tupperware and costco shopping

Today, I did a Costco shop. I don't buy a lot of items at Costco but there are a few things that I just must buy in bulk.

#1: snap peas. I love snap peas because they are a good vegetable that don't need to be washed or cut up. Costco is the cheapest place to buy the 1.3kg bag. It pours exactly into my Fridgesmart Medium Long and lasts FOREVER! (and don't forget that the Fridgesmart set is on sale right now!)

#2: whole wheat pasta. Pasta is a staple in our house and lately, because I haven't had to time to lug my kiddo over to Costco, I've been buying the smaller boxes of whole wheat pasta at our regular grocery store. Whole wheat doesn't come in jumbo sizes at the grocery store so these smaller boxes cost about $3 each. At Costco, the 4lb. bag of rotini whole wheat pasta is $5.99! Yes, it's a lot of rotini pasta BUT it fits perfectly in my Modular Mate Rectangle 3 and will last at least a year (though we'd definitely eat it by then).

#3: blueberries. Frozen blueberries are a necessity in my house because my son LOVES them and eat a handful or two a day. They're also considered a "super-food" so why not eat lots? I buy the 3lb bag and pour it straight into my Large Freezer Mate. It holds that amount perfectly and when it's in a container, it stacks easily and neatly in my freezer.

What do you buy in bulk?

modular mates ON SALE?

for the next two weeks, there is an exclusive modular mates sale that just began TODAY! this special package set includes a rectangle 1 & 2, a super oval 1 & 2, and a regular oval 1 & 2. all six modular mates for 50% off! 57.50!

in my cupboard, my oval 1 & 2s hold shake and bake mix and rice cereal. my super oval 1 & 2s hold shredded coconut and ground flax seed. my rectangle 1s (i have two of them) hold lasagna noodles and barley. my rectangle twos (i have 3 of them) hold oats, costco sized bag of splenda, and one is dedicated to little bulk bags of things that i buy too irregularly to have whole containers of them but i want them to stay fresh.

modular mates will keep their contents fresh for at least a year! a must have for crackers or brown sugar. the more that i get in my cupboards, the more things i find that i want to put in them! try them out for yourselves at 50% off!

i'm putting in an order on friday, may 23 so email me at rebeccashulba@hotmail.com if you want a set!

inspiration

inspiring pictures:

inspiring story - a woman who's blog is called "cutting coupons in kansas city" was willing to put some money out for a newly organized pantry. and yes, i have the tools and know-how to come and help you measure and plan YOUR pantry or cupboards - for free. good thing the flyer with the modular mate sale has been extended until friday, feb. 19th.

double flyer week!

everyone has been buying modulars like crazy while they've been 40% but the flyer was scheduled to be finished as of february 12th. if you were thinking, "sigh...i meant to buy my modulars but never got around to it. oh well...", have no worries! the flyer has been extended for one week! woohoo! not only that but the new flyer will still be starting on february 13th so for that week, there will be two flyers! double the host gifts, double the purchase with purchases, double the savings! nice.

what's in YOUR modular mates?

since we're still in modular mate season (until feb. 12th), i figure i'll stay on that topic here at Tupperware You Are. that's only a week and a half left to order! i had someone tell me at a party that they didn't have anything to go in modular mates because they don't cook or bake. it's the people that cook and bake so rarely that NEED these containers to keep those ingredients fresh long enough for the next time you get around to cooking/baking! to get you thinking about what you could put in yours, here's what are in mine:

super ovals:

super oval 1 - ground flax seed, oat bran (i have a muffin recipe that have these in them)

super oval 2 - coconut

super oval 3 - chocolate chips

super oval 4 - brown sugar

super oval 5 - cherrios

a set of rectangles comes with a 1, two 2s, a 3, and a 4 - and i have two sets:

rectangle 1 - lasagna noodles, all my packages of instant oatmeal (they take up way less room like this)

rectangle 2 - crackers, a giant bag of splenda, oats, smaller bulk bags of things that i don't use enough to have containers for them

rectangle 3 - white sugar, 2 half empty bags of chips, whole wheat flour (bought in bulk)

rectangle 4 - a giant bag of chips from costco, 5 lb. bag of flour

i have a few regular ovals that i've gotten as prizes as well:

oval 1 - rice cereal (a 227g box fits perfectly in it)

oval 2 - i emptied a 10 pack of shake and bake packets into the container then i can just measure out how much i want for the number of pieces of chicken that i'm making.

have i mentioned how much i love these?

as i've been saying (here and there), modular mates are on sale until february 12th. 40% off! once you have a set in your pantry/cupboard, you find a million other things that should really be in mod. mates as well. i added another set of rectangles to my collection a couple weeks ago and am pumped to have that much MORE room in my pantry, have crackers that i bought in december still be crunchy, and have all my baking ingredients on hand and accessible. i actually baked cookies this weekend and HAD all the ingredients! a first-time event.

a service that all tupperware consulants offer is to come in and organize your cupboards for FREE! of course, we figure out what mod. mates you need for what you buy and use. obviously, the idea is that you would be purchasing the necessary modular mates for your cupboards which can be a large cost up front. however, they will save you so much money for the future and anything you only have to buy once is a good deal. if this is something that you'd be interested in and think, "that would be WAY too much money" - there are lots of options. #1 - well, did i mention they're on sale? haha. #2 - host a party and let me get you your first set or two for free. or #3 - try out being a consultant. you can get your modular mates for 40% PLUS your consultant discount. also, if you were interested in this side of things, signing up to be a consultant in january has it's perks. just for signing up, you get a free set of oval mod. mates. you and i will make sure you date a party within your first 30 days and once you have that party (of $550 in sales - the average party amount), you walk away with a set of super ovals. host another party of the same amount of sales and you'll also be getting a set of RECTANGLES. this is a goooood month. (i'm actually a little jealous since i signed up in december...)

i got in with tupperware because i can choose when i want to do it. next week i have a saturday afternoon party and a couple evening parties. it's not taking me away from my son right now and i can add help pay my family's bills with a couple hours a week. AND i already loved my tupperware! i was already telling people how much i liked my tupperware - why not make some money out of telling people how much i like my tupperware? email me with your questions about how easy and low-risk it is to try out being a consultant. believe me, my husband would have never agreed to it if it wasn't. haha. (and get some major modular mate perks before january 29th) rebeccashulba@gmail.com

testing out the modulars

being the keener that i am, i watched a modular mate demonstration video yesterday. you might wonder to yourself, "how can you demonstrate modular mates?" well, apparently you can. she made lots of suggestions about things that you can put in the mod. mates and gave some facts. now, i was already sold on this product. i grew up seeing them in my mom's cupboards and now i have them in my own cupboards. but there was lots of stuff that i didn't realize.

i had someone tell me that they didn't have room for modular mates in their cupboards because they had so little cupboard space. but mod. mates save you 30% space! think of how much room all those boxes that you buy take up. two boxes of crackers, a few of pasta, kraft dinner...(okay, maybe you eat healthier than me) and those boxes don't keep anything fresh. you can dump all your spaghetti into a small rectangular mate (size 1 or 2). pull the bags of crackers out of their boxes and toss all the bags into the largest rectangular mod. mate (a 4). or what about when you've opened 3 bags of chips for a party and then have some left in every bag? put them, bags and all, into the mod. mate 4 too. and did you know that whatever you put in your mod. mate will stay fresh at least one year. imagine your bag of tortilla chips staying fresh for a year!!! it seems impossible, especially for me who tosses anything with a hint of stale. so even though the woman in the video kept cheerios in her super oval for 16 mo. and took them to parties and had people taste test them...i'm going to the do the test myself. if you have a party in the next year, you can bet that i'll be toting around a mod mate with chips and cheerios in them.

new years resolution: waste less food & money

i have a confession.

i'm one of those people who tosses almost full boxes of crackers because someone (cough...my husband...cough cough) didn't close up the bag tight enough and they got a little stale. i have wasted many a box of crackers in my day. it doesn't only waste food but what a waste of my money. (this kind of sounds like my fridgesmart post - wasting less food and money are two popular tupperware themes) so whenever i got around to eating tomato soup - there were never any fresh and crunchy saltines around. and when i had a craving for antipasto on crackers, there weren't any so my antipasto would go bad.

solution for my resolution? modular mates.

i use a #1 (that's the smallest size out of 4) mod. mate for all my crackers and i've had these ones in here for about a month. they're still crunchy enough for my tomato soup! oh the fewer crackers i will buy in 2010!

again - modular mates go on sale for FORTY percent off as of january 9th and this sale goes until feb.12th. but if you have your party between the 9th and 15th - not only are you getting a double flyer week, 40% off mod. mates, but you're also getting DOUBLE the host credits! double. that could be one wicked party.

rebeccashulba@gmail.com

for us control freaks

i was google searching for pictures of unorganized cupboards for a post about getting organized. as it turns out, when you search "tupperware organization" or "tupperware disorganization" the only photos of unorganized cupboards and pantries are ones without tupperware. all the rest are these beautiful modular-mated spaces.

the most interesting post i found though was on this blog: tupperware talk. this is her fridge:

WOAH! that is a LOT of fridgesmarts. and her quote is, "I love the organization and control I have in managing my produce." that is awesome.

but in all seriousness, i don't know about you but my husband and i have wasted a lot of vegetables and fruit in our time. it's cheaper to buy peppers in bulk for example (like a bag of peppers or carrots), but by the time i get to the last few carrots or peppers, they're all wrinkled and bendy. or sometimes i buy broccoli, eat it for dinner one night and then can't stomach it again for a couple days. by the time i get around to wanting broccoli again with my meal, it's gone all brownish on the top. i hate that.

tupperware fridgesmarts eliminate all that waste. when i began adding up the money i was saving in my week to week grocery shop using my fridgesmarts (plus don't forget the lifetime guarantee) - they are well worth the investment.

i also use my fridgesmarts for cheese. i don't think we've had moldy cheese since we started using them.

how fridgesmarts work is they have these rippled bottoms so that as condensation accumulates from the vegetables or fruit (or cheese) it sits in the ripples, not touching the veggies. there are also two vents on the side of the container. some produce needs more air than other produce. on the side of the fridgesmart, there is a list of which foods need two vents open, only one vent open, or no vents open.

so if one of your new years resolutions is to be a little more green or thrifty - fridgesmarts can help you achieve that resolution. and don't forget - just for having a party with sales of $150 or more, the medium fridgesmart is all yours for free!

"i'd whip up some cookies but my sugar is a rock"

sure, i'm not a baker. but i am a wife. i'm a wife with a husband who has excited fits over other people's baking to the point of embarrassment. sometimes it's like the guy had never had a cookie ever in his life when my mom pulls out her homemade peanutbutter cookies. it's enough to make a non-baker try her hand at baking every once in a blue moon. like, how hard could it be?

when you rarely bake, you have to go out and buy all your ingredients every time. you bought that brown sugar a couple months ago, used a cup, then let it turn to stone in the bag you bought it in. sure, when i tell people this, they want to tell me a trick to softening brown sugar with bread or an apple but when baking inspiration hits, there's no time for such tricks.

well one evening, i had friends coming over in the evening. i thought to myself, "why don't i whip up a batch of cookies?" and i began to scour my one cookbook for a cookie recipe with ingredients i had. chocolate chip. because i had started many a recipe without checking first to see if i had everything, i eyeballed my pantry - bag of brown sugar? check. bag of chocolate chips? check. flour? check. i looked ready.

i started to mix. 1 cup of flour. i pulled out that bag of flour - it was whole wheat. shoot! where was the white flour? oh yeah, i now remember using that up a few months ago. oh well - it's still flour. add brown sugar. i picked up the bulk bag. stone. hmm... i tried shaving off chunks and after having no success i thought, "what's wrong with white sugar?" and added it to the bowl. things started going a little smoother until it was time for the chocolate chips. i reached for the bag in the pantry only to discover eight chips in it. my husband, desperate for sweets, had slowly eaten the entire bag handful by handful since the last time i'd attempted chocolate chip cookies a couple years earlier. i had some dried cranberries. they're sweet. into the bowl.

i pulled these albino cookies out of the oven as our friends were making their way in. the cookies looked terrible. after a test bite, turned out they didn't taste so great either. i put them on a plate and put them on the table anyways. my husband ate them, happy to see something resembling cookies. no one else did. and that was the last time i made cookies until i stocked my pantry with modular mates.

i now have soft brown sugar, lots of flour, and chocolate chips. i no longer have the bulk bags strewn around in my pantry either which makes it much more organized.

the modular mates are on sale beginning december 26th and on into january - 40% OFF! this is the time to begin your pantry organization. it can be your new years resolution. i bought my super oval modular mate sets with my host credit at my first tupperware party (yes, not on sale - haha.) hosting a party makes you money and from december 26 - january 15th, if you host a party, you get DOUBLE the host credits. that can buy you a lot of modular mates.