Five Frugal Things -- A New Meal Prep Hack! -

1) I went to my friend Sue's house for a nice long visit and gifted her a ribbon wrapped bundle of fresh rosemary from my garden. I forgot to take a photo, so I'll just include the above photo of my gargantuan rosemary shrub. We usually meet up at my house, so this was extra fun as I love poking around other's people's homes.

It was the perfect combination of delicious food, laughter and commiseration.

2) I stopped at Winco on the way home, knowing that if I stepped foot inside my house I'd lose momentum and not be able to run this dull errand. My shopping list was already in my phone, (a photograph of a written list, which is my version of stepping into the digital age) although I added a few things based on sales, (98¢ blackberries!) and vibes -- a single enormous lemon.

I spent $56.86 and treated myself to a 50¢ off brand diet Coke on my way out. I'll get 10¢ back when I return the can.

Here's what I bought:

A huge bag of tortillas.
Yogurt
Two 18-packs of eggs.
Spinach
Shredded mozarella
String cheese
Bulk section pinto beans
A half-gallon of whole milk
Two-pound block of Tillamook cheese.
Bananas
A can of pineapple chunks.
A gallon of vinegar.
Bulk section sliced almonds.
Bulk section raisins.
Imitation crab.
Blackberries
A lemon.

3) Not all my food purchases fall under the category of #cheapaf, as I convinced my husband to try out Whole Foods' $35 "Family Meal" to meal prep his work lunches. My husband works ten hour days, which means he gets three days off each week and invariably his last day off is spent torturing himself about what to make, followed by grocery shopping and cooking.

It's a bummer that regularly eats up an entire day that should be spent relaxing.

I kept seeing people on Instagram picking up this food for meal prepping. It's an entire 9" X 13" pan of food for just $35 and as much as I loathe that Schmeff Schmezos guy, I figure we'd give it a try.

We ended up picking up two trays of food, choosing salmon + brussel sprout slaw + fingerling potatoes; as well as an extra pan of steak + sesame noodles + broccoli. So my $35 hack doubled into a $70 expenditure, which was actually fine, as it gives meal variation and fed us for two dinners, which included a guest for one of those nights.

How much did my husband enjoy his meal prep hack? This much!

4) Our daughter came over for family dinner night and we enjoyed the last of the Whole Foods meal and then watched a couple library blu-ray episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. (So good -- almost a perfect series!) Free entertainment without even the hint of an advertisement!

If it were up to me I'd cancel every damned paid streaming service and go back to utilizing the library for all our television needs.

5) I couldn't resist grabbing four 50¢ ears of corn at Whole Foods, which gave me the opportunity to use my recently thrifted and refurbished Calphalon pan. Plus my enjoyably packaged corn holders! I punched in my sister's phone number to get the Amazon Prime sale price. A couple fewer pennies for a billionaire.

Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?