Boycott

Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott was an English land agent in 19th-century Ireland. Apparently, he was not a nice man. Working for an absentee landlord, Boycott refused to lower rents and began attempting to evict tenants. The local Irish Land League refused to work on his land, buy goods from his stores, or even speak to him. They made his name famous. They made him a verb!

While I avoid calling any week without a Bonus Redemption Event a HOME RUN, last week came close. This week will come closer! We didn't buy much where the profits went south and we bought nothing grown there! We got sale prices or points on just about everything, spent $260 and got $70 back in points. I divided it into six morning walks as I am dieting and need the steps. I thought it might be instructive for you to watch me picking off each offer one by one. I gave you a short list of what I bought, then below in bold, I showed which offer was satisfied. There is some of my fridge list stuff thrown in there:

A Scanner Darkly (Flyers)

For only the third time since I have been generating these lists, we have a Bonus Redemption Event at the Loblaws stores themselves. It's usually one for one, but this time around, they're matching the Shoppers' event terms—a first. 250,000 points for $300 off. Back up the bus! I'd use half a million points, but gardening season is just around the corner. SWMBO keeps asking what I spend on plants and I need to continue to tell her ... nothing. There are good deals on Cashmere toilet paper and Sponge paper towels, both made by Kruger Industries in Canada. I prefer Charmin and Bounty, but you know, the great Satan and all that? Your bum and kitchen counters will forgive you. I am giving you an old Redemption list just to get the juices flowing? I struck out the U.S. brands. There were a lot of them. Stewing beef for ten bucks a pound? They must be joking. Sirloin tip roast is in the same flyer for $6.99. I can cut it into stewing beef for vindaloo or slice it thin for beef and broccoli and save three bucks a pound AND get a better cut of beef.

Offers

10,000 points for buying a single box of coffee pods seems like a good idea. We prefer our coffee a gallon at a time, but if you have a machine, that's ten bucks off. There are two cheese offers for 3700, bonus points on peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. The Inspired Dining Card has a 15% offer and there is a 20% offer on a Boston Pizza card. I find Boston Pizza brutally expensive, so the card might get you over the line for a night out.

Where to buy gas during these trying times? I guess Petro Canada or Beaver is your Canadian option? I have to mention though that Shoppers has an interesting deal on Esso gift cards. 10K in points for every $100 you load? I've never tried it, but let's say you load $500 and gas is $1.45 a liter. That means you are buying gas for the foreseeable future for $1.30 a liter? If I was commuting somewhere, and not boycotting American brands, I would look at that?

The seafood offer is back along with a rotisserie chickens and a few other odds and sods. My strategy this week would be to go light. Pick and choose which offers you want. Get some seafood, some apples, some vegetables. Last week was a big spend, and you will be busy with your free non-perishables? I didn't bother with any of the other chains this week. They can't beat FREE. Here are your lists. One as per our normal process and an old Redemption list:

You might notice I put down two Boursin cheese cakes. I gave you a second one as there was this viral TicToc recipe that looked cool and was dead easy! Cook 2 cups of pasta (not that whole wheat crap that I use), drain, toss with olive oil, and set aside. Food spray a Corning ware dish, add two cups of grape tomatoes and plop down one of your herb and garlic Boursin cakes. Drizzle with olive oil, Italian herbs, salt, pepper and bake 20 min at 425. Reduce your oven to 350, stir in your boiled pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Garlic bread, parmesan, Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.

... and finally

We made the popular mini Shepherd's Pie recipe going around. Stir fry diced (or canned) veggies. Set aside. Ground meat (we did half beef for SWMBO and half turkey for me). After it is browned, stir in some tomato paste and flour. Fold in the veggies and set aside. Pie pastry gets worked into a muffin tin, fill with the veggie meat mixture. A dollop of grated old cheddar then we piped mashed potatoes over top. Sweet potatoes for me, real ones for SWMBO. Sigh. The pastries emerged flawlessly from their tins. It's a miracle. I reiterate: Baking isn't my forte. They were good as leftovers two days later and I tried freezing a few. They look nice on the plate.

I can see the lawn in a few places!!! Have a great week

Mitch & Maddie