Monday, December 31, 2012

Food Lion Run


I made a run to food Lion tonight because I wanted to use this rare $5.00 off a $5.00 purchase coupon that expires tomorrow. Using a free coupon like this is good for buying free food practically. 

Rare Food Lion coupon
While I was there I checked out the Crash & Burn section and all the mark downs in the meat section. There were a lot to choose from. 

 Here is what I ended up buying:

2 packages Ball Park Franks Deli Style Beef Franks - $2.10 each
1 package Pepperoni- $2.49
1 - 12 pack Sprite - $4.99 (free after a Coke Rewards coupon)
1 - 12 pack Minute Maid Lemonade - $4.99 (free after a Coke Rewards coupon)
Total before coupons: $ 16.67

Total after coupons:  $ 2.40

I was going to wait and publish this post tomorrow, but I am going to go ahead and publish it now just in case someone out there wants to use this Food Lion coupon too. If you want to print the coupon, you can click on the link I've provided under the coupon or you can find it through this Google search

I love it when coupons work out like this and I love getting free food. :)

Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

All You Package Winner


Christina over at Northern Cheapskate recently had a contest where she offered her readers the chance to enter and win one of five All You Delicious on a Dime Cookbooks

Guess who was one of the contest winners? Me! I was so thrilled when I learned I was one of the winners. You see, I had looked at this cookbook at Walmart a couple of times now, but always put it back on the shelf because it was more than I wanted to spend at the time. So I was thrilled when I learned I was one of the winners. 

My package arrived this week and not only was my cookbook part of the package, but they also included a copy of the current All You magazine, and their Holiday Entertaining magazineHow neat!

Skimming through the cookbook, I have seen several recipes that I can make with ingredients I already have on hand.  I love cookbooks like that! 

There are 150 simple, money-saving recipes in the cookbook and $13 worth of coupons. There are also $29 worth of coupons in the All You magazine and $31 worth of coupons in the Holiday Entertaining magazine. And although I know I won't be using all of the coupons, there are several that I will be using on products I already purchase. 

In the months and years to come I'll be making some of the recipes in this book. I wanted to take a minute and say thank you to Christina over at Northern Cheapskate and to the people at All You magazine for this wonderful contest. If you would like to read Christina's review of the cookbook, you can read about it here

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

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Use It Up - Taco Sauce

 This plus this...
 equals this...
 plus this...



Back when my Mother was in the hospital for 52 days, two times we stopped by Taco Bell on our way home from the hospital after a full day at work/school. Both times we picked up one of those 12 packs of Tacos for $10.00. The amount of sauce they gave us both times was so extraordinary that I actually counted the number of sauce packets because I was shocked at the amount they gave to us. The first time I counted 75 sauce packets and the second item it was 60 sauce packets. Unbelievable, right?

I had to wait until I had some extra time on hand to do this, but I decided to take all of those sauce packets and empty them into a glass jar and use it up. It would take us a long time to use them up in packet form, but if I empty them all into a glass jar then I could use it up faster because I'll use it in recipes. Some might consider this to be an extreme measure, but since they were given to me I might as well use them. 

That jar is a 2 quart jar and is half full, so I ended up with 1 quart of taco sauce.   Even I was shocked at how much sauce was there.

Have you went to any extreme measures lately?

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

Saturday, December 29, 2012

New Smoke Detector



The Fire Prevention and Safety Grants, administered by the Department of Homeland Security, has awarded the State of Tennessee with a federal grant for 20,000 smoke alarms to be distributed across the state in counties that are ranked the highest in fatal fire deaths. 
 

Thanks to two volunteers from our local fire department we now have a brand new smoke detector installed in our home completely free of charge. This smoke detector has a lithium battery and is good for ten years! We were thrilled when we read about the news in the paper and then read on Facebook that our local Fire department was participating. We signed up right away and they came out the next day to install this, and give us the pamphlets in the top photo.

Check with your local fire department and see if they have any grants to get a new smoke detector in your home.

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

Friday, December 28, 2012

Use It Up ~ WFD Friday

We are in Use It Up mode here at the Frugal Workshop. I took the leftovers from Christmas dinner, the beef roast, potatoes, carrots, and corn, along with a can of beef gravy I had in the pantry and turned it into Beef Stew for dinner tonight.


What's for dinner at your house tonight?

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

Pantry Inventory December 2012


Using resources wisely (time, money, food) is one area of my life that is important to me. Keeping a well-stocked pantry is one important tool toward this goal. Pantry staples, specifically geared towards your family is helpful for good kitchen management. From previous posts, my readers know that I subscribe to the Pantry Principle, which you can read about here.

Today I want to share some pictures of my pantry with my readers. We have a very large pantry in a room all by itself. The shelves are made of cedar, which will repel bugs, mold and mildew.  The shelves run from the ceiling down to the floor with the bottom shelf being extra tall for tall items, so the pantry is 8 feet high. The room is 3 feet wide by 8 feet in lengthIt can and does hold a lot of food for my family. :)

I've been busy today taking inventory on what foods I have on hand, so I thought I would share my list of foods I have in there along with some pictures with my readers. 
 






Here are most of the foods I have on hand in there. I didn't inventory the spices, although I do try to keep them in some sort of alphabetical order.

Canned Soup
Broccoli and Cheese – 1 can
Cheddar Cheese – 2 cans
Cream of Celery – 1 can
Chicken Noodle – 4 cans
Chicken Broccoli Cheese – 1 can
Chicken & Rice – 4 cans Family Size
Onion Soup Mix – 4 boxes
Vegetable Beef Soup – 3 cans
1 box chicken broth

Tomatoes
Whole Tomatoes – 4 cans
Tomatoes – 3 quarts home canned
Tomatoes – 27 pints home canned
Tomatoes with Green Chilies – 2 cans
Tomato Paste – 2 small cans, 12 large cans
Tomato Sauce – 8 cans
Pizza Sauce – 3 pints home canned
Spaghetti Sauce –2 large bottles
Enchilada Sauce – 4 large cans
Green Chilies – 1 small can

Institutional Cans
Spaghetti Sauce – 1 can
Tomato Sauce – 1 can
Pineapple Tidbits – 1 can
Green Beans – 1 can

Salsa
5 quarts – home canned
3 pints – home canned
3 jars

Canned Fruit
Pumpkin – 3 cans
Pear Halves – 3 cans
Apple Sauce – 4 cans
Peach Halves – 5 - 29 ounce cans
Pineapple – 2 - 20 ounce cans pineapple chunks
Cranberry sauce – 2 cans

Vegetables
Hominy – 1 can
Corn – 2 cans
Creamed Corn – 2 cans
Green Beans – 9 cans, 6 French
Chop Suey – 1 large can, 2 small cans, 1 water chestnuts
Peas – 8 cans, 1 small
Yams – 2 cans
Beets – 2 cans
Mixed Vegetables – 2 cans

Canned Beans
Field Peas – 1 can
Black Eyed Peas – 5 cans
Refried Beans – 2 large cans,
Chili Beans – 7 cans

Miscellaneous
Evaporated Milk – 3 cans
Sweet Condensed – 2 cans
Peanut Butter – 4 jars
Sweet Pickle Relish – 1 quart jar
Pickles – 2 jars
Beef Gravy – 1 can
Chili – 1 can

Canned Meat
Salmon – 4 cans
Tuna – 2 cans
Chicken – 3 cans
Ham – 2 cans

We also keep some food in the dishwasher since we no longer use it for dishes. It has an airtight seal, so there is no chance of any food spoilage there. Here are some pictures and a list of foods I have stored in the dishwasher. 



Instant Potatoes
2 boxes plain
1 box scalloped potatoes
2 Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Mashed Potatoes

Pasta
Spaghetti – 10 boxes
Penne Rigate - 1 bags
Macaroni – 13 boxes
Wacky Mac – 1 bag

Baking Mixes
Snicker doodle Cookie Mixes –1
Brownie Mixes- 2
Pumpkin Bread mix – 1
Chocolate Cake Mixes - 1

Rice
Knorr Rice Sides – 2 Broccoli & Cheddar

White
 1 pound bags – 3
5 pound bags – 1

Brown
1 pound bag – 1

Dried Beans
Soup – 3 bags
Pinto – 3 bags
Black – 1 bag
Lima – 1 bag

Jell-O
Orange – 2
Lime – 2

Miscellaneous
Oats – 18 ounces - 1
Popcorn 1- 2 pound bag
Bread Crumbs – 1

I don't know about you, but I enjoy looking at pictures of other peoples pantries, and I hope you've enjoyed looking at my pantry. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me in the comments section. I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have. :) 

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