I am a real bargain hunter and getting very good at using coupons for our grocery shopping. Also doing a lot of grocery shopping for meat at a restaurant supply store near where we live. I bought 20 lb. package of pork shoulder the other day for $1.49 per pound. Brought it home and broke it down into four packages and put three in the freezer. Hubby is cooking the first piece today low and slow on the BBQ and tonight we are having pulled pork burritos because I found flour tortillas on sale for .50 per package of 6 tortillas by doubling some coupons I got the tortillas free. I have home made pinto beans and Spanish rice to go with it and all the fixins for the burritos such as shredded cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes, black olives, green onions, sour cream, salsa, shredded lettuce, etc.
Tomorrow night we will have pulled pork sandwiches, and there should still be plenty of leftovers to have pork enchiladas the next night for dinner. All three meals will average out to less than $5.00 each. I am sure there will still be leftover meat even after that, so I will be coming up with more dishes to use the rest of the leftover meat after that. Perhaps tamale pie, empanadas, or even BBQ pork stuffed hum bao.
With a little creativity, we are still eating very well, on a very low budget.
In fact I still want to write a Dollar Store Cookbook! There is lots of stuff there that is GREAT! Our local stores have RoTel products as well as okra and other stuff not usually found around here.
Even those little canned hams for a couple of bucks or less can make some really good things like jambalaya, omelets and simlar.
There's also a Save-A-Lot near us with lower priced goods. If you are there on the right days at the right times they have REALLY good meats and produce!
Back story is a friend of mine, now deceased, was very grateful for things we had done for her. Even though she was on assistance she wanted to do things for us and insisted that when I took her to S-A-L she buy us stuff.
We were AMAZED at how good the fresh food was and they had the old pot pies, a fav with Mrs p6 and me for lunches, for less than a buck each!
You have to be careful but there are good things there!