Mom Life in the PNW

Ozeri INSTAVAC Green Earth Food Storage Container Set Review

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.
Have you ever made a big meal and wondered where you’re going to store the leftovers to make it as fresh and delish as the day you made it? Often times, I am making casserole dishes which are too much for my husband and I to eat alone, even as a second meal. I usually just keep the leftovers in the casserole dish and stick it in the fridge. It might work for a next day meal, but it’s not going to keep it fresh for long when bacteria and other stuff start producing because it’s not tightly air-sealed. Then after the third or fourth day, if there is still leftovers, I end up tossing it. Not only is it a waste of money, but it’s not effective.
That’s where the Ozeri INSTAVAC Green Earth Food Storage 8 Piece Container Set comes in. These are BPA Free and feature an airtight instant vacuum seal technology when you press down on the container in a pumping motion with your hands. But first, you must make sure the lid snaps and green tab are closed. When you do the pumping motion on the lid, it pushes the air out and the green plastic valve in the middle of the date dial sucks itself in; you want to do this until it goes in completely. This is to let you know that it is sealed from as much air as possible. Then, you set the date on the dial to the date you initially stored your food for easy monitoring.


These also nestle inside one another for easy storage. The unfortunate part is, these are bigger than the average size containers, so if you’re like me and have limited cupboard space, these might be too big for you. I found the 2nd to largest one perfect size for my leftovers. The largest one I can see using for crock-pot meals, or perhaps all of my fresh vegetables that seem to spoil fast by sitting in the crisper drawer of my fridge.

I was also surprised that these can be used in the microwave or even the freezer. When in the microwave, it automatically releases the valve to prevents spills, splatters, and bursting. They claim to be stain resistant and shatter proof. I can’t tell you how many times my plastic Tupperware have stained from spaghetti sauce or having the lid break because I dropped it on the ground, so I am really hoping these claims are true. So far so good though!

I highly recommend these containers as they will save you money, time and space!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.


All posts here are to help our fellow frugal friends score the best freebies and deals possible through various companies, including Amazon. At times, we do earn a small percentage on purchases made through our links, which helps keep the site running.

Zaycon Foods Chicken Review

Image from CAMonkeyMomma, as I forgot to take a photo.

 

I got a chance to receive a 40 lb box of Chicken from Zaycon Foods when they arrived in my city for their monthly food dispersing travels for posting about them previously. All opinions are my own and no monetary compensation was received besides the free chicken.

Zaycon Foods was actually quite easy to deal with. I placed my order online, chose a date that they would be in my town, and then waited for their arrival.

Once it was time for me to pick up the chicken, I printed my receipt from my email, drove to the area they had set up and waited in line in our cars. It was literally a drive-thru chicken pick up and took less than 10 minutes tops. They opened our cars back door, laid down plastic over our cars interior and dropped the box of fresh chicken on our seat in a total of 1 minute. They’re fast!!

They did have a bit of difficulty with the truck they used for shipment, but they made sure to call me and let me know they would be a half an hour to an hour later than normal since they were having mechanical problems with the truck. But that was fine because I had to go grocery shopping anyways and just stopped on the way there when I was done with that. I liked that they called me to let me know thoug, as well as sent an email out.

When we got home, my husband and I had to vacuum seal 40 lbs of chicken and let me tell you, it was a daunting task LOL but so worth it. I didn’t pound the chicken with a meat tenderizer and I think this helps to make it more tender and less chewy when you cook it since its going to be easy to over cook it as its so thick and huge. Maybe even best to slice the breasts into halves or even thirds, cause 1 person could definitely share 1 chicken breast. I found that cooking on a pan though without doing any of the mentioned above made the chicken taste rubbery and chewy, even cooking it in the oven gave me the same results. I tried the crock-pot and that seemed to work a little better but there were still a couple of chunks that were a little bit chewy, but overall much better.

Thank you Zaycon Foods, you were a pleasure to work with, hope to be a repeat customer if the prices are still right!

Half-Bathroom Remodel!

Half-Bathroom Remodel!
We decided that our downstairs half-bathroom needed a little bit of updating since it was just blah. It’s amazing what a few fixtures and paint can do.

I decided upon the grey-violet paint color at Lowes since it seemed to work well with the dark bronze colored fixtures. I purchased the faucet on Amazon, which is the Hardware House in Oil Classic Bronze for $35. I didn’t want something super expensive just in case we plan on selling the house. I don’t plan on taking out all the faucets and bringing them with, so I figured this would work and it did at a fraction of what other bronze fixtures cost.

We added a small back splash since there was a small dip behind the sink that was hard to clean, which gives it a little bit more character I think.

If you look in the mirror in the photo on the 2nd you can see that we didn’t paint the slanted ceiling since we didin’t want it to feel too enclosed with grey/purple everywhere. It gives it a bit of contrast. I also wanted to put a frame around the mirror, but my husband wasn’t too keen on it, but I will get my way upstairs for the next bathroom!

I purchased the bronze light with the frosted brown glass at either Lowes or Home Depot for around $27 and I got the hand towel rack, toilet paper holder, toilet paper roll holder and toilet brush all at Ross for around $30. So all of this was down for a little over $100, which isn’t too bad if you ask me. I also want to hang my boxed cubbies in here which would go with the bronze, but my husband is weird about having extra holes in the wall since that means we would need to patch them later on. So weird and annoying.

The prep and the amount of work it took to get it looking nice was way more than I expected, so now I can just imagine how long its going to take us to complete our master bathroom remodel. Mostly because my husband is a procrastinator and doesn’t like to do everything in one sitting. If I were to do it, I probably wouldn’t have done it right. He always brings up the time I put together his BBQ and it fell apart instantly. In my defense, the then roommate pretty much did it himself, so yep, I blame him. I am just not looking forward to it, but I am looking forward to the after. We’re probably going to be doing most of the work ourselves up there since it’s way too expensive to have someone else do it, and we all know I’m all for saving monies.

Mexican Lasagna Casserole Recipe!

Thank you to my husbands sister in law for this recipe. It has become a frequent dinner in the weekly routine and the best part is, there’s leftovers for another meal! Sometimes I just loathe cooking, other times I want to be creative and venture outside of the box. However, last night was not one of those nights.

Mexican Lasagna Casserole Recipe

What you’ll need:
  • 1 lb of Hamburger
  • 1 Large Jar of Spaghettie Sauce (your choice), we usually use traditional or garlic.
  • 1 16 oz Jar of  Medium Salsa.
  • 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
  • 1 can of olives, either large whole and cut them up or pre-chopped ones – your choice.
  • 1 can of sliced mushrooms.
  • I usually add pinto/black beans as well and about a half-cup of mild jalapenos. 

Directions:

Preheat the oven on 350 degrees and start browning the hamburger.

Add all above ingredients into large sauce pan and simmer for 5-10 min.

Layer the bottom of the casserole dish with flour tortillas. I use soft taco size and it requires 2 for each layer usually.

 Top each layer with the sauce mixture and cheese. Repeat until all sauce is gone, distributing layers evenly. I usually have about 3 layers in my casserole dish.
 Top it off with flour tortillas and the rest of the cheddar cheese. Stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes. You want the top to be melted-cheesy goodness and a little crispy.
Once it’s finished, let it cool for 5-10 minutes, slice and Enjoy!


All posts here are to help our fellow frugal friends score the best freebies and deals possible through various companies, including Amazon. At times, we do earn a small percentage on purchases made through our links, which helps keep the site running.

We’ve Survived 1 Year of Marriage!

We’ve Survived 1 Year of Marriage!

Holy hell, it’s been a year already? Well, technically a year and 26 days. We kind of celebrated more when we were in Vegas at the beginning of October since our anniversary was the 26th of October, but we did end up going to Seaside Oregon to spend the night together since we hadn’t been there in a while. It was okay but we’re so spoiled from the hotel luxuries in Vegas that it was kind of a disappointment when we arrived at the hotel. We felt like we were living in a jail cell that evening. I was expecting big bubba to come out of the bathroom at any moment!

And yes, it looks like I have giant man hands in the above picture that we took in the sand with our rings, but I assure you my hands are not bigger. Wait, who am I trying to fool? Screw it. I have big hands, that’s because my husband and I are the same height. You ever see a tall woman with tiny hands? Don’t think so!

Even though we didn’t enjoy our room, we did enjoy our nice and romantic dinner at Maggie’s on the Prom, the walk along the promenade, our brisk, cold moment on the beach, my ice cream I’m stuffing down my face, and our shop hopping which led us to a mechanical shark! I mean it is the beach after all. One wouldn’t expect to see a bull there unless it was a bull shark of course. 😉


We had fun, even though it may not show on my husbands face. He was mean muggin’ the camera the whole time. Usually, he’s all smiles, but I guess that’s when he’s drunk.

Here’s to many more years with the love of my life. Can’t wait to see what it’s in store for us after this wonderful year we’ve had of marriage and almost 8 years of being together!