food cost

[lecale]

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[Anna Michele]

Im lovin all the recipes
I always buy cheap produce never reduced but whatever is in season or on sale.
Itake some time to scour the flyers and deals threads and go in with a plan I am never dissapointed.
I shop small but often I can't remember the last time I spent over $40 in a shop

[CrazyQT]

Sweet and meaty instant chili for the bean-phobic, heat and serve:

1 lb ground chicken/turkey/pork/beef
1 jar old el paso chunky salsa
1 can baked beans
1 can corn

Bean lovers only:
Bean Tabouli
Chop up:
1 bunch curly parsley
1/2 yellow onion
2 roma tomatoes
toss and season with salt, garlic powder, lemon juice, canola oil and
1 can Cedar fava & chick pea mix (a great, nutty tasting bean mix!)
diced cucumber is optional

Spread small flour tortillas with heaping tablespoon of hummus and stuff with 3/4 cup bean tabouli

A 10-pk small tortillas and a tub of 50% off hummus made lunches for me all week for under $6

I use Quinoa in my chili in place of the meat. I like it better than using meat in mine.

[lecale]

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[GoddessDigi]

Maybe we need to start a 'Very Cheap Meal' thread..lol
Some of my faves:

Chicken 'Tortilla' Soup (except I quite often skip the tortillas part haha)

A few chicken breasts (1 per 2 people actually works for us) cooked and chopped
1 small jar of salsa
1 can refried beans
1 can black beans
handful (or more, up to you) of frozen corn
a handful (or more, up to you, again lol) of cheese (I prefer the TexMex blends)
1 cup chicken stock (I sometimes use 2 cups, depending how much I'm making)
enough water to cover the rest

And boil all together, dish up, add some cheese on top (and the tortillas, if you want to), and voila! Love this dish. And no exact recipe, just toss it in. It always turns out very yummy. I actually pour each serving over rice, so it stretches REALLY far (and my husband is Filipino, he needs his rice, hahaha. xD)

[lecale]

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[kellyanna_99]

All these recipes, yummy! I am going to have to try some. For some reason, I never really thougth of eggs, as cheap protein, but they are. I don't really like them, but mixed into stirfries, I could do that. I like the spinach and eggs as well. Those sound good to try this week.

I think it proves we can eat somewhat cheaply, which is probably better for us anyway, as it is less meat, more vegatables, less processed, etc.

I love to garden, even in my rental, and have oodles of pots each summer. I don't think I buy much produce from May to September, as I almost always have something fresh growing. Some summers I can, not this year (cancer surgery got in the way of that, but I hope to do some next year again), which helps I think. I wonder with the price of tihngs going up, if we'll see more of people doing things from scratch, gardening, less processed, etc?

I hope to participate in our community garden next year, to have even more room to grow some squashes, pumpkins, zucchinis I just don't have a lot of room to grow those crops, although I try on my little rental yard.
provides it through the food banks. Also, I have heard of programs, where you can pick produce from public property, if you have need, or it goes to the foodbank, or something like that!

[abbasgirl]

Another cheap protein that should be going on sale in a couple of weeks is turkey. It can be used in place of chicken in any recipe. If you buy it fresh, you can cut it up and freeze it. If you buy it frozen, you can cook it first and then divide it into portions for the freezer. Then you have precooked meat for stirfrys, sandwhiches, etc.

[abbasgirl]

It's actually a myth that unhealthy food is cheaper. Processed foods tend to be more expensive. The more you cook from scratch and stick to simple, unprocessed ingredients, the lower your grocery bill will be. Bread is a very good example. I can't eat yeast, but if I did eat bread, I would be getting a bread maker and making it myself. But the cheapest way to get your whole grains is to actually buy whole grains - brown rice, oatmeal in a bulk package, barley, etc and then add them to your recipes. Processed meat, like hotdogs, is a lot more expensive per pound than plain cuts of meat. Your meat will go a lot further if you use it in one dish meals with lots of veggies instead of on it's own. Sometimes frozen veggies are a good price, but I generally find whatever fresh ones are on sale are a better value. Also check the reduced produce section. Depending on the store, it's often fine. There just might be a bruise in an apple or something like that. It's a great way to buy cheap bananas for smoothies.

[padyofurniture]

CHEESYBROCCOLI QUINOA


1cup quinoa, well rinsed
1¾ cups vegetable broth or water
2cups broccoli, chopped
1cup cheddar, shredded
S&Pto taste


Bringthe quinoa, broth and broccoli to a boil over medium heat. Reduce theheat and simmer, covered, until the broth has been absorbed and thequinoa is tender. About 15-20 minutes.
Mixin the cheese, let it melt and season with S&P.

[kellyanna_99]

Abbasgirl, I buy reduced bananas all the time, to toss into the freezer for baking and smoothies. So much cheaper then using the fresher ones. They turn black in the freezer anyway, so having some black on them is no concern. For smoothies, I'll pull one out the night before, leave it in the fridge overnight, and squeeze it into the blender the next morning, throw in my other ingredients, and off I go. They are gross when defrosted though .

[Frugalbigmama]

Yes I find the prices are going up on everything but it just makes me shop the sales even more. Our fruit bowl is overflowing and everything is on sale, If its not I don't buy it. This week we have Pineapple ($1.97) Apples .90cents Lb, bananas (.59Lb) and kiwi from last weeks sale ($1.66 for 3Lbs I think it was)

[Frugalbigmama]

We hadn't had stir-fry forever so I said last week lets watch the sales. Well mushrooms and celery were on for .97 at GT. We already had carrots, onion, peppers (4pk for $1.97 last week at GT) Chicken in freezer, rice and sauce in cupboard. So paid under $3 for mushrooms, celery and sprouts and we had it for dinner last night and both of us for our lunch at work today. And it was amazing! Planning is the #1 thing to shop smart/save money. And I agree that process does cost more. We stick to clean eating for the most part and eat well and keep my grocery budget pretty low.

[Frugalbigmama]

I bought a 10Lb of carrots weeks ago for under $2. It takes work but we used in stir-fry last night and cut up a few into sticks and put in container in the fridge. I took a container to work this morning to snack on. I'm going to make the kids the homemade dip they like and serve it with their dinner tomorrow night and cut up the celery too. It just takes planning to use up what you bought so there isn't any waste. Head lettuce is on for .88 cents each so we have one on the go right now (my kids love tacos and we make homemade burgers etc that we like it on) so I will make sure to buy one on Thursday so it can be used for taco night next week

[TheStig]

what great ideas on here