Frugal Doings Lately

 

   I'm not doing a Frugal Friday Wrap Up for the week because I have been really bad about writing down what I have been doing and to be completely transparent, there have been days on end where I have not done much at all.  Such is my life at the moment and it is what it is. 😉  So here, in no particular order, are the frugal things I have been up to over the past few weeks as well as I can remember...

~I made a turkey pot pie with some homemade turkey pot pie filling that I took out of the freezer.

~I've baked multiple loaves of bread.  Jeff really does prefer homemade bread over store bought and it is cheaper and much healthier if I make it myself.

~I've harvested lots of tomatoes and Uncle Bob has been very generous in bringing me some from his garden along with cucumbers.

~I bought mushrooms on sale and sautéed them with butter and garlic along with some of my homemade herb salt.  They were frozen for future meals.

~I harvested Italian prune plums from our neighbor's tree that hangs over into our yard.

~I found an applewood smoked pork roast in the freezer and cooked that up with some potatoes, onions and celery for a perfect Fall meal.

~Jeff and I have harvested about 10 quarts of blackberries and frozen about half of them and given away a lot to friends and family.

~I made a rustic apple pie and we had that the day that Jaysn, Rachel and Steven came out to pick apples up at the local family owned orchard right over the hill from us.  Apples are still just .50 a pound.  Steven loved picking apples and feeding some to the horses there too.

~Chris and Heather had us over for dinner one night and we gave Bradley and Isaiah each $10 to add to their spending money for their trip to Las Vegas to see Uncle Josh and Auntie Lauren.

~Jeff got a $300 Covid-19 bonus at work.

~Jeff is making me a custom frame for a beautiful picture of some wolves that was a birthday gift to me from my cousin Jeremy.  I have been waiting to get it up for a couple of years now and Jeff is so sweet to do this for me.

~I've started Christmas shopping along with getting a few needed items for myself.  Walmart is having their end of the season clothing sales so I got 3 pairs of capri pants for $1 each for me and some things for Bradley, Isaiah and Tate (new baby due in December).  I could not find anything I liked for Steven yet, but I still have time to find things for him too.

~I've been dehydrating orange slices from oranges that have gone a bit dry to use in an upcoming project.  They look and smell amazing!

~A air fryer has been on my want list for a couple of years now.  The prices have finally come way down and my cholesterol numbers have gone up.  Jeff and I decided that we would get an air fryer so we could cut back on "fried" food.  It is a learning curve using it and I have found that the lowest recommended time is best unless you like things well done to burnt.  We do love how things come out cooked properly in it though.

~I'm noticing lots of empty shelves at the grocery stores on certain items.  There are some items that I have not seen for months.  I finally found some egg replacer (for baking) for half price this Thursday evening.  I have been stocking up on things like cereal (4 for $5 after digital coupon), Gatorade and Powerade when I can get it for .69 a bottle or less (I drink these and the grandboys all love to get a bottle when they are here), lunchmeats and cheese (again, when on sale), reduced priced meats, spices that I am running low on, and condiments.

~Our commodities giveaway at the end of September had so much stuff including lots of produce and frozen foods.  There had to be at least $400 worth of food in the boxes that they gave us.  What a blessing!

~Jeff opened up a Christmas Tree box that we got about 2 years ago while "treasure hunting" when the college kids we moving out and he found it not only had the tree, but also all the lights and decorations for it stored in there too.  We needed more outdoor lights and these lights were for indoor and outdoor use and even in the color we wanted!

~The old truck that Chris gave Jeff needed some work and luckily Jeff has been able to do most of it himself.  It will be nice to have a working high clearance 4 wheel drive truck again.  They are saying we could have a very snowy winter and I will feel better if Jeff is driving too and from work when the snow is bad in the truck.

~We went to the Asian food store and bought more soup mix for making wonton and udon soup.  I love having these on hand because they are comfort foods for me.  I can make a huge bowl (or 2 regular sized bowls) for about $2 here whereas I would be paying $12-$15 if we went out to eat and got the same thing.

~The hot tub is finally fixed (yay Jeff) and we are once again enjoying it.

~The two big freezers in the garage are now inventoried and organized making it easier to see what we have and what we need to use up ASAP.

~More herbs were harvested from the garden and dried.

   That is all I can think of at the moment.  I know there is a lot more, but my brain is mush and I also need to get off this thing and go harvest more tomatoes and blackberries.  On a different note, please pray for our President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump as they both have been diagnosed with Covid-19.  No matter what your political leanings, no one should wish illness or malice on someone else.  I am thankful that Joe Biden has tested negative so far...I was worried about him possibly being exposed during the debate.  This diagnosis has really thrown America into a a hug "what if" scenario and is bringing out the best in some people and the worst in others.  I'll just leave that right there.