Second Frugal Friday of October 2022

Welcome to Friday! 
Quote of the Week

“I can face the winter with calm. Crisp and sparkling days, long pleasant evenings, cheery fires. Good work shall be done this winter. Life shall be lived well. The end of the summer is not the end of the world. Here’s to October.” ~ A.A. Milne 

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Price of Gas this Week
$3.23 ~ The price of gas here rose 24 cents per gallon over the past week. 
My Frugal Week
The weather definitely turned cooler this week. I was able to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows several days. As a result, I’m looking forward to lower electric bills the next few months. 
With the cooler weather comes the changing of the colors of the leaves. We’re starting to see multiple color changes here and are looking forward to more.
Bailey spent last weekend with a friend in Knoxville, Tennessee and they went to multiple thrift stores. She was able to find a bunch of shirts in my size, so she bought them for me to go through. I picked out several to keep and the rest went into her inventory. 
What I love about this lot of shirts is that two of them are in a smaller size of my favorite shirt that is now too big for me. I love it when that happens. 
On Sunday I went to Food City to cherry pick some sale items. There was a time that we only bought groceries that were on sale, but with Covid we didn’t really enter the grocery stores, but in our efforts to save money I’ve decided we need to be doing this again. I went after the church crowd went through, so it was relatively empty. 
One way we are saving on food is buying some foods in cans, like salmon for example. I bought two cans in this haul for $3.39, and even though I have bought it cheaper in the past, this still makes an inexpensive meal for us with leftovers. 
We bought enough food to make at least twelve meals buying only items on sale for $33.48, which works out to $2.79 per meal for the protein portion of these dinners. Prices at the grocery stores have been frustrating lately, but thankfully we have the tools needed to help us manage as we weather this latest financial storm.

I received another $5.00 survey from Consumer Opinion Institute this week.  
I perused the grocery stores ads online for free rather than buy the newspaper for $1.50 to see them. 
Photo of the Week
Our black walnut tree is loaded this year. It seems to produce very well every other year and this is the year for that. 

Black walnuts from our walnut tree

Helping Others
We donated several food items to some of the Blessing Boxes/Little Free Pantries in our area. One of them, located by one of the schools, needed cleaning and straightening, so I took the trash out and lined the food up, so it looked more presentable. 
Avoiding Spending
We had five no spend days this week. We spent money on Sunday for groceries and then on Wednesday for my Dad’s 80th birthday. I had Cracker Barrel send him his favorite meal: Meatloaf, Pinto Beans, Fried Okra, and Hash Brown Casserole. He loved it and thank me many times over. 
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
The Dirty Rice I made this week turned out to be very spicy to the point where I didn’t eat it as it was too spicy for me. It was even a little too spicy for Bailey, so rather than waste it, I added it to some eggs for breakfast with a little sour cream to cool the rice. I rolled them up in flour tortillas and we ate them for breakfast with no problem. Zero food waste. 
Speaking of not wasting food, I used the liquid off the canned salmon I made for dinner one night. I used it to wet the dry cat food that I fed to the cats and they ate it all. 
Meals This Week
Better Cheddars, Rice and Cheese, BroccoliDirty Rice, Carrots, Green PeasSalmon Patties,  Green Beans, CarrotsBreakfast for Dinner: Homemade Biscuits & Gravy, Sausage and Scrambled EggsHomemade Pizza Ham, Carrots, BroccoliMeatloaf, Pinto Beans, Okra
Recipe of the Week
Both of my parents and their families came from Kentucky and although I grew up in Illinois, my language and cooking definitely has southern roots due to my heritage. This recipe is part of that heritage. 
This is a “recipe” for gravy, but you don’t really need a recipe to make gravy. I learned to make this gravy from my Mom who learned it from her sister Clara Belle. And I watched my grandmother make it many times as well. 
You just cook your breakfast meat, remove the meat and use the drippings and then add flour to make a roux. Stir that over heat enough to remove the taste of the flour and then add your milk. Stir until bubbly and thick. 
You can also leave your sausage in the skillet to make sausage gravy. Gravy is affordable and delicious and you can even reheat it the next day if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers.
Bailey and I had breakfast for dinner on Monday evening and we had enough leftovers to have it for breakfast the next morning too.
Breakfast Gravy
Ingredients:
1/4 cup drippings from bacon or sausage1/4 flour3 cups milkSalt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Place meat drippings in skillet and heat through.Add flour to make a roux.Stir until desired color is present. Add 3 cups of milk.Stir continuously until gravy is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Saving Money YouTube Videos
One thing I do when doing certain tasks, like ironing, is to also listen to money saving YouTube videos. It passes the time while doing chores that are rather dull. 
How to Live on $30 a Week ~ Prepper Princess
How Little Could You Live On if there is Another Great Depression ~ Prepper Princess
Saving on Entertainment
We do not pay for cable TV here as there is enough free entertainment online without having to pay for it. 
Loretta Lynn Life Story (1990) 
What I've been Reading This Week
Living  on Almost Nothing by Amber Storck

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

BelindaMortgage & Debt Free~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree