I found this recipe on Kitchen Stewardship last year and it's one of my favorite pasta dishes. My bag of Aldis spinach is starting to get old so I decided to cook it up instead of serve it as a salad with todays meal. The spinach makes it a bit over my $2 goal, but cheaper than adding that spinach to the compost pile in a few days would be :)
2 cups pasta (.25)
1/2 lb sausage (.50)
1 can diced tomatoes (.44)
1 cup mozzerella (.25)
1/2 bag spinach (.85)
Brown sausage, stir in undrained tomatoes and spinach. Meanwhile cook pasta and add with cheese to the sausage mixture. (Full directions at the link above.)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Eggs: Breakfast Tacos ($1.50)
We've been cleaning the leftovers up nearly as fast as we make them so it's eggs again today. Since I haven't had a chance to make bagels yet we decided on breakfast tacos.
tortillas (.48)
cheese (.31)
eggs (.21)
sausage (.50)
In other frugal news, I've been digging compost into the new garden like mad, trying to get the beds prepared for planting on Monday or Tuesday. We plan to plant spinach, garlic, leeks, scallions, broccoli, and ...I'm not sure what else, I've never gardened in Texas before so this will be an adventure. We have a small cold frame so we are going to attempt to make the most of the fall/winter gardening season. I'd also like to plant some herbs if there are any that are cold hardy or can be planted in the fall to die back and regrow next year. I'm banking on this spinach for our winter greens, its something we eat a lot of that's just not in a $60/month budget. Anything else that grows will be gravy :)
I was supposed to attend a ladies-night-out tonight with a snack to share but my oldest developed a fever at the last minute so we'll be eating our chocolatey goodness for snacks at home this week instead :) I had originally planned to make deviled eggs with the amazing deal on eggs I got at Aldis last week but then I came across a recipe for Cake Balls that made me drool. And since it didn't use anything from the pantry except empty calories, I didn't have to worry about using ingredients I might need for real food in a few months.
Super Easy Chocolatey Cake Balls
Bake one cake mix according to package directions (I used german chocolate).
Dump hot cake into mixing bowl and stir in one container of frosting (I used coconut pecan).
Stir until it makes a homogenous dough.
Roll dough into balls and store in the fridge.
You are supposed to dunk the balls in almond bark but I didn't have any and they are delicious without it, just not quite as pretty. My local grocery occasionally puts cake mix and canned frosting on outrageous sales so I keep it on hand so I never have to pay full price, but I don't even like cake so it can sit in there forever sometimes. Maybe not anymore now that I have a way to turn it into chocolatey goodness! :) I think this cost me $1.50 to make but it's been so long since I bought the ingredients I can't remember...if anything it was less expensive, not more.
tortillas (.48)
cheese (.31)
eggs (.21)
sausage (.50)
In other frugal news, I've been digging compost into the new garden like mad, trying to get the beds prepared for planting on Monday or Tuesday. We plan to plant spinach, garlic, leeks, scallions, broccoli, and ...I'm not sure what else, I've never gardened in Texas before so this will be an adventure. We have a small cold frame so we are going to attempt to make the most of the fall/winter gardening season. I'd also like to plant some herbs if there are any that are cold hardy or can be planted in the fall to die back and regrow next year. I'm banking on this spinach for our winter greens, its something we eat a lot of that's just not in a $60/month budget. Anything else that grows will be gravy :)
I was supposed to attend a ladies-night-out tonight with a snack to share but my oldest developed a fever at the last minute so we'll be eating our chocolatey goodness for snacks at home this week instead :) I had originally planned to make deviled eggs with the amazing deal on eggs I got at Aldis last week but then I came across a recipe for Cake Balls that made me drool. And since it didn't use anything from the pantry except empty calories, I didn't have to worry about using ingredients I might need for real food in a few months.
Super Easy Chocolatey Cake Balls
Bake one cake mix according to package directions (I used german chocolate).
Dump hot cake into mixing bowl and stir in one container of frosting (I used coconut pecan).
Stir until it makes a homogenous dough.
Roll dough into balls and store in the fridge.
You are supposed to dunk the balls in almond bark but I didn't have any and they are delicious without it, just not quite as pretty. My local grocery occasionally puts cake mix and canned frosting on outrageous sales so I keep it on hand so I never have to pay full price, but I don't even like cake so it can sit in there forever sometimes. Maybe not anymore now that I have a way to turn it into chocolatey goodness! :) I think this cost me $1.50 to make but it's been so long since I bought the ingredients I can't remember...if anything it was less expensive, not more.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pasta & White sauce Friday: Pork Chops ($2.07)
I've been going through the freezer taking stock of what's in there and there are quite a few meal-size bags of porkchops (from the last pork loin I bought, not the bags I added last week) so that's what I fixed for our main meal today. This is an adaptation of a recipe I found awhile back on Allrecipes Normally I scatter some lightly sauteed mushrooms, red bell pepper slices, and onion on top of the porkchops, but having none of those in my crisper I had to make a stripped down version.
3-Pork chops ($1.50)
1-can of cream of mushroom soup (.40)
1/2 bag of small shells (.15)
1/4 cup of milk (.02)
Place thawed pork chops in the bottom of the crockpot, spoon a can of soup over top (undiluted), cover and cook on high for three hours. Remove porkchops to a serving plate. Whisk milk into the soup in the crockpot. Stir in cooked pasta and serve.
After lunch we went to the farmers market and came home with two big red peppers and a small cucumber--for $1! I love the farmers market but can't afford most of the produce (although having pulled weeds for hours as a kid I would say it's probably way under priced!) So I normally go in the afternoon when the crowds have dispersed and see if there's any deals to be had. My daughter got the cucumber for being cute--she was in awe of the piles of produce and the vendor gave her a small cucumber to carry. I wish I could have purchased something from her for her kindness but they were selling bushels of produce, not by the piece. I'll for sure remember her stall though, that was a great way to earn my future business! :) One of the peppers will find its way into my sons lunchbox this week, the other I hope to roast and make some homemade hummus. I've never tried making it before but my kids both love the roasted red pepper hummus we get from Walmart. It cost $3 for a small tub and I figured I ought to be able to make it for half that. I'll let you know how it turns out next week. :)
3-Pork chops ($1.50)
1-can of cream of mushroom soup (.40)
1/2 bag of small shells (.15)
1/4 cup of milk (.02)
Place thawed pork chops in the bottom of the crockpot, spoon a can of soup over top (undiluted), cover and cook on high for three hours. Remove porkchops to a serving plate. Whisk milk into the soup in the crockpot. Stir in cooked pasta and serve.
After lunch we went to the farmers market and came home with two big red peppers and a small cucumber--for $1! I love the farmers market but can't afford most of the produce (although having pulled weeds for hours as a kid I would say it's probably way under priced!) So I normally go in the afternoon when the crowds have dispersed and see if there's any deals to be had. My daughter got the cucumber for being cute--she was in awe of the piles of produce and the vendor gave her a small cucumber to carry. I wish I could have purchased something from her for her kindness but they were selling bushels of produce, not by the piece. I'll for sure remember her stall though, that was a great way to earn my future business! :) One of the peppers will find its way into my sons lunchbox this week, the other I hope to roast and make some homemade hummus. I've never tried making it before but my kids both love the roasted red pepper hummus we get from Walmart. It cost $3 for a small tub and I figured I ought to be able to make it for half that. I'll let you know how it turns out next week. :)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Soup and Bread Thursday: Winter Corn Chowder ($2.64)
Todays recipe was adapted from Desperation Dinners and turned out great! Similar to a chicken/corn soup I usually make but cheaper--light on meat and without the canned soups my normal recipe calls for. Next time around I'll try it with fresh potatoes but I didn't have any and did have leftover hash browns that needed to be used up.
1/4 lb thick cut bacon, chopped small (.50)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (.25)
2 cups hashbrown cubed potatoes (.75)
2 cans corn (or 3.5 cups frozen) (1.00)
2 cans broth (or prepared stock/boullion) (.10)
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Tobasco
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/2 cup milk (.04)
Brown bacon in dutch oven. Stir in onions and potatoes, set to medium high heat and cook uncovered without stirring three minutes. Add broth and use a metal spatula/turner to scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add everything else *except the milk* and boil on medium for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in milk. Serves 6.
1/4 lb thick cut bacon, chopped small (.50)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (.25)
2 cups hashbrown cubed potatoes (.75)
2 cans corn (or 3.5 cups frozen) (1.00)
2 cans broth (or prepared stock/boullion) (.10)
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Tobasco
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/2 cup milk (.04)
Brown bacon in dutch oven. Stir in onions and potatoes, set to medium high heat and cook uncovered without stirring three minutes. Add broth and use a metal spatula/turner to scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add everything else *except the milk* and boil on medium for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in milk. Serves 6.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Eggs: Ham Puff ($1.50)
I got this recipe from my Mother-in-Law, it's not only cheap, it's fast, easy, and delicious!
1/2 cup butter (.50)
1 cup water (free)
4 eggs (.20)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (.15)
1/2 cup chopped ham(.55)
1 cup flour (.10)
Melt the butter, stir in water, beat in eggs, stir in cheese and ham, and finally stir in the flour. Pour into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan and bake for 35+ minutes at 350 until it starts to get a bit brown around the edges. To double the recipe, bake in a 9X13 and increase bake time to 45-50 minutes.
Frugal tip: I normally make it with a lot more ham. Today I used chopped/shaved deli ham so it still looks like there's a lot of meat without there actually *being* a lot of meat. In an effort to make this dish even cheaper, I substituted oil for half of the butter because I have oodles of oil. It was ok but I could tell the difference--we still polished it off but I won't make that substitution again unless I have to. Maybe next time I'll try it with half butter and half margarine and see if that's any better. We love our butter!
1/2 cup butter (.50)
1 cup water (free)
4 eggs (.20)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (.15)
1/2 cup chopped ham(.55)
1 cup flour (.10)
Melt the butter, stir in water, beat in eggs, stir in cheese and ham, and finally stir in the flour. Pour into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan and bake for 35+ minutes at 350 until it starts to get a bit brown around the edges. To double the recipe, bake in a 9X13 and increase bake time to 45-50 minutes.
Frugal tip: I normally make it with a lot more ham. Today I used chopped/shaved deli ham so it still looks like there's a lot of meat without there actually *being* a lot of meat. In an effort to make this dish even cheaper, I substituted oil for half of the butter because I have oodles of oil. It was ok but I could tell the difference--we still polished it off but I won't make that substitution again unless I have to. Maybe next time I'll try it with half butter and half margarine and see if that's any better. We love our butter!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Bread Based Tuesday: Honey Garlic Chicken Pizza ...and a small shopping trip
Lunch was Honey Garlic Chicken Pizza from A housewife's Tale.
I used one chicken breast and a half recipe of her garlic sauce. No onions in the house, green or otherwise.
I need to check prices at the store to figure out the cost of the sauce ingredients as I haven't purchased them recently, I'll do that soon, but it was pretty cheap :)
Crust/toppings:
flour (.20)
water (free)
yeast (.10)
salt (.01)
sugar (.01)
oil (.04)
chicken (.50)
cheese (.50)
Recipe for honey garlic sauce
1 cup water (free)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (.) {24 tsp/227 tsp in 2lb bag}
3 tablespoon soy sauce (.) {3 Tbsp/126 Tbsp in 2qt jug}
1 tablespoon honey (.10)
3 cloves garlic minced (free--gifted from Gardening Great Aunt)
2 tablespoon cornstarch (.) {6 tsp/56 tsp in 1lb}
(whisk everything together and boil, when it comes to a boil, turn heat to low and continue whisking till thickens)
Add 2 tablespoon of Kraft bbq sauce (.02)
*********************************************************************
Nothing worth buying from the grocery store sales this week so I spent a few dollars at Aldis on milk, eggs, and bread. They had a great sale on eggs, .49/dozen so I stocked up. A dozen eggs weighs a pound so that's some crazy cheap protein! I'm going to a ladies night out at my church this weekend and need to take a snack to share, looks like I'll be making deviled eggs! :)
I am not sure what we will decide to do about bread for this challenge. I made my own whole grain super healthy bread last week, and while it was tasty I don't think it saved us any money--we polished off one loaf fresh out of the oven, even the baby ate a slab. Delicious! Oops, did we really eat an entire stick of butter in a half hour?!? That alone cancels out the savings on ingredients! On top of that nobody liked it for sandwiches, and we make 3-5 sandwhiches a day in our house. (I made the remaining loaf into whole wheat croutons, they turned out pretty good!) Aldis whole wheat bread puts two slices of sandwhich bread at 12 cents, or $18.60 a month for bread if we eat five a day--nearly a THIRD of our grocery budget! Eating tortilla wraps would save three cents a sandwhich, but they are not whole grain and I'd prefer we eat as many whole grains as possible. This week I plan to make whole wheat bagels in an effort to take another crack at this dilemna. My kids think mini bagel sandwiches are super cool, and the individual nature of them would serve as portion control. We don't generally butter bagels when we buy them from the store, so that would save money on butter for sure. And I have several jars of Barley Malt syrup in my pantry that I believe are a key/expensive bagel ingredient--my husbands favorite barbque sauce recipe calls for it so I keep it on hand but I don't forsee us eating ribs anytime in the next six months so he won't miss it. I'll price them out when I make them, I need to purchase more whole wheat flour first though as I used up the last of mine on last weeks bread. I do still have quite a bit of white flour but again, nutrition is more important than empty calories. My husband and I both have twenty pounds we'd like to lose over the next few months, hopefully being more mindful about our eating/spending will help with that.
I used one chicken breast and a half recipe of her garlic sauce. No onions in the house, green or otherwise.
I need to check prices at the store to figure out the cost of the sauce ingredients as I haven't purchased them recently, I'll do that soon, but it was pretty cheap :)
Crust/toppings:
flour (.20)
water (free)
yeast (.10)
salt (.01)
sugar (.01)
oil (.04)
chicken (.50)
cheese (.50)
Recipe for honey garlic sauce
1 cup water (free)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (.) {24 tsp/227 tsp in 2lb bag}
3 tablespoon soy sauce (.) {3 Tbsp/126 Tbsp in 2qt jug}
1 tablespoon honey (.10)
3 cloves garlic minced (free--gifted from Gardening Great Aunt)
2 tablespoon cornstarch (.) {6 tsp/56 tsp in 1lb}
(whisk everything together and boil, when it comes to a boil, turn heat to low and continue whisking till thickens)
Add 2 tablespoon of Kraft bbq sauce (.02)
*********************************************************************
Nothing worth buying from the grocery store sales this week so I spent a few dollars at Aldis on milk, eggs, and bread. They had a great sale on eggs, .49/dozen so I stocked up. A dozen eggs weighs a pound so that's some crazy cheap protein! I'm going to a ladies night out at my church this weekend and need to take a snack to share, looks like I'll be making deviled eggs! :)
I am not sure what we will decide to do about bread for this challenge. I made my own whole grain super healthy bread last week, and while it was tasty I don't think it saved us any money--we polished off one loaf fresh out of the oven, even the baby ate a slab. Delicious! Oops, did we really eat an entire stick of butter in a half hour?!? That alone cancels out the savings on ingredients! On top of that nobody liked it for sandwiches, and we make 3-5 sandwhiches a day in our house. (I made the remaining loaf into whole wheat croutons, they turned out pretty good!) Aldis whole wheat bread puts two slices of sandwhich bread at 12 cents, or $18.60 a month for bread if we eat five a day--nearly a THIRD of our grocery budget! Eating tortilla wraps would save three cents a sandwhich, but they are not whole grain and I'd prefer we eat as many whole grains as possible. This week I plan to make whole wheat bagels in an effort to take another crack at this dilemna. My kids think mini bagel sandwiches are super cool, and the individual nature of them would serve as portion control. We don't generally butter bagels when we buy them from the store, so that would save money on butter for sure. And I have several jars of Barley Malt syrup in my pantry that I believe are a key/expensive bagel ingredient--my husbands favorite barbque sauce recipe calls for it so I keep it on hand but I don't forsee us eating ribs anytime in the next six months so he won't miss it. I'll price them out when I make them, I need to purchase more whole wheat flour first though as I used up the last of mine on last weeks bread. I do still have quite a bit of white flour but again, nutrition is more important than empty calories. My husband and I both have twenty pounds we'd like to lose over the next few months, hopefully being more mindful about our eating/spending will help with that.
Pantry Inventory
Wow, that took longer than it should have! It's hard to pull everything out of the pantry with little ones underfoot, I had to take a shelf per nap to get it finished :) Here's the pantry inventory, I'll get started on the freezer next.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
A frugal experiment: Whole Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye
I've always heard that homemade bread was more economical than store bought so today I decided to bake some super healthy bread. I chose a recipe from The New Best Recipe cookbook because I have yet to cook a flop when using it and I didn't want to mess this up. I have a few other favorite bread recipes I've used, but none that are exceptionally healthy.
Whole Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye
In mixer combine:
2 1/3 cups warm water (free)
1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast (.11)
1/4 cup honey (.38)
4 Tbsp butter, melted (.25)
2 1/2 tsp salt (free)
Stir in:
1/4 cup rye flour (.07)
1/2 cup wheat germ (.75)
Stir in, half at a time, alternating flours:
3 cups whole wheat flour (.48)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (.28)
Knead with dough hook 8 minutes. Cover and rise 1 hour, form loaves, rise 30 minutes, bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes...more detailed instructions in the book or by request :)
Total cost: $2.32/two loaves, or $1.16 per loaf
All ingredients were purchased in bulk except the wheat germ, rye flour, and salt, your mileage may vary.
So was it worth it??? Well, I guess it depends. It came in three cents under a loaf of whole wheat bread from Aldis. Better taste, a lot more time involved. I made one loaf into whole wheat croutons and those DEFINITELY saved me money over store bought, I can't even normally afford whole wheat croutons, let alone on $60/month. Now that I know how easy they are I'll definitely be making them on a regular basis. The other loaf of bread my family polished off hot out of the oven in one sitting with an entire stick of butter. I guess it was a cheap meal, figuring another 50 cents for the butter brings the total to $1.66. But not a very balanced meal, no fruit or veggies, but maybe next time we'll eat it with some homemade applebutter instead, its almost apple season! :)
Whole Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye
In mixer combine:
2 1/3 cups warm water (free)
1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast (.11)
1/4 cup honey (.38)
4 Tbsp butter, melted (.25)
2 1/2 tsp salt (free)
Stir in:
1/4 cup rye flour (.07)
1/2 cup wheat germ (.75)
Stir in, half at a time, alternating flours:
3 cups whole wheat flour (.48)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (.28)
Knead with dough hook 8 minutes. Cover and rise 1 hour, form loaves, rise 30 minutes, bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes...more detailed instructions in the book or by request :)
Total cost: $2.32/two loaves, or $1.16 per loaf
All ingredients were purchased in bulk except the wheat germ, rye flour, and salt, your mileage may vary.
So was it worth it??? Well, I guess it depends. It came in three cents under a loaf of whole wheat bread from Aldis. Better taste, a lot more time involved. I made one loaf into whole wheat croutons and those DEFINITELY saved me money over store bought, I can't even normally afford whole wheat croutons, let alone on $60/month. Now that I know how easy they are I'll definitely be making them on a regular basis. The other loaf of bread my family polished off hot out of the oven in one sitting with an entire stick of butter. I guess it was a cheap meal, figuring another 50 cents for the butter brings the total to $1.66. But not a very balanced meal, no fruit or veggies, but maybe next time we'll eat it with some homemade applebutter instead, its almost apple season! :)
Leftovers
Today is leftover day so no cooking today, we're eating some leftover baked penne I made earlier this week with ingredients from the pantry/freezer. Half a box of whole wheat penne (.25), half a pound of sausage (.50), one cup of mozzerella (.25), one big jar of mushroom Ragu ($1), total cost $2 and it made enough for two meals. All items were purchased on sale/with coupons or as loss leaders...if I had to pay full price for the ingredients I imagine the meal would have come in closer to $5.
Today I plan to inventory the pantry so I can take stock of what is in there, besides vast quantities of ketchup ;)
Today I plan to inventory the pantry so I can take stock of what is in there, besides vast quantities of ketchup ;)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Pasta and White sauce Friday: Shell Mac with Broccoli and Mushrooms ($4.39!)
Shell Mac with Broccoli and Mushrooms
Today's meal was adapted from "Family Feasts for $75 a week" by Mary Ostyn. She suggested adding shrimp which my family doesn't care for so I added a half package of imitation lobster instead. While this was tasty, I will only make this one more time (to use up the remaining half package of imitation lobster) as the price came in at double my daily amount. I justified this because there were leftovers but it's still a bit of a splurge meal on our current budget.
12 oz shell pasta (.60)
2 cups chopped broccoli (.65)
1/4 cup butter (.25)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (.80)
1/4 cup flour (.03)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (.05)
2 cups milk (.16)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (.65)
1 tsp dried parsley (.05)
1/2 pkg. imitation seafood (1.15)
Cook pasta, add broccoli to the pasta for the last 5 minutes of cooking, drain. Saute mushrooms in butter, add flour/spices, stir in milk, add cheese, pasta, broccoli and seafood, combine/heat through.
*****************************************************************************
Three days into September and a big chunk of the $60 is already spent! I thought I would ration it out evenly, week by week, but a local grocery store had a couple loss leaders I couldn't pass up this week--$1/lb peanut butter and boneless/skinless chicken breasts, $1.35/lb lunch meat and cheese, $1.69/lb pork loin and of course a Labor day sale on Pepsi for my husband. I hear that collective gasp, SODA? In a frugal budget?!? Yup, for this month anyway, one can a day while he weens himself of the addiction :) I made myself a pitcher of tea today, which I normally don't care for, but will learn to enjoy as a cheap source of caffeine. The rest of the money I spent at Aldis for perishables; milk, eggs, bread, spinach. I'll do better at posting receipts and such next month, for now I'll give you my running total.
Remaining Balance: $21.05
Frugal tips from this shopping trip:
If pork loin goes on an amazing sale, check and see if your butcher offers free cutting service. I have mine cut the loin into chops, and sometimes they're also willing to grind a portion of it for me if their machines aren't set up for beef at the time (something about cross contamination). Ground pork gives great flavor and texture to meatballs and meatloaf, and if you buy it as a pork loin and have it ground it is often cheaper than ground beef.
Right now there's some printable coupons available from Hormel that made this an extra good deal for me, you can get yours here: http://hormel.com/updates/coupons/
Today's meal was adapted from "Family Feasts for $75 a week" by Mary Ostyn. She suggested adding shrimp which my family doesn't care for so I added a half package of imitation lobster instead. While this was tasty, I will only make this one more time (to use up the remaining half package of imitation lobster) as the price came in at double my daily amount. I justified this because there were leftovers but it's still a bit of a splurge meal on our current budget.
12 oz shell pasta (.60)
2 cups chopped broccoli (.65)
1/4 cup butter (.25)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (.80)
1/4 cup flour (.03)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (.05)
2 cups milk (.16)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (.65)
1 tsp dried parsley (.05)
1/2 pkg. imitation seafood (1.15)
Cook pasta, add broccoli to the pasta for the last 5 minutes of cooking, drain. Saute mushrooms in butter, add flour/spices, stir in milk, add cheese, pasta, broccoli and seafood, combine/heat through.
*****************************************************************************
Three days into September and a big chunk of the $60 is already spent! I thought I would ration it out evenly, week by week, but a local grocery store had a couple loss leaders I couldn't pass up this week--$1/lb peanut butter and boneless/skinless chicken breasts, $1.35/lb lunch meat and cheese, $1.69/lb pork loin and of course a Labor day sale on Pepsi for my husband. I hear that collective gasp, SODA? In a frugal budget?!? Yup, for this month anyway, one can a day while he weens himself of the addiction :) I made myself a pitcher of tea today, which I normally don't care for, but will learn to enjoy as a cheap source of caffeine. The rest of the money I spent at Aldis for perishables; milk, eggs, bread, spinach. I'll do better at posting receipts and such next month, for now I'll give you my running total.
Remaining Balance: $21.05
Frugal tips from this shopping trip:
If pork loin goes on an amazing sale, check and see if your butcher offers free cutting service. I have mine cut the loin into chops, and sometimes they're also willing to grind a portion of it for me if their machines aren't set up for beef at the time (something about cross contamination). Ground pork gives great flavor and texture to meatballs and meatloaf, and if you buy it as a pork loin and have it ground it is often cheaper than ground beef.
Right now there's some printable coupons available from Hormel that made this an extra good deal for me, you can get yours here: http://hormel.com/updates/coupons/
Thursday, September 2, 2010
And now, reality sets in
I need a plan, and a careful one if I am to succeed at this challenge. $60 a month is $2 a day. Is that even possible? That's what they live on in third world countries isn't it? Well, I do have the blessing of a fully stocked pantry and freezer. Not a ginormous chest freezer unfortunately, just a normal side-by-side style Frigidaire, but it is mostly full of meat. My pantry, well that's a bit of a joke among friends--it is FULL. When I find an amazing sale (like the ketchup!) I stock up. I'm by no means a couponing guru, don't even get the Sunday paper, but I do hate to pay full price and try to buy enough to last me through to the next sale.
Anyhow...after some thought and pantry inventorying, here's my preliminary meal plan, to be fluffed out and filled in with recipes as we go.
Sunday: Pasta with a red sauce
Monday: Rice based meal
Tuesday: Bread based meal
Wednesday: Egg based meal
Thursday: Soup and bread
Friday: Pasta with a white sauce
Saturday: Leftovers or an egg based meal
...and repeat!
Anyhow...after some thought and pantry inventorying, here's my preliminary meal plan, to be fluffed out and filled in with recipes as we go.
Sunday: Pasta with a red sauce
Monday: Rice based meal
Tuesday: Bread based meal
Wednesday: Egg based meal
Thursday: Soup and bread
Friday: Pasta with a white sauce
Saturday: Leftovers or an egg based meal
...and repeat!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Ketchup Soup? Surely you jest!
Why blog about it you ask? Partially to keep myself accountable but mostly to share my frugal tips, recipes and "aha!" moments with others. I will be scouring the internet and pick the brains of wiser folks to succeed at this challenge. I have yet to find a delicious (or even real) Ketchup Soup recipe, the staple food of empty pantries--if this blog produces nothing else I promise an America's Test Kitchen style recipe for Ketchup Soup! ;) Oh, and yes, I do have an obscene amount of ketchup to use in the endeavor--anyone else hit Walmart's Memorial day $1/jug Heinz ketchup sale? Lets just say I have enough to supply a hotdog cart for days! :) (thanks to Mercedes for the heads up on the Ketchup sale!)
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