My Frugal Week
One way we save money on our grocery budget is by keeping our grocery spending under control. We spent $62.89 on groceries in September. We did that by relying on our food storage and by looking for opportunities to get free food in our community.
Several organizations give away free produce at certain times and sometimes people will do a pantry cleanout, so I look for those. Free food is a great way to improve your food economics. Some people will turn down free items offered to them for various reasons, but if you need the items, then by all means, accept the free items. Accepting and using free items is a good way to save money.
Other ways to save money include making a grocery list and sticking to it and our budget. Going without a list is not an option if I want to stay under my grocery budget. Of course, if I come across a good markdown I'm always open to the possibilities.
When I do go out of the house to run errands, I make sure I'm prepared for the day. Being prepared means having a plan for my spending. I make sure to have breakfast before I leave and bring a lunch or snack with me depending on how long I'll be out of the house.
Since we live rural, our travel times are more than if we lived in town, so I prepare for that. The food I bring ensures I'm not buying fast food. Eating out and convenience foods are more expensive these days.
If you are prone to picking up dinner on the way home because you are tired, plan your meal the night before. Place meat to thaw in the refrigerator, cut up vegetables, and set out the slow cooker to be ready in the morning.
Toss everything into the slow cooker and dinner will be ready when you get home. Doing this ensures I keep on track spending wise because it's easy to order food or go out to eat when I'm tired.
We plan meals around basic foods and what is on sale. We very rarely include steaks or roasts or lobster in our menus. If we do it's because I found them on markdown or on sale.
We also serve meatless meals each week to save money on meat. I keep an inventory of the foods I have on hand and update them every few months or so. In fact I did an inventory of my tomato products just this past week.
We do our very best to avoid food waste. We find ways to preserve food like canning, freezing, or dehydrating when we cannot eat it all. If we have leftovers we eat them until they are gone or freeze the leftovers. We do not have extra money to be throwing away food.
Doing without and making do was something people did during the Great Depression and the war years that followed. Many people didn’t have a choice if they wanted to eat. People ate a lot of beans because they were cheap and nutritious. Casseroles and soups were made more and became popular because little bits of food could be mixed together to make a more filling meal.
What’s for Lunch
We've been enjoying our planned overs from Souper Sunday soup for lunches during the week. Soup is a great money saving and a healthy food for lunch. I know I've lost a couple of pounds this month as I've been incorporating it more and more into my diet.
Another lunch item this week involved potatoes, both sweet and yellow. Sometimes we have leftover potatoes from dinner the night before, so I took some of them this week and would reheat them in the air fryer. They made a delicious lunch a couple of days this week.
What’s for Dinner
Meatless Monday & Tuesday ~ Vegetable Soup & Cornbread. This soup started off with an onion sautéed in olive oil. Then I added tomatoes, beans, corn on the cob that I cut off the cob, and carrots as well as a few spices like bay leaves and fennel. It was like a big bowl of comfort.
Wednesday & Thursday ~ Turkey Burgers made into Salisbury like Steaks with mushrooms in Tomato Gravy, Roasted Potatoes, Field Peas, Toasted Garlic Buns.
Also on Thursday evening I put some pinto beans on to soak overnight and then on Friday I cooked those in the Instant Pot with onions and garlic. I want to have these on hand for meals over the weekend.
Friday ~ Salmon Patties, Cabbage, Carrots, Cucumber Salad.
Saturday & Sunday ~ Chili ~ It's chilly, wet and rainy here, which makes it the perfect time for chili. I used some of the pinto beans I made on Friday, added ground beef, tomatoes, onions, green chilies, garlic, chili powder, salt & pepper.
What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?
Belinda
Homemaker at Heart
