I have been buying chicken noodle soup at Winco for .75 plus using coupons every time I can find a coupon. That makes it .45 instead of 1.59.
I have been making a lot of scratch foods, but holding off on a few quick ready made ones, We all have days when it's just crazy and a few easy things stays off the take out gremlins. Granddaughter loves chicken noodle soup and it works for those days she doesn't like what we are eating.
I got chicken patties for .90 by buying three packages and using a 3.75 coupon. I only buy Foster farms. Sometimes a five minute dinner or lunch is in order and they are pretty low on carbs.
We tried a u tube recipe for soup in the pressure cooker, Im not impressed, the pasta was way over cooked and even though I cooked and defatted the ground turkey , it tasted boiled. All I can say is that it cost about a dollar to make and it made four quarts. We ate it, but I would t make it again that way, Some things are vest left to the cooktop or the slow cooker.
I do the experimenting so you don't have to. LOL I did make chilli in the pressure cooker, I just used the slow cooker setting,
Kitchen management day,
- Wash and cut up vegetable sticks and carrot rounds
- Clean the fridge . Note things to use up
- Swap out speghetti for pizza. We have an abundance of pasta sauce. I got speghetti for .50.
- Bake something,
Most if this weeks meals are easy and need to be prepped the morning of the day we eat them.
Taking advantage if sales and offers and using coupons and a site like Ibotta lowers your food bill; kitchen management lowers your Prep time . You are chopping everything at once, and ckeaning up once. It's a more efficient way of making dinner happen on the cheap.
- Speghetti and meatballs. 1/2 pkg of speghetti, meatballs. 1/2 package, and sauce. 1.63. Add some parm .25 and a salad 1.00. Total 2.88 or less than a dollar a serving. If you are not going to eat a whole package of pasta, cook a half a package. Meatballs are frozen. You can take out just what you are going to use. Portion control. A jar or can of sauce can be split and you can cook part of it and use the other part for pizza sauce or add it to soup or freeze it.
- Pizza crust is a ten minute job. It costs about .40. I have got cheese for as low as two dollars a pound and I still see white cheese for that at Costco. Stock if you,can. I have a WAG that you will have to pay more when we get closer to winter. Chop veggies as you go during the week, and pepperoni is .50 a package at the dollar tree with a coupon. The same package is 1.69 at Winco. It pays to watch your prices. Pizza sauce is a dollar at dollar tree. The same brand as you get at the other grocery stores for 1.50 or more. Freeze it on ice cube trays and place it on a zip lock on the freezer. Take out a cube or two per pizza. Total cost of a pepperoni pizza. 1.60 vs anywhere from six to ten dollars for a take n bake, and twenty at a pizzeria.
- Enchiladas. I have got tortillas for a dime a piece. Enchilada sauce for as little as 1.08 for 28 ounces. Cheese and meat, and chillies. Cheese is two dollars a pound. A cup of grated cheese is 4 ounces of cheese. 1/2 lb of beef and turkey mixed is 1.25. Cost 3.09 for three servings.
- Sausage and roasted root veggies. 1/2 package of sausage was 1.00. Red potatoes were 5 lbs for 2.28. Carrots were 2.58 for five pounds. And radishes were .60. Total 2.50.
- Chicken parm noodles. Noodles .50. Chicken 1 lb 1.00, Parm .50. Mixed cheeses .50, peas .22. Total 2.72
- Breakfast 4 dinner. 1/2 dozen eggs .20, cheese .10, muffins .50, fruit cup 1.00. 1.80
- Salmon, 3.35 ( 1/2 package) rice medley .10, frozen veggies .40. Total 3.85 .
Cost for three servings. Total seven days 18.44/ 7 =2.63 a meal. Or .88 a plate.
This does not include staple items like spices , olive oil. Etc.