Spending my birthday money!

My daughter and grandkids sent me some cash for my recent birthday and my son and his family sent us a gift voucher for a very nice steak house here in town.  We are saving the gift voucher until it cools down and it will be pleasant to go out and have a nice meal. The cash however, I am spending now and thoroughly enjoying myself.

I believe Christmases and birthdays are for things that you really want but are maybe not practical, or necessary or even useful.

We spend all year being frugal and sensible because our income dictates that we do.  An expensive steak house would not be in our normal budget so that will be a real treat. Modern tech is a wonderful thing. My children live in the UK but my son was able to purchase the voucher online and email it to us here in the US and my daughter and I always send cash to each other at Christmas and birthdays through our bank accounts.

So, I found myself with about $130 to spend on what I liked.

So what did I buy?

First of all a set of 6 stainless steel bowls with lids and graters from Walmart.  I had bowls but no lids so always used cling film if I used them to store things in the fridge.  Did I need new bowls, NO!, but I wanted them.  They were $18 with tax.

Return eligible until Nov 06

Mixing Bowls with Lids Set of 9, Vesteel Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls Metal Nesting Salad Bowls Attach with 3 Graters for Kitchen Grating/ Shredding, Size 4.6, 2.6, 2, 1.5, 1, 0.7 QT - Red

Actual Color: Red

Qty 1

$19.10 from savings

$16.89

Was $35.99

$35.99

Secondly, I bought a used Instant pot of off FB Market place.  That was $35 but I offered $40 for it if they would deliver it as it really is very hot here right now and going out during the day is not pleasant.  We had to go out on Wednesday for a doctor's appointment and we both felt quite ill when we got home. The seller was about 12 miles away in a small village that we had never been to before so to us it was worth the extra $5.

Would I have bought it normally? No, it wasn't an essential but I wanted one.  Also, my trusty 21 year old slow cooker is coming to the end of it's useful life and you can slow cook in an Instant pot too as well as pressure cook. This one is in excellent condition and works as it should.  I tested it with some water and it sealed and it got to full pressure and then the pressure released as it should. 

So total spent so far $58.

Next, after googling about Instant pots and recipes, I realised I would need some accessories for it to use it to it's full potential.  I spent days googling about them and looking on Amazon and Walmart, but couldn't commit to spending around $36. Out of curiosity I checked on FB Marketplace again and found an unused set of accessories for $5. Problem was, they were in PA so there was a shipping cost of just under $10.  Still worth it in my mind so I ordered and paid for them.  They will be here this week sometime.

Total spent now $74

I also ordered 2 new seals for it as they advise that you have one to use for savoury cooking and one for sweet cooking as the seals tend to absorb the flavour of what you cook in them.  $7. When I tested it there was a very nice aroma of whatever the sellers last cooked in it but it was definitely savory.

Now I have spent $81 of my $130 and have another $49.  I wonder what other treasures I can find!  

Oh and the stainless steel pots will be useful also for pot-in-pot cooking in it.  I plan on using up 4 lemons I have had in my fridge for a couple of weeks, to make some lemon curd, when the new seals arrive. That involves pot-in-pot.

If any one has some tried and tested instant pot recipes I would appreciate if you would send them to me in a reply.

I need to get outside and do some yard work.  The regular mowing and trimming gets done by our yard service but there are some rogue trees popping up which need to be cut out.  I will tackle that when it cools down.

I wish for good health and happiness for you all.......