Meal Plan to Save Money (My story)

Once I started working again (last september) two things happened. We were making more money and I was tired from working. So cooking kind of slacked off for a while. I had the money to buy premade stuff and get stuff for dinner from the store everyday on the way home from work. So I pretty much stopped cooking from scratch for a while. But now were wanting to move so we've been trying to save money so we can. My husband came up with the idea that we should make a meal plan and buy everything we need for the week. Now I'm used to buying stuff to stock up but I never really had a plan before. I'd just buy a large thing of beef and put it in baggies to freeze. Then when I wanted to make something beef I had meat. Same with chicken breasts.

So I shrugged my shoulders and said we'd give it a try. I went online a googled meal plans and such and turned up my nose. It was all detailed with breakfast and everything. My husband works at 7am and doesn't like food that early. On days I work I have a bowl of oatmeal. On off days I'll make french toast or waffles. No planning needed for breakfast. Same with lunch. When I get home from work I'll eat a small bowl of yogurt with frozen berries in it. My husband has leftovers from the previous nights dinner or a sandwich. (I get home before my husband because I only work 4-5 hours as a housekeeper)

So What I ended up doing is looking for a blank printable calender. I ended up on a site with free printable calenders. You can either just print the blank thing and write in the numbers depending on the month or you can get the current month. So thats what I did. I printed up a July 2014 calender page.

Then I asked my husband to start giving my dinner suggestions. My rules were that there had to be something meat in it with a starch and a veggie on the side. We ended up with: Sunday (that day) Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with peas. Monday Chicken and rice with mixed veggies. Tuesday Baked spaghetti with mixed veggies. Wednesday Mac N Cheese w/chicken chunks with corn. Ect.

So I wrote this on my blank calender days just the one weeks worth to try it out. Then we went to the store. I got larger sizes then we needed so that next week we can buy less and use up what we have on hand.

Pretty much we got 3 lb of beef that I sectioned into 1/2lb baggies to freeze (kept out 1lb for the meatloaf). 6 chicken breasts which I put into individual baggies to freeze. Big size bags of cheddar and mozzarella. And the odd things like tomato sauce (which I still have some cans from a case lot sale but we've been cutting down on sodium so we bought a few cans of no salt added tomato sauce).

We ended up spending $54 for the week with extras to carry over into the next week. We also bought staple items such as bread, milk, eggs, lunch meat, sliced cheese, ect. The sort of things we use regularly but not with day restrictions like the meal plan.

So we're on wednesday of the first week and I'm actually really enjoying it. There's no having to figure out what I'm going to make for dinner and having to go shopping after work. It's all on the list and all I have to do is make it, which I don't mind doing.

So far we've written meal ideas (shepards pie, chicken enchiladas, ect) on a sticky note that I stuck to sunday of next week so we can put those on days before we go shopping again. (oh and I didn't mention I hung the calender on  my fridge for easy viewing int he kitchen).

This is how we did it and it's working for us so far. I do think we will save money this way because I'm not giving into whims for dinner and were buying bigger sizes which are usually cheaper. (The Chicken in the small 2 breast package was 3.99lb but 1.99lb for the big package. The beef was 4.59lb for the 1lb package and 2.99lb for the large package.)

If you're looking to save even more money on these things keep an eye on the ads and buy where you know things will be on sale or generally cheaper or even just the store with more options because with more options usually there's something cheaper.

In closing, when you're making the money to afford more it's easy to fall out of good spending and cooking habits. Just taking a step back and putting together some sort of plan can do a whole lot towards getting back on track and saving your money for things you want even more.

Making Food for Pot-locks

My husband works as a CSR at a call center and if his team (group of people supervised by a team leader) is doing really good they let them have an hour or two off the phones to have a pot-lock. Today is the 3rd time that I've made something. The first time I made my homemade mac-n-cheese and they of course loved it. The next time I made my baked spaghetti and they loved it. So in the week or so leading up to this I've been trying to decide what to make and my husband tells me that they were requesting the baked spaghetti.

So today I went in with an hour and a half with dirty dishes from last night. (I wash my dishes before making dinner each day) so once the ones I needed were done I started the water and left it to come to a boil while I browned my sausage. Once that was done I added the tomato sauce, seasoned it, and left it to simmer. Meanwhile I added the noodles (twice what I would use for an 8X8) and while those boiled I mixed up the creamy sauce for the noodles. By then I was running a little now on time if I was going to have to bake the egg in this so I left it out and added a little milk to cover for the moisture of the egg missing.

When the noodles were soft and done I drained them and realized this wasn't going to be enough. I went ahead and mixed them in with the creamy sauce and it barely came halfway up the sides of my 13X9. So I decided to axe the baking time altogether and turned on the broiler. I refilled the pan and brought it to a boil then threw in the same amount of noodles and mixed up more creamy sauce the same way.

I set the already made noodle mixture in the oven to keep it warm while the other half cooked and it got a little dried out. So once the noodles were cooked, drained, and mixed I poured it on top of the other noodles and poured the now over simmered tomato sauce/meat over the noodles and covered it with as much cheese as I felt I could get away with to cover the fact that there wasn't much sauce. Then I broiled it to melt the cheese and make it look like it baked in the oven. Then I wrapped it in foil and brought it to my husband.

Of course I didn't tell him the struggle I had making it and how it probably wasn't going to be good. But I felt like I let everyone down. My husband told me they cheered when he brought in the pan and I just felt bad because it hadn't come out the same way as last time and they would be expecting good food and what I sent was just a compilation of failures and mistakes.

However he texted just recently and said that the newbies on the team (who weren't there last time) all said it was really good and they didn't even know who had brought it. (yes I know I just said they cheered, but the thing about working at a call center is that you don't always get off the phone right when your break starts. So these people were late into the room).

What I've learned from this is to never make the same thing twice. If they know what it tasted like the first time they will expect it the second time around. So next pot-lock I'm making anything else. Anything else at all.

Potatoes.... Really!

According to the nutritionists at WIC potatoes aren't actually a vegetable. They're a starch like rice and noodles. Which is fine by me because that's what I use them as. Actually I could use them even more as a starch then I already do.

What I use them for? Well first there's the obvious; mashed potatoes. But you don't have to just serve them alongside a slab of meat. You can make a meat gravy and pour it over the mashed potatoes and have a meal.

Mashed potatoes are also a good stepping stone for other meals such as shepherds pie.

The secret to a good mashed potato? Okay it's not a secret but surprisingly, unless you had someone show or tell you it seems that not so many people know this one. Add butter and milk. Not an extreme amount of either, but it really helps with flavor and texture. Also salt... But that one seems like more of a no brainer.

Don't have a potato masher? I've used forks, pastry blenders, heavy duty whisks, electric mixers, you name it. In a pinch I've used it all. (within reason)

For other potato uses: you could make gnocci which I've recently blogged about, you could make scalloped potatoes which I've rather taken a liking to since I got a mandolin vegetable slicer, you could chop them into cubes and rub them in oil/seasonings then bake, you could chop them into cubes and boil until almost done and use them in a sauce like noodles (just don't mash), cube and cook till almost done then chill and use in potato salad, and you could make potato soup.

As for the instant potatoes I like to keep a box on hand. I use them to thicken my mashed potatoes if I accidently add too much milk, I also use it in a pinch or if I just don't feel like buying potatoes but want mashed potatoes, and I've heard you can use it in breading for fried or oven baked chicken but I haven't tried it.

Why do I have potatoes on the brain today? Well I bought a bag a while back and had to come up with things to use them in, then I had a couple odd potatoes left in the bag but not enough for a meal so I bought another bag, and so on. Finally yesterday I used up all of the leftover potatoes in the bag making scalloped potatoes. I'm so happy to be done with them. It was hard to come up with new or different things to make with them, which is why I don't buy potatoes very often. Because I have a hard time using them before they go bad. I know you're supposed to be able to keep potatoes for a while but that's in the right conditions which I don't have or feel I need.

However, for the rest of you who maybe keep potatoes on hand all the time then I hope this post has given you inspiration. Otherwise, for those of you who don't keep them on hand I suggest you buy a 5lb bag and try something different with them.

Update Notes 06/11/2013

I decided to start posting update notes so people will know exactly what I fixed or changed in which cookbook.

I updated The Poverty Cookbook For Beginners today because of a comment a review left. It wasn't a nasty one like quite a few of you feel the need to leave. It was constructive. The review told me that they had tried a recipe and found it confusing. The recipe in question was my rice pudding recipe that, like all other rice recipes, simply said to 'cook rice and set aside'. The reviewer was confused because I had the ingredients for the rice in the same list as the other ingredients but with no explanation as to what to do with them.

I guess I just assumed that most people would read my methods section and thus would know what I meant there. So to fix it I went through and separated the rice ingredients from the regular ingredients and expanded the directions to include a very short explanation of what to do with the rice; "Mix together rice, oil, and salt then add water. Cover and bring to boil then reduce heat and let sit until cooked."

I feel bad for the reviewer that I didn't have everything written clearly. So if you're reading this; I'm sorry.

Also, I will be going through the other cookbooks and fixing this error.

My Adventure With Gnocci

What is Gnocci? It's like a mix between a dumpling and pasta, but it's make with potatoes. Basically you cook the potato and mash it through a mesh strainer to get it as granular ad possible. Once it's cold add egg and flour and kneed into a dough ball. Then you roll it out into a thin line and cut it into small cubes. Then if you're feeling fancy you press and roll on the back of a fork to make grooves. Boil like pasta and add to sauce. Sounds easy right?

That's what I thought. I'd heard of gnocci and even seen recipe videos online so I thought "I can do this". Well it started easy. I peeled and chopped potatoes and cooked them. Then I let then strain for until cool and dry then pressed through a mesh strainer. Which isn't as easy as it might sound. You really have to press hard... Anyway so then I let it sit in the fridge for a bit while I did other stuff. Once I was ready I took it out and added egg and flour... then more flour... and more flour... and more flour... 0.o

Then I added more flour and more and more and more. In small amounts of like 1/4 cup but still. It was just so sticky and wet and wouldn't come together. Finally it came together but it was still so sticky I couldn't roll it out so I kept adding flour and kept adding flour.

Finally it worked out right and I got it cut into tiny cubes. I looked at the fork and laughed... Then threw the gnocci into the water ungrooved. They cooked and turned out great! Except for the flour consumption it really was a great dish. I put them in a bechamel (as always) and it was amazing.

Will I ever make it again? Well this is the question I ask myself every time I make pasta. With both it takes time, it's not extremely easy, it's messy, and it takes a whole bunch of flour. Answer? Absolutely! I love how it tastes and the texture. I'm going to experiment with different methods and what not but I will absolutely make it again.

Would I suggest you try it? Probably not. I wouldn't wish the struggle on my closest friends or worst enemies. But if you're interested google it or something. I have no recipe for you yet.

Got My Mojo Back!

I'd been in a rut lately with my cooking of just making the usual things I make all the time. But I think I finally got my mojo back. I think my problem lies in the fact that I'm so southern in my cooking. The dishes that just make me happy and come to mind when I'm cooking are always very southern. As much as I love Asian, Italian, and Mexican they just don't run in my blood the way good old stick-to-your-ribs southern food does.

Either way here are a couple pictures of the dishes I've made lately that you can expect in my next cookbook.

Cooking doesn't have to be fancy or gourmet. It just has to make you happy.

My OOPS Southern/Asian Dish

I love Asian food. I would eat Asian food every meal of every day of the rest of my life. (American Asian like you get at Panda Express and Hu Hot)

So I've been trying to make more Asian dishes at home. I'm pretty good at chicken dishes but I've never tried beef. So I got some beef, cut it into strips and continued to make it just how I would have chicken. Cut meat, cut vegetables, brown meat, saute vegetables, add seasoning and stock, mix vinegar and cornstarch and add to thicken, serve over rice or noodles. Only I guess you don't use beef stock in Asian dishes because it's just too beefy. It ended up just tasting like beef gravy. Sure it would have been great over mashed potatoes but it was supposed to be Asian. I don't know where all the Asian seasonings I added went, but it was good. Disappointing, but good.