Third Frugal Friday of March 2023

Welcome to Friday! 
My Frugal Week
On Saturday night we went with family to the Mexican restaurant to celebrate a family birthday. We saw people we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic started, and had a great time visiting with each other. 
We had a cold snap on Tuesday and even had to turn on the heat. Native Southerners call this Red Bud Winter. The first of the Tennessee folklore winters, which are based on what trees are blooming at the time. 
We received the first of the money from the trees being cut down.  It would be great if we ended up with enough money to pay the property taxes next year. We’ve already paid the property taxes for this year. 
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
We have several cans of vegetable soup that were gifted to us, which needed doctoring up when used. I added a drained can of mixed vegetables to mine along with some black pepper, which made it more palatable and made an affordable lunch for several days. 
Breakfasts included rice left over from dinners and added to scrambled eggs in a flour tortilla with chipotle sauce for Bailey. Oatmeal, muffins, cinnamon raisin toast and fruit were other options. Using up the leftovers is definitely economical. 
I perused the grocery store sale ads this week and the one good sale I noticed was the twelve count box of Sprite priced at 3 for for $12.00. We keep it on hand for medicinal purposes and that is the lowest I have seen it in a long time, so we bought some for that purpose. 
I went through my recipes for meal planning and using our local Fresh and Low, came up with a meal plan for seven meals this week and spent $54 to get the items not already in my pantry. I ordered through Instacart and had it delivered to my back door. 
One item I bought that is new to us is the Zatarain’s Andouille sausage to make with dirty rice this week. We’ve never tried it before and at $5.59 I feel it will be an economical meal. 
A few years ago I watched as an employee in Whole Foods took just the broccoli stem and made a green juice with it. The broccoli stem is as tasty as the florets and in this day and age of expensive groceries and not wasting food, we need to eat the broccoli stems too. I peel mine and chop them up, cook them and they are delicious!
So in order to avoid food waste, eat the broccoli stems and bread heels. If you turn the heel over and let the heel be inside the sandwich you can hide it. It works great for grilled cheese. 
Meals This Week
All meals are served with either salad or vegetables and may not always be listed here. 
* If you see a dinner in bold print that means we had it more than once this week.
- Salmon Patties, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Beans with Onions. - Mexican Restaurant for a Family Birthday Celebration. - Tacos in soft Corn Tortillas with Cheddar Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes and Red Onions. As usual, I used onions and one can of potatoes, chopped up, to stretch the - meat for another meal. - Baked Potatoes with choice of toppings including butter, sour cream, broccoli, chives, dill, cheese, and the last of the taco meat if desired. - Movie Night Pizza - Chicken, Potato Salad, Cole Slaw. - Hamburgers with Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions, Tater Tots. 

Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.
BelindaMortgage & Debt Free~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27