Free Dinner almost

Last night while I was searching for barley (shout out to Diane) in my food preps I realized that I never did a product review of the SPAM With Bacon, 12-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6) that I bought on amazon last month. So since it turned out that the cupboards are bare when it comes to barely but not SPAM here is last nights dinner & review. Mind you it's no foodies delight just a good hearty meal.

Feeling kinda wealthy with the house smelling like bacon frying.

Tins now open easier than the old days when you were SOL if the key went missing. I didn't notice any huge chunks of bacon but then again it's SPAM so it's better not to investigate to closely. No, I won't debate SPAM or hot dogs so please no comments about what is exactly in there. All I know is that I enjoy eating it now & then.Besides the upside of affordability, there's the shelf life & easy of preparation. The "I'm eating meat " factor that we enjoy. While we do eat like were vegan/vegetarian 3 or 4 days a week it's nice to experience not just be nostalgic about bacon.  

Everything on the plate except Woods homemade hot sauce was free.

After frying up the SPAM with Bacon, I peeled & diced what was left of potatoes that were gleaned locally then added a cup of minced onion, the last one from the garden. Hubby nixed the idea of adding a vinegar sauce (German Potato Salad) so I just seasoned with sea salt & fresh cracked pepper, fresh rosemary. The green beans were also gleaned & pressure canned by me. Daughter had a serving of warm home caned applesauce on her plate. Both of us shared a pot of green tea I bought on Amazon for free a few months back.

Woodrunner  is all Chard out, so he forbade me to add any but we could have also had a fresh tossed Swiss Chard salad from the garden with dressing. The fancy salad greens that I planted last month never took so it's all about the Swiss for now. In the 3 weeks since I planted the cold frame with mature chard it's filled out well.

The hot sauce was canned by me but made by Woods. Recipe is similar to a few of Rochester's famous - Sal's Birdland & Country Sweet only made with Splenda because of diabetic issues. All I know is that standing over the canning pot filling jars I have no sinus issues. It's that hot. I'd have to say that almost half of the ingredients in his sauce were grown by us. 

We both curtailed our carbs all day yesterday because of the white potatoes for dinner. A better choice would have been sweet potatoes but I cook with what we can afford or have on hand. Unfortunately sweet potatoes don't grow in New York otherwise I'd been gleaning them.  

I give SPAM with Bacon a thumbs up & am planning on buying another 12 tins before the price goes up anymore jumped 4 cents since the last order.

I have $ burning a hole in my digital pocket so to speak just got $60 in amazon gift cards from swagbucks.
As in years past we are planning on making holiday gifts so for now I'll continue to use my free money mostly for groceries.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Resilience for the Gardening Soul

The 4 Amigos (Peppers) riding out a Western New York Winter.

I received this book from Cornelia over @ Homegrown.org  around this time last year in a giveaway. After having enjoyed and learned from the author's practical (we all know how much I adore practical) gardening wisdom I am passing this on to another gardener who will enjoy this book as much as I did. I'm not very good on writing book reports lets just say that this book touched my soul.

So yes, it is used (in mint condition) and if this offends you what can I say, this isn't the blog for you because the majority of my giveaways are regifts or items that I bought @ tag sales. So if your of the mind set of "well I never" I'd lay my last nickel that you have been the recipient of a regift.
Now more than ever but I digress.

If you'd like to learn more click on the title The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times (how appropriate ) and use Amazon's search inside this book feature. There are also much better reviews than I am able to give.

Here's the rules for one entry each (please leave a separate comment for each method you use to enter) -

• Become a follower of my blog, leave a shout out (comment) with your 411 google id & email addy, along with what type of gardener you are; cheaper than dirt green thumb, or embracing the concept of growing your own dinner.
• Like me on facebook (pelenaka lopez) & post a link to Thirtyfivebyninety on your wall, then leave a shout out here on the blog with your 411 that you did.
• Stumble my blog (35x90), give me a shout out that you did here on the blog. 

Giveaway dates are today Monday November 14, 2011 to December 11, 2011 2300 (11 p.m.). That will leave me enough time to wander down to the post office the next day and slip the package in the mail. 

In the meantime I'll see what I can come up with to sweeten the deal maybe some seed packets either commercial or from hubby's stash. 

~~ pelenaka ~~

Swagbucks Update

One of the big deals going on over @ Swagbucks is that they have doubled the amount you can earn clicking on swagtv from 75 swagbucks to 150 until the end of the year. Per swagbuck's blog a swagernault (peeps who swag) have the potential of earning 10,000 swagbucks.
To put it into "real life terms" that = $5 amazon gift cards x 5 for Nov. ($25) + $5 amazon gift cards x 5 for Dec. ($25) + if you add in 400 swagbucks a $50 gift card = $100 in amazon gift cards. Being a savy shopper coupled with holiday deals would mean a good haul.

Or the 10,000 swagbucks = $50 paypal + $25 paypal + $5 amazon gift card (with 5 sb left over). Spend a bit more effort transfer the paypal $ into your checking account then go grocery shopping or write a check to pay a bill.

Besides Amazon & paypal, there are gift cards for CVS (think bonus bucks/coupon stacking), Home Depot, Lowes, K-mart all of which can be printed out and used in person.

For now I'm sticking with amazon gift cards so I can load up my account balance. Murphy's law and all now I only have $10.96 in my amazon account I keep stumbling over some great grocery deals like Chicken of the Sea Tuna Chunk Light Water, 5 Ounce Tins (Pack of 48) which works out to 69¢ per tin free shipping & handling.

Amazon is also having a count down to Black Friday great food deals which means if you save on the grocery budget you can splurge on a few gifts or pay the mortgage as is in our case.

I'm 259 swagbucks away from my next $50 amazon gift card. That's a whole lotta tuna ...

If you decide to sign up please consider use this link as I get referral points for the first 1000 swagbucks you earn searching.

ETA: tomorrow is a code extravaganza which means that through out the day codes will be given out with a total value of 60 swagbucks or a bit worth 1/9 of a $5 gift card. With the news higher earning limits on swagtv it takes me about 3 days to earn a $5 gift card. Not including  my own search wins, referral's search wins, polls, tasks, or fb tie ins.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Occupy This

I try not to get political on my blog but with the recent Occupy Wall Street Protests both in NYC & Buffalo , I just wanted to write that before you look @ corporate America take a good look in the mirror. Walmart wouldn't exist if we the consumer didn't patronize their supercenters. 

Recently a journalist made a comment about my husband's place of employment & how that the store closing was just another example of corporate greed. I am touched @ his sediment but if he & other's would buy/support American made products then my husband would be gainfully employed @ his given profession instead of depending his livelihood on retail.

  

Transplanted Rainbow Chard & Marigolds for bug control into our cobbled together cold frame 

We had our first hard frost of the Autumn last night a chilly 29 degrees in the backyard. Earlier in the day there was wet snow flurries that thankfully didn't stick. Wet slushy snow is heavy and with tress still half their leaves the weight on branches makes for some interesting times a.k.a  Friday the 13th Snow Storm here in Buffalo.

I transplanted what was left of Rainbow Chard that I started from seed, that was in another raised bed. Not a real fav of our's in salads but it is hearty in cooler temps. I'm hoping that this cold frame receives allot of sun this Winter so I can plant it with fancy salad greens (any suggestions?) which I can grow, beef not so much. 

Doing this was also very therapeutic for me the whole I'm not gonna be a victim of our own personal economic crisis. For hubby it has been tracking down quality firewood. 

I also saute chard for adding in tomato sauce along with other veggies I have on hand. Toss with whole wheat pasta makes for a good meal as long as hubby doesn't start humming the song on top of old smokey all covered with cheese I lost my poor meatball ...

If I can work a barter deal for Swiss Cheese then I'll make up some quiches.

This is my latest amazon purchase using gift cards I earned on Swagbucks.com - tweleve 16 oz. bottes of Kraft Three Cheese Ranch dressing & dip which worked out to $1.58 per container or $9.49 per 6 bottles. I also ordered a personal prep tool to round the entire purchase out to a bit over $25 so it qualified for free shipping.
I'll blog about in in the next week or so after I've tackled the learning curve.

Found in the manager's special section of amazon great dealslisted as only two in stock (expires 12Jan2012). Like with any shopping experience one has to be on the look out ready & able to snatch a great deal.
Stilltasty lists it as good for 12 to 18 mos. past the labeled manufacture date.
I think I can grow enough fancy salad greens to use all 12 bottles up before next year. Who knows I might figure a way to grow chicken wings in a raised bed.

ETA: called Kraft read off the bar code according to the rep the salad dressing I bought was made in America.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Jay oh Bee Not

Have you ever heard that news quote about how the majority of Americans are just 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Two, dos, one two.
Husband, along with his coworkers have been downsized or in plain terms no one will have a  J O B by the end of next month. So in reality three paychecks.
While we're not gonna be homeless nor go hungry we are just 3 paychecks away from zero income.
Zip, zilch, nada, goose egg.

Hard days night or slept like a baby ?
While I would have hoped to have every last one of my mason jars filled or shelf after shelf filled with commercially canned food it's all good. We have 4 cords of firewood, no car note, and a good half gallon of elbow grease coupled with good old fashioned survival skills.

We've been practicing living on the (poverty) line. Now we just need to kick it up a notch.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Bringing Home the Bacon

Well not really 100% bacon but pretty close for free, SPAM with Bacon.

Let me backspace a bit.
I finally (actually took 15 days to redeem) got the $50 Amazon Gift posted to my Swagbucks account this morning. Yes, I actually got 50 clams, smackeroos, greenbacks, half a dead president for free. Well not free it did take some elbow grease on my part but compared to baking a pie to earn $ it was free.

So now that I had $63.99, $13.99 left over from last month's redemption of $25 worth of amazon gift cards I went grocery shopping on amazon.
Dairy & meat has for the most part been the two grocery categories that I have a hard time bartering for or obtaining for free so I am going to concentrate on those two.

SPAM with Bacon 12 oz. cans, pack of 6 for $14.88. Use the subscribe & save option knocking the price down by 15% = $12.65 / 6 tins or 18¢ per once or $2.10 each. Free shipping & handling. No coupon clipping. No driving to the store.
I set my delivery for every six months and ordered 12 cans.


~~ pelenaka ~~