The Little Things Newsletter #531 – Life, laughter, and lots of great food!

July 25, 2026

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! It’s been an exciting week over here. We helped my oldest son pack everything he owns and move into a house with his best friends. We’ve enjoyed having him home with us through most of his college years, but he’s 22 and excited and ready to be on his own while he finishes his degree.

At the moment, he’s also very interested in every budget-friendly meal, along with all of the potential grocery savings that I can recommend. So, I’m putting together a recipe binder for him with family favorites and lots of very inexpensive budget friendly meals and I wanted to share some of them here today. Each of the recipes in today’s list is extremely budget friendly with servings under $1-1.50, and some come in significantly lower than that. Welcome to life on a very real budget, hon. We’re so proud of you!

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: Crispy Roasted Chicken Thighs with Potatoes are a meal I make on the regular. And you can swap in drumsticks to make this one even more affordable. While chicken breasts are the go-to for many people when making dinner. I have to say, given the choice, I will take a skin on chicken thigh every time. 

This slow cooker Three Bean Chili comes together quickly on the stovetop then simmers all day for a body-warming meal. It is every bit as delicious with or without meat, making it a very budget-friendly option for a hearty dinner.

Scoop this Crockpot Salsa Chicken into warm tortillas to create the easiest, tastiest, tacos and burritos. Chicken thighs are combined with your favorite salsa or roasted green chile and then left to simmer in the crockpot through the day. For the most budget friendly option possible, use bone-in chicken and pull the bones when the chicken is tender enough to do so, before shredding the meat.

These BBQ Chicken Foil Packets are easily made with chicken drumsticks, a sprinkling of spices, a handful of mixed vegetables, and a brushing of barbecue sauce. This recipe provides a balanced, fuss-free dinner with tender saucy chicken and vegetables, making it a satisfying and easy option for a hearty weeknight meal.

Ground beef seasoned generously with Mexican spices is tossed with black beans and corn to create what we consider the Best Taco Meat recipe – it is perfect for tacos, salads, quesadillas, and rice bowls. This taco meat is also my saving grace every year as we get back into the routine of school and other activities. This is likely to be our lunch and/or our dinner at least once a week. For extra savings, I almost always double the beans in this recipe.

You’re only 20 minutes and 5 ingredients away from the awesomeness that is this flavor-filled Sausage Egg Roll Skillet. Adding sausage (instead of ground beef) to a simple dish like this Egg Roll Skillet adds a whole lot of flavor with minimal effort and ingredients. Serve with rice or stir in 1-2 packages of cooked ramen noodles along with some additional soy sauce to stretch it even further.

Quesadillas are the perfect fast snack or easy meal and this Ham and Cheese Quesadilla adds a couple slices of chopped up deli ham and creamy cheese in a crunchy, golden shell. Your options for quesadillas are near endless though. Pretty much any leftovers you have can be transformed into crisp cheesy quesadillas and a simple can of black beans and some taco seasoning are the ultimate budget friendly option here that still has some protein for you. 

Chinese Egg Drop Soup is crazy cheap to make (less than $.50 a serving) and surprisingly satisfying, as long as you aren’t ravenous. The list looks long, but it’s mostly pantry staples and it’s basically some broth (you can make it from bouillon), a couple of eggs, and a few cents worth of garlic and ginger. Ready in just 15 minutes, my kids were toddlers the first time they devoured this. And, they requested it again the very next day for lunch. 

Banana Nut Pancakes are slightly sweet and deliciously nutty. (For a true budget option, just skip the nuts.) Pancakes for breakfast or for dinner was a staple in our lives for the first 10+ years of our marriage. They’re cheap, easy, and everyone enjoys them. You can make a big batch and stash them in the freezer too. 

Crisp and buttery on the outside, fluffy on the inside, these Homemade Waffles are perfect. Pretty much everything said above with regards to making pancakes for breakfast and dinner, applies here too. 

If you haven’t yet tried Baked Oatmeal, you are missing out. This is the baked oatmeal recipe that gets two thumbs up every time we make it. Lightly spiced with cinnamon, you can make enough for the week with about 5 minutes effort.

My boys’ Power Eggs are a simple breakfast that’s so packed with good-for-you ingredients and protein that it’ll keep you going well into the lunch hour. The boys named them Power Eggs when they were toddlers and the name stuck because it still makes me smile.

You need only a scoop of peanut butter, an egg, and a cup of sugar to make these Old-Fashioned 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies. These chewy, dense, peanut butter cookies are an unforgettable memory from my childhood.

What I’m CRAVING: Sigh. All the leafy greens? And since I can’t have those right now, I’m settling for roasting all the vegetables, letting them cool and turning them into roasted vegetable salads. It isn’t quite the same thing, not even close, but hopefully soon there will be actual salads happening here in Ohio again. In the meantime, if you’re nowhere near this cyclospora outbreak, enjoy a BIG GREEN SALAD and think of me. 

My FAVORITE THING this week are these silicone ice trays. They’re super sturdy with a metal frame, so they are easy to carry to the freezer when filled. I bought them to make large ice cubes out of berries that are nearing the end of their “use by” life. And they’ve been just perfect for that and so much more. I fill the cubes with the berries and add just enough juice to cover them.

Then later, I drop a frozen berry cube into a glass and let it thaw for a minute before smashing it lightly. I’ll add regular ice cubes to the glass and then top it off with a seltzer or sparkling water. It flavors the water and makes for a lovely drink in the afternoon. I’ve really been enjoying them!

What I’m READING: I just finished A Parade of Horribles: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. As always, it was a fun, and wildly inappropriate for pretty much every situation kind of read. If you haven’t read any Dungeon Crawler Carl books before, start with Book 1 and make sure it’s your kind of book. 

The Dungeon Crawler books are sooooo much fun, but definitely not for everyone. They do get more, uhm, let’s say unexpected, as they go along. But I enjoy them. There are just two more books to be written for the series and I’m looking forward to the conclusion.

What I’m LISTENING to: Church of Scars by Bishop Briggs. I’ve loved her song “River” for years, but I wasn’t familiar with much of the rest of her music until recently. I ran across her channel a few weeks ago though and I’ve been playing this album nearly every day since. Her voice is incredible. She manages to blend folk, pop and electronic music into an entirely unique sound that I am loving.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 4 NIV

Wishing you a beautiful week filled with little things that make you smile!

Mary