Archive for February, 2010

Sunday Cooking

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

I am cooking up a storm over here. I like to do batch cooking whenever possible because, while I like to cook, I don’t necessarily want to do it every day. Besides, running a family sometimes means I don’t have time to cook daily.

Typically on Sunday, I make our meal for the day, the husband’s lunches for work, and something to carry us into Monday.

My husband’s lunches have been very simple lately. Partly because he has a picky palate that eschews leftovers. For the last few months I’ve just been making some frozen mushroom ravioli or cheese tortellini. A bag costs $3.69 and will last for 3 days. I add some fresh fruit and I’m pretty much done with lunch for him. The fourth lunch of the week will be a leftover and the husband eats out on Fridays.

If you think about it, the frozen pasta is a higher end lunch than sandwiches and cheaper too. Lunchmeat is so expensive, it’s not worth it. In our area, you can easily spend $7 a pound. Add in the cost of bread and condiments and you’re looking at a $4-$5 per sandwich while I’m only spending….let’s see

-Pasta $3.69

-Sauce $1.89

-Cheese $1.00

Total: $6.58 for three days which is just $2.19 a day for lunch. Add in fresh fruit and it goes up to maybe $2.80.

Interesting how sandwiches aren’t cheap any more, isn’t it? I hadn’t thought about it before.

Okay, so moving on, what else did I make today?

Crockpot spaghetti meatballs. Love this recipe and as far as I know/can remember, it’s my own variation. No frying. No complicated anything. Just make the meatballs, drop ‘em in the crock pot, cover with sauce and cook. 7 hours later, you’ll have perfect meatballs in a great slow roasted sauce. The left over sauce (there’s always leftover sauce with this recipe) will be given a second life on pizza night.

I also made my own version of  ‘Shepherd’s Pie’–mashed cauliflower in cheese sauce  and ground turkey. I haven’t made it before so I’m not sure if it’s any good, but it smells great in the oven.

At the moment, I’m taking a break from the kitchen to post here, but later I’ll go back in and try a new flax muffin recipe to which I’ll add some frozen berries.

What’s cooking on your end?

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5 Foods You Should Not Buy in Bulk

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

One of the key refrains heard over and over again is that, in order to save money on food, we should be buying food in bulk. Volume discounts are great, but not always practical. Here are 5 foods that are not a great idea for bulk food storage.

1.Brown sugar.  Brown sugar is hard to store without ending up with a crystalline brick. Unless you use enough to go through quite a lot of brown sugar in a month (or less), I don’ t think brown sugar makes for a great bulk food buy. Regular white granulated sugar is a better option for bulk storage.

2. Flour. No question about it, bulk flour is cheaper, but only if you have the freezer space for it. Flour should be ‘frozen’ for 3 days to kill any bugs or bug eggs present*.The problem with this is that bulk flour comes in large packages. Unless you have a chest freezer, it’s hard to properly process and store flour in bulk quantities. You’re better off sticking with five pound bags that will fit in the fridge freezer.

3. Meat. This one is controversial, but most of us have no business buying meat in bulk. Why? Because we throw it in our freezer and it sits there until we excavate it two years later, when it’s completely encased in freezer burn. There’s no point in stockpiling meat if you aren’t already in the habit of rotating stock in and out of the freezer. If you’re just now starting to meal plan and stockpile food, don’t build up the freezer stash until you’ve got a workable meal plan going.

4.Bacon. I love bacon and it pains me to share this fact, but did you know bacon is only good for a month in the freezer? Apparently the fat content means it doesn’t freeze very well and it can actually go bad even in the deep freeze.

5.Ingredients you’ve never eaten before but which are now on your menu plan so you are sure you’ll eat a year’s supply in the next 12 months. Stop. Don’t go there. Only buy bulk items that you know you will eat. Otherwise you end up wasting money and food. New spices are a good example.  Never made chicken curry before? Then please do not buy a lifetime supply of curry powder–you will not be happy. For one, you’re not likely to finish the spice before it goes bad and two, you’re banking on unproven recipes that you may not even like. Don’t do it!  Buy small quantities until you are sure a new ingredient is going to be a staple.

Investing in a chest freezer, mastering menu planning, and learning about bulk food storage can eliminate all but  the bacon off this list. However, until you have that basic knowledge, be careful about bulk food storage.

*I failed to freeze my flour once and ended up hatching quite a few bugs. It was kind of gross and I now have to not think too hard about bug eggs while eating baked goods.

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Dinner Deals: Slow Cooker Green Pepper Steak

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

This is a quick easy meal that you can just toss into the crockpot in the morning. It also is a great recipe for cheap cuts of steak such as round steak or london broil because the slow cooker ensures tender meat. In our area, round steak is a cheap cut that often goes on sale ‘buy one, get one’ so I stock up then which reduces my costs greatly for this recipe.

Ingredients

2 lbs Round steak sliced against the grain into strips and extra fat removed @$2.50
1 tbsp Garlic powder @$0.30
1 tbsp Onion powder @$0.30
1 small chopped onion @$0.25
3 tbsp Soy sauce @$0.30
1 can chicken or beef stock, whatever you have on hand
1 can diced tomatoes @$0.75 ( we buy this in bulk at a cost savings)
1 can diced tomatoes with green peppers @$1.00
Cornstarch as needed to thicken the sauce
Rice @$1.00

Optional Ingredients: Fresh green pepper if you are big on peppers. We are not so the one can of diced tomatoes with green peppers is more than enough for us. Mushrooms would also be a nice addition, however, we don’t like them at our house.

Time: Prep: 30 minutes. Cooking time: 6-8 hours

Serves: 4 and really not much more than that.

Cost: Around $5.90

Instructions

1. If you have time, quickly sear round steak in a hot pan with the onion, powdered garlic and powdered onion. Otherwise, everything can go right into the crockpot.

2.Transfer steak to slow cooker. Add in soy sauce, tomatoes and stock. Set to cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

3.Thicken sauce with cornstarch if necessary at the end of cooking time (sometimes this recipe cooks down and thickens on its own just fine) and test meat for tenderness. If it’s tough, cook a little longer. If it never becomes tender, you may not have cut across the grain properly when slicing the meat.

4.Make Minute Rice in the microwave or long grain wild rice, whatever you have on hand and like. (Some cooks add the rice to the slow cooker, but not everyone in our home eats rice so we make it separately.)

5.Serve on top of a bed of rice.

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Dinner Deals: Slow Cooker Chili for an Army

Sunday, February 14th, 2010


This is a cheap meals recipe I came up with to use up the 1 lb of ground beef we received from Angel Food Ministries. To make it even more frugal, dried beans are used as well.

The spices are key in this recipe because there’s not a lot of meat to carry this dish. Slow cooking brings out the best in the beans and the spices for a warm-your-toes satisfying chili.

Yum!

Ingredients

@$3.00 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey (whichever you prefer or whichever is cheaper)
@$0.25 1 onion diced
@$1.75 1 bag dried kidney beans (if you really want to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your budget, make it 2 bags and you’ll feed an army for a week.)
@$1.50 1 jar salsa (generic is cheapest and tastes the same as name brand, at least in our area)
@$1.20 1 can chicken stock (if you make my crockpot chicken salad and chicken broth 2 for 1 meal you can cut the cost of this recipe.)
1 ‘can’ Water
@$1.00 1 can diced tomatoes with juice (this can be left out if money is tight.)
@$0.50 Spices: 1-2 tbsps. Cumin, 2-3 tbsps. Chili powder and anything else you like in your chili

Total recipe cost: approximately $9.20
Serves: An army! At least 6 servings. Easily 10-12 servings if you use an extra bag of beans.

Cooking Instructions

1. Soak kidney beans overnight.

2. The next day, dice onion and put it in skillet with a tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp cumin and 2 tbsp chili powder. Saute together for a minute or two until spices are fragrant and then add your meat. Cook throughly.

3.Rinse beans one last time and put in crockpot with salsa, tomatoes, chicken stock and an equivalent amount of water (eyeball it to see if you need more water. You don’t want too much or too little. There should be just enough water to cover the top layer of ingredients and no more.). Add some more cumin and chili powder followed by the cooked meat.

4.Cook on high for 6 hours or until beans are soft. (I used some old beans and slow cooked my chili for almost 18 hours, which totally screwed up my meal plan. Also, I now know I have to eat my beans faster! Old beans are tough!)

Serve with cornbread (from a mix or homemade) or top with some shredded cheddar cheese to make a $10 dinner deal. This recipe should yield enough for leftovers or to feed the freezer.

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Cheap Meals Tips: Beans With a Side of Scatological Humor

Sunday, February 14th, 2010


One good way to save money on groceries is to buy dried beans. This is a huge cost saver–1 bag of dried beans is equivalent to 2 – 2 1/2 cans of canned beans but costs between 60 to 80 cents less. Plus, canned beans also have high levels of Bisphenol A which is not a chemical you want to ingest on a regular basis. So dried beans not only save you money, they are also better for your health.

If you haven’t worked with dried beans before, there are some things you need to know. Fortunately, the learning curve is pretty short and sweet here.

When shopping for beans, look in several locations because there may be a significant price difference between grocery aisles (why, I don’t know). Our store, for example, has a bean section in the mac ‘n cheese, Chef Boyardee aisle and then more beans in the Hispanic food aisle. The cheapest bean prices are in the Hispanic food aisle. Makes no sense to me, but that’s how it is. So keep an eye out and compare prices.

Usually dried beans need to be soaked overnight and they have a slightly longer cooking time than canned. However, with some preparation, you can have the convenience of canned beans at a fraction of the cost. Just cook up monthly batches of beans, freeze them and then pull them out as needed for cooking.

The other helpful thing to know is how to make your own baked beans. Although I would run a cost analysis here. If you only eat baked beans a few times a year, it is probably more cost and time effective for you to just buy the cans. Right now baked beans are one of the few veggies my toddler will eat, so she’s keeping me busy on the baked bean front.

Lastly, don’t seal your dried beans in an air tight container for months and months. Beans actually give themselves gas and can literally explode over time if there’s no place for the ‘little bean farts’ to dissipate. (Sorry for the potty humor, I couldn’t resist. It cracks me up to think that beans can explode from their own gas. By the way, this is one of the reasons why you soak them and cook them thoroughly, so they don’t explode in your stomach.)

If you prefer canned beans, at least buy generic brands (this will save between 2-5 cents a can) and try to buy in bulk at you local Sam’s/Costco/BJ’s wholesale club–you might save $1 on 6 cans if you’re lucky. As usual, keep an eye out for sales and stock up.

Are you using dried beans? We do use them quite a lot now, especially in the slow cooker. Beans are great way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h a meal, they make a great filler that is nutritious and tasty.

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Review of Angel Food Ministries

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

As I mentioned previously, Angel Food Ministries is one way to save money on groceries. We picked up our first order last week and have been cooking from it the last few days.

So, how does the food stack up? Weeeeeeell, ummmm, it’s not as good as I had hoped. I don’t think the meat quality is the same as what I would buy at my grocery store. There’s less meat, more fat and I have to really reach into my bag of tricks to make filling meals with the small amounts of meat AFM gave us.

This month’s ’signature box’ featured the following proteins:

1lb of ground beef (about the size of a house brick–I made chili using 2 bags of dried beans as filler so we would have enough for more than one meal.)

1.5 pork roast (which looks smaller than the beef brick even though it weighs more)

2 lbs of NY Strip steak (4 small, thin steaks with lots of fat, but tasty.)

1 lb chicken fajita strips (this was by far the worst meat item in the box; low quality, fatty, weird flavor and not enough meat for our family to make a meal of)

Chicken tenders (tasty, even the toddler ate them and she doesn’t like meat)

Fish sticks (we aren’t fish people so will probably give these to someone else)

The portion sizes are…well, you know how a protein portion is supposedly the size of a deck of cards? Angel Food Ministries has taken that portion size to heart and they are gospel strict about it.

If you are on a diet or want to lose weight, AFM might be a good place for you to get your groceries. We are certainly eating less this week.

What it boils down to is this, you will struggle mightily to feed more than 2 people with 1 signature box. Also, the quality is a mixed bag–there’s more gristle and fat than I would buy and in that sense, I think AFM is probably a poor value for the money.

I think, for us, AFM would be something we would do only if we were both unemployed and had our backs to the wall financially. It’s not something we would willingly eat if we could afford other options.

I’m glad I tried it. I know it’s there if we need it. I also know I’ll need lots of pasta and beans to extend the portion sizes so that the meals are filling. Nor will I plan on having any leftovers.

Have you tried Angel Food Ministries? What did you think?

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Cheap Meals: Italian Sausage Rigatoni

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Italian Sausage Rigatoni is a cheap meal for dinner that our entire family loves. It only has three ingredients and combines pasta with the flavors of a Italian sausage sandwich, which makes it a huge hit in our house. It’s also a quick meal that gets you in and out of the kitchen without a lot of fuss.

I like to stock all three ingredients so I have them handy for those days when I need a good dinner fast.

Italian Sausage Rigatoni

Ingredients:

-Rigatoni $1.40

-Italian Sausage $4.00 (You can use turkey sausage if you want to reduce the fat content.)

-Jar of Newman’s Own Italian Sausage & Pepper sauce $2.40 (This sauce adds really great flavor to this recipe, however, you can substitute a different red sauce if necessary.)

Total estimated cost:$7.80 (Note all prices are approximate and may vary depending on where you live.)

Cooking time: @60 minutes but only 15-20 minutes of actual work.

Feeds: At least 4, maybe 6 if you have a few light eaters.

Extra cost savings: Newman’s has some online coupons that you can download for an additional savings.

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 375F.

2.Take a sharp knife and slit the sausage casings and remove.

3.Place sausage in an ovenproof dish and bake until done (approx. 30-40 minutes–cooking time will be longer if you’re starting with frozen sausage).

4.When the sausage is nearing completion, start the water for the rigatoni.

5.Cook the rigatoni for 8-10 minutes until done.

6.Drain the pasta.

7.Remove sausage from oven and cut into small pieces.

8.Add sausage to pasta along with the Newman’s sauce and stir.

9.Top with grated cheese and serve.

Note: I typically don’t do a side dish with this meal or add any other veggies. Simply because it is a filling meal and I count the tomato sauce as a veggie. However, if you so desire, a side salad would complement this recipe nicely.

P.S. I’m working on a picture. My husband ate the model before I could do a photo shoot.

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Dinner Deals: Steakhouse Filet Mignon for $20

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

I love steak. Specifically, filet mignon. I love to go to Outback and other steak restaurants. In my previous life as a corporate mover and shaker, I spent many a business dinner at high end steakhouses such as Morton’s or Hyde Park (*swoon*). Unfortunately, those steak restaurants aren’t good for my wallet or my waistline.

Luckily, one day I noticed the local grocery store had filet mignon in the meat case. I was thrilled and feeling stupid at the same time; it had never occurred to me to see if the grocery store carried filet mignon. So for $18 I bought 1 lb. of filet mignon.

And we were happy and then happier yet when I realized the new local farmer’s market had filet mignon for $11 a pound. Steak is now a weekly treat at our house and we make a well rounded meal for 2 for $20 (our toddler won’t eat steak so it’s just us adults). This meal would easily cost us $50 at a steak house.

Another thing I love is simple, fresh, whole food and our steak dinner is a great example of this way of eating.

Here’s how we prepare it:

The $20 Steak Dinner Menu

Ingredients

-Filet Mignon @$11

-McCormick Montreal Steak Marinade @$1.30 (This is optional but adds a nice flavor that tastes like a good Outback-like steak.)

-Asparagus or other fresh veggie of choice @$3

-Fresh fruit for dessert @$4

Estimated cost:$19.30

Cooking time: around 30 minutes (not including marinating time)

Instructions

1.Buy 1 lb. of filet mignon but have the butcher cut it into 1/2 pound pieces. (Be sure to shop around for the best price as we have found prices vary wildly from store to store.)

2.Butterfly the steak if its especially thick.

3.Marinate steak with the Montreal Steak Seasoning packet from McCormick. It costs about $1.30 and gives steak a great flavor–just follow directions on the packet.

4.Grill the steak and steam your veggies.

5.Follow with some fruit for dessert. In warmer months, I make a berry fruit salad or we’ll have watermelon. In the winter, I make an autumn fruit salad with apples, oranges, and grapfruit. Or I might make applesauce or take bananas and coat them in butter, roll them in sugar and cinnamon and roast them. Any fresh fruit will do.

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Cheap Meals:Mexican Honey Chicken

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

This is a simple and tasty recipe that is also a dinner deal assuming you’re working with a well stocked pantry. The recipe incorporates a Mexican inspired spice rub and a honey glaze. We served it with cauliflower on the side, but you can pair it with almost any veggie you like.

The flavor is nice and not what you would expect. The honey is not strong and the spices do not taste like taco seasoning. It just has a really yummy savory flavor.

Ingredients:

-1 pkg of chicken thighs with skin @$4.00 (Chicken breasts with skin could be used as well)
-2-3 tbsp Olive oil @$0.50
-Spice blend @$0.75 (feel free to adjust flavor ratios as you see fit):
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
-1/2 cup honey @$0.50
-1 tablespoon cider vinegar @$0.10

-Head of cauliflower as side dish @$2.00 (Prices vary in our area, this is the going rate right now–in season it costs just $0.99–so you may see higher or lower prices depending on the store you shop at.)

Total Cost:$7.10

Feeds: As many people as there are chicken pieces. In our case 4.

Cooking Time: About an hour but just 30 minutes of actual work.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F and prepare cookie sheet by covering it in foil (this recipe gets gooey when the honey caramelizes, you’ll want the easy clean up the foil provides).

2.Make the spice blend.

3.Pat chicken dry with paper towels and lube thoroughly with olive oil.

4.Roll chicken in spice blend and coat on both sides. Place on cookie sheet.

5.Roast chicken for 20-ish minutes at 400F.

6.While chicken is roasting, prepare your veggie side.

7.At the 20 minute mark, pour honey-vinegar glaze over the chicken (BUT hold a tablespoon or two in reserve). Reduce temperature to 375F and roast for another 20-ish minutes. Keep an eye on the chicken to be sure the skin doesn’t burn.

8.Pour remaining glaze on chicken once it is done cooking.

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Reduce Grocery Bill by 50% — Angel Food Ministries

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

I have not had great success with grocery coupons as a way to save money. We tend to eat whole foods and never buy cereal or chips or any of the processed foods that always have a plethora of coupons available. We eat fruit, veggies, and meat, things that never seem to go on sale.

In addition, our area has limited grocery store competition. We’re down to one chain store and a handful of discount retailers. This lack of competition, in my experience, has driven our food costs up. Especially considering my nephew tells me he can get milk and other staples cheaper in Phoenix Arizona,which, in case you didn’t know, is a desert and the land of perpetually expensive gasoline. I can’t believe that my Midwestern farm belt location in any way justifies the higher food prices I see. It has to be a market driven anomaly, one I have no control over.

So I’ve been looking for other options to reduce our food bill. Someone somewhere mentioned Angel Food Ministries which is a non-profit that makes food available at a drastic discount. There’s no paperwork to fill out (other than your order) or requirement to prove financial need. You just place an order and pick up your food once a month at a local church.

Angel Food Ministries sells ‘boxes’ of food. The ’signature box’ costs $30 and changes every month. Right now it features a selection of seven different beef and pork items along with some veggies (including lima beans), milk, and eggs. On average, the $30 signature box would cost $65 at a grocery store, so it’s a significant savings even with the lima beans that no one will eat factored in.

They also have gluten free items in bulk (a great buy for families dealing with food allergies), a chicken box with 20lbs of chicken for $20 and a senior frozen meal box with 14 meals for $28 which could be used for lunch at work. Nothing costs more than $30.

Further, the more people that buy food from Angel Food Ministries, the more they can do as an organization to provide food at a reduced cost. The churches win too as Angel Food Ministries donates a portion of their sales to the churches acting as pick-up locations. According to the AFM website, they’ve donated over $12 million dollars to local churches through their food program.

We’ll be picking up our first order this December, the first of what I hope will be a sustainable way to reduce our food budget.

Check out the Angel Food Ministries website and see if they have a pick-up location near you.

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