Frugal Cooking

[heather6773]

I have been trying to cook a little more frugally lately. Instead of spending a ton at the grocery store I have been limiting myself with a $5 dollar bill each day to get a meat to go with whatever is in the pantry already. I was able to do that all last week. I left my purse in the car so I had to only use $5. It wasn't as hard as I thought. I want to get groceries and do it again this week but plan it out better rather than daily trips to the store. Now that the cupboards are getting bare I can stock up on things we will use rather than to fill shelf space. Any recipe ideas would be great. My DH like to take leftovers to work the next day. We like crock pot dishes too.

[Deana]

I like to stock up on inexpensive cuts of meat and then mealplan around that. The things that seem to be economical that we use are flank steak, frozen shrimp (it is peeled and deveined, which is an added bonus) frozen, breaded chicken patties for sandwiches, pork tenderloin or sirloin and then I also buy boneless skinless chicken breasts and ground beef in bulk. When I get it home, I separate it into servings (2 breasts in a bag, and 1 lb of gr beef in a bag). I also keep frozen loaves of bread on hand. My grocery sells french loaf/sourdough, etc that are frozen and just need to be re-heated. We are watching carbs right now, so we haven't had a lot of bread with dinner lately (sadly, lol) but those loaves of bread really round out a meal and are inexpensive.

I also keep a lot of chunk white tuna in the pantry. It's an easy fix for fish cakes, tuna salad/sanwiches, tuna and macaroni, etc.

I keep the pantry stocked with canned corn, black beans, white beans and diced tomatoes. They can be added to pasta, salads, and just about any skillet dish.

Our produce bill is always HUGE, so I have been buying some frozen veggies. It's not my favorite way to have veggies, but it's less expensive, and I also don't have to worry about the veggies going bad.

TOday I am doing an asian marinated flank steak, asian cole slaw and potsickers. The whole dinner (with the exception of the ingredients that I already had for the marinade) cost less than $10, and dh will be able to bring leftovers. You might just want to look through some old mealplans from this site and see what catches your eye. I would be happy to post recipes (a lot of the recipes are posted here already).

Good luck, it's actually a lot of fun for me to see how low I can get our weekly grocery bill

[heather6773]

Thanks Deans...those were exactly the kind of tips I was looking for. I will look thru the meals here. I am so bad about planning but this is a fun challenge.

[Deana]

Heather, do you have a costco/sam's/BJ's in your area? We go to costco every 4-6 weeks and this has SAVED us! We spend btwn $200-$300 each trip, but we buy an unbelievable amt of food. I stock my freezer, and I love it. I am also able to buy all of my paper products, juice and about 2 weeks worth of soda (I really need to start just biting the bullet and buying enough for a month). I buy my coffee, canned goods... it's amazing. As long as I plan our meals around what is in the freezer, we are golden. I just sat down and meal planned for the next 7 days and I have ONE meat item on my list, and that is really only b/c we are out of chicken and due for a costco run.

[meliz]

We are really into salmon right now... but we have learned that the better salmon is actually the frozen kind. Even tho we live by the ocean, our fresh fish is obviously a day or two gone- the frozen, which tends to be frozen fresh at sea, is much tastier... and, happily, also much cheaper! The stuff we get is already portioned into four servings. It is delish! We grill it plain with lemon and garlic or sometimes cook it with peppers and a splash of soy sauce and ginger.

Also, as part of our health kick, we have seriously reduced our consumption of meat generally. If you can find good replacements that you like, this is an option. And wow, what a savings - potentially at least. One recent dish I discovered is made with couscous OR quinoa (the red is very pretty), which you cook in chicken stock. Then you grill chunks of harvest veggies (squash, zucchini, peppers, onions) so that they are blackened around the edges (these are also super inexpensive right now)... add the veggies to the couscous, as well as a chunk of feta; season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. This is amazing and a very fulfilling meal even without meat. Even hub thinks so (and he is a big time carnivore). Quinoa is packed with protien which I think explains it. Feta can be pricey, but you only need a small amout to make this delish. When we do get meat, we do what D does. Buy a large amount and divide it up. When roasts are on sale I also buy one - and I buy one that is bigger than we need, and then use the meat in sandwhiches or stroganoff or something the next week.

We have also stopped buying frozen dinners. Rice freezes wonderfully, so when I make it I make it in batches, and freeze portion size amounts. Just as easy as zapping a michelina.

Also, we have also discovered that it often makes alot of sense to buy a store roasted whole chicken... the meat is delish... it's super easy, and if you figure in the cost of roasting a chicken, I think it's actually cheaper.

[heather6773]

~Deana~ We don't have any of those stores near us. I think the closest is around 3 hours away. We are getting a Super Walmart in the next year or so in the town I work. So maybe that will help. I need to get a chest freezer. All I have is a side by side fridge and the freezer is small. But that is good advice.

~Melize~ I will give your recipe a try. I have never had couscous or quinoa before but hey you never know. Both DH and I are trying to lose weight and it sounds very healthy. I'm sick of eating meat. The kids could take it or leave it.

[Sexy Strawberry]

Ummm the only tips I have for saving money are:
- Going to the supermarket short before it closes, at least here they make last-minute special offers for fresh products which won't be fresh enough on the next day to be sold, but will still be good enough
- Buying no brand products. I know what kind of products are good here in Spain but over there I have no idea of course
- Always buy season products, season fruits and vegetables are much cheaper
- Avoiding prepared foods, most of the time they're more expensive than if you buy them

I can't think of any more for now