A Week Of Thrifty Meals

 

Last month I was on a self imposed no spend challenge and it went really well.  A big part of that challenge as well as continuing with a low spend lifestyle this year is to make the most of what we already had on hand and that includes our food.  I am very blessed to have a full pantry, a full freezer in my kitchen, a full chest freezer in my garage and a well stocked refrigerator with which to work with.  I begin each week by pulling out the frozen foods I want to work with.  This week I decided on hot Italian sausages and a pound of bacon.  Originally, I had also pulled out a bag of bagels, however I quickly realized I had a lot of bread out already that needed to be used up so I put them back into the freezer right away.

 

I always add a little bit of water and give it a good shake to get out every last bit

This sauce was very thick even after I added that bit of water to the jar

Each Sunday I make a really nice meal for my family and it is most often large enough that we have quite a few leftovers.  On Sunday I prepared the package of spicy Italian sausages ($2.99)with a leftover jar of pasta sauce (99¢) from the previous week and a pound of linguine (89¢).  With that I served a can of green beans (50¢) sprinkled with a little bit of seasoning salt and garlic bread I made from a single whole wheat hotdog bun(10¢).  All of these items had been purchased on sale or markdown.

 

We each ate a sausage with the linguine and sauce, a serving of green beans and shared the garlic bread.  I had parmesan in the fridge to sprinkle on top too.  This made for a very thrifty meal, no doubt about that, and we were very full and satisfied.

 

I save the bean juice in a container in the freezer for soups

The next day I took one of the three sausages and diced it up to save for pizza.  I placed it in a dish with three tablespoons of the pasta sauce.  I had one serving of leftover tomato soup in the fridge from the previous week so I added that to the remaining sauce and stirred it in.  We each ate one of the remaining sausages, the pasta with the sauce and shared the last serving of green beans for our lunch.

 

On day two I combined this leftover tomato soup with the pasta sauce

For supper that evening I prepared and even thriftier meal using up a load of leftover items I'd squirreled away.  I made veggie fried rice using up some of a head of cabbage we've been working on all month, chopped onion, a couple pieces of carrot I grated, leftover frozen peas and less than a cup of leftover rice from the previous week.  I seasoned it with soy sauce, a bit of hoison sauce and some sesame oil.  I added two beaten eggs (28¢) to finish it off.

 

Loads of leftover items to use up

I made egg drop soup using two cups of chicken stock I'd made a few weeks ago with a chicken carcass and a collection of vegetable scraps I'd saved in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  The cost of all of that stock was only what the electricity to run the slow cooker would have been.  I added some of the onion I'd chopped for the fried rice and some of the peas and seasoned it with soy sauce and the last of the sesame oil in the bottle.  I added some cornstarch to slightly thicken it and a beaten egg (14¢) at the end.  This was a truly delicious meal with enough for three people.

 

On Tuesday my daughter ate leftover pasta and sauce for brunch while I had the last servings of the fried rice and egg drop soup.  We made BLT sandwiches (75¢) for our supper and again on Thursday.

 

Wednesday and Thursday my breakfast was a fried egg (14¢) on a piece of toast (10¢) and leftover pineapple chunks from the previous week.  My daughter finished the pasta and sauce. 

 

This sausage diced up was plenty for a pizza

Wednesday evening I prepared a small sausage and black olive pizza using a ball of leftover dough I pulled from the freezer.  We had half a dozen black olives leftover from the week before so I just sliced them.  I had a cup of grated mozzarella (74¢) in the fridge to sprinkle over it and I baked it in the toaster oven.

 

This meal definitely did not disappoint

I made a simple salad out of shredded lettuce (FREE), grated carrot (5¢), sliced celery (5¢), grated cheddar cheese (10¢), diced tomato (FREE) and ranch dressing (FREE).  The lettuce and tomato was purchased with a gift card and the salad dressing was a FREE offer from the grocery store.  For less than a dollar I fed both myself and my daughter a fabulous and healthy pizza meal.

 

This satisfied any desire to head to Denny's or IHOP

Friday I made blueberry waffles using a cup of pancake mix and blueberries (25¢) from the freezer, a slice of bacon (25¢) and a fried egg (14¢).

 

I was excited on Friday to make vegetarian black bean burgers (22¢) because I haven't made them in a long time.  My daughter doesn't like them but that wasn't a problem since she wasn't home for supper that night.  These are a great nonmeat option, use only one cup of dry black beans (33¢) and come in at under $1 for eight patties.  And they are delicious.  I used two potatoes in the fridge to make oven fries in the toaster oven.  Saturday's meals were a repeat of Friday since we had plenty of leftovers.

 

This is a good burger!

Oven fries with homemade fry sauce

As I've mentioned before we only eat twice a day and because of the rising prices on meats I try to have one meal each day be meatless which seems to work out surprisingly well.  Some days we had a small snack in between meals.  Afternoon tea included a piece of leftover coffeecake (25¢) from the week before and a cup of tea (4¢).  Celery and peanut butter (10¢) was also on the list. I didn't always have something to eat with my tea, only about half the days included a snack.

 

I have pretty much cooked like this all month long and I was really proud of myself for the fact that we had virtually no food waste.  All kitchen scraps went out to the chickens or the compost bin.  Leftovers were eaten and quite often used to create new meals like our pizza.  I made really wise use of the foods I selected to prepare our meals and they were all delicious and nutritious too.  It always amazes me how you can put together a wonderful meal with so little.

 

Now that the first month is complete I realize I've barely scratched a dent in my freezers, fridge and pantry.  So, I'll continue along and see how things go.  Let me know if you are at all interested in me continuing to document our meals and how I prepare them.  I'll be happy to share if you feel this would be helpful.