4 15. That’s Shaw's new “thing” to entice people. Four meals for under $15. Not whole meals – 4 servings. So you can feed your family of 4 for under $15.
Isn’t that big of them!
For $15, I can make 4 FULL dinners. Because we’ve always had to live rather frugally, this new era that Americans are finding themselves in, the one in which they can’t be hitting MdD’s 4 times a week – is really nothing new to me.
The trick, really, is to know how to shop. You don’t buy things based on need. You buy things based on sales. You stock up on things when they’re on sale, and then you don’t have to pay sometimes double the price when you need them.
This works particularly well with meats, although, obviously, you need a freezer large enough to accommodate good sales.
Here’s an example:
Yesterday, I bought 1 lb of Butterball ground turkey. It was on sale for $1.99 – it’s normally $3.99 or higher.
I would typically buy 2 or 3 of them, because I use it quite frequently. (I didn’t this week because I have no room in my freezer.)
I also bought a pound of egg noodles that were on sale.
I went home and cooked the turkey up, with some salt & pepper. I combined it with a jar of spaghetti sauce (Spinach & Cheese Florentine is awesome!), boiled the egg noodles, and voila. I had a meal for way more than 4 people – for way less than $15!
$1.99 – turkey
$1.99 – sauce
$1.29 – egg noodles
$5.27 - and enough for dinner for 5 and more than enough for lunch the next day for all of us. So figure it, in total, fed 8 (at least). $.65 for a meal is much more acceptable to me than $15!
I’ve already noticed that Shaw's also has boneless chicken breast on sale this week. $1.88/lb is an excellent price, so I will buy 2 or 3 packages of it.
There are tons of things I can make with boneless chicken breast, so I am not worried that I’ll put it in the freezer and it won’t get used. In fact, one of the recipes I made with turkey, http://nhmom.blogspot.com/2008/12/turkey-pot-pie-with-corn-bread-stuffing.html, I will just substitute chicken for turkey with. So figure $5 for the chicken, $1 for the box of stuffing, $1 for the gravy (if I’m feeling lazy and don’t make my own). I got the pie crust for free with a coupon.
Simple recipe, and delicious. WAY less than $15.
What are some of your favorite recipes that are budget conscious?
1 comment:
I thought those commercials seemed a little ridiculous! Not to mention that they are all processed products:( You could buy a bag of potatoes and make your own mashed potatoes for WAY cheaper. Plus you don't need the whole bag for a family of 4. I love getting the whole turkeys and chickens on sale. My 2 kids don't eat much so we get atleast 3 meals out if it. :) Good post Dawn!!
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