Astro Original Greek Yogurt- Review and Great Deal!

See these 4 tubs of yogurt? They only cost me $3! Can you believe it!?

My local grocery store had a big sale on these 500g tubs of yogurt a couple weeks ago, I had never tried Greek yogurt before but for $1 I figured it wasn't much of a loss if we didn't like it and it could always just be frozen for smoothies if it wasn't great.
There wasn't much selection but I grabbed a peach low fat and a honey flavor, both still had 2 weeks left on the best before date. I didn't want to buy too much in case we didn't like it. The peach was pretty meh, we didn't finish it and it went into the freezer but the honey was awesome! It's slightly sweet but doesn't taste like honey, it's thick and has a slight tangy cream cheese taste. It tastes almost exactly like the filling for my no bake cheesecake, which consists of a block of cream cheese with half a tub of Cool Whip blended in. I like it, Mr likes it and the kid likes it. It's good on it's own or as a parfait with fruit and granola. It's the best damn yogurt I've ever tasted, we don't usually finish an entire tub but we ate all of this one up no problem!

So I've been checking back every couple days and the sale was still on but the yogurt shelf was empty or just had plain. I pretty much gave up hope until I sorted through my coupons the other day and saw that I had a $1 off coupon for this exact brand and type and the coupon expired that very day! I had to check one last time, I didn't want the coupon to go to waste! I had to go get a few things anyway so I checked the dairy aisle first and grabbed up 4 of them when I saw that the shelf had been filled. I would have grabbed more but really 4 seemed a bit excessive to me even as I added them to my basket.  So they were $1 each plus $1 off coupon, I got all 4 for the price of half a tub at regular price (these sell for $5.99 each!). I picked them up on the 31st and they are good until the 12th. We've already eaten about half a tub so hopefully we use most or all of them up.

I would have to say that this is probably the best deal I've had on anything ever! Yes, I realize that maybe I'm a little too excited about it but it's very tasty and I LOVE a good deal!

An Update

I thought an update post would be in order since I've only been posting a recipe or DIY post once a week. I also didn't have anything ready to post last night/early this morning.

So here's what we've been up to:

• Our debt repayment schedule is still on track and we're looking to be debt free this spring hopefully
• We're done getting Christmas presents and I have renamed my savings account "The House Fund". It only has $150 at the moment but it's a start. If I go back to work we should be able to have a decent downpayment in a year or so.
• We've decided that we cannot deal with the renting situation for much longer and would like to buy a house. There is too much noise from neighboring apartments, people are smoking in our building, there was dog poo just outside the elevator for an entire day which is strange considering our lease said we weren't allowed to have a cat or dog, repairs are still not done after nearly a year and a half and our rent will be going up again in June. Why not use that money towards a mortgage payment and have something to show for it? We're just in the beginning plans of this but hope to be out of here in a year, we would have to upgrade by then to a larger space anyway
• I'm working on updating my resume and will be out looking for a part-time job probably later this week. We need the extra income to save up for a house and I would like some adult interaction. Jon works from home and makes his own hours so he can hang out with Alice while I'm gone for a few hours a couple times a week. Alice is just now starting to eat a lot more solids and use her sippy cups, so she is finally able to go for more than 2 hours without nursing.
• With the exception of maybe once a week Alice is asleep by 8pm and stays asleep for 3 hours. She still wakes me up a lot at night but it's slowly getting better.
• I'm nearly consistently getting up around 8am now. Alice gets out of bed and plays until she needs her diaper changed and then she comes to wake me up, usually by putting a diaper on my face and yelling and patting at me. It's super cute. We let Jon sleep in a bit since he stays up late working most nights.
• I haven't managed to go out jogging since the initial failed attempt from a while ago but I'm still hopeful that I can start again at some point. I would like to try to get up a bit earlier to accomplish this.
• The basil and tomato plants have finally died off. I now have a renewable source of fresh green onions in my windowsill nearly ready to use. I have a couple of avocado pits that I'm soaking in water just to see if they will sprout. It's a fun project that doesn't cost anything and takes almost no effort.
• We've done takeout just a couple of times and done a fair bit of shopping but nothing we feel guilty about. We don't spend a lot, we don't buy impulse items anymore, most of what we get is stuff we actually need.
• Jon did a bunch of studio upgrading since a lot of software was on sale for very good prices, he can write everything off as work expenses on his taxes
• I picked up a small Ikea high chair from a seller on Craigslist, it takes up about a third of the space the old one did. Now I just have to give the old one a quick cleanup and we should be able to resell it.
• I'm doing even more decluttering. I've decided that I don't need the 3 pairs of high heels I have. There is very little chance I will wear them. They were all fairly pricey so I should be able to get a decent amount of money for them on Craigslist. I love them but I will sacrifice them for the house fund. Same goes for the couple of nice dresses I own, I only really wear dresses in the summer and then it's the same 2 or 3 sundresses.
• Alice has a lot of toys and shoes that have been outgrown so those are all being sold as well. All of the toys that will be left are all things that she should be able to play with for the next 2 or 3 years. She also has a few Christmas presents that will replace the things that we are getting rid of. 
• I have a lot of household projects on the go that I intend to post here on the blog, I'm going to try to post more often. I have to make laundry soap this week so that post will be coming up soon
• Jon made me a little shelf for over my baking/sewing table. It makes it easier to quickly grab ingredients needed for dinner and baking and makes my kitchen look more organized
• The meal plan is a bit different now. I no longer plan a month of meals in advance, I found I was constantly going out to the store to pick up more meat or special ingredients. We've been placing a meat order with the butcher, they have set orders for set prices and we've also been picking up anything canned, frozen and bulk that we need early in the month. Now we just pick up fruit, veg and dairy once a week. We still have a ton of meat left and it's nearly the end of the month so we shouldn't need another meat order until halfway through December. We're also not sticking strictly to the $250 food budget. Last week I only had $20 left which was enough for the fruit, veg and dairy for the rest of the month but we were low on cereal and it was on sale for a very good price so I took out an extra $20 and bought 3 boxes as well as tooth paste and some other items.

I think that's about it for what's been going on around here, we plan on having Christmas at home by ourselves this year so I have to think of a menu for that.

30DC2-Day 3

Today Alice woke me up just after 8 like she usually does. I had a decent sleep but Jon was tired so he slept in a bit. I made us coffee and tea, Alice sat on the floor and played with her toys and read a book while we enjoyed our morning beverages. Once those were done Jon went into his studio to work for a bit and we moved to the kitchen for breakfast. I put away yesterday's clean dishes while we had our cereal and fruit.

I managed to get the laundry washed and hung to dry while Alice had a lengthy early nap then it was lunch time while Jon did the dishes that didn't get washed last night.

We went out to get a few groceries while Jon had lunch and then went to get crickets. We stopped by a yard sale on the way home that I had seen on the way to the store that looked like it had a lot of baby girl clothes. Alice got a t-shirt, pair of pants, pink maryjane walking shoes and sequined silver hightops, all for just $5!

Groceries from the Asian market:

• 2 red onions
• 2 bananas 
• 2 pork chops
• 2 large oranges
• 1 large broccoli crown

All of that came to only $4.99

Groceries from Donald's Market:

• 2 bulk jumbo carrots
• 4 russet potatoes
• 1 package cut cauliflower from the reduced bin for $1 (no marks of any kind on it!)
• 2 packages salmon bones reduced to $1 each

All of that came to $6.15

The cauliflower and salmon wasn't on my list but the cauliflower is perfect for snacking and I plan on using some of it as a substitution in a meal in a couple of days. The salmon bones had a ton of meat on them so I put them into the oven with some olive oil and lemon-garlic seasoning and then easily picked the meat off once they were baked and cooled. I ended up with a full tupperware container full of salmon that I then put into the freezer. Much more meat on those 2 packages of bones for $2 than I would get from buying a $6 fillet.

I will definitely be buying the salmon again when I see it reduced, I put off buying it before because I wasn't sure how to go about preparing it, I didn't want to mess with it raw but then the idea to bake it and pick it apart came to me. We only ever eat fillets of salmon but I think I'll try to make patties or fishcakes or just heat and season it and heap it onto a pile of rice.

I also prepped dinner early since I've been having issues with getting it ready to eat by 6:30 and actually had it ready on time today. I also halved and pitted a large bag of cherries that I bought for $1.29 per pound a couple days ago, those filled a large container and went into the freezer as well for smoothies for what's supposed to be a pretty hot week coming up.

No need to buy anything tomorrow at all, don't really have anything planned either. The apartment is clean, Jon has a session so I may take Alice to the park for a bit. The only things that need to be done are putting away the laundry and dishes and making dinner.

Maybe I'll actually get time to do another project!

The challenge ended. Now what?

In June we challenged ourselves to use only $200 for groceries. We did it no problem and saved at least $220. I really wish we did it months ago. Going forward we're going to continue the $200 grocery budget and reduce it further if possible.
The next step, what we're focusing on this month is efficiency and managing our time more wisely. We always have a to-do list but we rarely ever complete all the tasks. A lot of our time is wasted thinking about what to do next, procrastinating and doing things. I've been reading things from Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferris and I intend to implement them right away.
I'll get into those things later in the month as they are tested, let's get back to the groceries for a minute. Below is a short list of steps we used to achieve our goal. We will have a blog post for each topic coming up.

How we saved $200+ on groceries last month

1. Meal plan
2. Shopping list
3. Smaller portions
4. Track spending

30 Day Challenge- Day 9

Here is the meal plan for the next 7 days.

Groceries today came to $44.58, we didn't pick up sandwich stuff because we're not having it for an entire week. I might scrap that idea and come up with something else using what we have because giant sandwich night usually costs quite a bit and we're just under the weekly grocery allowance.

We spent $15.66 at the butcher on pork cutlets, pork ribs, chicken and 2 pounds of margarine.  Got some flax seed, granola and walnuts in bulk for $3.54

At Donald's Market for $25.38

Organic Vanilla Soy 1.89L
Half and Half cream 1L
Tomato Sauce
Crown Broccoli
Mozzarella cheese
4 Nectarines
1 White Onion
2 Russet Potatoes
1 orange pepper
4 Ambrosia Apples
2 jumbo carrots
1 package discount vine tomatoes

Last week we only spent $37.99, so far our running total is at $82.57, less than half of our allowance of $200. Will we come in under budget? I'm really surprised that we've been doing so well.

The only extra spending was my trip to the fabric store and Jon's Starbucks meeting where he only spent about $3 and got a code for a free drink for completing a survey. We used it this morning on a Venti Java Chip  Frappucino that we shared since we ran out of cream for our morning drinks. We were lucky enough to get yet another code for a free drink. We'll probably use it next week when we go out for groceries.

Also got laundry done and posted a Craigslist ad. I keep receiving Similac coupons so I just keep giving them away to someone who needs them.

Pork cutlet sandwiches for dinner tonight. Buns were leftover from the burgers Tuesday. No waste!

30 Day Challenge-Day 2 End

We've survived another day!

We got everything but the bagels and sewing done. I managed to sew a button back onto one of Alice's dresses and fold and trim the fraying seam on 2 yards of fabric that need to be pinned and sewed into a curtain to cover a bookcase used for storage.

Decluttering! A bag full of stuff went to Value Village and a bunch of baby stuff went to Little Earth . Once everything sells the credit will be used for Alice's fall and winter clothes since we're set for summer stuff.

Laundry also got done early this morning. Bagels can wait until tomorrow.

Picked up a couple more grocery items, the butcher shop still had 3lb hams for $7 each. The one I bought last week made 3 meals and probably could have lasted for 4 if we hadn't devoured so much the first night. I also got a tray of ground chicken for just $1, it went right into the freezer since the sell by date was today.

Also bought the following:

• 1 L Homo milk-$2.39
• Ground chicken-$1
• 1.81 lb Russet Potatoes @$0.69/lb-$1.25
• 2 packets instant chicken noodles @$0.45 each-$0.90
• Frozen Ham $7

Total $12.54

Adding to the previous total of $25.45 we've already spent $37.99. I think that's it for the week unless we need more fruit. We're still about $10 below our weekly allowance, it would be nice to have the extra cash next week

We'll leave you with a picture of tonight's dinner, please ignore that the meatloaf is a bit overdone, the baby needed to be fed so it sat in the oven for a bit longer than it needed.

Our kitchen staples

We started thinking about what the bare-minimum requirements of the things we cook at home. It turns out our list of essentials was longer than we thought. We try to keep these items stocked up so we're prepared for almost any meal. In any event, you may find this list helpful if you don't know what you should be buying or how much you should have in stock.

• Cans (2 or 3 of each)
• Diced Tomatoes (most versatile format)
• Beans (kidney, black, chickpeas, mixed)
• Gravy (Turkey, brown)
• Plain Tomato sauce
• tomato paste
• pizza sauce
• cream of mushroom soup
• tuna, chicken or turkey
• Dry Pasta (2 large bags of each)
• Spaghetti
• Elbow
• Rigatoni/fusilli
• Meat (if you're a carnivore)
• Ground Beef - buy in 3lb trays and divide into 12 small bags and freeze
• Fast fry steak (2)
• Bone-in Chicken thighs (2-3lb)
• Bone-in Chicken breasts (2)
• Pork tenderloin or roast
• Ham (about 1kg)
• Frozen vegetables (1 bag each)
• green beans
• corn
• peas
• Pizza dough
• Rice - Buy the biggest cheapest bag you can find.
• Flour
• 10kg bag of white
• 2.5kg bag of whole wheat
• Sugar
• 10kg bag of white
• 1kg bag of brown
• Oatmeal - 2.5lb bag of quick oats
• Cooking oil - vegetable/canola - buy large bottles for best value
• Olive oil - nothing too fancy
• Shortening - 1 box
• Corn starch - 1 box
• Baking powder and baking soda
• Bouillon or broth- chicken, and beef
• Soy Sauce
• Salt (table and sea), black pepper
• Dry Spices (from dollar store)
• Italian seasoning
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Basil
• Cinnamon
• Lemon Pepper Salt
• Red Pepper flakes
• Fruit
• 4 apples
• 2 oranges
• 2 lemons
• Vegetables
• 2-3 carrots
• 1 crown of broccoli
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red/yellow/orange pepper
• 2 baking potatoes
• 4 medium new/yellow/red potatoes (your preference)
• 1 cooking onion or 3 shallots
• 1-3 bulb of garlic
• 3 vine tomatoes or 5 roma or 2 hothouse
• 1 yam or sweet potato
• Cheese
• 1 block of Pizza Mozzerella
• 1 block of cheddar (mild or medium)
• Parmesan or Romano
• Margarine- 3lb
• Milk - 1L
• Coffee Cream or Half & Half - 1L
• Eggs (for baking only)
• Coffee - 1kg whole bean whatever is on sale
• Tea - Tetley 144 or 216 bags

Beyond that we have: cereals, bread, deli meat, pasta and rice side-dish, inexpensive soups.crackers, bread crumbs, snacks and of course condiments: mustard, ketchup, bbq sauce, and hot sauce.

It looks like a lot but really it isn't. It wouldn't last us more than a week in the event of a zombie outbreak, something to consider.

30 Day Challenge: Day 1 end

So we've survived our first day on a tight budget though we're quite tired from getting up so early and all the running around. Everything on our to-do list was completed by 5pm with most items done before noon. It's 7:30pm and feels like 11pm. For the first time in a long time we've done everything on our list.

So far we've spent $25.45 on groceries. We may have to go out to pick up milk and maybe some deli meat in a couple days so we'll keep a running total as we pick up items throughout the week.

Groceries for Day 1

1 small jar Hellmans Mayonnaise $2.99
1 can Organic Black Beans $1.99
1 L 18% Table Cream $3.89
2.85 lb @ 0.69/lb Red Potatoes $1.97
1.76 lb @ 0.79/lb Jumbo carrots $1.39
1 block Mild Cheddar Cheese $6.99
0.37 lb @ 0.99/lb Vine Tomatoes $0.37
250 mL Sour Cream $1.69
0.30 lb @ 1.69/lb HH Orange Peppers $0.51
0.52 lb @ 1.49/lb Crown Broccoli $0.77
1 box Crisco Shortening $2.89
Total = $25.45

Remember, we're not starting with nothing in the fridge or cupboards but we didn't cheat and stock up before the challenge either. What we have in the cupboards is about what we usually have. We spent $393.54 on groceries last month, not including cleaning supplies or diapers. That's become our average and it's way too much.


Deviations from list
We had fresh green beans on our shopping list but they weren't a reasonable price so dinner tomorrow will have frozen peas instead. The store was out of ground turkey we'll need to get some on the weekend.

Dinner tonight was pancakes and fried leftover ham (a $7 ham from last week made 3 meals). Hashbrowns were on the meal plan but decided to go with a lighter meal.


The next couple weeks it should be fairly easy to stick to the budget or even be below while we go through our freezer and pantry stash. When supplies start to get low is when it's going to get tricky! Some weeks the grocery bill may be higher if we need a giant bag of rice or go to the butcher for a meat order since there is a discount for buying a certain number of pounds but it should even out when we don't have to buy meat the following week.

So far so good.