fruit | Fabulessly Frugal: A Coupon Blog sharing Amazon Deals, Printable Coupons, DIY, How to Extreme Coupon, and Make Ahead Meals

Cheap Giant Blueberry Plants Are Back!

March 18, 2013 - 14 Comments

Update…

Our faithful, helpful readers have been leaving feedback on facebook and in the comments that the Giant Blueberry company has received some negative feedback in online forums. So I want to add caution to the Giant Blueberry deal and give you some alternatives for ordering blueberries. I searched amazon and found the best rated sellers for blueberries. Here are the results.

50 Highbush Blueberry Seeds Blueberries Free Shipping
‘Blue Crop’ Blueberry Plant – Large/Delicious/Midseason – 4″ Pot $6.38 Shipping
Toro Blueberry Plant – Huge Berries – Early – Self Fertile – 4″ Pot $5.49 Shipping
Hirt’s Pink Lemonade Blueberry Plant – Be the 1st on the Block – 2×3″ Pot $5.48 Shipping
Duke Blueberry Plant – Early Ripening – 2×3″ Pot $6.29 Shipping

The Giant Blueberry Plant deal is back!

This deal was wildly popular last year! Now you can grow your own blueberries from the comfort of your home!

Get TWO Giant Blueberry Plants for only $10!

Plus Shipping and Handling of $6.95 on the first two and $4.95 if you get the bonus plant.

Each plant can produce up to 4 pints of blueberries a day and 16,000 blueberries over the life of the plant. Wow! Now if only this offer came with a little chef to make me some scrumptious muffins from said blueberry plants, I’d be in heaven!

Tips for Growing Blueberries from HGTV

Pots give you a lot more control over the soil. Acidity is critical, pH of about 5.5 is recommended.
Blueberries like moisture because they’re shallow-rooted, so the bigger the pot, the bigger the drink of water.
Planting blueberries in the ground is different. The best way to plant a blueberry in the ground is to dig a hole about 2-1/2 feet wide and 1 foot deep. Use a 5.5 pH acidic blend of soil.
A healthy blueberry plant will fruit for 15 to 20 years before slowing down.
For the first three years, you won’t need to prune young plants. After that, cutting the plant back once a year will increase vigor.

Get your Giant Blueberry Plants HERE!

By Monica

14 Comments
Filed Under: Online Deals
Tagged With: blueberry plants, expired, fruit, Garden

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest

August 2, 2012 - Leave a Comment

I am so excited that I found this highly rated book on Amazon! We have been talking a lot about how to eat healthy with coupons. We have also talked about saving money on food with gardening. I showed you 5 easy ways to preserve produce. Then we covered even more ways to preserve produce. I think this book goes so well with what we have been trying to teach.

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest: 150 Recipes for Freezing, Canning, Drying and Pickling Fruits and Vegetables

Check out the preview and see how much you are going to LOVE this book.

If you are harvesting produce from your garden it is time to get serious about preserving it!

By Monica

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Filed Under: Amazon, Online Deals
Tagged With: Amazon, book, canning, drying, fruit, preserving, Produce, vegetable

Recipe for Drying Cherries

July 29, 2012 - 4 Comments

Drying cherries is really easy. I found a few tips to make it easier and healthier! I noticed that when I buy organic dried fruits from vitacost that the fruits usually have a little bit of sunflower oil on them, so I decided to try them with coconut oil since it has so many health benefits. We really liked it. I did some with the oil and some with out the oil and we preferred them with the oil. Both ways are good though.

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You will need:

Cherry Pitter
Dehydrator
Cherries
Coconut Oil (You can get it from vitacost or Amazon)

I tried out a couple of cherry pitters. This 4 Hole Pitter was my favorite. I bought mine from amazon.

This pitter was good too. I borrowed it from Cathy’s dad. It is also available on amazon.

After pitting the cherries you can coat them in coconut oil. I melted about 1 tablespoon. You can get free shipping when you spend $25 or more on Vitacost.com brand products. You can see the Vitacost oil I buy here. If you have never bought anything from vitacost you should start by getting a free $1o credit!

You can see that I halved some of these cherries. I wanted to try some of them split open and some of them whole to see which one we liked better. We liked the while cherries better, which is nice because it takes out the step of splitting the cherries open before drying. Another nice thing about using the oil is it keeps the cherries from sticking to the tray.

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After you have slightly coated the cherries with coconut oil, or even if you decide to go with out the oil carefully lay the cherries on the drying tray. Dry cherries at 135º for 18-26 hours. This is the dehydrator that I use. I love it because it has a temperature gauge and you can add racks to it. Here is a fab deal on a dehydrator. This one is a lot like the one that I use.

Tip: Find out how to make your cherries or other fruit into fruit leather.

Recap of tips I learned from making dried cherries

Having a good cherry pitter saves lots of time.
Coating with coconut oil makes them extra healthy and extra yummy.
Keeping the cherries whole saves time and tastes better.
Coating with coconut oil keeps them from sticking to the tray.

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By Monica

4 Comments
Filed Under: Recipes
Tagged With: Amazon, cherries, cherry, Coconut Oil, dehydrate cherries, dehydrate fruit, food dehydrator, fruit, vitacost

Eating Healthy and Saving Money { Extreme Couponing Education }

July 18, 2012 - 2 Comments

Because they don’t tell you everything on reality television we are here to reveal the secrets of Extreme Couponing. TLC’s Extreme Couponing is really not about education it is more about entertainment. Our goal is to educate you and empower you to save money for your family.

We have been talking about how one of the myths of couponing is that coupons are only for processed foods, junk food or food my family does not eat. I also told you we were featured in the New York Times Magazine and many of the people writing in the comments accused us of only eating junk foods. All of this brought me to the conclusion that some people just need to be educated in the way we save money on food and still eat healthy. This week I am going to talk about how you can eat healthy and still save money! You do not have to spend a lot of money to enjoy fresh produce.

Eating Healthy and Saving Money

Money may not grow on trees, but healthy food does!

Plant a Tree: When we moved into our first home we planted 3 fruit trees in the back yard. Two varieties of cherry trees so that they could cross pollinate with each other and a peach tree. We only paid about $10 each for them at Costco. We no longer live in that house, we rent it out. Lucky for us we can go back and pick cherries from it still. The second house we bought had two existing apricot trees. So we have fresh free apricots we can eat each summer.

Grow a Garden: We have been talking a lot about gardening on Fabulessly Frugal. Gardens are a wonderful way to get produce for less. Here are just a few of the gardening tips we have to offer…

Produce Sales: When we can get a good price on something we stock up on it. If we find a good price for diapers we buy 3-4 boxes instead of one. When we can get a good price on Deodorant we buy more than one. We buy our produce when it is in season. When you can get good prices on produce it is time to stock up! See our price point guide it has guidelines for good prices for produce. Typically the produce I buy each week is the produce that is on sale. I check my stores add and buy the produce that is on sale.

Local Growers: Some of you may have access to orchards or gardens where you can pick or glean your own produce for hugely discounted prices and sometimes even for free.

Bonus Coupon Tip

When couponing if you are earning catalinas it is a great idea to use your catalina’s to help you buy produce. Be sure you are still getting a good price though.

Learn more about eating healthy and still saving money!

Look forward to the following topics…

- Eating Healthy and Saving Money Introduction
- Coupons for Organic Foods <<—- Read about it now
- Eating Healthy and Saving Money {This Post}
- 5 Easy Ways to Prepare and Preserve Produce {Coming}
- More Ideas for Preserving Produce {Coming}
- Saving Money on Meat {Coming}
- Don’t Be Brand Specific {Coming}
- Focus on Personal Care Products {Coming}
- I Admit, Sometimes I Eat Junk Food {Coming}

Next week we are going to talk about what you do with your produce when you find a stock up price. Great tips for using produce and preserving produce.

Read more tips to answer your couponing questions or get more Extreme Couponing Educatio n tips.
Get a quick start on Extreme Couponing done right with our coupon class on DVD!

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By Monica

2 Comments
Filed Under: All Things Coupon, Extreme Couponing, Extreme Couponing Education
Tagged With: canning, dehydrator, eating fresh, Extreme Couponing, food dehydrator, fruit, Gardening, growing food, healthy eating, healthy food, Meat, orchards, Produce, vegetable

There’s a Tool for That! {Cherries, Strawberries, Apples, Pineapples,and MORE}

June 29, 2012 - 1 Comment

We are all about letting our 2 year old daughter do stuff “on her own”. Here are some mostly Kid Friendly ways to cut, core, peal, and slice fruit!

Apple And Potato Peeler, Corer, and Slicer (BLACK) $12.99 (free shipping with $25 order or Amazon Prime)
I get the apple on, and then the Bee turns the handle

Hutzler Banana Slicer $4.13 + Free Shipping
So easy my 2 year old can use it by herself!!

Joie Tomato Slicer & Knife $7.95

Confession-I have never been able to cut straight… this is awesome for making “pretty” food!

Joie Simply Strawberry 3-Piece Colander Set $12.95 + Free Super Saver Shipping with $25 order (or Amazon Prime)
I get the stems out with the huller, the Bee gets to wash and slice!

Stainless Steel Pineapple Easy Slicer, Corer
Okay, so this isn’t super kid friendly… But, I get pineapple all the time (I bought 10 of them last week at Fred Meyers during their $1 sale)
They are SO Easy to use… you just chop of the top of the pineapple, center the slicer on the pineapple, and twist. Out come neatly sliced pineapple!
Plus, you can drink the leftover juice straight out of the pineapple!

Talisman Designs Cherry Chomper Cherry Pitter $9.99 + Free Shipping (with $25 order or Amazon Prime)
We have cherry and apple trees in our back yard, and before the birds got them all, I would hear all day long “cherry please mama” which involved me picking cherries, washing them, pitting them, and then giving them to her. With this little guy, she can “give him a bite” and then have her “half” . She loves it, and it helps teach sharing!

By Becky

1 Comment
Filed Under: Amazon, Online Deals
Tagged With: Amazon, apple, cherry, fruit, strawberry, tomato

Homemade Fruit Roll Recipe

June 24, 2012 - 5 Comments

We love making fruit rolls at our house. My family just gobbles them up. Fruit rolls are a great way to use your fruit that has been sitting on the counter for too long too. This time I used my fresh Zaycon strawberries to make my fruit leather. Cathy made 15 minute freezer jam with her Zaycon strawberries. If you missed Cathy’s Strawberry Jam Recipe you should check it out!

You will need:

Strawberries
Lime Juice {optional}
Sweetner: I use Xylitol, but you can use sugar or honey
Pam Spray
Blender
Food Dehydrator {Fab Dehydrator deal}
Fruit Roll Sheets

1 Fruit Roll:

1 lb Strawberries
1 t Lime Juice
1 T Sugar or Xylitol or honey
Mist of Pam Spray

Lightly coat your tray with Pam or cooking spray to keep the fruit from sticking to the sheet.

Blend Strawberries with lime juice and sweetener. SIDE NOTE: I like Xylitol for its anticariogenic effect on the teeth because it breaks down the mutans streptococci in the mouth. In other words, it can help prevent tooth decay. Here is a study done on Xylitol chewing gum published in the Journal of the American Dental Association. Just in case you are interested. I get my Xylitol from Amazon or Vitacost. As a dental hygienist I like to sneak in the healthier sugars for my family when I can.

Cathy’s super blender is a Blendtec. I stole her pretty picture from her jam recipe post because I think it is so beautiful. I mixed mine up in my Vitamix. Strawberries are soft enough they should blend in a regular blender or food processor. Once you try one of these super blenders you will never want to go back.

Once fruit is pureed pour it evenly onto your fruit tray.

Spread the fruit evenly with your favorite spatula.

Set your dehydrator to 135° and dehydrate for 4-8 hours or until it is leathery and pliable.

Remove from the sheets, and roll in parchment paper, or plastic wrap.

Enjoy! You can make these with a variety of fruits. I made some with my pineapple and they were yummy, but really did not need the sweetener. I have also done a strawberry and peach roll. Very good too. The key is to bled the fruit well and let the dehydrator do the rest!

Learn how to print this recipe with Print Friendly!

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By Monica

5 Comments
Filed Under: Awesome, Frugal Cooking, Recipes
Tagged With: dehydrator, food dehydrator, fruit, Fruit Leather, fruit roll, gluten free, gluten free recipe, Gluten Free Side Dish, recipe, strawberry, strawberry recipes, using strawberries, vitacost, xylitol

Money Saving Tips: How to Freeze Butter

May 18, 2012 - 6 Comments

Are you looking for some simple ideas to save money? We have simple solutions that you can easily apply to your lifestyle to save money!

You can safely freeze butter for 12 months and it’s very easy to do.

Just keep it in it’s original packaging and put it in a plastic freezer bag.

So next time you find a great deal on butter, you can get a little extra and freeze it for later!

The same goes for margarine!

Read more money saving tips. Sign up for daily money saving tips.

Find out why we are giving you a daily money saving tip and how else we are helping you save money in 2012!

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By Angela

6 Comments
Filed Under: Simple Money Saving Tips
Tagged With: delicious produce, fabulessly frugal, free fruit, fresh food, fresh fruit, fresh produce, Frugal, frugal living, fruit, great ideas, How to Freeze, money saving ideas, money saving tips, Produce, raw foods, save money, simple ideas, simple ways to save money

Money Saving Tips: Deseeding a Watermelon

May 8, 2012 - Leave a Comment

Are you looking for some simple ideas to save money? We have simple solutions that you can easily apply to your lifestyle to save money!

Many times, seeded watermelons are cheaper than seedless, but if you hate biting into a piece of watermelon and crunching on seeds, try deseeding the melon before cutting it up.

Here’s how:

Cut your watermelon in half.

Then cut the melon along the seed lines.

All watermelons have their seed veins in a straight line, so once you find where the veins lie, you just have to cut along the line of seeds and that makes the seeds easy to get out.