Fourth Frugal Friday May 2022

Welcome to Friday! 
Quote of the Week

Buy things because you need them, not because they are on sale. 

My Frugal Week
We went to several yard sales last Friday, but there weren’t very many to choose from. We suspect that graduation and parties had something to do with that. We did find some Scott’s toilet paper priced at $1.00 for 6 rolls. It’s normally $1.00 per roll of the 1,000 sheets, so it was a good find. 
 I deleted several emails this week where the sender was enticing me with free shipping and discounts if I purchased their product. There wasn’t anything I needed this week, so now all of those emails have been deleted.
I wanted some new curtains in one of our bedrooms, but it wasn’t a need, so I was going to add it to my yard sale list and hoped to run across some this summer. But, in cleaning out Mom’s bedroom, I found a beautiful pair in her cedar chest, so I will wash and iron them and use them. 
Update on my Mom
Mom is currently in the ICU in the hospital and the news isn’t good as she is very sick. We thought we lost her on Wednesday, but she is still here for the moment and is on life support at this time. It’s been very hard on all of us as we only have one mother in this life. I’m very sad, but hanging in there as I know this is all part of life. 
I didn’t respond to comments on my blog post last Friday for this reason. I know you will all understand that my heart was in another place. ❤️ 
Question of the Week
This is a long shot, but here goes…do any of you know of a Watkins product called chocolate dessert mix? They used to make and sell it, but discontinued it in 2015 because consumers tastes were changing and Watkins wanted to keep up with the times. 
I’ve often thought it was simply pudding mix and I could substitute pudding for this product. I could also substitute a dry homemade pudding mix for the product. I have a cake recipe that calls for this product, a recipe I made many times in the early 1990s. I would love to make it again now and was just wondering. 
The recipe is called Vanilla Filled Fudge Crown Cake and is really good as a layer of cheesecake bakes into the top of the chocolate Bundt cake. Let me know if you would like the recipe and I’ll post it next week.
Helping Others
There is some food here that Mom enjoyed eating that we are going to donate to the little free pantry here, so someone else can benefit from it. 
Avoiding Spending
This week I’ve mostly avoided spending money. Sometimes it comes easy for me and other times it takes a concentrated effort. I mentioned a week or so ago that I set my grocery budget at $200 and would not spend any more this month. So far that is going well. The contents of my kitchen cupboards are being used and that’s a good feeling. 
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
For several reasons I like it when things get used up in my pantry. On Monday I took the drawers out of the refrigerator and scrubbed them and the refrigerator inside and out. This is a much easier task when the refrigerator isn’t full. 

This week I heard a tip about putting saltine crackers in chicken salad. The lady said it extended the meat and no one could ever tell it was in there. I thought about it and we use crackers to extend all sorts of meat like ground beef in meatloaf and salmon patties. So, I tried it with some tuna salad and it tasted good to me. It’s another way to extend expensive foods with inexpensive foods in order to save money. 

Grocery Shortages?
One of the items I like to keep in my pantry is Hormel canned ham. Walmart has not had this in a very long time. I had been ordering it from a locally owned grocery store and ordered some recently, but they only had one can, unfortunately. I hope this isn’t a sign that they, like Walmart, will no longer have this product.
Walmart finally has chicken on their online grocery pickup app after not having it the last two months Ive tried to order it. There was a limit of one package, so that is what I ordered. I’m not putting my order in until later next week, and I hope they still have it in stock at that time. We’ve missed having things like Pineapple Sticky Chicken on our menus. 
Meals This Week
Friday:  Grilled Chicken, Brown Rice Pilaf, Steamed Broccoli
Saturday:  Chicken Fajitas, Mexican Rice, Broccoli. 
Sunday: Spaghetti, Green Beans with Onions, Garlic Bread.
Monday: Chicken Tenders, Rice Pilaf, Corn on the Cob. 
Tuesday: Pizza as usual for movie night.
Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas, Roasted & Smashed Potatoes, Broccoli.
Thursday: Chicken Strips, Potato Salad, Carrots, Broccoli.
Recipe of the Week
The following recipe for Taco Casserole is just a basic recipe that probably everyone has tried at one time or another. This recipe calls for a bag of nacho cheese Doritos, but I would use store brand nacho cheese chips, tortilla chips, or even tortillas in place of the name brand variety in order to save money.
Also, you can serve this with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and sour cream as toppings. 
Taco Casserole
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beefsalt and pepper1 medium onion1 package taco seasoning mix1 package nacho cheese Doritos 1 package (8 ounces) cheddar cheese, shredded2 tomatoes, chopped
Directions:
Brown and crumble ground beef with onions, salt & pepper, and drain.In a casserole dish layer the chips, meat, cheese, and tomatoes. Make the last layer to be a cheese layer.Bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese melts.Enjoy!
Saving on Entertainment
On Tuesday we went to the theater to watch Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. As many of you know Bailey is a huge Harry Potter fan. We went on Tuesday because tickets are only $5.50 instead of the usual $8.50 for matinee or $10.75 after 6 p.m. So, we saved $6.00 by going on Tuesday and also for a free popcorn for being a loyalty card member. 
Freebies
Free popcorn at the movies on Tuesday.

Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section

Belinda~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree