Menu Plan Monday ~ Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen Week #3 ~ February 2025

 My Frugal Week

I've been inventorying my pantry and freezer this week, and freezing some leftovers for another day.  

Bailey had an errand to run on Saturday and stopped in at Walmart to pick up milk, almond milk, cottage cheese, and turkey pepperoni. 

Recipe of the Week

This is a tried and true family favorite. I first made this in my frugal kitchen when we lived in Pikeville back in 1994 and have made it ever since that time. 

Tuna Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 small can of tuna, drained and flaked  

1 cup sliced celery  

2 cups elbow macaroni, cooked and drained  

1/4 cup chopped red pepper  

1/4 cup sliced green onions  

2 tablespoons pimientos, chopped

Salt & Pepper

Lettuce, if desired

Directions:

Mix mayonnaise and tuna together.

Add macaroni, celery, red pepper, onions, and pimiento.  

Season to taste with pepper and salt .  

Refrigerate and allow to chill. 

Serve on lettuce leaves.

 

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Chicken & Dressing using the last of the rotisserie chicken I made over the weekend. I was looking for soup in the freezer and found a bowl of dressing and a bowl of squash. So, I included both of those in our dinner along with some left over stir fry vegetables. It was a big hit, something out of the ordinary and used up two items from the freezer, a win-win in my book. #useitup

Movie Night Tuesday ~ Bailey had her usual pizza for movie night while I made Lentil Tacos for a meatless dinner. 

Wednesday ~ I was out running errands until late, which made dinner later than normal. So, I came in and tossed some chicken breasts in the air fryer, made some cooked apples, and steamed carrots and broccoli for dinner.

Thursday ~ I had some lasagna in the freezer, so I took that out and warmed it up in the oven. I also made some spaghetti squash with a little meat sauce to go with it and served the rest of the apples and carrots on the side. There was enough spaghetti squash with meat sauce left for several days of lunches. 

Fish on Friday ~ No fish today, but rather BBQ pork ribs, which made the whole house smell delicious. I served them with baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli. 

Saturday ~ And there were enough ribs left from Friday to have them for dinner again. I served them with the last of the broccoli and butter beans. 

Sunday ~ Egg Roll in a Bowl using turkey sausage and cabbage, along with pinto beans, which I soaked overnight and cooked in my Instant Pot on Sunday. I also had toppings of red onions and tomatoes and served Brussel sprouts as the vegetable. 

I carefully removed eight outer cabbage leaves for a dish later this week and then chopped the rest of the cabbage for dinner. 

What’s on the Menu for This Coming Week

We will be serving at least one meatless meal this week to save money on meat. Right now I am thinking of making the lentil loaf filling and making cabbage rolls with it. 

Other ideas include baked potato bar and chili tacos for now. Since our portions are smaller these days, I find that I don't need to always plan for a different meal each day as we do have leftovers regularly.   

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

Belinda

Homemaker at Heart

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

Frugal Friday ~ The Christmas Edition

The Christmas Star  

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Christmas Edition of Frugal Friday. We woke up to a white Christmas this morning. 

BaileyAlexInc

 Last weekend we worked hard to finish up the inventory my daughter had for her shop before taking this week off for Christmas. 
Quote of the Week

Why in childhood and youth do we wish time to pass so quickly - we want to grow up so fast - yet as adults we wish just the opposite? ~ Willie Morris ~ My Dog Skip

Avoiding Spending
Remember the more effort you put into frugal and resourceful living during the times when you have more money than month, the easier it will be to get through the times when there is more month than money.
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
We cooked every meal from scratch this week and used up all the leftovers as well. I keep the leftovers in special bowls and keep them front and center in the fridge, so they can be seen and eaten first. 
One way we save money in the kitchen is to not use paper plates. Not only do they cost money, but they are not good for the environment. I'm not going to spend money on something that I already have, so we use the dishes we have and we wash them to reuse over and over again. 
Another way we save money here is to use up what we have on hand. Last week when I used the bread crumbs for salmon patties, I used a loaf of bread that was older and needed to be used, so I made bread crumbs out of the entire loaf. 
That left me with extra breadcrumbs, so I made sure to make recipes to use that up. One night we had hamburger steaks and then I used the rest of the breadcrumbs in a meatloaf. 
I make my hot chocolate with water rather than milk, so we can save the milk for cereal and/or cooking. 
On Monday we did a Walmart grocery pick up and had it delivered. The only non food item I bought was Great Value freezer bags. We ordered four jars of peanut butter in the 18 ounce size for $1.32, but they only had two of those, so they substituted two forty ounce jars instead, which normally cost $3.12, for the same price. A small win for us. 

One night this week I made Mexican Goulash for dinner. I didn't have any elbow macaroni, which I prefer to use as it's smaller, but I did have plenty of Penne on hand, so I used that instead. No need to go shopping and spend money for elbow macaroni and I used up something else in my kitchen.  Make substitutions where you need to and use up the groceries you do have on hand. 

Making waffles Monday, I used up the last of my bag of Krusteaz pancake mix I bought in the summer of 2018. I wrote about that experiment here.  This ten pound bag lasted us for eighteen months. 

These peanut butter cookies with a Reese's cup in the middle are some of my favorite cookies. We only have them at Christmas time and I made one batch, which makes two dozen cookies.  
My Favorite Tools

Before this tool I would chop hamburger meat with a large spoon until it resembled fine crumbles. My Mom used to tell me I was a loud cooker, LOL.
Nowadays one of my favorite tools in this kitchen is this Mix and Chop tool from Pampered Chef. The beveled pinwheel blades make it easy to chop and crumble hamburger meat for tacos and chili, and you can even use it on non stick pans. I use it whenever I need to crumble hamburger. 
Meals This Week
Salmon Patties, Potatoes, Carrots, BeetsHamburger Steak, Potatoes & Peas, Carrots Mexican Goulash, Cole Slaw, CarrotsGrilled Salmon, Basmati Rice, Steamed BroccoliSoup Beans, Greens, Potatoes and Cornbread
Saving on Entertainment
For movie night this week we watched Annie, which is a sweet version of the old classic movie. 
On Christmas Eve we watched The Walton's Christmas movie, "The Homecoming". It is available to watch for free on YouTube. 
The Walton's is the true life story of Earl Hamner and his family who grew up during the Great Depression. For Christmas that year his mother tells John Boy that the only thing they were able to provide were scarves she had knitted for all of the children. 
Later in the movie they show a church service where all the children receive an orange and you could see the joy on their faces from that  one simple gift. 

What I've been Reading This Week
eBook of Thrift, by Samuel Smiles
How to Stretch Ground Beef
Other Frugal Activities
I did a little mending and sewed a button  back onto one of my favorite shirts.

We save the twist ties from our bread bags. They come in handy for keeping extension cords neatly and safely  organized. I also use them to hold the cage together on our fan after the clips that hold it in place broke. 

We used the plastic wrapper from a package of toilet paper and cut it in order to line one of our garbage bags thus saving a garbage bag for this week. 
Subbing News
One of the teachers at the high school texted me this week and asked if I could sub for him for two days next month. I explained that I wasn't subbing during Covid, but I would let him know as soon as that changed. He said he understood and thanked me for responding to him. 
The school district closed school last week due to the increase in Covid numbers and a shortage of staffing. I'm sure they are having trouble finding subs. I was asked to work the last two weeks for one teacher who was being quarantined, but I turned her down. It is not worth the risk right now. The school system had a shortage of subs before Covid and now it is even worse. I will be glad when all of this is behind us. 
Freebies

The free book I picked from the Nutritional Science Zoom meeting last week is Chef AJ's new book, written along with Glen Merzer, Own Your Health: How to Live Long and Avoid Chronic Illness. 
If you're looking for something new to read don't forget about Project Gutenberg , which is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. There is also the FreeReadFeed website as well. 
Here is a link to several free printable calendars for 2021.

From Paper Dolls by Cory... a free Grinch paper doll to play with over the Holidays AND even one to color! 

Humor
A man joined a monastery. The abbot explained to the aspiring monk that he would only be allowed to speak two words every ten years.
At the end of the first decade, he was given a chance to say his first two words. He looked at the abbot and said, “Bed’s hard.”
Ten years later, the abbot gave him the chance to say two more words. He opened his mouth and said, “Food’s bad.” Finally at the end of his 30th year he looked the abbot straight in the eye and said, “I quit.” “I can’t say that I’m surprised,” replied the abbot. “You’ve been here for thirty years, and all you do is complain.”
How was your week? What did you do this week to spend less, save more and make do? We hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and as always be safe and healthy 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

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Frugal Friday

Welcome to Friday! We've had a good week here. We went to town last Friday to pick up groceries from Food City, and Miss B made a trip to pick up the free remains from a yard sale. The seller left her the items on her porch, so it was a contactless pickup. Other than those two errands, we've stayed home this week as usual. 
The weather here has been rainy for the most part keeping the back porch and steps soaking wet at the beginning of the week. After the rain, cool weather set in, although it would warm up in the afternoons. 
Food City sent me a text last Friday to alert me about a sale on ground beef, which was $1.99 a pound. We perused their sale ad and did a small curbside pickup that afternoon. 

They only let me buy five pounds of the ground beef and I also bought 2 cans of salmon for $1.99 each, 2 packages of cheese @ buy one get one free, and two ten pound bags of potatoes for $3.99 each. 
We only eat salmon patties about once per month. I already had two cans in our pantry and with the addition of two more cans I now have enough to last until January 2021, which by that time it will go on sale again, and I will be able to stock up again. This practice of grocery store items going on sale every 9 to 12 weeks, is part of the pantry principle system. 

While we were in town Papa John's texted me with an offer, and we decided to use our  $10 Papa Rewards. We bought two of the Papadias, which cost $6 each, so I ended up only having to pay $2.20 for these two pictured above. 
Food Shortages?
This week I read a comment on Princess Prepper's YouTube channel from poster hooliganbroome that gave me pause. 

I'm a truck driver that hauls food. Ya'll haven't seen the food shortage yet. The warehouses I go to are getting empty.  I make the same run up north weekly, and pick up from 5 different places to run back down and deliver to several different warehouses. Been driving for 14 years, always food. I've never seen the warehouses as empty as they are. Stock comes in and goes straight to retail. There is not the usual backup stock I'm used to seeing. Has been getting slimmer for about 2 months now. Seems like its getting unloaded in 1 door and getting broken down and sent straight to retail out another door. I've been around all these same warehouses for years and never seen it like this before. I delivered a truck load of an item to my local Publix warehouse and went to my retail Publix 2 days later and they were out of said item that I just delivered 2 days before.

My takeaway from reading that is, anyone who is stocking up now while they can is vey smart.  Could be that people are panic buying, which may be causing this, but I don't know for sure. I think it's wise to stock up while you can. 

In My Frugal Kitchen
The last time we bought a big grocery order was on August 17th, which was six weeks ago. As a result, we are running low on several things. I've babied the eggs, not making them for breakfast in the last week, and am down to one egg. We have one piece of bread left and it's a heel at that. LOL We will definitely have to do a grocery order in the next week to replenish items. 
One day I finished off the jar of strawberry preserves, although we do have a jar of blackberry preserves. Miss B likes strawberry, so I was able to use up two packets of strawberry jelly that we had from Hardee's. I was also able to use up the grape jelly packets I had from there a few days later. It's so great to be able to use up these items. And serves as a reminder that it pays to keep those items because you may need then later.
This week I saved maraschino cherry juice and pickle juice in my refrigerator. I will use these items at a later date to make fruit dip and chicken sandwiches. 
Meals This Week
Cheeseburgers, Seasoned Fries, Carrots with Ranch  Hamburger Steaks, Soup Beans, Carrots & Potatoes  Chicken Fajitas, Mexican Rice, Broccoli, Grilled Onions  Pork Roast, Potatoes & Carrots, Green Beans & Onions Ham, Soup Beans, Broccoli, Carrots, Corn Bread
Saving Money on Entertainment
On movie night this week we watched She’s All That, which is a 1999 teen romantic comedy adaptation of the 1964 film, My Fair Lady. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Zack Siler boasts he could make any girl in school popular. Miss B said it was definitely a 90s movie. The trailer was rather good, which is what made us want to watch this one. 
Other Frugal Things
Rather than use the checkbook register that comes with new checks, I regularly use a notebook as my check register because it will last much longer than the register. To save even more money, I use both sides of the paper. 
I've let my family members know that we are not going to be participating in any Christmas gift exchanges this year. That way they will be prepared and know what to expect ahead of time. 
My laptop has been acting up lately and I thought there was a short in the cord, so I bought a new cord on Amazon. Then this week the laptop completely died and we couldn't get it back up and running. So, I've been using my tablet to comment and post here. 
Well, guess what? 
There was a Dell Laptop included in the free yard sale stuff Miss B picked up this week. We had no hopes for it as it was free after all. But, Bailey was able to reset it for me and so far it is working well. 
We had even taken money out of the emergency fund to buy a new laptop, but ended up putting that money back into the emergency fund. And I've already opened a return at Amazon to return the laptop charger that I no longer need. 
Other free items from the yard sale that we will use include a brand new Avon body wash still sealed, small garbage can, jewelry, and she was able to get multiple clothing items to sell in her online shops, all for free. 
We trimmed the back of each other's hair this week. This is the hardest part to cut if you cut your own hair, so we do this for each other. No need to visit a salon and we save money by doing it ourselves. 
How was your week?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

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Frugal Friday

Welcome to Friday to all my frugal readers. September is definitely in the air right now as we have woken up to some very cool mornings this week, which feels great. 
In My Frugal Kitchen
Do you remember when I wrote that Bailey didn't like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch creamer? Well...I decided to make French Toast the other day and used that for the milk and guess what? She loved it! So, we will still use it up, avoid food waste, and not waste the money that was spent on it. 
We made more Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches this week. 
Kroger has peanut butter on sale for 99¢ this week along with eight ounce blocks of cheese for 4/$5.00. 
My Amazon grocery order arrived this week and now we are stocked up on tuna and green beans.
Doing the math this week, I refigured what it cost me to make one gallon of tea these days. Look for an upcoming blog post on that soon. I also figured the cost of eggs right now, which works out to 8¢ each according to current Walmart prices. Eggs are always a good and frugal food to have on hand. 
Other Frugal Things
I made a goal this week to list one item on eBay everyday and I succeeded. 
I've been watching Prepper Princess videos again on YouTube this week. She used to have mostly prepper videos on her channel, but now has multiple videos on saving money, which is right up my alley. 
PP mentioned in one of her videos that she adds 20% of water to all her shampoos and soaps. I use Neutrogena T-gel shampoo, which is expensive at $8.50 a bottle, so I added water to mine this week to make it s-t-r-e-t-c-h farther. I already do this with my Dawn dishwashing detergent to make it stretch as far as possible. 
I earned a $10 gift card to Amazon from Microsoft Rewards this week. I used it to purchase 12 cans of Hormel Ham for our pantry. I have this ham as one of my subscribe and save items on Amazon. The price I've been paying for the ham for the 12 cans is $9.71. 
I don't know about you, but I've been watching the prices on Amazon fluctuate widely lately. This ham is going for $45 right now and the price I paid is nowhere to be found. I've noticed that the prices on some of their items is so high. I can't wait until we can go back to grocery shopping the way we used to do it. 
Miss B and I both cut our hair at home this week using this Wahl hair trimmer. It's cordless and I can take it outside to do my own hair, which makes for easier cleanup. I used the two inch comb on my hair, which is just the way I like it. Last time I cut my hair I used a smaller comb and it was so short I didn't have to trim it again until now. 
This week I rearranged my office space and it is much more functional than it was before, which is a win-win for me. 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Menu Plan Monday ~ August 17 through August 23, 2020

Menu Plan Monday 

Monday: This day we still had Taco meat on hand from the night before. Wanting to prevent food waste, I decided to use that up for dinner. 

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken, Baked Sweet Potato, Steamed Broccoli, and salad.

Wednesday: Grilled Salmon, Brown Rice, Steamed Carrots, Sliced Red Peppers. 

Thursday: Grilled Chicken Salads with romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, carrots, radishes, and onions. 

Friday: Asian Chicken Buddha Bowls

Saturday: Soup Beans, Turnip Greens, Sliced Tomatoes, Cornbread 

Sunday: Grilled Chicken with Roasted Sheet Pan Vegetables.

What was on your menu for the week? 

Belinda

~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Menu Plan Monday ~ July 20 through July 26, 2020

Here is my loosely held meal plan for last week with side dishes determined later. These plans are always held loosely and can change as needed. 

1. Meatloaf

2. Chicken Pot Pie

3. Cheese Enchiladas

4. Sticky Pineapple Chicken

5. Chow Mein & Egg Rolls

6. Hamburgers with Cheese

7. Loaded Baked Potatoes

And this is what we ended up eating last week:

Monday: Chicken Sandwiches, tater tots, and steamed broccoli. I also served celery sticks and cucumbers with ranch on the side. 

Tuesday: I had all the makings for Chicken Pot Pie on this day. I used a lot of vegetables including onions, peas, carrots, corn, and green beans. I also used up a can of Broccoli and Cheese soup inside of it, which made it extra good. 

Wednesday: I took my last package of chicken out of the freezer and tried a new recipe for Pineapple Sticky Chicken. This recipe called for Hoisin sauce, which we bought at Kroger on our last grocery haul. I served this over brown rice and made some steamed baby carrots to serve along side. 

Thursday: This day I took a bowl of Taco Style Lentils & Rice from the freezer. Taking a flour tortilla, I placed some of the filling on there along with taco sauce, cheese, sour cream, and tomatoes.The burritos were served with corn and a side salad.  

Friday: This day I wanted to try and duplicate Chic-fil-A's chicken sandwich at home. There are plenty of copycat recipes online, so that is what I did.

First, I soaked the chicken breast in pickle brine and then double dipped them in batter and then a flour mixture.  They turned out pretty good, so now when I have pickle brine, I will use it for this recipe. 

Saturday: My daughter surprised me today and made dinner. She made a great pasta salad, peas & carrots, and cantaloupe. It was so good to not have to cook and very refreshing. 

Sunday: This day I took a package of ground beef from the freezer and made Tacos. They were served with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cheese. We also had cantaloupe on the side. 

Here is what I'm planning for this week, sides to be determined later:

1. Vegetable Night ~ Red Beans & Rice

2. Beef Night ~ Smoked Sausage

3. Vegetable Night ~ Bean Soup

4. Chicken Night ~ Chicken Croquettes
5. Vegetable Night ~ Baked Potato Night

6. Beef Night ~ Tacos
7. Vegetable Night ~ Beans & Greens

As always these plans are held loosely. They could change based on my energy level that day or any other circumstance. But it is nice to have some type of plan for the week. 

What is on your menu for the week?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.