Meals to Make with Dried Beans

Both of my parent's families came from Kentucky and although I grew up in Illinois, my language and cooking definitely has southern roots due to my heritage. Dried beans were always a part of that heritage and continues to be true to this day. 
Dried Beans 

Dried  beans are one of the most economical dishes you can feed to your family and they taste great when prepared properly. A one pound bag of beans generally costs anywhere from $1.00 to $1.50 and sometimes up to $3.00 a pound for some specialty beans. 

You may think there isn't much savings when buying a bag of dried beans verses canned beans, but there are savings to be had not to mention the added flavor of home cooked beans. 

A one pound bag of dried beans will cook up to make the equivalent of around three 15 ounce cans of already cooked beans, so when buying dried beans over canned beans you will be saving money. 

I make all kinds of dried beans in my frugal kitchen. Great northern beans, lovingly referred to as soup beans, pinto beans, cranberry beans, lima beans, yellow and black eyed peas, 15 beans, navy beans, yellow and green split peas, and lentils. 

If you need directions on how to cook beans from dried, you can find that information here. 

We can make a meal out of just beans, although cornbread is good to go with them if you have those ingredients on hand. Other meals you can make with beans include...
Ham & Beans
Chili
Chili Tacos
Bean & Cheese Burritos
Mock Tuna Salad
Bean Tacos
Hurst Pizza Beans
Barbara G's Homemade Beanie Weenies
Bean & Cheese Enchiladas
Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice
Refried Beans

Amy Dacyczyn, writer of The Tightwad Gazette, stated that beans should be considered a staple of the tightwad diet and are nearly always cheaper than meat.
Amy's recipe for Maine Baked Beans was printed in the first TWG book. 
Amy's Maine Baked Beans
Ingredients: 2 pounds dried beans (4 cups)1 teaspoon baking soda1 medium onion1/2 pound bacon or pork salt1/4 cup brown sugar1/2 cup to 2/3 cup molasses2 teaspoons dry mustard1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:Soak the beans overnight in cold water. In the morning pout off the soaking water and parboil the beans with baking soda in fresh water until the skins crack when blown upon. Cut the onion in quarters ad put in the bottom of a bean pot or large casserole. Add parboiled beans. Put cut up bacon or salt pork on top of the beans. Mix brown sugar, molasses, dry mustard, and salt, with a pint of water. If necessary add more boiling water while baking. Bake at 300 degrees for 6 hours or more. 
Homemade baked beans are less expensive than store bought baked beans. And if you regularly cook from scratch, you'll probably already have these ingredients in your panty, so no need to make a special trip to the store for ingredients. If you don't have molasses on hand you can substitute dark corn syrup. 
Do you cook with dried beans in your home? If so, what kinds of beans do you serve? Do you have any recipes to share with us? We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Comparison Shopping with a Price Book?

Have you ever looked at the cost of an item on the grocery or drugstore shelf and wondered if you could find the item at a different store even cheaper?

If so you have just applied the concept of a price book. Amy Dacyczyn believed in the value of a price book. You can read a letter from her regarding saving money on your food bill where she also mentions price books here.

Amy who wrote The Tightwad Gazette, wondered if "the various sizes and brands was part of a huge conspiracy to confuse consumers?"  She says the keeping of a price book "revolutionized our shopping strategy more than anything else we did". 

If you don't know what a price book is, it's a frugal tool that people have used for years to purchase items at the lowest possible price. It is also how some frugal people build up their stock pile. When I find a good deal, I buy enough to get me through until the next sale, which is usually twelve weeks, although I usually buy them in quantities of ten. 

This week Food City has canned salmon on sale for $1.99 per can. I already have two cans of salmon in my pantry and we have this item for dinner about once a month, so I bought two more cans, which is enough to last the rest of the year. During that time I'm sure it will go on sale again and I can stock up again.  

A price book is related to the concept of watching the sales, but takes that tactic a step further. Some people use their price book to track actual retail prices of specific items on a week to week basis. Some people do not go that far into the details, but either way will work and I would use the one that you know you will do and works for you. 

Image Credit: The Tightwad Gazette

In a price book each page will contain prices for one item like the photo above. The pages of items will be in alphabetical order for quick reference. Amy includes her code for the name of each store, the brand, the size of the item, and the unit price. Doing this really gave Amy a feeling of control over her food budget. 

Some people today may consider a price book to be archaic. With a computer or smartphone these days people can go online and find the lowest price while staying at home. Or, if you are standing in a store it's easy enough to check the price of the same item in another store if you have your smart phone with you. 

Recently I needed to purchase Ibuprofen. I simply went online and compared the price of each bottle at Walmart and Amazon. I checked these two merchants because I can get free shipping with them. 

500 Ibuprofen at Amazon $9.99 

1,000 Ibuprofen at Walmart $13.98

As you can tell here, Walmart had the best deal on the Ibuprofen the day I checked. That might not always be the case though. It pays to check before making a purchase. 
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, my price book consisted of all the items I bought and the price I paid on a Word document. It was easy enough to change the prices as needed or check a price and I could easily print it out as it was only one page. 
If you'd like to read how Trent over at The Simple Dollar dos his price book, you can read about that here. 
Whatever system you use this is one frugal tool that will help you save money on your food bill. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday

Welcome to another edition of Frugal Friday here at the Frugal Workshop. We stayed home again this week, so no gas money used here. 

In My Frugal Kitchen 

I used up a can of meatloaf starter from my pantry when I made a batch of chili last Friday. I didn't want to add it to any of my meatloaf recipes because I want my meatloaf to taste a specific way and didn't want this to change that. I'm glad it has finally been used up though.

Meals This Week:

Crispy Onion  Chicken, Rice, Brussel Sprouts

Bruschetta Chicken Bake, Broccoli, Dressing

Salmon Patties, Dressing, Green Beans with Onions

Macaroni & Cheese with Ham, Green Peas

Ham, Soup Beans, Carrots

Gather The Fragments

This week I took a small bowl of pumpkin and a small bowl of pizza sauce I had in the freezer and put them both into the chili I made. It was an easy way to disguise these items and use them up with no food waste. It also opened up that space in the freezer. 

Other Frugal Things

As usual, we use our cloth napkins exclusively.  We spend no money on paper towels. 

We also use cloth handkerchiefs. They are both pretty and save money. We have no need to buy tissues anymore, which is also a money saver.

We always save the twist ties on our bread bags. They come in handy for keeping extension cords neatly organized. I also use them to hold my fan cage together after the original clips broke.

We've been able to turn the a/c off at night every day this week, the cooler weather is a welcome relief. 

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I'm not going to debate the issues with homemade laundry detergent today, but wanted to share what we did this week. 

Image Credit @BaileyAlexInc

We haven’t been couponing for a while now and especially since the pandemic started and as I've been telling you lately, we are running out of commercial laundry detergent. ⁣

⁣

Bailey made a batch of homemade laundry detergent years ago and that batch lasted about three years. This week she mixed up a new batch, grated in the bar soap, and added in her favorite scent beads. 

Here is a breakdown of the cost:

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - 55 ounces/7 cups - $4.12

Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar -  5.5 ounce - 97¢

20 Mule Team Borax Detergent Booster - 65 ounces or 9 cups - $4.47

Optional:

Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda - 5 lbs/10 cups - $3.88

Downy Unstopables Scent Booster -  20.1 oz  - $11.97

OxiClean Stain Remover - 3 lbs/6 cups - $7.73

We spent $35.08 on our batch of laundry detergent and we dated our container to see how long it will last. We used all the optional ingredients, but you don't have to use them if you want to save even more money. 

Arm & Hammer washing soda is an excellent booster and whitener to commercial laundry detergent. I like to add some into my wash even if I'm using commercial laundry detergent because I can tell a big difference in cleanliness and whiteness when I do. 

Image Credit @BaileyAlexInc

The homemade laundry detergent cleans so well and only uses one or two tablespoons per load. We just keep a jar of it in the laundry room and have the tub in storage. ⁣

Image Credit @BaileyAlexInc

This is a good way to save on laundry detergent if you can’t or don’t have time to coupon. ⁣

The path to good money management will be a long road for some,  but people can change if they want to. We’re living in an age where we have plenty of resources at our fingertips that we can use to teach ourselves how to make the best use of our money, resources, and time.

How was your week?

  Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Monday Frugal Report

Earning Money
This week I sold two items in my Etsy shop for which I am very grateful. We've noticed that since the $600 weekly unemployment benefit ended on July 31st that my daughter's Poshmark sales have went way down. 
My daughter had a desk in the place where she recently installed a shelf, so she listed the desk on Facebook Marketplace and it sold for $40 this week.
Avoiding Spending
We did not buy any groceries this week. I've been continuing to make food we have here, which included beans and rice several times, but that is OK. 
These types of foods, which I do enjoy, may not always be what we want to eat, but the important thing is that we are fed and I'm grateful for that. 
My daughter gave herself a haircut this week. I've not needed one since I cut mine really short last time. 
In My Frugal Kitchen
This week I made hummus using my own dried beans. 
We've been enjoying the plums and apples that came in our Misfit Market box last week. 
We also enjoyed cucumbers that came in our MM box. I sliced them and sprinkled them with everything bagel seasoning and it made them stand out!
I threw out the onions we had here due to the recall, so will need to order more this week. 
This week I will use up the last of the Palmolive dish soap we bought a few years ago with coupons. Honestly, I'm glad it is gone because it does not clean as well as Dawn, which I will be buying this week. 
Saving on Entertainment

We played two classic board games this week, Monopoly and the Game of Life. Life was one of my favorite games when I was growing up. 
Have you installed Peacock TV on any of your devices yet? I installed mine and have been watching it this week. I love that it is free. 

I've been watching Mrs. Volfie on YouTube. She made some strawberry lemonade and some watermelon lemonade concentrate and canned it this week. She says it will taste great this winter and I agree with her. 

This week I'll be taking my Dad for cataract surgery on his other eye. We are also ordering groceries this week. What plans do you have for the upcoming week?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday ~ May 29, 2020

Welcome to Friday and what, hopefully, is the beginning of a great weekend for everyone. 
How are you doing during the pandemic? Many are predicting that the world we once knew is no longer and there will be a new normal when all the dust settles. 
As for me and my house, we are continuing to stay home. Thankfully my daughter had the wherewithal to start her own business at home while she was still in college and that has helped to keep our household afloat during these trying times. 
Last weekend we did a Walmart grocery pickup and had it delivered to our home via one of the locally owned dinner delivery services. This was the first time we had done that and tipped very well as we were so grateful for this service. 
Checking our records, the last time we did a Walmart grocery pickup was April 27th, which was approximately one month ago.  So, this latest order should last another month as well. 

In our kitchen this week we've been cooking and baking. My daughter has been baking cookies this week and has made both peanut butter cookies and a pumpkin cookie recipe she got from Ryland Adams. 

The pumpkin cookies are so good and we will definitely want to make them again.  She has also been watching TikTok cooking videos and had me make her this egg and cheese sandwich. 
She really liked it and wouldn't mind me making her another one anytime soon. 
This week I decided to use up some melting chocolate I had and made some chocolate covered pretzels with pecans. It was a nice treat for this time of year. 
Also this week I sold a bicycle rack on Facebook Marketplace. We practiced social distancing when the buyer came to pick it up as well. 

We bought me a new Signature Sleep mattress this week from Amazon. It came via an Amazon Prime delivery truck and we had no problem bringing it into the house and setting it up. 
The air conditioner we bought was finally installed last week after Lowe's contracted installer cancelled our appointment. In the end Lowe's had to refund our money as we went with another company, who charged less, to install it. 
That's all the news from here this week. I hope you are staying healthy during this uncertain time.  Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Thrifty Thursday ~ April 16, 2020

Bones' Smokehouse in East Brainerd destroyed by tornado.
The white building in the left background is one of our local Goodwill stores. 

What a week this has been here in Tennessee. The National Weather Service confirmed four tornadoes came through our area on Easter Sunday. 

Thankfully we were spared here, although we lost power for over forty hours and when it was finally restored we had no water. 

On Tuesday one of our local well companies came out and had to install a new pressure tank. Thankfully we are back to semi-normal here now. 

 
Gas is down to $1.29 per gallon here this week. I was able to fill up my car for just over $17, which seems unreal to me. 
My economic stimulus check came this week. I'm saving it to pay bills while I am off from work during this pandemic. 
Frugal Things This Week:
Our Verizon phones were paid off last month, so our cell phone/Internet bill will be $80 less in April. This couldn't have come at a better time. 

I made a mask for my Mom this week. I upcycled a scrub shirt we bought from a yard sale and used the ties from the back of the shirt as the ties for the mask. 
In My Frugal Kitchen:
I made an impossible zucchini pie using a Betty Crocker recipe in order to use up the last of our zucchini. 

I also made some Ham and Cheese Muffins using another Betty Crocker recipe. These lasted for several days for breakfast this week. 

On Sunday I made a loaf of English Muffin bread. I've always wanted to make the English muffin bread, but never did until now. 

Here is the recipe if you're interested:

English Muffin Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
cornmeal, to sprinkle in pan

Directions:

Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and instant yeast in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Combine the milk, water, and oil in a separate, microwave-safe bowl, and heat to between 120°F and 130°F. I heated mine for two minutes. Pour the hot liquid over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Using an hand mixer, beat at high speed for 1 minute. Lightly grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, and sprinkle the bottom and sides with cornmeal. Scoop the dough into the pan, leveling it in the pan as much as possible. Cover the pan, and let the dough rise till it's just barely crowned over the rim of the pan. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove the cover, and bake the bread for 22 to 27 minutes, till it's golden brown. Remove the bread from the oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

How has your week been?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday ~ April 9, 2020 ~ Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe Included!

Good Friday morning to all my readers. Fridays are normally exciting for me since they mark the end of the work week. Exactly four weeks ago today, on March 13, was the last day I worked.  
We have sheltered in place for the last 28 days due to COVID-19. 
We are not sure how long this new normal will last, but hopefully we will come out on the other side in a better position than when we started. 
I read an article today on the AP website about how we are revisiting forgotten household skills. 
For my own household that has been true. In fact, as long as I've been on my frugal journey, I've found ways to save money this week that I hadn't always realized before this started.

I'd say it has a lot to do with having to stay home, which forces us to use what we have here and to make do with what we have on hand. 

I can recall my grandfather telling me they ate cornbread made with water during the Great Depression. After staying home for four weeks, now I realize why they would do that, and have actually thought about what alternative we could use for our buttermilk in our cornbread. I hadn't really stopped to think that this generation would have to think about things like that.  

We normally buy our bread at the bread outlet inexpensively compared to the grocery store prices. But, we are not going to any stores, and although I've made bread several times over the years, I realize that now I'm going to have to make it for real if we want bread to eat. 

LOL, I am up to the challenge. :)

This new way of life has given me a lot to think about and a new mindset, a more frugal can-do attitude that is forcing me to be even more frugal. 

So this week we have eaten all of our meals from home and they were seriously cooked from scratch. These days I'm thinking about how I handle food in the kitchen. 

I believe I've used more flour these last four weeks than I have in the last year. Now I find myself thinking about having to ration what I have left. 

I'm cutting back and using less, so I can make our food stretch as far as possible. And even though I have done that in the past this time feels different. There is a real purpose/urgency  behind this more so than any other time I can recall. 

This week for the first time I put a container in my freezer to hold small amounts of leftovers to turn into soup in the future. I have never done the soup container in the freezer before this. 

I was creative in the kitchen before this started, but these days I find myself trying to think of and create meals like I've not done before. We are using everything we have and like Frugal Queen told me once, "now eat all of that and don't go to the grocery store again until it's all gone."

Non-Frugal Things We Did This Week

This week I switched one of my prescriptions to mail order via CVS. And although I ended up paying more for it, it was worth it to me since we are sheltering in place. 
Items We Bought This Week:

We purchased this box of 96 toilet paper rolls for 50¢ each, but now the company website has been taken down and is no longer available. 
We bought ten pounds of white popcorn from Blain's Farm & Fleet. At $1.99 for two pounds I considered this a good deal. 
How we Entertained Ourselves:
We played board games this week. One of them was Ticket to Ride. 

In My Frugal Kitchen this Week:

Ever since I moved to a more plant based diet I do not drink dairy milk, but rather use plant based milk. I was out this week, but realized that I had pecans in my freezer, so using my Vita-mix enabled me to make my own nut milk. 

On Tuesday I made a batch of Amy D's muffins, which you can read about here. 
I cleaned out all the Tupperware bowls and lids. I have done this before, but today I went thru all those lids that no longer fit the bowls. 
They should come with a disclaimer that Tupperware lids will shrink if not used for a long time. I've read that running one under hot water or leaving it in the sun will help it fit better. 
I've also read that apparently certain Tupperware is considered dangerous to store food now, but using them for other uses would be OK. 
When my daughter made homemade wipes this week she stored them in one of our old Tupperware bowls. If you missed that blog post you can read about it here. 

On Thursday I took the four zucchini I had from Misfits Market and grated them. I used some of it to make these two loaves of chocolate zucchini bread. I still have one cup left, so I saved it and will add it to something else I make this week. 
Here's the recipe in case you're interested:
Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups shredded peeled zucchini

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until well blended. 

Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder. 

Beat into sugar mixture until blended. 

Stir in zucchini. 

Transfer to two  loaf pans coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

That's all the news I can think of to report from here this week. How has your week been?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

The Tightwad Gazette Muffin Recipe

Good morning! I hope you all are doing well today and staying safe and healthy. 

Today I decided to make Amy D's muffins for several reasons. 

1. We are low on butter with only two sticks left. 
2. We have vegetable oil, which her recipe uses. 
3. Allows me to use up ingredients that need using. 

Using vegetable oil allows me to save money and ration the butter we have left. We have a stockpile of vegetable oil due to a great deal we found in the fall. 

And I was able to tweak the recipe and use up some packages of grape jelly that were given to us. The jelly came from Hardee's and I used half a pack in each muffin and then covered them with more batter. 

I also had some dried cranberries I put in there and sprinkled the tops with some roasted cinnamon sugar that I mixed up this morning. 

The Tightwad Gazette Muffin Recipe

Here is a photo of them out of the oven:

This recipe makes twelve muffins, and is easy to double, which saves time and energy. You simply combine the dry ingredients together and then mix in the wet ingredients just until combined. Either spray or line your muffin tin and fill cups two-thirds full. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (give or take five minutes).

Basic recipe:

2 to 2 1/2 cups grain
1 cup milk
up to 1/4 cup fat
1 egg
up to 1/2 cup sweetener
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
up to 1 1/2 cups additions

Following ingredients are required:

Grain: Use 2- 2 1/2 cups white flour. Or substitute oatmeal, cornmeal, whole-wheat flour, rye flour or flake cereal for 1 cup of the white flour. Or substitute one cup leftover cooked oatmeal, cornmeal, rice for 1/2 cup of the white flour, and decrease liquid to 1/2 cup.

Sweetener: Use between 2 Tbsp and 1/2 cup sugar. Or subs up to 3/4 cup brown sugar. Or subs up to 1/2 cup honey or molasses, and decrease milk to 1/2 cup.

Baking Powder: Use 2 teaspoons. If using whole or cooked grains or more than one cup of additions, increase to 3 teaspoons. If using butter or sour milk, decrease to 1 tsp and add 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Salt: Use 1/2 tsp, or omit if you have a salt-restricted diet.

Milk: Use one cup. Or substitute buttermilk or sour milk (add Tbsp vinegar to 1 cup milk). Or substitute fruit juice for some or all of the milk.

Fat: Use 1/4 cup vegetable oil or 4 Tbsp melted margarine or butter. Or substitute crunchy or regular peanut butter for part or all of the fat. The fat can be reduced or omitted with fair results if using a “wet addition”.

Egg: Use 1 egg. Or substitute 1 heaping Tbsp of soy flour & 1 Tbsp of water. If using a cooked grain, separate the egg, add the yolk to the batter, beat the white until stiff and fold into the batter.

Optional Ingredients:

Additions can be used in any combination, up to 1 1/2 cups total. If using more than 1 cup of wet additions, decrease the milk to 1/2 cup.

Dry additions: Nuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, coconut, and so on.

Moist additions: Blueberries, chopped apple, freshly shredded zucchini, shredded carrot, etc.,

Wet additions: Pumpkin puree, applesauce, mashed & cooked sweet potato, mashed banana, mashed & cooked carrot, etc., If using 1/2 cup drained, canned fruit or thawed shredded zucchini, substitute the syrup or zucchini liquid for all or part of the milk.

Spices: Use spices that complement the additions, such as 1 tsp cinnamon with 1/4 tsp nutmeg or cloves. Try 2 tsp grated orange or lemon peel.

Jellies and jam: Fill cups half full w/ plain batter. Add 1 tsp jam/ jelly, top with 2 more tsp batter.

Topping: Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the batter in the tins.

Non-sweet combinations: Use only 2 Tbsp sugar and no fruit. Add combinations of the following: 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 3 strips fried and crumbled bacon, 2 Tbsp grated onion, 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese. Spices could contain a tsp of parsley and a pinch of marjoram.

These made for a hearty breakfast or snack, and can be frozen and they cost less than cold cereal, which is a win-win situation.

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.