Friday, July 25, 2008

Frugal Friday

I told my husband about two weeks ago that I was not going to the grocery store again until the end of the month. I had purchased everything that I thought we would need, and we would make do until August 1st.

Then I needed to make food for a grieving family. So I checked my freezer and found a turkey bought on sale, and I roasted that. (I did go buy disposable containers so they did not have to worry about giving me back my dishes.) I raided our stash of garden peas and made a huge pot. Everything I took, I already had in our freezer or pantry.

This weekend, I need to make a layered bean dip for a family birthday party. Well, I do not have any refried beans. So... I looked in my pantry. I had a large bag of dried pintos. Yesterday I cooked them in the crock pot and today I will smash them up with some spices and use them in the dip. The only thing I'll need is cheese to top it off. (My guys are like mice - they eat cheese fiendishly so we are out of that.)

We are also out of bread. I am not an expert bread baker, but thankfully, I do have a bread machine. So this morning, I put the ingredients in the bread maker, and we should have a fresh loaf by noon. (I let it go through the 'dough' cycle on the machine, then put in a loaf pan to bake in the oven. We prefer the texture of the oven-baked bread.)

How are you exercising frugality?

6 comments:

Bird Stalker Photography said...

You did good! Your grocery bill really adds up when you make small runs to the store because you end up with more than you went in there fore!

Jodi said...

You are a good friend for buying disposable containers! I was on and off of bedrest for part of my pregnancy and I stressed *so much* about all the pots, pans, etc, that I had to get back to people. I know this is a little off-topic, but you are so sweet to send disposables!!

Donna said...

Well done for staying out of the store. I try really hard but we always end up needing milk, diapers or formula. I have started making my own bread as well, and started to make lots of things from scratch. While I do go into the store the same amount of time, I am just picking up necessities. Making from scratch does save!

Brooke said...

Great job! I understand about the cheese though, we eat it on everything too. I understand that you can freeze shredded cheese, if you want to stockpile for next time. That way you'll have it on hand, but they won't be able to eat it till you're ready for it!!

Mom2fur said...

One way I'm frugal is to be aware of what I have on hand, and to use sites like Allrecipes.com or Supercook.com for recipes to use those ingredients. It really helps to lower my grocery expenses--not to mention saving gas by not running around town!

Kate said...

How impressive! Great job with your grocery shopping and using what you had on hand.

By the way, our family eats cheese ravenously also. We went through a pound today alone!