I must admit, I have never tried making 30 meals in one day. I would love to watch someone do it. Is it really possible to make enough food for a month for dinner for 7 people? Or are these programs geared to a family of 4? That means I would have to DOUBLE everything! Gosh, that means I would effectively be making 60 meals in one day. (I think I'm going to faint...)
I have, very successfully, made 4 or 5 extra meals in one day. It was a little more work but not bad. I sure loved having the dinners ready to pull out and use.
I think my favorite way of making food ahead is a little at a time. When I am cooking supper, I cook more than we need and freeze the rest for another meal. I do this about once a week. Then I should have 2 or 3 dinners in the freezer at any one time to choose from. (Remember to rotate!)
With summer coming on, we need to start thinking about quick easy cheap meals that are prepared without heating up the kitchen.
Personally, I only like eating jello about once or twice a year, so summer meals at our house usually do not include jello.
One of my favorite things to do in the hot summer months is to take advantage of a cool or rainy day. On those days I will do a bunch of baking, cooking, etc. Then on those sweltering days, I can sit back and put my feet up (just kidding!!)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
$10 Dinners part 12
18. Menu: Potatoes with ham and corn
This is one of our favorites and I make it in the electric frying pan for convenience.
Shopping List: 1 cup leftover diced ham, 12 medium potatoes, olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, celery (optional), milk or mushroom soup, can of corn (or frozen.)
Heat oil in pan; add chopped onion and garlic (and celery if desired). Cover and let soften while you slice up the potatoes. Add potato slices, and stir to mix. Pour in about 1/2 cup milk or 1 can mushroom soup and mix again. Cover and let cook while you warm up the corn. Cook about 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked and crispy around edges. I turn the dial to about 255 farenheit. Experiment and see what works best for you.
Cost: $1.5o potatoes, $.50 onion and garlic, .05 olive oil, $1.00 ham, $.70 corn, .65 soup.
Total = $4.40
This fed our family of 7 with as much as we could possibly eat.
This is one of our favorites and I make it in the electric frying pan for convenience.
Shopping List: 1 cup leftover diced ham, 12 medium potatoes, olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, celery (optional), milk or mushroom soup, can of corn (or frozen.)
Heat oil in pan; add chopped onion and garlic (and celery if desired). Cover and let soften while you slice up the potatoes. Add potato slices, and stir to mix. Pour in about 1/2 cup milk or 1 can mushroom soup and mix again. Cover and let cook while you warm up the corn. Cook about 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked and crispy around edges. I turn the dial to about 255 farenheit. Experiment and see what works best for you.
Cost: $1.5o potatoes, $.50 onion and garlic, .05 olive oil, $1.00 ham, $.70 corn, .65 soup.
Total = $4.40
This fed our family of 7 with as much as we could possibly eat.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
$10 Dinners part 11
17. Menu: Garlic toast, pasta anything and veggie anything.
What a strange menu, you may say. What's with the "anything," anyway?
Well, 0n this menu alone I could probably spin out thousands of permutations and combinations. The real deal is that pasta is cheap. Do you like spaghetti? Prefer tuna casserole? How about Mac & Cheese even? Pick a different pasta recipe each time you make this menu.
What about the veggies...try a salad. If you don't have fresh produce, open a can of green beans.
Here's the honest truth about this meal...it's the garlic toast that makes everything else taste great! What kind of garlic do you have to use? Anything from garlic powder (NOT garlic salt...too salty!) to creamed garlic in a bottle to fresh garlic. It all works wonders.
There are many different ways to fix the toast. Some people wrap it in foil. It's great that way but I don't. I lay out slices of bread on a large flat baking pan. Preheat oven to about 375. Butter the bread, spread or sprinkle the garlic, and pop in the oven until the outside edges turn golden. Remove and serve.
If you're feeling wealthy, sprinkle parsley flakes and parmesan cheese on the garlic toast. Nice but it isn't necessary. Make plenty of toast for everyone. The aroma in your kitchen will make everyone hungry!
The garlic toast is the gem in this meal because its wonderfully delicious and superbly cheap. Make your bread or buy discount.
Shopping List: Bread, butter, garlic powder, pasta & sauce, veggies
Cost: $cheap
I will post pasta recipes if you want. Just leave me a note. Thanks!
What a strange menu, you may say. What's with the "anything," anyway?
Well, 0n this menu alone I could probably spin out thousands of permutations and combinations. The real deal is that pasta is cheap. Do you like spaghetti? Prefer tuna casserole? How about Mac & Cheese even? Pick a different pasta recipe each time you make this menu.
What about the veggies...try a salad. If you don't have fresh produce, open a can of green beans.
Here's the honest truth about this meal...it's the garlic toast that makes everything else taste great! What kind of garlic do you have to use? Anything from garlic powder (NOT garlic salt...too salty!) to creamed garlic in a bottle to fresh garlic. It all works wonders.
There are many different ways to fix the toast. Some people wrap it in foil. It's great that way but I don't. I lay out slices of bread on a large flat baking pan. Preheat oven to about 375. Butter the bread, spread or sprinkle the garlic, and pop in the oven until the outside edges turn golden. Remove and serve.
If you're feeling wealthy, sprinkle parsley flakes and parmesan cheese on the garlic toast. Nice but it isn't necessary. Make plenty of toast for everyone. The aroma in your kitchen will make everyone hungry!
The garlic toast is the gem in this meal because its wonderfully delicious and superbly cheap. Make your bread or buy discount.
Shopping List: Bread, butter, garlic powder, pasta & sauce, veggies
Cost: $cheap
I will post pasta recipes if you want. Just leave me a note. Thanks!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Today I want to talk for a minute about saving money by collecting and organizing. You can get a lot of things for free, that is true. I am mostly talking about good recipes here. However, I do have a few favorite recipe books and I think it is worth making a collection of recipes and recipe books which you can refer to often.
Having your collection organized is really the key to quick easy cheap meals. For example, I often make some type of quick bread for breakfast. Instead of thumbing through cookbooks to find the one I want, I have made a binder of breakfast recipes. In that binder I have a section for quick breads, for oven-baked pancakes (dutch baby), etc. Then all I have to do in the morning is grab that binder and start baking. It is wonderfully fast and easy.
When my grandmother passed away, I inherited all her cookbooks. What a treasure! Not only could I now re-create old favorites I enjoyed at her house, but it added to my variety of recipes and my cooking knowledge. These are not very organized, however, and I must spend some time going through them and figure out how to organize them so that the ones I want to use are quick and easy to find.
Having your collection organized is really the key to quick easy cheap meals. For example, I often make some type of quick bread for breakfast. Instead of thumbing through cookbooks to find the one I want, I have made a binder of breakfast recipes. In that binder I have a section for quick breads, for oven-baked pancakes (dutch baby), etc. Then all I have to do in the morning is grab that binder and start baking. It is wonderfully fast and easy.
When my grandmother passed away, I inherited all her cookbooks. What a treasure! Not only could I now re-create old favorites I enjoyed at her house, but it added to my variety of recipes and my cooking knowledge. These are not very organized, however, and I must spend some time going through them and figure out how to organize them so that the ones I want to use are quick and easy to find.
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