What I Stockpile

Somebody inquired, since I stockpile when I find a great sale, what exactly do I stockpile.

So here are the specific items I'll buy in quantity when it goes to a rock bottom price.  Basically it includes the items which are staples for us.

Foods

*  Olive Oil
*  Canned tomato products(tomato paste, crushed/diced/pureed tomatoes)
*  Canned Green Chiles
*  Single serve fruits(for Hubs lunches)
*  Cheese
*  Meats(all kinds except sliced deli meats)
*  Fish
*  Butter
*  Pie Crust mix
*  Oatmeal
*  Coffee(whole bean)
*  Tea Bags
*  Chicken or Veg. Stock
*  Panko
*  Flour
*  Sugar
*  Pasta
*  Canned Chili
*  Reduced Fat Mayo/Mustard/Ketchup

Non-Foods

*  Toilet Paper
*  Baby Wipes
*  Facial Tissues
*  Garbage Bags
*  Dish Soap
*  Laundry Detergent
*  Dishwasher Detergent
*  Shampoo
*  Deodorant
*  Toothpaste
*  Toothbrushes
*  Q-Tips
*  Razors
*  Cough Drops
*  Pain Relievers

This all doesn't include any canning or freezing of fresh produce/fruit I do every late Summer/early Fall.  I like to can my pepper relish and tomatoes.  I don't can jellies or jams basically because we just don't eat much of that sort of thing(we prefer to just eat fruits in season).  I like to freeze/preserve green beans/yellow wax beans and sometimes corn on the cob, red and yellow bell pepper strips and puree pumpkin(if I can get those items very cheaply and locally). 

While I do buy things like spices, spaghetti sauce, rice, dressings, peanut butter and raisins in quantities, when it goes on sale I don't really stockpile these things.  Like the salad dressing this week.....it was an awesome price ($1 for a 16 oz. bottle)but I don't need 12 bottles, 3 was enough.  Same with jarred spaghetti sauce-I like to have some on hand for those nights I can't get it together to make my own sauce so I have 3-4 jars in stock.  And spices lose their potency if kept too long so those I don't overbuy when RBP.  I keep a supply of these other items but we just don't go through it fast enough to warrant using up my limited stockpile space on them.

So do you stockpile?
What are the specific items you tend to stockpile?

Sluggy


 

Winter is Coming & the 88¢ Sale at Weis

Another trip to Weis(PMITA)Markets on Thursday for cheese.
I was going to do 2 transactions at the Self-Checkout registers(2 x the chees goodness!)but I stumbled upon more meat Instant Discount Sticker Deals....woohoo!.....so I had to use a cashier.

I also decided to do two rounds of the Customer AppreciEIGHTion Sale.  Stupid name, right?  -)
Bunches of items are on sale for .88¢ each this week if bought in groups of 8.  Otherwise, these items are "only" on sale for $1.00 each.

The 7 boxes of facial tissue(getting stocked for Winter colds!), 3 packages of tortillas(smaller size but that's ok), 4 large cans of tomato paste(savings of .31¢ per can) and 2 boxes of Uncle Ben's rice sides were all part of the .88¢ sale.  I also used a $1/2 Uncle Ben's IPQ so the rice was only .38¢ a box.

I did 1 cheese deal(.74¢ a block cheese). 

There are .50¢/1 IPQs for OEP refried beans(I had just used our last can 2 weeks ago).  Weis had the beans for $1.25 a can on sale this week and when the Q doubles to $1 it makes these .25¢ OOP each.

Keebler select cookies are on sale $1.87 a bag this week too.  I had a $1/2 Keebler IPQ making these $1.37 a bag for College Boy's stash.

I found 3 packages of gourmet hamburgers with discount stickers and sale price $10.51 for 5.03 lbs. or $2.09 lb.
I found 2 packages of sirloin steak with discount stickers and sale price $4.63 for 1.88 lbs. or $2.46 lb.
I won't have to buy any more hamburgers now until the end of grilling season. 8-)

I also bought a 500 ct. pack of napkins for $2.99.  I was going to get the 120 ct. packs that were part of the .88¢ Sale but this higher count pack was a better buy per piece.

The last item was a Larabar(sitting on one of the tissue boxes in the photo), on sale fo $1.00.  I had a .40¢/1 IPQ which doubled to .80¢ off, so I spent .20¢ on it.
I also added a .40¢ off Q to my Saving Star account so I'll get .40¢ cash back later, making my Larabar   -.20¢(or they paid me .20¢ to buy it).  8-)

$38.46 spent on $92.39 reg. retail with a savings rate of 58% and I got another 10 gas points.

I am off to clean out and organize the cheese drawer in the fridge to see if I can shove anymore cheese in there.   I've got 19 blocks(and 1 bag of shredded)so far and I've blown the food budget for June outta the water! 

Can you see how little I care about that? lolzYes it looks really bad but the money I won't spend on cheese for the rest of the year will more than make up for this indulgence.

Sluggy
 

Ocean City Fall Vacation 2013 Part 3

Some shots from Day Three in Ocean City.

 The view from our hotel room.....oceanfront baby!

 The dive bar/pub next door......we always stay at this hotel but we have yet to go to that bar.
What kind of self-respecting drunks are we anyway??

One of the two outdoor pools at our hotel.  This was the first year we've stayed here in October when the pool(s) wasn't/weren't drained yet of water.  They close down the outdoor pools after Labor Day and by the time we arrive each October they are drained.

Of course after our first night here which coincided with the last night that the outdoor pool bar was open happened, there were pool chairs IN that pool(people unknown had thrown them in from OUTSIDE the locked pool fence/gate.
Now I know why the pool is always drained when we go....lolz

Tuesday morning we went on a field trip.....

I must confess we had never been here before 2013(nor had my family ever been here even though I grew up not even 150 miles away from this location).

I wondered aloud if we would even get a glimpse of one of the wild ponies that live on this island as it was an overcast day.  The fact that is was past tourist season let me get my hopes up(I believe that the ponies having lived through tourist people season so long would be more likely to venture out when they had all left for the year.)

After we went over the bridge which brings you to Assateague Island we spotted this........

If you look at the left of the photo(right under the big splat of bird poop on the windshield)you'll notice a PONY!
I got my wish even before hitting the beach!

This particular pony proceeded to walk out onto the roadway and just stand there, blocking our car.

and he stood some more......

Finally he moved onto the median so we got to the parking lot......

Here's a handpainted sign warning people not to feed the ponies and to keep your distance as they are wild animals.......

 

Poor Hubs wheeled me up the wooden walkway as far as it went then he dragged the wheelchair into the sand dune walkway to the beach.

The leg was feeling better by this day so I gingerly walked(in sand!)down to the shoreline and took some photos.....

The hard part was walking back up the sand dune to the wooden walkway so I could wheel back to the car in the chair.
That part about wore me out for the day.

Then we drove around the island loop road.....

 While I took multiple photos of horse crap....

 No ponies, just their crap everywhere on the pathways, the road and the parking lots.

Another sign telling you not to touch, approach or feed the wildlife.

 A marshy area on the bay side of the island....

 No ponies sighted there but we did see a fawn in the brush nearby.......

And on the way out a different wild pony next to the intersection of the roadways.

He moved over to a grassy area and I shot a short video of him grazing HERE.

A bad still photo of the pony I filmed....Hubs decided to move the car and I missed the pony's head. lolz

After leaving Assateague Island, we went for lunch to a restaurant we had been to a few years before called "Waterman's Seafood".  This place has been in West Ocean City for ages.  When we went years before it was an old dumpy dark wood building of a crab shack.  Inside was dark, dirty and depressing and the wait staff was surly on a good day.

Turns out that between the time we were in OC in 2012 and 2013 the place burned down.  The owners had just finished having the joint rebuilt and had just reopened for the year the week we were in OC in 2013.

Needless to say that place was transformed inside, at least physically!

Brightness and color everywhere.

The one problem was that it seemed like all the staff was new and inexperienced......plus there was NOT ENOUGH staff!  We waited forever to get seated and there were 2 waitresses for a whole dining room of diners and one of the waitresses was clueless and slow.

 Just getting menus in our hands was an ordeal!  Here is Hubs looking not so happy with his menu.

So I made him smile and pretend he was having a good time! lol

The food was good however(if a bit pricey but hey! we are on vacation, right?).  Broiled seafood-scallops, shrimp and deviled crab with a side of slaw and remoulade before.....

And after.  I was starved by the time I got my plate and wolfed it down...burp!

After I almost crashed the wheelchair trying to wheel down the ramp to the parking lot at Waterman's(I wish I had had gloves on because I got a nasty burn on my palms trying to stop the chair!)we got in the car and started driving back to OC(we were in West Ocean City at this point).
We passed near Burley Oak Brewing and decided to finally go in for a drink or two.  I had found this place online the October before in 2012 but we never made it over there.

Well, Hubs was so glad we went to this place.

 It's a very small craft brewery with a tap room with a nice variety of brews at very reasonable prices.

Forget those flashy brewpubs in OC, this is where locals hang out away from the tourists.

They even brew a root beer too.  THAT is in my wheelhouse!
I love a good brewed root beer and I ended up buying a growler fill of it.  Yum!!

If you like a good brew and ever get to Ocean City, Burley Oak is a MUST STOP!

We headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading out for dinner.  We had a bit of a ride to get to Bridgeville for dinner but it was so worth the drive.

Why?
Because I got to see Tanner again!
Tanner blogs over at Working For A Goal.  Everybody now go and bug Tanner for me because she hasn't blogged since Nov. 2014.  Tell her I said to get her butt back because I miss her!

 

Yes we had dinner on Wednesday with blogging buddy Tanner.  Here she is trying to keep me from taking her photo while she chews your meal.

And just look at this HUGE Fish Sandwich I got served.  (Humongous fish sandwiches are a family joke. ;-) )
I had to take half that thing back to the hotel!

The big dessert kiosk we left tongue prints on......ok, not really, we behaved!  But we should have as everything looked so good.....

And a posed shot together before we hugged goodbye and each went our separate ways.

We made our way back to the OC to get some rest before staring our last day of vacation.

One more part left on this trip to Ocean City coming up soon.

Sluggy

 

Say Cheese!

I went back to Weis(PMITA)Markets on Wednesday, one trip before my doctor's appointment and one afterwards.

A did a short video on the first trip HERE.
$23.12 OOP and I qualified for that $5 Bush's Beans Rebate.


Then here is what I bought on the 2nd trip...........

Another Arm & Hammer detergent for .87¢ after coupon, 3 blocks of Cracker Barrel cheese and 1 bag of shredded cheese(the shredded is also included in the $5 Instant Savings Deal). The shredded cheese is .49¢ more than the CB blocks so I'll probably stick to the blocks for the rest of my cheese buying frenzy.

$4.40 OOP and a 78% savings rate over regular retail.

The drawer in the fridge is slowly filling up with cheese. 
Before you think that Sluggy has gone off the deep end buying so much cheese that her family can't possibly finish it all before the sell by date, here is my thinking.

These blocks are good for 6 months or so refrigerated.  If they don't get used by then, I'll shred whatever is left at that point and throw it into the freezer to buy us another 9 months to a year to get it used up(but I doubt any will last past the 6 months).  8-)

So tell me, if you have a chance to stock up on a staple your family used a lot of each month/year, would you spend the extra now to save money on that item for the coming year?

Personally I would to a degree.  The cheapest I can usually get a block of cheddar cheese(8 oz.)is $2.50(store brand).  Getting it now for .74¢ a block is quite the savings.  And this is not like ice cream or pickles or a junk food that we don't really "need"(ok, so nobody "needs" cheese necessarily either but it's part of our regular diet and a "real" food.).

Now if I was on a stricter budget(read smaller budget)and/or had to put these cheese purchases on a credit card or something I would NOT be buying a buttload of blocks.  Nor would I buy so much if I didn't have room to store it because that would just be silly on the level of Lucy Ricardo trying to smuggle a whole wheel of cheese back from Europe on the plane home.

It makes sense to buy this item ahead, NOW, while it's a great buy as opposed to spending at least $2.50 per block later this year on this item.
At least it makes sense for me.  8-)

Sluggy
 

The Boring Blog Box GIVEAWAY Returns!

Did Someone Say Giveaway?!?

Summer has finally seemed to have arrived so why not have another Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway of 2015.

This is Giveaway #4 for the year.

And it's a "Girly Girl" box of goodies!  8-)

Check it out..........

 

 

1 x Veet facial remover strips
1 x Olay face cleanser
1 x Lindt/Lindor bag of truffles
1 x Colgate toothpaste
1 x Olay 2 pack beauty soap
1 x Dove deodorant
1 x NYC liquid make-up foundation
3 x NYC nail polishes

2 x Oh Lala nail polishes

1 x Revlon tweezer

1 x Cover Girl Eye Shadow palette(brown tints)

1 x Cover Girl powder blush palette

1 x Revlon emery boards

1 x Revlon nail polisher

1 x Scuncii ponytail holders pack

1 x Maybelline mascara

1 x Lip Smacker scented lip gloss

1 x Reach toothbrush

3 x single use facial cleansing wipes

 

 

Just some close-ups of the goodies.......

 

 

 I'll leave this giveaway open until July 18th, Saturday, at 11:59pm.  The next day I'll put all the valid entries into a container and draw out a name and that person wins.

You may get ONE ENTRY per Day by leaving a comment on this blog post until the Giveaway ends.

To get BONUS entries---

* Post about my Giveaway on your own Blog,  on Facebook on Twitter or some other Forum you frequent with a link to your post.  This will earn you 2 additional entries for each action and you can do this once during the course of this giveaway(8 entries total if you do all 4).  Please leave 2 additional comments on this blog post for each additional Bonus entry. 

 

* Become a Follower of this Blog to get 1 more entry.(Hit the "Join This Site" Button at the top right side of this blog).  Of course if you already Follow my Blog, leave a comment ascertaining that for 1 more entry.

Please leave a comment if you become a Follower or are a Follower already and give me your ID/name on there so I can verify it.

 

* Join the Bloggers United Federation if you have a blog to get 1 more entry.  Leave a comment saying you want to join up with your blog addy and I'll hook you up.

(All members who have already joined the BUF will of course get 1 Bonus entry as well but they need to leave a comment to get it.)

  Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US or Canada only.
If you are in Canada, you will receive a smaller box of goodies, as the shipping rates internationally are ridiculous and I am not taking out a mortgage on my house to pay to ship this stuff.  ;-)

**
If you need this shipped to Canada, I'll have to change the box and it's contents a bit.  I can ship a plain box weighing up to 3lbs. via 1st class mail, which, while more than the flat rate Priority to US addys, is still affordable.  These prize boxes usually weigh 7 or more lbs. when full, so if the winner is in Canada, I'll let them pick and choose which of the items they prefer sent in their box, until the box weighs 4lbs.  I hate to have to do this(not ship ALL prizes to them)but I would hate it even more to exclude them totally from entering the giveaway.

***NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.  If you're not a registered Blogger User with your contact information on your User page, please put your email addy or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get ahold of you if you win. If I can't contact you then you can't win.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy