Saving Money in My Frugal Kitchen ~ Week #1 December 2025

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money over the past week, along with the meals that made it to our dinner table. You'll find practical tips on how we saved money on food hopefully to inspire your own meal planning using the foods you have in your own pantry.

My Frugal Week

I started this week by slicing up more apples and oranges to deyhdrate, and made the cornbread to include with the dressing I make for Thanksgiving. I was out of buttermilk, so I substituted regular milk. 

Since I emptied out one of the crisper drawers of the clementines, it was the perfect time to remove the drawer and give it a good scrubbing in hot, soapy water. 

I've been using up "lurkers" in my pantry such as a container of power green soup (delicious!), a box of protein Mac and cheese, and several hot chocolate mixes, etc.

My goal is to use up those items that we have rather than buying additional food. I have several packages of specialty lentils, quinoa, etc. that I’ll be incorporating into our meals this month. 

On Tuesday I sorted through my spices. I removed all the spices and washed the shelf and counter with hot, soapy water. I tossed a couple of spices that I hadn’t used and were way past their expiration date. I also combined a couple of spices where I had more than one container. 

Now I know what I need to stock up on when the time comes, which includes salt, garlic and onion powder so far. 

I’ve been reading that Ollie’s is the place to get inexpensive spices and I know that to be true because that is where I buy everything bagel seasoning inexpensively. I’ll also make a stop to Dollar Tree as we went through two of the four containers of vinegar I bought in November and I want to replace those. 

On Saturday I made the chocolate cake, sweet potato casserole, honey butter, and corn casserole that we brought to our family Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. 

Recipe of the Week

On Tuesday, I decided to make my own version of 15-bean soup. I already had plenty of dried beans in my pantry, so instead of buying a new bag just for the mix, I chose to create my own blend from what I had on hand.

The beans I combined included black beans, navy beans, October beans, field peas, green peas, kidney beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, and great northern beans.

According to Google, my mix was missing lima beans, yellow-eye beans, pink beans, and yellow split peas. No worries though, I also had some canned lima beans I could add after cooking, so there was no reason to spend $3.00 on a new bag of 15-bean soup mix.

One of our favorite recipes to make with 15 bean soup is a recipe from the Hursts bean website called Pizza Beans. I’ve made it multiple times over the years and it’s always a hit. 

Pizza Beans Recipe

Ingredients:
1 package or two cups 15 bean soup beans1 white onion, diced2 red bell peppers, diced3 cloves garlic, chopped1 pound ground Italian sausage6 ounces pepperoni, sliced and cut into quarters7 cups chicken stock24 ounces of your favorite marinara sauceShredded mozzarella for topping
Directions:
Rinse and sort through the beans. Check for any debris and discard. Soak beans in water overnight.Drain and rinse before cooking. Sauté sausage and pepperoni until browned.Spoon out the meats, then add the onions, peppers, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the chicken stock and turn heat to high. Use your spoon to scrape off any browned bits on the bottom of pan. Add the meats & soaked beans back into the pot and bring to a boil.Cover the pot and place into a 350º oven for 2 hours.Stir beans halfway through the time.When beans are completely tender, stir in the marinara sauce. Put pot back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes.Top each hot bowl of beans with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ BBQ Pork Tenderloin Tips, Macaroni & Cheese, and Corn.

I had a package of Hormel Pork Tips in my freezer and put those in the crockpot with some bbq sauce. I also used up a box of Simple Truth protein macaroni & cheese, and used more of the corn from Sunday night's dinner.  I still have one more box of the protein macaroni and cheese to use up eventually. 

Tuesday ~ Leftovers 

Bailey had the last of the BBQ from Monday while I had the last of the leftover enchiladas. Sides were salad and corn if desired. 

Wednesday ~ Pizza Beans.

I made these using my own created mix of dried beans and simply added 1/2 cup of each bean I had to a bowl. I ended up with more than enough for dinner and even had some left for another meal in the future. 

I used one of the chubs of turkey Italian sausage we bought for 79 cents, and turkey pepperoni for $1.00, so the cost of this dish was inexpensive. I made this early Wednesday morning as we had a funeral to attend that afternoon, so all I had to do was heat it up when we arrived home. 

This recipe does not disappoint! It is like eating a hot bowl of pizza and is delicious. We have plenty left too to enjoy over the weekend.

Thursday ~ Turkey & Dressing, Apples & Onions, and Green Beans & Onions. 

I brought the turkey from the downstairs fridge on Wednesday and put it in the refrigerator upstairs. I woke up early and made the dressing using our tried and true family favorite recipe. 

Using onions and celery, I saved the discarded parts to roast with the turkey carcass for broth later. I dehydrated the celery leaves and used broth out of my freezer that I made previously from a turkey we had last month. 

I kept it very simple this year with turkey and dressing, apples and onions, and green beans with onions. This was a fourteen pound turkey for two people, which is more than enough for the weekend and to freeze some for future meals. 

I stuffed the cavity of the turkey with onions and apples, buttered down the skin and added salt, pepper, sage, Lawry’s, and Herbs de Provence. 

After the turkey was done cooking I carved all the meat from the bones and had the carcass in the crockpot along with the celery and onion ends and had the roasting pan washed before we even sat down to eat. 

I let the broth simmer for about fourteen hours and then let it cool and strained it. I used a gallon size pitcher, which I line with a paint strainer bag, which is similar to cheesecloth and makes it very easy to strain. 

Friday ~ Leftovers

We ended up having pizza beans and dressing. What a combination! 😂 But, it was good. I added some of the turkey broth I made today to the dressing to make it more moist as it can get dry when reheated. 

Saturday ~ Sour Cream Turkey Casserole, Dressing, and Green Beans with Onions. 

Today I chopped up all the turkey we had left and made a sour cream turkey casserole for dinner. I also made turkey salad for lunches this week. 

I also made chocolate cake, corn casserole, honey butter, and sweet potato casserole to take with us tomorrow for our family thanksgiving get together. 

Sunday ~ Thanksgiving Dinner with Family

We enjoyed ham and turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn casserole, green beans casserole, sweet potato casserole, baked beans, and rolls. Desserts were pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, peanut butter pie, banana bread, and banana pudding. We had a great time too. 

What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

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