Speaker 1: Episode seventy grocery store sales cycles to know about. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and live rich your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. Welcome. Welcome to another episode of
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, Welcome, I'm Jill.
Speaker 1: This is a podcast where a couple frugal friends sit
Speaker 1: around and chat about how to save money and how
Speaker 1: to not save money, and we help others in our
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends community on Facebook. And we just have a
Speaker 1: real good time and that's what we're all about. We
Speaker 1: mostly just have a good time, yes, and then we
Speaker 1: also talk about things that matter for sure. And before
Speaker 1: we get into any of the really good stuff, we
Speaker 1: are having an actual live in person hang out in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. September seven, where we can we can touch
Speaker 1: each other just hands, mostly we can touch each other's hands,
Speaker 1: but tangible quick like high fives. Yeah, like high fives
Speaker 1: or or short shakes. Yes. Yes, So if you are
Speaker 1: in the Washington, d C area, um, we are going
Speaker 1: to have a meet up at Calorama Park September seven
Speaker 1: at five thirty and we're going to be let that
Speaker 1: is PM not am right, because this is a Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast, not the early Friends. And the park has
Speaker 1: a playground for the kids, and bring some snacks, some dinner.
Speaker 1: We can eat there and have some frugal fun at
Speaker 1: the park. It'll be super super fun. Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Calorama Park, September seven at five thirty. Super excited to
Speaker 1: meet some of you and you can r s v
Speaker 1: P to the event. Will have um in the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends community group on Facebook. No need to r s
Speaker 1: v P, but we do have an event in there
Speaker 1: if you want to see who else is coming? Perfect,
Speaker 1: Both Jen and I will be there so you can
Speaker 1: put faces to our voices and no, for sure who's
Speaker 1: who's laughing weird? And who's who's got the baby? Who's
Speaker 1: making dry jokes? Yes, the baby will be there. So
Speaker 1: if you are interested to see the project I've have
Speaker 1: been working on all year in my body, he will
Speaker 1: be there. Perfect. Yes, all right, sponsors for today, so excited.
Speaker 1: Also brought to you by car pooling. This sounded really
Speaker 1: fun as a kid, mostly because I expected an actual
Speaker 1: pool to be part of the equation at some point,
Speaker 1: but really what I got where my friend's parents scolding
Speaker 1: me for the way I climbed over their seats are
Speaker 1: the types of just scriptor words I chose when telling stories. Well,
Speaker 1: here you have it. We're all adults now, and car
Speaker 1: pooling is still a good idea. I'm sorry to report
Speaker 1: there is still no pool and your drivers still may
Speaker 1: have specific requests about what you do in their car,
Speaker 1: but it is the frugal way car pooling. If you're
Speaker 1: both going there, travel together, beautiful. What kind of just
Speaker 1: scriptor words? Oh, you know, like stupid or other you know,
Speaker 1: maybe slightly offensive words, not cursing. I wasn't quite cursing
Speaker 1: in my friends cars, but it was a word edgy
Speaker 1: as a second greater, and my friend's parents were afraid
Speaker 1: of the influence I'd be on them, and clearly not
Speaker 1: a good one because look at how I turned out.
Speaker 1: So you should have kept your second greater away from me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure your friends turned out even worse. It's sad
Speaker 1: to think about I did. Actually, I've gotten some emails
Speaker 1: from people later on in life where you know people
Speaker 1: that I knew in elementary school or middle school, and
Speaker 1: they're like, chill, like it's so good to see, like
Speaker 1: how you turned out? Like it sounds like you're doing well.
Speaker 1: What were you? Yeah, like like they're pleasantly surprised. So
Speaker 1: I don't know, probably because I use the word stupid
Speaker 1: in their parents car. Well, you know what's not stupid
Speaker 1: is saving money on groceries. And we get so many
Speaker 1: requests for more grocery saving episodes and we have a few.
Speaker 1: So what else can we do except go through season
Speaker 1: seasonal sales cycles and seasonal produce. So this is an
Speaker 1: episode on what to buy when at the grocery store
Speaker 1: or when to I what it is even interesting that
Speaker 1: we need to have this conversation. I think it's just
Speaker 1: an indicator of where we are in culture and society
Speaker 1: that we've got to be reminded of what's in season
Speaker 1: and that is what is going to be most cost effective,
Speaker 1: and then planning our meals around that. But I do
Speaker 1: often forget because you often can get a variety of
Speaker 1: fruits and veggies all year round. But I did just
Speaker 1: run into this recently. It was back around the springtime
Speaker 1: when I was looking for Rue Barb and I guess
Speaker 1: they had just the season had just ended. I checked
Speaker 1: like five different grocery stores. No Rue Barb and I
Speaker 1: felt like that was the weirdest thing, Like I'm an American,
Speaker 1: I should be able to get rue Barb whenever I
Speaker 1: want it. Nope, not the case. And I kind of
Speaker 1: liked it. I kind of like that I couldn't I
Speaker 1: couldn't get it. After the frustration subsided, I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: like farming is still a thing. Yeah. If you're in
Speaker 1: the car and you can't write all this down, don't
Speaker 1: worry because most of the weekly ads at your grocery
Speaker 1: store will tell you what produce is in season by
Speaker 1: what's on sale. So this is really just a reminder
Speaker 1: too if you are not in a sales cycle, but
Speaker 1: you can possibly wait out for one to plan your
Speaker 1: seasonal shopping, whether that's a produce or other things. So
Speaker 1: let's get into it. We're going to start with winter,
Speaker 1: and that's because January is and winter, but we're actually
Speaker 1: gonna start with December because that's the first month of winter,
Speaker 1: so winter produce. Let me tell you where we're getting
Speaker 1: all this information. Reader's Digest dot com r D dot
Speaker 1: com has got our seasonal fruits and vegetables for every
Speaker 1: month of the year, and then inspiring savings dot Com
Speaker 1: is what we're going off of for their shopping sales
Speaker 1: cycles guide, and we'll have those links in the show notes.
Speaker 1: So starting out with winter, we've got all citrus, fruits,
Speaker 1: root vegetables, and then other things that are you know,
Speaker 1: grown low to the ground, so like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower,
Speaker 1: So those are kind of the produce you should be
Speaker 1: looking out for. Again, you'll see it in your sales
Speaker 1: circular and then for monthly sales for either stalking up
Speaker 1: or thinking about what you're going to plan for meals
Speaker 1: throughout the year. December I always stuck up on baking supplies. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Christmas a lot of baking sales. So if I need
Speaker 1: to get my baking soda, baking powder, all those things
Speaker 1: that I buy once a year, um, that don't go
Speaker 1: bad as quickly, that's good in December. January, Uh, this
Speaker 1: is where I started getting surprised on some things. So
Speaker 1: January cold and flu products go on sale. I didn't
Speaker 1: even think about that as cold and flu season, like
Speaker 1: it makes sense, but I'm you know, I could be
Speaker 1: buying cold and flu medicine before I get sick and
Speaker 1: save some money on it versus doing it when I
Speaker 1: already have a cold. But then does that become like
Speaker 1: a self fulfilling prophecy that now you've got the items
Speaker 1: that now you're going to get it. I you know what,
Speaker 1: I'll get it anyway. So I'd rather just also be
Speaker 1: prepared with the product instead of having to run out
Speaker 1: while I'm sick. Oh that is always the worst because
Speaker 1: then you've got to go the only place that's opened
Speaker 1: to CBS, and they've got awful prices. I know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So looking for the sales for really any like health food,
Speaker 1: like health and medication stuff like that. Um, so like
Speaker 1: protein powders and all those things that stay good longer
Speaker 1: and are on sale. Obviously January, there's so many sales
Speaker 1: in January. Go figure so game day type snacks. So
Speaker 1: if you're kids love chicken fingers, this is the month
Speaker 1: to stock up on them and put them in your
Speaker 1: freezeer nice. I know. January is National oatmeal month. So
Speaker 1: so it's not just brand so brand names. Obviously Quaker
Speaker 1: we'll be running sales um and probably have cubans. This
Speaker 1: is another if you're going to use coupons on something,
Speaker 1: look for it these things in these months. This also
Speaker 1: correlates to all D sales, so usually if there's a sale,
Speaker 1: even if it's brand name going on a big box store,
Speaker 1: ALDI will also have a corresponding salem, even if it's
Speaker 1: not brand name, So probably get some oatmeal al D
Speaker 1: that month, and then diapers. I haven't verified the validity
Speaker 1: of this. If kids poop more in January, that's why
Speaker 1: there's diaper sales. I don't know why, but the article
Speaker 1: said diapers, and I don't know if I trust it.
Speaker 1: I'll have to maybe consider it diapers until January. No,
Speaker 1: I don't want to admit that I don't use cloth diapers,
Speaker 1: but you've got you started here first. And then for
Speaker 1: our final winter month, February, it's National Canned Food month,
Speaker 1: so you'll see UH sales on canned foods. And then
Speaker 1: also my favorite part of the year, post Valentine's Day,
Speaker 1: chocolate sales. Yes, get a whole separate freezer just for
Speaker 1: that chocolate. Yes. I don't know how chocolate tastes after
Speaker 1: it's been frozen, but I'm sure and some people even
Speaker 1: like it straight out of the freezer like a nice
Speaker 1: cold chocolate delight. All Right, you've heard it here first,
Speaker 1: Probably not first probably not first, but you heard it here.
Speaker 1: You did hear it right here? So springtime, right, that
Speaker 1: comes after winter, winter, spring, summer, And thought, ah, that's yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: you're quality control and for legal reasons, you're thinking is great.
Speaker 1: So the article also talks about how sales cycles usually
Speaker 1: are about six to eight weeks. That's not a hardened
Speaker 1: fast role, but in general this is when you can
Speaker 1: expect some some changeover within these sales. And I like
Speaker 1: it too because I think it helps us to plan.
Speaker 1: It can narrow down in our meal planning of well,
Speaker 1: what's in season, what's on sale? What should I be making?
Speaker 1: So when spring comes you can think for produce, artichokes, asparagus, lettuce,
Speaker 1: spring peas, berries, pineapple. Those are some fantastic things to
Speaker 1: be picking up in the produce aisle. And as far
Speaker 1: as specific months go, for just grocery items, in March
Speaker 1: it's all things Irish. So you've got the Irish foods,
Speaker 1: the soda, bread, even apparently Lucky Charms cereal. Yeah I
Speaker 1: questioned that one, but it's in the article, and I
Speaker 1: love me some Lucky Charms. So by this March and
Speaker 1: let us know, yes, they also say I don't know
Speaker 1: who decides these national months. I don't either or what happens,
Speaker 1: but they say that March is national frozen food month.
Speaker 1: So beyond the lookout for some deals on frozen foods
Speaker 1: and March Madness snacks and all things St. Patrick's Day
Speaker 1: usually on sale. As we move into April, I feel
Speaker 1: like a weather forecaster. We've got strong winds from Easter
Speaker 1: sales on egg Easter clearance items, Hams usually you could
Speaker 1: you could stock up on Hams. If you want to
Speaker 1: have an extra freezer for that. You've got your chocolate freezer.
Speaker 1: You can have a ham freezer. Yes. And then May,
Speaker 1: of course we're getting into the grilling season, so Memorial
Speaker 1: Day grilling type foods, ham boogers, hot dogs, Mexican foods.
Speaker 1: They say, well Mayo sinco to Mayo, that's true. Um
Speaker 1: and gardening supplies come May. Usually you can get at
Speaker 1: some decent prices for you, Yes, grow your own, consider that. Yes.
Speaker 1: And then summer we get into a lot of pretty
Speaker 1: much any produce. So if you're not cooking with a
Speaker 1: variety of produce over the summer, you really really missing out.
Speaker 1: You're really paying too much for packaged food because there's
Speaker 1: so much produce that they are on sale all the time.
Speaker 1: And you've got your berries, your watermelon, cherries, mangoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers,
Speaker 1: green beans, let us say so many things. Pretty much
Speaker 1: everything from spring is still carrying over into summer until
Speaker 1: we get until it gets way too hot. But yeah,
Speaker 1: there's so many, so many good things to be cooking
Speaker 1: in in the summer. Seriously, and I don't I am
Speaker 1: no expert on this. I have just heard it from
Speaker 1: friends who are health fanatics, so don't quote me on this.
Speaker 1: This is more a discussion piece. But I've heard that
Speaker 1: our bodies also go in cycles kind of coinciding with winter, spring, summer,
Speaker 1: and fall, and even allowing ourselves to eat what's in
Speaker 1: season can help us health wise, like not fucking that,
Speaker 1: not being like wintertime trying to get your raspberries, but
Speaker 1: following along with that can have some good health benefits
Speaker 1: as well. So yeah, stocking up on all of the
Speaker 1: produce and roots in this summer and then you scale
Speaker 1: back a bit and do your more root veggies in
Speaker 1: the winter. So I think there's even some really good
Speaker 1: health benefits to going along with what's in season. I
Speaker 1: believe it, so for other grocery items over the summer.
Speaker 1: In June, pretty much all summer, you're gonna be finding
Speaker 1: off and on sales on like barbecue and grilling items.
Speaker 1: June is National Dairy months, so you'll find a lot
Speaker 1: of sales on name brand dairy products to like ice creams, popsicles,
Speaker 1: anything a popsicles, dairy, very dairy popsicles, cream bars. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you keep going. I keep going, ice cream trucks, ice
Speaker 1: cream people. I don't know everything ice cream. It's it's
Speaker 1: really sad actually because I had Kai in May and
Speaker 1: then pretty much on the first of June found out
Speaker 1: he was allergic to dairy, so couldn't take advantage of
Speaker 1: any of those sales for myself. It's was really sad.
Speaker 1: July we move into National ice cream Month, so again
Speaker 1: a sad month for me. And then you've got your
Speaker 1: fourth July sale and clearance items, so depending on what
Speaker 1: you need, your sparklers and stuff, but mostly again those
Speaker 1: grilling and barbecue items. And then we get to August
Speaker 1: we see our office and school supplies sales. Most not most,
Speaker 1: but a lot of states will have tax free weekends
Speaker 1: um on all kinds of school supplies, even electronics, so
Speaker 1: definitely wait listen to our back to School Savings episode
Speaker 1: and wait until late July August to do any of
Speaker 1: that shopping. And then also school lunch items in August,
Speaker 1: so there will be uh sales on you know, cold
Speaker 1: cuts and bread and probably mustard and mayonnaise, so be
Speaker 1: on the lookout for school lunch item sales nice and
Speaker 1: finally fall, so some really nice foods and fall. As
Speaker 1: far as produce goes, this is a lot of the
Speaker 1: root veggies that we were talking about, sweet potatoes, beets,
Speaker 1: also apples, pumpkin, cranberries, squashes, pomegranates, eggplant. I'm getting a
Speaker 1: little hungry. Just all those things roasted together is so good.
Speaker 1: I've been actually adding apples into like on my pan
Speaker 1: where I do root veggies, you know, onions and potatoes
Speaker 1: and beets and some apples in with that along with
Speaker 1: a nice roasted chicken. It's so good. Okay, September, so
Speaker 1: as far as just grocery items go, we're back to
Speaker 1: some grilling clearance now with Labor Day happening in September,
Speaker 1: so you'll have some grilling things on clearance and also
Speaker 1: more school supply clearances, so continuing to think about maybe
Speaker 1: even waiting to get your school supplies rather than June July,
Speaker 1: thinking more August, September for those things. October is apparently
Speaker 1: national seafood month, so think about getting your seafood seafood
Speaker 1: game on in October and then November you've got your
Speaker 1: Halloween clearance candy. You know you can stop up stock
Speaker 1: up on for next October because that's not gross. Now
Speaker 1: you have to keep it until February. You do your
Speaker 1: October your November shopping for Halloween clearance candy, and that
Speaker 1: has to last you until February when you can buy
Speaker 1: your Valentine State clearance candy. But if you've got that
Speaker 1: freezer in the basement, then you're just partying all year long.
Speaker 1: You know, your pantry staples are a good thing to
Speaker 1: get here in November, like your olive oils, and you know,
Speaker 1: you know your pantry staples salt and pepper. I have
Speaker 1: a friend, I don't know, Maybe she wouldn't want to
Speaker 1: be called out on the podcast, so I won't do
Speaker 1: that to her. But I have a friend who does
Speaker 1: not have salt and pepper in her house. Yikes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought that. I thought that every home had one
Speaker 1: of those or both of those. But she doesn't good
Speaker 1: for her though, No, I don't think so. She has
Speaker 1: all she has old Bay, but no salt and pepper.
Speaker 1: That's such a that seems like she lives in Maryland
Speaker 1: at that point, or she just puts old Bay on everything.
Speaker 1: They vacation in Maryland. So there you go. That's what happens. Also,
Speaker 1: obviously you've got Thanksgiving Thanksgiving happening, so you've got baking
Speaker 1: items and dinner items on sale. And absolutely after Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: you can stock up on your turkeys. You could do
Speaker 1: a whole ham and turkey freezer, right. I don't think
Speaker 1: you should have separate ham and turkey freezers. No, but
Speaker 1: I wonder when freezers will go on sale. That's a
Speaker 1: great question. I didn't look at appliance sales for this one.
Speaker 1: I only looked at things you can get in a
Speaker 1: grocery store. Well, Google search could tell you when you
Speaker 1: could get your ham and turkey freezer. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: a great list to go through for me because I
Speaker 1: often wonder when's the next time these special things will
Speaker 1: show up at aldi because all the while a lot
Speaker 1: of big grocery stores will do sales on these things
Speaker 1: at different times. ALDI won't even carry them until it's
Speaker 1: sale time, So I will often wonder when something's going
Speaker 1: on sale and whether I need to buy it at
Speaker 1: a regular grocery store or bed bath and beyond, or
Speaker 1: if I have enough time to wait until it's coming
Speaker 1: back to Aldi to get it. Yeah, just a good
Speaker 1: reference to keep in mind as you're shopping of Okay,
Speaker 1: what would be a good thing for me to purchase now,
Speaker 1: even if it's not a hard and fast necessity, just
Speaker 1: to kind of save you a little bit in the future,
Speaker 1: and again to help with your meal prepping planning ideas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've and sometimes that will backfire on me because
Speaker 1: I have bought things for you know, possibly needing them
Speaker 1: and then not needing them. But there has been a
Speaker 1: lot of times where I bought something and I have
Speaker 1: used it later, and that convenience of not having rush
Speaker 1: out and buy something, just having it having bought it
Speaker 1: on sale does help. And it's not often that I
Speaker 1: buy something. It's maybe like once or twice a year
Speaker 1: I buy something and I never use it. It's worth it,
Speaker 1: it's the cost of doing business. Well, you know what
Speaker 1: else is worth it? I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: You're talking about the bill of the week. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died,
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That built buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hey, for good friends, this is Haven
Speaker 1: and my bill of the week is a bill that
Speaker 1: I am no longer paying. I have paid down one
Speaker 1: of my credit card debts and it's nice to see
Speaker 1: that zero balance on that one. And that's my bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Thanks for everything y'all are doing. Have
Speaker 1: a good day, yeah, Haven, Oh yeah, we're doing a
Speaker 1: success dance for you. Back chair dance. I'm not quite standing,
Speaker 1: but I'm not quite sitting, and um, yes dancing. We
Speaker 1: love that because credit cards are so high interest, so
Speaker 1: every time you pay one off, you're giving yourself a raise,
Speaker 1: a significant like raise, like it's so great. So congratulations
Speaker 1: Haven on your credit card payoff. That is awesome. And
Speaker 1: if you want to share with us your credit card
Speaker 1: payoff story, please submit it to Frugal Friends podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: Slash Bill you can leave it on our speak pipe
Speaker 1: or Google voicemail. We're super stoked whenever we hear one.
Speaker 1: And now it's time for Lightning Round. The Lightning Round.
Speaker 1: I was waiting for you because every time it seems
Speaker 1: like you're getting more and more on board with it.
Speaker 1: So I was waiting to say it with you, and
Speaker 1: then you just whisper it into your microphone. I'm unpredictable.
Speaker 1: We'll see which one Eric chooses to use. I hope
Speaker 1: he's all of these announcements. Will he use you never know.
Speaker 1: He's like an honorary member. It's it's interesting because he's
Speaker 1: a part of the show and we talk about him
Speaker 1: and he has his input in sounds, but you never
Speaker 1: actually hear his voice, which is which is an interesting element.
Speaker 1: But he can communicate and insert jokes just by inserting
Speaker 1: lightning sounds or or another sounds or not. Who knows.
Speaker 1: Who knows what he's doing over our voices right now?
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it how everybody else loves it?
Speaker 1: Post recording production? Yeah, yes, So for our Lightning Round today,
Speaker 1: we are going to share some of our favorite seasonal
Speaker 1: recipes that you can do with these pieces pieces of produce.
Speaker 1: Items of produce, and uh yeah, I've I've thrown up
Speaker 1: some ideas on the show outline, but we're really just
Speaker 1: gonna spew them off, just getting out there. Full disclosure,
Speaker 1: this is Gen's list. I really don't cook that much,
Speaker 1: so I don't I don't have much for you. So
Speaker 1: you're talking about roasting your fall vegetables, that is true,
Speaker 1: So so I'll throw that one in there, but all right,
Speaker 1: give it to us Jen. Yeah, so we're starting with fall,
Speaker 1: and I love to do a baked acorn squash stuffed
Speaker 1: with a variety of things. So sometimes I'll stuff it
Speaker 1: with keen wa and um like calumon olives and feda
Speaker 1: do like a Greek thing, or I found one that
Speaker 1: stuffed with apples and leaks. So just cutting that acorn
Speaker 1: squash in half, scooping out the seeds, and bacon it
Speaker 1: with some tasty fillings. You bake it with the fillings
Speaker 1: in it, or you fill it with the fillings afterwards.
Speaker 1: It depends on the filling. Uh. Sometimes I will do
Speaker 1: it the whole way through, and sometimes I'll bake the
Speaker 1: squash and then put the filling in and then just
Speaker 1: slide it back in and broil it for a bit. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: usually it's that one because squashes will take a long
Speaker 1: time to make. My favorite thing and this is kind
Speaker 1: of cheating, um is to get a road to scary chicken.
Speaker 1: I've probably talked about this in a previous episode. Is
Speaker 1: my go to. And Eric makes fun of me all
Speaker 1: the time because it's like, if I'm just at a
Speaker 1: complete loss, I just go to the store and pick
Speaker 1: up a root to stree chicken. But I will put
Speaker 1: that on a pan and then some roasted or or
Speaker 1: before that, roast you know, root vegetables with the apple
Speaker 1: that I had talked about, roast that, and then in
Speaker 1: the last like ten or fifteen minutes, put the chicken
Speaker 1: in there, and then you get like the good kind
Speaker 1: of chicken and the root vegetable and so it's kind
Speaker 1: of like you're kind of cooking but you're kind of cheating.
Speaker 1: But then you will definitely have leftovers and it all
Speaker 1: tastes really good. I love it. And in winter you
Speaker 1: can do a butternut squash soup. I'm gonna be honest,
Speaker 1: soup is not my favorite, but if you've got some
Speaker 1: good crusty bread and you know me, some butter some
Speaker 1: real butter, not the fake stuff, the real stuff. Then
Speaker 1: that makes soup bearable. Yeah, but winter is just like
Speaker 1: the time you want to just put your hands on
Speaker 1: a warm bowl. Like that's why soups are good in winter.
Speaker 1: And I do love me a good like blended butternut
Speaker 1: squash soup. Take the immersion blender in there. It is good.
Speaker 1: But then I always want something else. I want something
Speaker 1: to chew. Yeah, well you gotta have a side with
Speaker 1: a bread or something side of bread and butter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so soups in winter, um spring, I just put carrot cake,
Speaker 1: like because there's some there's a variety like where it's
Speaker 1: that weird in between of like in some places it's
Speaker 1: warm enough to grow things and in some places it's
Speaker 1: not yet warm enough for things to grow. Just when
Speaker 1: you eat carrot cake for dinner, why not? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: believe you. And in summer, you could do a mango
Speaker 1: burrito bowl with crispy Well, this article will we will
Speaker 1: give you the recipe for this one says crispy Tofu.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I'm doubt I would do the
Speaker 1: tofu chicken. Chicken would be really good. Mango burrito balls.
Speaker 1: I love bowls. That is something that is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite go toos in spring and summer. I can
Speaker 1: probably post a link to this one. I make like
Speaker 1: a Greek euro bowl with keene wa and set zeeki
Speaker 1: sauce and cucumber and feta. It's so good. Yes, So
Speaker 1: bowls bowls are good. Yes. And I like anything in
Speaker 1: summer that incorporates fruit into the main dish, so like
Speaker 1: mango goes really well. There's a lot of citrus in winter,
Speaker 1: so incorporating like a citrus into your meat dish and
Speaker 1: just doing a lot of vegetarian stuff in the summer.
Speaker 1: And will admit though, summer is my time to get
Speaker 1: a rotisserie chicken and Travis will tear it apart and
Speaker 1: make a chicken salad with grapes and walnuts. And there's
Speaker 1: always My thing is you can get a rotisserie chicken,
Speaker 1: you eat that for dinner, and then the leftovers you
Speaker 1: make chicken salad with. It's like and it's what Eric
Speaker 1: laughs at me about because it's my only idea. I
Speaker 1: think it's a good idea, but it is like my
Speaker 1: only idea. Yeah. And there's a place called Lucky's Market.
Speaker 1: I know they're around the country. They do five dollar
Speaker 1: rotisserie chickens on Wednesday and and double weekly adds, so
Speaker 1: their previous weekly ad and next week's weekly ad are
Speaker 1: both applicable on Wednesdays. And so we go a lot
Speaker 1: and we'll get a rotisserie chicken and do just that.
Speaker 1: It's so affordable. You know what I also love is
Speaker 1: we in our Frugal Friends Facebook community group, people will
Speaker 1: often share their frugal dinner ideas, which has been so
Speaker 1: helpful and inspiring and helpful with staying on track with
Speaker 1: not eating out a lot. So yes, that's another good
Speaker 1: place to get some ideas. And I will do a
Speaker 1: plug for cook Smarts for anybody that doesn't have the
Speaker 1: capacity to figure out when seasonal sale cycles are and
Speaker 1: recipe search but still wants to cook at home more.
Speaker 1: We love cook Smarts. We've had the creator on the show,
Speaker 1: we have done a lot with them in the past
Speaker 1: and they've just been a great partner to us. And
Speaker 1: what Jess and her team do is they plan meals
Speaker 1: four meals a week around the seasons, so you don't
Speaker 1: even have to think about what's on sale because they're
Speaker 1: looking at what's seasonal and what goes on sale and
Speaker 1: they're incorporating it into their meals every week. And because
Speaker 1: they plan meals annually, so they're not like us doing
Speaker 1: it on a weekly or monthly basis. They get together
Speaker 1: in October and plan their meals for all of so
Speaker 1: they are using these sales cycles to plan their meals.
Speaker 1: What is that link, Jen, That is Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash cs So you can try out three
Speaker 1: weeks of meal planning for free, and then if you
Speaker 1: use the code frugal, you're gonna get percent off whatever
Speaker 1: plan you choose. And they've got monthly, quarterly, and annual
Speaker 1: and you will not be disappointed. I just renewed my
Speaker 1: cook Smarts subscription. I saw you post that on Facebook
Speaker 1: made mohoe pork this week. I never would have never
Speaker 1: searched for that. I would have never had that idea.
Speaker 1: But it tasted son enough. Yeah, it made enough for
Speaker 1: two meals this week, so they had a mohoe pork
Speaker 1: bowl on one day and then planned for the leftovers
Speaker 1: to be used for mohoe like Cuban sandwiches. For a second.
Speaker 1: I liked that I saw that in your meal plan
Speaker 1: that it was good that it utilized things that you
Speaker 1: had already made, which is what I need. I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to be cooking new things every single night and
Speaker 1: needed to work multiple meals. But I also want variety.
Speaker 1: I don't want to just keep eating leftover. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they have ideas for leftovers, but you can kind of.
Speaker 1: You can design the meal plan to be two, four, six,
Speaker 1: or eight servings. You can pick paleo, vegetarian, or regular,
Speaker 1: so it's very customizable. You can add meals from previous
Speaker 1: weeks to your meal plan if you need more than
Speaker 1: four meals, or do less. There's so much variety and
Speaker 1: very much. We love cook Smarts and I feel like
Speaker 1: they're the most affordable meal planning service out there right
Speaker 1: now because I always am checking to see what else
Speaker 1: is out there, and cook Smarts is more affordable than
Speaker 1: any other And uh and you get off by going
Speaker 1: through Friends podcast dot com slash cs and using code frugal.
Speaker 1: I love that that code still works. That's awesome. Yes,
Speaker 1: I gotta plug it. Yeah, and we also have free
Speaker 1: books coming out every month. We do a book club,
Speaker 1: which isn't so much like we get together and talk
Speaker 1: about books, but it's really just a way for us
Speaker 1: to gift books to our listeners and thank them for
Speaker 1: listening and reviewing the show. So this month we're reading
Speaker 1: The Simple Path to Wealth by Jail Collin. And if
Speaker 1: you want an opportunity to get a free copy of
Speaker 1: a book, leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher
Speaker 1: and then screenshot the review and send it to Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com and we'll select the
Speaker 1: winners at the end of the month. We do one
Speaker 1: free book for every five reviews that gets sent to us,
Speaker 1: So the key is sending it to us and letting
Speaker 1: us know that you did it, and then you're in
Speaker 1: the running for a free book. Yes, and if you
Speaker 1: need a example of a really great review that helps
Speaker 1: people figure out if the Frugal Friends podcast is for them,
Speaker 1: here's one from Bonita two and it's funny and frugal.
Speaker 1: Five stars. Ladies. I love your podcast. I mean i'd
Speaker 1: binge listen to them just so that I could be
Speaker 1: all caught up in like a couple of weeks, you know,
Speaker 1: I had to work, sleep and other frugal fund in between.
Speaker 1: Get a girl. You spark great conversations for me to have.
Speaker 1: I love how you talk about your husband's and how
Speaker 1: they perceive frugality. Your podcast totally helped me start twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen off with my own no spend year. Yes, thank you,
Speaker 1: Kate Flanders. I love the balance you show to frugality.
Speaker 1: The tips and tricks you give are awesome. Keep up
Speaker 1: the amazing work. Thanks. I love that. Yeah, I love
Speaker 1: it when I hear that people are inspired by things
Speaker 1: that we talk about to implement in their own lives.
Speaker 1: That to me is the most rewarding thing to hear
Speaker 1: that it's actually impacting and influencing financial lives and creating
Speaker 1: just wiser decisions with money, and using the word balance
Speaker 1: is so so good to my heart, because really we
Speaker 1: are not promoting a frugality that's pinching pennies, but one
Speaker 1: that is emphasizing values based spending, So spending on your
Speaker 1: values no matter what that costs. And and that's the
Speaker 1: kind of frugality that we think is sustainable and is
Speaker 1: going to benefit the world. But I do pick up
Speaker 1: pennies whenever I see them on the ground. True, you've
Speaker 1: got to. I value money, no matter how small, and
Speaker 1: and it's litter and I'm cleaning up while I'm doing it.
Speaker 1: I do often wonder how much money is out there
Speaker 1: on the ground, just laying around on the ground. Something
Speaker 1: we can talk about later. Okay, see you next week
Speaker 1: by Frugal Friends. Is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Sirian.
Speaker 1: I want to know how much money is lost. I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm going to get from Google. Do
Speaker 1: you think they're going to say? I doubt I'm going
Speaker 1: to How much money do people accidentally throw away every year?
Speaker 1: As the first WHOA, yeah, how would they know that?
Speaker 1: I don't know how much money should be in circular
Speaker 1: lation but isn't. But then can you really get a
Speaker 1: good estimate on that because people hide it in their
Speaker 1: mattresses and freezers. I saw a post on Facebook of
Speaker 1: a donated dryer that had about a hundred dollars with
Speaker 1: the money. Yeah, I lost in it. I didn't even
Speaker 1: think about that. I just saw a dryer for free
Speaker 1: on the side of the road. I should have just
Speaker 1: like like tore it apart just to see what was
Speaker 1: in the lind compartment. Yes, there's a reason just to
Speaker 1: get free dryers off a greg'slift. Okay, so this this
Speaker 1: article starts out A Bradenton, Florida man named Rick Snyder
Speaker 1: developed what might seem like an odd habit. While on
Speaker 1: his daily four hour walk around town, two feed stray
Speaker 1: cats within his life. Now Rick, he stopped at car
Speaker 1: washes along the way and poked his fingers into the
Speaker 1: change slots of the self service vacuum machines people used
Speaker 1: to clean the insides of their vehicles. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: what if he's not a hundred years old? I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do. Um. He lives in Brightonon,
Speaker 1: so he probably is. He found an average of five
Speaker 1: dollars and sixty cents per trip, and over a decade
Speaker 1: amassed twenty one dollars and loss change, eventually donating it
Speaker 1: to a local animal rescue organization. Of course he did. Rick. Oh,
Speaker 1: it gets sweeter and sweeter, freaking Rick. And uh, there's
Speaker 1: another family that found over a thousand dollars in a
Speaker 1: year from just um looking stuff on sidewalk. See, you
Speaker 1: start little, and then and then your mind is just
Speaker 1: trained to be looking for money on the ground. And
Speaker 1: then I do wonder how much I've collected. I mean,
Speaker 1: it can't be that much, But sometimes I do find bills,
Speaker 1: Like there was a time my bill of the week.
Speaker 1: There was a time when I felt found a ten
Speaker 1: dollar bill, like outside of a gym. Man. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love when that happens. I gotta go on walks more.
Speaker 1: Let's go on walking. Coins Store estimates that people have
Speaker 1: an average of twenty dollars of coins in their pockets,
Speaker 1: on their nightstands or between their couch cushions. Believe that.
Speaker 1: So there's your twenty eight dollars that you need to
Speaker 1: around your house. Yeah, to pay your electricity or utility
Speaker 1: bill this month. All right, keep picking up pennies. I
Speaker 1: think Pennies was a sponsor at one point.