Eggs, Tuna, Screaming Ambulance

 Friday, I changed the small eggs that expire today for the large eggs that were free at The Pig. They refunded me the cost of medium eggs, and gave me the large eggs. So, we are all square. 

I bought another four four-packs of Starkist Tuna, making the total cans at 56 now. That is a year's supply if I eat one can each week. However, with an expiration date of 2006, I won't worry how fast I eat them.

That is all for Friday...lol. 

Well, it is all except for the ambulance that came screaming to the house after Tommy called 911 for me. My esophagus needs to be stretched again. NOW! It was a horrible experience. I ate the rest of my dinner over the next two hours, one tiny bite of chicken at a time. I will call the doctor immediately. It has been since 2018 or '19 since I had this done. 

Tommy is reveling in the fact it rained Thursday and today, meaning he does not have to water plants. He said he can hook up the automatic watering. So, maybe I will buy that. Well, I will pick it out and he will pay. It will be brutal out there in the afternoon sun with heat radiating off the brick house. 

oops, I forgot

Dinner: I baked eight skinless thigh and ten tenders along with potatoes, carrots, and onions. I made coleslaw. So, dinner was chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, and slaw.

My Tuna Salad Recipe

 The last few years, I have become complacent about my tuna salad. If no eggs were boiled, I would just put in a dollop of Miracle Whip and stir it up and spread it on bread. I was happy. I was fed. 

When I married, a small can of tuna would give us both a sandwich for two days. That is four sandwiches from one small can. Now, I just eat the tuna, MW mixture with a bit of relish for one sandwich. I use crusts from the last bite or two to sop up the last of the mixture from the bowl. 

I am quite sure this is not anything spectacular, so you may eat/use the same 
recipe. 

My Original Tuna Salad 

(what I originally put in it, not original to me)

1 small can of tuna, Starkist only, drained

1 large stalk celery, chopped small

some yellow onion, not much, minced finely

Miracle Whip, egg-sized dollop or more

4 sweet gherkin midgets, diced and 1/2 tsp juice

4 hamburger dill slices, diced and 1/2 tsp of juice

grated Red Delicious Apple, peeled

3 boiled eggs, diced

My mother made our tuna salad like this, but maybe without the onion, not sure. There were five of us kids, four older, so this fed us. She put the whole apple in for us. I may have used half an apple. I was probably trying to economize since we had little money when we married. 

I do believe tuna cans held 6 ounces back then. That seems to be the first product I remember that reduced the ounces but retained the price. 

When I injured my hand in the 90s, I started buying Vlasic Dill and Vlasic Sweet Relish so I would not have to dice pickles. The celery was easier to dice. I became busier, stressed for time and eventually left off things, like the eggs somedays. Other days, the onions went away or the apple. 

One thing I have added in the last few years when I did not use all I did in the past was carrots. I use the shredded carrots, hold them and slice them into tiny pieces. I love them in the tuna salad. However, I won't be adding them to the next tuna salad I make.  The carrots cannot be tasted, but I get the nutrition.

I have continued my halfway making of tuna salad. But, I have everything, celery and the eggs are boiled. Well, the only thing I might not have on hand would be celery. So, one day I will make my tuna salad and now have celery. Tommy refuses to eat it and is debating right now if he will eat some this time. Okay, he said he will try it. This will be the first time ever. Okay, he figured out I will put eggs in it, so he will not eat it. Maybe I can give him some before I put eggs in the bowl. He is fine with that. 

The only thing that will be different is I will not buy dills or gherkins, just use the relishes we always have on hand. I think these onions were rotting when I bought them, so hopefully there will be enough for this tuna salad. There is nothing original or astounding in my tuna salad. My kids loved it, so do I. Mama sometimes sent a tuna salad sandwich for school lunches when I was in school. 

Wednesday, I took a little nap. I got the chicken in the oven 5.8 pounds of bscb. However, we ate the last of the bscb I baked last week along with squash leftover from last night and a can of green beans. This was a new brand of green beans. 

When I opened the can of green beans, there were three stems showing. As I ate my portion, I found two more and a stem about the diameter of a pencil in my mouth. ugh! And, the green beans were from 1/4 in long to 3/4 inch long. They were hard to get on a fork. But, they were delicious, thankfully.

Thursday night, I only slept three hours and am not happy about the lack of sleep. I still feel well, but am totally uninspired to do anything. Of course, I must.

I did order and receive a digital watercolor from a vendor/artist in Ukraine. I was disappointed I only received a canned response. It is hard to gauge if the person really received the small amount. I need to order more.

The predicted storms all faded away before reaching us. We had a fast, hard, and short rain yesterday afternoon. But, there was no wind, thankfully.  It was worse east of us. 

Ugh! I am tired, really tired. How is your day so far? Are you accomplishing anything?

Checking the Stores in The Kitchen

No, I have not catalogued all the food. All I need to do is check what I have that is on sale each week. I know I should write it all down, but until there is light in there, I am not much inspired.

Piggly Wiggly had StarKist Chunk Light Tuna for $0.77 +10%. So, it is about $0.85.  That is not the lowest I have ever seen it, but who knows what it will be going forward. I bought 4 cans last week and had another six cans with 2023 from shopping other times.

Five cans on my shelf had 2023 as the use by date. These I found today at the store had 2024. Since I came into a bit of cash I was not expecting, I bought 20 cans. Tommy helped, too, of course. Before January 2024, I will have finished these if I buy no others. January 2024 is 42 months from now. So, if I find tuna  cheaper, I still will not have too much. StarKist Light Chunk is the only tuna I will eat.

When I find a better price for SK, if I do, I will buy those, too. I feel safe from mercury when I eat Chunk Light as it has the lowest level of mercury. Plus, since Fukashima, I worry about radiation. I can eat tuna twice a week, but I won't.

Shopping is much more than putting food into the cart and paying for it! While getting 20 cans of tuna, I had to check each one for dents. Last week, I bought a dented can. I did eat that one first! Then, once I bring it home, I want to label each can. So, I get out a magic marker and write "24" on the top and on the very front, very deliberately writing very neatly, using numbers as taught to children, nothing swirly or cutesy. This is a lot of handling of cans that are not too heavy. Over time, my hands and wrists hurt!

After checking for dents in the cans as I got them off the shelves, I let three slip through. The dents I rejected were on the sides of the cans. The dents that slipped through were dents on the bottom edge of the can! So, I wrote "dent" on those.  Dented cans will be eaten first.

I bought:
3 12-packs of Caffeine-Free Coke on sale.
20 6-oz cans Starkist Chunk Light Tuna--$0.85
12 oz can Hormel Roast Beef and Gravy $3.44
12 oz. can  Armour Roast Beef and Gravy $4.31
24 0z. jar Ragu Spaghetti $1.71
log of Kaukauna Port Wine Cheese $3.73
8 oz. Kraft Medium cheddar $3.30
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter $3.10
cookies $.24
Wheat Thins--Hint of Salt
Special K Red Berries bogo $4.62 for 2
Olivio Spread
Celery Seed
1 Beefsteak Tomato $2.09

Since this was a little extra money, I bought things I normally would not--like celery seeds. Special K Red Berries is too expensive unless it is on sale, bogo today. I will eat this too fast. It will be a snack at night, not breakfast.

I have plenty of Cokes, so should not have bought these right now at this price. Oh well. I bought two brands of roast beef and gravy to see which was best. I always buy Hormel, so I thought I would try the Armour and see if it was worth the extra cost. Probably not!

We certainly do not need any more vegetables or fruit, but the tomato was different.

One night, we are going to have a snack-y dinner, and the Port Wine cheese and Wheat Thins are part of that. Vegetables and fruit will round that out with a bit of chicken salad. The thought makes me happy. White/green grapes are going to be $.99 starting tomorrow, Wednesday.

I need to quit eating real butter according to the doctor, so I Can't Believe It's Not Butter was the best I can find. Oh, bought Olivio, too.

Dinner tonight: Romaine and tomato salad with squash, carrots, zucchini, Grated cheese for me, chicken on top for both, corn on the cob.

Questions: What is the best Heart Healthy "butter" have you found? I forgot the other questions.

More Meat

Tuesday, at Publix and in my quest for chicken breasts, I found washcloths 4 for $2.99, reduced from $6.99. I got the only white pack. At home I realized it is cream or something, just an icky pale yellow. Oh well. these are only for pee. Then I read these were to be washed in cold water only. No, they will be washed in hot water. What do you think will happen to them? Will they fall apart? Who washes wash clothes in cold water?

I found a pack of chicken tenders for $5/lb. It was the only package left. At the second store, I found more chicken tenders, a large package and too expensive. Then, I found a large pack of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts for $4.98/lb. Okay, three stores, and I am done.

Not done because I have enough. I am done because no more will go into the freezer! I think I have enough chicken to last for several months. I can look at my list, but I feel so ill today. Allergies can make me ill. I spent more for chicken than I like to spend, but neither of us are worrying about the cost right now.

Hormel Chicken Breast in a 10 oz. can was about $2.09, forgot exactly. I explained to Tommy. This will work in dressing, in chicken salad for a sandwich, pasta salad, and other concoctions so we will have protein. I have three of these.

If I could find Possum sardines, I would get those for protein. We have about 20 cans of Tuna and two of salmon. There is one huge jar of Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter. I did not buy this lately; we have had it. I do this about $3 at a time each week.

So, this is the end of the protein search. I do like meat, so until it is gone, I will continue to eat it, maybe just less per meal.

I stopped into a Lowe's to look at their picnic tables, and found reduced plants. I picked out four that were not reduced to $1 like I thought. The guy told me I could have them for $1, though. I now have two crook neck squash plants, one curly parsley plant, and one yellow Gerbera Daisy. I left them overnight, sitting in a pan of water, so I need to go out today, Wednesday, and save them from drowning...lol.

What are you doing today? Planting, sowing? Making masks? Cleaning?

THE END