When I was a young, impressionable Kristen, there was a common television trope where the families on the tv would have “Freezer day”, where all the meals they ate that day would be comprised of food found in the freezer. This usually coincided with some big to-do where a kid in the family brought home someone they had a crush on or one of the adults brought home their boss or a long lost relative resurfaced. You mix these high pressure situations with the fact that all you had to offer for dinner was a bag of frozen corn and popsicles and hilarity ensued!
Growing up, our freezer stored two types of ice: cubes and cream. And that was it. The joke was mostly lost on me.
These days, though, I get the joke a little bit more. We have a second refrigerator in our garage that we use mostly use for the freezer. And while I’m not ashamed to say it has seen its fair share of ice cream, our freezer primarily stocks meat. Imagine Mr. B bringing his boss home and all I have to feed him is three different parts of defrosting chicken. Hilarity will ensue!
Now, the TGIF families of yesteryear would have you believe that you need to empty out your freezer once a year, but I like to do things my own way, so I depleted most of my frozen stock during the Great Pregnancy of 2018. Or so I thought.
You know that thing where you think you have no black pants to wear so you buy some black pants and then when you go to put them away you realize there is a stack of black pants a mile high in your closest? Ok, so substitute the “you” in that scenario for “me”, and also substitute “black pants” for “chicken.” Though, on the real, I do have a lot of black pants as well.
We eat a ton of chicken, so every week I buy chicken. You know this, you’re not new here. But last week when I went to get some fish out of the freezer, I was shocked by the stack of chicken a mile high in my freezer. Breasts, thighs, wings, drummies, where did all this chicken come from? Why has no one been eating it? Doesn’t the person who cooks the meals around here remember the classic freezer episodes from 90’s sitcoms?
On my weekly Kroger trip I had one resolution: buy no chicken. I was actually stoked about the $10 or so that freed up in the budget, because once again, coupons were scarce, y’all. And I was also stoked that I was clearing some space in my freezer and generally not being a crazy chicken hoarder. That’s not a cute look.
So here’s me, strolling through the Kroges like I own it, hopped up on my sense of purpose and determination when, wait, what’s this? Sausage is on sale three days only, two pounds for $5??? Context: one pound of sausage at my Kroger is usually $3.49. During the dry season, it can get up to $3.99. Good thing I’ve got all that chicken money to spend.
Y’all, I went into some kind of sale frenzy, because I was just tossing sausage in my cart like there was no tomorrow. Just piling packages of sausages on top of each other, cackling like the witch in “Snow White.” I get home, I’m putting my groceries away and there just isn’t enough room in my meat compartment for all my sausage. What will I do? Where will the sausage go?
The freezer.
Sausage, meet chicken. Hilarity ensues!
- Bananas, 2 lbs-$1.10.
- Blackberries, 6 oz (4)-$3.96. In-store sale, $.99 each.
- Boar’s Head Honey Maple Turkey, 1 lb-$10.49.
- Boar’s Head Sandwich Pepperoni, 1lb -$8.99.
- Green Grapes, 2.05 lb-$2.62.
- Kroger Ground Turkey, 2lb-$5.98.
- Kroger Rice-$1.49.
- Kroger Sausage, 7lb-$17.50.
- Mango (2)-$1.98.
- Private Selection Whole Wheat Bread-$1.99.
- Private Selection Flaxseed Bread-$.50. Manager’s Special!
- Red Leaf Lettuce, .91 lb-$1.54.
- Red Gold Canned Tomatoes (2)-$1.78.
- Red Wax Gouda, .5 lb-$4.94.
- Roma Tomatoes, .96 lb-$.95.
- Simple Truth Organic Rosemary-$3.19. I got my Rosemary! And it was on sale!
- Strawberries, 2 lbs-$5.
- Sweet Onions, 2.46 lb-$2.44.
- White Shrimp, 1.74 lb-$10.42. Manager’s Special!
- Apps I’ll submit to: Fetch Rewards, Ibotta ($.25 off Any Item), Checkout 51 (.25 off Tomatoes)
Total Budget: $86.59
Total Spent: $86.86
Total Saved: $21.61
Deducted from Next Trip: $.27
Fun story, as I was typing this up, I noticed there were 7 pounds of sausage on the receipt but 8 pounds of sausage in my freezer. I went back to the Kroger to pay for the extra sausage, but the very nice lady at customer service told me not to worry about it. Bonus sausage!
How long do you keep meat in your freezer? What animated villain are you most like when you go into a sale frenzy? What’s your favorite 90’s sitcom? Gimme your thoughts in the comments!
Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey five years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!