Menu Plan Monday

This week we head back to school on Monday evening for Freshman Orientation and then the first full day of school will be on Thursday. Believe it or not, but I've already been called to substitute  and have three jobs lined up already. We already have all of my daughter's school supplies ready to go at the back door waiting for the first day to start.  It's going to be hot again all week and I'm going to avoid using the oven as much as possible. Here is what's on our menu for this week:

Monday:

Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

Mexican Rice

Tuesday:

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Wednesday:

Cube Steaks

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans with Onions in EVOO

Thursday:

Grilled Hamburgers

Lettuce, Tomato, Onion

Tator Tots

Friday:

Homemade Pizzas

Saturday:

Tacos with all the fixings

Sunday:

Pork Loin Roast

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Steamed Broccoli

Sliced Tomatoes from the Garden

This week I've decided to link up with I'm an Organizing Junkie for Meal Plan Monday, and Stone Gable for On the Menu Monday.  If you are having trouble deciding what to have for dinner these should give you some good ideas for dinner.  

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Cherry Picking

Today I had to take my Mom to her doctor's appointment in town, so I decided to stop at Bi-Lo while I was there and do some Cherry Picking. I don't normally go to just Cherry Pick, but I did today since grocery funds are low at this time of the month.

Remember when I said I was going to wait for a sale on Hellman’s mayonnaise? I had to replace the Hellman's mayonnaise that was lost during the power outage in July, and rather than paying $3.98 to replace it, I ended up replacing it with Kraft mayonnaise, which cost $2.98.  Well, Bi-Lo has Hellman's on sale this week for $2.49 with a limit of two. I only had to wait three weeks for a sale, which is a perfect example of another tool, which frugal shoppers can use to save money.   

Grocery store sales run on a twelve week pricing cycle.  Approximately every 12 weeks, the majority of grocery store items will hit a high and low point during that time frame. So, shoppers who wait for the low point on their favorite grocery items will save money as a result.When you shop the cycles, you're buying when grocery item prices are at their lowest point. This is how frugal shoppers are able to realize such big savings.

You can see I also Cherry Picked sugar, which was $1.88, and both Jimmy Dean and Tennessee Pride sausage, which were both priced at $1.99. With the sausage I'll be making some sausage biscuits for back to school time and possible a sausage quiche for dinner one night this month.  

Have you been doing any Cherry Picking this month?

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012 and beyond.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Summer Reading List

Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and my daughter, who is also a bookworm, and I have spent many enjoyable hours at the used book store in Chattanooga. My favorite books to read are books where I actually learn something like how to books or cookbooks.

These are the books that I've been reading this summer:

Be Thrifty, How to Live Better with Less, written by Pia Catton and Califia Suntree. I have to admit I like the fact that this book comes with penny imbedded in the cover. This book has been a really informative book to read and is somewhat like the Tightwad Gazette in many regards.

The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals by Phyllis Good.  I had been wanting this book for the longest time when I happened to find it at a yard sale for $1 this summer. I like the fact that many of the recipes in here are made with just a few ingredients and are pretty simple to put together.

The Plan Ahead Cookbook and Eating Well for Next to Nothing, both written by Ceil Dyer. I first learned about the Plan Ahead Cookbook from Carol at CT on a Budget. I bought this book on her recommendation because she mentioned that it was a great tool for using up leftovers and she was right. 

The Plan Ahead Cookbook reminded me of the book that Amy D. wrote about in the Tightwad Gazette called The Use-It-Up Cookbook: A Guide for Minimizing Food Waste by Lois C. Willand. In fact, I think the Ceil Dyer book is even better that the Lois Willand book. The Eating Well for Next to Nothing book also has some good and basic ideas for saving money on eating, although the majority of the book is recipes. Both of these can be found at Amazon for less than $1.00.

 The Old Time Art of Thrift written by Ken Tate. This is not your ordinary thrift book. This is a collection of stories from people who either grew up during the Great Depression or had parents who grew up during the Great Depression. While this book can be found at Amazon for just  a few pennies, I would not recommend it for someone who is wanting to learn how to save money and be frugal as it is not an instructional guide, but rather a collection of stories. 

Those are the books that have caught my attention this summer. 

What's been on your summer reading list?

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Crash & Burn

The last few times I had been in Bi-Lo grocery store I was unable to find their Crash and Burn section. They recently had a remodel and I was hoping they did not do away with that section like another grocery store in town had recently done.  I decided to make a trip there today and low and behold found a couple of shopping carts with several Crash & Burn items. Here is what I picked out of the lot:

3 cans Southern Home Green Beans – 50¢ each

1 can Southern Home Potatoes – 45¢

3 cans Lesuer Very Young Small Sweet Peas – 80¢ each

3 cans Southern Home Sweet Peas – 50¢ each

4 cans Clear Value Sweet Peas – 35¢ each

1 can Southern Home Baked Beans - 60¢

1 can Southern Home Tomato Sauce – 40¢

So, in all I picked up 16 cans of food for a total of: $ 8.25, which I think is a pretty good haul. Too bad we do not drink coffee because they had several large cans of Southern Home decaffeinated coffee marked down to $4.00.  I don’t know of anyone who drinks coffee either or I would have picked them up a can or two. 

Have you had any luck finding any Crash & Burn items lately?

Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Tennessee’s Sales Tax Holiday

 

The State of Tennessee's Annual Sales Tax Holiday is held every year on the first Friday in August and ends the following Sunday night. This year's tax-free holiday weekend begins at 12:01 a.m on Friday, August 3 and ends Sunday, August 5 at 11:59 p.m.

Clothing of $100 or less, School and Art Supplies of $100 or less, and computers of $1,500 or less will be tax free this weekend. 

Click here for all the details. 

 Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”