Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen ~ Fourth Week June 2026

 

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

Many people say that storing your cut up fresh fruits and vegetables in mason jars will help them last longer. 

On Monday I went to People Helping People and picked up free carrots, English cucumbers, and zucchini. I also stopped by a road side farm stand and picked up one dozen ears of Peaches and Cream corn on the cob. 

I came home and shucked the corn and peeled the carrots to have with dinner that evening.

I used my eight quart Instant Pot I picked up at People Helping People for $5 for the first time. My original one is only six quarts, so this bigger size was really nice to use. In fact, all of the corn (one dozen ears) fit inside of it. 

I also stopped in at Walmart and picked up tartar sauce, enchilada sauce, basil, croissants, salt, Dawn, and bananas. I also picked up a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken on markdown for $2.79.

I went to the thrift store because food was 50% off, so I bought two boxes of Annie’s fruit squeeze pouches, one beef broth and a bag of Dove chocolates for $1 each. 

Bailey picks spearmint from her garden and makes and drinks spearmint tea every day. 

On Wednesday I picked free carrots from the community garden and also picked up a free head of cauliflower. We've been blessed by several sources of free vegetables this summer and I am very grateful for that as it helps me to save money on food for my family. 

On Thursday I busied myself in the kitchen and broke green beans, shredded zucchini for the freezer, cut up cucumbers for dinner and stored them in a mason jar so they last longer, cut up a watermelon, took all the peelings to the compost pile. And did all the usual things that go with a working kitchen. 

Photo of the Week

I love finding rotisserie chicken on markdown at Walmart.

What’s for Dinner

Monday & Tuesday ~ Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, Corn on the Cob, and Steamed Carrots. 

Usually we have leftovers from the weekend on Monday, but not this day as we had no leftovers. I decided on making bean and cheese enchiladas along with the fresh corn and carrots I picked up this day. I also had fresh cucumbers and red bell peppers to serve alongside. 

Wednesday ~ Lemon Pepper Rotisserie Chicken, Steamed Carrots, 

Thursday ~ Lemon Pepper Chicken, Steamed Carrots, Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans & Onions. 

We had a big variety of vegetables for dinner this night. It’s one of the reasons I love summertime as much as I do. 

Fish on Friday ~ Salmon Patties, Green Beans with Onions, Fried Cabbage. 

Saturday ~ Chicken & Cheese Tamales, Corn on the Cob, Roasted Broccoli. 

Sunday ~ Egg Roll in a Bowl, Corn, Cucumbers. 

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

We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Image Credit

Third Frugal Friday of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Friday

Each Friday here at Frugal Workshop, I love sharing the 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. 
Quote of the Week

Don't do as others are doing, especially if those others are neck deep in debt. ~ Grandma Donna

My Frugal Week
Last Thursday and Friday we went to multiple yard sales. We also went to the People Helping People monthly bag sale. Neither one of us had enough to fill one bag, but when combined together we did. 
We stayed home on Saturday and worked on various projects around the house. I listed a few things for sale on Facebook marketplace and processed twenty items for Bailey’s online shops. On Sunday I measured and packaged 59 items for her shops. 
On Monday I had a few errands to run to Staples, Walmart, Courthouse, Scrapyard, and People Helping People where I dropped off a bag of donations and bought some $5.00 animal steps that had just been donated. I had been looking for some and just passed on some for $10 last weekend. 

Turns out the steps are Horseman's Pride 3 Step Mounting Block, which sell at Tractor Supply for $134.99. So, paying only $5 for this one was a great deal!
I had picked up some free brass Christmas stocking holders in a free pile at a yard sale recently. They got rid of them because they were personally engraved. I combined that with a brass hammer head and a brass clock. The total weight was 15 pounds and the scrapyard gave me $51.  (WOW!) 
I received a Facebook settlement payment of $7.31 and a payment of $3.12 from Google surveys into my PayPal account this week. That is the account I use to pay for Netflix, so those two combined were more than enough to pay this month’s Netflix subscription, which feels like free to me. 
I went to the thrift store before tutoring this week and picked up a few pantry staples at 50% off. 
I picked up some free seeds in the seed catalog at the local library. 
Chime offered me $1.00 to log into my account this week. I guess it had been a while since I’ve checked in there. 
Side Hustles
Bailey and I both tutored on Thursday and I also had a tutoring job on Tuesday. I was able to speak to the Mom of one of the students I tutor and she told me her teachers had noticed an improvement in her school work and she could tell she was getting some outside help. Yay! 
Yard Sale Saturday
One of our cats has anxiety and often likes to hide in one of the cabinets downstairs. I cleaned the cabinet out for him and using the leaf blower blew out all the debris. Then I placed several carpet samples I bought at a yard sale for $1 each in the cabinets. He is very content to go in there and hide now when his anxiety gets to be too much for him. 
Speaking of leaf blowers, we found a Ryobi leaf blower at a yard sale last week with no battery for only $5. We have multiple Ryobi batteries to power other devices, so this was a real bargain. 
The Great Cleanup

I listed and gave away multiple soda pop bottles from my Dad’s shed this week. He had a collection of them he would sell at the flea market and we’ve been using that shed to store items for the next consignment sale and for Bailey’s business, so it was time for the bottles to go. I also gave away several plastic Coke crates with the bottles. 
I’ll be using our new leaf blower to blow the debris out of that building too. 
Between me and the garbage man, who I’m bartering with, we were able to throw out several hoses that were no longer useable, one five gallon bucket of metal left in one of the garden sheds, an old rotting pallet, and several pipes that had sat in the woods so long they had compost inside them. 
There is almost nothing left in the woods now except for some old tires. I’ll wait till cold weather to dispose of them as it’s snake season here in Tennessee. 
Speaking of pests and the woods, ticks have been really bad here already this year. I bought a bag of anti-tick granules at Walmart this week. So, I weed eated around the house and then applied the granules, which I hope will resolve this issue. 
Freebies
I picked up a free Pre-K writing book for the sister (who starts pre-k when school starts back) of one of the students I tutor. 
When I was at People Helping People I noticed a new box of Crest ProHealth toothpaste with Scope in the freebie box. You’re allowed to pick out three items when you go there, so this was one of my free items. 
Price of Gas
On Wednesday I filled up in Chattanooga at Sam’s Club for $2.95 per gallon, which was better than the $3.39 by our house. 
Saving Money on Entertainment
One day this week the cats were looking out the window, so I went over there to see what they were looking at and there was a fox in the yard. #freeentertainment
I've been watching videos and researching wringer washes this week online, which has always been fun for me.  I would love to have one here and maybe someday that will happen for me. 
My Reading Nook ~ What I've been Reading This Week
Grandma Donna made a really good blog post this week about the old ways, which you can read here. 
 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

Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in My Frugal Kitchen ~ Third Week of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

We bought watermelon, cantaloupe, and red peppers at a farm stand this weekend when we were out shopping the yard sales. I cut them all up and composted all the rinds and seeds in a new compost pile I started in the woods. I’m hoping no wild animals get in there and devour anything.

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Polish Kielbasa, Salad with Fresh Vegetables. 

Tuesday ~ Chicken Sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries.

Wednesday ~ Chicken Burrito Bowls

Thursday~ Polo Loco Chicken, Cole Slaw, and Cantaloupe. 

Friday ~ Queso Fajita Chicken Nachos 

Saturday ~ Queso Chicken Tacos, Corn, Cucumbers, Red & Yellow Peppers. 

Sunday ~ Grilled Chicken, Brussel Sprouts, Corn, Cucumbers, and red Peppers. 

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

Did you build up or organize your pantry this week?  

How are you managing food prices? 

We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Image Credit

Second Frugal Friday of June 2026

 

Welcome to Frugal Friday
Each Friday here at Frugal Workshop, I love sharing the 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
Bailey are I are both tutoring this summer. Bailey is tutoring on Thursdays and I’m tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That will be some extra income for both of us this summer. 
Cell Phone Service
This week I switched my cell phone provider from Verizon to Visible. Verizon charged me $72.16 per month and we went with them for years because it was the only carrier that worked in our rural area. But, that is no longer true and other carriers offer more affordable rates.
My new cell phone rate will be $25 per month, which is a savings of $47.16 per month and an annual savings of $565.92. I'm just thrilled to save this kind of money every month. 
If you're interested in switching carriers and want to save $20, please use my referral code to sign up: 69HPQ9B
The Great Cleanup

What you're looking at above is a trailer load full of trash and a pickup bed full of metal to be recycled. There are over 600 pounds of trash in the trailer and over 300 pounds of metal that was recycled. 
I made a deal with our garbage man and we are bartering his services for a freezer, lawn mowing, some home repairs, free garbage service, and some odd and end jobs around here in exchange for some of my Dad's machinery downstairs. 
It's a win-win situation!
My siblings were willing to let all the machinery go with the house, but I wasn't, so I struck up a deal with him and we're both very happy about it and his wife is especially thrilled. 
We got so much done downstairs that even I am surprised! All the cabinets are now empty and even though there is still machinery down there and at least one more load of metal to go to the scrap yard, the majority of the non-useful items are gone and the floor has been swept as clean as a machine shop can be swept clean. 

Best of all was that I got in over 17,000 steps that day! 
Yard Sale Friday & Saturday
Wow! We had a terrific yard sale weekend! 

One of my better deals was these two packages of Seventh Generation laundry pods priced at $1.00 each.  These sell for $24.30 on the Amazon website. 

These are K-Swiss shoes that are leather and sell for $69.95 on Amazon. The seller had two pairs of these in brand new condition, which fit both Bailey and I and they were asking $20 for both pairs, but they accepted my offer of $30 for both pairs of shoes. 
These are just a few things we picked up at yard sales. We went to a big church yard sale on Thursday and spent a couple of hours there. I’ll include some of the items I got at that sale next week. 
Health Update
I went to the retina specialist on Tuesday for injections in both eyes. And saw my dermatologist on Wednesday for a follow up appointment. I’ve been taking Cosentyz since January and it’s really helped keep my psoriasis at bay. My lab work turned out well this week too, so good news on the health front. 
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

Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in My Frugal Kitchen ~ Second Week of June 2026

Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money in my kitchen 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

Sine I wasn't feeling up to going last Saturday, I went to People Helping People on Monday to pick up free vegetables and came home with beets, Swiss chard, zucchini, yellow patty pan squash, English cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, and yellow squash. 

On Saturday I returned to People Helping People to get more fresh vegetables. I came home with cucumbers, beets, squash, three types of cucumbers, broccoli, salad greens, and carrots. 

The vegetables have been such a blessing ensuring that we have fresh produce almost everyday with dinner. 

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Leftovers, Cucumber Tomato Salad, and Swiss Chard. 

I had leftovers of two salmon patties and BBQ chicken from the weekend, so I used both of those for dinner to avoid any food waste. I had been to People Helping People to get free vegetables from the Mennonites that morning and picked up some fresh Swiss chard, so I made that for dinner along with a cucumber tomato salad. 

Tuesday ~ Spicy Chicken Sandwiches for Bailey’s movie night, I had non-spicy chicken and cucumber salad. 

Wednesday ~ Chicken Tacos

Thursday ~ Charcuterie Board

Friday ~ Grilled Chicken Wraps

Saturday ~ Cheeseburgers

Sunday ~ Grilled Chicken Salas and Baked Potatoes 

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

Did you build up or organize your pantry this week?   

How are you managing food prices? 

We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Image Credit