm
1 pair sunglasses
1 purse