The plan is to eat pretty plain and simple this week. Not only to save money but to make sure that come next weekend my fridge is empty.

Accolan and Reya made a large batch of macaroni and cheese with peas.  A mix of packaged macaroni and cheese, plain pasta, shredded cheddar, milk, butter, and frozen peas.  Since almost everything is purchased at rock bottom prices it comes together quickly and cheaply.

The other dish seeing us through this week is Spicy Oven Fried Chicken.  I started with this recipe and made some tweaks.  I used 3 parts seasoned bread crumbs and 2 parts grated Parmesan cheese with a bit of cayenne pepper for heat.  I made a triple batch so I had enough for Accolan, my dad, and me to each have a taste today and still have plenty to see us through 2 dinners (with frozen veggies and biscuits from a tube on the side).  I am thrilled with how it came out, and I think I have a new favorite way to make chicken.

Friday is Sephoni’s 12th birthday and we will likely be eating out (my Dad treats on birthdays) or ordering food in.

Saturday morning will see the arrival of our friend Casey and the plan is to spend the day at home and make a spread of Indian and/or Thai dishes like:

• Red Beef Curry
• Green Chicken Curry
• Triple Mushroom Saute
• Dal
• Benghan Bartha
• Aloo Matar

While my Dad doesn’t like any of these dishes, the rest of us love them.  And since my Dad doesn’t like them I don’t get to make them very often.  Casey’s visit give me the perfect excuse to put out a feast.  Luckily, I already have the more obscure ingredients (fish sauce, curry paste, coconut milk) and much of the basics (curry powder, jasmine rice, lentils) already on hand so I won’t even have to spend a lot to do it.

More later.

Blessings

Jia

Worked a half day today at my primary job to make up the hours I lost to interview for Walmart earlier in the week.  The time went quickly as I got to sit next to a wonderful lady who I rarely get the chance to speak to.  I even made my target in terms of the number of leads I was able to generate.

From there I hit two supermarkets.  And then I came home and cooked for the week ahead.  I made two huge pans of macaroni and cheese with bits of steak, caramelized mushrooms, and sauteed mushrooms.  I baked some chicken thighs and legs.  I even roasted some eggplant with plans to make Bengan Bhartha later in the week and turned the meat from some chicken 1/4′s into chicken salad which Accolan can turn into something akin to tuna melts one night this week.

We are blessed with being able to have our niece AngelGirl over for the weekend, even if I’ve only seen her in passing.  All 3 girls have been holed up in one bedroom for most of the time giggling, though we did get them to go to the community pool for a bit.  Tomorrow while I’m at work (11-7) the plan is for them to watch a movie from the $1 a night Red Box, Beastly, and to bake cookies.  I can’t say how much it means to have them all getting along so well and seemingly enjoying each others company so much.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Blessings

Jia

It’s been a hard week in terms of keeping myself on track financially.  I’ve been exhausted, truly bone weary.  So much so that the extra 15 minutes of sleep seemed so much more important than the ability to make my daily sandwiches that I found myself at the WaWa on my way to work more than once.  Additionally, this week the young man that Reya has been “seeing” since last fall came back from spending July at the academic camps his parents had sent him to out of state. I splurged and ordered a couple of pizzas (spending about $28 incl tip).

What this means in that I had to make up that money by spending less at the grocery store this week.  Luckily,  still have food leftover from last week’s cooking, this worked out just fine.

I raided the pantry for a bunch of canned crushed tomatoes (purchased at $.88 to $.99 each), minced a bunch of garlic and onion, and picked some basil from the backyard and put up a pot of marinara sauce.  Some of it will be served over pasta, and some will (with the help of a block of mozzarella I defrosted and some rolls I have yet to purchase) turn some lentil balls I made last weekend into meatball parm subs.

I also took a bunch of zucchini I harvested last weekend and made zucchini fritters.  The main changes to the recipe involved frying them in the last of the olive oil (I will be using vegetable oil from here on out as it runs about 1/3 the price of the extra virgin oil I prefer) and adding more zucchini to the batter than was called for.  They are crisp and tender and savory and so good I want to eat all of them all by myself.

I still have to make a batch of saffron rice (to keep us in deconstructed tacos), but other than that my once a week cooking is done.  The only food shopping yet to do involves picking up some fresh tomatoes, a dozen eggs, and some rolls – probably no more than $15.

Next weekend?  I still have some chicken meat in the freezer to turn into pasta salad, and the ingredients for potato salad.  I have hot dogs in the freezer and a bunch of frozen vegetables.  Ah!  The joys of a full pantry.

Blessings

Jia

image thanks to Blueclayfarm

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

One of the things that upsets me about slashing our food expenses is that it can be so much more frugal to eat crap. I can buy a 20oz loaf of white bread at the local Walmart for $0.75. Which is the cheapest I can find – even cheaper than the local dollar store. Bread is a cheap way to fill up a hungry tummy on its own, help stretch a meal, or even become a meal in of itself:

• toast with butter and/or jelly
• french toast
• grilled cheese
• BLTs
• tuna melts
• pizza toasts
• buttered bread with soup or stew
• garlic bread
• sandwiches

I can have toast for breakfast, spread with margarine and jelly. I can pack a couple of margarine and jelly sandwiches with me to work each morning and allow them to serve as breakfast and lunch.

I can turn dry lightly toasted bread into tuna melts with a bit of tuna salad and cheese (real cheddar or cheese food slices) or into something like pizza with some jarred (or leftover homemade) pasta sauce, a sprinkle of parmesan and a slice of mozzarella. I can even make hot open faced sandwiches with leftover meat (beef, turkey, chicken) and gravy.

I can make traditional sandwiches with whatever I happen to have on hand:

• cheese – with mayo or mustard
• PB&J – or peanut butter & fluff
• butter & banana – my mom used to make these
• bologna – the cheapest cold cut
• tomatoes – with or without the lettuce and bacon
• salads – tuna, chicken, egg, or even ham

I can make traditional french toast or even monte cristos (ham and cheese dipped in an unsweetened batter and then fried as normal). I can make grilled cheese.

I can use bread as a base for a bowl of stew instead of noodles, or simply allow the family to eat buttered bread on the side of a bowl of stew or soup to make one serving as filling as having seconds.

I can even spread white bread with margarine, sprinkle with a bit of garlic powder (not garlic salt) and parsley and bake until golden as a garlic bread side for a pasta dinner.

I plan to try baking our own bread in the Fall/Winter and see if I can match this price with a higher quality product. But, for now, I worry about the impact on my electric bill (to bake the bread, and to cool down the house afterwards) to start “playing.”

The eventual goal is to actually have Accolan do the bread baking. But, for now the cheap supermarket white bread does the job.

Blessings

Jia

image thanks to 4cfxbg