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

Last Sunday I took the last bag of chicken breasts from Gordons and put it into the refrigerator to thaw. I based our meals around chicken last week for this reason.

Last Monday I went to People Helping People as they've started getting free vegetables from the Mennonites again for the summer. 

 

We had some food waste here this week. I smelled something off in the kitchen this week and checked everything until I figured it out. There was a can of Eden garbanzo beans within date that had been leaking at the seal, so I discarded it and cleaned up the mess. I’ll be calling them today to discuss this issue.

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Chipotle Chicken Sausage or Grilled Chicken, Kohlrabi, White Radishes, Steamed Kale with Fig Dressing, Steamed Broccoli, Red Peppers. 

Can you tell I'd been to People Helping People to get free vegetables on this day? I came home and washed up all the good vegetables and served several of them for dinner. 

Tuesday ~ Movie Night ~ Every man for his self. 

Wednesday ~ Chicken, Broccoli & Cauliflower. 

I cooked the Gordon's chicken in the crockpot today as it was finally thawed out enough to cook. What we didn’t eat this week went into the freezer, so I’ll have cooked chicken to use as needed. 

Thursday & Friday ~Chicken Stir Fry, Caramelized Sweet Potatoes, and Sliced Oranges. 

I took some of the Gordon's chicken and made a stir fry with it using onions, red and orange peppers, stir fry vegetables from the freezer, and a cole slaw mix. 

Saturday ~ Free Golden Corral Birthday Dinner! And a free strawberry shake from Sonic. 

Sunday ~ Grilled Chicken Salads

The salads were so good with more free vegetables from People Helping People and the Mennonites that we picked up on Saturday evening. We got a huge head of Napa cabbage, purple kohlrabi, radishes, butter lettuce, fresh eggs and dill. 

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

How 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 ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

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Second Frugal Friday of May 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
On Tuesday I had a doctors appointment, which went well. Afterwards I ran a couple of errands before returning home. 
On Wednesday it was raining for most of the day, so I stayed indoors and went through my clothes, trying some on and getting rid of those where I didn’t like the fit. This really freed up some space in my dresser drawers and closet. 

On Thursday I took the clothes I no longer wanted to People Helping People, which helps them continue to do free things for our community. They had free bread for the taking, so I got two loaves and put them in the freezer when I got home. 

Cash Express here is always giving away free pens and post it notes. They give them out to the teachers at school like candy. The cashier at People Helping People told me they have tons of them. So, I took these and put them in the little free pantry closet to my house. I'm sure someone will be able to use them. 
Price of Gas
On Monday our local gas station was charging $4.29 per gallon for the cheapest gas. I filled up across the street at Food City where it was still offered for $3.89 per gallon. 
When I went out on Thursday the gas had climbed to $4.29 at Food City, but I filled up at another station at $4.14 a gallon. We had special plans for this weekend but decided against them due to the price of gas. 
Yard Sale Saturday
We went to multiple yard sales last Saturday. Several of them were church yard sales and one of them was an estate sale. I found some very nice washcloths at the estate sale, so I picked those up to add to our collection. They were priced at $1.00 each, but they only charged me fifty cents each when I went to pay for them.  
Freebies

On Monday I went to People Helping People as they've started getting free vegetables from the Mennonites again for the summer. I brought home white radishes, lettuce, sweet potatoes, onions, dinosaur kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, and purple kale. 

Bailey ended up with some really nice freebies this week too. 

She mentioned to a lady holding a yard sale that the flowers in her yard were pretty. The lady ended up giving Bailey several bulbs and plants as a result. Wasn't that sweet of her?

My Reseller Genie recently hosted a giveaway where participants needed to record a short video on what they love about MRG. Bailey entered mostly because everyone who participated received a tote bag, but she won the grand prize of a $200 gift card!
With the $200 gift card she bought a Ninja Creami, which had been on her thrift bucket list for a couple of years. She’s already made three pints of ice cream including chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, and cinnamon. 
How was your week? Do you have big plans for the weekend? Happy Mother’s Day to all the ladies who have been blessed to become Mothers, puppies and kitties included. I hope you have a lovely day. 

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 ~ First Week of May 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

The other day I walked into Walmart and saw this display of oranges marked down to $1.00 per bag that had been marked down from $4.97. There were approximately seven in each bag that I bought. So, we now have 35 oranges to add to our fruit for this month. We've already eaten several of them and they are delicious. 

The cashier asked me how I was going to eat all those oranges before they spoiled. I laughed inside thinking she doesn't know me very well. hehehe

We went to Kroger to do our monthly grocery shopping on Friday and also went to UGO and Ingles. We saved $70.52 at Kroger with our store coupons and sales. 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Baked Chicken Thighs with Cabbage & Onions, and Corn. 

Tuesday ~ Baked Potatoes with Cheddar & Black Olives. 

Wednesday ~ Chicken, Caramelized Sweet Potatoes, and Lentils. 

This was a sort of use it up dinner. I had a small portion of chicken, which was left from Monday night's dinner. I also made a side dish with lentils, onions, and chili beans that turned out really well.  

Thursday ~ Chicken Tacos, Lentils, and Corn. 

Friday ~ Chicken Tenders, and Nachos. 

I know this is a weird combination, but we were both wiped out after a full day of yard sales. 

Saturday ~ Grilled Chicken Salads

Sunday ~ Chipotle Chicken Sausages, and Green Peas.  

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? 

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 May 2026

Welcome to Frugal Friday

My Frugal Week
On Monday I took another load of metal to the recycling center and ended up with 260 pounds of metal to be recycled. 
Afterwards I used the weed eater and trimmed the grass, cut down some small trees that were trying to grow back and hauled all the brush into the woods. 
My neighbor came over on Tuesday and gathered up some metal from the woods and one of the sheds. I told him he could have the money for this if he was willing to haul it off, so he did. Now those areas in the woods where Dad had stored some roofing tin are clear and look much better. 
This will be a short version of the blog this week, but I want to share a frugal recipe for weed killer for you. I’ve worked a lot in the yard this week, so this is fitting. 
Frugal Weed Killer
Say goodbye to pesky weeds in your garden with a homemade weed killer. Mix Dawn, lemon juice, and white vinegar in a spray bottle and apply it directly to weeds.
Ingredients:
32 ounces white vinegarDawn dish soap1/4 cup salt
Directions:
Measure out 32 ounces of white vinegar. Using a funnel, pour the measured vinegar into a spray bottle. White vinegar is an excellent natural herbicide due to its high acidity. It can effectively kill weeds without harming the environment.
Add a small dash of dish soap to the vinegar. Dish soap acts as a surfactant, helping the solution stick to the leaves of the weeds. It also breaks down the waxy surface of the weeds, making the solution more effective.
Measure out 1/4 cup of salt. Salt is a desiccant, which means it can draw moisture from the weeds, ultimately causing them to dry out and die. Add the salt to the spray bottle with the vinegar and dish soap.
Shake the bottle with vinegar, dish soap, and salt. Make sure the salt is dissolved in the solution.
Hold the squirt bottle a few inches away from the weeds and generously spray the solution onto the leaves and stems. Make sure you cover the weeds thoroughly. You'll start to notice results within a few hours. 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

Meal Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen ~ Fourth Week April 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 families feed their crew on smaller budgets through smart, disciplined habits, which involve practical systems that minimize waste and stretch their ingredients.

Key habits include buying discounted day old bread, keeping a continuous stock pot from scraps, growing herbs at home, and making one roast last multiple meals. Thee families eat seasonally because it is cheaper, track prices carefully, and relying on staples such as oatmeal, potatoes, pasta, rice, and dried beans.

Vegetables fill plates before small portions of meat, and leftovers are used up such as stale bread becoming croutons or dessert, bones becoming soup, all of which involved not throwing away food. 

Other strategies included preserving fruit, diluting ingredients to stretch them, using cheaper cuts of meat, and cooking from scratch. Eating out can be rare, and sometimes communities share food to reduce food costs.

At the core of all of lies one principle: waste nothing. These aren't outdated habits, but rather efficient, economical systems that keep families healthy and budgets intact.

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Choice of Beefy Baked Beans or Cajun Turkey Breast, Sweet Potatoes, Cabbage & Onions, and Deviled Eggs. 

I had leftovers from the weekend, so it was a choice of either the beans or turkey breast for the main course. Bailey picked the beans and we finished those. I also baked some sweet potatoes with olive oil, made some deviled eggs, and made a side dish of stir fried cabbage and onions using a bit of olive oil and a bit of bacon grease (yum!). 

Tuesday ~ Baked Chicken Tenders, Sweet Potatoes, and Cabbage & Onions. 

The chicken tenders were some we had in the freezer and the sides were the rest of the leftovers from Monday night's dinner. 

Wednesday ~ Cajun Turkey Breast, Baked Beans, Corn on the Cob. 

We used up the last of the Cajun turkey breast for dinner and I served baked beans and corn on the cob as side dishes. I also served deviled eggs along side. 

Thursday ~ Chicken Crunchwrap Supremes, Refried Beans, and Corn.

I had a Taco Bell kit for Crunchwrap Supremes that I used up for dinner tonight. I stopped in at Food City to pick up one tomato and some marked down bananas while I was running an errand. 

Friday ~ Grilled Chicken Burritos and Corn on the Cob. 

I asked Bailey what she wanted for dinner and this was her suggestion, which works for me as it's an easy dinner to make for both of us. I make hers with my homemade chipotle sauce and make a sauce for me of cottage cheese and taco seasoning, blended until smooth. 

Saturday ~ Chicken Tenders, Chili Beans, and Salad. 

Sunday ~ Chicken & Onions with Cabbage, and Caramelized Sweet Potatoes. 

What’s been on the menu in your home this past week? Did you build up or organize your pantry this week?  Have you been decluttering? 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 ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27

Image Credit