Right now I am working 6 days a week.  Color me exhausted!

Despite the necessity, I am worried about my ability to actually take on a second job, especially as doing so will cost me not only the ability to catch up on my sleep one day a week, but may also cost me my once-a-week cooking which is how I keep my kids eating home cooked meal and control my food costs.

Until that time though, today found me whipping up another week of frugal fare.  This week will find us at a total of 4, count them 4 stores, to get all the food and pantry items we need for the best prices.  Our grand total for the week will be just around $100.  And, like last week, this is not only to feed the 5 of us until I go food shopping again but, is also enough to add some food to the pantry for the weeks to come.

This week will find us eating:

3 half-size aluminum trays of Macaroni and Cheese with Tuna and Peas (very similar to our ham casserole).  The raw ingredients probably cost about $10 and with spoonfuls of jarred applesauce on the side (which will add another $2.50) each serving will run less than $1.

• 4 boxes pre-fab Mac-n-Cheese
• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 1 stick butter
• 2.5 cups skim milk
• 4 cans tuna
• 4 oz cheddar cheese, diced
• about 1/2 onion, sauteed
• garlic powder
• topped with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley and thyme

Another batch of vegetarian deconstructed tacos is on the menu this week as well.  Our recipe for vegan taco filling is the most popular page on this site, and with good reason.  The taste and texture will fool your favorite meat eater, its cheap and easy to make, and its very very nutritious.  With a family of 5 spanning the ages of 71 to 11 it can be hard to find dishes that everyone likes, and this is one that everyone loves.

Based on the success of my vegetarian tacos, this week we are also trying vegetarian meatballs.  Sauteed onions and garlic, cooked lentils, eggs, milk, Parmesean cheese, and seasoned breadcrumbs mixed up, formed into balls, and fried.  The plan it to put up a pot of sauce later in the week and have spaghetti and “meatballs” for a fraction of the price of the ground beef alone, with a stronger nutritional punch, and none of the cholesterol.  The meatballs themselves are pretty good.  Nice and crisp on the outside, soft and tender on the inside.  Accolan even enjoys them cold and is hinting that they would make great meatball parm subs.  I’m sure that they’ll get better as I tweak the recipe, but for a first go at it – damn if they don’t do the job well.

But, we also decided to have a bit of fun.  We broke in the deep-fryer that Accolan bought me for Yule last year.  We took one of the huge zucchini from my garden: sliced, breaded, and fried them.  We deep-fried a package of mushrooms as well.  We also took some sweet potatoes and turned them into fries.  Everything turned out really yummy, and I learned (after months of avoiding it) that using a deep fryer really wasn’t all that intimidating after all.

There is more to do.  We didn’t get started cooking until late, and so we had to stop so that there was still enough time to allow me to enjoy my evening before yet another long day at work.

What did you cook this  weekend?

Blessings

Mama Kelly

image thanks to swtleah

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