Eating Well on the Cheap, pt. 2

Part two of this series also comes from my notes from the upcoming eating class, see part 1: HERE

Today we get some details, yea! I'm a super nerd and numbers make me happy! But first, some tips:

Grocery shopping

• Only (mostly) buy ingredients - buy as few pre-packaged things as you can!
• Have a list of all the things you ever buy at the store to help make your list. See mine: Master List
• Remember to take your list with you!
• Be open to change if there is a good sale or something sounds good
• Use any extra money to stock pantry
• What about coupons? I keep meaning to do that…but...
• Mostly processed foods
• I’m lazy

Recipe adaptation

Just because you are eating at home doesn't mean you can't make the things you love from the packages and restaurants. You can not make McDonald's fries at home. Other than that, just about everything else can be made at home for cheaper, with fewer questionable ingredients, and usually in very little time. Think about it, when you order food at a restaurant, the kitchen makes it (along with dozens of other people's food at the same time) usually in under 15 minutes. The secret is having the ingredients prepped, but you can totally do it! There are other great reasons to cook at home, too. It is really annoying for everyone involved to have an allergy when you eat out, making meals at home cuts out that risk and frustration. Plus, if you are eating at home, you control the ingredients making things almost always healthier. I'm not a fanatic, really. I know a lot of people who would be horrified by some of the things I'm fine with - yes, I know shortening is bad, it is also cheap and dairy free, so I'm using it - yes, I know that some people think cans cause cancer, I'm slowly starting to use more dried beans and freezing some tomatoes, but cans are just too easy, so I'm not giving them up - yes, I know making condiments is a thing, but I'm just fine with my store bought mayo, mustard, and barbecue sauce, and I'm for sure not giving up my Sriracha!

Some examples from our typical meals:

• Make-at-home fast food or restaurant food (and where I stole the dish)
• Salmon nuggets with spicy aioli (a little Cajun restaurant that lived for a short time in Holts Summit)
• Chicken alfredo (every chain or Italian restaurant ever)
• Jambalaya (our trips to Destin, FL)
• Curry (every Indian restaurant)
• Allergies (I am dairy free, but all allergies are safer at home)
• Pizza
• Desserts
• Healthier choices (I substitute whole wheat flour and no preservatives obviously)
• Pot pie
• Biscuits 
• Desserts 
• Taste preference
• Everything! Make it how you want!

Why Do It?

• Quality. Period.
• Easy. If you are lazy, like me, cooking at home with some simple prep work is easier than finding your shoes and keys and dragging a toddler anywhere, that's for sure!
• Self esteem - Being the one to feed your family from your own hands is amazing. Teaching your children how to care for themselves and the people they love gives a purpose to your life in a way that few other things do.
• I want to scream when people tell me McD and Little Caesars are cheaper than cooking at home. It certainly isn't (see the chart below). 

Cost Comparisons

Item	Cost per serving	Meal Options with cost per serving
Apples $1/lb (about 3 apples) Carrots $.35/lb (4 servings) Canned beans $.70/can (3.5 servings) Eggs $1.50/dz Tilapia or cod $3/lb Salmon $4/lb Chicken, whole  $1.25/lb Pasta, dried $1/lb (8 servings) Potatoes $.35/lb (2 servings) Rice, brown $1/lb (11 servings) Frozen veggies $1.00/lb (6 servings) Canned tomatoes $.70/can (3.5 servings) Whole wheat bread - $3/16 slices Oatmeal $2.29/30 servings Dried fruit $2/8 servings Vanilla yogurt $3.30/2 lb (6 servings)	.33 .09 .20 .13 .75 1.0 .31 .13 .17 .09 .17 .20 .19 .08 .25 .55	Homemade Salmon, rice, veggies, apples - $1.59 Egg, oatmeal with dried fruit, toast - $.65 Tomato and bean pasta, carrots - $.62 Chicken noodle soup w/veg, yogurt – $1.16 McDonald’s McDouble, fries $2.50 Little Caesar’s Single topping pizza $1.59 (3.5 servings per pizza)

Grocery list with approximate prices for typical month (meals listed HERE): 

Notes:

The bulk of my prices are from Aldi or are store brand items.

I buy organic produce when it is reasonable, but most of the prices here are conventionally grown products. 

We probably actually spend another $10ish on fruit a month, but most families would be fine with the amount listed. 

Levi is seriously addicted to crackers, so we buy more than most people, I also make some and he still wishes we had more.

We are drinkers here :-) but booze has its own budget and is mostly purchased by Doug, so I don't include it.

4.00	flour	2.99	frozen mix veg (32 oz)	1.00	carrots (2 lb)
1.50	baking powder	5.00	frozen CA blend veg	0.79	celery (1 stalk)
0.05	salt	2.00	frozen juice	1.40	onions (2 lb)
3.00	shortening	2.49	frozen strawberries	1.75	potatoes (5 lb)
2.50	milk	1.00	frozen corn	2.59	mini bell peppers
4.50	eggs (3 dz)	1.00	frozen peas	0.50	green bell pepper
6.87	old fash oats (3)			8.00	apples (20)
1.00	sour cream	5.00	pasta (5 lb)	4.99	mandarin oranges (1 box)
6.00	olive oil	1.00	spaghetti (1 lb)	3.00	bananas (20)
1.35	bouillon cubes	1.88	rice (5 cups)	0.89	cilantro
1.79	yogurt	1.00	lentils (1 lb)	1.99	spring greens
1.50	brown sugar			1.00	garlic
1.79	sugar	1.89	pretzels
2.50	honey	4.00	cashews	2.36	can beans (4)
2.00	seasonings	4.00	peanuts	1.80	can chili beans (3)
		1.89	peanut butter	0.79	can pumpkin
4.69	steak (12 oz)	3.99	hummus	1.20	can tuna (2)
3.50	ground beef (1 lb)	3.78	raisins	1.58	refried beans
7.99	salmon (8 filets)	2.00	mixed dried berries	0.50	can black olives
4.99	med. shrimp (1 lb)	1.19	tortilla chips	0.50	tomato paste
3.00	andouille sausage	1.99	pita chips	2.40	can diced tomatoes (4/14 oz)
12.00	whole chicken (2/4-5 lb)	9.00	coffee	2.00	can crushed tomatoes (2/28 oz)
4.00	chicken thighs (6 thighs)	1.99	shredded wheat	1.50	tomato sauce (2)
		1.69	cheerios
1.50	loaf bread	1.99	straw preserves
2.19	hoagies	1.49	jar alfredo sauce
1.50	sand bread	7.00	crackers (5 boxes)
90.92		71.25		42.53	204.70 TOTAL

So what would you like to learn in a class like this? Or what tips do you have that you would like to share?

In the next post, we will look at a super thrifty $100/month plan, stay tuned...

Eating Well on the Cheap, pt 1

It has been brought to my attention many times that it is unusual for a family to spend as little as I do (around $200/month) on groceries and still have delicious and even sometimes high-end meals. 

I thought it would be fun to host a meal planning/grocery list making/simple meal and snack demonstration/recipe sharing night at my home. First things first, I know it needs a real name! Eating Well on the Cheap is the working title, other suggestions are very much wanted!

I plan to show my strategies for staying on budget and also easy ways to convert fast food/restaurant/pre-packaged meals into healthier, faster, and cheaper homemade versions. While we chat, I will demonstrate some easy things we love to eat here like a simple pasta, granola, muffins, maybe some salmon, and probably some chocolates. 

This series comes from my notes for the class.
Meal planning

• There are many ways to do this ranging from very unstructured to militarily precise.
• I prefer monthly and kept on a whiteboard in the kitchen.
• Grocery shop so that all ingredients are available for all meals on list. That way the kids can pick from the list each day and then just erase their choice. Pretty low-tech, but it works for us.
• I only plan one meal per day (actually less since some recipes make 8-12 servings so we use them several days), but make enough for leftovers and also always have ingredients for snacks and simple lunches on hand.

My typical meals:

Main dishes - in no particular order and without sides listed
Format:
(number of meals recipe makes--name of meal--times I will make in the month)

2 Chicken pot pie X2

2 Chicken and dumplings

1 Steak and potatoes

2 Spaghetti

1 Meatball subs

1 Lentil loaf

2 Chili

2 Tomato and bean pasta

2 Chicken alfredo

1 Potato salsa chicken X2

1 Frittata

1 Salmon nuggets

1 Salmon

1 Fried shrimp

2 Vegetable bean pasta

2 Chicken and veg pasta

2 Chicken curry

2 White bean chk chili

2 Jambalaya


My  snack list (some homemade, some store bought)

Hummus

Tuna

Chips – pita, tortilla

Pretzels

Granola

Peanut butter

Trail mix

Cereal

Bean dip

Cookies

Bread

Fruit

Oatmeal

Pumpkin muffins

Yogurt

So this is what we would eat in a typical month if we all ate at home the entire month.  I comfortably claim that this amount of food will feed a family of two adults and two any age kids. In practice, we don't all five eat here all three meals everyday. 

Factors in our budget:

• We usually go out to eat once or twice, That usually (but not always) comes from the household budget, not the grocery budget. 
• Sometimes Paige has the neighbor girls over to eat, so we feed 1-3 extra a few meals a month.
• Usually Levi eats breakfast at his dad's and they eat dinner there a couple times a week.
• Levi packs his lunch for school everyday from our leftovers.
• We do feed Abby (15 months old) every week day and even though toddlers don't eat an adult-size serving, they throw almost as much as they eat on the floor!
• Doug often eats one or even two meals a day at work. 
• The kicker, though, and why I am confident almost any family can feel full is - me. I am a relatively small person, but I EAT. Like an impressive and embarrassing amount and I am here all day every day.

Stay tuned for the next posts that will include the actual grocery list and recipes!

Super food!

We don't have big Superbowl plans. Doug should be home from work in time to watch most of the game, but we all had crazy busy days yesterday and need some relaxation time today. That doesn't mean that we don't deserve yummy munchies! I started today thinking I would make our ol' stand-by bean dip (refried beans and salsa, today with a can of chili beans added, pretty simple). We all love it, it is easy, and plenty to munch on during the game. Well, then I got to thinking...

So, this is what I ended up with:

Bacon and Potato Wrapped Pineapple with a Sriracha Honey Glaze

I used the food processor to slice the potatoes super thin and wrapped them around the pineapple just like the bacon, then baked everything at 375* for about 30 minutes.

 

I hoped this would create crispy chips and it kind of did. For a first time trial, I'm pretty happy about it. My favorite part, though is the sweet and spicy glaze. It sounds strange, but it is just mayonnaise, Sriracha, and honey and I put it on as soon as they came out of the oven so it melted nicely.

Garlic "Parmesan" Crunchy Potato Balls

I saw this post: Crispy Parmesan Potato Puffs and thought I could do something along those lines.

First I made a vegan parmesan substitute by pulsing almonds, nutritional yeast, and salt in the food processor, then added two large garlic cloves and some thin-sliced and boiled potatoes with just margarine, salt and pepper and a little of the boiling water to make a very thick mashed potato. I scooped them with my trusty ice-cream/cookie/potato/everything disher.

Then plopped the balls into a beaten egg and rolled them in panko bread crumbs with Jane's Krazy Salt and baked them at 375* for about 15 minutes.

The inside is a creamy deliciousness and the outside is just crunchy enough.

Template Grocery List

I love to grocery shop. I know, that's weird, but I do. I really, really do. I get excited about lists and comparison shopping and meal planning. I couldn't care less about shoe or clothes shopping; I'm not a good girl... Anyway, I have some tools that I use that make it more fun for me, but also could make it faster and easier for someone less passionate about groceries (I hear that's a thing).

My favorite is the BIG List. I made a list of everything I ever buy (and put it on the fridge) so when I make my shopping list I don't forget anything. This is only practical because of one thing - I only buy ingredients. When I bought pre-made sauces and boxed meals my list was twice as long, but could only produce half as many meals. I do rely a lot on cans, specifically canned tomatoes, but they are so versatile! Salsa? Marinara? Tomato basil pasta? Roasted tomato crostinis? Jambalaya? All from one can? Come on! That's awesome!

Every once in a while we will make a recipe that calls for something else (sushi comes to mind) and some things on the list are rare purchases, and, of course, most of the dairy items listed are actually dairy-free versions. I recognize other people probably have other staples that they can't believe I live without, but we are doing a-okay. :-)

Without further ado, the list:


Grocery List Download


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sH84WPRyaOFR1wh7psLfiCp3yqZ7iu1M/view?usp=sharing

Thoughts? What did I leave off? *updated 5/2020

December Meal Plan

I know when Christmas is, really, I do, but somehow this year I managed to forget all about shopping for it. I *usually* pride myself on how prepared I am months ahead of time. I *usually* buy gifts all year long when I see something that is a great deal or really fits a certain person and I keep them all in a box in the school room closet. Then if a birthday party or baby shower or whatever comes up, I can *usually* "shop" in the closet and I have at least half (sometimes way more) of Christmas purchased by the this time of year. Well, right now, I have exactly one present in my box. Maybe it was the move, maybe it was the toddler, maybe it was babysitting, but something happened and I am woefully unprepared.

There's no use grumbling about it, I just need to buck up and find some money. I can't/don't want to get a job and so I have to cut from somewhere. I am pretty good at sticking to a grocery budget when I feel like it, but ours has been a little, eh hmm, fluid, lately. So, what does Christmas shopping have to do with my December meal plan? I'm glad you asked. :-) Everything! Stick with me, I'll get there.

I work hard to have a well-stocked freezer and pantry most of the time and right now it is even more so thanks to the Thanksgiving turkey. I took the carcass home and picked the meat and made stock. How much could that possibly be? It was rescued from the trash, for heaven's sake!

Take a gander (see what I did there,like a bird. I'm clever, I tell ya!):

Here we are, just getting started

Yum, after several hours

and after several more hours. I got a total of about six quarts of boiled down stock, that I divided and froze most of (we've already eaten some and it is delightful!)

Look at all of that! I picked enough for five meals

Here is some, just chillin'

Add that to the chicken, vegetables, breads, and vegetable base already in the freezer and we are pretty stocked. Sorry, I got a bit distracted there. Where were we?

Ah, yes, the meal plan. I usually budget $100 per week for groceries, gas, toiletries, and incidentals. This month, I plan to only use half that and use the other half for Christmas gifts. It wouldn't be terribly difficult to do, but I don't want anyone to feel deprived and I also want to have a somewhat fancy Christmas Eve dinner (by itself costing about $65 to feed 7, but with leftovers for one additional dinner) so I am pulling from the freezer a bit more than I would normally do. Here it is, not necessarily in the order we will eat it. The number behind lists how many dinners we will get from each recipe.

1. Chicken, sliced potatoes, and salsa served with steamed vegetables - 2
2. Chicken pot pie - 3
3. Turkey soup with vegetables - 3
4. Vegetable soup - 3
5. Bean pasta with vegetable base and vegetables - 2
6. Frittata with peppers, spinach, and feta - 1
7. Tomato, basil pasta with beans - 1
8. Chicken thighs with rice in white wine sauce and roasted vegetables - 2
9. Spicy chicken curry - 2
10. Jambalaya - 3
11. Mini pizzas - 1
12. Salmon nuggets - 1
13. Chicken noodle soup - 2
14. Chicken and vegetable pasta - 2
15. Christmas Eve - 1
16. Christmas Day (at Doug's family) - 1

When I meal plan I don't add breakfast, lunch, or snacks. We eat those things, of course. :-) We make a lot of quick breads (pumpkin muffins, pancakes, biscuits, etc.) and some yeast breads (rolls, cinnamon rolls, etc.) that we use for breakfast and snacks. We also eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast and  fruit for snacks. We always have peanut butter on hand to eat as sandwiches, with crackers, or on pretzels. There is also usually canned tuna. Mostly, we eat dinner leftovers for lunch and the numbers above take that into account.

Here is the Christmas menu:

Apps:

• Wasabi tuna dip
• Hummus with crudite and pita chips
• Crostinis with pesto, roasted tomato spread, and tapenade

Main:

• Salmon
• Beef tenderloin with red wine reduction

Sides:

• Roasted brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes
• Mini latkes with sour cream
• Tossed salad (brought by Aunt Sue)

Desserts:

• Cookies (brought by Mom)
• Mini pies (pumpkin, pecan, key lime, cherry, apple)
• German chocolate bon bons
• Coconut milk bon bons

Can this all really be done for under $200? Yuppers! That is, assuming you have a stocked pantry as well as freezer and staples. I went shopping for the month last night and spent $140 and that included a new mini muffin pan, I have about another $40 left to buy of things that won't stay fresh until I need them if I buy them now, leaving me about a $20 buffer for things I'm sure will come up before January. I didn't allot any money for gas since I have a full tank and we can always use some of the regular household money for that. I also didn't allot any for toiletries because I have backups of everything we might need.

Anyone who says eating on a budget can't be delicious and nutritious is full of baloney!