Progresso Soup - Cream of Mushroom

Our local grocery store, the King Soopers, is having a sale on Progresso Soups at $1 per can; so I thought I would give some of them a try.

The Cream of Mushroom is one of the most horrible soups I have ever eaten.  The base looked more like paste water than cream, and it had almost no taste whatsoever.  The pieces of mushroom had the texture of pencil erasers.  All in all, I will never be eating this soup again.

Progresso Soup - Hearty Tomato

Our local grocery store, the King Soopers, is having a sale on Progresso Soups at $1 per can; so I thought I would give some of them a try.

This can was the hearty tomato, although I fail to see what is so hearty about it other than it has chunks of tomato.  It had a pleasant taste but was nothing to brag about.  All in all, it is a passable soup for the price.

Progresso Soup - Minestrone

Our local grocery store, the King Soopers, is having a sale on Progresso Soups at $1 per can; so I thought I would give some of them a try.

The Vegetable Classic Minestrone is the best tasting of the Progreso soups I have tried to this point.  There is a distinct flavor of black pepper.  However, I am disappointed by the appearance.  For a soup with such a fresh name, one would like to see more vibrant color, but that is probably not possible in a processed canned soup.  All in all, I would buy more of these for $1; I am not sure I would pay full price, which is currently more than $2.

Nose Hair Trimmer, the purchase

I just ordered the Panasonic ER-GN30-K Vortex Wet/Dry Nose and Facial Hair Trimmer from Amazon.  When it arrives, I will provide a review of the item.

Solar Car Fan, the set up

I thought being homeless and sleeping in my car during the winter would be a problem.  Thanks to the Cascade -40 sleeping bag, this was never an issue.  However, summer has come, and it is getting very hot in the car.  Therefore, I have decided to purchase one of those solar car window fans, the Solar Powered Car Auto Cool Air Vent Cooler Cooling Fan.  (Believe it or not, that is the name of the product listed on Amazon.)

While waiting for the fan to arrive, I am going to test the interior temperature of my car compared to the exterior temperature.  On Friday, I am going to stop by my storage locker and pick up my temperature and humidity gauge, which I previously used to make sure the temperature and humidity was acceptable for candy making.  On Saturday, then, I will start creating a spreadsheet monitoring temperatures.  I will repeat this when the item arrives.

One thing I have already learned:  Always read the entire add before buying something on Amazon.  The second last sentence of the description states that the item will not work on dark tinted windows.  That must mean the solar panels end up inside the car, which is a pretty stupid design decision.  Anyhow, we shall see how the thing works when it gets here.

Thermometer ready

Well, I picked up the thermometer today, so tomorrow I will start a temperature log spreadsheet and put a link to it in the next post for this product.

Kaloric stick mixer

I recently read in a magazine I bought about using a hand blender, also know as a stick mixer, to help create healthy foods, such as whipped fruit toppings for pancakes.  Therefore, I ordered the second least expensive hand blender available on Amazon.  This model also had a 5-star rating from the one person who reviewed it.  Hopefully, it will be a purchase of value rather than a pig in a poke.  We shall see.

Metallic food color

I just ordered some metallic food coloring from Amazon.com.  It will probably be some time before I work with it, but I needed something to order to get free shipping.  When I work with it, I will post more at that time.

Solar Car Fan a bad buy!

The Solar Powered Car Auto Cool Air Vent Cooler Cooling Fan (Believe it or not, that is the name of the product listed on Amazon.) has arrived.  My initial impression was how extremely light the unit was.  In my mind, that meant cheap.  After taking the car's temperature for about a week, I hung the fan in my car's window.  Nothing happened.  The fan did not move.  I decided to test it in direct sunlight.  The fan moved.  Therefore, the unit could not get enough sun through my slightly tinted window to run.  My first caveat, therefore, is do not purchase this item if you have tinted car windows.  Pay no attention to the item description that says "dark" tint. , my light tint did now work either, and I live in Colorado, where we have 300+ days of sunshine every year and are a mile closer to the sun than most of the country.

Be that as it may, how did the fan perform when in the sunshine?  Awful!  The blades ran so slow there was no air movement at all.  I took a feather duster to the fan, and the feathers did not move, either on the intake side or the output side.

Maybe I had a defective unit, but I don't think so.  Hence, I decided to return the $15.99 item to Amazon.  That is when I discovered I wold have to pay return shipping of "up to $5.84" because the problem was not Amazon's fault.  Well, at least I should get $10 back for this piece of crap.

Nose hair trimmer arrived

The Panasonic ER-GN30-K Vortex Wet/Dry Nose and Facial Hair Trimmer has now arrived.  It comes in 3 pieces: The main body, a protective cap, and a small brush.  The machine has a 2-year parts and labor warranty, so I have to keep that on file in case the thing stops working.  It runs on AA batteries, which I have purchased from Dollar Tree.  It is just lucky that I got a Panasonic trimmer and Panasonic batteries.  I will also be testing the batteries; you can read that post at this link.

The battery cover is the bottom part of the curved handle.  It twists open and pulls off.  Battery insertion is easy, and the cover only fits on one way, so putting it back on is simple.  There are two blade settings: Run and Wash.  The trimmer also comes with an 8-page manual written in English, Spanish, and Portugese.

The blade is a rotary blade, not like the combed blades of some other trimmers.  This makes deep insertion almost impossible, which is good because there is a warning in the manual not to insert the blade too far.  My first trim yielded nice results in the nose but less than stellar results in the ears.

Also, the unit takes an AA battery.  I bought the battery at Dollar Tree; it was also a Panasonic.  I paid $1 for 3 batteries.  Walking through the King Soopers, their comparable alkaline battery price was $2.84 for 4 batteries.  We shall see how long this low-price battery lasts and then get the others for a comparison.

Target shopping

I noticed a hole in one of my shirts, so I headed to Target to purchase a new one.  Since I already knew of a hole in another shirt, my goal was to buy a long-sleeve t-shirt and a polo shirt.  Unfortunately, neither item was on sale.  That means the frugality factor will depend entirely on the longevity of the items.

For the polo shirt, I got the Mosimmo Supply Company Polo Shirt for $14.99.  Funny how this shirt with less material is almost twice the price of the long-sleeve t below.  I purchased some Walmart polo shirts not too long ago, but I apparently did not enter them into the blog.  I have a 7-shirt rotation, so each shirt will average 1 day per week of wear.  It will be interesting to see if the Walmart brand, Faded Glory, outlasts the Target brand.

The brand of long-sleeve t-shirt was Jerzees.  I paid $7.99 for it.  Again, the average wear on this item will be 1 day per week, and I will post again when the shirt falls apart.

While I was there, I checked the clearance rack, and what should I find but a pair of khaki pants in my size.  The cuff of my current khakis is beginning to fray, so for $12.38 (30% off), I decided to pick up these pants as well.  I'm not sure when I will start wearing them, but I am sure I will keep you informed.

Anyhow, that was my trip to Target and the start of three more product reviews.

Candy Thermometers

I realize this is not something I needed, but I really wanted one.  You know how it can take sugar up to an hour to get to temperature.  Well, I just don't feel like looking over a kettle that long; I wanted to get a wireless thermometer so I could walk away from the kettle and do other things.  After much searching and review reading, I decided to give the Oregon Scientific AW131 a try.

This little puppy has a transmitter range of 330 feet and a temperature range in excess of 550°F.  In reading the manual, it is programmable to specific temperatures, so I can set it to 310°F for hard crack candy stage and walk away, provided the transmitter remains active through the walls.  The main complaint about this unit, as with most other wired probe units, is how quickly the probe dies.  I did find a site, though, that specifically linked the probe problems to using the unit to monitor smoked meat.  Since I will be using the unit for candy making, I hope it will not experience the same problems.  The one obvious problem with using this for candy making is the absence of a kettle clip.  Therefore, I also bought the Taylor 5911N Classic Candy/Deep Fry thermometer.

This unit also has a 6-inch stem, just like the wireless thermometer, so I am hoping to use the clip from it with the wireless probe.  The Taylor is also NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) approved and dishwasher safe.  That way, I have a good backup in case something on the wireless does not work as planned.  I like the fact that it is all metal instead of having glass that can break with severe temperature shifts, but nothing in the documentation says this unit can be calibrated to proper temperature.  Also, complaints about this unit seem to center around the dial not being plumb, causing the needle to stick.

So, now I have ordered up two potentially faulty pieces of equipment to help me make candy.  I have to learn how to test sugar without needing a thermometer.  This is really something they should have included in candy making class at college.

nose hair trimmer disappointing

I have now used the Panasonic ER-GN30-K Vortex Wet/Dry Nose and Facial Hair Trimmer several times.  While I have no quibbles about function, I do not like the result.  Even after using the item, I have still had hair where I wished none to be.  Also, it leaves behind a feeling of five-o'clock shadow inside my ear right after use.  Calling the item an eyebrow or moustache trimmer is a bit of overselling because the instruction manual states one has to insert the hair to be cut into the middle of the razor's tip.  It also warns there is no method of regulating length of such trimming.  All in all, I am disappointed with the results of using this rotary-style trimmer and plan on searching for a wand-style trimmer to replace it.