Friday, December 12, 2025
Second Frugal Friday of December 2025
Monday, December 8, 2025
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
Friday, December 5, 2025
First Frugal Friday of December 2025
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.
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.
Monday, December 1, 2025
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.
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
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