Thursday

My daughter was still in a great deal of pain yesterday, so I dropped by the pharmacy and picked up some Azo that the pharmacist recommended and that did seem to help some. I am hoping the antibiotic will kick in soon. 

After dropping her off at school today, I came home and went to work in the kitchen. Using pantry supplies I have on hand, I first made two pineapple upside down cakes.  I did not have maraschino cherries, so I just left them out, which was no big deal. Cost was under $2.00 to make these. 

This is what one of them looked like after came out of the oven.

We ate all the jello I had made the other day, so I went ahead and made more using up two cans of mixed fruit and two boxes of jello from the pantry. This only cost me 50¢ as the fruit was given to me. 

This is before it set up. It will look better after it gels.

I then cooked off the chickpeas I had soaking and made Mock Tuna Salad. I just cook the beans, mash them and add sweet pickle relish, celery seed, and mayonnaise. We really like it as it tastes just as good as tuna salad without the worries about contaminated tuna. My daughter really likes this, which just tickles me because she wasn't crazy about tuna salad like she is this dish. 

This is what it looks like afterwards, just like tuna. 

I did not work today, but am scheduled for a full day tomorrow. I already have plenty of food prepared to take for lunches and I'll be bringing ice water to drink in my thermos. 

Our air conditioner has frozen up this afternoon because of being used so much due to the heat wave. Dinner will be something cold like pasta salad, jello salad, or a sandwich as it is 81° in the house and really too hot to cook or even want to eat for that matter. I'm concerned that the a/c may be on its way out as it did this about a month ago. I turned it off for the rest of that evening and night and it worked fine the next day.  

Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.

Mock Tuna Salad

Mock Tuna Salad is a recipe that I first tried out last fall after I started on a plant based diet last year. This recipe is very simple, affordable, easy to make, and tastes great. 

What I did was to take a one pound bag of garbanzo beans and let them soak overnight. You can used canned garbanzo beans, but they will cost more money and you will not have the advantage of being able to soak them overnight as they are already cooked. 

In the morning, I placed the beans in the crock pot and covered them with water and set the crock pot on high to cook until lunchtime. After they were done cooking, I drained them and ran cold water over them to cool them off some. 

After that I put them into my food processor and using the pulse button, I chopped them up just a little bit. I wanted them to remain chunky somewhat and not be the consistency of hummus. 

After that I add whatever items I like in my tuna salad, which may be different for you. I like sweet pickle relish and mayonnaise in my tuna salad, although I have made it without the mayonnaise as well. You can add whatever you like to yours. I would add celery if I had any on hand. 

I've eaten this as a sandwich on toasted and untoasted bread, as well as crackers, or just by itself. It would also be a good topping for a salad. 

I am able to purchase a one pound bag of garbanzo beans for under $1.50, so this makes a very affordable option for lunch. Once the beans are cooked and the other ingredients added, I had an ordinary mixing bowl full of "tuna" salad. Enough to last us for a week of lunches, which is much more affordable than tuna and healthier as well. 

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2014.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Bi-Lo Grocery Run

Made a grocery store run to Bi-Lo on Saturday. They offer e-coupons on the Bi-Lo Bonus Card now. Shoppers can check the website for specific coupons and then load them onto the Bonus Card. Once you buy the product, the coupon savings reflects on your cash register receipt. There is the added bonus of combining a sale with a manufacturer's coupon with an e-coupon for added savings. 

Here is a list of the groceries I bought: 

- Hanover Green Beans (24 ounce) 99¢ after sale and e-coupon
- 2 Hellman's Mayonnaise $2.64 each after B1G1F sale and e-coupon
- 2 Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage - on sale for 2/$5.00
- 2 Hillshire Farms Little Smokies - $2.50 each after B1G1F sale
- 3 Borden (8 ounce) Cheddar Cheese - $1.83 each after combining sale, e-coupon & manufacture coupon

Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Cherry Picking

Today I had to take my Mom to her doctor's appointment in town, so I decided to stop at Bi-Lo while I was there and do some Cherry Picking. I don't normally go to just Cherry Pick, but I did today since grocery funds are low at this time of the month.

Remember when I said I was going to wait for a sale on Hellman’s mayonnaise? I had to replace the Hellman's mayonnaise that was lost during the power outage in July, and rather than paying $3.98 to replace it, I ended up replacing it with Kraft mayonnaise, which cost $2.98.  Well, Bi-Lo has Hellman's on sale this week for $2.49 with a limit of two. I only had to wait three weeks for a sale, which is a perfect example of another tool, which frugal shoppers can use to save money.   

Grocery store sales run on a twelve week pricing cycle.  Approximately every 12 weeks, the majority of grocery store items will hit a high and low point during that time frame. So, shoppers who wait for the low point on their favorite grocery items will save money as a result.When you shop the cycles, you're buying when grocery item prices are at their lowest point. This is how frugal shoppers are able to realize such big savings.

You can see I also Cherry Picked sugar, which was $1.88, and both Jimmy Dean and Tennessee Pride sausage, which were both priced at $1.99. With the sausage I'll be making some sausage biscuits for back to school time and possible a sausage quiche for dinner one night this month.  

Have you been doing any Cherry Picking this month?

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012 and beyond.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”