WHERE'S THE FOOD?

(cute little mini loaf of homemade bread)

When we dropped our grocery budget to $50/wk, I made a huge realization.  There's not much food in the grocery store!  Sure, the store is packed with items, but most of it isn't....FOOD!  Most of it is a pre-packaged array of ingredients you can't say and our great-grandparents didn't have access to.  The only way to stretch my budget was to buy said pre-packaged items at a huge discount OR cook from scratch.  For the most part, I cook from scratch.  Let's take an item and compare.

Black Beans

cost at a regular grocery store $0.79-$1.39 approx. per can

cost at a discount store $0.50-$0.99 approx. per can 

(there's a good chance the can will be damaged or very old)

cost of dried beans as low as $0.06-$0.25 approx. per can (equivalent)

(there's approx. 1/4 lb. or 1/2 c. of dried beans to equal the 1 1/2 c. of beans in a can.  You can easily find black beans for $1/lb which would bring your cost per can equivalent to $0.25.  I've bought black beans in a 25 lb. bag for $16.80 which would bring your cost per can equivalent to $0.16.  The best deal I've found by far was 4 lb/$1 which would make your cost per can equivalent to $0.06....awesome!)

Now you may be thinking....that savings isn't enough for me to cook beans.  Maybe not, but when you've changed how you shop and cook with many items, it has a huge impact on your budget.  (not to mention your health)  These are items that regularly make the shopping list in our home:

Eggs (5 dz. from Costco)

Milk (from whoever has the best sale that week)

Cheese (2 lb. block from Costco)

Butter (4 lb. package from Costco - by far the best deal)

Tortillas (Pro's Ranch Market)

Tortilla Chips (3-2lb bags pkg. together from Costco)

Fruits & Veggies (grocery ads, Sprout's or Superstition Ranch Market)

Canned Tomatoes (best price right now at WalMart)

Oil (canola & EVOO)

Flour

Beans 

Grains

Rice

Pasta

I do buy chicken, but we go meatless many nights.  

Here are some theme night menu ideas:

Pasta Night - baked eggplant parmesan is one of our favorites.  

Mexican Fiesta - We put out a variety of items and you make the nachos, burrito or salad that you crave.  Items would include: whole beans, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, tortillas, chips, cheese, salsa, and rice.

Crock Pot Night - Honey Bourbon Chicken or Mexican-ish Chicken.

Soup, Salad or Sandwich Night - two of our favorites are 1) French Dip Au Jus and 2) The B.E.A.S.T. - Bacon (we buy turkey bacon from Costco), Egg-salad, Avocado, Spinach (sauteed) & Tomato....my mouth is watering just thinking of it!

Homemade Pizza Night - well......pizza!  Kyler always has cheese pizza.  The rest of us will have pepperoni, or BBQ chicken pizza.  We always make our own dough.

Even when I use chicken in our meal, I've generally stretched it.  Here's my beautiful Chicken Broccoli Braid.  Homemade bread dough, steamed broccoli (I remember I spent $0.14 for the broccoli I used), shredded chicken (only one chicken breast), a little cream cheese and a few slices of cheese.

DELISH!

I'm working on organizing my recipes and can't wait to share!

Have a great weekend!!!