Friday, March 17, 2023

Third Frugal Friday of March 2023


Welcome to Friday! 

My Frugal Week

On Saturday night we went with family to the Mexican restaurant to celebrate a family birthday. We saw people we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic started, and had a great time visiting with each other. 

We had a cold snap on Tuesday and even had to turn on the heat. Native Southerners call this Red Bud Winter. The first of the Tennessee folklore winters, which are based on what trees are blooming at the time. 

We received the first of the money from the trees being cut down.  It would be great if we ended up with enough money to pay the property taxes next year. We’ve already paid the property taxes for this year. 

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen

We have several cans of vegetable soup that were gifted to us, which needed doctoring up when used. I added a drained can of mixed vegetables to mine along with some black pepper, which made it more palatable and made an affordable lunch for several days. 

Breakfasts included rice left over from dinners and added to scrambled eggs in a flour tortilla with chipotle sauce for Bailey. Oatmeal, muffins, cinnamon raisin toast and fruit were other options. Using up the leftovers is definitely economical. 

I perused the grocery store sale ads this week and the one good sale I noticed was the twelve count box of Sprite priced at 3 for for $12.00. We keep it on hand for medicinal purposes and that is the lowest I have seen it in a long time, so we bought some for that purpose. 

I went through my recipes for meal planning and using our local Fresh and Low, came up with a meal plan for seven meals this week and spent $54 to get the items not already in my pantry. I ordered through Instacart and had it delivered to my back door. 

One item I bought that is new to us is the Zatarain’s Andouille sausage to make with dirty rice this week. We’ve never tried it before and at $5.59 I feel it will be an economical meal. 

A few years ago I watched as an employee in Whole Foods took just the broccoli stem and made a green juice with it. The broccoli stem is as tasty as the florets and in this day and age of expensive groceries and not wasting food, we need to eat the broccoli stems too. I peel mine and chop them up, cook them and they are delicious!

So in order to avoid food waste, eat the broccoli stems and bread heels. If you turn the heel over and let the heel be inside the sandwich you can hide it. It works great for grilled cheese. 

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.

- Salmon Patties, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Beans with Onions. 
- Mexican Restaurant for a Family Birthday Celebration. 
- Tacos in soft Corn Tortillas with Cheddar Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes and Red Onions. As usual, I used onions and one can of potatoes, chopped up, to stretch the - meat for another meal. 
Baked Potatoes with choice of toppings including butter, sour cream, broccoli, chives, dill, cheese, and the last of the taco meat if desired. 
- Movie Night Pizza 
- Chicken, Potato Salad, Cole Slaw. 
- Hamburgers with Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions, Tater Tots. 

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

18 comments:

  1. Peeled broccoli stems are my favorite part! Nice that you got to visit with family and yay on the extra funds!!!!
    Have a great weekend

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    1. Thank you, Cheryl. I hope you have a great weekend too.

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  2. Please let us know what you thought of the Andouille . I have a package of the dirty rice in the pantry and need to use it before long. I usually put conecuh but would give Zatarain's a try if it is as good as it sounds.

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    1. We are having it for dinner today, so I will definitely let you know what we think of it, Anne.

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  3. It was a busy week, so not many frugal wins. I picked up some free fruit from a neighbor (we had a big storm, and many of the trees dropped their fruit), & used some store rewards to pick up a few things we needed.

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  4. Glad you were able to celebrate with family! Yum on the Mexican restaurant, I'm craving a burrito as big as my head. :D
    Let us know if Zatarain's andouille sausage is good. I've tried another brand, and really liked it in jambalaya.
    Glad you were able to get some money for the trees, and I hope you get enough for the property taxes.
    I haven't heard of red bud winter, but I have heard blackberry winter and guess it is later in the spring when the blackberries bloom. I've had to turn my fireplace on this week too as it has been cold.
    Hope you have a great weekend.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kathy. We are having the dirty rice/andouille sausage today, so I will definitely let you know. Oh yes, BlackBerry Winter comes in May and another cold snap. It’s still chilly here from the red buds blooming.

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  5. I love the bread crusts. They make marvelous toast. Also if you don't want to eat them, dry and make into bread crumbs.

    You had a very frugal week.

    God bless.

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    1. My Mom loved the bread crusts too and always ate the bread heels as she said they made good toast too. 💕

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  6. The money you are getting for the trees is such a blessing. I use to always throw away the broccoli stems until a lady showed me how to peel off the woody part down until you get to the white center part. I chop them up and steam them or I just eat them raw with salt. I do the same thing with the cabbage core. I eat the center core raw with salt. I learned this from my dad who grew up during the Great Depression. I thought cabbage would be much lower in price because of St. Patricks day being today but the best price I could find was .49 lb at Kroger. I was shocked at the grocery prices today. I went to Aldi and they have really gone up on their prices. When I volunteered at our church soup kitchen for the homeless, we would use the heels of the bread and turn them so they were on the inside of the sandwich just like you said. Happy St. Patricks Day!

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    Replies
    1. Great minds think alike! 😊 The lowest we saw on cabbage here was 49 cents too. I was thinking it would go cheaper for St Patrick’s Day too. I will have to try the cabbage core with salt. I like that idea.

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  7. I love how creative you get with food. I've seen Zatarains andouille at Sams, but have never tried it. Please let us know how it tastes, because I love andouille sausage. I normally buy Johnsonville sausage. I like to make bread pudding from the bread heels. I also use it in frikkadel, instead of breadcrumbs. That is a great price for Sprite. I just noticed that a 12 pk now costs $6.49 around here. Hope you & Bailey have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Thank you! I do enjoy being in the kitchen. Yes, on the price of Sprite. It’s been crazy lately, so I was happy to find it on sale. I hope you have a great weekend too!

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    2. Have you tried "Starry" yet? That's apparently Pepsi's reboot of Sierra Mist, and my great-niece told me it tastes a lot like Sprite. The reason I bring it up is that Ibotta, Shopmium and Coupons.com have been offering rebates for it.

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    3. I've not tried Starry yet, Donna. I need to check into that, thank you.

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  8. Tamar Adler's "The Everlasting Meal: Cooking With Economy and Grace" suggests turning broccoli stems, cauliflower cores and other odds and ends into a kind of pesto. Chop them roughly, add garlic, simmer in a small amount of water and olive oil, then blend to the consistency you prefer.

    Very good on pita bread or crackers, or even over rice.

    ReplyDelete

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