Hey, I’m sitting right next to you on the cheap end.
Best thing I ever did was to clear out a bunch of kitchen clutter to free up cabinet space for canned goods. We never have good sales since there’s just the one chain store and Walmart so I get all giddy over any .50 canned veggie and grab 12 or 18 at a time.
It’s probably been 20 years since the nearby grocery had pork and beans. They can go a couple of years between shipments of cauliflower. Want to throw a party? Don’t count on the cheese board having anything but cheddar. Their selection of olives are canned black olives and jarred green olives with the little pimentos in the hole. Don’t expect to find corn syrup for holiday baking. I’ve learned to keep the pantry and freezer stocked and cooking from scratch.
Doing the big all out shopping when I drive over to Walmart, even though their prices are higher, makes more sense since their produce is fresh and they have larger sizes. Walmart sometimes has reduced meats that find a home in the freezer. Sadly, they don’t reduce the price very much these days. It used to be 50% off. Today, you’re lucky if it’s 25% off.
Most baked goods are cheaper made at home but Walmart’s day old French loaves are cheaper than homemade. I can’t think of a single “prepared” food in the house. Ok, I’ll buy a small container of “prepared” yogurt and freeze it for starters. Cheap homemade yogurt can be substituted for sour cream, cream cheese in cheese cakes, etc. Homemade ricotta is a no brainer. No Stouffer’s lasagna. No prepared skillet meals. No pizza rolls. No corn dogs. No L’eggos. No sugary cereal. No frozen veggies in sauce. No mixed salads or cut fruit trays. Besides, we have to keep away from prepared stuff and watch the blood sugar.
Have you priced out potato chips? A bag of chips equals about one or two potatoes. Save $3+ and fry your own.
If you need a fast food fix, scroll down http://texascookin.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&max-results=20 . Haven’t tried his Taco Bell but if it’s as good as his Scholtsky’s recipe, it’s spot on. I can make about 5-6 of the Scholtsky sandwiches for what one costs at the drive thru window (without the genoa salami because it’s not sold here). Note - add 1/4 cup more flour to his recipe (no extra liquid) and it will make six 6” buns.
Here’s a Big Mac salad recipe that tastes all the world like a Big Mac without the bun - http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/big_mac_bowl.html . Note - I use her regular thousand island dressing at http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/thousand_island.html . Be careful, that dressing addictive.
Used to have a garden but can’t due to knee problems. Still have some peppers in the freezer and some home canned stuff but not for much longer. Down to mainly pear sauce and pear preserves from free drops. Finished off the last of the chutney last night. Will be needing to make more prickly pear jelly next summer since those are free. Have enough pecans from our trees in the freezer for baking and snacking. Geez, store bought pecans are $$$$$!
[Hey, I’m sitting right next to you on the cheap end.]
Awesome. Good to have people with me.
[Pecans]
Pecans are insane. I got a small bag of chopped one at WM and plan on using about $1.18 of them in a Butterfinger Cake. This time I’ll make it without the condensed milk and the caramel sauce. Toooooooo rich. Wow. But good. First one I ever made. Ran across the recipe. I can cook a few things.
One of the WM (about 12-15 miles away) has 2x18 eggs, 36, shrink-wrapped together for cheap. Last saw them elsewhere (diff WM) for about $2.69.
BUT that WM had too many - 36 eggs for $1.64. Hope to catch them again. Eggs last at least 2 months for me, in fridge.