Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts

Sunday, September 27, 2020

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 soda
1 medium onion
1/2 pound bacon or pork salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup molasses
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/2 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 ~
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Friday, September 11, 2020

Frugal Friday



Welcome to Friday to all my frugal readers. September is definitely in the air right now as we have woken up to some very cool mornings this week, which feels great. 

In My Frugal Kitchen

Do you remember when I wrote that Bailey didn't like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch creamer? Well...I decided to make French Toast the other day and used that for the milk and guess what? She loved it! So, we will still use it up, avoid food waste, and not waste the money that was spent on it. 

We made more Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches this week. 

Kroger has peanut butter on sale for 99¢ this week along with eight ounce blocks of cheese for 4/$5.00. 

My Amazon grocery order arrived this week and now we are stocked up on tuna and green beans.

Doing the math this week, I refigured what it cost me to make one gallon of tea these days. Look for an upcoming blog post on that soon. I also figured the cost of eggs right now, which works out to 8¢ each according to current Walmart prices. Eggs are always a good and frugal food to have on hand. 

Other Frugal Things

I made a goal this week to list one item on eBay everyday and I succeeded. 

I've been watching Prepper Princess videos again on YouTube this week. She used to have mostly prepper videos on her channel, but now has multiple videos on saving money, which is right up my alley. 

PP mentioned in one of her videos that she adds 20% of water to all her shampoos and soaps. I use Neutrogena T-gel shampoo, which is expensive at $8.50 a bottle, so I added water to mine this week to make it s-t-r-e-t-c-h farther. I already do this with my Dawn dishwashing detergent to make it stretch as far as possible. 

I earned a $10 gift card to Amazon from Microsoft Rewards this week. I used it to purchase 12 cans of Hormel Ham for our pantry. I have this ham as one of my subscribe and save items on Amazon. The price I've been paying for the ham for the 12 cans is $9.71. 

I don't know about you, but I've been watching the prices on Amazon fluctuate widely lately. This ham is going for $45 right now and the price I paid is nowhere to be found. I've noticed that the prices on some of their items is so high. I can't wait until we can go back to grocery shopping the way we used to do it. 

Miss B and I both cut our hair at home this week using this Wahl hair trimmer. It's cordless and I can take it outside to do my own hair, which makes for easier cleanup. I used the two inch comb on my hair, which is just the way I like it. Last time I cut my hair I used a smaller comb and it was so short I didn't have to trim it again until now. 

This week I rearranged my office space and it is much more functional than it was before, which is a win-win for me. 


Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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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.

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Saving Money on Essential Oils


Bailey originally shared this on her Instagram account and I thought it was really good and wanted to share it here. If you would like to follow her Instagram account, you can do so by clicking here

Written by: Bailey

Robbers essential oil is awesome! 

It’s the same blend as Young Living Thieves and much more affordable. 

I just ordered my third bottle off eBay (much cheaper than their Amazon price). 

We’ve been diffusing it every day since the pandemic started. 

There is something so satisfying about a diffuser running. I keep one running in every room especially since the pandemic got going. ⁣
The first one I ever got was from my mom for Christmas. She got it on the Young Living website along with some oils to try. 
Since then I’ve picked up almost every one I’ve seen at yard sales and thrift stores. I’ve never paid more than $5 and I even got another Young Living diffuser.⁣
It’s been about 5 years of running it every night and the first one I got for Christmas has stopped working. All of the thrifted ones are still going strong.⁣
I feel like there is so much merit to shopping second hand. We are giving an item new life and stopping it from potentially ending up in a landfill. Many times thrifted items are older and have stood the test of time meaning they are great quality.⁣
Not sponsored, just wanted to share
Do you have diffusers running in your home? What’s your favorite oil essential oil? Also, what items do you always pick up when you see them thrifting?
Bailey
~ Living within our Means ~
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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.

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Yard Sales in 2020



Bailey originally shared this on her Instagram account and I thought it was really good and wanted to share it here. If you would like to follow her Instagram account, you can do so by clicking here

Written by Bailey

My yard sale bag waited in my office all year to go on adventures again, but quarantine happened. 😒⁣

I’m doing some office rearranging and I still thought I would share what I keep in my yard sale bag. Hopefully by next summer all of this will be long behind us. 🤞🏻⁣

𝘐𝘒𝘌𝘈 𝘉𝘢𝘨𝘴: These are great to have on hand for large rummage sales where it’s not as easy to make a pile for yourself. Also, I keep two in the trunk to throw everything in as I go. ⁣

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬: I write down how much I spend as I go. This makes bookkeeping super easy when I get home.⁣

𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬: I know, I know, but it’s super convenient! I can count out cash with one hand and hold a bunch of stuff in the other. It also has a pocket for pepper spray and hand sanitizer. 👍🏻⁣

Hat & Sunscreen: ☀️ ⁣

I also keep water, wipes, snack, etc. when yard sale season is active. ⁣

I’m really sad this isn’t happening this year, but I know it’s for the best. Stay home if you can. This won’t last forever. ❤️
Bailey
~ Living within our Means ~
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Friday, July 24, 2020

Frugal Friday ~ July 24, 2020


Welcome to Friday, our 19th week of staying home and avoiding crowds due to coronavirus. No grocery shopping, yard sales, or thrifting. Some days are hard mentally, some days are easier though. 

In other news this week, my daughter received her stimulus check this week. She planned ahead on how she would spend this and managed to save part of it while also treating herself at the same time.

We did go out one day this week to pick up an RX at Publix, which was made contactless (paid online) through the drive through. 

The last time I filled up my car was on July 6th. I still have almost a full tank since we are not driving as much. At that time I paid $1.79 per gallon. 
  
This week I placed a Walmart.com order to be delivered free to our home. The order included freezer bags, probiotics, mayonnaise, tortilla chips, walnuts, and Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, which I've been wanting to try. 

This week I already received a call to sub for this upcoming school year. 

Our dryer wasn't working correctly, so we called a repairman out on Tuesday. 

Turns out the heating element burned out. Total cost of the service call and parts came to $189, which is cheaper than buying a new dryer. 

So I'm glad we decided to repair this one rather than buy a new dryer. We did ask the repairman to wear a mask and disinfected after he left. 

Entertainment:


Tuesday night movie we watched Bridge to Terabithia. My favorite parts of this movie involve Miss Edmunds, the music teacher. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every student had a music teacher like her?



In my Frugal Kitchen:

I emptied a spice container of Mrs. Dash and cleaned it up. I'm going to reuse it for another spice as I like the size of these bottles. 

I stocked up on Chinese/Japanese oils and sauces this month. This week I'll be using oyster sauce in Sticky Pineapple Chicken and hoisin sauce in Chow Mein Noodles. 

My mom had me order her 24 cans of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs, but turns out she didn't like them. So, she gave them to us and now we have 23 cans on our pantry shelves. 

How was your week?

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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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.

Friday, July 17, 2020

Frugal Friday ~ July 17, 2020



Image Credit
Graphic Garden has free calendar pages you can print from home if you're interested.  She also has free cards on her website if you want to print them from home as well. 




The other day I noticed a mouse dropping on one of my clean kitchen dish clothes. I had just put them in there less than a week prior to that, so I figured there was a mouse in the house. 

We've had the best luck with the Tomcat mouse traps. We put a small amount of cheese on one and set the trap and caught him the second night after we set it. I'm glad I figured it out and caught it. 

These mousetraps are effective and cost around $2.50 each on Amazon, which is worth every penny to me. You can even reuse these traps.

My word of warning here is this: Make sure all of your food is protected. Anyone can get a mouse in their house and they can cause damage. If you are stocking up on food right now during these uncertain times, make sure you're protecting it.   


Saturday night is game night here. We popped some popcorn and played two of our favorite games Boggle and Sushi Go. We usually always play a couple of games of Boogle on Saturday night. It helps to keep our minds sharp. 

Tuesday night is our movie night here. We made a small pizza and iced tea and watched The Secret Garden. It's one of my favorite movies and is a sweet, beautifully told story based on the classic story of Mary Lennox, a lonely orphan girl, who goes to live in her uncle's British manor house, Misselthwaite Manor.  

The Secret Garden was set in 1911 and I hadn't watched it since I've watched Downton Abby, which was set in 1915 and beyond. The similarities in both films was interesting to watch. 



In my frugal kitchen this week I grated cheese to be used in meals this month. I like to buy the two pound block and shred it all at once. We prefer our own shredded cheese over store bought as the taste is better and does not have any fillers. 

One day we had grilled chicken salads for dinner as I wanted to use up and not lose the fresh produce we had on hand. 



Image Credit 

Last week I ordered a shelving unit from Amazon because I wanted to have more storage room in my bedroom. The unit arrived on Monday evening and my daughter I put it together. It's so great to have additional storage in that room. 

Since I had a new place to put things, I decided to clean out my closet and store the small bookshelf, where the new shelf was going, in my closet. 

So, I condensed things, threw somethings away, went thru papers and tossed some, and set aside a few things to sell online. 



Another item I bought this week, to stock up on, was four boxes of the 100 count Johnson & Johnson band-aids. They were on sale for $4.00 per box. They are no longer on sale for that price, but are priced at $6.88 and 50% off one when you buy two ($5.16 per box). We like these because they are made with fabric and not plastic. 



We have a raccoon coming during the daytime to eat our cat's food. I thought about buying a small animal cage to humanely catch him, but they cost around $30. 


My solution so far has been to set a timer when I feed the cats and then go and get the food after twenty minutes and bring it back into the house. 


Some days I sit out there with them and wait until they are done eating and then bring it back in with me. We always do this at night because that's when they usually visit so this daytime raccoon is an odd ball. 


When we had chickens I had to be careful of the bears getting into the chicken feed and eating it. As much as I would love to feed them, I simply cannot afford to feed all the wild animals that come here. 




That's all the news to report from here this week. How was your week? I hope you have a homemade, thrifty week and look well to the ways of your household.

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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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.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Thrifty Thursday ~ May 7, 2020

Hello to all my readers, I hope you are doing well. Certain events in our lives combined with isolating ourselves at home has me feeling downhearted. 

To combat some of our sadness, Bailey and I have went walking each afternoon during the last two weeks to get both some exercise and vitamin D from the sunshine. 

Some of the frugal things we've done recently include earning $13 in Amazon credit rewards from Microsoft Rewards and the Checkpoints App. 

I used some of the credit to order some new wash cloths for the kitchen. For some reason I was down to two of them, but will add 24 more to my collection as soon as they arrive. 

My daughter and I both cut our hair at home this week. 

For a donation of $1.10 we were able to order eight packages of seeds from FreeHeirloomSeeds.org

This week I went through my clothes and took out several of them that are too big for me now. My daughter will be listing them in her reselling sites. This helps her out since she is unable to source new inventory with coronavirus right now. 

In the home maintenance category, we decided to purchase a new air conditioner for the main part of the house two months ago. 

With coronavirus the process proved to be more challenging than normal. Keeping my fingers crossed, hopefully it will be installed tomorrow. 

This week I received several birthday freebies such as $10 to spend at Torrid, a free milkshake from Steak & Shake, and a free blueberry biscuit from Bojangles. 

Normally we go out to eat for each other's birthdays, but that won't be happening this year. Instead we are going to have food delivered to our home using a delivery service, which we haven't done before. 

Mother's Day is Sunday and I asked my Mom what she would like and she said I didn't have to buy her anything. Don't all Moms say that? 

She does love my beans and cornbread, so I will make her a special dinner for the day, which I know she will enjoy. I tease her regularly and tell her she would go over to the enemy if they offered her cornbread. 

I hope all of you are doing well and are enjoying these beautiful spring days. :)

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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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.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Frugal Friday ~ August 2, 2019


We bartered for this shopping cart last week. We were at a yard sale and the man running the sale wanted $5 for it. My daughter has been wanting one of these to easily move her inventory around the house. 

As the man was placing it into our car he noticed a cell phone holder we were not using. I told him he could have it if he wanted it and he was so tickled and told me the cart was paid in full. I didn't expect that as I was just going to let him have the cell phone charger for free, so that was a nice surprise. 

This is the last week of summer vacation before school starts back on Tuesday. I already have six days of subbing scheduled for August and five for September. So, this week I've been working on fixing up my sub bag. 

Last year I left my extension cord somewhere in one of the classrooms. I thought about buying a new one, but found one around the house I'm going to use instead. 

Same with paper towels, I'm going to tuck some flannel cloths in my bag instead of buying paper towels. Little savings along the way, but they do add up over time. 

June & July are in the books now as August 1st rolled around yesterday. We had a good summer, spending as little as possible, watching every penny. Going back to work will definitely boost my income and be welcomed. 


Yesterday I noticed the water was low in the half barrel we keep under the gutter downspout. The cats like to drink from this, so I took three buckets of water and filled it up yesterday. About an hour later a huge thunderstorm came, which would have filled it, so my efforts were futile. LOL


We stayed home all week except for Thursday evening when we went to McKay's Used Books. We traded several books for new to us books and had a good time. 


Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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Sunday, July 7, 2019

My Frugal Kitchen: What We Ate This Week

Here is a list of what I planned on making for dinner this past week:  

1. Beefy Baked Beans
2. Chicken Pot Pie
3. Spaghetti
4. Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, Mexican Rice
5. Chicken & Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans & Onions, Cranberry Salad
6. Baked Potatoes & Broccoli
7. Spaghetti

Sides This Week:

1. Pasta Salad
2. Cole Slaw
3. Cucumber Salad

And here is what we actually made this week:

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday ~ I've been wanting spaghetti for a while now, so that is what I decided to make this day. I took Italian sausage out of the freezer to thaw along with a small container of sausage that was left from an Italian dinner we had in June. 


Have you seen this meme floating around on the Internet? It's funny because it's so true. I made spaghetti on Sunday and we ate on that for days, and it felt like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I like spaghetti because it gets better every day, so it never bothers me to at it repeatedly until it's gone. 

I just thought this meme was funny and wanted to make sure you saw it too. 

Bread for garlic bread was bought on markdown at Walmart for 60¢ and I had both mozzarella and parmesan cheese on hand. I always add canned tomatoes to my spaghetti to stretch it as much as possible. Pasta was bought on sale for 50¢ per one pound box. 

We also needed a vegetable to go with the spaghetti, so I made a salad to go along with this. 
Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic Bread

Wednesday: I took one pound of ground beef out of the freezer to thaw. I bought some pork and beans on sale last week for 50¢ a can and it has been a long time since I made this dish, so I figured it was time. 
Beefy Baked Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans & Onions

Beefy Baked Beans
Ingredients:
1-pound ground beef 
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 - 28 ounce can pork and beans
1/2 cup ketchup
1 to 2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Directions:
Cook ground Beef and onion until Brown
Drain well
Mix with remaining ingredients and stir well
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

Thursday: We were invited to my BIL's home for the 4th of July. I brought a watermelon with me that I had already cut up and cubed before we got there. On the menu was smoked ribs, smoked chicken, mac and cheese, baked beans, green beans with potatoes, pasta salad, cucumbers, and rolls along with sweet iced tea. It was delicious.

Friday: On Friday I pulled out a bag of chicken breasts out of the freezer and decided to grill them. I used the McCormick Grill Mates Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning. I served this with brown rice & mixed vegetables.
Grilled Chicken, Brown Rice, Vegetables

Saturday: My daughter prefers hamburgers over tacos, so I asked her and she wanted hamburgers today, so that's what we did. We had hamburgers and homemade french fries. Of course I had all the fixings for the hamburgers too...cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, bread & butter pickles, and of course ketchup for the fries. Hopefully we'll have tacos in next week's menu. :)
Hamburgers & Fries

What was on the menu in your home this week?


Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

What You Can Cook For the Price of 2 Domino's Pizzas?



Right now Domino's Pizza has a special mix and match deal where you can buy two topping medium pizzas for $5.99 each. The deal is that you have to buy at least two pizzas. 

So let's do the math on two pizzas here in Tennessee. 

2 x $5.99 = $11.98
Garlic Sauce 50¢ each = $3.00 (My dd likes this & gets extras)
Tax = $1.50
Total $16.48

And that price is for when you pick it up yourself not for any delivery charges. I usually add extra cheese to mine for which they add $1.00, so we could easily pay $17.48 for the two pizzas. 

What could we buy at the grocery store and make at home for $17.48? When you're trying to save money by cooking at home you can either keep it simple or you can go gourmet or even try to recreate some of your favorite restaurant meals at home. The choice is entirely up to you. 

When you cook your own food at home you get to control the ingredients and can make dishes healthier if you choose to do so. I know that I lose a little bit of weight when I am cooking the majority of my meals at home. 

Back when I was growing up it was a real treat to get to eat at a restaurant, but that isn't always the case today. Today eating out is done on such a regular basis that it is not always a treat like it was back then. 

Let's say you wanted Italian food for dinner, so we will look at spaghetti for example. 

Last week Kroger had Prego sauce on sale for 99¢ and we have a stockpile of pasta from Kroger we bought for 50¢. 

Now I save more money because I utilize the Pantry Principle. I purchase food at the lowest possible price and then stockpile. 

But, to be more reasonable, I'm going to use Walmart's website to look up prices that anyone can purchase today. 

Large jar of Prego spaghetti sauce - $3.30
Box of spaghetti - $1.00
Can of tomatoes - 74¢
Onion - 54¢
Garlic - 15¢ (1/4 of a head for 60¢)
Italian Bread - $1.00
Broccoli - 87¢
Margarine - 40¢

In order to make a batch of spaghetti at home you'll spend approximately $8.00 for the entire recipe. Depending on the number of people in your family this will make multiple servings and maybe even enough for two meals, which it does in our home. 

Spaghetti I make at home gets doctored up with onions, tomatoes, and garlic, so I added the cost of those items into the mix as well. I like the Prego sauce with the mini meatballs, so there is no need to add meat to this unless you just want more meat. 

Forbes magazine published an article titled, "Here's How Much Money You Save By Cooking At Home". According to the article, it is five times more expensive to order from a restaurant than to cook at home. And they found that the cook at home meal kits are three times more expensive. 

But getting back to the Domino's Pizza, you could make enough spaghetti for four meals and possibly extra over the cost of one meal of Dominos Pizza. Cooking at home definitely stretches your budget. 

The point to all of this is that you'll definitely save the most money by cooking the majority of your meals at home. 

And if you wanted to make pizza at home you will definitely save over pizza bought at the pizza place.

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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