Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen ~ First Week of July 2026

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

On Monday I went back to the local peach orchard and bought more peaches. The big baskets were $23 or you could get the same size basket of seconds for $13, which is what I bought. These are so good and sweet they are just delicious! 

I also bought six ears of corn from a former student who was set up selling his family farms corn. He gave me a big hug and told me I looked great, which made my day. 

On Tuesday Bailey and I went to the farm stand and bought more cantaloupe and watermelon as we had already eaten what I bought last week. We also dropped off a bag of donations to People Helping People. 

We went to Sam’s Club on Friday and bought some blackberries, milk, mini bell peppers, Cole slaw mix, olive oil, cocoa powder, toilet paper and bought our lunch of a beef hotdog and drink for $1.50 each. 

Saturday afternoon I cut up the two small watermelons and the cantaloupe we had on hand and dumped the rinds into our compost pile in the woods. So far no wild animals have eaten anything out of the compost and it may be because I moved it to a new spot this year. 

On Sunday we went to Kroger in Dalton to do our monthly grocery stock up. They’ve had shortages for the last few months and that was still evident today, unfortunately. 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Sardinia Minestrone Soup

I made up my eight quart instant pot full with this soup and was able to put twelve individual bowls into the freezer for lunches and or dinners later. It’s such a good and healthy soup and a part of the Blue Zones diet where people in certain parts of the world live to be very healthy in their golden years. 

Tuesday ~ Baked Chicken Beast Filets, Baked Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables.

We also had several fresh fruits and vegetables like watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and red bell peppers. 

Wednesday ~ Tacos and Corn

I had a one pound package of ground beef in the freezer that I thawed for tacos with all the usual toppings and served corn as the side dish. 

Thursday ~ Grilled Fajita Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Brussel Sprouts. 

Fish on Friday ~ Nachos with Taco Meat and Queso Dip

Saturday ~ 4th of July Celebration with Pork BBQ, Meaty Baked Beans, Chips, Macaroni & Cheese, and Banana Pudding. 

Sunday ~ Beef Pot Roast with Carrots & Onions, Cabbage. 

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

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

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First Frugal Friday of July 2026 on Saturday

 

Welcome to Frugal Friday

Each Friday here at Frugal Workshop, I love sharing the frugal wins, quiet savings, and simple strategies that helped us stretch our budget over the past seven days. It’s a gentle look back at the small things that make a big difference. 
Quote of the Week

“A nation of people who can grow their own food, build their own shelter, and stand on their own ground is a nation that's expensive and difficult to oppress. […] The more of your own sustenance you can pull out of your own ground, the less of your life belongs to someone else's permission.” ~ School of Traditional Skills

On July 4, 1776 the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain. Many people here will pause to celebrate this 250th anniversary of our nation. Bailey and I have plans to attend a huge celebration tonight with friends. Happy Birthday America! 
My Frugal Week
The beginning of the week here was quiet and we mostly stayed indoors out of the summer heat wave until Thursday when we traveled to Knoxville for inventory at several thrift stores for Bailey’s shops. 
On Friday we dropped our cat Ginger off at the veterinarian’s office to be groomed, which was money well spent. After dropping him off we ran various errands stopping at Sam’s Club for gas ($3.05 per gallon), the post office and several thrift stores to pass the time until Ginger could be picked up and then we all went home. 
My Reading Nook ~ What I've been Reading This Week
While thrifting this week while I picked up several books to add to my summer reading collection. 
I've been reading Food Junkies by Dr. Vera Tarman this week. I'm hoping to get it finished soon, so I can start another one for the summer reading program. Right now I'm about 75% through the book. Dr. Tarman also has several interviews on YouTube if you’re interested in those. 
How was your week? The last two days have been a whirlwind of activity here, which is why this blog post is later than usual. There is a lot going on with the house right now, which I won’t get into today. I hope you’re doing well and if you have plans to celebrate today that you’ll be safe and enjoy the freedoms we hold so dear. 

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.

Belinda 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen ~ Last Week of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

Last Monday I stopped at the local peach orchard and picked up some of the season’s first peaches. The kind where the juice runs down your arm when you eat one and they are so sweet. 

Bailey had an event in Chattanooga on Saturday afternoon and needed a designated driver, so I volunteered. After dropping her off, I headed to Whole Foods.

I packed most of my salad ingredients from home in my food thermos and just picked up a few items from the salad bar since I was out of lettuce. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever bought and made your own salad at Whole Foods, but they can get expensive since they are $9.99 per pound. 

So, once at the salad bar I put lettuce, dried cranberries, red bell peppers, croutons, chickpeas, and black beans into one of their food containers. At the table I added my own ingredients brought from home and make a very nice salad for my lunch. I used cottage cheese from home as my dressing. 

The salad bar items I picked came to just $3.10, and by topping it with the ingredients I brought from home, I ended up with a fresh, filling meal for very little money. A little planning can definitely save some money. 

And finally, this week’s haul from the Mennonite Farm Stand. Corn, melons, red onions, red peppers, and tomatoes. The corn came from the People Helping People store and was free while the other fresh vegetables came from the actual farm stand. I drove up there on Thursday and picked up and paid for those vegetables. 

What’s for Dinner

Monday & Tuesday ~ Steak Tacos, Corn

Wednesday ~ Grilled Chicken Tenders, Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Cauliflower, Grilled Peaches. 

Thursday ~ Turkey Tacos

Friday ~ Bailey had book club, so we ate dinner separately. She had nachos using the turkey taco meat from Thursday and I made myself a salad for dinner. 

Saturday ~ Murder Smash burgers at Lo Main in Chattanooga. 

Cameron Parker is a food critic in Chattanooga and gave the murder burger at Lo Main a ten out of ten. Bailey and I have been wanting to try this since last October and Saturday created that opportunity for us. 

The burger has two smashed beef patties, American cheese, diced onions, lettuce, Garam Masala mayonnaise, and blackened seasoning on a brioche bun. It was very well seasoned and very good. 

Sunday ~ Roasted Turkey, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Grilled Peaches, and Corn on the Cob.  

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

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Image Credit

Fourth & Final Frugal Friday of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Friday!

My Frugal Week
On Tuesday my tutoring client asked me to change tutoring locations and brought me a delicious Tiger Tea for switching locations. 
On Tuesday evening Bailey and I went to a free library event where we made diffuser beads. I used the rose essential oil as the scent for mine. 
We’ve both enrolled in the free summer reading program, which awards patrons for every three books they read. We’ve both already gotten a free hand sanitizer. 
And finally, Thursday was the grand opening of a new Goodwill store here, so Bailey and I both went and found several items. I didn’t buy any clothes as I can find them cheaper at yard sales than thrift stores. 
This week’s post is a short one as I’ve been busy reading for the summer reading program and riding my bicycle while reading and living a busy summer life. I hope you are doing well and would love to hear what you’ve been up to this week.

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.

Belinda 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen ~ Fourth Week June 2026

 

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

Many people say that storing your cut up fresh fruits and vegetables in mason jars will help them last longer. 

On Monday I went to People Helping People and picked up free carrots, English cucumbers, and zucchini. I also stopped by a road side farm stand and picked up one dozen ears of Peaches and Cream corn on the cob. 

I came home and shucked the corn and peeled the carrots to have with dinner that evening.

I used my eight quart Instant Pot I picked up at People Helping People for $5 for the first time. My original one is only six quarts, so this bigger size was really nice to use. In fact, all of the corn (one dozen ears) fit inside of it. 

I also stopped in at Walmart and picked up tartar sauce, enchilada sauce, basil, croissants, salt, Dawn, and bananas. I also picked up a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken on markdown for $2.79.

I went to the thrift store because food was 50% off, so I bought two boxes of Annie’s fruit squeeze pouches, one beef broth and a bag of Dove chocolates for $1 each. 

Bailey picks spearmint from her garden and makes and drinks spearmint tea every day. 

On Wednesday I picked free carrots from the community garden and also picked up a free head of cauliflower. We've been blessed by several sources of free vegetables this summer and I am very grateful for that as it helps me to save money on food for my family. 

On Thursday I busied myself in the kitchen and broke green beans, shredded zucchini for the freezer, cut up cucumbers for dinner and stored them in a mason jar so they last longer, cut up a watermelon, took all the peelings to the compost pile. And did all the usual things that go with a working kitchen. 

Photo of the Week

I love finding rotisserie chicken on markdown at Walmart.

What’s for Dinner

Monday & Tuesday ~ Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, Corn on the Cob, and Steamed Carrots. 

Usually we have leftovers from the weekend on Monday, but not this day as we had no leftovers. I decided on making bean and cheese enchiladas along with the fresh corn and carrots I picked up this day. I also had fresh cucumbers and red bell peppers to serve alongside. 

Wednesday ~ Lemon Pepper Rotisserie Chicken, Steamed Carrots, 

Thursday ~ Lemon Pepper Chicken, Steamed Carrots, Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans & Onions. 

We had a big variety of vegetables for dinner this night. It’s one of the reasons I love summertime as much as I do. 

Fish on Friday ~ Salmon Patties, Green Beans with Onions, Fried Cabbage. 

Saturday ~ Chicken & Cheese Tamales, Corn on the Cob, Roasted Broccoli. 

Sunday ~ Egg Roll in a Bowl, Corn, Cucumbers. 

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

We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Image Credit

Third Frugal Friday of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Friday

Each Friday here at Frugal Workshop, I love sharing the frugal wins, quiet savings, and simple strategies that helped us stretch our budget over the past seven days. It’s a gentle look back at the small things that make a big difference. 
Quote of the Week

Don't do as others are doing, especially if those others are neck deep in debt. ~ Grandma Donna

My Frugal Week
Last Thursday and Friday we went to multiple yard sales. We also went to the People Helping People monthly bag sale. Neither one of us had enough to fill one bag, but when combined together we did. 
We stayed home on Saturday and worked on various projects around the house. I listed a few things for sale on Facebook marketplace and processed twenty items for Bailey’s online shops. On Sunday I measured and packaged 59 items for her shops. 
On Monday I had a few errands to run to Staples, Walmart, Courthouse, Scrapyard, and People Helping People where I dropped off a bag of donations and bought some $5.00 animal steps that had just been donated. I had been looking for some and just passed on some for $10 last weekend. 

Turns out the steps are Horseman's Pride 3 Step Mounting Block, which sell at Tractor Supply for $134.99. So, paying only $5 for this one was a great deal!
I had picked up some free brass Christmas stocking holders in a free pile at a yard sale recently. They got rid of them because they were personally engraved. I combined that with a brass hammer head and a brass clock. The total weight was 15 pounds and the scrapyard gave me $51.  (WOW!) 
I received a Facebook settlement payment of $7.31 and a payment of $3.12 from Google surveys into my PayPal account this week. That is the account I use to pay for Netflix, so those two combined were more than enough to pay this month’s Netflix subscription, which feels like free to me. 
I went to the thrift store before tutoring this week and picked up a few pantry staples at 50% off. 
I picked up some free seeds in the seed catalog at the local library. 
Chime offered me $1.00 to log into my account this week. I guess it had been a while since I’ve checked in there. 
Side Hustles
Bailey and I both tutored on Thursday and I also had a tutoring job on Tuesday. I was able to speak to the Mom of one of the students I tutor and she told me her teachers had noticed an improvement in her school work and she could tell she was getting some outside help. Yay! 
Yard Sale Saturday
One of our cats has anxiety and often likes to hide in one of the cabinets downstairs. I cleaned the cabinet out for him and using the leaf blower blew out all the debris. Then I placed several carpet samples I bought at a yard sale for $1 each in the cabinets. He is very content to go in there and hide now when his anxiety gets to be too much for him. 
Speaking of leaf blowers, we found a Ryobi leaf blower at a yard sale last week with no battery for only $5. We have multiple Ryobi batteries to power other devices, so this was a real bargain. 
The Great Cleanup

I listed and gave away multiple soda pop bottles from my Dad’s shed this week. He had a collection of them he would sell at the flea market and we’ve been using that shed to store items for the next consignment sale and for Bailey’s business, so it was time for the bottles to go. I also gave away several plastic Coke crates with the bottles. 
I’ll be using our new leaf blower to blow the debris out of that building too. 
Between me and the garbage man, who I’m bartering with, we were able to throw out several hoses that were no longer useable, one five gallon bucket of metal left in one of the garden sheds, an old rotting pallet, and several pipes that had sat in the woods so long they had compost inside them. 
There is almost nothing left in the woods now except for some old tires. I’ll wait till cold weather to dispose of them as it’s snake season here in Tennessee. 
Speaking of pests and the woods, ticks have been really bad here already this year. I bought a bag of anti-tick granules at Walmart this week. So, I weed eated around the house and then applied the granules, which I hope will resolve this issue. 
Freebies
I picked up a free Pre-K writing book for the sister (who starts pre-k when school starts back) of one of the students I tutor. 
When I was at People Helping People I noticed a new box of Crest ProHealth toothpaste with Scope in the freebie box. You’re allowed to pick out three items when you go there, so this was one of my free items. 
Price of Gas
On Wednesday I filled up in Chattanooga at Sam’s Club for $2.95 per gallon, which was better than the $3.39 by our house. 
Saving Money on Entertainment
One day this week the cats were looking out the window, so I went over there to see what they were looking at and there was a fox in the yard. #freeentertainment
I've been watching videos and researching wringer washes this week online, which has always been fun for me.  I would love to have one here and maybe someday that will happen for me. 
My Reading Nook ~ What I've been Reading This Week
Grandma Donna made a really good blog post this week about the old ways, which you can read here. 
 How was your week?

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.

Belinda 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in My Frugal Kitchen ~ Third Week of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

We bought watermelon, cantaloupe, and red peppers at a farm stand this weekend when we were out shopping the yard sales. I cut them all up and composted all the rinds and seeds in a new compost pile I started in the woods. I’m hoping no wild animals get in there and devour anything.

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Polish Kielbasa, Salad with Fresh Vegetables. 

Tuesday ~ Chicken Sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries.

Wednesday ~ Chicken Burrito Bowls

Thursday~ Polo Loco Chicken, Cole Slaw, and Cantaloupe. 

Friday ~ Queso Fajita Chicken Nachos 

Saturday ~ Queso Chicken Tacos, Corn, Cucumbers, Red & Yellow Peppers. 

Sunday ~ Grilled Chicken, Brussel Sprouts, Corn, Cucumbers, and red Peppers. 

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

Did you build up or organize your pantry this week?  

How are you managing food prices? 

We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Image Credit