Saving Money On Food, Gardening & More

by Texas Homesteader ~

5 Frugal Things This Week: Preparing for a powerful winter storm, some free treats & feeding the family on the cheap are among the things that saved money for us this week. Come see the list!

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

1. Preparing For Another Arctic Cold Weather Pattern

Although we were still reeling from the last winter storm a few days ago, there was yet another frigid storm predicted to barrel through the United States. So we once again prepared for the arctic weather.

Gathering Firewood – We began by cutting dead trees on our property into logs and splitting the wood. Then we stacked our main firewood rack with plenty of firewood as well as a hearty supply on our covered porch firewood rack.

Homemade Fire Starters – I also got busy making Fire Starters, both the egg carton ones as well as the Wax-Dipped Pinecones.

There were other preparations being made for the impending inclement weather:

Preparing For Power Outage

How To Stay Warm When The Power Is Out

2. Combining Errands

RancherMan & I had to travel to a nearby town for errands. As we typically do we bundled our errands into one trip to save gas as well as wear and tear on our vehicle:

Grocery Store

Farm & Ranch Store

Pick Up Free Wood Mulch From our County For Garden

Reducing miles on your vehicle is always a two-fer win to save money.

3. Food App For Free Food

Sometimes you can enjoy the little things in life while still saving money. Being frugal isn’t always about deprivation. If your favorite restaurant has a loyalty app, use it!

While we were running errands we stopped at our favorite burger place and enjoyed a buy-one-get-one-free meal using their app. We both got a little sumpin’ special & mine was FREE!

4. Preparing For The Vegetable Garden & Seed Inventory

January is a great time to get ready for your vegetable garden. Growing our own food is a huge way we’re able to eat healthy for little money!

Plan The Garden – This week I planned this year’s vegetable garden using an Excel document that I update every year. That way I can make sure I’m rotating my crops, see what grew well last year, read my companion plant notes etc. You can see how I Plan My Garden Here.

Inventory Current Vegetable Seeds – I also went through my seed inventory to see what seeds I had and which seeds I needed to replace. In past years when I haven’t done this I found myself buying more seeds while I was out shopping ‘just in case’. I was happy to see I still had plenty of seeds this year with no need to buy more.

Remember: The best money saved is often the money NOT SPENT in the first place!

Free Wood Mulch – Counties often offer free wood mulch from tree trimmers. Ours has a help-yourself location where you simply drive up and shovel as much as you need into containers or the back of your pickup.

I needed wood mulch for the garden and FREE is in my budget!

RancherMan & I simply loaded up some large tubs with the free mulch. When we got home I laid down some cardboard in my garden and topped it with the mulch. For FREE!

No expensive mulch to buy, no wasteful plastic bags to dispose of. A money saver as well as eco-win!

5. Hosting TWO Evening Meals With Family

Here’s another way I saved money this week. My brother & SIL were planning to swing by to help RancherMan & me with some trip planning for our 25th Anniversary trip later this year. (my SIL is a travel-research genius!) I told them if they came by at suppertime I’d prepare a simple meal for us as well.

As I mentioned, we’re still dealing with a cold snap. I wanted something hot and comforting. Then I spied some potatoes that were just beginning to sprout. I needed to use them now to keep them from being wasted.

So I peeled & chopped some potatoes and made a large pot of Potato Soup With Leftover Smoked Ham. It was delicious and filling and cost almost nothing to make.

Plus, the next day when we traveled to visit with my dad I brought the leftover soup in my slow cooker so I could share a hot homemade meal with him as well.

Daily Ways To Save Money

Of course there were the standard ways we typically save money every week:

Cook Homemade Meals (the EASY way!)

Utilizing Planned Leftovers For New Dishes

Homemade Yogurt Breakfasts

How about you? What are the 5 Frugal Things you did to save money this week?

~TxH~

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2 thoughts on “5 Frugal Things – Preparing For A Winter Storm, Free Food, Potato Soup, etc.”

Angela DeGroot at

Great article – like checking in to see how you are frugal. I recently wondered if McDonalds and Whataburger have rewards apps as they don’t advertise them much. Why yes that do and WB gave us a free burger just for signing up. MD gave a free large French fry. We don’t always take advantage but nice to know when find yourself out and needing a quick meal.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  It always pays to look for those loyalty apps Angela – good for you! RancherMan & I are the same, we don’t eat out a lot. But we do have our favorites for those few times when we do enjoy a quick meal. Might as well get a freebie while we’re there! ~TxH~
  
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~Texas Homesteader~

Working To Provide For Ourselves On Our Texas Homestead

5 Frugal Things – Preparing For A Winter Storm, Free Food, Potato Soup, etc.