Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Thinking out of the pantry food "box"

This past week, I had my three-month checkup with my doctor and we talked about the increased number of COVID cases in the immediate area.  He was telling me to be careful about where I went and to always wear a mask.  I noticed for the first time since all of this began, he now wears two masks... a disposable mask and an N95 mask over that.

He had already changed the two prescriptions I have to take each day to a generic 90 day supply.  They happened to be ready again last week and can I give a thumbs up to the Walmart Pharmacy?  I switched my prescriptions there when I had to go uninsured for drugs so I could qualify for free insulin through my clinic.  They have been absolutely wonderful to work with. 

One of my prescriptions had nearly doubled in cost because they had to switch providers and they gave it to me at the former price this time, knowing I'm sure that people who pay cash for their prescriptions budget tightly.  Next time, I will know to expect the nearly doubled price.  They have always gone out of their way to be helpful.

Anyway, I now have a three month supply of both medications as well as what was still left over from my previous supply.  I had to reapply for another year of free insulin through drug companies in June and as of early last week, I still hadn't herd anything.  I was very happy when I got the call that my long term insulin had been accepted and that it was already at the clinic that day.  There was a glitch with my Eli Lilly application but it is okay and that insulin will hopefully be here soon.

I will use the credit I receive from Amazon in August to purchase my insulin pen needles and then my "must have" medications are taken care of for awhile.  All of this had to be put in place over a year ago and honestly, it was frustrating at the time.  But now it all works perfectly with the COVID requirements of mostly staying inside.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to make a switch from something I was used to doing or a place I was use to working with, etc., and it all ended up being a change for the good in the long run.  Even when it doesn't seem like it at the time, God is working on our behalf.

I didn't make any what you would call "pantry purchases" this week but I did make a couple stocking up purchases.  Recently I had to buy a gift bag for Piper's birthday party and it was very pricey.  She is worth it and it was a lovely gift bag but it got me to thinking that I should be able to do better than $4.95 plus tax for a medium size bag!

So while I was at Walmart picking up my prescriptions, I looked through their party supplies and found very nice gift bags of various sizes, including quite large gift bags, for 97 cents each.  (Their more expensive brand name gift bags are located closer to the front of the store.) 

Since I was at my near-the-end-of-the-month budget, I only bought three but I will definitely be back for a few more.  I have plenty of nice Christmas gift bags and Christmas wrapping paper purchased on clearance through the years but they are safely stored with the Christmas items.  I needed some all occasion gift bags.  At that price, I can go back and get some more to easily have a variety when needed.

Another stock up came as a result of a birthday gift from my dear friend of an Amazon Gift Card email.  She knows I am building a library of DVDs and with her gift, I was able to purchase quite a few from my Wish List.  I'll be more specific on my next Book Talk.

You don't think of having DVDs, books, etc. as part of a pantry but they are in their own way.  I stock up when I have the needed funds (in this case, a birthday gift), to have available what I will use either immediately or later.  I should say, since you may be curious, I have purchased Amazon Videos to watch on my tablet when no DVD is available for something I really want to own.  Usually they are very inexpensive (I don't purchase anything that just came out and is ridiculously expensive).

However, I do not purchase many items to stream because I do not have a smart TV.  After we bought a new TV when our old one blew up on Easter Sunday (yes, it did!), we were able to purchase a very nice TV really cheap because we didn't want a smart TV.  My son thought the picture and sound was good on the new TV but admitted to what I told him... it was dumb.  By today's standards.

So why did we not purchase a smart TV and be able to stream what we want like the rest of society?  Obviously, you do not live in the country and depend on an older rural internet system.  Sometimes it is hard to write a blog post and it can take a long time to download anything.  Which is what I do with what I purchase on Amazon Video when I want to watch it on my tablet. 

All of which, I expect, is more than anyone wants to know about stocking up on items you normally wouldn't think of as being part of a Pantry Lifestyle.  Of course, there is more to ponder on the subject and maybe next week?  I also apologize for a rambling post, sometimes my brain thinks without periods paragraphs and structure.  ;)

By the way, long time blog friend, Mama Squirrel (aka: Dewey's Treehouse on the sidebar), mentioned that there is a 2016 40th Anniversary edition of The More With Less Cookbook available.  I'm seriously thinking of getting a copy of this!  It has been modernized a bit (for instance, now calling for butter instead of margarine since we now know margarine is not the healthy alternative we were once taught it was) and has more recipes.  Link below...

Mentioned in this Blog Post

40th Anniversary edition of The More With Less Cookbook... here.

Disclaimer:  Most links to Amazon.com are Associate links.