OOPS!!

   Somewhere, in the land of too busy and a little lazy, I fell off the wagon! While, I always try to keep health and $$ in mind I did buy us a TOGO meal last night.

   Publix offers a family dinner of a whole rotisserie chicken, two deli sides and a 4 pack of King's Hawaiian rolls..here in Pensacola it runs $11.99! Still a great deal compared to fast food chicken places and the rotisserie chciken is much healthier than fried....and I have chicken left over for tonight. (We did notice that the prepared chickens are much small than the Roaster Chickens I usually buy for around $10.)

 

Oven Fried Chicken and Crash Hot Potatoes

   I was feeling the fried chicken last night but, not only is frying not the healthiest alternative, I also pretty much suck at it. While there is nothing that compares to my Daddy's (and my Grandpa's) fried chicken and I would drop all restrictions to eat it, I have mastered the art of crispy, crunchy oven fried chicken.

    I had 4 chicken thighs still in the freezer = $1.85 (way cheaper than the Colonel's.)

PERFECT OVEN FRIED CHICKEN

                                                       
1 cup of flour          
3 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons cajun spice (use season salt if you don't like spicy)

*For the healthiest alternative peel the skin off the chicken and/or use skinless breasts (I am a skin eater.)

Wash your chicken pieces and let them sit on a plate on some paper towels to dry.

1. Turn your oven on to 425 (it is best to use  pan with a cooking rack that keeps the meat out of its own greases. I use a regular 9 by 13 and place the metal rack from my microwave over it.) Spray the rack with a non-stick spray like Pam (preferrably store brand because it is cheaper.) Place pan and rack in oven to heat up while you are preparing the chicken.

2. Whisk all ingredients together in a medium size bowl...make sure it is well mixed to avoid clumps of seasoning on your chicken.

3. Dredge each piece of chicken in your flour mixture and place on a clean dry plate.

4. When all chicken is coated, very carefully and using tongs, place the chicken on the hot rack in the oven.
If you left the skin on, place them skin side down at this time...this will get you the crunchiest skin.
**DO NOT TRY TO TAKE RACK AND PAN OUT OF OVEN, IT'S TOO HOT! JUST OPEN THE DOOR AND PULL OUT THE OVEN RACK AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

5. Bake chicken for 25 minutes then flip them over and cook for 15 minutes. If you are using boneless breasts then cut cooking time by ten minutes (5 off of each side.)

    YOU KNOW I AM ALL ABOUT SAVING MONEY AND SINCE I WAS ALREADY 

USING MY OVEN IT WAS THE PERFECT NIGHT TO MAKE AND TRY 

CRASH HOT POTATOES.

Great addition to our potato recipes.... just follow the link below!

CRASH HOT POTATOES RECIPE

  I only used 6 small potatoes (maybe $0.75 worth) and I pretty much followed the directions to the "T".....I did not have any Rosemary but, the mention of the holidays gave me the idea to sprinkle some ground sage on them and I baked them at 425 with the chicken. I won't call them perfect but, I will say that the potatoes disappeared pretty quickly and this will be a regular side dish in our house.

   As always, I also made sure that we had fresh vegetables...I steamed some broccoli and summer squash, I did give into the taste bud devil and made a Velveeta cheese sauce to go on top, it was the perfect compliment to our dinner. The broccoli, summer squash and the amount of Velveeta together didn't even add up to $1.00 

OUR DINNER LAST NIGHT COST LESS THAN $5.00!!!

COMFORT FOOD!!

  VEGETABLE BEEF AND NOODLES MINI POT PIES

DINNER FOR LESS THAN $4.00

   As I predicted, I did make the leftovers into mini pot pies...noodles and all. Talk about comfort food!! They were soooo good! Using my muffin pan, my leftover vegetabal beef and noodles and a recipe for easy pie crust I made these yummy-licious little gems. We decided after dinner that they would have been even more amazing smothered in gravy but, I think the double starch was bad enough for us for one night!

These were very filling! I could only eat 2 and even my hubby didn't have room for my leftover pot pie.

Easy Pie Crust  so easy, so good and only a few ingredients....

   This recipe made enough for 9 crusts, if you want to do tops or a full dozen just double up. I mixed mine in a bowl then made balls of dough that I pushed into my muffin pan. I baked the crusts alone for about 10 minutes then packed them full and baked about 15 more minutes. 

My yummy little pot pies before baking.

To get them out of the muffin pan I just placed cookie sheet on top and flipped it over! Some of them needed a little encouragement by tapping on the bottom of the pan with a spoon. Use a spatula to scoop them back up and flip over onto plate! 

TONIGHT'S GRAND TOTAL? 

LESS THAN $4.00 !!!

AND I AM FACTORING IN 3 

GLASSES OF MILK TO WASH IT DOWN!

Linda McMillon's Chicken Soup!

GIANT POT OF CHICKEN SOUP FOR $8.50

Here is Linda's Chicken Soup that she made a few days ago...click the link for her recipe.

I see now that I may have stolen it!! Sorry, Linda it was not intentional.

PERFECT FOR COLD WEATHER!

$5.00  

 VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP WITH NOODLES!

   On Sunday night I made one of the London Broils that I bought BOGO for $10.94....we ate just a little over half of the roast (that's less than $3 worth of meat!) with a nice salad and corn on the cob altogether maybe $5 TOTAL! In hindsight, I wish I had paid a few extra dollars an gotten bigger roasts cause we all wanted seconds,not because we were still hungry but, it was perfect! The rest of the meat was cubed up and put away to make vegetable beef soup in anticipation of the Winter Storm (with snow!) that we are expecting here in Pensacola this week...

   You, of course, do not have to have already made your roast. Thaw it out and cut some off! DO NOT REFREEZE!! Be prepared to make something with the other half in the next 3-4 days. It also does not really matter what kind of vegetables you use (or whether they are canned or frozen)...just think of the story of "Stone Soup" and whatever little bits of leftover this and that you have, throw in there!

This plate is piled high with veggies and about 2 cups of cubed london broil and we had meat in EVERY bite!

2 large carrots ($0.23)

2 stalks of celery ($0.20)

1/4 bag of frozen corn ($0.42)

1/2 medium onion ($0.24)

one of the partial bags of green beans in freezer ($0.22)

two cups of cubed beef ($3.00)

4 beef bullion cubes ($0.17)

4 - 5 cups of water
few dashes of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder (to taste)

*1/2 bag of egg noodles ($0.50)

GRAND TOTAL OF $4.98!!

Put everything *except noodles in stock pot and bring to a rolling boil. Cover and turn down to simmer for 2-3 hours. Stirring occasionally.

*7-10 minutes before dinner bring pot back to boil and add noodles, cook according to package.

I thicken mine up just a little with cornstarch (my mom uses a little instant mash potatoes!)

I may even make a little "crust" tonight and make mini pot pies in my muffin pan...maybe $0.50 more cents, if that, just to mix it up a little. 

THIS IS GOING TO BE DINNER FOR TWO NIGHTS (AND IT WILL ACTUALLY TASTE BETTER THE SECOND NIGHT.) SO WE HAVE DINNER FOR $2.50!!  

POTATOES ARE CHEAP!!

   Potatoes are cheap and filling but, it can get boring eating the same thing every night. Here are some great ideas just specifically for potatoes - I will be making at least 3 of these within the next 2 weeks!

7 Great Potato Ideas! 

$2.04 Balsamic Pork Chop Saturday Night for Three!!!

   I do not have my head so far up my butt as to think that you want (or need) me to post a picture of our dinner every night. Besides, I made balsamic pork chops, sauteed squash/zucchini and (leftover) alfredo noodles tonight and I ate mine before I even thought about taking a picture. So, I borrowed this one from the pork website which is where I also, kind of, got the recipe.

The squash and zucchini was bought on sale average $0.30 a piece-Alex doesn't like it much so I only make her eat a a few pieces of each I cooked 1 of each and spent $0.60!
The alfredo noodles were leftover and factored into last nights dinner so tonight they were FREE!!!

      Balsamic Pork Chops Recipe:     

3-4 medium sized pork chops (@ $0.48 a piece)

Bottle of balsamic vinaigrette

*1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 

*1 Tbs soy sauce  

Place pork chops and vinaigrette in plastic bag in fridge a few hours before dinner.

Prepare large skillet pan with 2 tbs of vegetable oil on med/high heat.

Mix together balsamic vinegar and soy sauce (you can even add some of the vinaigrette or just use the vinaigrette if you need to.)

Sear pork chops on both sides and then add liquid.

Turn heat down to medium, cover and cook for about 15 minutes (or until done.)

*OPTIONAL

Friday Night Dinner

   These photos are to show you that you don't have to go hungry to save money on your groceries.
   This is a regular 9 1/2 plate and a nice healthy portioned, healthy meal and it cost less than $1.50 each!

                                *AND WE HAVE CARROT CAKE FOR DESSERT!!

I MADE ELEVEN DINNERS FOR LESS THAN $66 LAST WEEK!!

THIS WEEK I GOT TWO WEEKS WORTH OF FOOD FOR $54 A WEEK!! 

$100.40 SPENT TOTAL

This is both Farmer's Market and Winn Dixie (my store card saved me $41.57.) This does not include my milk or eggs. Milk will be $6.78 (two gallons) and eggs are $2.74 (two dozen) making my total  $109.92 for 2 WEEKS!

Winn Dixie has a lot of great sales this week and I am always pleased with the meat quality and sale variety from week to week.

Winn Dixie has a lot of great sales this week and I am always
pleased with the meat quality and sale variety from week
to week.

   I started, of course, by looking at the sale items and considering what my family needs for this week. Really, I already have taken care of Wed night with the BBQ pork and tonight I am making mashed potatoes to finish the pork roast off. I have two nights worth of chicken thighs in my freezer, leaving me only 3 nights that I do not have dinner for this week. I normally just use my computer but, Mom had an appointment so I stole her ads when I picked her up and browsed them while I waited.

   This week's first stop was Bailey's Farmers Market on Davis Hwy. (Since I was already so close with Mom that it wasn't out of my way as usual.) I love the Farmer's market but, remember their prices are not always lower than at your grocery store. I do find a lot of great deals and great produce. Don't be scared of the "CLEARANCE" table, these products are not spoiled or rotten but, they need to be used or frozen quickly. I picked up 2 very nice packages of yellow squash and zucchini for only $1.50 each. I will blanch (blanching is not hard or very time consuming, directions can be found online) and freeze these into servings within the next 2 days. After spending $17.78, I walked out with everything I needed for fresh veggies and salads all week plus some to freeze.

  My next stop was Winn Dixie! Let's get some MEAT.   

   London Broil roasts are on sale this week BOGO...now let's check the price per pound, only $1.89. I now have two london broil roasts for $11! The roast is very multi-purpose. I can already tell you that, with this cold weather, we will be having beef stew this week, I can slice some off to make fried steak fingers (and I still have an un-opened bag of french fries from last week), I can cut thicker slices for steak dinners (its no filet mignon but its still beef), I can make another roast but, we just had roast this week ;-) and we want to be more versatile so that our families and ourselves don't get bored. (If you have a food processor you can grind up the meat smaller for great pots of chili!)

   I also found pork chops on sale....

I bought 10 porkchops for less than $5. I will get these split up to 3 freezer packages (2 three packs and one 4 pack.) Use your computers to find yummy new recipes for your pork chops, no one wants to eat fried pork chops every time. 

   Now let's look at sides. I only purchased ONE item that was not on sale this week (and truth be told I know it is cheaper at the discount grocery store but, I had to have my creamer today!) Many of the noodle and rice dishes were on sale for $0.98 this week at my local Winn Dixie. I stocked up on these because of the price and versatility. I am lucky that I only need one regular sized box of noodle sides for my family at dinner...for larger families, I would suggest checking bags of noodles and jars/cans of sauce you can make a LOT more for less than the prepackaged sides. And remember, you do not have to use fettucine with alfredo sauce-it can be any noodle so buy the big bag of an sale noodles.

Here are the non-weekly purchases that I made this week....these are items that we need in our house but, don't use up in 7 days.

THIS IS $25.53 OF MY TOTAL $82.62 

Tea bags, cooking oil, condiments, coffee (it was actually cheaper this week to buy the 2 bricks on sale for $5 than to get one name brand and one store brand), freezer bags, flour, sugar and pancake mix - I would normally make pancakes from scratch but, the pancake mix was only $1!  

(I only purchased the ketchup and mustard cause they were $1 off.)                                                                                  

Here are the items that we didn't "need" but, I love my family and want them to be happy. (I also love carrot cake.)

This is $22.56 of my total $82.62.

My little girl loves her lunchables and when they go on sale for $1 I grab her some. The hot chocolate was BOGO for $2.99. Everyone loves bacon only $2.99 this week instead of $5.99. Blueberry muffins, cake and brownies are a great treat and have a lot more servings in them then a $2 - $4 box of cookies. (I added in my creamer back at the back, I only buy 1 a week and when it's gone, I cry a little, and use milk & sugar the rest of the week.)

One more thing in my cart this week was the ingredients for my wet dog food. 

   Two cans of mixed veggies, chicken liver, chicken gizzards and 2lbs of rice. A total cost of $4.86 - this will make a stock pot full of wet food to mix into their dry food. This encourages them to eat it all instead of guarding it all day, it also adds a nice warm extra 1/2 - 1 cup of food to their bowl, hence cutting down on the amount of dry food needed. This only has to be made once every 2 weeks.

SO, OUT OF MY $109.92 ONLY ABOUT $60 IS NECESSARY FOOD-AND I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET 2 WEEKS OUT OF WHAT I HAVE PURCHASED AND THE REMAINING GROCERIES FROM LAST WEEK! 

SIMPLE MATH (USING MY ACTUAL SPENDING AMOUNTS) SHOWS US THAT I HAVE MANAGED SO FAR TO SPEND ONLY $58.83 A WEEK FOR GROCERIES FOR 3 WEEKS!! 

IF YOU DIVIDE THAT BY THE THREE OF US THEN IT IS ONLY $19.61 PER PERSON A WEEK THAT I HAVE SPENT FEEDING MY WHOLE FAMILY!!