Buying a Fridge

Last week I was out of town. While I was away my fridge quit! Hubby tried to fix it but it looked like it was going to be an expensive part. Once again we were thankful to have a little emergency fund left, as this qualifies as an emergency! As I said I was out of town and hubby was home. He shopped around home while I shopped in Surrey. I learned that BC Hydro gives rebates for energy efficient appliances.

This is from their website:
Refrigerators must be at least 25% more efficient than the federal standard.

 While shopping I learned that until the end of Oct, the usual $50 rebate for qualifying fridges, from BC Hydro, is doubled at Future Shop and Home Depot.(for a complete list of all the store deals with double rebates look here .) There is an area where you can check all the brands and models to see if they qualify here . It wasn't easy to find one that qualified AND fit my spot!
Turns out that finding a fridge to fit in my spot was WAY harder than I thought! At Home Depot online they took my measurements and out of all the fridges they had only 4 would "kind of" fit my spot! Turns out
fridges have become taller over the years! So, thankfully I have a handy hubby who was able to take out my cupboards above where my fridge goes. Once we could handle more height our options were increased!
Next problem was color! I have white appliances right now, but I was encouraged to go stainless steel. I wasn't sure what to do about this as I don't want to replace all my appliances(unfortunately I will have to, but I don't want to rush it!) and I wasn't sure if it would look really strange(like it would be the first time something at my house looked strange! :) .
So, I arrived home on the Friday of Thanksgiving...my parents and brother and his family were on route to BC. The first night dinner was at our house! Thankfully, hubby had narrowed the shopping down to 3 stores. The first was Wagner's Appliances, which has scratched and dinted appliances. They had the same fridge I had been looking at in Surrey, but for a considerable discount as it had a bit of a wow in the front panel. (It is hard to see and can only really be picked out if you are really looking for it.) The next 2 stores had similar fridges for lots more money, and only one year warranty(Wagner's gives 2!) I just couldn't see spending more for gadgetry(digital water outside the fridge..wouldn't those be fun buttons for kids!) that I just don't need. These fridges were going to double the price! We went back to Wagner's. They threw in delivery and old fridge removal and were able to deliver that afternoon!
So, I went shopping and hubby went home to unhook the old fridge and wash behind it(isn't he a gem!). By the time I got home the new fridge was in place, running and full of food! A happy ending!
Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked the BC Hydro website and found my new fridge qualified for the rebate! And to top it all off, Wagner's does airmiles! So, that's a nice little bonus.

In summary.....Ways to save on appliances
1. Shop around(even if it's quick because your much needed appliance dies). Our fridge died on Wednesday and hubby did coolers until friday!
2. Only buy what you need, try to ask yourself if the bells and whistles are what your family really NEEDS. If you think you can't live without them, then that is what you need.
3. Have an emergency fund....emergencies happen whether you have one or not...having one saves stress :)
4. Look for rebates, buy back programs, or sell your old appliance for parts???
5. Pay cash(or if you are a points or cash rebate credit card carrier use it but pay it off before it's due)
6.Another option is to buy used, but be sure and do your research before buying.
7.Ask other people about their fridge and what they like and don't like






PS. If your fridge is still working BC Hydro will buy it from you for $30!

This Week's Sales

We were in Surrey last week. This is one of the times we were at the beach!


This Week's Sales

It's been slim pickings for great grocery deals lately! Time to use what we have!

Superstore

Lean Ground Beef $1.98/lb
Campbell's soups 2/$1 limit 6
Red and Green grapes .96/lb
Bag of Red peppers 4 in a bag $1.98(it's cheaper to buy them at .99/lb)
Suey choy .48/lb
Blade Roast $2.28/lb
NN Pasta 900g $1.48
20lb Red potatoes $4.96

Shopper's all week eggs are $2.19
Sun Mon only(16-17)
Colgate toothbrushes .88
Colgate toothpaste .88

I added the flyer below for those of you who are visual! In the middle of the flyer you can see that if you buy a carton of Silk beverage you get a box of Kashi cereal free. This is at all the grocery stores, so if you already use Silk it's a bonus! Details are on the Silk carton.

Hurry for $5 worth of free Kernels popcorn

Do you like Kernels popcorn? We do! It makes a great gift too. Usually, we don't buy it very often as it is expensive, but right now FabFind is offering a FREE $5 gift card for Kernels just click here. FabFind is in some major cities in Canada, but not all, however this doesn't affect you being able to join. I just used Vancouver as my city and signed up no problem!

Now, if you want to do this you need to be REALLY!!!!! patient. Every screen is EXTREMELY slow to load! At the time of this writing there were around 4000 free gift cards left.

Do you have an Entertainment book? In ours there was a buy one medium bag of Kernels popcorn and get one free. Use your gift card to pay and get 2 bags cheap! Now, if this is too much hassle for you, you can make your own at home for a fraction of the cost of the regular price! I blogged how to make microwave popcorn here

Brandsampler

Samples are available at Proctor and Gamble Brandsampler. Hurry they go fast.

This Week's Sales

Isn't this lake color just stunning!? This is Kalamalka Lake.No wonder it was voted one of the 10 most beautiful lakes in the world!

This Week's Sales

With Thanksgiving just around the corner now is a good time to stock up on turkey! We always like to have a spare one in the freezer as it's nice to have turkey at a non turkey time! :) The smaller ones can make a nice meal with left overs for sandwiches.Mmm turkey sandwiches!

Walmart Sept 30-Oct 6

Grade A or Utility Turkeys(I take it you need to make sure you look to get a grade A if they are all together) .97/lb
Red Path Sugar 4kg $3.27!!!!! Sugar has increased in price dramatically and now this is a good deal! It's normal price is 10kg $11.99, so $1.99/kg. This works out to .82/kg!
Butter 454g $2.97
10lbs Russet potatoes $2.47
Grapes $1.27/lb
Rutabagas .47/lb(I have never cooked these before...are they good?)
3lb bag onions $1.27
Celery .77each
Baguettes $1

Safeway also has Grade A turkeys on for .99/lb, combining this with 10% off day on Tuesday would make your turkey .90/lb! Remember you have to spend a minimum of $35 to get the 10% off.

Superstore Sept 30- Oct 6

The coupon on the front is buy $250 get $25 off.
The 340g bag of cranberries is $1.46
5lbs of carrots $1.96
Broccoli .96 each
Brussels sprouts .76/lb
Sweet Potatoes .46/lb
Cabbage .38/lb
Bok Choy .38/lb
Pineapples $1.96 each
NN Perogies 1kg $1.48!!!
Kraft shredded cheese 340g $5.99(free with the coupon from the Old El Paso taco kits.)

Extra Foods has the coupon for Oct 2-3. Spend $25-$100 and get 10%-15% off

Lakeview Market has coupons inside the Event paper each week. This week they have local Spartan apples for 2lbs .98

Costco Brownies Vs Scratch Brownies

So, I was in Costco this week and saw the brownie mix was on sale. I have friends and family who swear these are better than anything you could make at home and they think cheaper. Well, being a family that learns at home, we decided to give it a whirl!

 

First, I found a recipe that was similar ingredients-wise. The one I chose was America's Test Kitchen brownies as most things ATK are very tasty and don't fail. Then I priced out all the same ingredients. The homemade was costing $5.56 and the Costco $5.49(this is for 4 square pans of brownies, note I substituted chocolate chips in the ATK recipe). So, cost-wise it's very similar.

Then, we had my son time my daughter and I as she made the mix and I made the scratch recipe. The mix took 5 minutes from bag to pan and the scratch took 6 minutes. I baked them both and then the kids did a blind taste test.

The pan on the left is the mix, the one on the right is the ATK brownies.  The verdict??? The mix is tastier!(We also had our neighbors be in on the blind taste test and they too chose the mix!(probably time to go to Costco, huh?)
It is more moist and chocolaty! This usually isn't true when you make a bagged mix, but not this time!

With the ingredients you add it works out to about $1.65/pan of brownies! On sale this week at Costco.

I've Got Lots of Peanut Butter!

I needed to make some squares for a due and I was thinking I really need to use up the peanut butter I got on sale at Costco. So, I went hunting for a yummy square recipe that would use LOTS of peanut butter. This is a recipe my mom used to make at Christmas. She would bake up a storm and freeze it for when we had company. Us kids would raid the freezer whenever possible and so I know these freeze well and taste good frozen!!

 Peanut Butter Bars

1cup crunchy peanut butter(nice!)
2/3 cup butter/marg, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

Icing
(be sure to read the directions before making this)

3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tsp water

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp marg

Combine peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a large bowl; beat until well blended, beat in sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in flour and salt just until well blended; spread butter in a greased 13X9X2 pan. Bake in moderate oven(this means 350..I always laugh when I read old recipes that assume I know what a moderate oven is! :)  Bake for 20 minutes and then check!! The original recipe wanted 35 minutes and I found this was WAY to long. The center will spring back, the cake will be browned, or a toothpick will come out clean.

Icing....I screwed up on this part as I am not a great direction reader!!! The icing sugar needs to be combined with the water in a small bowl and stirred until smooth: drizzle from a spoon over still warm squares.
Melt the marg and chocolate chips in microwave. Stir until smooth and drizzle over with a spoon. Try to make a nice design...mine was kinda blotchy.
Go ahead and cut up and freeze if you can. What I did was I made a double batch, one to take to the due, one for the family to dive into! Good thing as I screwed up the icing on the first one! It looked bad, but tasted great! Enjoy!
Next time I search everywhere for this recipe, I can find it....along with the "Sue don't do this instructions! "A major advantage to blogging favorite recipes, don't you think???!