This Week in my Frugal Kitchen

Avoiding food waste, we finished off the Mac & Cheese and Pasta Salad for lunch on Monday. 
I combined the plain Oui yogurt dd bought last week with strawberry preserves this week. It was so good.
For dinner on Monday I had some Pepperidge Farm slider buns, so I made sliders for dinner along with some homemade potato salad.

For dinner on Tuesday we went out for dinner and a movie. 
For dinner on Wednesday I made a large stockpot of chili for dinner that night. I know it's hot outside, but my daughter requested it. We also had this for Thursday & Friday night dinner. 
The diced tomatoes I used were thick and didn't have much juice. I didn't have tomato sauce or V8 juice to make it thinner and it was really too thick to eat like it was. I put a squirt of ketchup, but that didn't help much. I finally just added a cup of water and that did the trick. 
Frugality for my family is a necessity and how I run my kitchen can help or hurt that.  I do my best not to waste food in my kitchen or money when I shop for groceries. I'm usually buying items on sale or markdown. Adding a cup of water to our chili cost me nothing. 
Oftentimes when I buy items on sale or markdown, I save those things until I have all the ingredients to make a certain dish.  
That's what I did recently when I made lasagne, a dish that is well known for costing money to make. 
It may take me longer to gather the ingredients I need this way, but it does save me money in the long run. 
I also made a gallon and a half of sweet tea on Wednesday. My daughter has a tiny refrigerator in her work space and I made the half gallon for her fridge. 

Last week on my blog Stephanie mentioned that she uses most of her bananas in smoothies. That motivated me to make one this week. 
I used bananas I froze previously and honeydew melon. I also used the cashew milk we bought on markdown. It was so cold and refreshing, so thank you for the reminder, Stephanie.  :)
Saturday after yard sales I made some hamburgers to finish using the rest of the PF slider buns. 
No food waste here this week. My supplies are running low though, so I know a grocery run is in order for this upcoming week. 
How was your week in the kitchen?
Belinda~ Living within our Means ~