1. I made chicken broth.
My bag of chicken bones from the freezer was very full, and since I finally had a quiet day at home (following oodles of out and about days!), I made a batch of Actually Tasty Chicken Broth.
So cheap. So healthy. So delicious.
(The green lid there is from a Parmesan cheese container. Those lids work pretty well on narrow-mouth Ball jars.)
2. I fixed Zoe’s shirt with Fray Check.
I bought Zoe a crewcuts shirt from ThredUp, and it is super cute.
(I love navy stripes!)
The only problem with the shirt is that the ribbon ends fray in the wash.
So, I trimmed the raw edges, covered them in Fray Check, and she’s good to go now.
I’ve only ever bought one bottle of Fray Check and since it’s still fairly full even after many repairs, I feel like the $2.99 price point is totally worth it.
3. I modified my plans based on my produce box.
I’d planned to thaw some applesauce to go with our dinner last night, but instead I cooked some up the fresh corn and made a spinach salad to use the spinach and corn that were in my produce box.
The applesauce can wait until a day where my fridge is low on fresh produce. Frozen applesauce keeps; fresh produce doesn’t!
4. I cleaned out my fridge and made some saves.
I cut up three bruised apples. One was too soft to eat, so I froze it for smoothies. The other two were fine, so I cut out the bad spots, sliced them up and set them out for snacking.
(Can you tell it was a dark and stormy day??)
I froze some extra greens for smoothie use.
And I made two loaves of banana bread to use up a bunch of brown bananas.
5. (the fail) I let some food go bad.
When I cleaned out my fridge, I had to compost two potato slices, some pineapple, one zucchini, and a few pieces of cauliflower.
Luckily, I didn’t waste any meat or dairy. Phew.
It’s never great to waste even produce, but at least produce is compostable, and it also costs less than meat and dairy (both monetarily and environmentally).
And my fridge is in pretty good order at the moment, which means I can easily see everything I’ve got.
Seeing usually = using, so the food waste forecast is lookin’ good at my house right now.
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Want to join in the fun? Share 4 frugal things and 1 frugal fail in the comments!
(or if you had an awesomely frugal week without any fails, then hey, go ahead and share five frugal things.)
Anna Alapatt
Wednesday 18th of May 2016
Nice tips with the apples. I need to start being more innovative with my leftover things like you! Going to remember some of these tips you shared :) I don't cook much meat at home, but I can definitely make a leftover stock with my veggies that have been in my fridge for too long :-D
WilliamB
Monday 16th of May 2016
Is it frugal or cheap, that I salvaged the lettuce from a fruit plate, to use as salad?
Why is it that the lettuce the store used in a fruit plate, was better quality than the lettuce they put into premade salads??? The fruit plate lettuce was dark and unblemished, while the salad lettuce tends to be pale, from the ribs or not-as-nutritious insides, and often looks bruised near the cuts.
Kristen
Monday 16th of May 2016
Totally frugal. ;)
Mrs. Picky Pincher
Sunday 15th of May 2016
Eek! I have a new frugal fail for this week! I tried to cut my hair at home and it was a disaster! I ended up going to Great Clips to get the situation fixed. Luckily I had a coupon for an $8 coupon, so it wasn't too bad. :)
Kristen
Monday 16th of May 2016
Oh dear.
I feel like the Great Clips expenditure was totally worth it!
Linda
Saturday 14th of May 2016
1. I earned enough swag bucks to get $10 in Walmart cards (which I haven't used yet) and $25 off an Amazon order. 2. Bought 2 gallons of milk, 1 loaf of bread, and 2 sodas at CVS, used my rewards ($9) and paid $3.51. 3. Went to Kmart to buy a gift for a baby shower (our first great granddaughter), picked up some moisturizer, a new toothbrush for a granddaughter, and some shirts for her. Had a coupon for $5 off and used $10.36 in rewards to come off of my total. I also earned a coupon for $.20 per gallon of gas at Speedway with my next fill up. 4. I added some clothes to my spring wardrobe by using store coupons during a sale at Peebles. I bought 2 pairs of pants, 3 top, and a couple of necklaces for $80.00. 5. Frugal fail: I picked up supper last night from Long John Silvers. It was the first time we had eaten out for 2 weeks.
Zene
Saturday 14th of May 2016
This is a fun game! First timer here! 1. My mother in law watched the kids while I worked and husband was out of town. She brought dinner. I was able to eat several meals from the leftovers, and some stock from the roast chicken. 2. Any food "waste" from the kids plates goes to the chickens. 3. Dug through the saved bins of big brothers clothes, to update little brothers clothes. 4. I made a chicken bug be gone mix with crushed garlic, oregano, acv, and water. The spray helps keeps the bugs off the girls, and any strained our herbs go into thei food. Vampire deterrent from the inside out! 5. The kids wanted hair cuts. So I did it. Hopefully semi well for a few weeks.
FAIL. Hubs was gone this week. After the big kid got done with his after school sport, I took them to McDonald.