Cheap Eats - Meal Ideas Under $10
Posted by Debt Destroyer on July 2, 2009
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A while ago I wrote about how I blew my grocery budget on a $11 hunk of cheese, I ended that post by asking for some budget friendly recipes. Only Kristy from Master Your Card took me up, and I’m ever glad she did.
Her chicken dish was fantastic!
Here it is again for those of you who missed out the first time:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken (reg size is fine)
1 tablespoon of Season-All
Spaghetti noodles
butter
garlic saltFirst, you boil the chicken with salt and pepper until they’re just about done. This reduces overall cooking time and keeps the meat tender.
Transfer the chicken to a crock pot and cover with cream of chicken and about half a can of water. Add the Season-All and stir. Let simmer for about 25 minutes (less if you’re cooking on high…just make sure the chicken is completely done).
While the chicken is cooking, boil water for the spaghetti noodles. I’ve found that if you add a cap full of olive oil, it enhances the flavor of the noodles, so I recommend it, but it’s not necessary. Once the noodles are cooked, strain them and put them back in the pan. Add butter and garlic salt to taste.
Put noodles on a plate. Cut up chicken over the noodles. Ladle the cream of chicken sauce over the chicken and noodles.
Enjoy!
I changed it a little (like using a lot more Cream of Chicken soup) and didn’t use a crock-pot, but it still turned out rather tasty.
About the same time I was savoring “MasterYourCard Chicken”, my favorite radio station was doing a series of stories of meals for under $10.
- Chef Jose Andres started with a Moorish-Style Chickpea And Spinach Stew.
- Chef Ming Tsai then whipped up some Chicken-And-Corn Fried Rice With Lemon Spinach.
- Navy chef Michael Edwards made Sauteed Skate Meuniere with Potato Gnocchi.
- Pat and Gina Neely ended the series with Cheesy Corkscrews With Crunchy Bacon Topping.
The best part of the series were all the recipes that people left in the comment section, but they are gone now 
Obviously there are a lot of great meals out there that are cheaper than $10 (here’s a whole site of them for half that price).
And if $5 is too much for you, there are plenty of simple meals that get the job done. My personal favorites are:
- Spaghetti & Garlic Toast
- Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
- Mac & Cheese with Hot dogs
Or my all time favorite meal(no joke)…Hamburger & Rice.
Mix some rice with hamburger, top it with butter, and your good to go.
As you can see whether you spend $800 a year on food or $800 a month, there are many, many, ways to get the best bang for your food buck.
So how about we try this sharing thing again?
What’s your favorite $10 meal, $5 meal, or super simple meal?
I’m getting hungry just thinking about this.
Until next time,
-DD
Little Things Part 3 - Budget Practice And Correcting Mistakes
Posted by Debt Destroyer on February 24, 2009
This is the 3rd chapter is a series of posts showing how the little things can add up.
You might have missed it, but I dropped some subtle hints in my recent snowblower post that I can from time to time, be a pretty big baby.
Well one night after a frigid shoveling adventure, my wife took pity on me (FINALLY!).
I told her that I’d like nothing more than to have that night’s hot chocolate to be accompanied with some nachos. But you need chips for nachos and we had none. Luckily for me, my beautiful loving bride volunteered to venture out in the freezing cold to get some (which was nice because I already had my pajamas on).
She returned (quite a while later) with not only chips but with a few other items as well. She told me that she was shocked at the total of $20 for 5 things and that was with her taking advantage of a 2 bags of chips for $5 offer.
So we checked the receipt.
She ended up paying $5 each for the chips instead of getting both bags for $5. The deal was for two small bags, and she got two big bags (a mistake I might add, that she’s made before). I suggested that before she takes her coat off, she should take them back.
She gave me a rather perplexing look, but then agreed that we didn’t have $5 to waste on chips.
To make it up for her, I was the one who made the hot chocolate that night (a little groveling might have also took place, hard to say for sure).
While we were savoring our beverage watching Letterman, I rubbed some salt in her wounds by reminding her to take money out of the “grocery” envelope before going shopping. Otherwise it defeated the purpose of the envelope system (This too might have been followed by some groveling, again it’s hard to say for sure).
Now I know some out there would scoff at a going through such an ordeal for only a $5 savings, but if you add up a few of them together, you can start to see some significant savings.
And who out there couldn’t use an extra $15?
You can buy your wife some nice flowers with $15 
Until next time,
-DD
» Filed Under Food, Frugality, Marriage(Communication)
Deep Freeze - Freezing Sale Items To Help Stretch Your Grocery Dollars
Posted by Debt Destroyer on February 18, 2009
Now that I’m trying to limit my family’s Grocery spending to $450 a month, I’m looking for ways to get the most for my money. I’ve already mentioned a few ways I’m doing this in a couple of previous posts (here & here).
But earlier today I realized that I had another tool at my disposal that I probably haven’t been using effectively enough.
Our Deep Freeze!
At lunch time today my daughter informed us that she wanted burritos. My wife looked in the fridge and said we were out. But that triggered my memory of buying a bunch of burrito packs when they were on sale a month ago. Sure enough we had a couple of more packages ready to go. In no time at all my kids were eating burritos (well one was the other one was feeding it to the dog).
This got me wondering, what else is in there? I knew it was full of Hot Pockets (whenever my store puts them on sale for less than $2, I stock up.) And just last week, my in-laws gave some some free mystery meat (I’m never sure what they are handing out).
But when I took a deeper look I found many forgotten treasures.
- Tator Tots - These must have been on sale a while ago, because I have 3 bags of them. This is good because they are one of our favorite side dishes.
- Broccoli - There was a time when my daughter ate broccoli like it was going out of style. I must have stocked, because now she won’t touch it. It’s still a popular side.
- Roasts (mostly pork) - I’m just guessing but I think these came from my Mother-in-law. As mentioned above she frequently gives us random frozen meat.
- Random stuff - There’s a boxed lasagna, ice cream, desserts, corn, apple sauce, chicken breasts, and breast milk.
After surveying our new found booty, the Mrs & I have decided that we’re going to try to mine at least two meals a week out of the freezer. So before sitting down to type this I cut up some potatoes, carrots, and onions, and combined them all together in our crock-pot.
Hopefully it will taste as good as it smells.
After a few weeks we should be ready to fill ‘er up once again. Hopefully this time we’ll remember to keep better track of what’s in there and plan our meals accordingly.
For example this upcoming week we’ll have:
- Monday - Tator Tot Hot Dish
- Tuesday - Chicken & broccoli
- Wednesday - Lasagna with some sort of Breast Milk dessert
On second thought maybe we’ll just have a nice side salad.
Now that you know how I use my freezer, how about you share some of your favorite itms to stock up on?
Until next time,
-DD
Eating on $1 a day
Posted by Debt Destroyer on December 15, 2008
I’m sure by now a lot of you have heard about the couple who for a month ate on only $1 a day. If you haven’t, check out their blog. I guess they have some new projects in the works for 2009 and a book will follow.
Talk about a strict budget. I say good for them.
As you long time readers know, I too am trying to shrink down my family’s food budget. Nothing as extreme as $1/day, but when you break down the numbers, we’re not too far off. Our current budget is $4.25/day. [$425 grocery + $75 dinning out = $500/ 30 days = $16.67/day (rounded to $17/day) /4 people = $4.25]
I never thought of it that way before, but when I do, I’m impressed.
Of course, while I’m impressing myself I should remember that my two kids (age 4 & 1) don’t eat all that much so over time this number will only get higher. So I have to take measures to try to reduce that number before my kids start eating me out of house and home.
Here are some measures I’m taking that are helping me reduce my food budget:
- Paying cash. Instead of just slapping down plastic after loading your cart full of goodies, try to pay cash at the checkout. This is supposed to make you feel the psychological pain of spending money. For me this has progressed to using an envelope system where I allot a certain amount (which has been a difficult transition for me, but I’ll cover this in a later post).
- Only go grocery shopping once a week. I live 4 blocks away from the supermarket. This made it way too easy to run to the store for any little thing. Now I limit my trips to once per weekend.
- Shop from a list. I’ve already told you that my wife loves lists, so it’s no shock that we use lists to save money. But here’s the trick, STICK TO THEM! I used to always sneak a few items here and there off the list. Add that habit to going to the store all the time and you can start to see why our food budget got out of control.
Now I realize that these are common sense tips, but when you think about it, almost every personal finance tip out there is served with a heavy dose of common sense. I wish I had some original ideas, but my role is too mainly detail my journey out of debt, not to reinvent the wheel.
But you…
The Happy Rock Readers always have lots of great ideas and this is another example of where I ask you for your thoughts. How close are you to eating on $1 a day? What steps did you take to trim your food budget? What are your tips for staying on course during the holidays? Any regrets?
Until next time,
-DD
» Filed Under Food, Frugality, Money Savers
The Ingredient Experiment - Save Money And Eat Better
Posted by The Happy Rock on September 1, 2008
On the heels of Debt Defier’s commitment to attempt a cash only month I have a food related experiment that I am doing for September. Hopefully, the Debt Defier has better luck with cash only spending than I did.
I will be attempting to buy only ingredients for the whole month of September. I know that might sound a little vague, but here is the idea…buy only items that are naturally occurring and can be used to make meals. The goal is to cut out things like crackers, chips, expensive veggie burgers, and ice cream to increase my intake of fresh vegetables and fruits while being able to control the exact quality and quantity of ingredients on all the food that I eat.
The main goals are :
- To Save Money. Ingredients are cheaper. A box of chips ahoy is $3.50 while you can make a batch of much more healthful cookies for much less, especially if the oven is already hot. A Lean Cuisine is $4.00 but you can make a healthy pasta meal with vegetables that will feed a family and have leftovers for the same price. A Snickers from the vending machine each day costs you about $200 a year plus it will add about 20 pounds if you don’t burn the extra calories. Eating healthier will also save money on medical bills.
- Gain Energy. With the reduction of simple processed carbohydrates and sugars and increasing more healthful foods I will should feel better rested and have more energy. The food we ate is closely connected to our physical nature. I have noticed a large increase in energy and motivation as my eating habits have migrating to a much healthier diet over the years. I can now see the effects of a loose eating weekend and how it affects my overall energy and even my sleep. Hopefully there isn’t a major detox period from all the snacks and sugar. So far the psychological need to snack is the biggest hurdle.
- Promote Healthy Habits. Treat my body better in order to improve overall healthfulness. Also changes like this tend to inspire other healthy changes like more physical activity. I hope to pick up with the 100 push up challenge were I got side tracked. Energy, rest, and health also contribute to overall happiness.
- Encourage More Experimentation. Experiments keep you on your toes. They make life and change exciting without a long term commitment in case you don’t like the experiments outcome. Experimentation also breeds more willingness to change.
With that said the experiment will have to be a little vague, because I can’t anticipate the full range of ramifications. I will try and adhere to the guidelines and the spirit of the experiment as much as possible and make executive decisions as I go. I know ingredients for some are prepackaged food for others. Things like bread and pasta can be made at home, but for most they would count them as ingredients. For me, for now, they are ingredients as they don’t constitute a ready to ate food/meal. Maybe I will try my hand at baking my own bread, but for now I found to focus on the low hanging fruit like vending machines at work, expensive frozen foods, protein bars, etc. Anyone feel inspired to embark on a similar journey?
For those that want a crazy challenge The Happy Rockette is attempting a 100% raw vegan diet for the month of September. I wasn’t quite ready for the type of discipline needed for full raw foodism, but I am interested to see if The Rockette gets the reported major improvements in mental clarity, weight loss, energy boosts, libido burst, other overall health benefits. She isn’t planning a life long switch, since from her professional opinion(Registered Dietitian) it isn’t a sustainable lifestyle, but I love her willingness to try an extreme experiment!
» Filed Under Energy, Experiments, Food, Health
Gasonline is Cheap - Graphical Cost Of Liquids
Posted by The Happy Rock on June 28, 2008
The source was Amazon for the most part so the prices could be location independent. Some of the prices are for bulk and may be more expensive at your local grocery store. Discuss!
Source :
Oley Eye Cream
Loctite Super Glue
HP Black Printer Ink
Lovely(Sarah Jessica Parker) Perfume
Bertoli Olive Oil
Red Bull
Tide Detergent
Water, Milk, and Gasoline are local South New Jersey prices.
» Filed Under Food, Frugality, Psychology of Spending
Save Time, Gas, and Money By Training Your Grocery Store
Posted by The Happy Rock on June 3, 2008
For those of us lucky enough to have multiple grocery stores around, we usually end up with a favorite store. The frustrating part is that your favorite store doesn’t carry the exact item that you can get at other stores. I used to make quick trips to the other store for the one or two essentials that we couldn’t get at our main grocery store. I constantly wished that my main grocery store would realize how popular the item would be if they just carried. The thing is, stores would love more product feedback to help their buying decisions along, so why not help both parties and request your favorite items in store to a manager or through their web contact pages.
I wish I had done it sooner but I finally got to the point where I moved from complaining to action. Being the introvert that I am I loaded my the Shop-Rite contact page and requested that they carry our favorite bread. I clearly explained the product, the manufacturing company, and how it would be a popular item. In a week or two I got a response thanking me for the recommendation and that a manager would look into it. I had forgotten about it until two months later when the bread I wanted showed up on their selves! I was quite proud of myself, who knew I could have that much control. Hopefully I helped the store sell more product and at the same time saved the gas and time it took to stop at another grocery store.
I am now 3 for 3 after trying it recently with our new favorite grocery store Wegman’s. I requested Newman’s Own Light Honey Mustard Dressing and Martins’ Whole Wheat Potato Bread; they were on the self in a couple of weeks
» Filed Under Food, Money Savers
Free Iced Coffee - Dunkin Donuts - May 15th 10am - 10pm
Posted by The Happy Rock on May 15, 2008
For those that like their coffee and caffeine, check out the advertisment on Dunkin Donuts.
Free Iced Coffee on May 15th from 10am - 10pm.
» Filed Under Food, Money Savers
The Vegetarian Experiment – The Happy Rock Goes Veggie In January
Posted by The Happy Rock on January 11, 2008
That’s right, the whole Happy Rock Garden is going vegetarian for the rest of January. I mentioned that I am not fond of resolutions, so here is an example of one way to spark change without resolutions. Experiment! I will track being vegetarian for the month and the associated costs. Updates when appropriate.
I got the idea from Steve Pavlina’s 30 day raw food experiment. Even though his experiment is quite off the beaten path, I am finding his raw food chronicles extremely interesting. Like most things in life there is a path that has gotten me to the point were I am willing to give up meat. I personally love meats of all kind, even Scrapple! I not even ‘doing it for the animals’.
Why am I doing it then? Here is why:
First and foremost I have seen the benefits of eating healthy. In the college cafeteria I must have had 2-3 plates of French Fries and multiple deserts each day. Since I met my wife, I have eaten more and more healthy with each passing year. With each passing year my energy level, mental clarity, and emotional states have seen equally positive results. We already eat vegetarian dinners 1-2 nights a week, so the change won’t be as extreme as you might think.
I have experience a body of evidence that has piqued my interest as to the positive health benefits as eating very healthy. Things like the potential for less colds, injuries, cancers, and weight along with positive benefits like more energy, vitality, sex drive, mental faculties, and a positive emotional disposition. Interesting science data like this chart that compares human anatomy to that of carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore that seems to support that humans are designed to be mostly if not all herbivores. Books like The China Study
Lastly, why not? I am grateful to live in a country that affords me the ability to try out better ways of living. If I miss meat or don’t see the benefits, it is only a couple weeks. The process and the learning will be quite valuable.
We started on Monday the 7th, and so far I do feel really good despite not getting my normal amount of sleep. I haven’t experienced any detox symptoms, which can occur as your body adjusts and purges any unwanted materials.
I have quickly adjusted to eating, and I don’t feel hungry all day. In the past when I have eaten vegetarian meals, they just wouldn’t hold me over for long. I am probably eating less food(calorically) than before and my snacking has changed to fruit.
I will do my best to track the financial side of eating vegetarian, but I am not sure 3 weeks or so will provide enough data for accurate comparison. I suspect the cost won’t be too different, because quality meat is often quite expensive. I will also track my weight, which started at 200 pounds(my highest weight ever). I have lost 3 pounds in 4 days, but I suspect that might equalize in the next week. If people are interested in recipes, leave a comment and I will get the recipes from the Happy Rockette. I will say that having an awesome wife who enjoys cooking is a huge blessing and greatly appreciated. The meals have been extremely interesting and pleasurable, and the meal I ate for lunch yesterday at work was getting lots of attention just from the scrumptious smell.
If you have any questions of comments, feel free to ask away.
» Filed Under Experiments, Food, Health
Skip The Baby Carrots. Cheaper, healthier, and better.
Posted by The Happy Rock on December 7, 2007
Recently we started buying regular carrots instead of the organic baby variety that we have loved for many years. I must admit the idea wasn’t mine; it was something I became willing to experiment with after reading this wonderful article from Andrea Dickson over at Wise Bread. The article gives a really interesting history of the baby carrots and than shares her experiences. I won’t share too much, because the article is worth the read.
What I will do is relay our experiences with regular carrots. This is what we have noticed :
- Savings. The price is about half the cost of baby carrots.
- Taste. Regular carrots taste better.
- Texture. I actually find the dry raw qualities of the regular carrot more enjoyable.
- Last longer. Instead of getting slimy and gross after only a few days, regular carrots stay dry and crisp for a lot longer. The carrots seems to last even longer if you buy carrots with the leaves still on.
- Not as much work cutting and peeling as I thought. It takes only a minute or two to make a whole batch of crunchy sticks.
- Healthier. More beta carotene. Source
Don’t be scared, give them a try next time you are at the store. You will get more carrot for your money, and better product to boot.
The Happy Rock is a dual writer personal finance and personal development community dedicated to creating positive change that propels us towards success.
