Black Friday & Chat Box

Black Friday Drug Store Final Final Totals:
Walgreens: $63.22 profit
CVS: $16.90 profit
Rite Aid: $25.74 cost
Overall: $48.27 profit

@ Seda: You should also write a written complaint to WM corp. When these people get complained on, their Superiors have to give them a "coaching" which goes on their record, and can effect them when it comes time for raises and/or promotions. Maybe if we hit them in their pocketbook they will learn their job and stop being such a-holes.

@Loki: The short answer is no.

Gluten-free marked products are expensive. I don't know if it's special ingredients they use in them, or if it's because they know some people feel like they have to buy the stuff.

My oldest son was having the same gastro- problems we were, and decided to try to the gluten-free diet. They were going to the store looking for gluten-free marked items, not finding a whole lot, and spending alot more.

I didn't do that, but I should say right up front, we don't have Celiac, so we don't have to be quite as rigid in avoiding gluten.
Basically all I did was cut the majority of bread(s) and pasta from our meals.
When we got to realizing just exactly how much (flour) we were putting away everyday, holy cow, no wonder we were sick!

For breakfast we would have cereal, poptarts, pancakes/waffles, french/cinnamon toast, muffins, sweet rolls, biscuit/gravy, or toast.
Lunch was probably a sandwich, hot dog, hamburger, Hamburger Helper, canned pasta, or if leftovers from the night before, probably included a roll or biscuit.
Dinner was generally a meat and a couple sides, or a casserole/pasta dish, and always, always, some sort of bread: bun, roll, french bread, croissant or biscuit.
Then desserts/snacks: cake, cookies, crackers, muffins, sweet rolls, pie, cobbler, etc.

So now, for breakfast we'll generally have rice or corn cereal, oatmeal (some Celiac/gluten-sensitive people can't eat oatmeal but we are okay with it), eggs, ham/bacon/sausage, hashbrowns/home fries.
Every bit of that stuff I get on sale and deals. (I bought taters on sale and cut up and froze my own home fries (and french fries). I guess I could shred up my own hashbrowns to freeze, too.)

As far as lunch and dinner, I just made some changes in what we eat, but nothing special (or costly). For instance, when I eat tuna or egg salad I eat it with regular Lay's tater chips instead of bread. My husband eats corn tortillas sandwiches.
Where we used to eat hotdogs in a bun, now we'll just eat them with no bun, or with chili, or cut up with a can of pork-n-beans.
We eat hamburgers like steak: no bun. I even dip mine in A-1, but that may be a no-no to Celiac or more sensitive people.
Instead of BBQ on a bun, we eat it with Fritos corn chips, and instead of a french roll or Texas toast or saltines with Chili, we eat it with Tostitos chips or french fries or on a baked potater.
I started using oatmeal instead of toast in meatloaf. We're eating more veggies and rice.

For snacks/desserts we can eat chips, popcorn, chocolate candy (with no cookies or pretzel inside), ice cream, pudding, fruit.

So basically, instead of buying specialty gluten-free items, I just quit buying all the crap loaded with gluten.

Unless you need bread, cookies, cake, waffles/pancakes, spaghetti, mac 'n' cheese, etc., it still leaves a whole lot of choices.

I can't really think of anything we're eating that I have to buy especial, that doesn't go on sale and/or have a coupon at some point.
So we feel better, and it doesn't cost us anymore than usual.

And last, but not least, the answer to the What's Strange/Different About My Chocolate Cake? guesstion:

It's Tiny!

I baked them in a muffin pan, and cut little circles from cardboard covered with tin foil, frosted and piped and tossed some sprinkles on top.

I saw the idea a couple weeks ago while googling some Barbie/Play Scale ideas stuff and ran across this picture and thought, how freekin' cute is that??

Instructables: Miniature Edible Baking Scene

But when I fixed mine, I thought they looked more like something a kid made from an Easy Bake Oven :-(