Frugal Friday ~ November 19, 2021

Welcome to Friday! 
My Frugal Week
The weather has been cold and chilly here this week. Leaves are still falling and I cleaned them off the back porch several days this week. 
We did a grocery pickup this week. The cats were out of food again, so I picked up a bag for them at our local Fresh and Low. This is the closest store to us, around five miles away, so I went there to save on gas. 
 They had Hormel canned ham priced at  97 cents a can, which is a great price and has been hard to source from the other stores where I shop. I picked up ten cans of it, which is now neatly tucked into the pantry. 
Gas is priced at $2.97 a gallon right now. Thankfully, I didn’t need any this week.
My Mom gave me a new blanket she had bought for herself, but didn’t use as she thought it was too big. I was in the market for a new blanket, so now I won’t have to buy one. 

I saved the bags the cat food came in after I poured them into our large cat food container. These make great garbage bag liners as they do not leak. 
Our other grocery order was delivered from Walmart. We ordered enough groceries for at least three weeks. Several items were out of stock, so we just did the best we could. 
One loaf of bread I bought was molded when I opened it, so I called and received a refund on that. Also, I bought a box of bleach tablets for the tank of the commode, but the box was empty, so that was refunded as well. I would have thought the shopper would realize how lightweight the box was. 
Norton renewed our antivirus protection for another year one month early and for the full price. So, I called them and was able to get 50% off, so they will be issuing a refund for $57. 
I watched a less than two minute video this week about the food shortages and how some stores are using fake food to try and hide their empty shelves. 

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
This week I switched from iceberg to leaf lettuce to save money. The iceberg lettuce was priced at $1.78 and I can do without it at that price. 

On Sunday, tired of being out of bread, I made a loaf of “artisan” bread to have with our dinner. 
We did all the usual things like cooking from scratch, using up any leftovers to avoid food waste, being creative in making meals. Even after I bought groceries, I continued to make meals based on using up the food we had here before the new food was used. 
Meals This Week
Friday: Chili with Macaroni, Salad
Saturday: Italian Sausage, Spaghetti, Tomato and Feta Cheese Skillet dinner. This is something I just made up using ingredients I had on hand. It turned out to be a big hit, so I was happy about that. 
Sunday: Chicken Fried Rice and Stirfry Vegetables 
Monday: Italian Sub Sandwiches, BBQ Chips
Tuesday: Hamburgers with Onions and Pickles
Wednesday: Polish Sausage, Potatoes and Green Beans with Onions
Thursday: Creamy Beef with Noodles, Mashed Potatoes, Corn
Recipe of the Week
This is a recipe that I was given back in the early 1990s. We thought it was really good at the time, but I haven’t made it since then. Isn’t it funny how you remember something being so good, but you have it again years later and it is just OK? 
Anyway, I made it for Bailey today and she liked it, but said she wouldn’t request it. 
Im not a fan of pasta, especially large pieces of it, so I went with a medium egg noodle for this, which I liked so much better than the large egg noodle. I didn’t even realize there was a difference in the sizes of egg noodles. 
I did use healthy requests soups, so that may have been the difference for me. 
Anyway, here is the recipe in case you’re interested. 
Creamy Beef
Ingredients: 
1 pound beef stew meat1 can cream of celery soup1 can cream of mushroom soup1 can cheddar cheese soup
Directions:
Brown beef in skillet on stovetop or Instant PotIf using Instant Pot, add one cup of water and pressure cook for 35 minutes. Remove beef, and drain water.Mix three soups together and add to beef and mix together. Warm through. If using crockpot, add browned beef and three soups to crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. Serve with egg noodles or mashed potatoes. 
Saving on Entertainment
I’ve been watching Dateline for free on Peacock TV this week. They have multiple seasons on there if you’re interested. 
Freebies
Bailey was able to get in on some of the Ibotta freebies this week like the cream of mushroom soup, which we’ve already used. 
One of Bailey’s friends was having a contest on who could list the most items in one day. She won on one of the days and received a $10 Starbucks gift card. We’ve been steaming, processing, and listing like mad scientists this week. LOL 
That is all the news to report on our frugal week in Tennessee. Thank you for dropping by, you are always welcome here. We would love to hear about your week in the comment section.
Belinda~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree