Blue and white Campanula (Bellflower)

     This afternoon I started my grocery shop for the month. Giant Tiger's sale starts Wednesday and Freshco's starts on Thursday, so my SP dropped me off at Freshco and he continued on to Giant Tiger with a list I had prepared. He spent $32.15 and brought back a lot of great sale items. His best buys were 2 large jars of Kraft salad dressing...one Mayo and one Miracle Whip for $2.48 each (regularly $4.97 each). He also picked up 2 jars of Catelli Garden Select for $1 each (regularly $2.87), and yes I know that I can make my own spaghetti sauce, but it is nice once in a while for convenience's sake to have a really nice chunky tomato sauce in the pantry for the same price as a can of tinned tomatoes. He picked up fresh mushrooms and an English cucumber for less than a dollar each. My extravagant buy was a package of  8 frozen sirloin burgers on sale for $8, but oh my, they taste really good and one burger is all you can eat. There is a lot of meat in one burger.

     Meanwhile, at Freshco, I was pretty much following my list until I found an unadvertised sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and a package of smoked sausages marked down to $7. My greatest expense was a  4 Kg bag of Basmati rice and my total bill was $98.65  There are still outstanding items on my shopping list that I will pick up tomorrow morning at No-Frills. Because I made only one major shopping trip for the month of June, we were pretty low on some of our staples; but overall, I was pleased at how well we did last month. 

     Have I mentioned how much I enjoy using the slow cooker? I use it all the time it seems. If I am not using it to cook the day's dinner meal, then I am making soup broth or cooking dried beans for the freezer. I freeze 1 1/2 cup portions of navy beans, kidney, black, pinto and home-baked beans in tomato sauce. From the freezer, they are as convenient as opening a can from the pantry, but at a fraction of the cost. I don't add any salt. I wait to season them once added to the recipe, and I think they taste better than canned.  Another thing I like to make for myself are seasonings or spice mixes. I make my own taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, stewing mix and the like. The other night I roasted potatoes in olive oil and Cajun seasoning  from Allrecipes.ca  Yum!! This was an idea I took directly from my brother in Smith Falls...the one who cooks. But you don't have to pay extra for the seasoning mix because the ingredients are spices you probably have already in your stash.  Put it in a pretty container with a handwritten label, and it makes a thoughtful gift as well. Talk later.