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Saturday, February 25, 2023

Fourth Frugal Friday of February 2023




Welcome to Friday! 

My Frugal Week


I tried to get out early on Saturday morning, but couldn’t get out because of a tree down in the driveway. Our handyman was coming on Saturday anyway, so I let him know about it and he took care of it over the next two days. 

We’ve had sixteen inches of rain over the past month and the ground was so saturated the tree came out of the ground root ball and all. The ground just can’t hold any more water. 

Later in the week we had some beautiful spring like weather. On Tuesday it was 68 degrees and I opened up the windows in the house and let it air out. It was so nice and refreshing.


We have hyacinths and daffodils blooming here now, which is definitely a sign of spring.

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen


Save A Lot through Instacart has 30 medium eggs for $6.79 this week. It was so nice to have more than one dozen eggs finally. 

I stopped in at Food City yesterday and found several markdowns. I’ll take a photo of them Ms post it next week, hopefully. 

Meals This Week

All meals are served with either salad or vegetables and may not always be listed here. 

* If you see a dinner in bold print that means we had it more than once this week.

Dirty Rice with Polish Sausage, Corn on the Cob. 
Meatballs in Brown Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Peas. 
Hamburgers with Cheese, Tater Tots, Cole Slaw.
Baked Fish, Scalloped Potatoes, Carrots, and Cole Slaw. 
Chicken Fajitas, Tortillas, Mexican Rice, Roasted Carrots, Onions, Potatoes & Peppers.
Ham, Mac & Cheese, Carrots, and Apple Pie. 🍎 
Baked Chicken, Brown Rice Pilaf, Steamed Broccoli.


Recipe of the Week


Scalloped Potatoes


Ingredients:


3 pounds potatoes, sliced 

¼ cup butter

1 large onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

¼ cup flour

2 cups milk

1 cup chicken broth or 1 cup hot water and 1 bouillon cube

Salt and pepper to taste


Directions:


Preheat the oven to 350˚F.


Add bouillon cube to one cup of hot water in a canning jar and dissolve.

Add milk to the canning jar and mix together.

Set aside.


To make the sauce, melt butter, onion and garlic over medium heat. 

Cook until onion is softened. 

Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. 

Reduce heat to low.


Add a small amount of the liquid from the canning jar to the flour roux and whisk until smooth. Continue adding liquid until it is a thick, smooth consistency.

Bring to a boil over medium heat while continuing to whisk.  Stir in salt and pepper and let boil for 1 minute.


Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. 

Combine potatoes with sauce and place in pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes until golden brown.



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

~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~
Proverbs 31:27





Monday, February 20, 2023

Menu Plan Monday



We are at the nearing the end of the month, which is usually the time I get creative with meals around here. This week we have the following dinners on the menu: salmon patties, baked fish, baked chicken, chicken fajitas, ham and soup beans, chicken pot pie, and quiche or breakfast for dinner. 

Come back on Friday to see what was served with each meal. 

What is on the menu in your home this week?

Belinda
Mortgage & Debt Free
~ Living within our Means ~
My Linktree

~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~
Proverbs

Friday, February 17, 2023

Third Frugal Friday of Frugal February 2023



Welcome to Frugal Friday! 

My Frugal Week

We made it to Friday again. We’ve had all kinds of weather here this week…hot, cold, windy, rainy, you name it and we’ve had it. Today is very cold outside, so we are snug as a bug in a rug in the house. 

I had a half gallon of almond milk go bad this week even though it was dated April 23, so I called Almond Breeze and they sent me a replacement coupon and some money saving coupons to use later. 

I went to see my doctor this week. There has been a shortage of one of my medicines and I’ve been unable to get it filled, so we discussed it and she replaced the drug with another one. Has anyone else had trouble getting their prescription drugs?

Freebies


My doctor gave me three free Time Health magazines while I was in her office to see her this week. 

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen

One way to stretch eggs since the cost is higher than we are used to is to add rice to them as a filling for breakfast burritos. You can add whatever you want to them such as cheese, ham, black olives, etc. it helps to stretch one or two eggs to feed one or two people. 

I’ve read in the news this week though that the price of eggs will be coming down soon. 😊 

Meals This Week

All meals are served with either salad or vegetables and may not always be listed here. 

* If you see a dinner in bold print that means we had it more than once this week.

Chicken Fajitas, Rice, Corn on the Cob
White Chicken Enchiladas
Homemade Pizza
Ham, Rice and Cheese, Broccoli
Chicken Wraps, Coleslaw

Saving Money YouTube Videos

Grocery Shopping on a Budget



Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. It’s been a melancholy kind of week here. I hope you’ve had a good week though and would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.

Belinda
Mortgage & Debt Free
~ Living within our Means ~
My Linktree

~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~
Proverbs 31:27



Friday, February 10, 2023

Second Frugal Friday of Frugal February 2023


Welcome to Friday! 

My Frugal Week

On Monday I had a doctors appointment and stopped in at Walmart to get a few groceries. I picked up Polish sausage, chicken, ground beef, corn on the cob, green beans, peas, corn, cheese, cream cheese, milk, ramen, bread, tomato sauce, elbow macaroni, tortillas, and saltine crackers.

I had two different gift cards, one with $1.06 and one with $1.37 on it and a $25 gift card from my insurance company, which came this week, that brought my total down. 

I found some body wash on clearance and paid $2.78 for four bottles of Saint Ives and $2.37 for two bottles of Nivea. 

On a Thursday morning the power went off here for over eight hours. When it finally did come back on I made a simple meal instead of cooking from scratch. 

Freebies


On Sunday we went to the monthly Trading Post and picked up one loaf of bread, one twelve pack of buns, two onions, and a five pound bag of potatoes. With the price of groceries these days, it’s nice to be able to get a few things for free. 

Avoiding Spending

I couldn’t avoid spending this week as I was out of laundry detergent and garbage bags, and I also bought cat food for the month and then bought groceries. 

I buy the Husky large trash bags from Walmart in the 30 gallon size, in the 80 count box for $15.87, which makes them 20 cents each. 

I also bought Tide laundry detergent in the 92 ounce bottle for $12.96, which came with a $5 off my next order when I bought two. If we stick to the smallest amount of detergent when we do laundry, this will cost approximately 20 cents per load. 

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen

We have two above the refrigerator freezers here and one of them was empty this week before I went grocery shopping. We’ve done a good job of using up the food we had in there lately. 

Meals This Week

All meals are served with either salad or vegetables and may not always be listed here. 

* If you see a dinner in bold print that means we had it more than once this week.

Beefy Baked Beans, Roasted Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables. 
Polish Sausage, Dirty Rice, Mixed Vegetables.
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Potato Salad. 
Homemade Pizzas
Baked Beanie Weenies, Mashed Potatoes, Green Peas. 
Hamburgers, Potato Salad, Homemade Garlic Pickles. 
Spaghetti and Meatballs, Garlic Bread. 

Saving Money YouTube Videos

Poor Man’s Meals ~ What to Eat When You Have No Money

Warren Buffett ~ How to Live on an Extremely Low Income

What I've been Reading This Week

Living Cheaply with Style written by Ernest Callenbach. 

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

~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~
Proverbs 31:27





Friday, February 3, 2023

First Frugal Friday of Frugal February 2023



Welcome to Friday!

My Frugal Week

Bailey and I did a pet sitting job in the secret city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee this week. We were out of town, but only ate out one time as a treat. Otherwise, I made easy things to eat because I don’t like to cook like I do at home in someone else’s kitchen. Foods were things like bagels with cream cheese and fruit for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, heat and eat items for dinners. 

We were in an area that offered Walmart delivery, which is something we don’t have at home.  We do have Walmart Plus though, so the delivery was free even though I only ordered $26 worth of items. What a great convenience for people who have this service available to them regularly.  I could easily get used to this service. 

We actually found and went to a yard sale while we were there!  Bailey found two things for her shops, but I left empty handed, but that is ok. There isn’t anything that I need right now and I really enjoy having less stuff to take care of and store.


On Tuesday, our last day in Oak Ridge, we went to the Knoxville store of McKay Used Books. I thought their Knoxville store would offer more items than Chattanooga because it is a bigger town, but I think the Chattanooga store offers a little bit more. 


The reason for this could be that Knoxville has so many Little Free Libraries all over the town. We had fun going to several of them, and some of them even matched the house where they were located. 

Finally, we ate out one time at Yassin’s Falafel House where we ordered the Grilled Chicken Shawrma which came with a delicious garlic white sauce. All in all it was a fun trip, but I am glad to be home again

Freebies

Pet Smart gave us a booklet, which had a coupon for a free bag of cat food.

Question of the Week

Inquiring minds want to know…do you think there is a conspiracy surrounding the chicken feed and chickens not laying eggs and the price of eggs right now? Several reports have come up recently that chickens who are fed commercial feed have not been laying eggs in the last few months, but once the owners change the feed to a different one the chickens start laying eggs again. Hmm…

I think it was a combination of the chickens not laying eggs contributing to the egg shortage along with the Avian chicken flu, which led to the killing of thousands of chickens. 

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen

We were close to a Kroger and stopped in and found apples, potatoes, and clementines for 99 cents a bag. Also found a marked down salad with apples, sandwich and chicken tenders. 

Meals This Week

All meals are served with either salad or vegetables and may not always be listed here. 

* If you see a dinner in bold print that means we had it more than once this week.

Mini Charcuterie Board
Chicken Tenders, Apple Salad
Pork Tamales, Potato Salad
BBQ Sandwiches, Potato Salad
Better Cheddars, Salad
Chicken Shawarma Pitas with garlic white sauce
Fluffy Baked Omelet, Baked Potatoes, Corn
Loose Meat Hamburgers, Chips

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

~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~
Proverbs 31:27