monthly shopping

Stock up shopping: small Costco trip and vehicle update

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This is what $452.10 looks like.

This is a small shop, as I was too tired to do a large one. Plus, I wanted to focus on getting a few more cook out type things.

Before getting to Costco, I had a few other stops. A quick stop at the gas station, not to get gas, but an energy drink and a couple of small packages of nuts to tide me over until I could get breakfast in the city. While there, I checked messages and chatting with my brother and his wife briefly. The next stop was a side trip along the way, to the medical clinic. I needed to get my husband’s medical files to transfer to his new doctor. Turns out getting the physical copies would have cost more than $80, to cover the cost of printing. It would have been 221 pages.

It would have been a lot more, if his medical files from after he got out of the military hadn’t been lost! It was paper copies only, back then, and the clinic we went to destroyed files if they hadn’t seen the patient for more than 2 years. We have moved out of province again, by then.

So to get it loaded onto a thumb drive cost only $35. I brought one, but she ended up giving me a new one, when she saw my thumb drive had other files on it!

While waiting for that to be done (it took a while to transfer the files!), I chatted with my brother some more. They were going to be done their errands in the city fairly soon, and did I want to meet them for lunch? With another 45 minutes driving time after I got the files, it actually worked out really well.

We had a fantastic time together, of course. My brother had been able to visit my mother yesterday and help her with groceries, among other things. She was out of groceries, but never said a thing to me about needing a shopping trip! One odd thing, though. She’s been complaining to the social workers that come to her building about her glasses. It took a while for my husband to get the straight of it, but she is saying what when she got there, the staff member was behind plastic, eating her lunch (they no longer have those plastic shields), and that she got up right away, grabbed the bag with Mom’s glasses, gave them to her and then all but kicked her out.

Strangely, it sounds like I wasn’t even there, but that could be just the way my brother described what she was saying.

The social worker said that they should have tried the glasses on her and checked them, etc. My mother says they didn’t.

They did. They took really good care of her, even going out of their way to accommodate her mobility issues as much as possible!

Then she said something about the lady being Arabic.

The dentist she went to recently was Arabic. Not the people at the eye clinic.

So basically, my mother is just making things up, because she has suddenly decided she doesn’t like her glasses. And she doesn’t like her glasses, because the new prescription didn’t make her headaches go away. We even had the conversation about that; if her old prescription were the problem, the headaches would go away, but if her glasses were NOT the problem, that meant something else was causing them.

Not that we got that far in our conversation. Since I was the one who brought her there, helped her come in, spoke with the staff together with her, watched them make super sure her glasses were sitting right on her face and adjusting them for her, I could confirm that what she is saying now is pure BS.

I’d be tempted to say that this is a sign of cognitive decline in my mother but, to be honest, she’s always done stuff like this.

So that was interesting to find out!

While we were at the restaurant, I got a call from the garage about the truck we were looking into.

As expected, the payments were not in our budget. Even with his knocking the price down, and having the down payment that we could manage right now, it was still almost double what we can afford. Plus, the payments are calculated bi-weekly. We get paid monthly. I would hope they could change it to monthly, because with bi-weekly payments, there would be at least a couple of months out of the year where we would have three payments instead of two.

Ah, well. It was nice to think about, at least. Now that we’ve had a chance to talk about it directly, he knows that we’re good with something like a truck instead of a van, if that’s what he can find in our budget.

My brother and his wife have been trying to help by making various suggestions. One of them has been to try a dealership. They tend to offer no money down, 0% interest financing deals, etc. I finally had a chance to explain that we’ve had bad experiences going through dealerships before. As much as we loved the Grand Caravan, the dealership tried to screw us over. I remember I brought it back shortly after we got it for some warranty work we basically forced them to accept responsibility for. I was sitting in the waiting room, doing some crochet, when the guy who sold it to us came by. He came over with a big smile on his face and made a joke about whether or not I could knit him some socks or something (my fellow crocheters will understand the extra cringe on that), then he looked at my face, recognized me and practically ran away. It was that bad!

Then there was the Uplander. When getting a vehicle so cheap, I could use my debit card to pay for it, you don’t expect to have a perfect vehicle. Beggars can’t be choosers. But you do expect one that is at least safe. That one actually got reported to the regulatory organization, but nothing came of it. We had to put a lot of money into that thing. Once we did, it did really well by us for far longer than it should have, but still…

Then there were the other dealerships we tried. Nothing like talking to someone and saying, “we can afford X payments”, then get a call back saying, “we got a really good deal for you! Fantastic vehicle! Payments are only….” and the amount would be double what we said we could afford.

So… I really would rather not go through a dealership again. I have come to trust our mechanic. He’s taken good care of us.

Once I explained that, they understood.

After lunch, I finally made it to the Costco. With suddenly planning on a cookout tomorrow, that changed what I got a little bit. It was also going to be a smaller shop for now. I’ll do another Costco trip next week some time.

This is what we got. First, the “bottom of the basket” stuff.

case of Coke Zero: $14.69, plus 32¢ enviro fee
Kirkland brand puppy pads: $24.99 These are 30″x23″, rather than the 30″x30″ we’ve been getting at Walmart, but 100 of them cost less than the 50 pack at Walmart. Since I just got a Walmart pack recently, we should be good for puppy pads long enough to not need them anymore, I hope!
canned cat food: $38.99
9kg bags of dry cat food; four of them: $26.99 each
TP: $22.99

Then there was some actual food for humans. 😄

tube of ground beef: $31.49 I plan to partially freeze it, then simply cut rounds off for hamburgers.
fresh sausages: $18.18
eye of round roast: $45.19
three pack of jumbo all beef weiners: $21.99
canned chicken: $17.99 The price on that actually went down, so I got more for the pantry.
tortilla wraps, 2 packages: $9.99 each
ramen noodles, 30 pack: $13.99 I knew this size existed, but it’s the first time I saw them in stock, so I grabbed those for the pantry, too.
double trays of 60 eggs: $18.89
sausage buns, two bags with three packages of 6 buns in them: $6.49 each
hamburger buns, similar bag with three packages inside: $5.29

And that’s our Costco purchase this time. The sub-total was $426.90, plus $25.20 in taxes.

As my purchases were going through, I heard the cashier and the person reloading my flat cart say something about 8 items. I didn’t buy 8 of any one thing, so I asked, 8 what? It was the total number of items still on the cart being confirmed, to make sure they weren’t missing something. I told her, the only time that ever happened, they accidentally charged me for an extra bag of cat food, so I came back (not that I’m remembering this, I think I said the accidentally *under* charged me, by mistake!). So I just got another bag of cat food, instead, so it wasn’t a problem. She asked how many cats we have, so I told her, as best I could when it came to the outside cats. Her response?

Can I move in with you?

😂😂

Turns out, she has “only” six cats, and wants more, but her husband objects. She is also finding many strays that need help, so she tries to leave food out for them, at least. She wants to build shelters for them and stuff, but her husband objects, so I told her a bit about our set up. It’s different when we have access to at least old, scrap lumber to build things with, and it only costs us the paint.

It was nice to chat with a kindred soul. 😁

Once the shopping was done and loaded, I went to fill the gas tank. I was telling my brother, I left with a full tank of gas, and was down a quarter tank by the time I got to the restaurant we were meeting at. My brother, who knows my mother’s car really well, was quite surprised by that. He mused about whether there was a leak somewhere, but if there was, we’d be smelling gas when going into the garage, and we don’t. Hopefully, we’ll find the problem when I take the car in on Monday.

The gas station was really busy, and with good reason! While the rest of the city was at 161.9¢/L for regular gas, which has been getting slightly lower, Costco was at 144.9¢/L Even their premium gas was at 164.9¢/L That’s a huge difference! It ended up costing me just over $23 to fill the tank.

Then it was time to head home, though I did make one more stop at my mother’s town, to use the bank machine. Paying for my husband’s medical file transfer was by cash only, so I needed to replace it, since I used part of the cash I had for the septic guy.

Now that I’m home, I made sure to take the cash out and set it aside, and we can call the septic guy. He is sometimes really fast in responding, so I wanted to make sure I had enough to cover it, plus extra, just in case his rates had to go up again, on hand first!

I’m feeling pretty exhausted right now, but I want to get started on setting up the fire pit area. The picnic table that has to be moved still has tomatoes and onions on it!

Must. Not. Have. Another. Energy drink! 😅

The Re-Farmer

First stock up shop: a triple whammy for $544

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Today was our first trip into the city to stock up for next month. I’ll be doing the Costco trip in a couple of days. This time, I went to three different places.

The first was a Walmart. This is what $249 looks like.

For this stop, I didn’t go to the grocery section at all, but while waiting in line, I saw the display of canned bean cases (9 cans). The price was about what Costco’s price for used to be. $9.97 instead of almost $13. So I grabbed one.

Aside from that one grocery item, I got:

Paper towels: $22.97
Wet cat food (shredded): $28.77
Dry cat food, 7kg size, cheap house brand: $19.97 each. I got 3 for the outside cats, plus one anti-hairball bag for the indoor cats to try.
Puppy pads, 50pk of 30″x30″: $26.97 The kittens are getting better and I’m not changing those as often, but ever now and then, a kitten just decides to pee right next to the litter box. They seem to wait until I’m not in the room to do it!
Men’s t-shirts: one for my husband, one for me, at $8 each
Shampoo and conditioner: $15.47 each Those have sure gone up in price – if I can even find bottles in that size at all!
bright orange acrylic yarn: $5.27 I plan to make baseball cap ear warmers and see if our grocery store/post office will let me sell them there. It took me forever to find yarn in that orange, for the hunters. I also have grey, which I will use together with reflective thread I have.
Dawn Platinum: $2.47 I got a tiny bottle of this to test out in the laundry. I got a couple of new t-shirts for myself not long ago, and both already have stains on them! Unfortunately, I didn’t see the stains until I put the shirts on after washing them. Which is why I ended up buying more t-shirts. From what I’ve been able to find, this stuff will actually get out stains, even after they’ve gone through the dryer. If not… well, I’ve got myself a couple more work shirts. 😕

The total was $223.24, plus $10.66 GST and $14.93 PST, bringing the grand total to $248.83 Plus, I added $100 cash back, which was their maximum.

So that was stop number one.

The next two stops were right next to each other, so it was just one trip. The first was a Dollarama. I was specifically looking for new food dishes for the kittens in my room. We’ve been using old take out containers, which is great for temporary use, or for adult cats, but they’re too big. Since we’re using my room as an isolation ward, it’s time to get proper food bowls. Unfortunately, they tend to be quite expensive, so I tried here. They did have some nice, stainless steel bowls with non-slip rings on their bases that I picked up.

Of course, that’s not all I got. This is what $75 looks like.

Pet food bowls, 8 in total: $2 each
Pet bed (for the kittens): $5
Cat tunnel (for the rest of the cats): $4
Cat toy (for the rest of the cats): $4.75
Cooling rack: $4.75 I’ll be slowly getting more of these. This style, with the squares, will be much better for dehydrating in the oven than the ones I’m using now, which have the wires running in one direction, with only a single support wire down the middle.
Odour remover, 2 of them: $1.50 each
Towel holder: $4 – to replace the wonky one we’re using now, that I made when I was in Junior high, so… about 1980 or so!

I don’t usually get food at the dollar store, but this store has a decent selection, and the prices are a lot better than the grocery stores. Especially the tinned meats. So I got a selection to try out and see if this is something we like enough to be worth stocking in our pantry for the winter, when we are likely to get snowed in for a while.

Chicken flakes, 4 cans: $1.75 each
Light Tuna, 4 cans: $1.00 each
Pink Salmon, 4 cans: $2.25 each
Black olives: $1.75
Artichoke hearts: $2.50
Chestnuts: $1.25 These are cooked chestnuts that I got as a snack for the drive home. 😊
Ice pack: $3.50 We’ve had to throw away some of our smaller gel ice packs, so I got a hard sided type to replace them.

This all came out to $69.25, plus $2.19 in GST and $3.06 in PST for a grand total of $74.50

After that was loaded into the car, it was a walk across the parking lot to my next stop, the international grocery store.

This is a store where we get a few treats or items that we don’t find in any of the other stores we normally go to, plus were we often find new things to try. This is also where I stop for some dim sum for lunch which, together with my drink, cost just over $20.

This is what $206 looks like.

Cleaning vinegar: $5.99 There’s a thing being passed around on social media about how companies have sneakily reduced the acidity of vinegar from 5% to 4%. For people who can, vinegar must be 5% for safety reasons. Well, I’ve looked around, and I’ve yet to see any vinegar at 4% Maybe it’s a US thing. What I did see was 7%. In this store, they have three kinds of white vinegar. Regular vinegar at 5%, canning vinegar at 7% and cleaning vinegar, what I picked up, at 10%. I got their large jug

Bananas: $4.27 for 2 bunches.
Beaver Buzz, 3 Saskatoon berry and 3 Citrus: on sale at 2 for $4.50, or $2.25 each, instead of $2.69 each, plus one cent per can for the enviro fee
Coke Zero: $7.29 plus 12¢ enviro fee
Blade roast: $20.50
Two frying chickens, locally produced and free range: $15.36 (usually, that’s about the price of just one whole chicken)
Smoked applewood bacon (unsliced): $11.24
Smoked bacon (unsliced): $8.17 Both bacons are a locally produced item that we get as a treat.
Raw white prawns, frozen: $9.99, on sale. Regular price, $14.99 These are a treat for the girls.
Truffle olive oil: $15.99 – another treat!
Old Cheddar: $13.99
Mozzarella: $13.99 Normally, we get these cheeses we use mostly for cooking at Costco, but we’re out of cheese, so I got smaller packages for now.
Truffle Gouda cheese: $12.52 This is something we don’t usually see in stock, so I made sure to grab some. Yes, another treat!
Mild goat Gouda: $10.06 Cheese like Gouda are something we get as an “eating cheese” that we enjoy as snacks, rather than in cooking.
Eggs, 1 flat of 30: $9.79
Soy sauce: two at $4.59 each. This is a Philippine brand my husband likes, so I like to stock up on it for the pantry.
fresh green peppercorns: $2.02 We’ve never used these before! We’ll have to look up what to do with them.
Stash Tea, three different flavours: on sale for $3.99 each (regular price, $4.49 each)
Coke Zero: $7.29 plus 12¢ enviro fee
bottled caramel frapp, cold, for the drive home: $3.99 plus 3¢ enviro fee
Jarritos Grapefruit soft drink, cold, for the drive home: $1.99 plus 3¢ enviro fee. At least it was supposed to be for the drive home. I made the mistake of drinking the dairy drink, first. I forgot the caps aren’t a twist off, and I wasn’t going to pull over to the side of the road to dig out a bottle opener! I think I do have one. I’ve returned a multi-tool knife to keep in the car, and I’m pretty sure it has a bottle opener in it.

The total for all this was $202.04, plus $1.65 in GST and $2.29 in PST, for a grand total of $205.98 Plus, I was able to take out another $100 in cash back. We now have enough to get the septic guy in to clean our tank for the winter. He’s really fast about getting to us, so I wanted to make sure I had more than enough cash on hand, before we made the call! Otherwise, I’d have to rush to my mother’s town, where there is a branch of my bank, to take money out before he arrives.

As I was loading up the car, I checked my phone and found my daughter had transferred funds over. I messaged her, asking if there was anything in particular it was for, but it was mostly to just help with the groceries – but it did remind me of a couple of things I meant to pick up for them that I forgot! So, once everything was loaded (with most of the frozen ice packs I brought from home), I went back in and got:

Coffee creamer, largest size bottle: $7.99
soya drink, 1 gallon size: $6.39 This is one of those specific items we don’t find anywhere else. I do wish the girls weren’t drinking soy, though. That stuff’s pretty nasty. Especially since they both have PCOS.

Anyhow. That totalled another $14.38

So that was the damage for today, plus gas, which was just over $20 to fill the tank. Prices have dropped to 163.9¢/L recently, though in the city, I saw places at 162.9 and 161.9 With an energy drink and a snack for breakfast, plus some lotto tickets, the gas station purchases totalled a little over $40.

Not counting my lunch and gas station purchases, the total for today was $543.69 in total.

The international grocery store printed out entry forms with every receipt for a contest to win free groceries for a year. Since I came back for stuff I’d forgotten, I ended up with two entries. Today is the last day for the contest, so I’m glad I made it today. Plus, the receipts for the grocery store, and the Walmart, both have entries to win $1000 gift cards after filling out a “how did we do” survey. Normally, I don’t bother with those, but with the prices of groceries these days, I think I’ll be entering those!

After this will be the Costco and Canadian Tire shop. Canadian Tire is for the litter pellets and another few fire bricks for our outdoor kitchen, if they have them in stock. Since we don’t have a replacement van yet, we will likely have to make a second trip to Costco, just for more bags of dry cat food, now that I know that twelve 9kg bags will not last us a month. In that size, we would need 16 bags for 1 month! If we don’t get anything else that’s large or heavy (like the litter pellets), I can fit eight 9kg bags in my mother’s car, though it really doesn’t like it.

That reminds me. I should book it to get checked. I mentioned how the mileage seems to be getting worse, and he has some suggestions for me to get looked at.

That would be a good time to talk to our mechanic about how things are looking for finding us a vehicle within the financing budget.

I keep saying to myself, as long as we have it before winter, I’m good. In truth, I feel dread, every time I drive my mother’s car. It has had so many problems since my mother bought it, and since we took over keeping it registered so we have a vehicle she can get in and out of, it has had more problems then our van did! The faster we can get a replacement vehicle, the better.

The Re-Farmer

Last “big” shopping trip, and…wow

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Today, the plan was to drive out to the smaller, nearer city and hit the Canadian Tire and Walmart.

Of course, plans changed, but I at least got those done!

We’ve been keeping in touch with my daughter that is house sitting, and last night she asked me a bit favour.

Could I come over today?

With antihistimines?

There aren’t any in the house, and she normally doesn’t have allergic reactions, but it seems she is allergic to the pillow she’s using! Or, at least, something on it. The house is a fair distance from town, and she wasn’t about to go hunting for a pharmacy on the mobility scooter! 😄

Well, I just happened to pick up some antihistamines while at Costco, so I wouldn’t even have to stop anywhere to get more. Plus, I got to visit her and get hugs.

Of course, none of us wanted to tell my brother and his wife about this, since they would feel bad.

After I left, though, I got a message from my brother.

I forgot about all his security cameras. His door bell cam picked me up, so he saw that I was at the house, and he was wondering if everything was okay! I told him that I was doing another shopping trip and swung by. He’d contacted my daughter as well, and she just said I dropped something off.

Very hard to sneak one past my brother! 😄😄

Meanwhile, I was also in contact with the Cat Lady and we arranged to meet up. I did my Canadian Tire shopping first, getting three 40lb bags of hardwood pellets for the litter boxes, and another 4 fire bricks for our stockpile. I considered more pellets, but I think three of those bags is about as much as my mother’s car can handle well.

Have I mentioned how much I look forward to a getting another van?

It turned out for the better. The Cat Lady and I arranged to meet behind a dollar type store, where the parking lot tends to be empty. She returned our 1 hard sided carrier and 2 soft sided carriers, then added one of their own hard sided carriers for when she comes to pick up Turmeric. We had a chance to chat as well, and, my goodness. This woman just blows me away. They’ve got so much going on, and yet she’s still so dedicated to rescuing, getting care for and adopting out cats and kittens.

I got there a bit early, so I had time to go into the dollar store and picked up a few things. One of them was a cheap hallway mat to go under my desk and chair. Another layer of protection for the carpet, beyond the puppy pads and litter box under my desk.

Then it was off to the Walmart, for the largest shop of the day.

This is $112 and change, though not all of it was mine. My daughter sent me some funds and a request for the energy drinks and ice cream. The wet cat food is shredded only; no paté. I find the kittens prefer the shredded, and it’s much easier to split up between 6 bowls! There are two 2lb containers of grapes, red and green seedless, that were at an excellent price. Though we have the bread machine now, we don’t use it to make rye bread, which I really like. A 2L of milk to replace the expired one on our fridge. 🙄 We don’t actually use a lot of milk in general. The cream of tarter is an unusual thing for our cupboard. We pretty much never use it, but there are some things I’d like to make, and I’d rather have it on hand now, than have to run out and get some when I finally get around to making the things that need it.

I also got 2 more t-shirts for myself, since, in a smaller size than I got last time. I like my shirts big, but not so big they become a safety risk when working outside! I also got a third one for my husband, which I just realized is completely hidden in the photo.

Aside from this, I ended up having to gas up the tank on my mother’s car twice. That was about $55 in total.

*sigh*

My mother’s car is not very fuel efficient and seems to be getting worse. There’s only so much I can attribute to using the AC.

Have I mentioned how much I’m looking forward to a replacement van?

It’s been almost 6 months since I’ve been using a credit card to rebuild my credit rating. Which means that next month, I should be able to actively start looking for a suitable vehicle, apply for financing and not get dinged with insane interest rates or monthly payments.

Anyhow.

The running around shopping is done. For the rest of the month, we will be able to get what we need locally.

Once at home and everything was put away, I tested out something else I picked up at the dollar store. a long, microfibre duster with telescoping handle, to try and get all the cat hair off the walls in the dining room. The cats tend to hang out by the window the most, but also by the door in the summer, as we open the inner door so they can look out the window of the outer door. All along that wall, a thick layer of cat fur has accumulated. The wall itself, near the ceiling, the curtain rod we don’t use, and all the framed photos hanging on the wall between the window and the door.

Well, that new duster works like a charm! Some things it couldn’t get, like all the sliders that hooks on a curtain would be handing on, or the pull cords to open and close the drapes, but I was able to clear the hair off just about everything else. It looks so much better!

There is another area that’s really bad; in the hallway, I’ve got a decorative garland of flowers running up the hand rail of the stairs and along the ceiling, with fairy lights wound around it. Those flowers have become completely coated with a thick layer of cat fur! Considering that the garland if all flexible fake flowers and leaves, I was surprised to get off as much as I did. What we really need to do is take it down and carefully wash it in hot, soapy water, but at least it doesn’t have a thick coat of fur on it anymore!

While I was doing that, my husband asked me to do the shade on the hallway light. That was not a job for the duster, though. Since he’s so much taller than I am, he was able to go up the stairs and reach the screw to remove the shade for me to wash.

Not until after I got rid of this.

What an insane cloud of cat hair in there! It was about an inch thick!

At least it came off easily.

It may not have been useful for the light shade, but I’m really glad I got the fancy duster.

In other things, we’ve reached our high of 33C/91F today, though at one point, I was seeing the forecast change to a high of 35C/95F/ They hit that in the city. For our area, the 30 year record high was 30C/86F, so we’ve gone past that. We’re getting conflicting predictions for rain over the next while. I’ll probably end up watering the garden tomorrow. At least today looks like it’ll be the last really hot day of the year.

Oh, I just made a liar out of myself. I double checked the monthly forecast, and it’s now saying we’ll have a 30C/86F day on the very last day of September!

The first day of October is supposed to be less than half that, so I expect the predictions to change a lot between now and then.

Either way, the garden is going to lover the warmer temperatures!

The Re-Farmer

Monthly stock up: this is what $314 looks like

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Today, I headed back to Costco, pretty much just for cat food. That way, I could fit more bags into my mother’s car and not have to worry about the weight or space.

I am so looking forward to when we can finally get another van!!!

I did end up getting a couple more things, of course.

That is eight 9kg size bags of kibble on there. With what I got on my last trip, it makes for a total of 12 of these bags. Hopefully, that means we will finally not have to pick up more near the end of the month, and maybe even have enough to last beyond our next shopping trip! Especially with being able to adopt out 2 adult cats and a kitten, with one more adult to go, too.

Oh! There has been a change in plans with those.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a message from the Cat Lady, asking if it was okay if they hung on to the kitten. It’s so sweet and tiny, she wanted to try and adopt it out to an indoor only home. For the lady that wanted the cats, she is okay with taking Turmeric, instead.

I told her I would trust her judgement. The kitten had been indoors for only about a week, so it wouldn’t be bothered with being outside again, but… well, it is such a little thing, and very, very sweet!

So probably on Monday (3 days from now), the Cat Lady will come for Turmeric.

I think Turmeric is going to be much happier somewhere with fewer cats. She’s been a real beeeatch to some of the cats here. Sweet as honey with others, though!

Anyhow.

This was today’s shopping.

Kibble, 8 bags at $26.99 each: $215.92
5 dozen eggs: $18.89 (the price went up again)
Coke Zero: $14.69 plus 32¢ enviro fee
Socks, 12 pk: regular $17.99 with $4 off at the till. I broke down and got those for me. I prefer ankle socks, but I’m down to one pair, and just discovered a hole in one of them. LOL
Hoodie: regular $24.99 with $6 off at the till. At that price, I figured it was worth it. I got an XXL, so it’ll work for both myself and the girls as something any of us can just grab if we need to go outside on a chilly night. Which we aren’t having right now, but fall is coming.

Sub total, $282.80
Taxes: $31.62
Total: $314.47

*sigh*

Then, of course, I had to get gas. At least I could fill up at Costco, where the price was 154.9/L A couple of days ago, it was 155.9 Everywhere else in the city was 165.9

Between the difference in gas prices and the cat food prices, it is well worth the drive to the city to get this stuff. Locally, they have 7kg bags, not 9kg, but they cost $10 more. I could get the “economy” Walmart brand at a lower price, but they’re still only 7kg bags and… well, there’s a reason they are so cheap. The quality of kibble is poorer, and even the outside cats don’t like it as much. They’ll at least eat it, though. The Superstore no-name brand is so bad, the cats won’t eat it unless they’re super hungry. Costco does carry a brand in 11kg bags, but the price per kg is still higher than the 9kg bags.

So on cat food alone, driving to the city to stock up at Costco saves us at least $100. Then there’s the difference in gas prices. That leaves us with room in the budget to buy the fresh things we need to get more often, locally.

I will still need to make one more city trip, though it can be the smaller, nearer city this time. I will need to go to a Canadian Tire and get more litter pellets. We still have, but we need to stock up.

The last time I was at Walmart, just a couple of days ago, I noticed they had the softwood pellets in stock – but they are now the same price as Canadian Tire, which is $7.98. Previously, the Walmart price had been $5 a bag! The hardwood pellets, which Canadian Tire carries, but I’ve never seen in Walmart, is 50¢ less than the softwood. It used to be that the softwood pellets were the cheaper ones, though they rarely had them in stock.

Once I get the litter pellets, that should be it for city shopping trips. Anything we need after this can be done locally until the end of the month!

With the prices going up, it’s getting a lot harder to stock up extra for the winter, when we will inevitably find ourselves unable to get out. Usually for January and/or February. At least we’ll have the quarter beef for the freezer in November or December. I’ve been making monthly payments towards that, but once we have car payments again, we probably won’t be able to do that again. Maybe just a freezer pack, once in a while.

What’s really frustrating is that all these price increases are artificial, and the direct result of our idiotic government spending like a drunken sailor on everything but what they’re responsible for, while adding more and more taxes and destroying small businesses. Then they vote themselves pay increases. Meanwhile, I was just hearing today, the number of people – especially in the under 35 age category – living paycheck to paycheck has increased to something like 35%, with more than 50% of them afraid they will lose their jobs within the year. I never thought I’d be so thankful for my husband being disabled. It’s a fixed income, but he has excellent private insurance, putting us in a much better position than so many others. I can’t imagine how people living on just CPP Disability are managing. The highest amount for that doesn’t even cover rent in most places, even with subsidies. Ten years from now, that’s all my husband and I will be living on, as that’s when he ages out of his private insurance.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and die first.

The Re-Farmer

Stock up shop: this is what $800 looks like

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Well, the Costco shop was $800.10. I forgot to get a picture of the Walmart shop, which was done first. That one was $161.28

So I’ll do the Costco list first.

Yeah. That’s $800.10 right there.

*sigh*

There were a few things we don’t normally get, though. Like my husband’s birthday cake! He has a birthday coming up soon, and he asked for cake and lots of ice cream bars. 😄

So, this is the list, in the order that’s on the receipt.

Butter: 5 pounds at $5.49 each – way cheaper than anywhere else – for a total of $27.45
Flour, 10kg size: $9.99
KS Drawstring garbage bags: $21.99
Canned cat food: $38.99
Kirkland brand dry cat food (best price per kg); four 9kg bags: $26.99 each
Kirkland brand toilet paper: $22.99
Coke Zero: $14.69, plus 32¢ enviro fee
Birthday cake: $24.99
Lean ground beef: $30.85
Stewing beef: $32.89
Eye of Round: $29.40 (the price of beef is insane, even at Costco!)
Pork tenderloins: $18.77
Ice cream bars, variety pack: $19.99
Ice cream, almond bars: $15.99
Ice cream, Mega Sandwich pack: $16.99
Cheese; Mozza: $14.99
Cheese; Old Cheddar: $14.99
Cheese; cream, 4pk: $9.49
Iced tea mix: $9.99 (elsewhere, it costs anywhere from $12.99 to $15.99 that I’ve seen)
Bucket of Ghee: $41.99 (this is going to replace most of our cooking oils; we just can’t afford them, and Costco’s restaurant sized bucket of Ghee is an excellent price)
Hazelnuts: $11.49
Deodorant, 5pk: $14.99
Active dry yeast: $7.99 (with the new bread machine, we’re using it pretty much every day, so we need to stock up on yeast and flour now! 😊)
Toothbrushes: $16.99
AA batteries: regular price $25.99, but on sale for $19.99, + eco fee of $1.60
AAA batteries: same sale price of $19.99, + eco fee of 80¢
Arthritis acetaminophen pain killers: $19.99
24 hour allergy meds: $10.99
Ibuprofen, extra strength: $15.99
Butter chicken sauce, 2pk: $9.99
Spaghetti box: regular price, $13.49, on sale for $9.99
Tortillas, two 2pks: $9.99 each
Basmati rice: $15.99
Rotisserie chicken: 2 at $7.99 each

The subtotal for all that was $752.43, and the taxes came to $47.67 for the total of $800.10

That was really painful.

Then there was the stuff I got at Walmart. I went specifically for the puppy pads and carpet powder, but I also keep an eye out for other things, as needed. This time I got quite a few extras.

KD, 12pk: $9.47 That was an excellent sale price. KD is something the girls like for a quick cooking meal.
Ramen noodles, 24pk: $6.48 They were on sale for 27¢ each, which is almost pre-pandemic insanity price.
Clumping cat litter: $8.47 I really hope it works with TTT. The dust, just from opening the container, was insane. I so prefer the stove pellets as litter!
Argan oil: $7.97
Carpet powder, odor eliminator: $4.47
Carpet powder, deodorizing: $3.97
Soaker pad: $17.97 – to protect the new mattress cover!
Waterproof mattress cover, king size: $49.97
Puppy pads, 30″x30″: $26.97 With the bigger size, I need only one to cover the space under the desk
litter pan: $9.97 Since I took the one from the cat cage in the sun room to use under my desk, I needed to replace it, for when we have to keep cats before they go for spays and neuters.

Subtotal: $145.71
GST: $6.49
PST: $9.08
Total: $161.28

With having to get all the extra stuff to protect my bed, this was almost all “extra” purchases. Which is really frustrating that we have to do this.

TTT is now back in my room and tucked into her napping cave in my closet. I would be really, really happy if she started using the new litter! She always waits until I’m asleep before she goes, though, so I won’t know until morning.

And that’s our first stock up shopping trip for the month.

After I take the cats in to the vet clinic tomorrow morning, I’m heading into the city to meet a guy selling some small scaffolding. I might take advantage of that and swing by Costco to pick up 4 more bags of kibble. Then we’ll have to make another trip into the city to get the rest of our stocking up, including more litter pellets, and maybe even some more *gasp* groceries for ourselves!

These price increases are getting harder and harder to keep up with. With a fixed income, we’re running out of wiggle room. Especially since we expect to have car payments before winter. We so need a van. Having to make multiple trips, because we can only fit so much into my mother’s car, is a killer on the gas budget. Her car has horrible mileage, too!

Well, time to do my outside rounds before I have to tuck away any food that’s left in the kibble bowls in my room, for the overnight fasting.

It’s been a very long day.

The Re-Farmer

Second stock up shop: this is $224

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Today, I decided to go to Superstore instead of to Costco again, as there were a couple of things on my list I either didn’t see at Costco, or what I did see wasn’t in good shape. Plus, I had a hankering for Superstore’s torpedo buns! 😂

I passed on the photo of the fallen tree to my brother and his wife to let them know about it, and ended up arranging to meet with my SIL for lunch. We had a fantastic visit! After we parted ways, I decided to take advantage of the location and made a quick run through the Home Depot that was next door to the Superstore. I found the plastic conduit pipes I want to use to bury and protect the hose we want to run to the garden tap, which gave me an idea of how much we can expect to spend. While looking for something else, I found short lengths of rebar with a protective coating for under $3 each, so I got 10 of them. I think I need only eight. We found the parts and pieces for a car port in the barn, but if we want to set it up, we need to secure it to the ground somehow. These rebar pieces can be pounded into the ground, and the supports should fit right over them.

I hope.

If it doesn’t work, I can find many other uses for them!

Then it was off to the Superstore. This is was $224.45, after taxes, looks like.

I won’t list the prices for everything on there, but this is what I got.

At my husband’s request, I got nacho fixings – olives, chips and mozzarella cheese. He also requested canned beans as a quick heat and eat. There was a sale on one brand, with a limit of 4 of each type, so I got two flavours. Eight cans at $1.50 each. I had intended to buy a case, but a case of 9 cans was almost $16.

I stocked up on distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier; the cost/4L jug was about half what they cost locally. There’s a 20 pound bag of “almost perfect” potatoes for $11, and a large package of house brand paper towels. I got another case of Coke Zero, even though I got one at the recent Costco trip. This one it to tuck away for later. There’s a couple of boxes of tea; Maple Rooibos and Vanilla Earl Grey. There’s a bag of Basmati rice that I hope is good. I couldn’t find it at Costco, and this is a different brand. We have not had much luck trying different brands! I also stocked up some more on Beaver Buzz energy drinks for my older daughter and I. The citrus flavour was on sale, but I also got root beer and saskatoon flavours. There’s a 2 pound clamshell of blueberries. Regular price was $6.99, but there was a sale at $3.20, with a limit of 1. For fruit, I also got a couple of bunches of bananas, as they were only 35¢ each, instead of the usual 79¢ or more.

There’s a couple of jars of mayonnaise, a loaf of French bread, 4 packages of 12 hamburger buns and a sourdough loaf. I also picked up some fresh Fettuccini noodles, to make the original Fettuccini Alfredo I’ve been wanting to try. I would make the pasta ourselves, but no one wants to do that in this heat.

Last of all, I got cold bottles of water and Coke Zero for the drive home. I ended up only drinking the water, so I’ve got a Coke for later.

All of that, before taxes, came to $216.38 The one thing on my list that I did not get was cat kibble. For that, I will make a trip to Costco. Their cheap dry cat food is too cheap – not even the outside cats want to eat it – but the other large bags cost more than Costco by quite a bit. We’re okay for cat food supply right now, but the difference in price is worth the extra trip to the city.

The shopping done, I swung by the nearby Costco to fill the gas tank. Most places have their gas prices from 157.9/L to 160.9/L for regular. Costco is still at 144.9/L That’s a significant difference!

Now that I’ve been home for a while and recuperated from being around so many other human beings for so long, I’m going to re-watch a video on how to make the original Fettuccini Alfredo, then make some for supper!

I’m really looking forward to trying it!

The Re-Farmer

Stocking up: Costco, $682, Canadian Tire, $179

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I am so tired.

And sore.

Mostly tired.

My brother came out this morning to install a vent for the portable air conditioner they brought for us. It look longer than expected, of course, but we now have an AC in the living room! Yay!

Once that was done, it was almost lunch time, and we both left at the same time. I’d hoped to be able to at least buy him lunch as a thank you, but he had too much to do when he got home. His day was already a long one by then!

Once in the city, I had two places to go. The first was Canadian Tire.

I almost got a heavy duty hose on sale for the water tap project, but then I saw something else and put the hose back.

We needed this kit, more!

We’ve found all sorts of drill bits all over the place, but they’re all mixed up, many are worn out, and quite a few have broken as we tried to use them. What we don’t have is this range of sizes – or maybe we do. Somewhere. These can be used for metal, wood or plastic, and was 69% off. A much better deal than the hose, which would have cost more, even on sale! I had a budget for today for one, not both, so the hose went back.

Altogether, I got:

A 2 gallon watering can, to replace the one by the Crespo squash that is falling apart. $16.99
Plastic hardware cloth, 3′ x 25′ for the raised bed cover. I hope it works out. $34.99
Replacement spool for our weed trimmer. $12.99
A gallon of outdoor paint for the garden bench and “new” folding table. $54.99
The drill bit set, which would have been almost $150. Instead, it was $39.99

The total, after taxes, came out to $179.15

One thing I was looking for was more fire bricks for our eventual outdoor bread oven that I am slowly accumulating, but apparently this location didn’t even have a section for things like wood burning stoves, etc. The woman I asked while she was mixing my paint thought it was a seasonal thing.

Well, at least I got the paint and something to use on the third raised bed cover. If it works out, I’ll use it on the fourth frame, too.

Then it was off to Costco. I actually picked up gas, first. Driving through the town my mother lives in, one station was up to 160.9/L, while the other was still at 158.9/L Costco was 144.9/L !! I wanted to fill my tank but, unfortunately, the dust from driving on gravel roads tricks the gas pump into thinking it’s full, so it kept doing the auto shut off. I kept turning it back on until it was getting close to $25, then just hoped that was enough. When I started the car, the needle was just barely touching full!

Then it was time to do the shopping.

This being a Saturday, I was expecting it to be busy, but still, I find the crowds so draining! That, and so many people just park their carts willy nilly. Annoying enough at the best of times, but I’m using a flat cart!

When it was time to check out, though, the staff was absolutely fabulous, and I was through in no time.

This is what $682.30 looks like.

Ouch.

This trip was a big bigger with some things, as I’m also thinking ahead to our winter stockpile and pantry.

First, there was the “bottom of the basket” stuff that didn’t get unloaded.

Cat kibble; four 9kg bags at $29.99 each I would have gotten more, but not while using my mother’s car.
Wet cat food, $38.99
Two packs of Kirkland toilet paper; $22.99
A flat of Coke Zero; $14.69, plus 32¢ enviro fee
Box of spaghetti; $13.49
9 pack of mixed pasta; $13.99

Then there was the stuff that got unloaded onto the belt.

Pork chips: $20.10
lean ground beef, one package at $27.38, another at $26.29
ground turkey: $27.88, minus $5 at the till for a sale
ground pork chub: $19.99
4 pk of bacon: $19.99
Marble cheddar: $14.99
Old cheddar: $14.99
Extra Old cheddar (a white cheddar): $19.99
two 1L cartons of whipping cream at $4.79 each
4pk of cream cheese: $9.49
Large bottle of Coffee creamer for the girls: $7.49 – that is typically a good price for the smaller bottles anywhere else!
6pk canned chicken: $17.99 (it’s actually gone down in price! A bit.)
Walnuts for baking: $11.49
Butter, 5 pounds at $5.49 each
2pk of lemon juice: $4.89
Kirkland brand chocolate chips: $15.99
Glass cleaner; we keep losing our glass cleaner, so I got a set with one spray bottle and a huge refill jug: $17.99
Pork rinds (and this time I remembered to tell my husband it’s for cooking with!): $10.79
Iced tea mix: $9.99
Peanut butter, 2kg size: $10.49
Rotisserie chicken; two at $7.99 each
2pk rye bread: $4.49
two packages of tortilla wraps at $9.99 each
A double flat of eggs (60 eggs): $18.89

Sub total was $651.97, plus $30.33 in taxes, for a grand total of $682.30

Ouch.

The sad thing is, I didn’t get everything on my list. I was running out of space. I’ll have to go over the list – and the budget – and make another trip out. The price for dry cat food alone makes the drive worth it.

I was feeling dehydrated by the time I was done Tetrising everything into the car, so I stopped at a gas station just outside the city to pick up something to drink. There was a fruit stand just across the parking lot, so I checked it out. I ended up getting some plums (actually a plum hybrid; he told me what it was, but I can’t remember now), cherries and avocados. The avocados were only a dollar each, which is much cheaper that most places. Altogether, it was another $26 for fruit.

I am so glad to be home now.

I think I’ll make myself a supper using rotisserie chicken and enjoy it in an air conditioned room! We’re at “only” 22C/72F outside right now. It’s almost 7pm, but my weather app says we’re still supposed to go up to 23C/73F before things start cooling down for the night. Last night, we actually dropped to 7C/45F – I had my window open and almost felt cold! 😄 Today is a brief respite, though. Long range forecasts have us approaching, and reaching, for one day, 30C/86F. No rain in the forecast, though, so we’ll be watering the garden. I’ll get to use the nice new watering can, with a rose that doesn’t have a crack in it, nor chunks of plastic braking off the opening! 😄

It doesn’t take much to make me happy. 😊

The Re-Farmer

First city shop; the not-Costco trip: this is about $418, +

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So yesterday was an interesting one… thankfully, not too interesting!

We hit 30C/86F and the rain that was forecast for our area was suddenly not being forecasted anymore. It was still insanely humid, though. The garden was wilting from the heat, so I set up the sprinklers to water the beds.

Which is when my phone started screaming at me.

Several times.

We were getting tornado warnings. However, the alerts were for the “mobile coverage area”. Which is pretty darn big. Looking at the weather radar after the first alert, the system was right on top of the smaller, nearer city we sometimes go to. My sister lives near there. The system continued to move northward, passing to the east of us.

As far as I know, there were no funnel clouds sighted, but some of the downs got walloped by massive rain, winds and, in some places, softball sized hail! I later saw photos people were posting on some local weather watching groups I’m on, and the damage in places from the wind and hail was pretty bad in places.

We had some pretty clouds blow over our area, and the odd gust of wind.

I’m okay with that.

There was no respite from the heat and humidity, though. My poor daughters, upstairs! My older daughter was working, but my younger daughter tried, and failed, to get any sleep.

I fared somewhat better, at least. Aside from being tackled by kittens, repeatedly, my room was much cooler, and I’ve started to partly sleep through the kitten attacks. I do have to be increasingly careful moving around, though. Question has decided I am her human, so I often have her climbing my leg while I’m on the computer and either sitting on my knee, or forcing her way up into my arms so she can sleep on my chest. During the night, at one point, I woke to find her snuggled over one of my arms.

She wasn’t alone.

One of the grey tabbies was also draped over my bicep.

Something still seemed odd, though. Thankfully, I could reach my phone and use the camera and flash to try and see. Which is how I found Ghosty stretched out in front of my leg and belly. Which is imressive, for such a tiny kitten!

When I had to roll over, I carefully scooped up Question and moved with her. The other kittens took off, but Question just settled in wherever I happened to stop moving, which means she spent most of the night sleeping in the palm of my hand! Another time, I woke to find her draped across my neck, and another kitten curled up around my head.

When my older daughter came in to help do Leyendecker’s meds (letting her sister, who usually does it, to finally get some sleep!), Question had moved to my pillow, curled up next to my face, and slowly slid down until she was on my shoulder, instead. I’m told it was an adorable sight!

After doing Leyendecker’s medications, I did my morning rounds (I’m pretty sure I’m seeing new kittens, but at this point, it’s getting hard to tell!), then grabbed an insulated bag with ice packs in it and headed to the city.

I ended up stopping at a gas station in the town my mother lives in, after discovering I was out of washer fluid. For some reason, the light that’s supposed to turn on and tell me it’s empty, doesn’t. I had some in the car, but after filling the reservoir, I went in to replace the jug. As I was leaving, a woman outside started chatting with me, asking if we’d gotten the storm. I told her it passed us by, but I’d heard about other places that got hit really hard.

She was in one of those places!

They were in a trailer, attending the Treaty Days events when the storm hit. Thankfully, they did not get any damage, though the ground was white with hail after it passed. A nearby town, closer to the lake, got the softball sized hail. She said some of the trucks she saw looked like someone had gone at them with a sledgehammer! Absolutely wild!

I’m really thankful it missed us. There are people in my local gardening groups that already had their gardens smashed to bits from hail in the last set of storms. I’ve since seen other photos posted online from the aftermath, and there were thing like large trucks blown over, pieces of sheds in the middle of fields, downed trees, pieces of roof torn off, and sheds blown apart.

I’ve not been home long, so I haven’t had a chance to see what sort of response there has been. So far, I have not heard of any people injured.

I’m glad I ran into the lady at the gas station. She was really nice.

Once in the city, my first stop was at a Walmart. This shop was mostly stuff we don’t normally buy.

This is what $203.24, after taxes, looks like.

The main thing I was looking for was puppy pads. There are a couple of places the kitten keep making messes in, once of which we will have to do some serious rearranging to access. The other is under my desk, where I was able to put some old disposable diapers we’d hung onto over the years. That, at least, will be easier to clean up this time, but I didn’t have anything to replace the diapers with. I was quite happy to see the Walmart was well stocked in the puppy pads!

The facial tissue was on my list; I didn’t want to get a Costco sized package of those, so I got them at Walmart. The tinned cat food was also on the list. I got a replacement package pectin, which was not officially on the list, but I do try to pick some up as I’m able. I would have also picked up replacement wide mouth canning lids, but they only had regular mouth size. There’s some toothpaste and deodorant, which are also things that I try to pick up extras of, when I can.

Not at all on the list was the broom. It’s just a cheap one, but it has stiffer bristles. The carpet in my room is a strange, felted-looking surface. It attracts cat hair, dust and everything else like nobody’s business! With the kittens, I’m not able to vacuum as often as I should, but I try to at least sweep it. All the brooms we have are soft bristled, so they don’t work very well. I’ve already tried this one out, and it’s exactly what I wanted. It pulls up so much cat hair! That’s make life easier for the vacuum cleaner!

I also got a cheap little toy for the kittens. It’s meant for dogs, but it’s a little fox that crinkles when squeezed, and the kittens will have a blast with it.

Also not on the list, but I did remember we needed, are a couple of pairs of kitchen sheers. They were both quite affordable, but one was less than $3. We’ll see how long they last, compared to the one that cost just over $10. I also grabbed a wooden spatula. We’ve got lots or plastic ones for the non-stick pans, and most have heat damage. The one that doesn’t has a crack in it. I’ve looked at wooden ones before, but they were all oddly thick. This one seemed properly thin enough to actually get under things, rather than just push them around the pan. 😄 It was less than $5, so that was nice, too.

The one big purchase this time, though, was a new pair of shoes! I finally remembered to look for some.

A nice pair of steel toes work shoes! I love the boots I have now, but I’ve been wearing them so much, one of the heels is giving out, and the zipper and Velcro closure are starting to wear out. All the work shoes had security cables on them, so I had to find an employee to unlock a couple of pairs to try on. It was funny when the first thing she did was point out that they were men’s shoes, not women’s. I told her I knew – I can’t fit women’s shoes! What made it funnier is that there was another lady looking at shoes to try on, and she was only looking at men’s shoes, too!

The ones I ended up getting were slightly more expensive, but at $69.97, that’s still a good price for steel toed shoes.

I put them on as soon as I finished loading everything else in the car!

The one last thing not on the list that I got was an actual food item. There was a really good sale on large package of blueberries, so I got two. They were only $3.84 each!

That put me at a before-tax total of $182.68.

My next stop was at the international grocery store, where I was also able to pick up some dim sum for lunch. That really hit the spot!

This is wat $215.21, after taxes, looks like.

This time, it was the strawberries that were at a great price! The bananas weren’t on sale, but still pretty cheap. The Coke Zero wasn’t on sale, but still cheaper than the local prices. The raspberry drink was a cold one for the ride home.

This store is one of the few places I can get the Beaver Buzz brand of energy drinks, so I try to pick up quite a few for my older daughter and I. It’s also where we can find the Philippine soy sauce my husband likes, and a 4L size of soy milk my lactose intolerant daughters drink. There is an uncut piece of locally produced Applewood smoked bacon in there; they didn’t have the big chunks, or I would have gotten a much larger one! There’s regular 3% cows milk in there, and I found the wide mouth canning lids I wanted. There’s some truffle infused olive oil; a real treat that is often not in stock. I picked up some sweet potatoes, because I’m getting a hankering for a sweet potato and peanut soup from a recipe my SIL gave us.

The girls and I had recently been talking about liverwurst. We used to get it all the time. When my oldest daughter was a baby, I’d picked one up and, while continuing to shop, gave it to her to hold and play with. She was very happy with it. It took a while to realize why she was so quiet and content. She had bitten a hole in the package and was happily sucking the liverwurst out! After that, for a long time, we would start our grocery shopping by buying a small tube of liverwurst for her to enjoy while we shopped, then did the same thing again with her sister. The girls were remembering that we used to get it all the time, but we just… stopped. So when I saw large tubes of it in the grocery store, I grabbed one. The thing cost over $11, though!

I also picked up some cheeses from the “fancy cheese” counter. I got an Alexis de Portneuf and a Ceddar with Caramelized onion. I was also looking for some parmesan that was not grated, because I would really like to make …

… the original Fettuccine Alfredo.

The price of parmesan is insane! In the end, I only got a little chunk, and it still cost almost $8 – on sale! Hopefully it will be enough for one recipe of Fettuccine Alfredo.

Other things were better priced. I picked up a 2 pack of whole chicken that was only $13.35 These days, I’d be hard pressed to find a single whole chicken for that price.

The big indulgence, however, was a beef brisket. I’ve never bought a brisket before. I’m going to have to look up how to cook it properly. It cost $55.40, and I normally would never buy a single piece of meat at that price, but it was really a good deal. It was on sale for about $9.90/kg ($4.49/lb was on the signs, if I remember correctly). Looking at the other cuts of beef, they were generally $20+/kg. Even the ground beef wasn’t much cheaper! So that was my major splurge.

What I did not get today was any dry cat food. Normally, I would have picked some up at Walmart., but they didn’t have the large sized bags, and the smaller sized bags were more expensive than what I find at Costco for bigger bags. Plus, I no longer had room in my mother’s car.

I so look forward to getting a replacement van!!!

So after this, I headed towards home. My husband’s bubble packs were in and I was supposed to pick them up tomorrow, but I decided to take a different route and get those, too.

Since I remembered to bring the ice packs, I could do that! 😁

His bubble packs, plus a container of diabetic candies (the last one!!) and a gallon of distilled water for his CPAP, because I forgot to get it at Walmart, came out to $89 and change.

Ouch.

Thank God for his private insurance prescription coverage!

My last stop was to fill the gas tank. The last time I filled it, the prices were still at 149.9 ¢/L, but the next day, the prices went up. Now it’s the same price as in the city; 157.9/L

I did, however, make one more unexpected purchase.

This gas station was newly renovated. It closed down as a Husky and reopened as a Shell. Aside from the fancy new pumps and new signs, not a lot has changed, but there was a new display of books that caught my eye. I was torn between several that would be very useful but, in the end, decided that this one would be the most immediately useful. For all that I grew up in the prairies, I don’t actually know a lot about what native species we have that are edible.

Or maybe I know more than I think. Flipping through it in the store, I did recognise a lot of the photos. I think mostly it’s that there are some that I don’t know if they are safe to eat or not.

I’m going to enjoy going through it more thoroughly!

Filling the tank cost $32.26, and the book was another $24.95, though I did get a slight discount for using my CAA card. According to my receipt, I was also discounted 0.03/L on my fuel. I’ll take what I can get!

So that is our first city shopping trip for the month. There will at least be one Costco trip – maybe two, if the price of cat food is crazy enough to warrant a second trip.

I really miss having a van. I don’t like making so many trips to the city like this!

The Re-Farmer

Stock up shopping: Costco. This is $736

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Well, it looks like I got home just in time! Things were clear and sunny while I was in the city, but I drove home to a dark cloud. As we unloaded, there was thunder all around us, and just touches of rain. From the radar, it looks like a series of small, severe storms are being blown in from the West, all across the Prairies.

Meanwhile, our weather apps are pinging with tornado warnings.

No, not for us. For the south end of our province, near the US border. We’re getting the warnings because the whole province is included in the warnings. Which is a bit like if you lived in Spokane, Washington, but were getting weather warnings intended for Boise, Idaho.

What’s hilarious is looking at a closer view of the weather radar, and it shows a storm system is expected to split in two, with one part passing to the north of us, and the other to the south of us. We might not even get rain.

No matter. We are now pretty stocked up and won’t need to go out again to do the rest of the stocking up for a few days.

Today was just a Costco shop, and this is what $736.36 looks like.

There were a few unplanned purchases this time. One was a linen summer dress for my younger daughter, who really, really loves linen fabric, for $23.99 I’m happy to say, it did fit her. The problem with sizing is, they aren’t standardized, so you never really know if a size on the label of one brand will be the same at the same label size on another. Plus, there’s no stretch to linen, so if the arm holes are cut differently, for example, even if it’s the right size, you might not be able to even put it on.

Another unexpected purchase was a 2 pack of down spout extensions, for $18.99. As soon as everything was unloaded, I got those on right away! There is a downspout near the main entry, facing the kibble house, that drains way too close to the house. I’ve never added to it, because it’s also a fairly high traffic area. These flexible extensions will solve that problem. The other downspout was off the corner of the old kitchen, near the septic tank. The end had a short length of downspout on it that was starting to split, and that was extended by another length of PVC pipe. Those have both been replaced by a single extender, and I am quite happy with the change!

One more unexpected purchase was a package of work gloves, at $14.99. Our garden gloves are getting worn out and falling apart, so we really needed new ones. A package of garden gloves, however cost more than $20, and the quality is not as good.

Of course, the bulk of the purchase was cat food. I got a case of wet cat food at $38.99. With the dry cat food, I got four Kirkland brand, 9kg bags at $26.99 each. I also got a couple of 11.6kg Whiskas brand. Regular price, $37.99, but they were $8 off, so that was a good deal.

For the rest:

Regular mayo, two jars: 10.99 each, minus $2.50 each at the till
Pork rinds: 10.99 (I plan to use them as a bread crumb substitute)
Two rotisserie chickens: 7.99 each
Ground pork chub: 19.99
Ground beef chub: 45.76, minus $5 at the till
Pork loin: 28.28
Two backs strawberries: 5.99 each
Family size sushi pack: 21.99 (for supper at home)
Shepherd Pie: 21.91 (for my husband who doesn’t eat sushi)
Triple berry jam: 7.99
5 pounds of butter: 5.49 each
4 packages of tortilla wraps: 9.99 each
Four 2pks of rye bread: 5.99 each, minus $2 each at the till
Two 1L cartons of whipping cream: 4.79 each
Double cream brie: 10.99
4pk cream cheese: 9,49
Sour cream: 5.49
Old Cheddar cheese: 14.99
Mozzarella cheese: 14.99
Iced tea mix: 9.99
Peanut butter: 10.49
10kg bag of sugar: 13.69
2pk fabric softener: 16.49 (I’ve been looking for these for months! This will last us for a couple of years.)
Dish detergent: 8.59
Toilet paper: 22.99

That made for a grand total of $692.92, plus $43.44 in taxes, for 49 items.

*sigh*

We didn’t get a lot of meat this time, as we will be ordering a couple of BBQ freezer packs from our beef supplier. Which I need to do after I finish this, or I’ll forget again.

By this point in the shopping, I didn’t even finish going through the store, as I was really pushing the limit on how much my mother’s car can handle. Another thing I need to remember: get the van to the garage! At least this month, we don’t have extra bills, or things like needing to empty the septic tank.

I got gas at Costco at 145.9 cents per liter. Everywhere else in the city is 157.9 With the new carbon tax kicking in on July 1, gas prices are going to go up, so a lot of people were filling jerry cans. Which reminds me: I need to refill our 20L can for Premium gas that we keep for the lawnmowers and wood chipper. To make it easier to fill the tanks, we transfer fuel from the 20L can to a pair of 5L cans. Right now, I’m down to maybe half of one of those 5L cans. We will probably do another city trip on Friday, so that would be a good time to swing by Costco again, just for gas, to fill the 20L container. That should last us for the rest of the summer, and possibly into next year.

Now it’s time to go over the list to see what got missed this trip, and make sure we get them on our next city trip, when the rest of my husband’s disability pay comes in.

After I place an order for that beef! I’m already forgetting!

The Re-Farmer

Costco shopping: This is $800, and prices are insane!

/ Re-Farmer / 9 Comments

It’s feeling a bit surreal today – I’ve gone to the city and back, and as I start this, it’s not even 1pm yet. I headed out early this morning to do the watering and switch out the trail cam memory cards, and was on the road not long past 7:30am. Usually, I don’t leave for the city until around 10:30 or 11.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be making the trip at all, today. My husband’s CPP Disability was due on Monday, but these days, both his CPP and private insurance payments show up in our account on Saturday instead of Monday.

I have no complaints there.

Because I left so early, I asked the girls to take the transplants out to the picnic table for me. We’re not supposed to get the high winds we got yesterday, but we were still supposed to get pretty hot, with a high of 25 or 27C/77 or 81F, depending on which app I looked at. The thunderstorm we were supposed to get last night is now pushed back to Monday. In the end, I figured it was just safer to have the transplants under the old market tent, even though it’s further from the house. Even there, with the high winds we had yesterday, one of our tomato plants snapped clean off, right at soil level. I replanted the stem. It might still survive. Not that we can’t afford to lose any. I just can’t help trying to save any that need it!

I was greeted by a pleasant site when I opened the gate to head out this morning.

Most of our lilacs were badly damaged by last year’s flooding, and not showing a lot of flower sprays. This one, however, has the most we’ve ever seen on it! Usually, it has none at all. This area is usually baked dry. For the first time in the past 5 years, at least, the water table is high enough for it thrive and bloom!

When I got to the Costco, their doors had just opened, and I found myself winding through two long lines of people that had been waiting to get in. The parking lot was already almost full! Things moved smoothly and quickly, though.

I did have quite the heart attack when going through the meat section. Especially the beef!

The strip loin grilling steaks were $39.99 (US$29.37)/kg. The ribeye grilling steaks were $45.99 (US$33.78)/kg. The whole beef tenderlions were $53.99 (US$39.66)/kg One kg equals 2.2 pounds.

No. I didn’t buy any.

Time for another order from our beef supplier!

I still ended up spending $800.06 after taxes.

That looks really meager for $800.

This is what I got:

Two large jars of mayo, at $10.99 each (yes, we can make it ourselves, but with the cost of ingredients, that’s no longer worth the effort, really)
One jug of Kirkland EVOO – the smaller one – at $23.99
Iced tea mix, $9.99 That’s almost $5 cheaper than what I’m seeing for regular prices elsewhere right now.
Triple berry jam, $7.99
Peanut butter in the 2kg size jar, $10.49
garlic granules, $8.99
Truffle, parmesan, black garlic mix, $9.99 This one was a splurge. I was looking for the garlic granules when I heard a couple other customers looking for ordinary table salt. She spotted this and read the label out loud, wondering what it was for. It sounded fantastic to me, so I grabbed some, and we ended up talking about different ways to use it. 😄
popcorn, $10.89
Bacon, 4pk, $19.99
Whipping cream, two 1L cartons, at $4.79 each – much cheaper than anywhere else
Kirkland sour cream, $5.49
4pk Kirkland cream cheese, $9.49
Old cheddar, Marble and Mozza cheese at $14.99 each
Double cream brie, $10.99
Butter, five at $5.49 each
Two rotisserie chicken, $7.99 each
Eggs, 60 pack, $17.89
lean ground beef, $46.29 – this is the huge plastic chub of meat that will be broken down into smaller packages
ground pork, $19.99 – another chub that will be broken down into smaller packages
pork loin, $29.47, minus $5 for a sale
Tilapia filets, $32.89 – a treat for my fish loving daughters
flour, $9.99 – a much better price than elsewhere. I’d have gotten two, if I wasn’t concerned about the space and weight in my mother’s car
Vit. B12, $13.99
Mr. Freeze, $14.99 – this huge box of freezies cost about as much as boxes half the size in other stores
AA batteries, $25.99 plus $1.60 eco fee
AAA batteries, $25.99 plus 80 cents eco fee
laundry detergent, $21.49, minus $4.50 for a sale
Kirkland toilet paper, $22.99
Dry cat food, six 9kg bags, $28.99 each
canned cat food, $38.99

The sub total came to $757.79, plus $42.27 in taxes.

Ouch.

It wasn’t that long ago when a load like this would have cost between $600 and $700, depending on how many things like batteries or household supplies were on the list. Back then, I would buy 10 pounds of butter at a time, too. As for today, I completely forgot to pick up any bread and wraps, which is okay, because I was running out of room.

Given the price of kibble, we might end up doing another Costco run. We did find a source for larger bags at an even better price, but none of the cats liked it. Not even the outside cats. There’s a reason the cheap stuff is cheap.

Along with the groceries, I got gas, which was at 151.9 cents per litre for regular gas.

So the first stock up shop for the month is done. It took a huge chunk out of the budget for the month. This month will have some extra expenses, too. One is to get the septic tank emptied. The other is to get the van checked and find out what’s causing that noise near the alternator. Hopefully, it will be a minor fix. As much as I appreciate being able to use my mother’s car – especially with working air conditions! – there are some things I would rather use the van for, like big shopping trips, or runs to the dump.

The Re-Farmer