Saving Money in My Frugal Kitchen ~ Week #2 December 2025

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money over the past week, along with the meals that made it to our dinner table. You'll find practical tips on how we saved money on food hopefully to inspire your own meal planning using the foods you have in your own pantry

My Frugal Week

Continuing with my plan of using the "lurkers" in my pantry, this week I purposefully used up the individual bowls of soup I had in the freezer for my lunches. This freed up some valuable freezer space. I also used up a small can of green chilies from the freezer, three small containers of salsa, and some frozen baby carrots.

My goal is to use up those items that we have rather than buying additional food. I have several packages of specialty lentils, quinoa, etc. that I’ll be incorporating into our meals this month. 

We went grocery shopping for the month on Wednesday. We went to UGO, Kroger, and Ingles. We found several markdowns we were able to purchase. Ingles had their brand of cream cheese on sale for $1.23, so I bought enough to use for the Christmas dishes I plan on making. 

One item I’ll be making is hash brown casserole. I was able to find the 32 ounce bags of O’Brien hash browns at UGO for 99 cents. They sell for $3.42 at Walmart, so that was a good deal. 

On Saturday I went to Food City because they had their 32 ounce bags of shredded cheese for $5.00 with a limit of four. I bought mozzerella as I have plenty of cheddar on hand. I also picked up some apples on markdown. 

On Saturday afternoon I worked on several tasks to organize in the kitchen and not waste any food. I took the chicken I’d cooked from Gordon’s and froze it for a future meal, bagged up six bags of chopped celery for the freezer, stored the free bagels we got this week in the freezer, pulled some stuff like seeds from the freezer to make room for the extra food. 

Both above the refrigerator freezers are full right now, so I won’t have to do any grocery shopping for the rest of the month. Next year we want to purchase a deep freezer to be able to take as advantage of the good sales we find. We found more turkey sausage on sale on Saturday but only bought six as that is all I could fit in the freezer. 

Recipe of the Week

Chicken Santa Fe

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rins

1 & 1/2 pounds chicken breasts (24 ounces)

1 cup salsa

1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese

Directions:

Drain corn and place it in bottom of the crock pot.

Drain and rinse black beans and add to corn.

Add 1/2 cup salsa on top of the corn.

Mix well.

Place chicken breasts on top.

Pour another 1/2 cup of salsa over chicken.

Cover and cook on high for 2 & 1/2 to 3 hours.

When chicken is done, take out of the crock pot and cut into pieces or shred.

Cube cream cheese and add chicken and cream cheese to the crock pot.

Allow cream cheese to melt.

Stir well and serve.

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Chicken Tacos, Corn, Black Beans, Red Onions, Tomatoes, Black Olives, Jalapeños, and Chipotle Sauce. 

Using a rotisserie chicken from the freezer, I pulled all the meat off the bones and chopped it up to make taco meat. I added green chilis (a small previously opened can from the freezer), three small containers of salsa, onions, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper.

We used free lettuce and tomatoes from the Mennonites to top them along with cheddar cheese (Kroger sale), black olives (Gordon’s), red onions, chipotle sauce, and jalapeños. Choice of hard or soft shells, flour or corn. Sides were corn and black beans.

Tuesday ~ BBQ Porkchops, Green Beans with Onions, Steamed Carrots. 

I put the pork chops in the crockpot with bbq sauce in the morning, so they were falling off the bone tender by dinner time. 

Wednesday ~ Chicken Tenders with Chipotle Sauce. 

This was a busy day of thrifting and grocery shopping, and we actually ate diner in the car on the way home. We picked up the hot chicken tenders at Kroger. It was already late when we finally made it to Kroger at 7 p.m., but it turned out well for us as the store wasn’t crowded and we found several markdowns. 

Thursday ~ Chicken Santa Fe, Corn on the Cob, and Carrots. 

This is an old tried and true recipe I made back in the 1990s and saw in my recipe box this week, so I decided to make it again. 

Friday ~ Pizza Cheese Rollups

We had been in and out of the house all day, so dinner was some pizza cheese roll ups I made earlier in the day and we ate in the car on the way to another errand we had to run. 

Saturday ~ Soup & Salad

We had Chicken Fajita Soup for dinner. 

Chicken Fajita Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion 

1 cup chopped red bell pepper 

1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper

1½ tablespoons minced garlic 

2½ teaspoons chili powder

1½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon salt

4 cups chicken broth

2 (14.5-ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

3 tablespoons sour cream

6 tablespoons tortilla strips, optional

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot over medium heat. 

Add 1 cup each onion, red bell pepper and yellow bell pepper.

Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. 

Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and salt. 

Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Stir in 4 cups broth, tomatoes, black beans, and lime juice.

Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. 

Stir in 2 cups shredded chicken; simmer, undisturbed, for 5 minutes.

Ladle the soup into 6 bowls. 

Divide sour cream and tortilla strips among the bowls before serving.

Sunday ~ Egg Roll in a Bowl with Turkey Sausage and Rotisserie Chicken. 

This was an experiment as I’d bought two rotisserie chickens on markdown at Kroger. I pulled the meat off the bones and used some in the soup on Saturday and some in the salad for anyone who wanted that. 

Then on Sunday I decided to use up the last of it for egg roll in a bowl. I included toasted sesame oil, marked down bag of coleslaw, onions, peppers, soy sauce, and fresh grated ginger and garlic. It was delicious. 

What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Image Credit

First Frugal Friday of December 2025

 

Welcome to Frugal Friday

Each Friday here at Frugal Workshop, I love sharing the little frugal wins, quiet savings, and simple strategies that helped us stretch our budget over the past seven days. It’s a gentle look back at the small things that make a big difference.

My Frugal Week
We stayed home on Black Friday and spent no money. We also spent no money on Cyber Monday either. How about you? There were some good sales out there though, and it would be prudent to buy those things you needed when they were on sale. 
This week I ran out of my cats favorite food. We substituted with a bag of Aldi cat food, which they don’t care for and were not eating. I did have some wet cat food and ran out of that on Tuesday, so I ended up giving them a can of tuna with oil I accidentally bought and they loved that. I was able to appease them with that until I went grocery shopping on Wednesday and bought their favorite brand. 
On Monday I did the laundry, which helped me get in over 13,000 steps that day. I also decluttered a little, stopped in at People Helping People for free produce, and Farm Bureau for free calendars. 
Christmas 
I joined a local Christmas card exchange this week. I have plenty of cards and stamps and included both mine and Bailey’s names. The rules are that you must send three cards off the list, but can send more if you choose to do so. 
I miss the days when many people sent Christmas cards, but understand that this tradition is not as celebrated as it was in the past. 
We pulled out our Christmas tree along with decorations and have been slowly decorating our home for Christmas. 
Laundry
We use vinegar, bought at the lowest price, in our washing machine. 
Freebies
Our local Facebook group starts a chat every now and then asking people to mention something they are needing. I had just put a chair mat on my Amazon wish list, so I mentioned that and someone offered one up momentarily. So now I have one under my office chair. 
I also received free calendars, shampoo and conditioner samples, one quart mason jar, three small cookbooks, and a few magazines. 
Saving on Electric
No heat or air conditioning this week. 
Savings of the Week

Gordons - GFS has their boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale in the forty pound box (four bags at 10 pounds each) for $52.00, which makes them $1.30 per pound. I went on Wednesday and picked up a box, which is now in my freezer. 
Saving Money on Entertainment
Bailey signed us up for a year of Hulu and Disney for $4.99 a month for one year, and HBO Max for $2.99 a month for one year. I’ll pay the $7.99 for Netflix, while she’ll pay the $7.99 for those two. We will have plenty of options to stream entertainment for the next year. 
What I've been Reading This Week
This week I picked up eight free books from Freebooksy. My favorite genre is nonfiction, which doesn’t always have a lot of free titles to choose from, but did this week. 
How was your week?

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 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Saving Money in My Frugal Kitchen ~ Week #1 December 2025

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money over the past week, along with the meals that made it to our dinner table. You'll find practical tips on how we saved money on food hopefully to inspire your own meal planning using the foods you have in your own pantry.

My Frugal Week

I started this week by slicing up more apples and oranges to deyhdrate, and made the cornbread to include with the dressing I make for Thanksgiving. I was out of buttermilk, so I substituted regular milk. 

Since I emptied out one of the crisper drawers of the clementines, it was the perfect time to remove the drawer and give it a good scrubbing in hot, soapy water. 

I've been using up "lurkers" in my pantry such as a container of power green soup (delicious!), a box of protein Mac and cheese, and several hot chocolate mixes, etc.

My goal is to use up those items that we have rather than buying additional food. I have several packages of specialty lentils, quinoa, etc. that I’ll be incorporating into our meals this month. 

On Tuesday I sorted through my spices. I removed all the spices and washed the shelf and counter with hot, soapy water. I tossed a couple of spices that I hadn’t used and were way past their expiration date. I also combined a couple of spices where I had more than one container. 

Now I know what I need to stock up on when the time comes, which includes salt, garlic and onion powder so far. 

I’ve been reading that Ollie’s is the place to get inexpensive spices and I know that to be true because that is where I buy everything bagel seasoning inexpensively. I’ll also make a stop to Dollar Tree as we went through two of the four containers of vinegar I bought in November and I want to replace those. 

On Saturday I made the chocolate cake, sweet potato casserole, honey butter, and corn casserole that we brought to our family Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. 

Recipe of the Week

On Tuesday, I decided to make my own version of 15-bean soup. I already had plenty of dried beans in my pantry, so instead of buying a new bag just for the mix, I chose to create my own blend from what I had on hand.

The beans I combined included black beans, navy beans, October beans, field peas, green peas, kidney beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, and great northern beans.

According to Google, my mix was missing lima beans, yellow-eye beans, pink beans, and yellow split peas. No worries though, I also had some canned lima beans I could add after cooking, so there was no reason to spend $3.00 on a new bag of 15-bean soup mix.

One of our favorite recipes to make with 15 bean soup is a recipe from the Hursts bean website called Pizza Beans. I’ve made it multiple times over the years and it’s always a hit. 

Pizza Beans Recipe

Ingredients:
1 package or two cups 15 bean soup beans1 white onion, diced2 red bell peppers, diced3 cloves garlic, chopped1 pound ground Italian sausage6 ounces pepperoni, sliced and cut into quarters7 cups chicken stock24 ounces of your favorite marinara sauceShredded mozzarella for topping
Directions:
Rinse and sort through the beans. Check for any debris and discard. Soak beans in water overnight.Drain and rinse before cooking. Sauté sausage and pepperoni until browned.Spoon out the meats, then add the onions, peppers, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the chicken stock and turn heat to high. Use your spoon to scrape off any browned bits on the bottom of pan. Add the meats & soaked beans back into the pot and bring to a boil.Cover the pot and place into a 350º oven for 2 hours.Stir beans halfway through the time.When beans are completely tender, stir in the marinara sauce. Put pot back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes.Top each hot bowl of beans with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ BBQ Pork Tenderloin Tips, Macaroni & Cheese, and Corn.

I had a package of Hormel Pork Tips in my freezer and put those in the crockpot with some bbq sauce. I also used up a box of Simple Truth protein macaroni & cheese, and used more of the corn from Sunday night's dinner.  I still have one more box of the protein macaroni and cheese to use up eventually. 

Tuesday ~ Leftovers 

Bailey had the last of the BBQ from Monday while I had the last of the leftover enchiladas. Sides were salad and corn if desired. 

Wednesday ~ Pizza Beans.

I made these using my own created mix of dried beans and simply added 1/2 cup of each bean I had to a bowl. I ended up with more than enough for dinner and even had some left for another meal in the future. 

I used one of the chubs of turkey Italian sausage we bought for 79 cents, and turkey pepperoni for $1.00, so the cost of this dish was inexpensive. I made this early Wednesday morning as we had a funeral to attend that afternoon, so all I had to do was heat it up when we arrived home. 

This recipe does not disappoint! It is like eating a hot bowl of pizza and is delicious. We have plenty left too to enjoy over the weekend.

Thursday ~ Turkey & Dressing, Apples & Onions, and Green Beans & Onions. 

I brought the turkey from the downstairs fridge on Wednesday and put it in the refrigerator upstairs. I woke up early and made the dressing using our tried and true family favorite recipe. 

Using onions and celery, I saved the discarded parts to roast with the turkey carcass for broth later. I dehydrated the celery leaves and used broth out of my freezer that I made previously from a turkey we had last month. 

I kept it very simple this year with turkey and dressing, apples and onions, and green beans with onions. This was a fourteen pound turkey for two people, which is more than enough for the weekend and to freeze some for future meals. 

I stuffed the cavity of the turkey with onions and apples, buttered down the skin and added salt, pepper, sage, Lawry’s, and Herbs de Provence. 

After the turkey was done cooking I carved all the meat from the bones and had the carcass in the crockpot along with the celery and onion ends and had the roasting pan washed before we even sat down to eat. 

I let the broth simmer for about fourteen hours and then let it cool and strained it. I used a gallon size pitcher, which I line with a paint strainer bag, which is similar to cheesecloth and makes it very easy to strain. 

Friday ~ Leftovers

We ended up having pizza beans and dressing. What a combination! 😂 But, it was good. I added some of the turkey broth I made today to the dressing to make it more moist as it can get dry when reheated. 

Saturday ~ Sour Cream Turkey Casserole, Dressing, and Green Beans with Onions. 

Today I chopped up all the turkey we had left and made a sour cream turkey casserole for dinner. I also made turkey salad for lunches this week. 

I also made chocolate cake, corn casserole, honey butter, and sweet potato casserole to take with us tomorrow for our family thanksgiving get together. 

Sunday ~ Thanksgiving Dinner with Family

We enjoyed ham and turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn casserole, green beans casserole, sweet potato casserole, baked beans, and rolls. Desserts were pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, peanut butter pie, banana bread, and banana pudding. We had a great time too. 

What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Image Credit

Fourth Frugal Friday of November 2025

 

Welcome to Frugal Friday!
Welcome to Frugal Workshop where I post on Fridays about our frugal lifestyle during the past week. 
My Frugal Week
This week we finally emptied the peppermint foam soap dispenser bottle that was a Christmas gift last year. I took the lid off and filled the bottle with an inch or so of liquid soap from the refill soap bottle (50 ounces) I bought at a yard sale this summer for 50 cents. At this rate we won’t have to buy soap for a long time. 
I received two more payouts of $2.25 & $2.21 from the Google Opinion Rewards app. It’s such an easy app to use only taking a minute or so a few days each week and once I meet the $2.00 threshold, the money is sent automatically to my PayPal account. 
National Consumer Panel sent me a $10 Amazon gift card. I’m using it to get one of Bailey’s Christmas gifts checked off my list. 
My gas tank was filled up last Friday for $2.14 using the Mapco rewards program, which saved me 45 cents per gallon. 
We have an old chicken pen outside and as I was removing the leaves from the gutter I also pulled out a couple of elderberry plants. The dirt that came out of there was as rich and black as coal, and such beautiful compost.
My Dexcom G7 sensor didn't work when I applied it on Sunday, so I called Dexcom and they sent a replacement sensor. They are expensive and I don't want to have to replace one myself if I can avoid it. The new sensor was delivered by FedEx on Tuesday, which was such speedy customer service. 
On Monday I did laundry as usual and also washed my bedclothes. We're having our usual November invasion of Asian lady beetles, which we vacuum multiple times per day.
Wrapping up my November 2025 budget this month, I spent $131.18 on gas and $296.32 on groceries.
On Tuesday I had my six week eye injections and had zero swelling. Woo Hoo! So, we are going to try and go eight weeks between injections this next time. 
On Wednesday we attended the funeral of my ex’s cousin. I’ve known her and the family for over for 35 years. It was like being at a family reunion, seeing everyone and all the children who are grown up now with babies of their own making the cousins grandparents! It was a gentle reminder that the days are long, but the years are short. 
Buy Nothing Day
Today is Buy Nothing Day, which is a day of protest against consumerism, and is held the day after the U.S.A. Thanksgiving holiday, concurrent with Black Friday. My plans are to stay home and do no shopping whatsoever. 
Not Buying Anything Day/Week/Month/Year 2025 is a well written blog post from the author who writes the Not Buying Anything blog. 
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday and while I don’t have plans to shop, I am supporting small businesses for several gifts this year. 
Freebies

We received our free copy of the December Holiday edition of Southern Living magazine this week. I also received a copy of Real Simple magazine too. 
Saving on Christmas 
I double checked my list of Christmas presents I still want to buy and even whittled the list down smaller. I’ll be having a debt free Christmas this year. Even all the food I’ll be making to take to other peoples homes has been carefully selected using ingredients I already have on hand, so there will be no need to overspend on food this year. 
What I've been Reading This Week
Bailey and I are both currently reading All the Light We Cannot See, written by Anthony Doerr. The story follows a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and a German soldier named Werner during World War II as their paths intersect. This is also available as a series to watch on Netflix, which we'll watch when we are done reading the book. 

Consumer Reports is relaunching their free 1940s newsletter, Bread & Butter, which was first published in 1941 to help cash-strapped Americans make smart decisions with limited resources. I even found a vintage issue from 1941 that you can read for free online here. 

Another place to get free ebooks is Free Booksy. 

How was your week?

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 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27