Frugal Friday Week #2
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I always feel like I post many how-to’s and not many “real lifes”. Although I do try and incorporate that into my newer posts, I’ve often thought that it might be even more helpful for my readership to get a better glimpse inside of what our simple/homestead/from scratch/frugal life really looks like.
Frugal Friday Week #2
So I’ve started a new series called Frugal Fridays and I need your help. My idea for this series is to share some of the projects/recipes/things that we worked on this week and in general, just what life looks like.
I need your help though because yes, I’ve tried something similar before and I gave up after a while. I got bored, felt like no one was reading it or cared, and I moved on to other projects. So what I need you to do each week is to share what your week looked like in the comments section. I think it could keep us ALL accountable and may serve as an encouragement to others!
So let’s dive right in to this week!
Meals We Ate This Week
If it seems like there are a couple of meals missing, it was just that I couldn’t remember what it was or we just had leftovers!
Breakfasts –
Cinnamon Muffins (recipe coming)
Toast + Fruit
Egg Sandwiches
Toast & Bacon
French Toast
Homemade Coconut Yogurt + Canned Fruit
Lunches –
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup + Potato Rolls
Corndog Muffins
Kids Choice (they made salads!)
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Leftovers
Suppers –
Chicken Wings with BBQ Spice Rub (Can post the recipe next week if there is interest!)
Tacos
Hamburgers
Leftovers
Stir Fry with Beef (and homemade stir fry sauce)
Homemade Pizza
This week we also had a birthday! I talked about the decor and gifts in one of my YouTube videos. Above is the cupcakes I ended up making for the “pirate party”.
Shopping I Did
None this week. Groceries were last week. I did meal prep all of the veggies and fruit that I had gotten from our coop. It’s so nice to have that all ready to go in the fridge!
Outside Projects We Worked On
We finished most of the mini barn which was good since we had another little snow this week and the sheep could go inside. Maude and Maisy still need to calm down a bit but we are excited to have them. They are very curious and observant girls.
We picked up some bottle feeder Guernsey Goats this week for the boys to take care of. They are pretty big already so we will start the weaning process so we can feed them less milk replacer…it’s expensive!
Inside Projects We Worked On
This week I sold all of my extra eggs and I also sold some of my gluten and dairy free bread when we went to town for a homeschool activity. I may just over $50 total which was perfect! I’ve been trying to sell our extra eggs and baked goods to pay for all of our animal feed.
I washed all of our sheets and blankets this week because it was so nice and I could hang them outside. That’s always a big chore!
I started some rhubarb seeds this week. I need to start my onion seeds as well, that will probably happen today so I might get pictures for you by next week. I plan to grow a large amount of rhubarb in the coming years (it grows really well at my house) and sell it but this year I’m starting all of the plants by seed for myself and I’ll sell some plants as well.
Finally, I cleaned out my pantry this week. It’s been a mess for a long time. I even got a video up on my canning pantry on YouTube!
Books I’m Reading
A Year Without a Grocery Store – Finished this one. If you don’t have any previous knowledge of stockpiling you would find this helpful. I thought it would be more recipes and ideas but it’s mostly about stockpiling. The why and how.
The Resilient Farm and Homestead – One of my favorite homesteading books of all time. I own a copy and am re-reading it now to get some ideas for this year.
Blog Posts I Wrote
I will add this section so you can also catch up on the latest blog posts I put up in case I missed sharing them in my newsletters this week!
- Homemade Stir Fry Sauce – got this one up for you as promised!
- The Best Egg Laying Backyard Chickens – I thought I would write this with all the current interest in raising backyard chickens.
- 28 Ways to Save on Chicken Feed – Something else I thought was needed right now with all the feed going up in price.
- Guide to Raising Baby Chicks – This one goes along with the other chicken posts this week!
- Amish Onion Patties – New side dish recipe I shared!
- How Long Do Dried Beans Last in Storage – This one is for those looking to add and properly store dried beans in their stockpile.
- Best Marinara Sauce Recipe – This is a recipe shared by my friend. Such an easy idea for supper!
- Chicken Broth Gravy – One of the easiest things we made that really adds a lot to a meal.
- How Long Does Ground Beef Last – This is going to be part of a series about properly storing and saving different foods.
- How to Get Coconut Oil Out of Clothes – Sharing this tutorial because I know we all have coconut oil stuck in some piece of clothing we own!
- 37 Recipes Using Ricotta Cheese – Tips on how to make your own ricotta and how to use it.
- Homemade Baking Powder – This is a good alternative if you are out or if you are looking to make an allergen free version of baking powder.
Looking Ahead to Next Week
We are getting some little pigs to raise for this year (we butchered our last set of pigs in December and the meat is all sold). We didn’t plan on getting them this year but our guy from last year had some already and the price was right. We will get them all settled in this next week.
I’m not sure what is on my agenda for next week yet! If it’s nice we might go out and do some winter hiking (if the mud dries up a little) and I may also work on setting up my seedling racks to get ready for planting more seed starts.
Finally… I thought it’d be fun to have a little “incentive” to comment each week and what better way to do that than to do some giveaways! This week I’m giving away a few copies of my latest book, Living Slower. Leave a comment and then enter to win below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
So tell me….what did life look like for you this week? What did you do, make, or plan to do?
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple life since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to the 100-acre farm and ministry on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
I have and love both of your books, but just thought I’d comment on your post. 🙂 We have been selling our eggs again after a period of our hens moulting and changing their feed. We also started planning our garden and when to start seeds inside recently. So exciting!! Dinner this week..tacos, baked chicken, left overs will be used for pot pie tonight!) meatloaf and a rare (anniversary) treat…Chinese food!
Always something to do! Love your posts!!
It has rained here (over 6″ in 2 days) so there hasn’t been much done outside. We are building a “canning shed” to get all of my canning paraphernalia concentrated in one place. So, we will continue on it as we are able.
Chickens are good and laying daily or every other day. Have an abundance of eggs right now.
I started lettuce in a cold frame outside and have started my sweet potatoes to make slips in about a month. Waiting for garden to dry a little so we can plant snap peas and turnips.
Inside, my 3 week old sourdough starter is doing great. Made a sourdough loaf on Tuesday. Will make another tomorrow as we are about through that loaf.
Meals this week…homemade pizza on Monday, fried pork chops Tuesday, chicken pot pies on Wed. We had a meeting last night, so ate out.
I think the Frugal Friday is a neat idea. You telling about your week kind of reminds me, of us sitting with a cup of tea and just talking. I will have to remember what I did LOL. I hope you don’t get bored it is nice to look forward to each week.
I am not sure what I did, kind of flew by. Will do better this next week.
Tried to enter for book, but couldn’t figure it out.
I greatly enjoy reading your blog and learning from you! Thank you for your diligence and knowledge- what a blessing you are to me!
Thank you for keeping me inspired. I have cooked from scratch most of my life and started canning and growing my garden several years ago. This week, it warmed up some but it is still too cold to do any planning outside yet, but this year I started hydroponics with lettuce and herbs and they are all doing well and have been a great help. Still doing two types of sprouts and started some more this week. Planning for the big hydroponics tower and will start seedlings later this month. Finished my first batch of wine and started another along with a small batch of chamomile ale for the end of this month.
The grocery shopping was reduced to $50 for the last two weeks…it’s a start. Baby steps.
I have been learning more about making sourdough and fixing problems I’ve been having. My starter is some I had, but it wasn’t doing well so I’m treating it like a brand-new starter. I’ve made some fantastic waffles and pancakes from the discard. I also made a batch of sourdough brownies, but the recipe I used made it way to chocolatey and I love chocolate! So, I cut them up into small pieces and froze them. I can take out a piece whenever I need a chocolate fix, but will probably put them in a bowl of milk to cut down on the chocolate. LOL!
I live in SE Arizona so I can pretty much garden year-round. I’ve been hardening off plants and starting other plants from seed to have them ready for when I can plant them outside. I pulled up some turnips that I will put into a stew tomorrow. I have some asparagus that will soon be ready to eat also.
I started a new project this winter…. growing mushrooms indoors. I’ve ate some of the oyster mushrooms last month and now I have a batch of pink oyster mushrooms that I will be eating in the next day or two.
You were busy! We cooked all meals from scratch, found sales on pork and filled our small freezer. We made a bunch of freezer meals for busy days. We fixed the gate on our garden and the door to our garden shed. We made a draft stopper for our front door. We worked on our crafts. Hubby canes and repairs chairs( lots of chairs!) for several repeat clients. I make stained glass pieces. We both do craft shows to sell these items. Thanks for your inspiration!
Kathy Johns, I am intrigued about what kind of door draft stopper you made, any details you might be willing to share about it. I really have to make some for my house, but not sure how to go about it. I know how to crochet, trying to find a free pattern to make one that way. Have also seen that some people make them out of old socks. Can you give me any pointers on what worked for you?
Draft stopper – i had a lot of merino wool socks with holes in the heels so we sewed the ends together (cut open the toes) and then stuffed them with more socks and rags. My daughter added some fun eyeballs. Works great
Thank you, Shelly, for replying, very much appreciated your very helpful idea.
Our week has been extra busy as my teen daughter has been participating in an Honors Music Festival at the local college. Various high school students come in and make up an orchestra together, culminating in a concert over the weekend. Homeschoolers are allowed to join in, so I have been driving her there and sitting through all of the rehearsals. They are sounding great, after just a day and a half of practice—but it also means I have been sitting there waiting for hours. It is not bad, however, as I visit with the teachers who have brought their students to the event. Before the Honors Festival started, I was able to visit a thrift shop with my daughter and we found her a Land’s End boiled wool jacket for $15. Later I looked it up online, and it sells new for $149 and used for $65-115! I am very thankful to have it for her! We also found her an Old Navy blouse that looks nice with jeans for $3.75. We are trying to fill in her wardrobe for college, which she starts this summer, so these are much needed.
Why is it so hard for me to remember what we did this week? 🤣 I have been really busy recording interviews for my self-sufficient woman summit so I haven’t had a lot of extra time. I feel like I have been in a dinner slump lately and have really been struggling with what to make and feeling like I make the same things all the time. I’m tired of all the heavy winter foods but it’s still kind of chilly and I’m not quite ready for lighter foods either.
Things are are aa bit in limbo around our homestead right now. It’s just my husband and I here and I am currently awaiting heart surgery next month. Got a bad valve. So I’m not allowed to do much right now.
However, I did order seeds, worked on a sweater, made an Azure Standard order and actually got a wee bit of spring cleaning done.
I’ve told my doctors we’ve got to get this show on the road… spring planting is coming and I’ve got things to do….. THINGS I SAY.
So hopefully by this time next month I’ll be sitting on my little stool in the sunshine planting seeds.
We seem to be having trouble staying motivated and on track with homeschool this winter, so my daughter’s studies took up a big chunk of our days this week. But, I was really excited to get out on the deck and seed start our spring plants (cabbage, broccoli, kale, lettuce) and I spent a crazy warm afternoon working on clearing some leftover debris and weeds from a corner of the garden.
This week was a lot of homeschooling as usual. Yesterday we cooked up a jumbo batch of waffles for the freezer, which should last a week or more. (6 kids!) Then I made a couple loaves of banana bread to use up some old bananas. We finally finished, primed, and painted another wall of our living room. Two walls done, 2 to go. I made a birthday card with some new little piggy stamps my daughter got. Now to help my 2 youngest get some valentines filled out to give away Sunday at church.
Well this week I was on a mini vacation so I basically cleaned out the fridge before leaving. No meals were cooked until last night and I made a Shrimp scampi?-ish dish, lol.
Before I left I got my chickies all ready for NOT being able to get out of the coop. They pout but they sure do love it when I get back. I have to watch them a little closer now though as we have (at least) two alligators in our pond right now. I have called the trapper out but he doesn’t seem very interested in coming out to get them. Hopefully this weekend.
I am sort of in a transition in my home life right now. We are selling the house/property so lots of things are in boxes. I did purge a LOT of things though so wherever I end up, I will be leaner than before.
I have been trying sour dough bread for weeks now and it just doesn’t work for me. I do EVERYthing they say to do and it is still gummy inside. I just don’t get it at all! So disappointed. The thing is I can make the artisan 5 minute bread, but sourdough? nope. My dad used to make it all the time when I was little. I am afraid he is looking down on me and just shaking his head…..with a little smile though. 🙂
This week I am hoping to get some seeds started. Maybe some tomatoes. It is so pretty weather wise here (Florida, in case you didn’t know by the gator comment, lol) but I may have waited too long for them. We’ll see. It is so hard when I could move at any moment.
Thanks for letting me share!
Have you tried to take the internal temperature of your bread? I think it needs to be 180. I had to cover mine with foil the last bit to get my bread to the right temp, but it wasn’t gummy anymore.
Needs to be 190 degrees!
I started some seeds in jugs for winter sowing. I tried it last year and didn’t have to buy any starts from the green house. We don’t have the space in our house for a whole seed starting setup so that was a welcomed blessing. We also enjoyed the warmer weather and sunshine this week.
Thank you for sharing. I’m really enjoying the recipes and I loved seeing the pics of your animals this week. Always nice getting new ideas a, and hearing what others are doing.
Recently listened to your episode on the 1000 Hours Outside podcast, very eager to start following your content! We bought our dream 5 acre property last September and are interested in adopting at least a partial homesteading life. This year’s big project include adding a couple meat cows, building a compost bin, and putting in a garden.
As far as this week goes, I spent Monday & Tuesday hiking in Brown County State Park with my husband, 3 yo, a 1 yo. The trails were definitely muddy but it made for a fun challenge for my 3 yo.
Planning on checking out your onion patty recipe you mentioned, we still have onions left from last years garden that I’m always up for mixing up how I use.
Thanks!
Thank you for the email. I really enjoyed this one! A run down of the week, recipes, etc. I really like the idea of frugal Fridays. I am going to find the 2 books you recommended – I am always looking for good books to read to learn more about homesteading and preparing for the future. Thank you again and have a blessed weekend!
I really love the idea of Frugal Fridays! We ate out of the pantry this week, and leftovers!
We had a contractor here last week to remodel our small guest bathroom. He did an outstanding job and the bathroom is beautiful. Also helped take care of my mom who is 82 and has dementia. She isn’t going to be able to live independently for much longer and my siblings and I are trying to decide what that will look like. Also got a little spinning done and patched some jeans for my husband.
I love your post. I am inspired by your life. I don’t live on a farm & im south (Florida) so we can basically grow veggies all year. I have a small container garden with cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions (that I grew from the scrapped roots of ones I bought previously.). Also have some herbs-parsley, basil, mint & chives. I think fresh herbs add so much.
I just got some new seeds, so I’m gonna try adding some radishes, carrots & lettuce. I may end up using a few extra containers-I think I’m running out of space!
Hi! I’m excited about your Frugal Fridays! This last week I went to an Amish community about 2 hours away from me and stayed the night with friends (Amish), played Dominoes after supper, rested, shopped at a Amish bulk store for friends and ordered strawberry and raspberry plants for the upcoming season for my brother. I got away from the city to rest and relax while going there to help family and friends. Worked, cleaned my home and spent time with my parents in their nursing home.
Your blog is refreshing to me!
Enjoy all your posts and look for ward to them. The home made baking powder this week is one that I will make and use. Thanks for all the recipes,and ideas.
Awesome girl! You are so inspiring. My Aussie will be 1 on February 18, and she looks just like a bigger version of yours! This week, I made a big pot of chicken and rice soup using grilled chicken grown locally and bone broth / stock I had canned a couple of months ago. It made enough meals for a few days and was so good and healthy! I also have 2 inside hydroponic gardens – one for herbs and the other for lettuce. I get enough lettuce for 4 salads/week usually. Right now I am reading books by Fr. Richard Rohr (Im Catholic but they apply to everyone!) and also reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. Don’t let the title fool you, it’s a VERY good book. This is my second time reading it. God bless!
I appreciate what you are doing. I sat down with my meal planner last night and still had “holes” so I this week’s recipe links are helping me fill a couple in. I need to start some seedlings as well. You have inspired me to get out the seed packets and start doing some planning. Thanks.
I do a lot of sewing and quilting. This week ( and I’m sure the next few weeks as well) has been about sorting and organizing fabrics.
I frequently have people offer me fabric that is being cleaned out from their stash or from someone they know. Last week I was gifted Two huge totes and a large trash bag full of fabric. This included an “almost finished” quilt that was so poorly constructed that I took it apart to rescue the fabric and have recut the blocks and designed a quilt incorporating the salvaged fabric. It will be donated when I have it finished.
Today I’m sorting the remaining fabrics in order to reclaim the space in our living room. Their are piles to go to: making pillowcases for children in Foster Care, a friend who makes dog beds, a refugee woman who sews to help support her family, a group who makes and donated quilts, a quilting retreat free table, Savers.
I appreciate reading your experiences and have tried some of your suggestions. I would love to try the Amish Onion Patties but we don’t have a stove top fan that vents to the outside. Any ideas on removing odors in the house?
I’ve always just kept the kitchen door to the outside or a window open before we had the vent installed.
This was one of those weeks that I felt like I did nothing but work. (I’m an assistant preschool teacher.) using ideas you’ve shared really helps free up time in the mornings and evenings. The ones we use most are weekly meal planning and doing food prep one day a week for upcoming meals. My husband and I also love to bake together and then take the treats to work to share. I love your post about the ricotta cheese because this week we made lemon ricotta cookies, which are one of my favorites! I really enjoy reading your blog and trying to implement what I learn. Thank you for sharing your journey.
This has been a rainy week. I made 12 coasters to give away and continued working on a quilt. I also took three bags of books to Goodwill. Slowly trying to organize and get rid of “stuff” in my house. Love your posts and plan to can pinto beans soon!
We started painting the exterior of our house ourselves. We plan to do a section at a time working as the weather allows. My husband and I are both 69, so this will likely be the last time we tackle the exterior as diy.
Merissa, I am writing to you from Prince Edward Island, Canada. I really like your blog. I also really like this particular “frugal Friday” section you are offering. We have 4 children (ages 8 – 16), we homeschool, my husband is a professor. I do garden in the summer, but we moved countries and had been in a rental so I couldn’t do that this past year. I try to buy mostly organic and pasture raised vegetables and meats but it is very costly, especially right now and on this Island. I dream of having my own homestead but so far Providence has not provided that for us. We are hoping and praying to move to the country and a different place and work towards a life closer to the land, so your tips and having a look into your life are really very inspiring! Thank you!
I enjoyed your post! Thank you very much for sharing a week in your life with us!
We live in rural Southeast Ohio & had beautiful weather this week! Yesterday was about 70°F!
We are a working, farming, & homeschooling family of 5 with 3 teenage sons who work in ag jobs, 2 of which participate in athletics with the local school district, & 1 of which studying diesel mechanics at the local community college. Our routine includes all the scheduling & household organizing that all that entails! I do feel like that’s my routine every week – just keeping order amongst all the activities & the obligations, & trying to keep up with it all. We all have full-time & part-time jobs that are all less than a 15 minute drive from our home. We also raise small flocks of meat chickens & sell the poultry direct to customers.
We have a flock of meat birds growing right now, so everyday functions alot around taking care of the meat chickens. We also have about 2 dozen egg layers, & we sell the eggs from them.
We attended church over the weekend & took it easy Sunday. Our main goals on Sunday were some meal prepping & clutter busting. We spent time cooking chicken, pork, & beef, & making pancakes, to have main dishes already made for the week. We also took a bunch of household items & clothes to charity. We went to a family gathering that evening.
One goal I had this week was to working on finding a way to sell the chicken liver we produce from our flocks. A restaurant owner here agreed to taste test our chicken liver amongst her staff, & the owner let me know they are willing to run a special this month featuring the liver from our chickens! We worked out those arrangements.
I also made my 1st YouTube video ever. We maintain alot of direct customer communication for our poultry business, & I do a regular Facebook schedule, & our middle son has encouraged me to post to YouTube. So, this Wednesday he helped me start a YouTube channel, Twin Oaks Farm Poultry, & we posted our 1st vide, called First Flock 2023. We have a goal to post there 1 to 3 times a week & promote a campaign for us reaching 1000 subscribers!
This week I had to do shopping twice at our local Sponey’s IGA. Both trips were for things we ran out of…dog food one trip & bread & veggies one trip.
Thursday night we trimmed our inside dog’s toenails.
In some of the evenings this week, our sons wanted to watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movies on DVD’s; we watched with them.
I read (reread) one of my Louis L’amour books. My homeschool sons & I discussed books they’re reading, too.
We had homeschool time daily. We had housekeeping daily, too.
I visited with 2 neighbors over the course of the week, hosted a friend Monday, & I am meeting a friend this morning. I want to make more time this year just for visiting with friends/family.
I am also trying to keep fresh flowers around the house, so I stopped at the local florist on Thursday & picked up some carnations & alstromeria lilies.
Our 2 youngest sons both had sinus infections this week, so a little extra time was spent just helping them rest & recover.
Now it’s Friday. After meeting my friend this morning, I have a dog walking appointment for a client at noon, & this evening we’ll go to watch our youngest son at basketball; fortunately, it’s a home game, so it’s only a few minutes from home. Other than that, I’ll take care of all the chickens & the dogs & the home & its people!
I love all of your posts and videos! They are an encouragement to us that are trying to live simpler and I’ve made many of your recipes with success! Thank you~
Hi, I don’t normally comment since I do about 1000 emails a day. However since you need this I will tell you this one time. Hubby is on disability and with the craziness in this world, he cannot get his hernia repaired. We are improving his chances with tea and supplements for as long as they, same each week with two little differences when the times comes. Most weeks we are home and sleep well and eat well. On occasion maybe once a month, we head to the laundromat, kind of a day date for us. On occasion two times a month we head to the stores for our two weeks of food. I often put canned goods away, put rice in jars. I have a dehydrator so I grow stuff and dry and put those in jars too. At least during the summer. Other than that I do my emails and print quilting and other emails most days. Tim, hubby, walks out for the mail most days. He is able to do that. Love that man. So I hope this is something that is useful in some fashion to you. Wishing you well always.
I love this new series! Always nice to see how others are being productive around the home for inspiration on those days that u just don’t wanna do anything!!
I am working on cleaning and organizing the house, making plans for the garden and I made a heart wreath from items I had on hand. I also made sympathy cards for our church card ministry and made an Azure order.
Your muffins look delicious. I am working on organizing my sewing area and essential oils. I am also setting up a workout space and a crafting area in our bonus room.
I loved reading your post today! I am 73 and live in east central Missouri. I have a small garden where I grow green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and whatever else I have room for. We live in a subdivision so we can’t have any sort of livestock so I just dream about raising chickens! I started working on a piece quilt for my dog. I’m not very crafty so I’m making that first. I’d like to eventually make one for each of my four grandkids. This week I’ve baked white bread and tried my hand at artisan raisin bread, which turned out very yummy. Meals this week have been mostly oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, lunch is grab and go because my husband and I are usually working on hobbies or other projects. Suppers have included grilled chicken breasts, fried pork chops with potato pancakes and turnips, beef stew, and can’t remember the rest. Looking forward to the next Frugal Fridays post!
Busy week here mostly just surviving. The weather is crazy in VA right now, temps close to 70 so did plan ahead and purchased mulch and got it down BEFORE the spring flowers took over making a simple task that much more difficult.
Here’s too getting ahead on chores this weekend so next week is calmer! I’d love a good snow storm.
I always enjoy reading your posts and emails. You are such an inspiration with all you get done in a week. I have been focusing on Spring cleaning. It has been so lovely and warm (and wet) this week. But Saturday we are supposed to get snow Saturday overnight (we live in the southeast so everyone will go crazy) and I may run to the store tonight before everyone else goes tomorrow. I need a few things and my youngest will be in town for a church event so that will give me something to do in the meantime. I have been wanting to start making our own bread …maybe this will be the week…yours looks delicious! Looking forward to reading next weeks edition!
I canned black beans, white beans, and pinto beans this week. Any extra that were soaked but didn’t fit in the jars, I cooked and then dehydrated. These will be great for quick meals later, either when sickness goes through the house or this spring when we get busy outside.
This week I continued my usual frugal happenings. I made sure to pack lunches for my son, bought items to mend or patch clothing, trimmed my son’s hair. One son and I needed new athletic shoes so I shopped and outlet center and found some for cheap. One pair rang up higher and asked them to ring up again with lower price. I am attending a speech and debate tournament with kids. They offered meals for kids so for myself I brought food from home. I am feeling content and happy with life. This year will be expensive since I have one son in college, another preparing to be a missionary, and three others at home. The oldest is getting married so will need to contribute to the wedding. Lots of life changes but happy ones. I am just happy that through a frugal lifestyle I am able to contribute without hardship.
Wow! What a busy week.
We have a small family farm in Northern California and are recovering from the storms that raged across the region last month. We are busy processing and clearing cords of oak from the several trees that went down. The garden beds will just have to wait. Most of our family income is from our farrier business which keeps us busy 4 days a week, but this week we are playing catch up for the days lost to the weather, so it’s been a gauntlet so far this month. Meals have been a combination of pantry items and quick trips to town. They include salads, a fritata, and salmon.
You are one busy lady. I feel like I wouldn’t pale to you. But this is what I did this week. No animals here.
Cooked meals for a few days, changed bedding and washed all, received my order for freeze dried foods, fruits and veggies
Have been going through the seed catalogs and ordered some. Am thinking about doing onion seeds to start. Any good types you recommend? I live in New England.
Grocery shopping and Bible study today, babysat for 4 days for grandkids, not overnight. Lol
Made an awesome banana bread and cranberry bars, gluten free. Since there’s only 2 of us (68) we eat fresh. Picked up my eggs at the farm and did sone sewing. That’s my week so far.
Thank you for the posts and books. I really appreciate all the info!
Wow! Things are really happening on your homestead! How exciting! I love all the new animals, especially the sheep! There is a sheep farm close to where I live and I almost wreck looking at them every time I pass!
So inspiring, all you do! I’m so sick of going to the grocery store, so any posts on producing your own food/stretching a dollar, are a nice read.
We just bought a big country home on 3 acres, plenty of projects ahead. I’m starting seeds this week, so right behind you! Thanks for your posts:)
Thank you for sharing Merissa, this week I’ve been watching a YouTube channel on how to make sourdough starter and I also have been starting my spring cleaning. Not much to do outside so why not just a jump on it. The weather here in NY has been crazy, no snow only in the mountains. Stay blessed🙏
My husband and I are remodeling a guest bathroom. It would be the kid’s bathroom, but our kids all have families of their own.
We purchased a vanity on sale back in September. All the paint we already had on hand.
This week was all the painting. Last weekend my husband installed the new flooring. We were able to purchase it super inexpensive. There were only a couple boxes left. We only needed three.
It has been a great week.
Eating mostly from the freezer and pantry.
I love your blog Merissa. I smile as I look at your pictures and recipes. You are a Proverbs 31 woman!! We had friends over for dinner and I cooked alot if taco meat. I’ll freeze leftovers in freezer bags for future taco meals, taco soup, taco salad, enchiladas etc. I was wondering if anyone has a recipe for bread made without eggs or yeast? Blessings
We just moved into my dad’s house a couple weeks ago to start saving some money. We closed on our house we sold. Now we just need to move the rest of our stuff out. We had a warm, blustery day in Indiana yesterday. The roof blew off our chicken coop and then the electric went out because of the wind. It would have been that big a deal except we have 16 chicks trying to stay warm under a heater lamp. My dad started the generator and thankfully it came back on after and hour and a half. What a crazy week!
Built a rolling canning rack, but didn’t add enough support. ( lol, just really poor planning). It was worse than the Leaning Tower of Pizazz. But got it fixed and will be able to store lots of cans.
I always enjoy hearing/seeing what others are doing on their homesteads, so this Frugal Friday was a good read! I especially like that you add links to the previous blog posts because I don’t always have time to read them on the day the email comes out and then later I forget! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing the pictures of your cute animals!
I did my once a month big trip on Tuesday to take advantage of 15% off Tuesday. The first Tuesday of the month a few grocery stores in my area have an extra 15% off almost everything in store (there are a few exclusions like pharmacy refills, lottery etc). I shop the flyers and then get what is on sale for a good price and enjoy the extra 15% off.
We are doing a pantry challenge/freezer cleanout for Jan-Feb. It helps empty out jars and use up odds and ends. I am still buying fruit&veg and dairy. Hence the stock up shopping trip.
Made bread, brioche, hot dog buns and banana swirl bread this week.
Did batch cooking and baking to make life easier.
Made my niece a couple of receiving blankets and working on a baby quilt for her new little one out of my fabric Stash.
Started another tray of microgreens for salads.
Started peppers, micro tomatoes, leeks and onions. I purposely plant lots of extras to be able to sell them in the spring to help pay for new garden improvements.
Daughters birthday is tomorrow so making a cake today. Bought her gift on after Christmas clearance.
This week I made deodorant, laundry detergent, baking powder, powdered sugar, boo boo balm, and all kinds of others! I didn’t go to the store, so I just threw meals together with whatever we had left (deer roast with frozen mixed veggies and cornbread, leftover potato soup that I had frozen for a later date, homemade pizzas). It was nice out for a couple of days, so me and the kids got to enjoy lots of time together and with the animals. A part of our fence was down and our sheep and pony got out so my husband and I fixed the fence. We had a productive and yet really sweet week together! Also, save your book for someone else in the giveaway because I already bought it when it first came out and go through it all the time!
I had a great week!
Still cleaning out one drawer or shelf. Feeling productive!
Attached binding to my Halloween quilt.
Made Mellisas GF muffins.
This week was a bit different as we refinished our hardwood floors last weekend, so we were busy putting the rooms back together. In doing so, I donated a lot. I am loving all this extra space. Now onto the kids rooms next week. I was able to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while the floors cured. My 2023 goal is to perfect breads. This month the focus has been bagels. Yummy!! I’ve also pulled out my Nourishing Traditions and tried a few more recipes. Made carrot pumpkin muffins we’re a big hit (inspired by NT recipe). I taught my kids how to make flat bread last night. That was part of a steak, broccoli, delicate squash, and flat bread dinner. Delicious!
I make a soup a week to help the food budget. This week was vegetable. Because I am unable to make a small batch, I look for a way to make do overs interesting. This week I turned it into a vegetarian cottage pie which my husband enjoyed. I also made rye bread, white bread and cinnamon rolls. My biggest accomplishment was to stay out of the stores for the second week in a row. I’m hoping to keep the streak going for all of February.
Besides working, my girls and I went out to sell our left over chicken eggs (also use $ to buy feed) noticed it was hard to find cat food and we went to 3 different stores to get enough cat food for our 4 cats! Planned the garden layout. Cleaned garage out to start seedlings and getting ready for Spring! It’s nice having canned food, girls were able to warm up chili and beans during the week. We ate a ground beef casserole, chicken burgers, steamed veggies, French fries, I had some energy and made an apple pie with our canned apples and we ate a lot of eggs as my girls are starting to lay eggs again!
Hi! This week I concentrated on using up what I already own. I have a lot of soup and chili frozen that I have been heating up for lunches. There are only two of us, so I cook about 3 times a week and we eat leftovers on the alternate nights. I’m trading flour for sourdough bread, and I’m pretty happy with that arrangement. I’m also working my way through all the fruits and veggies I froze from my garden last summer.
Hello from south Louisiana! I so enjoy your blog! I look forward to it, and it is the 1st thing I read in my inbox! Since it is just my husband and I at home now, our meals are simple and frugal. We do save one night for a date night, and usually just share a meal. I live in a small town, so it is also a “visit” time with friends at the local restaurant! Homemade soup finished out our menu this week, as I just throw leftovers together. It is a little cooler today, and the weekend will be cooler as well (mid 50’s during the day) and we might get a frost this weekend as well. I was able to pick up and finish a crochet blanket I have been working on for my daughter (3 years in the works, but shoulder surgery messed me up a bit). That, and I don’t usually crochet in the summer….just a winter craft I always do! I enjoy reading everyone’s weekly chores! We own a business, so I’ve been working on my taxes, YUK!!! I have my shopping list for sales this week. I purchase meat when on sale, as we make and smoke our own sausage and tasso. I do share with my daughter and it is always good to have in the freezer! Bye for now!
I like your Frugal Friday idea.
I am always looking for new ways to save or simplify our lives. We are looking at me moving from a full-time job to a SAHM by the end of the year, so for sure will be looking for extra tips as we get ready for that move. I also love your posts for home-made GF alternatives. Especially the link for the soy-sauce replacement! I have lived years sparingly using the very expensive GF alternative available at the grocery store. 🙂
Having been a long-time follower, I enjoy everything you post, but my favourite things are the mixes and the recipes.
Thank you for this weekly series! Love it! It was a weird week because my kids that are still at home are visiting their oldest sister in AK! I own a microgreen farm so that’s kept me plenty busy without them though!
I’m interested in hearing/seeing how your rhubarb seeds do. Are they hard to germinate?
This is my first time trying to grow rhubarb from seed so I’m not sure yet. The instructions seem pretty simple, no cold stratification or anything. I will keep you all posted on how it goes!
This blog was so inspiring and nice to see a hands on look at your week. Would enjoy this weekly!
We are trying our hands at building a log cabin style chicken coop! But last weekend, while taking down a standing dead red pine to use, I was hit in the face by a swinging branch and it broke my glasses (thankfully no injury!). My eyes have not appreciated the abrupt switch to contact lenses and I’ve had wicked headaches all week, so not much done. Had a really great tickling ‘fight’ with my kids on Thursday which brightened the outlook!
I already have your books but wanted to participate with a comment! Yes, I love frugal Fridays segment, so keep up the good work! I made yogurt, granola and cookies (for my father in law) I planted two apple trees and did my pruning prep for spring. I got my grow lights and indoor seed projects ready to go. I use my hydroponic lettuce too! Yum. Cooked up the meat for the homemade dog food and reorganized the extra supply pantry. I also did my grocery shopping and did a little stock up which gave me enough to use an $18 off coupon. Did a couple make ahead and freeze meals to use when I run outta time for dinner. Have a great weekend! Love the animals esp the kitty!
Trying to get bills sorted out. Did a post on a beginner pantry. Meal
Plan for a tight budget
Hi Merissa,
I have a hard time remembering what we ate too. I made a chicken, rice, broccoli, cheese hot dish one day and being our 37th anniversary this week, we went out for dinner one night. Yesterday we went to Costco. (I try to avoid going there too often because it’s too easy to buy a ton of stuff you weren’t planning on or budgeting for!) Anyway, between the samples we ate while going through the store and stopping on our way out for their $1.50 hotdog and pop, no cooking needed. Not the healthiest choice, but a great deal as the hot dogs are huge!
I sure enjoy seeing pics of all your animals. I would love to be able to have chickens and other animals but we live in town so it just isn’t possible. Some people have a few chickens in town but our yard is just too small. I would not like to see them locked up in a tiny coop with 5 square feet of yard as some do. We’ve looked for country places in our area, but with the prices on property skyrocketing over the past few years and the interest rate taking those big hikes, it just doesn’t seem to work out for us to move. We refinanced when the rates were super low so it would be hard to give that up.
I went to the gym and worked out Tuesday and must have really outdone myself because I was so sore the next day. The soreness continued the next day too but I went to the gym again anyway…..I just didn’t do as much. I’m feeling almost back to normal today, so it probably helped.
Today hubby and I are taking a man we’re helping out to do some errands. I don’t know what he has in mind so we shall see how that goes.
I had wanted to get my Christmas decorations and tree put away this week, but somehow, it did not happen. There’s a lot of that at my house. I’m way too accomplished at procrastinating.
Maybe next week! See you then!
I really love books on frugality and Romance. I’ve been reading Tribute by Nora Roberts this week. It’s to try and find the time to read. Always so busy with other things. This week for supper we had refried beans and cheese quesadilla, chicken pot pie, chicken wraps. That is the ones I can remember. I finished buy all my seeds for my garden. Looking forward to March 8 to start the seeds under the grow lights. I live in Ontario Canada so we can’t plant outdoors until the last weekend of May. I canned some chick peas and started a list of all the jobs I want to get done before the end of March. Once April comes around it will be planting time for potatoes so we will be getting all the garden beds ready at the same time. Thank you for sharing with us Melissa. Looking forward to the series. Have a wonderful weekend.
Hello All. This week I stuck with making the meals I planned as opposed to throwing out the plan and making what sounded good halfway through. I have taken to putting meals in the notes section in the calendar area in my phone. We also built a dog gate at the bottom of the stairs, looks way better than buying something premade. Hope you all had a great week, thank you for sharing Merissa
This week was pretty light activity wise so almost all dinners were all cooked at dinner-some weeks when things are hectic I pull pieces from the freezer (meatballs, marinara, bread, rice, frozen meals) and reheat. We did leftovers Monday (Scout night and we all participate), homemade biscuits, sausage gravy and eggs the next night, then chicken tikka masala and rice, then grilled burgers and fresh cut fries and tonight is pizza night. I haven’t decided what the adult pizza will be but the kids pizza is cheese…always cheese:) I’ve been thinking about what I will grow this year in my containers-my backyard is small and all cement patio so I have to keep it container friendly and supplement with the farmers markets which is a treat for me each week!
We are on a vacation right now, but just wanted you to know I always enjoy your emails/blog posts! We have no livestock (tho do joke about feeding the livestock after filling the numerous bird feeders & suet holders on our property) but have already ordered our seeds & making plans for our large garden once we return to Northern MI (now under LOTS of snow). Always looking for ways to be more frugal, so appreciate your attitude toward life!
Love your book and blog! I’m going to work on storing my dried beans this coming week.
Good Friday afternoon. I love reading your blog posts and recipes. Always enjoy learning something new. This week my daughter made pancakes from her sourdough and they were delicious. We also made beef stew using stew beef and homemade bone broth. My husband plans to start tomato seeds along with pepper seeds and flower seeds tomorrow. We also need to back our trailer up to the barn…we take 4 of our cows to market next Tuesday. Happy Valentine’s Day.
On Sunday my daughter and I are going to take a class on French croissant making. Tonight my grandchildren are coming for dinner. We’ve decided to make homemade pasta served with different toppings. They get to chose what they want if anything. We’ll end with sugar cookies for snack. We’ll that’s my week in a nut shell. Have a wonderful weekend.
Blessings, Margarita
I was so pleased with the experience of my first Barter Fair last week. A woman in my town posted it to our community’s Facebook page and reserved the meeting room at our library (free resource). I took dried bay leaves, rosemary, and some excess canning jars to trade. I gave away empty egg cartons for free (I don’t have chickens). My big prize that I came home with were meyer lemons, but I also scored a jar of sourdough starter and iris cuttings. Plus I spent a pleasant hour chatting with like minded people. I was impressed with the creativity and variety of things that people brought. This was a trial event that was declared a success and that will continue once a month. I’m already making a list of things I can take and looking forward to garden season.
We live in Denver, Colo. Last week we drove to see friends in Las Cruces,NM for a few days then went to see our oldest son in SanAntonio, TX. Last week I gained weight, hard to say no to all those goodies all the time. So, this week I have to pay the piper. I normally workout 3 times a week and watch what I eat(I’m a recovering prediabetic in remission due to my diet/exercise habits.) This week I’m starting seeds for my garden. Last year transplants(tomato,pepper) were $5/plant at Home Depot. I’m really glad I’ve learned how to start my garden from seed. Also, I’m exploring new ways to feed myself so I don’t aggravate my prediabetes.
Love to read your posts and newsletter. I have been getting them for a really long time. I have been packing and getting the house ready for sale. We are planning to move to some small acreage in Southeast KY, USA. We are looking forward to gardening and raising some small livestock again. I’ll be looking for that recipe for the cinnamon muffins. I baked chocolate chip muffins the other day. I am working on using up the food in our pantry so we won’t have to move it as this is a long distance move. Thanks for sharing your homestead life.
I usually don’t comment but I want you to know that I’m a fan of your work. I read your weekly blogs, watch your videos and I even buy food through Black Hills Bulk Food. I get good ideas and incentive from your work. Thank you for everything you do and please do not get discouraged as many of us deeply appreciate you and your work.
Merissa, you enspire me to “do what I can” to live a simple and self sustaining life. I am 72 and only now learning how to garden. My onion seeds are starting, and will be working on my tomatoes and lettuce tomorrow. I have chosen to plant in buckets because of difficulty getting up and down on my knees. This will be my third season. My harvests have been small and not all that productive. But, I am learning a lot and hopeful. You encourage me to keep pushing forward.
A rainy week in my area. Beside cooking my regular meals, I took the time to make bread crumbs with older crackers and bread. I will glad to have these ready when I need them in the future. I made my husband his favorite chocolate pie. That ruined my diet for a couple of days.
I spent a few days helping my mother-in-law clean out her garage. We found several old canning jars during our cleaning. She sent them home with me since she is quite elderly and isn’t up to canning anymore. I was very grateful to receive the jars. I needed them. Some of the jars have unique shapes.
I gave my recipe binders some much needed attention. Much more organized now.
I bought a few more seed packs, worked the compost area and checked the Saffron bulbs.
This weekend I am planning on doing research on vacuum jar sealers. I need a new one and hope to order it soon.
Hoping for a dryer week so I can get outside more.
I love reading your posts every week and have used dozens of your ideas and make your own recipes. I even purchased one of your cook books and have bookmarked several items.
Keep it up. I learn a lot from you!
Happy weekend
Carol Roe
This week was pretty busy in terms of organizing our basement to prepare for my husband to work from home, plus lots of cleaning!
I made sourdough English muffins, chicken tacos with homemade tortillas, pizza casserole, beef noodle soup, and sourdough banana bread. We ate leftovers twice this week so as not to waste food, and some of the stuff was frozen for a future meal. 🙂
The most exciting thing I’ve done this week is make lacto-fermented salsa. Which is DELICIOUS. 🙂 But this is a week where I certainly didn’t feel on top of much. That’s okay. Learning to give myself grace for those weeks. I work full-time, and I at least meal-planned so we weren’t eating french fries and fish sticks every night. I call that a win! Haha!
We made some mason jar mixes for ourselves and to give as gifts. The brownie mix is from your website and them we also made cupcake mix, oatmeal bake, and peanut butter energy ball mix. I gave one of the cake mixes to a friend with a toddler and she loved how he could help dump and “mix” the dry ingredients while she did the wet.
I love your indoor lettuce growing setup.
What a great email to read on a Friday! We’ve just started our first set of seeds for growing! (Bell peppers, pizza peppers (thick walled red bells with a hint of spicy in them) and jalapenoes! Next week we will get gobs of tomato varieties started in their little humid homes. The past week breakfasts were: yogurt & fruit, oatmeal, eggs (scrambed, fried etc.) with toast & fruit, and freezer breakfast sammies. Lunch: p,b&j sammies, salads with leftover chicken, and one day popcorn (Ok it was a tough day – lol!) and dinner: several soups, chili, and a crockpot beef broccoli over rice. On tap next week (weather permitting) – pulling up “beach” pine tree starts that have popped up (they are a big fire hazard in summer). Attack the gorse plants that have popped up during the last few months… and figure out what area needs clearing to eventually plant two varieties of apple trees. Makes me almost tired thinking about it and weirdly excited at the same time. As the days are sloooowly getting longer…we always get excited about what to do next on the homestead. Have a great weekend.
I love reading your posts, Merissa, and always enjoy reading what you have been doing. We recently sold our home of 50 years and have moved to be close to some of our children and grandchildren, and will move into our new home next month. We only have a tiny garden there so will be looking at what we can manage to grow. I love the idea of your hydroponic lettuce, and may try to do that. There are some espaliered fruit trees there already, so that is a bonus! Thank you for all your wise and encouraging posts.
Hi Merissa, love your pics and comments! I live in Denver and am a GGGrandma. Reading your posts takes me back a lot of years and reminds me that “the more things change, the more they stay the same”! I was raised on a farm near Chadron and had many similar experiences such as you relate. Gardening/canning, raising livestock for sustenance/
profit, and selling eggs – oh yes! Through the joint efforts of myself and my parents we sold (2) 30-dozen crates of eggs every week, which bought groceries, shoes, medications, etc. and if anything left over, Saturday night trips to Dairy Queen! I have used many of your recipes – thank you and keepum cumin!
Thank you for this series! I do not farm or homestead, but I so love learning from you, and the yummy recipes!
Thanks for sharing about your week. Your dog & cat are so cute! I did the same thing this week, I pulled all our blankets off & washed them & hung them out. Thank you for the mayo recipe. My husband just said we need to start making our own. I baked more bread this week. We cleaned out our coop. Discussing our garden plans. I made pancakes & muffins for the freezer ( easy breakfast)
Outside we cut up two trees that fell a few months ago & got up the wood.
I don’t have this book that you are giving away & would love to have it. Have a great weekend!
We ate a lot of leftovers! We made an egg bake and pizzas from leftover taco fixings. Just now we had fast food after going a month without eating out and honestly it feels like a huge waste of money but the kids love it. February has been the beginning of living a lot more frugally and it’s been tough. I’m jealous of your beautiful pantry and need to watch your video. I need to fix mine up but without spending anything….
I had so many plans for this week ……. however there were very few actually accomplished 🙁 Dealing with arthritis pain and fibromyalgia pain can derail the best laid plans and it happened this week. More rest and specific exercises needed to be a bigger part of my life so the plans for sewing and extra cooking had to be cut way back. Next week should be better I hope. It sounds like you had a productive and fun week. I do miss my days of being in the country where we had our chickens and pigs — and a dog and cat 🙂 I now live in an apartment in the city and enjoy hearing of the country living experiences other have 🙂
Do you find that keeping a “log” of your weekly meals helps with your planning of the following meals?
Yes, it’s nice to look back and remember what we like to eat/make 🙂 It’s so easy to forget!
We adopted a puppy from the local humane society. The pet store offers new pet parents a coupon book so we were able to get puppy supplies for a reduced cost. Most of our meals this week were cooked from scratch, and we are trying to eat from the pantry this month. It seems like a lot of people are doing that. I started more seeds for herbs, rhubarb, goji berries, and flowers. It’s probably a bit early for that but I have lots of grow lights and sunny windows. I got some gardening books from the library so I spent a lot of time reading and planning. Thank you for posting the stir fry sauce recipe, I will be trying it very soon.
Wish you lived close by, I would give you a rhubarb start from my plants!
Hi Merissa its Sue -Been a semi busy week this week been working on doing section house cleaning started with my bookcase sorted out books i didnt want to read anymore took the small bookcase where i keep my cookbooks and went through all of them got rid of a few and am starting to repaint that,did some sewing also, went to town this afternoon after work and got a load of grain for my replacement heifers. At work(i work in the kitchen at the school in the neighboring town) yesterday and today we (another worker)and i hauled what seems like a million boxes of frozen food from one freezer to another (a very good workout)then yesterday stacked boxes of food in the storage room.So am a bit sore right now!!!!!
Leftovers again?
Make a panade, basically a catch-all casserole consisting of bread on the bottom, leftovers in the middle, a generous amount of liquid over all, topped with something crunchy or cheesy or crusty on the top.
*My own this week: cornbread topped with chili, wilted veggies, pasta, yams, craisins and applesauce, drenched in chix broth, seasoned with whatever dressing or spice blend at hand, and finished with crumbled crackers, bacon bits and parmesan.
What say you?
Love reading your blog and watching your you tube videos.
Busy work week, and then last two days, slowed down and spent time for me. Went to see movie “80 for Brady”(I am the only one from Boston), with my girlfriends of 25 plus years. Movie was with a gift card from Ibotta and used my points from Regal to get a free popcorn. Went to dinner after, oops. We split the bill 5 ways.
Finished reading “The night she disappeared”.
Today got my seeds in the mail, and my new starter kit. My hydroponics is taking off with lettuce and herbs. My daughter gave me as a Christmas gift. Tonight sitting down to update my budget.
Have a great weekend!
Have a great weekend
I’m really enjoying this new Frugal Fridays series! It’s fun to get weekly updates!
This week was super slow- lupus and fibromyalgia flares. BUT, our ducks are laying eggs consistently, so I have already earned enough to cover their feed. Still working on organizing/using up odds and ends from freezers- this week was beef soup bones. 2 packages of shredded beef for stroganoff, and then 7 quarts + 4 pints of beef & barley soup. In the process used up 5 misc containers of broth, veggie leftovers, and carrots already sliced from last year’s garden. Broke down and bought new socks- too many holes. What kind of sheep do you have and if you don’t have a ram, how do you intend on breeding? Are the milk or meat? Do you have someone close by to shear or will you learn to do it yourselves? Have an awesome week, and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Have you tried growing Tomatoes in a hydroponics system. It takes about 5-6 weeks to have Tomatoes. We have them producing from April till November
I haven’t yet. I’m very allergic to tomato plants so I’m hesitant to have them in the house. I’m hoping I can someday in my green house though.
I have been trying to shop my pantry and only get fresh veggies and milk from the store so it has been a few weeks since I have gone into our local grocery store. I failed to plan and ran out of bread the night before our entire family of 6 needed packed lunches. I didn’t have time to made bread that evening so I quickly ran to the store and was so shocked at bread prices! I have been making our sandwich bread at home this year and while I was buying a loaf, my energy (that was honestly lagging. hello February)that I needed to stay on top of our bread needs was renewed. Oddly enough that experience felt frugal because it was a good reminder of why I do what I do, even when I get tired or it is inconvenient at times.
I was down with the flu this week until today. Hubs is the cook anyway. Fajitas Monday, Tuesday hubs had leftovers while I slept, Wednesday steak, Thursday leftovers, tonight was dinner out. Yummy Thai food.
Nothing frugal on my end this week except leftovers.
I had a bad cold that kept me tired and achy for a couple weeks. I’m basically rehabbing physically now (which is rehab within rehab for me), doing chores and trying to get back my stamina. I basically napped through January, and I hate napping.
My dream of moving to a smaller town is one small step closer to reality. I may yet have a yard!
Your pets are beautiful.
I could always use a gluten free bread recipe..
Me tooo
I love all of the practical and useful ideas and info that you post. I’m a disabled senior citizen who no longer does all of the canning, drying, etc that I used to do. I volunteer at a senior center and we are putting in a raised bed community garden this spring. It will be wheel chair accessible so all can participate. I always had a nice garden and canned my produce. My needs are less now as my husband passed away last summer. I will be involved in our community garden from the ground up. It will mean so much to our community. Maybe I can do a canning class to inspire others. Wish me luck. Have a joyous week.
P.S. how many hours are in your days? You accomplish so much each week. It’s amazing.
I get up at 4 🙂 It’s helps a lot!
I’m curious about corndog muffins, what are they? Sounds like an interesting lunch option for work!
I just mixed up some cornbread, chopped hot dogs into it, and baked like I would muffins in a muffin tin. They weren’t a favorite of the kids but they didn’t seem to mind them an ate them all 🙂
Easy is good when it comes to work meals, thank you!
Hi Ruth, this is Gina I found that we also liked them chopped up in smaller pieces throughout the batter and our hotdogs had a smokey flavor, I also added honey because that’s what we use in our cornbread. You could also cook sausage or use breakfast links and chop them and put in some maple syrup, then just like Merissa did I bake them in muffin tins. We also used homemade pancake batter with the chopped sausage links and maple syrup to make them like the Jimmy Dean pancakes on a stick and baked those in tins as well.
Thank you very much, Gina!
Also, please tell Holly she’s adorable! I miss having floofs around.
I’m have had a predator problem that we are getting solved, but am now in need of more chickens. I love my girls and get really upset if I lose one. I started most of my garden seedings, nothing is actually up yet but I am eagerly anticipating fresh veggies. We made homemade pizza one day using homemade dough and homemade cheese. So much fun! I am also trying to faze in more homemade snacks. My littles aren’t too impressed with my homemade cheese it’s, I think they are good though. Much better than store bought junk. I’m hoping they will catch on.
Homeschool, enjoying warmer weather outside, cleaning, decluttering (in progress)!
I love your blog!
Thank you for the insight into your homestead and for the recipes and tips you share.
I appreciated the posts on chickens. For several years I have thought about getting chickens, and my neighbor (where I buy my fresh eggs) has encouraged me to do so. I’m just not sure I am physically able to manage them.
But, I have my new greenhouse for starting my seeds this year, a donation from a friend (brand new, never used). So far, it seems anchored well with the 40-50mph winds two days ago not having any affect. I’ll be starting tomatoes, peppers, salad greens, and some herbs all from seed. Next fall, I hope to cut back, pot, and overwinter my peppers and tomatoes instead of starting from seed every year. We’ll see how it goes. Any extra seedlings I have this year, I will give some to my neighbor and take donations from anyone else who wants some.
I need to finish putting up protective fencing around my young fruit trees. The deer devoured the leaves from them last year. I don’t know if they will survive another year of that
Thank you again for continuing your blog. I also enjoyed your books.
Im loving the way you share your life. The down and dirty and success and fun, animals… you have truly mastered the canning process to. The pictures you share are very inspirational. I used to have that life on 5 acres, but i didnt appreciate it… my husband worked full time, the kids were little and the chores never ended.. wood to chop, 1 acre garden, canning, animals, etc.. this was 35 years ago before it was popular, and people thought we were poor, instead of smart and resorsefull…fast forward, we live in the middle of a city with a brandnew house, but i still hang up laundry, use up left overs, cook from scratch.. Im blessed with the knowledge I learned from the 5 acres, as we are able to still live off less than 1 income, pay cash for everything, and make groceries stretch with todays economy and inflation… thank you for letting me talk… me from WA state
Hi Your blog was recommended to me in my news feed, and since I maintain a little house and like to revel in this life, I opened the link. I work outside my home full-time, as they say, and it has been mostly cold and very windy here in southwest Ohio. This week I tried a new creme brulee recipe, using cinnamon instead of vanilla, and using more shallow ramekins. The jury is still out as the cream had frozen before due to our 1979 refrigerator starting to freeze everything. My son continues learning to drive, so we spent hours this week on the road. He found a few items at the thrift, some vhs tapes and a space heater. I attended one dharma share.
I love your inspiration. I am especially interested in the backyard chicken and feed articles. I also love looking at all your beautiful canning. Thank you!
Love this idea of frugal Fridays!
Will you please share your recipe for coconut yogurt? I’m hoping it’s dairy-free and made w/ coconut milk! Then I can eat it!
It’s totally dairy free! I’ll try to get a post up next week on it, it’s super easy.
I love your blogs, if that’s what its called….email notes….sometimes I have to wait to read “later” but I love them….have your books and want to start making notes of either recipes or the seasonings you give out (Taco, etc.) for my daughter…”get her going” haha….for some time now, I have …hmm how to say….been having a hard time….anxiety/panic attacks….as I say .. working on myself to rid myself of things that I did not do….so some days things are slow but Im pushing myself….and working on “it”…..You asked, guess that is what/how your week means….thanks for listening though….and you, PLEASE, keep up your notes…recipes and ALL…Im sure Im not the only one that loves them…..Have a good weekend !
I love that you grow your own lettuce! (Among other things you grow) I live in NJ and can’t raise any animals 🙁 or have a garden. But I am interested in the hydroponics for lettuce and maybe other veggies? Can you share how that works? Canning is something I want to try too! Thanks for sharing your week. We ate chicken tenders I breaded and baked and hamburgers, french fries with both meals and Dominos pizza on Friday.
Yes, I’m working on an article about the different kinds of plants I grow in the indoor hydroponics. It’s great in the winter!
I just wrote a post, then went on to look at this “issue/email” and saw your Gluten Free
Stir Fry sauce… 1 what is that cocoanut item? where would you get it…Im in No Ga mts…somethings are hard to find….2. bone broth….nah dont like what can I if I need to substitute for it? 3. My husband and I love Lo Mein…trying to figure out how to make “that sauce” would this stir fry sauce “be it”? Thanks
I order the Coconut Aminos from places like Vitacost or Azure Standard. I can’t find it here in the store either. You could always use soy sauce, tamari, or my homemade soy sauce replacement that I linked in that recipe.
I didn’t grocery shop this week we have been using what we have. I baked a chocolate cake and used applesauce for eggs and oil, we had taco meat and such here so tacos and refried beans were on the menu this week as well as bread sticks stuffed with cheese, soup and cheese toast, we went out for dinner one night and also had loaded potatoes and fried pork chops. Since we are getting alot of rain the trees I just bought and planted are getting alot of water so hopefully they will take before our southern summer. Merissa, Holly is so cute and your cat looks like a few of ours. Hope everyone has a safe and frugal week.
Blessings
You had a great week! I really like reading your menus. I never got my hydroponic gardens going in the fall and now I regret it. Last winter I grew Red Hat dwarf tomatoes and then planted them outside for the summer and those little plants got so heavy with tomatoes that they were breaking.
Hope everyone is well, Merissa Holly is so cute and your pretty cat looks like some of our strays. We didn’t grocery shop this week we used what we had. We are getting alot of rain so if my other comment that suddenly disappeared, reappears I’m sorry about that. This week we had tacos, soup, cereal, loaded potatoes, and lots of coffee. Eggs are still high here where we are, and I’m still not sure about more chickens right now. The trees I planted last week are getting the much needed rain and I’m still debating what kind of container plants I want to grow. I am also trying to spend the bare minimum this year so we can save some money.
I have one of your books and love it! I just have to adapt some ideas as I am apartment living now with no yard!!
I don’t recall how I came across your blog but signed up for your emails. I’ve got lots of good intentions of making your recipes but they still end up saved in my ever-growing emails. Love how you’re changing this up. Ended up coming down with covid this week, so maybe hope for next wek.
Hi, Melissa and everyone!
I really enjoyed your Frugal Friday post! You came through my news feed. I also enjoyed everyone’s comments! Some exhausted me by just reading them lol! But it’s great to see how others manage. This week, we have been working on making a container plant area into a ‘garden room’! The plants now are designed to flow and look great! Wonderful spot for my morning coffee, and any other break I can make! Watered two of my plant zones today. We had a couple different ground beef dishes this week, as well as a beautiful garlic and herb pork loin. I’d love to have chickens, but they aren’t allowed here. This week, I’ve only picked up from the grocery store exactly what we need.
Wishing you all a blessed weekend,
Teddy
This week I made veggie dip for tomorrow’s Super Bowl, to bring with a veggie platter to my friends’. I cooked up some chicken stock tonight, on the back burner while making dinner, to put up in the freezer.
One thing my family does that may seem a little different to some is we share a meal every Friday night with some friends of ours, alternating who cooks the main dish and who cooks sides. We’ve been doing this for I believe going on five years now. It’s saved both families on cost of food in hard times, when we can share the load, and we get fellowship and found family. We have a third family joining us semi-regularly now for the past 18 months or so, and just invited a fourth family. Some nights we just do scrambled eggs, toast and fruit for everyone, some nights we pull out all the stops. But it is amazing what community does for the soul.
I would love to win a copy of your book 🙂
Hi Merissa and all, we are away seeking warmer weather so living in RV for three months which changes how we eat, and it’s cold this year! Brought a lot of food with us in fridge and freezer also dried and canned goods. No one at home now to eat them while we are away! Breakfasts were porridge, yogurt fruit muesli, toast with marmite and marmalade, eggs on toast. Lunches were soup and a filled roll, pasta salad with vegetarian sausages, fish salad with potatoes, filled rolls. Dinners were meat pie mash and peas, l/o meat pie with beans and potatoes, sausages and mash broccoli and carrots, mashed potato Spanish omelette and salad, halloumi burgers roll and salad. Didn’t spend too much just the salad, some fruit for snacks, a baguette and wholemeal rolls and milk. Groceries are about the same price as at home although fruit and veg seem better quality like home grown.
I am excited to watch your YouTube video about cleaning your canning area.
This week included:
Making chicken broth and making another batch of chicken noodle soup.
Oven roasting some pork roasts from our pigs we raised last fall.
Building a new chicken water out of a 55 gallon drum because the old one frozen in December. We only have your first book and didn’t know your wrote another
I love your posts and this new frugal Friday series is helping me to think about what ways I have saved each week. It has me thinking more about what I can do next week and the week after to save also. I love your simple recipes and how they come together with little effort most of the time. Thank you for being an inspiration for those of us who dream of living a frugal life that is self-sufficient and are in the beginning stages of getting there.
This has been a better week for me as my leg is healing and more comfortable so I was able to do most of the cooking. Made some ketchup with canned tomatoes. I cannot have onions, garlic or cinnamon and all of the commercial ketchups have one or all of these. As I am the only one eating it I canned it in half pint jars. We had cereal or oatmeal or toast for breakfast. Lunch was mostly leftovers. One day I made gluten free pizza. Bake a loaf of gluten free bread. It was good to be able to be back on my feet a little more.
You are certainly busy! I like the book recommendations, I’ll have to check them out.
I enjoy reading your Frugal Living posts so if responding will encourage more, I’m in!
Food I made this week: breakfast casserole, pancakes and bacon, two loaves of sandwich bread, a batch of chocolate chip and cherry muffins and a loaf of chocolate bread. Lunches were usually sandwiches and leftovers. Dinners were enchiladas (new recipe for me), tacos, homemade mac and cheese, yellow rice and kielbasa.
I am preparing my indoor greenhouse for planting, hopefully this week. I need to get some potting soil first.
We have three local grandsons who are in high school and play sports. So this week we attended three basketball games, two ice hockey games and four bowling matches. Normally it’s only two of each sport per week but it’s the end of the season so they were getting in make ups for games that were cancelled due to inclement weather before sectional competitions begin. In between all of that I had my second cataract surgery!
I finished reading Drenched in Light and started The Preacher’s Daughter (if you follow me you know that I am an avid reader of books about the Amish life).
That’s about all I can remember off the top of my head. I’ll try and do better next week!
I always look forward to your emails. Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Love this new feature! Hope you’ll continue it!
I am relatively new to your blog, and I am so glad I found it!
This week I continued homeschooling our kids, started our garden plan, and cooked most of our meals from scratch. I’m planning to can some jam next week, so I’m looking forward to that project.
Love, love, love the Frugal Friday newsletter! It is so helpful to see meal ideas (which is my biggest struggle!) I am grateful for the other great ideas as well. Thanks for the other great tips as well.
Lovely to hear what others are doing. I finally made a sourdough starter! Not sure it’ll be my thing but it’s a fun little experiment. We named him weirddough. 😃
I love your recipes! My favorite dish to make is veggie curry. Quick, easy, healthy and you can make any variation with the same basis.
I think is a great idea! I started following you and I like ideas for everyday items. For example turning a soda bottle into a birdseeder and a “greenhouse” to plant seeds. That way (even though I don’t buy soda every day) it’s not just trash, it can have another purpose. Yadira
Hi Melissa!
Your gluten free yeast bread (that you sell), looks amazing. What is your recipe for that?
Thanks!
Vicki
Hi Merissa. I really like the Frugal Fridays/what we did this week post. It is nice to “hear” what you are up to, and what other readers are doing. That helps me to come up with things that we can be doing at our house that I may not have thought of on my own! Plus, it is just nice to have a virtual chat with other people who are like minded. Even if I don’t remember to reply weekly, I’m here and wanted you to know I love this idea!
At our house this week: the chickens are laying pretty well now that the temps aren’t quite so cold. Our geese are doing a great job of keeping their chickie sisters safe, so that is also a wonderful thing! I have picked up some seeds to get started indoors for those early crops: spinach, peas, carrots, and lettuce. I have done container gardens on our front porch and around our back porch the last couple of years and that has worked out really well for these kinds of plants. I have picked up galvanized containers when they are on clearance at the end of the seasons, but prior to that used big poly/plastic buckets like ones kids sometimes keep toys and such in. Both work equally well. Tomorrow is suppose to get cold again, so this afternoon I am hoping to get some clean up in the yard done. I have blackberry canes, grape vines, blueberry bushes, gooseberry bushes, and roses that need trimmed. That will go reasonably quickly once I can get to them. Last but not least, I need to weed my flower garden. It got very overgrown by the end of the summer and it needs cared for before things start sprouting!
I was delayed reading your wonderful post this week, it was just crazy busy! Seeing as tomorrow is Frugal Friday again I’ll wait and participate on the new week. Thank you so much for sharing your adventures!
Great post thank you. I have been using my solar power generators with USB lights to try to save money. I have several small power generators some that came with small solar panels, on sunny days I put the panels in the windows to recharge my generators. We had some nice days so I got everything recharged for this week. I need to try your recipes they look awesome. I really enjoy these posts. Thank you for posting these Frugal Fridays!
Would love to know the GF/DF bread recipe please!
I loved catching up on this weeks blog.
I’m going to look into hydroponics for lettuce as it’s getting too costly at the grocery and all too often goes bad before I use it all.
Beautiful pantry. I haven’t room for one that large but did create a smaller version with jam jars I found at the thrift shop and other recycled larger jars. It also has a shelf for extra supplies.
I am starting a new bush of mini sweet peppers by planting their tops with seeds directly in the ground. I did this last year and harvested enough for many salads and snacks.
Thank you again for sharing!
I loved catching up on this weeks blog.
I’m going to look into hydroponics for lettuce as it’s getting too costly at the grocery and all too often goes bad before I use it all.
Beautiful pantry. I haven’t room for one that large but did create a smaller version with jam jars I found at the thrift shop and other recycled larger jars. It also has a shelf for extra supplies.
I am starting a new bush of mini sweet peppers by planting their tops with seeds directly in the ground. I did this last year and harvested enough for many salads and snacks.
Thank you again for sharing!