Wow! We got home just in time! My daughter and I headed into the city for our first stock up shopping trip. It took longer than usual, and by the time we were driving the last couple of miles to home, we were driving into the first signs of snow. As I write this, it’s starting to come down pretty heavily, though there’s little wind, so it’s a pretty pleasant looking snowfall. It’s supposed to keep falling through the night. We’re are looking at possibly 10-20cm/4-8inches by tomorrow evening.

I’m quite happy we got this trip done!

Today was our trip to multiple places all along one street in the city. Canadian Tire, Walmart and our favourite international grocery store.

As we headed out, we made a stop in town to get some gas ($40 worth, at $1.549/L). Since neither of us had had breakfast yet, we got some drinks and beef jerky for the hour’s drive in, where our first planned stop was somewhere for breakfast. We ended up going to a shopping mall right next to the Canadian Tire we go to, and went to the food court. I haven’t been in this mall in… I honestly can’t remember. Several decades, at least. My daughter had some A&W for “breakfast” (it was past 11 by then), while I hunted around for something I could eat. Giving up sugar and simple carbs for Lent makes it challenging. I was going to get Chinese food, and they were willing to do a meal and skip the standard rice or noodles, but all the options they had available were covered with sweet sauces. I ended up going to a Korean BBQ place. When I asked to skip rice or noodles, they gave me extra stir fry vegetables instead, which was quite appreciated.

After we finished eating, we decided to check out a Winners. This is a store we haven’t been to since before we moved out here, so more than 7 years. We didn’t find anything worth buying. On the way to the exit we were parked closest, to, we passed a Dollarama, so we went in. I wanted to see if they had those garden stakes I was looking for in stock, yet. They did! These are 6′ long plastic coated metal stakes that each some with a strong, reusable plant tie. They were only $3 each. I’ve seen similar at Cdn Tire, but those were much more expensive, didn’t come with the plant tie and are actually a lesser quality.

I bought 10.

Between these and the ones I already have, it should be enough for this year’s garden.

That done, we moved the truck to the Cdn Tire. The one thing on my shopping list was 3 bags of litter pellets but, of course, we looked at other stuff.

This is what $181.85 looks like.

The litter pellet bags are only $7.99 each. We have been looking for frying pans to replace some we have now that have warped bottoms and are no longer non-stick. After much searching, we finally broke down and bought a 2 pan set that was on clearance for $49.93

Then there were the three recycling bins. The set up we have right now is just large bags over wire frames that hold them open. They take up a lot of space, but the real problem is that the cats tear into them. Especially the one for aluminum, since it has most empty cat food cans in it.

After looking at our options, we settled on taller, narrower bins. They won’t hold as much as our current set up, but will save us a lot of space, and the cats won’t be able to tear into them. We do have smaller recycling bags that should fit them, too. This style of bin cost $29.99 each.

Our next stop was the Walmart. The main things on my list was wet and dry cat food, plus things like nail clippers and other things we don’t normally by every month. My older daughter had also sent funds to cover things like energy drinks, until we can pick up a case at Costco.

We got quite a bit more than usual this time!

This is what $361.47 looks like. Well… minus $10, which was a food bank donation, so you can’t actually see it.

We got three 9.1kg bags of kibble, at $34.97 each. The cases of canned cat food was $28.77. They also finally had the big 30″x36″ puppy pads, so a grabbed a package. Cats peeing/spraying in places other than one of the many litter boxes is still a problem, and I don’t know how to fix it! The puppy pads are saving us a lot of mess and potential damage.

Other things we got today include large bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Including extra ones, and selective bars of soap. Since discovering she is allergic to most deodorants, my daughter realized she was also allergic to shampoos and conditioners. She thought she was having fungal infections on her scalp. It got so bad, she basically just shaved her head, so she could apply anti-fungal cream. After doing some research, she tried a particular brand of shampoo and conditioner and, lo and behold, no more scalp issues. It turns out one of the common ingredients she is allergic to is coco butter – which is in the shampoo and conditioner I chose for myself and my husband. She still has the one she knows she doesn’t react to, but we got a different brand she researched for her to test out. It’s the same with soap. Shea butter, at least, is okay for her to use!

Let’s see… what else did we get.

The energy drinks are a lot cheaper at Walmart compared to other stores (except the cases at Costco), so we got a bunch for the three of us. For my husband and myself, we got a case of Coke Zero that was on sale. Then I spotted the Ginger Ale brand ginger beer, which is new. We got a case for my daughters to try. I’m not a fan of ginger beer myself, but they like it.

We also got two types of herbal teas and coffee creamer. Distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier. Oh, and a couple of boxes of bandages in various sizes and shapes.

After we loaded everything into the truck, we used the wet wipes I keep in the truck at all times to clean my hands. Then my daughter helped me put small bandages on my fingers where the skin was split and bleeding, because my hands are so dry! I do lotion them, regularly, but it doesn’t seem to help much.

There was one thing we got at the Walmart that didn’t get included in this. I needed straight edge toenail clippers and, while I was looking at other stuff, my daughter went looking for them. She found them locked up in the cosmetic section, so she had to get staff to get them out for her (the only option was a pack that included smaller nail clippers). The employee then took them straight to the till that was practically barricaded, and my daughter hat to pay for them right away. The employee then put them and the receipt into a little clear plastic bag that got tied off with a knot before my daughter was finally allowed to touch them!

Ya gotta wonder just how much theft there was for all this!

Once done there, our next stop was the international grocery store. By then, we were both getting hungry again, so we stopped in their restaurant section for some dim sum and, for my daughter, steamed pork buns.

Our list for here was pretty vague, and mostly we just go through the entire store and pick things. There were a lot of sales, plus I used my loyalty points for some things, so what we actually got would have cost a lot more.

After all the discounts, etc., this is what $227.24 looks like.

Some things are completely hidden.

There was an excellent sale on coconut milk, which my daughters like to cook with, so we got four cans. Asparagus was also on sale, so we got two bunches. One sale we really took advantage of was a big frozen block of Ahi tuna. At first, we were going to pick some fresh “steaks” of them, last thing, as the packages were on ice, but when we found the frozen chunk (top right corner in the photo), we went with that. My daughter found some frozen pork bao on sale that we got. We picked up some blue brie cheese we’ve been wanting to try, but it was always too expensive before, but they were almost half price today. We also got a regular brie on sale, and an Irish Whiskey Cheddar on sale to try. I even picked up a “snow man cheese” – some caiocavallo for my husband. He absolutely loves it, just to snack on, but it’s gotten very expensive over the years, so it was nice to finally get some for him.

Then, because we got the lovely cheeses, we got three loves of French bread, some charcutier meats, and a sausage (the meats were on sale) to go with it. We also picked up some prosciutto to make prosciutto wrapped asparagus.

The prosciutto was actually free, because I redeemed points for those. There’s also a frozen turkey I got for free with points.

Other things we got was a frozen fillet of salmon for the girls that was on sale, some regular smoked slab bacon, plus an applewood smoked slab bacon with a “enjoy tonight” coupon, so that’ll need to be used up tonight. We picked up some Wagh Bakri tea on sale to try (we’d had the ginger tea version in that brand before that was enjoyed), as well as some instant milk tea on sale. Even the toilet paper was on a massive sale, so I had to get at least one package.

Finally, we grabbed some food that we could quickly heat and eat when we got home. Almost. For my husband, we got half a Lumberjack sandwich (which is still huge), the girls got themselves taquitos in a flavour that they like that we almost never see in stock, and I got some cold dim sum that I’ll be steaming for my supper later on.

Then, when it was time to pay for it all, I was able to use more points for another $15 off the sub total.

Looking at my receipt, it tells me I saved $91.65, however that only reflects the loyalty card savings. Some of the items that were sold by weight rung up at the sale price rather than being discounted later, so our actual savings was higher than that. The savings on the Ahi tuna alone would have put that total to over $100.

All in all, we had an excellent haul for our money here!

Then, on the way home, we swung by a Domo to get gas again. Today is Thursday, which is one of their 4¢ off/liter days, so we put another $40 in, and it pretty much filled our tank.

Next stock up shop will be our Costco trip in a few days.

Which means we won’t need to be driving anywhere in the new snow that’s falling on top of all the ice from yesterday’s melt!

Bonus.

The Re-Farmer