Frugal Friday! Week of January 27-February 2, 2019

Hi Everyone!

How was your last week in January?  I hope it was a good one!  We have had weather that is crazy--first freezing cold and snow and schools and businesses closing (it doesn't take much here, as the roads are usually icy so it is not so much the snow amount that closes things) and now we are finally having weather in the 60's!  I suspect that we are not done with Winter here in Tennessee just yet--though I do have hope as my daffodils are coming up!  Though I am ignoring the fact that I have had daffodils blooming on Valentine's Day before, with several inches of snow on top of them! If my flowers are coming up, I figure Spring cannot be TOO far behind, right? :D

On with my frugal endeavors!  This week it feels like I didn't do very much--but I think I have done more things than I realize, and just did not get them written down on my list. I am trying to continue to clean out the freezer of foods that have kinda gotten forgotten in there.  I actually have two freezers I am working on--an old upright freezer in our shed, and then the little freezer on top of our fridge.  They both need help, but the upright freezer is the one that I must defrost this summer, so my goal is to get enough food eaten up that I can fit all that MUST remain in the freezer into the freezer on top of our fridge, giving me a chance to defrost the large freezer.  About half of the upright freezer is taken up with flour and nuts and grains, so fortunately those things do not HAVE to be kept cold.  So I will simply take those boxes and set them on my table while I am defrosting the freezer, but it will still be good to organize those items a bit better as well, so that I know what I have and can rotate around the things as I bring more home.  No picture taken, but what I know I used up from the freezer was a package of fresh (frozen) cranberries.  I used those up in what I call "Cranberry Salad."   O.K., o.k., so it REALLY is a cranberry relish recipe, but since we eat it (and LOVE IT) year round, I had to modify the name. It is so healthy and so yummy--especially if you like tart things like I do!  I used to eat sugary things like lemon drop candies--not any more!  Now I get my "sour fix" from foods like cranberries!  And it is made with just cranberries, oranges, and dates!  If you are interested in the recipe, you can find it here: 

Cranberry Relish

One hint on the recipe--if you are using small oranges, such as I get from Aldi's, use three instead of the two that the recipe calls for. 

I am also trying to use up forgotten items in my cupboards, not just in the freezer. So when I was hunting for someone to make for lunch last week, on one of our very cold days, I ran across this dried soup mix that I made at a Women's Ministry event at our church.  It was fun to make, and pretty to look at--but it has been sitting in my cupboard for some time and I decided it was TIME to use it up!  So I washed the beans real well, added some water and the seasoning packet, and into my Instant Pot it went!  

 I had to guess on how much time to cook it, but looked up how long each of the bean types takes to cook in the Instant pot and used the longest time.

 I also added in some chopped onion, potatoes, and when it finished cooking I stirred in a handful of fresh spinach.  It was delicious!  Why did I wait so long to make it???  Now I need to find the sheets we were given with the recipe amounts on it, because I would love to make up a couple jars of it and have them sitting in my cupboard.  And THIS time not wait so long to make them!

I also made up some cornbread to go with it.  Let's just say my family was quite happy with the cornbread!

I have this cast iron pan that we got when we visited the Lodge Cast Iron store here in Tennessee.  It was a "factory second," so was cheaper but it works just fine!  And it does make nice, crispy edge pieces. . . though I confess that I do not love washing all the little dividers!









Another thing that I worked on this week to help save money was taking in the green plaid skirt that we bought for my daughter last week.  We knew it was too big when we bought it, but she loved it so and it was cheap/free with our gift certificate. Well, so just getting it inexpensively was only half the job--I knew I still needed to do the adjustments needed.  This past week I took in the skirt at the waist band--then it took me several days before I pinned my daughter down and got her to actually stop running long enough to try the skirt with the adjusted waistband on.  The waistband fits great now--but I still need to do some tapering at the sides of the skirt, so it will not stick out up at her hips and make her look a shape that she is not.  So this is still a project in progress--but at least I made a start on it!

Finally, I found a pair of black dress pants for myself at a thrift store.  They were a smaller size than what is hanging in my closet--which is good, because the pants I have in my closet are too big for me.  I had a hard time a week ago coming up with something to wear that was not jeans--my go-to outfit when I am at home!  So I have jeans that fit well, but have not gotten any dress pants in my new size--and when I was taking my daughter to her music festival, and wanted to dress a little nicer, I suddenly realized this hole in my wardrobe!  But not currently working outside the home, I also did not want to put a lot of dollars into nice office-type clothing when I am only going to wear them several times a year.  Well, so I decided I really should start keeping my eyes open.  Friday I had some time to browse in a local thrift store, and ran across a brand new pair of pants in my new size.  I peaked at the price tag, and they were marked to $4.50!  Then the sales lady came up to me and said that they would be 30% less than the last marked price--so I HAD to go try them on!  They fit just fine, and are actually long enough for my longer legs, so yea for me!!  And when I was trying them on, I noticed they also still had the original price tag on them--$79.00!!!!  Gulp!  Um, sure!  I am happy to purchase these brand new dress pants for $3.20 out the door, but there is no way I would have been able to get them for the original price!  So a blessing from God, for sure!

Well, that was my week!  Now it's your turn!  Did you make some food at home?  Or find a special item you have been looking for?  I would love to hear about it!

~Susan