Sunday
Chicken Pot Pie
We stayed home on Sunday
and spent no money. I made a Chicken Pot Pie for dinner again as my daughter
requested another one, the second one I made in less than a week.
I also made a large bowl
of pasta salad and divided that into 16 different containers for lunches this
week. I also made a double batch of homemade granola bars. I used up the last of a
bag of chocolate chips that was lingering in the pantry and also the last of my
honey, so I will need to replace the honey soon.
Monday
Salmon Patties
Dressing
Green Beans with Onions
No work on Monday for
me, so I stayed home and spent no money, but spent time doing frugal things
instead. I've been wanting to inventory my pantry and in my head I've been
thinking of things I could use so that my grocery budget will be lower this
month.
"A thrifty housewife is better than a great income."
Charles Spurgeon
Tuesday
15 Bean Cajun Soup Beans
Cornbread
Thankfully, on Tuesday I
received a call to sub. I’d already put on soup beans to soak on Monday night,
so all I had to do was put them in the Instapot on Tuesday morning along with
an onion and seasonings and dinner was ready when I got back home that
afternoon.
I was grateful for the sub
job because my Thursday job was cancelled.
Wednesday
15 Bean Cajun Soup
Cornbread
I made enough of this soup
to have it for dinner a second night.
I went to Walmart for a few things and found 3 boxes of Lime Jell-O on clearance for 50 cents each and 3 bottles of chili powder for $1.04, which was nice since I was out of chili powder.
One of the reasons I went to Walmart was to buy some Rayovac batteries. This is for the Swagbucks
deal that is currently going on and I also needed some batteries for two
weather clocks in the house.
Thursday
Bean & Cheese
Enchiladas
Mexican Rice
I picked up a prescription
for Montelukast for my daughter at Publix, which offers this prescription for
free. I also picked up a prescription for myself and a free bottle of water.
We received a free
calendar in the mail from Colonial Williamsburg. The calendar is nice enough to
give as a Christmas present.
Friday
I worked today and packed
my lunch. We ended up having grilled chicken for dinner tonight.
On Saturday we went to the
library. Our Internet is down at home, so we made a day of it there to catch up
on my daughter’s schoolwork and my blog.
I brought us lunch since
we were there a while. I brought peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, using up
some jelly packets we had, oranges, the last two bowls of pasta salad, and some
homemade granola bars and water to drink.
Other Frugal Things This Week
While I was recently
inventorying my pantry, I noted that we had three cans of beets. It’s easy
enough to turn canned beets into pickled beets, which is what we really like
more than canned beats.
The recipe is simple, take
one can of beets, one small onion, sliced, a half cup of vinegar, three
tablespoons sugar, and three whole cloves. Bring all ingredients to a boil,
remove from heat and cool. Then chill for at least four hours.
Making your own pickled
beets from canned is much cheaper than buying pickled beets for consumption.
I cleaned up the spice section of my pantry and combined some spices where I had duplicate bottles. If I'm buying spices and it's one I use regularly, I buy more than one bottle. Then, when one bottle gets low I can usually make one bottle out of the two. I was able to empty these six bottles.
We watched reruns of
Downtown Abbey this week, which we borrowed from the library, so free
entertainment and no money spent there.
Like the way your blog posts showed up Belinda. Is there any chance you could become a regular teacher and have a steady income? Cheryl
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cheryl. I wrote this blog post in Word during the week at home and then posted it into Blogger when I was at the library on Saturday. I like how the outlines came out.
ReplyDeleteI have applied for 7 full time positions in this school system in the 9 years I've worked here, but have not been hired. Their list of subs is short and they need more subs and I think I benefit them more being on the sub list than I do a full time position. It's sad, but true.
What a frugal week. Cooking at home really saves money.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the pickled beet recipe, Belinda. Store bought ones are too sweet for my taste and I'm going to try making it at home.
I hope your internet will be fixed soon. Have a great weekend.
Thank you, Nil. I hope you enjoy the pickled beet recipe and find it to your liking. Hope you have a great weekend too!
ReplyDeleteYour menu sounds yummy. Sounds like a good week my friend.
ReplyDeletehave a blessed day
Thank you, Cheryl. I hope you have a blessed week. :)
DeleteHow's the smartphone going just got me a Google pixal
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying it, Debbie. I still have a lot to learn. I hope you are enjoying your new phone. :)
DeleteIt's amazing how much we depend on our internet. It is annoying when it's down for extended periods though especially when you have a student in the house. I hope they plan on giving you a credit for all of your aggravation.
ReplyDeleteI took advantage of a sale at Ocean State Job Lot. They had a 40% off sale on items $10 and under, including food. I had tried a small dried soup kit and decided it was very good and only $1 but with the sale I got it for $.60 each. I bought 3. Rugs for in front of the kitchen sink and stove (mine had seen better days) $4, paid $2.60 each and lots of other goodies (some health and beauty (Sensodyne toothpaste for much less than Walmart). It was worth it. I could have spent quite a bit more, but I held myself in check.
I hope you have a good week!
I hope they will give us credit too, Mary Lou. It is back up and running today, so I'm happy! What a great sale you happened across, the soup mixes for 60¢ are terrific. I would have jumped on the Sensodyne toothpaste deal too. That stuff really works. Great deals, I'm happy for you. I hope you have a good week too. :)
DeleteCrossing fingers your Internet is fixed and better than ever. I am always so inspired by your dinner lists. Seriously, you really save me at the grocery store. I love, love, love Downton Abbey. I miss that show so much.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Aiyana. I miss Downton Abby too. It was so great, I do watch the reruns though. While the Internet was down I also watched some frugal You Tube videos I had on my computer, which was pretty fun. and entertaining.
DeleteWhen you are not connected to Internet, know that you are missed, Belinda, 'cause you are. :) Big news along Mississippi River: Memphis broke recorded high for 9 October. It was 92-degrees on Monday.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I ate many brown-bagged pasta and green mixed salads when toting a lunch to school. Also like you, I often cooked ahead for dinners.
Saturday mornings I would be home from grocery shopping by 8:30 to begin cooking and baking for the week. 2 slow cookers would soon be simmering as baked sweets were going in and out of oven. A pot roast, chicken, or ham might be baking or on stove top during the day. After pinto beans were cooked, I'd start chili. Some Saturdays, spaghetti would fill a pot on the stove. If freezer was low on browned ground beef with onion, I'd brown as many pounds as available. One of the crock pots held soup every week. Bones from meat turned into broth, which I find can pay for the price of meat.
Your day at the library with your own lunch would be the same as a holiday get away for me, where the large books of art are found. :)
Free prescription and free Colonial Williamsburg calendar added further cheer. You may be ready to decorate a Christmas tree. Friends are writing that they can't wait for Christmas this year.
As ever, you are solving your money needs and encouraging us. May you have a lovely week.
Thank you, Anna. You are so sweet. :) Wow, that is hot for this time of year in Memphis. I am really for cooler temps for sure.
DeleteWe are kindred spirits with our brown bagging and cooking ahead. :)
Your Saturdays sound amazing. I love that you had multiple crockpots going and things in and out of the oven. I remember always baking a cake on Saturday for after church dinner on Sundays. Those were good times!
Our Internet is back up and running today, which makes me happy to check in with all of my friends here.
Thank you for the encouragement, Anna. You are such a blessing to me. I hope you have a lovely week too.
Everything sounds so good! We are in the mid 80s today, but I am longing for cooler weather. I’ve been craving comforting casseroles and soups.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely getting to be that time of year, Shara. I made a vegetable soup/stew this week and served it with grilled cheese sandwiches. I love those comforting foods of fall.
Delete