Every week I will share our meal plan for the coming week. Making your own food is a great way to save money, explore new cuisine, and eat healthy (if you choose to make healthy foods). A good meal helps bring people together and as you improve your cooking skills you will impress more and more people! I generally use recipes as a starting off point and then experiment with different proportions or ingredients. Leftovers make great lunches for the 9-5 crowd who might otherwise have to decide between a sandwich or a pricey cafeteria.
This Week For Dinner…
Sausage, Potatoes, Carrots, & Cheese Casserole
Yep, this is a repeat of last week. With 5 lbs of potatoes ($2.99), a bag of whole carrots ($1.49), 2 packages of sausage ($5), and a bag of shredded cheese ($3) I was able to make up two 13×9 pans of this casserole last week. $12.50 for 4-5 dinners and lunches for two people is a heck of a deal.
Whole Chicken with Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, and Steamed Corn
I know that it isn’t Thanksgiving yet but roasting up a whole chicken is a great thing to do right now because 1.) chicken is cheap and 2.) it lets you practice before the real deal in November. Roasted chicken provides a lot of food but it also comes with a lot of bones. If you really want to make your dollar stretch, make sure that when you are packing up the leftovers that you pick all of the meat off the bone. Doing this will not only save room in your refrigerator but will also help ensure that any picky eaters in your house won’t be throwing away perfectly good meat because it isn’t a big breast piece.
Goulash
Goulash is another meal that can be almost whatever the chef wants it to be. The base recipe includes ground meat (usually beef), short noodles, and tomato soup. From there you can customize by adding chopped bell peppers, onion, corn, seasonings, mushrooms, peas, crushed tomatoes, and cheese. The instant food version of this recipe goes by the name “Hamburger Helper” but there really isn’t any comparison. I tried the HH version because we had a coupon for a free box and it didn’t taste anything like the homemade version with fresh ingredients.
Snack Food…
Apples and Cottage Cheese (but not together)
Apples are still in season. We are trying out a new variety called “Envy”. They are a bit smaller than the Honey Crisp kind. I haven’t tried one yet so I cannot compare tastes. Cottage cheese has also made another appearance at our house for snack time. What are some snack foods that always seem to be on hand in your kitchen?
If you don’t feel like cleaning off those chicken bones you can throw them in a big pot with water, boil them. Then the meat will fall off and you can make soup. Add your favorite carrots, corn, barley, rice or noodles and you have another meal.
Our Fave Snacks: popcorn (we make our own microwave popcorn by putting a thin layer of popcorn in a paper bag and cooking for 2.5 min), variety of fruit, homemade fruit rollups (just be sure to make them on plastic wrap and NOT on waxed paper or you will have waxed paper to eat with the fruit), and banana chocolate chip muffins.
If I have a whole chicken, I will sometimes make homemade chicken broth from the leftover bones–cover bones with water in a crock pot, add some seasonings, cook overnight. Next day put in canning jars and freeze until needed.
I think we’re going to make the sausage-carrot-potato casserole tonight. We usually don’t put cheese on, but might give it a try this time!