Last Week’s Grocery Budget Rocked
Sep 9th, 2008 by Nut
Last week M and I had one of our best weeks ever in terms of budgeting and cooking. We usually spend around $80/week on groceries, and that usually takes care of around three dinners during the week, our lunches and a snack or two. But the checkout counter last week read $65. We’ve all been noticing the price hikes so we were surprised to see we were so far below our budget. It all had to do with the food we were making and I’m happy to report we did not compromise on taste.
The Recipes
I should add here that we had some salmon steaks in the freezer from a couple weeks back, which probably would’ve added around $8–$9, but that still would’ve kept us below $80 for the week. Here are the three dishes we made last week:
- Salmon Burgers with Havarti Cheese: These were the highlight of the week. It made four patties to we had burgers on Monday and burgers again on Friday. Really incredible — who knew salmon made a great burger? Extra bonus: learning about salmon anatomy as I trimmed the bones/cartilage off.
- Lasagna: This is a great frugal meal to make because it’s cheap, tastes great and lasts for a long time. We had this on Tuesday and I had some yesterday for lunch. There’s still a little bit left.
- Chicken: We made an incredible mushroom sauce to go with the chicken breasts and then had some couscous with it as a side. I was shocked at the sauce, it was unbelievable. Almost like being in an Italian restaurant. We had this for dinner one night and then had the leftovers again with company another day.
Usually we cook three days a week, order take out for one and do something different on Friday like go out. We didn’t plan it to work this way, but when we saw how much food we were going to have in our fridge we decided to just eat all the great food we had made. We literally spend $65 to feed us both (and company one night) for five days and nights — which is pretty good.
I’m Boring
If it were up to me, we would make lasagna every week — I’d eat it for dinner and take some to work for lunch. M could never do this because she doesn’t like to repeat the same food over and over again, which is understandable. But I’m a boring guy that can eat the same thing over and over again, so it would be fine by me. I would save a whole bunch of money, but the costs would far outweigh the benefits.
Any other tasty-but-frugal recipe ideas?
P.S. This article has been included in the Festival of Frugality over at Living Almost Large. Make sure to head over there and check out the other articles about frugality that made the cut.
Chili is always good - or a chili type food. I make something I now call ‘taco stew’
2-4 cans of beans (I use 1 black, 1 garbanzo, 1 kidney)
1 jar salsa (larger jar for more sauce - I like to use one with pineapple for extra flavor)
1-2 lbs ground meat (I use lean beef. Sausage or turkey would work).
1/4 - 1/2 cup taco seasoning
1/2 can sliced jalapenos for heat
Other diced veggies if you want - peppers, diced onion, olives, corn, etc.
Brown meat in bottom of large pan. Drain fat. Add other ingredients (don’t drain the beans!). Simmer for 15-60 minutes. Serve with crushed corn chips, cheese, and light sour cream garnish.
Freeze leftovers. If you have a big pan, you can make a larger batch with larger cans. It’s great because you can leave out an ingredient and it still works. Make it vegetarian, no beans, beans but no veggies, extra meatie, with or without cheese, etc. etc.
Alternatively, mix it up in a large rectangle pan (including cheese & chips) and bake for 30-60 minutes at 375 (preheat while you brown the meat). Then it’s called taco bake. Great for pot luck! Reheats well as leftovers.
Jacqui, that’s another great one. I LOVE Chilli — now that fall/winter is coming up, I’m definitely going to start making it. I especially love making it in the crock pot so it just marinates all day long.
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