Friday, November 19, 2021

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 meat
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup

Directions:

Brown beef in skillet on stovetop or Instant Pot
If 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 ~
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20 comments:

  1. Sounds like another good week for you. Did you guys use Ibotta to get the free turkey deal they had going?
    Leaf lettuce is better any way - head lettuce has no nutritional value to speak of.
    Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We didn’t get in on the free turkey, which is OK with us as we are not big fans of turkey. I wish we were as that was a great deal.

      You’re so right about the void of nutrients in the iceberg lettuce, Cheryl. The leaf lettuce works for me and was 30 cents cheaper.

      I hope you have a great weekend. :)

      Delete
  2. We haven't had lettuce in a while. I'd have liked on tacos this week, but it was so expensive. I'm still figuring out if the Ibotta deals work for me. I just like not thinking too hard so Aldi works. Bailey does so well with her eBay business. Congratulations to her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sam. I’m like you, I don’t have to like to think about the deals for Ibotta. I will leave it up to Bailey to figure out. 😂

      Delete
  3. I am always so inspired by the ways you save money. I love how you pay attention to things and call for refunds, I do the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kim. My philosophy is every little bit helps. :)

      Delete
  4. Sounds like a good week!
    Glad you were able to find some cat food. I still have trouble getting canned cat food sometimes. Great deal on the canned ham. Glad your Mom passed on the blanket too. Congratulations to Bailey on winning the contest. I hope she makes lots of sales.
    It has been chilly here too, and it has been hard to get warm. We are sitting around with blankets watching tv, but I hope we adjust to the cooler temps soon...high of 60's one day and 30's the next...brrr. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, so was able to watch the lunar eclipse last night at 4 am. I bet I conk out early tonight though.
    Hope you have a fun weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kathy. I didn’t realize people were having trouble getting cat food. My cats would be hanging around the back door letting me know they’re hungry. LOL

      I’m sitting here with a blanket on too. It’s 32 outside this morning and 53 in the house, so it’s definitely blanket weather.

      How neat that you got to see the lunar eclipse. I was sleeping and didn’t get to see it, although I did see several photos of it yesterday.

      I hope you have a fun weekend too. :)

      Delete
  5. What great ways to save.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds like you had a good week. Your menu always sounds so good Belinda.
    Omw on the fake food video. One thing I have noticed is that Walmart moves the few products they have to the front of the shelf, to give shoppers the illusion that they are fully stocked. They do it with many box items, especially cereal.
    Hope you & Bailey have a wonderful weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ms. Goose. I haven’t been in the stores to know what they are doing, but I found the video interesting and thought my readers would as well.

      I hope you have a great weekend too. :)

      Delete
  7. Dateline is also available as a podcast as well, if you're on the go or doing something where you can't watch but just want to listen! I've listen to almost all of them. :)

    I hope you have a great weekend! My biggest win was using up a HUGE amount of leftover rice in a casserole that the whole family loved. Rice often lingers in my fridge until it goes sour, so this felt pretty good. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn’t know Dateline was also a podcast, Stephanie. Thank you for telling me. I will be sure to check that out.

      Kudos to you for using up the rice. I love using things like that, which saves us money and keeps us from wasting food. Way to go!

      I hope you have a great weekend too. :)

      Delete
  8. We avoided buying lettuce last week as well, and I subbed in kale from the garden. Unfortunately, our kale looks like it's been overtaken by some sort of bug, so we are back to lettuce until I figure that out.

    Nice frugal wins this week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I hope you can figure out what is eating the kale. We had that issue with our tomatoes this year.

      Delete
  9. It's so funny you mentioned the price of iceberg lettuce. I just bought a head of iceberg lettuce on Friday from Kroger and it was $1.89!!! I know it has no nutritional value but I need it for my favorite Thanksgiving leftover: Turkey sandwich on white bread with mayo and lettuce! I could eat those every day and be happy. I hope you and your family have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I hope you and your family have. Blessed Thanksgiving too. Sometimes you just gotta have lettuce like on a BLT for example. Nothing else will do. :)

      Delete

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