It’s time again for the Grocery Benchmark Report.

While prices either remained stable or dropped slightly this month I did notice a few interesting cost changes this month.  The first was that Aldi changed their sugar to a 4lb bag.  That makes the price look significantly less at the register (ie last month’s bag of sugar cost $2.75, this month’s bag of sugar cost $2.15–but the price per lb only dropped a penny).  Milk, Butter and Eggs also had significant drops ($.10, $.40 and $.10 respectively).  Living in farming country here in Upstate NY it occurs to me that those prices changes may be due to a natural uptick in production for the spring.

Of course the long term changes are what I’m most interested in-especially the beef prices.  Those are predicted to rise up to 5% this year due to farmers selling off their herds in the drought last year and the high cost of the corn that is used to feed the cattle.  Apparently the “better” cuts of meat show a more noticeable difference in price-but even the 80% lean ground beef at Aldi has gone up $.10 since I started recording prices, and $.30 since the beginning of 2012.

Here’s the full Grocery Benchmark Report for May

May Grocery Benchmark

So how does this “benchmark report” work?

Each month I record prices on a set basket of “staple” grocery items. I price all items at my local ALDI store to keep things simple.

The columns show the price when I first started recording (Aug 11), the price at the beginning of this year (Jan 12), the prices last month and the prices this month.

These price columns are followed by a “Change since Aug 11″ “Change, Year to Date” column and a “Change since last month” column.

Note: If a price is shown in green, it’s gotten cheaper. If it’s in red, it’s more expensive.

Remember-prices can vary wildly by region. My desire here is to help us all notice and take action on price TRENDS so we can make decisions about how best to manage our budget for our own households.

Wondering why I’m so concerned about rising food costs? Because the the price of food at home is projected to rise by 4 to 5 percent this year, and another 2 to 3 percent next year, according to the US Agriculture Department.

Thanks to Malloreigh for the photo that I found on Flickr to create the graphic from.

One of the best ways I know to save money is to do things yourself.  Cook your own meals.  Repair and mend your own clothes.  Grow your own vegetables.

But replace your own faucet? Install your own water filter?  Patch a hole in your drywall?  Well those things have always seemed just a bit too complicated.  That’s why Walmart came up with the new “Projects Made Simple” section of their website!

They have a selection of common projects~and for each one there is a step by step video, a project sheet to print out and a listing of the necessary items you can pick up at Walmart to complete your project.

I got the opportunity as one of the Walmart Moms to try out a project-I decided to replace my downstairs bathroom faucet.  It leaks a bit and the plunger thingy you pull up to stop up the drain has been broken for months.

I headed off to Walmart and picked up my items:

Then I did it-I replaced my own faucet!  Check out the process:

So what do you think? Are you more likely to try a project like this now?

****This is a sponsored post****

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post I am participating in with the Walmart Moms. Walmart has provided me with compensation for this post. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.

What are you eating this week?  You don’t know? Well you should! Menu planning makes a HUGE difference in both the amount of money you spend on meals AND the amount of chaos in your kitchen each night.

This week is pretty chaotic-which makes menu planning even more important than usual!

1.  As usual, Tuesday is dance lessons, Wednesday is scouts for both kids and hubs at pool.  Thursday I’ve got two doctor’s appointments (including fasting bloodwork. Ick), Yankee Bill has one and we both have to meet with the accountant.  Friday the kids are off from school, Saturday we’ve got a BBQ at my lovely Mother in Law’s house, and Sunday Yankee Bill is at a Car Show with one of the antiques all day.

2.  Because it’s a four day weekend I need to think ahead to the holiday and Monday (Memorial Day) Yankee Bill, Buddy and Princess are all in the parade, then we have the ceremony at the cemetery, Buddy goes hiking with his boyscout troop and we are hosting a BBQ at our house in the afternoon.

3.  Tuesday is our anniversary, so Yankee Bill took the day off from work for us to spend it together.  I’m so excited!  We’ll be having fun all day so I won’t want to come home and cook. . . crockpot meal!

4.  I’ve got to make a side dish for the BBQ on Saturday at my MIL’s, and then I have to be thinking ahead to the food for Monday.

5. I’ve got a whole bag full of peeled & sliced apples in the fridge left over from an apple cake I baked this weekend.  I’ve got a couple of tomatoes that are going soft and need to be used up.  I’ve also got some frozen cabbage and greens that need to be used from the freezer to make way for my eventual summer produce.

6.  I purchased an organic chicken from a local farm to try.  Better use that soon!

7. As always my goal is to have one venison meal, one fish meal, one bean meal, one meatless meal and one soup meal per week.

Taking all that into account here is my game plan:

Monday: Rice & This and That Curry

Tonight I mixed about a pound of pork, chopped & browned, added those tomatoes going icky (with icky spots cut off of course), peppers, onions, frozen & thawed cabbage cooked it up, added some curry cubes and served it over rice. Yum

Tuesday:  Venison & Gravy over Rice with Green Beans

Since Yankee Bill and I will be out for the day and have lunch out-I won’t want to come home and cook.  So I’ll do venison steaks in the crockpot with gravy mix, serve it over the leftover rice from tonight with some of the green beans I canned last fall on the side.

This is my venison meal for the week.

Wednesday: Pancakes and Quick Applesauce

Yankee Bill will be at pool and we’ve got a busy night of scouts, so I’ll go with pancakes (which the kiddos LOVE for dinner).  Since I’ve got those apples already sliced & peeled in the fridge (and although dipped in lemon water they are still getting a bit brown) I’ll just add a bit of water and sugar and stew them on the stove till they turn into a quick and chunky applesauce  to serve on the side.

This is my meatless meal for the week.

Thursday:  Roasted Chicken, Gravy, Potatoes and Carrots

I’ll roast the chicken in the oven with the potatoes and then use the drippings for gravy.  The carrots will be canned from last year.  I may marinated them to give them some zip.  The chicken carcass will be saved for soup next week

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza is a favorite for Fridays!  Not only do I love the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe-but every one of my friends who has tried it LOVES it.  And since this is a day off with the kids I’ll let them help me make it.

Saturday: Family BBQ

We’ll be going to my Mother in Law’s for dinner. I’m bringing German Potato Salad and I’ll most likely make deviled eggs as well :0

Sunday:  Spaghetti, Tuna and Capers with Salad

Spaghetti Tuna and Capers is a quick and easy meal that uses canned tuna.  (I substitute green olives for the capers).  I’ll add a green salad to use up the end of the artisan lettuce I bought at ALDI last week.

This is my fish meal for the week.

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Hmm. I didn’t get an beans or soup into the menu this week.  I guess I could add some beans to the spaghetti, tuna and capers, or make a hummus to take to the family BBQ to make my bean quota.   I’ll have to wait till next week for the soup.

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Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .

Sometimes it feels like it’s so hard to feed your family a healthy, tasty meal while sticking to a grocery budget.  Imagine what it would be like if  groceries were rationed!  Have you ever stopped to imagine what it must have been like for a homemaker trying to feed the family during WWII?  I found this interesting post  at “Diary of a Stay at Home Mom” about the wartime kitchen and rationing this week.  Kind of gives you a whole new perspective on your grocery budget, doesn’t it?

Diary of a Stay at Home Mom: The Wartime Kitchen

It’s time yet again to check out the plantings on the Frugal Upstate Village Homestead!  So I’ll ask you-How’s it Growin???

Things are starting to warm up sporadically around here (although there was a frost warning last night!).  The daylight hours are indeed getting longer and I’m itching to be able to get my full garden in.  Alas, unless I’m feeling brave many things still need to wait until Memorial Day (although I may try the beans a bit early.  Rebel!)

Luckily some of the early spring items, fall planted items and perennials are up!

I bought some lettuce seedlings this year.  It seems like when I plant lettuce it starts growing and then we hit a spurt of hot weather and it bolts!  So I figured I’d just try a few seedlings this year.In front of the store bought seedlings I went ahead and planted some lettuce seed (succession planting!) After a week they have just started sprouting.  I’ll have to thin them soon down to one plant per spot.The English Peas (ie the kind you shell and eat as peas discarding the shell itself) have finally started to really grow with a purpose.The turnips that I planted last fall and let overwinter have gone to flower.  You can actually eat the flowers (they taste sort of cabbage-y).  However I’ve just left them there so that the bees can enjoy them!  I have lots of happy little insects buzzing around.  Plus the seed heads are starting to form-I’m interested to try seed saving just to hone those skills.

Here’s a closeup of the flowers.  They are actually quite delicate!  I didn’t take pictures but the one Kale plant I had left from last year and the couple of Tat Soi have both bolted and put up flowers and seed pods as well.

This is back in the big garden.  The green fence is the one I showed last time with the itty bitty sugar snap pea seedlings that something had started munching on.  I have now planted and additional row of snap peas on this side of the fence.  I also purchased brussel sprout seedlings and planted them here.  This edge of the garden is actually shaded part of the day, so I think that the sprouts will do well here since it will be a bit cooler.This is just on the other side of that fence.  You can see the sugar snap peas which have been growing for a while (they were planted about a week and a half after the english peas)  and then that really small growth in between is where I replanted the peas that had been munched on.In front of that row I planted some broccoli seedlings that I purchased.  So now I have a “thick” row with a fence down the middle that goes, left to right, broccoli, peas, fence, peas, brussel sprouts.  My thought process is that the peas will grow up the fence while the broccoli & Brussel sprouts are small.  Then eventually the peas will give up the ghost in early summer and I’ll be able to tear them out just about the time that the broccoli & brussel sprouts are getting bit and they will have the room.

That’s the theory any way-we’ll see!

Next I left a space for a walking aisle and then I planted another row of sugar snap peas.  They have not yet started sprouting-so this is an unexciting picture of dirt.  But the posts are in and actually I’ve strung the fence since I took this picture.  I left enough space to plant another shade loving crop-maybe more lettuce or some chard on the other side of this.  From this row over the garden gets significantly more sun.

Now I’m standing with my back to the row you just saw.  Basically where the carrots were overwintered (they are all gone now).  I still have a few overwintered leeks left to eat.

I’ve got a big triple row of garlic-which is not only tasty but also has antibacterial properties.  So it’s an aromatic and a medicinal herb/plant!On this little patch of garden on the far side of the stepping stone I have a big patch of a weed called “lambsquarter”.  Last year I had let one grow on the side of the garden and obviously it dropped a lot of seeds.  I pulled all the rest but are letting these go for now.  This is an edible-the leaves taste sort of like spinach.  I really enjoy it, it grows naturally, early and easily.  So I’m going to let these go and perhaps dig some of them up and replant them somewhere else.  Why fight trying to get something like spinach grow through the summer when this stuff WANTs to grow?

(note: that’s actually a stone step-we think it was a horse mounting block-it goes about a foot down in the soil and weighs a ton-it can’t be moved so the garden goes around it.)Here’s a close up of the lambsquarter.  Make sure you use a good website like Wildman Steve Brill’s or a good field guide to identify your wild edibles.  And make darn sure you know what any look a-likes are and how to tell the difference so you don’t eat something dangerous.

Now I’m standing behind the garden looking at my little raspberry patch.  You cant really see it but directly in front of this is the green fencing with that wide row of brussel sprouts/peas/peas/broccoli. . . These raspberries actually produced a bit last year-so hopefully I’ll get some berries this year too.  (like a cup, but hey!). Raspberry leaves also have some medicinal properties and can be used for tea.  I’ve got wild blackberry growing on the fenceline closer to the house-we barely get any berries from those but again, those leaves can be used in tea and have medicinal uses as well.Speaking of tea, my Oswego Tea (aka bergamot or scarlet beebalm) is popping up, and in a thicker patch than the original stuff I purchased & planted last year.  Yay!  This does multiple duty as an ornamental, an edible (at least as tea) and a bee attractor.   Triple win!Farther down the fenceline the horseradish (surrounded by some dandelion) is going gangbusters.  I really am not sure why we need THREE horseradish plants (only one shown) but there you are.Off on the very side of my property our little tiny asparagus bed is happily chugging away.  We’ve had about 4 sprout up.  They really aren’t enough for a meal so I just snap them off and eat them raw.  Yum.  I really do need to figure out planting some more.  Right behind these is a fence that I like to plant things up.  Last year I grew my vining summer squash up the fence, but this year I think I’ll plant some beans to add nitrogen back into the soil.  Squash is a heavy feeder-so that should be a good rotation.

The rhubarb is doing great over by the barn.  I’ve already cut out a couple of seed heads–this is an antique strain from a friend’s very old homestead.  Unlike more “modern” cultivars it likes to send up seedheads right away.  I don’t care what the books say, I just cut them off and the plant keeps producing rhubarb.

Now back by the house I have my pot of Egyptian Walking Onions.  I need to find a good home for these this year and get them out of the pot.  I can’t decide what the best spot is-I’ll have to do that soon.

Now to the mostly container herb garden I have right by the back steps.  As a matter of fact that cement step you see IS the bottom step leading up to my back door.  The chives actually started out back a couple of feet but they moved themselves up here and are quite happy. The first round of chive blossoms (which are edible) are out, and we’ve been using the chives in cooking for over a month.  That’s a job I frequently give the kiddos while I’m in the middle of cooking–”take the scissors and go get me 2 chives”.About a food behind the chives is my lovage plant.  It’s already up to the top step and will grow up at least as far as that sign.  I usually have to hack it down a couple of times each summer so it doesn’t take over!  Loveage has a strong celery flavor and is lovely in soups, chopped up in salads etc.This is some lavender that took a couple of years to really get going.  Now it’s draping over the driveway-which isn’t the best.  I’m probably going to move it soon.  Here is my crazy sage that isn’t supposed to be perennial in my zone and yet has come back for two years.  Sage is of course the herb you think of when you think of “poultry seasoning”.  It tastes good in a variety of things. It also has medicinal properties.Many herbs are not perennial for me due to our cold winters.  I purchased these 3 pots (there are two in that front circle) and will plant them up in these containers.  From front to back they are rosemary, oregano and thyme.  All of them are culinary and have some medicinal properties.

In the other planters (not circled) I have two kinds of mint and some lemon balm.  The red self watering planters that I did the tutorial on last year will be used this year for peppers.

 And that’s how it’s growin at the Frugal Upstate Village homestead!  How are your garden plan progressing?

Dear Frugal Upstate:

Photo by Renee Silverman

I’m am sure you have posted about this somewhere but I can’t remember!

Can you make the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe ahead of time or do you make it and par-bake it right away. I’m just wondering if it can be frozen or refrigerated?? 

Thanks!!! and love your site!
Kristie

Well Kristie, most of the time I just make the crust up as I am going to use it–since I work from a home office it’s easy to just throw it together around 3pm and have it ready for suppertime!  I’ve even gone so far as to make up ahead of time 4 or 5 ziplock bags full of all the dry ingredients (sans yeast) and then stick a note inside with what wet ingredients need to be added so that it’s super easy!

(note: this is sort of like the method I show at the bottom of my “Weekly Bread Baking Method” post)

There are times that I have made the crust and par baked it (350 for about 8 minutes) then either held on to it until later that day or frozen it parbaked. Usually I just do that by sticking it on a cookie sheet and layering wax paper in between the crusts.  When they are frozen I lightly wrap in saran wrap and return them to the freezer.  Then I try to use them up fairly soon.

I have frozen the recipe as a big lump of dough-and while the quality was ok, I preferred it either fresh or par baked. Also I have a hard time getting the timing right for thawing a big lump o dough-either it was done too soon & started rising again or it was still partially frozen when I wanted to use it.  With the parbaked and then frozen crust I could just put all the toppings on it frozen and throw it in the oven like that, adding just a few minutes.

I’m all about easy. 

I have on a few occasions just refridgerated it for a day-punching it down once or twice to make sure it didn’t overflow the container.  I think that it loses some of the texture that way-the baking soda has already done it’s thing hours ago. Again it’s fine-I’m sure your family will still eat it, but not my favorite way.

I’ll be honest-with things like this you can probably get it to work no matter what you do-but the quality will be affected a bit.  Personally, even with my least favorite of the methods, once you top it with sauce, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, and then the regular mozzarella and toppings you are still beating the pants off a really cheapo frozen pizza.

Do you have a reader’s question?  Use my contact form and let me know!

Are you familiar with the Children’s Miracle Network?  I’ll be honest.  I could tell you that they are a charity, that they had to do with kids, and that at certain times of year you can “buy” little paper balloons at Walmart to help contribute.  But honestly? I didn’t really know what they did until Walmart asked all of us Walmart Moms to help spread the word about their annual fundraising campaign.

So I did what any good blogger would do when they aren’t sure about something.  I googled it   And of course I came up with the CMN website where they succinctly described their mission:

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds for 170 children’s hospitals across North America, which, in turn, use the money where it’s needed the most. When a donation is given it stays in the community, ensuring that every dollar is helping local kids. Since 1983, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $4 billion, most of it $1 at a time. These donations have gone to support research and training, purchase equipment, and pay for uncompensated care, all in support of our mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible.

I also found out that the CMN was founded by Marie Osmond-which probably doesn’t mean anything to you younger readers, but to me Marie will always be remembered from my childhood as part of the brother sister TV duo-The Osmonds!

Every year Walmart supports the Children’s Miracle Network for the month of May-after all “May is for Miracles”-and this year they have extended their campaign through June 15th!  Participating is easy-You can make a $1 or $2 donation at the register of any Walmart and the money will automatically be earmarked for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in your community.

I have to admit-that is one of the things I really like about the Children’s Miracle Network–that they take such pride in keeping funds within the community where they are generated.  Of course if you don’t have a CMN children’s hospital in your local community, the money goes to the one closest geographically. (Wondering where your closest CMN children’s hospital is?  Use the CMN Hospital Search to see)

I think it is wonderful that the local hospitals are allowed to decide how that money is best spent. These donations have gone to support things like research and training, purchasing equipment, and paying for uncompensated care.

So please, the next time you are shopping at Walmart, consider spending that extra $1 or $2 dollars at the register to support this wonderful cause!

****This is a sponsored post****

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post I am participating in with the Walmart Moms. Walmart has provided me with compensation for this post. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.

I love Hollandaise Sauce.  It tastes so rich and lovely drizzled over everything from lightly steamed vegetables to my favorite Old Fashioned Salmon Loaf.

Of course part of the reason it tastes so rich is because the typical recipe calls for 4 egg yolks and a full stick of butter.  And you’ve got to use a double boiler–a piece of kitchen equipment in this day of microwaves that many home makers don’t even own.

So over the years I’ve resorted to using those little powdered packets of Hollandaise mix. . . but they have been steadily creeping up in cost over the last few years.

In my quest to replace them I found this interesting Mock Hollandaise recipe.  I’ll be honest-it really doesn’t hold a candle to real Hollandaise.  It’s thicker-more of a thin sour cream texture than a drizzle-y Hollandaise.  You aren’t going to fool anyone into thinking that it is the original.  However if you enjoy it for what it is-a thick, rich sauce that you can whip up in just a few moments from ingredients that you always have on hand–then you’ll be able to enjoy it.

Time again for the weekly meal plan!

This week is fairly simple-nothing too out of the ordinary to deal with (thank goodness!)

1.  Standard schedule of meetings and after school type activities.  Scouts & Pool on Wednesdays, Yankee Bill has a meeting on Tuesday (today), Princess has her dance lesson.  The regular stuff.

2.  Monday I was in town all day with a meeting and errands.  So I needed a simple dinner.

3.  Tuesday (tonight) there is an ice cream social and talent show we want to go to.  Friday Yankee Bill has an evening event and I have a girls night out scheduled-so it’s just the kiddos that night.

4.  Yankee Bill will be gone all day Saturday with our motorcycle group.  Unfortunately every single one of my usual babysitters is busy on Saturday, so I guess I don’t get to go with him.

5.  I’ve got a lot of really nice lettuce in the fridge since it was on sale this week.  I’ve also still got those butternut squash up on top of my kitchen cabinets from last fall (gotta use those up soon!).   Last week when I was making the meal plan I forgot that Sunday was Mother’s Day and planned a fairly intensive meal.  I ditched that on Sunday and went with very uber simple because I didn’t want to cook.  So that nice big trout is still in the freezer.

6. As always my goal is to have one venison meal, one fish meal, one bean meal, one meatless meal and one soup meal per week.

Taking all that into account here is my game plan:

Monday: Super Size Submarine Salad with Macaroni and Cheese

While I was running errands I found a really nice loaf of “everything” Italian bread at Walmart marked down to $.99–I decided a big sandwich was just the thing for dinner.  3 kinds of lunch meat, cheese, tomato and lettuce made a delicious sandwich.  I used the leftover boxed mac ‘n cheese as a side.

Tuesday: Venison Curry over Angel Hair Pasta

I’m way behind on planning tonight’s dinner (it’s almost 4pm as I type this).  I’ll make a “This and That” style curry with odds and ends from the fridge, perhaps some canned carrots or beans from last fall etc.  I’ll quick defrost some venison from the freezer-I only need to partially defrost it and then if I slice it into thin chunks it should brown up quickly with some onion in my skillet before adding the rest.  I’ve got a bit of leftover rice in the fridge and a bunch of leftover angel hair pasta-so we’ll serve it over that.

This is my venison meal for the week.

Wednesday: Homemade Cream of Broccoli Soup, Salad and Bagels

There was a good sale on frozen broccoli, so I picked up several bags.  I’ll make a cream of broccoli soup from scratch and serve it with green salad (using that really nice lettuce!) and some of the bagels my neighbor gifted me with.

This is my meatless meal and my soup meal for the week.

Thursday: Grilled Lentil Burgers, Potato Salad and Pickled Beets

I’ve got a few lentil burger recipes to try-I’m looking for that holy grail of a tasty patty that doesn’t fall to pieces on the grill!  I’ll serve them on buns and put potato salad and some quick pickled/marinated beets.

This is my bean meal for the week (and another meatless meal).

Friday: Perogies & Salad

The kids love frozen Perogies for dinner when Yankee Bill and I aren’t around.  There should be plenty of leftover green salad to put with them.

Saturday: Pizza

Since we won’t be home for me to make Pizza on Friday I’ll make my Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe on Saturday instead!

Sunday: Baked Trout with Wheat/Rice Pilaf, Grilled Leeks and Green Beans

The trout is from the freezer (still).  I’ve bought wheat to grind in my new grain mill, so I figure it will be fun to experiment with cooking it as a grain-so I’ll try the pilaf.  The Leeks are from the garden and the green beans are canned from last fall.

This is my fish meal for the week.

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Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .

Dogs add a lot to our lives, don’t they?  Sure, they can be work–but where else in this crazy world could you possibly get the kind of unconditional love and adoration that you get from a dog?

The Frugal Upstate dog, Summer, is your basic “Heinz 57″ all American mutt.  My husband visited the pound 3 years ago as part of his job and fell in love.  Next thing I knew we had an adorable little black puppy.  The kids thought she was fantastic and she became my little buddy.

She’s still more my dog than anyone elses-when I go away on trips she refuses to eat the first few days I’m gone in protest

So when Walmart, Pedigree and Pet Armor said they wanted to send me some products for Summer to try out I thought that was a great idea!  And let me tell you, as soon as the box arrived and I opened it she knew there was something inside for her.

We had to try out some of the wet food immediately.  Summer mostly has dry dog food, with the occasional table scraps thrown in as a treat.  When I set up the food for my photograph and made her sit & stay she was quivering with excitement. . . she could smell that yummy food that I had opened!

As soon as I gave her the “ok” command she DOVE into it.  The food was gone in seconds.  I’ll say that’s a resounding “yum” from Summer!!!

I know what I’ll be having the family feed Summer the next time I go on a trip to get her to eat!

The other item I was sent to try was the Pet Armor flea and tick treatment.

Now I don’t know about where you live, but here in Upstate NY we had an unusually warm winter.  While it was nice not to have to shovel the walk as much, or to have any power outages from blizzards, apparently the mild temperatures didn’t kill off as many of the ticks as usual.  They are predicting a really bad year for ticks.  Blech.  We live in deer country, and deer ticks are what transmit the really nasty Lyme disease.  So keeping the ticks away from the dog and out of our home is a necessity.

These treatments really should be done once a month, and with the other brands we’ve used it has cost  a pretty penny.  The Pet Armor brand has the same ingredients as the other brands you might be familiar with, and at about half the cost your wallet will thank you!  You get 3 doses per box, and as long as they are kept sealed they don’t expire.  Bonus!

 You can bet the Frugal Upstate household will continue to use this product after my samples are gone.  All the protection and half the cost are things this girl likes to hear!

And that’s not all, along with this campaign is a great way that you can help your local shelter without spending a dime:

 Help shelter pets in need by participating in the PetArmor® Protection Promise! Throughout May 2012, one flea and tick treatment will be donated to the ASPCA®, or to a shelter of your choice. (up to 20,000 doses).  It’s easy, just “Like” PetArmor on Facebook and select the participating shelter you want the treatment to go to!

****This is a sponsored post****

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post I am participating in with the Walmart Moms. Walmart has provided me with compensation for this post. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.