Saturday, July 26, 2014

Freebies, Flowers and the Farm Market

Perennials in full bloom at the front of our house
Yesterday was a great freebie day.  I redeemed some of hubby's Avion points for two tickets to Alberta at Christmas (book now if you haven't already as Christmas space is already filling up - you will only pay more if you don't!).  We still had to pay $325 in air taxes and surcharges on the tickets but saved $821.  I also created an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all mine and hubby's point programs.  


Some of them you have to use or redeem or the points just disappear so this way I can easily keep track of them.  By doing this I realized we had enough points at a hotel hubby used to stay at on business for a $25 Walmart GC so ordered that too.  He has no intention of going back due to a bad experience the last time so we might as well cash in.  Although he and I both have credit cards with annual fees (his $150 and mine $99) we more than make up for that annual fee in redemptions as charge 95% of our expenses that way, both business and personal.  I have already redeemed on three airline tickets this year using up my air miles to fly back to Edmonton for my Stepsons Graduation, for my Stepdaughter to come see us in August and for my eldest Stepson to fly up for Thanksgiving weekend this fall.  We may have moved away but we are in constant contact in one way or another with our family.  That makes five air tickets between Alberta and Comox this year - a total fare savings of approximately $1300.  

I also checked the supermarket that is two blocks away for their daily deal, they call it appy hour.  Every day they have an item at a ridiculously low rate to entice you in the door.  They always have enough stock so it never sells out.  Today they also had TOTALLY FREE box of a new brand of cereal if you loaded it online to your rewards card (Quality Foods if you live on the Island) - a freebie worth $5.50.  This new promotion is called Freebie Friday so I will be sure to go there on my way home from work every Friday while they run this promotion.  Hubby will eat almost anything so the cereal will definitely be consumed and I didn't go out of my way for it.

Annuals in the front yard - yes, we have an ugly Electrical box on the border of our yard
 The next freebie was radishes from our growing boxes.  We don't have a garden but we have planted 3 flower boxes of radishes at various stages of growth down the side of our house.  Although a little misshapen these are very yummy and hot and went into a salad the other night.
Although the next item was not a freebie, it was very cheap and completely tasty.  This head of lettuce has to be one of the largest I have ever seen.  To give you an idea of scale think 1.5 feet across and 1 feet high.  It was a whopping $1.25 at the farm market we just discovered.  They are only open summers and it took 2 years for us to find it as is very well known to locals but not advertised.  Very funny story.  When we were paying for our lettuce, peppers, cauliflower, blueberries, and new potatoes a girl at the till says to the other girl - "I will be right back, we are running low on lettuce".  We then see her wheeling a cart out into the field to cut some more lettuce to bring back.  You don't get any fresher than that.  We will be buying some corn from them once I use up what was purchased from the grocery store the other day as it looked amazing.  I have a feeling this will be our new haunt once or twice a week for the rest of the summer.  We are so happy to find a local farm market in very short driving distance after searching for one since we moved here.  We had the new potatoes in dill and cream sauce (a Ukrainian favorite - hubby made dinner) and salad with our farm-fresh veggies.  It was fabulous!

Massive head of lettuce - $1.25!

24 comments:

  1. You found lots of bargains, with air line tickets and goodies to eat. Well done.

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    1. Thanks - it is really hard to find bargains in the grocery aisle anymore, I will take any that come my way.

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  2. I love farm fresh veggies! We bake our corn in the oven without husking it and it is some more delish than boiling! 45 min in a 350 F oven...YUMM!

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    1. I love that idea - I am going to try that. I love corn, bit of addition really :)

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  3. My three favorite words, "hubby made dinner." Lucky girl! That lettuce is beautiful and so are all your flowers!

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    1. Hubby is as thrifty as I was and when I suggested eating out since I really didn't feel like cooking he volunteered. There was a wee bit of massacre in the kitchen though. Dill all over for days!

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  4. You certainly are Living Rich on the Cheap by being smart about it. Well done!

    xx

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    1. Thanks Judy - it is a struggle each day but I try!

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  5. That's the sort of freshness I grew up with - my mother would tell us what to go out and pick each day for supper. I miss that.

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    1. We had a big garden when we were kids. As I get older though I don't want all the maintenance associated with one, the yard is bad enough. I would rather buy from the local experts.

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  6. I'm glad you found that Farmer's Market. You'll have to keep us posted. As for cereal.... I don't of any grown man who wouldn't be willing to live of cereal for three meals a day!

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    1. Truth be told when hubby is away on business trips I often eat cereal for dinner. Shhhh....

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  7. Fresh garden lettuce is massive - I was at a farm the other day, I didn't need lettuce but I've had it before and it's twice the size of what you get in the store. I picked peas - in no time I had a basket. Love that kind of place!!!

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    1. Our peas here are not great, too bad really because hubby loves them. It was too hot and dry for peas this year.

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  8. Wow - that is a great deal! We bought tickets to Hawaii for $80 or something (the tax only - paid for the rest with points) & it makes you feel so good, doesn't it? ;-)

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    1. It does - you really have to learn the ins and outs of the point systems but once you've got it you can save buckets of money, especially if you travel a lot like we do.

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  9. I'm thinking you found the market on the airport road? A goodie for sure, love the new potatoes, corn, and beets!

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    1. Yes! I am taking Mom there this week and will pick up more new potatoes and corn. They were very tasty.

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  10. Gorgeous flowers! I love spreadsheets.

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    1. Thanks - I don't know why I haven't made a spreadsheet before, we each belong to so many loyalty clubs. And I am in charge of keeping track of every one of them

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  11. Love the pic from the front of your house!!!
    I wish that we could get produce that fresh here!!!!

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  12. The lady who owned the house before me paid a professional landscaper to do the front except the small annual bed therefore I only have to trim it back and plant a few flowers each year. Something seems to bloom almost every month until August.

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  13. Thanks for the heads up about QF, we have one in PR. I totally agree about travel points. We use our credit card for just about everything and pay it off each month. A good friend can't do it, she is an impulse buyer and racks up her cards to a point where she cannot pay them off, so she rarely uses one.

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    1. Yeah, the points thing just does not work for people who have difficulty paying it off each month. Rather than once a month we actually pay them several times. Every time I get a paycheck (3 x per month, once from our company and 2x from my part-time job) I check the balance and transfer the funds. It is much easier to stay op top of it that way. Last month I charged our car insurance and house insurance, all of which I had saved the money already for.

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