See ongoing dinners updates.

This weeks ads

QFC is a one week ad.  

Broccoli is .99
Kroger cheese is not a bargain...that is for 8 ounces, that's 4.00 a pound.  
Barilla pasta 10/10....you don't have to buy 10
Annie's Mac and cheese has more fat than Kraft.  - I'm not found of the processed.  
Raspberries and blackberries 2/5

Alberways

Pork loin 1/2 1.79
Grapes 1.99
Milk 1.99@@
CANNED VEGGIES ..50



Five dollar Friday
Shrimp
Strawberries


Not much there.  

My pick for the rotation would be the 1/2 pork loin,   You can make chops from some of it  and use some for a roast.  Slice roast leftovers for BBQ pork sandwiches.

Barilla pasta is a good buy.  It's been running 150.   There are coupons for specialty varieties" but I don't know of that price covers

them.  

Reading Pinterest.

Everything in Pinterest is in  the eyes of the beholder.    Several old economy measures are no longer true.    It , sometomes, is a case of supply and demand.    There are a few convenience foods that are actually cheaper than homemade.    Of you like the taste, you are better off buying the ready made.   Idahoan mashed potatoes with sales and coupons are par with scratch, Hunts   speghetti sauce is cheaper to buy  than make.    As people get on the homemade, no processed food wagon, these prices will go down.   Now, beware, there are still a lot of processed foods that are full of preservatives and salt, fat, and sugar.   I wouldn't make a steady diet of them.  

Another misinformation is that  grated cheese is more expensive than blocks.   This is not so.   The cheapest block cheese I can find is 250 a pound,  I can get grated cheese for 200  a pound.    When we grated our own, we used twice as much.   Grating cheese at home is a courser grate and you use more.   The fine grate of ready made melts faster.  

The other idea is that Costco's deli chicken is a great buy,   Compared to other deli chickens, it is.   Costco's chickens in Seattle are draper valley.   I know because I asked, and asked, and asked, until I found someone  that would tell me.   They are three pounds.   Now, if you buy a three pound chicken, you are getting about 1.5 pounds of meat. You cost is about 3.34 a pound for meat.

Foster Farms chickens go on sale for .88 a pound often .  A 5.5 pound chicken is 4.84.   You will yield about 4 pounds of chicken from a 5.5 pound chicken or 1.21 a pound.    - a 64 percent savings.  

I can get a chicken on to cook in about 5-10 minutes depending on how I cook it and sometimes I get the added bonus of chicken stock included in my cooking,  

Of you are n a tight budget every savings is an important savings.  

Ongoing dinners through Thursday.

Tonight we are having a ham and pineapple pizza.    I am using the last of the ham from Sunday's ham and macaroni and cheese dish.   I added some pineapple from the dollar store ( name brand) and will add the rest of the can to a fruit salad with salmon patties.     I put a jar of pizza sauce into a ice cube tray and froze them.   I could pull two out and defrost them and still have a few more pizzas .  I used  a pizza crust I got from the dollar store.    Total cost 3.00.  add a salad  4.00.


Next up vegetable bean soup.   Some of us are planning to go to dinner, I will make a batch of vegetable bean  soup and we can have leftovers tomorrow.  

Vegetable bean soup

2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans  of beans ( I use two different kinds of  beans )
4 cups stock, vegetable or chicken
1-1/2 cups diced vegetables , sauté if appropriate.  
1 T Italian seasoning.  

Dump in the crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours.

While I was dumping everything and sautéing the vegetables. I was cooking the chicken cubes for Thursday's dinner.   We are having baked chicken chimichangas.   Simple, baked dish.   Like a five imgredient dish.

Wednesday, we had chicken chimichanga and green salad.   The chimichangas were easy and I prepped  the salad earlier in the day,  

Thursday, we or emoted the mark plan becaus we had a lot of leftovers.    We had the bulk of the vegetable soup over rice.     An easy dinner .


.

Who, where!

Someone texted me.  It came across my screen, but I don't know where it came from.......

I make :

Ranch dressing mix
Chocolate pudding mix
Biscuit mix
Cream  soup mix,  
Taco seasoning mix
Dry rib mix.

It makes life easier, faster, amd I am not paying. If moneymaker stuff in an envelope to out on the trash.

Meal plans

after a disaster yesterday......I made mixes. But didn't discover that my cornstarch was stay date....a lot.   So, I traded cornstarch with my daughter who bought it to make deodorant-- she doesn't need her deodorant to thicken! LOL.  And, I started over.     New chocolate pudding mix and new cream soup base.    Fortunately, they both are fairly inexpensive.  

I needed dill weed for ranch dressing mix.  I bought it in bulk.  1 scoop was .02 pounds and it cost .22.   I don't have set it enough to warrant buying a big jar.  

Meals
My matrix is now 3 chicken or pork, 2 vegetarian, 1 beef, amd 1 fish.  

1. Salmon patties, oven roasted root veggies 
2. Speghetti and meatballs, green salad 
3. Baked chicken chimichangas , rice, beans 
4. Breakfast for dinner 
5. Vegetable bean soup ( use the half can or corn left over from taco meatloaf. ) 
6. Pizza ( buffalo chicken) 
7. Sausage and saurkraut with apples 

Salmon party recipe is on " Jenny can cook" u tube
Meatballs are already on the freezer, speghetti was .25 at the dollar tree.  
Chicken chimichangas are baked and I found the recipe on line.   I bought cream cheese for a dollar.  
Breakfast for dinner - strawberry waffles, eggs.
Vegetable bean soup is a mainstay here,,,easy and everybody eats it,   Add a cheezy bread or......
Buffalo chicken with scratch crust, ranch dressing for a base with hot sauce infused chicken, blue cheese, amd red peppers,  diced.   Top worth mottz cheese.  
Apples cut the tartness of the saurkraut.    Serve with a biscuit or sourdough bread

Sunday.

Tomorrow is meal plan day.    This week we were D along with a bunch of.   ..... Meals didn't go as planned.  We survived, but the meal plan didn't.    You always  need a plan, but it doesn't  always work out to follow it.   I found an interesting quote.  The author wasn't revealed.

Those to  fail to plan, plan to fail.

I'm am all about getting out of the kitchen fast at dinner time.    It's late, we have a four year old that's busy busy busy and everyone hits the door hungry. Hey, wheel of fortune is on!    LOL

Cooking ahead of time  works very well, as well as the crock pot.   Some working people cook dinner after dinner for the next day.    Of teen kids get home first, they can put it in the oven when it's the proper  time, amd dinner is done when you get home.   Whatever works.

I have a variety if mixes that I make ahead if time.  They are fractions of the cost of buying the mixes and it's just one less thing you have to plan for and buy at the store.   The least amount of specific things you need at the stores the easier it is not to forget something.

1. Chocolate pudding mix : better than ready made...yuk, and cheaper than the box of mix.   You are laying a lot for sugar, chocolate and thickening agent     
2. Ranch dressing mix - control the fat so you aren't getting hydrogenated oil and many recipes call for it.   
3. Taco seasoning - you control the heat!   
4. Salt and pepper mix - easy to grab 
5. White sauce mix ( instead of cream of XX soup) a lot healthier.   
6. Bisquit mix ( healthier) - no hydrogenated oil.    

I bought a bag of salt some years ago.   I will not have to buy salt the rest if my life.   It doesn't go bad.  It is on a cupboard we dont use a lot and I fill the  salt box when I need to.  Grocery outlet has large cartons of slices that are smaller than Costco, but bigger than the grocery store at a reasonable cost.    

It only takes a few minutes to make up a mix.   Try to do them a little at a time,   It's good for childre to help.   .   Use fractions and count.    I write  the directions on the top of the jar so I always have them at my ready,   

Granddaughter loves to "do a recipe".   It's good for her.  We have quality time, she's learning something, and I am getting my cooking done, not wondering if she is off trying to polish her nails or something worse!   LOL.   Isn't that the age where they decide their bangs are too long?      LOL.  My mother used to say that involving children  in what you are doing is easier than cleaning up the mess they make while you are working. 

I'm batch cooking the hamburger I bought yesterday.   Granddaughter has requested speghetti and meatballs for dinner.    

Tomorrows Fred Meyers ad - notes

Surprisingly  , there are not many items of food in this ad.   What's there are some really good prices

1. Strawberries , 2 lbs -299
2. Petite sirloin steaks 3.97
3. Milk , chocolate milk, OJ .99@@
4. Foster farms chicken, .87
5. Barilla pasta 1.00
6. Cross rib roast 3.99

That's about it for bargains,  my rotation protein his week would be the chicken and the twenty percent off hambirger I got yesterday.    That would make up for a week that I didn't get anything.   You can cook both at the same time , so your prep time would be less.    

As for the coupon book that comes with the paper, glade has a coupon for 100 off of any two products. There is some glade at the dollar store , but they may or  may not match,   .   .50 off any Colgate 3 ounces or larger.   That can be found at the dollar store sometimes,  just read the label carefully. Sometimes toothpaste at the dollar store was made for the Mexican market and they have a lot of fluoride in them.   I always read labels.   In any store you can find food that comes from China,  the FDA tells me that they monitor the factories in China and spot check the food  that  comes into the country for contaminates or quality.   

I only buy Foster Farms or Draper valley chicken.   I prefer Foster farms.    --all I am saying. 

I am careful what I buy.   We can only buy things that are at our target prices.   I want to average two dollars a pound for protein and a dollar  a pound for fruits and veggies.   Sometimes  that doesn't happen with fruits and veggies.    I always have a variety of fruit in the house.   It is a mainstay of a healthy diet.    What I do buy of inexpensive sources of protein is the best  quality I can find.    Finding the RBP on these items affords us good food on a tight budget. 

  Buying in season works too.  

Stocking on a product that typically goes on sale in conjunction with a holiday cuts your cost dramatically.  Check pull dates and buy what you will need for the year.   I'm talking things like pumpkin, catsup, turkeys.  Pizzas are cheapest super bowl weekend with coupons.   Unfortunately, you cant buy a years worth.  Pizza is cheaper of you can make it from scratch.  I don't always have the time or stamina, and it is our go to if no one wants to cook.    I am better off prepping early on the day so that dinner is a ten to twenty minute non- passive event.   

I , personally, am not convinced that organic food is better nutrition than regular food.   I peel and wash my veggies when it is appropriate.  My experience with organic produce is that it goes bad almost instantly.   

No food can do you any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

That also is true of portion control and not overbuying perishables.   Kitchen management and freezing or incorporating food before it goes bad onto you meals is important too.    It's only a bargain if you use it. 

The Internet and Pinterest is full of ideas on how to use up bits and pieces; it's also full of examples of what not to buy if you are feeding your family on a tight budget and trying to be as health as possible on it.   

5 easy snack foods that go together in a snap.

its always nice to have a little something in the house to snack on.   My mother always had the idea that if we are our meals, we didn't need to snack, we needed to give our stomaches  a rest.   We did learn to make cookies and bars at an early age.   

I see a lot of grocery hauls with five and six bags of potato those chips etc.    ....it's a good way to derail the food train.   They are expensive and if you figure the cost over pound, you will be very surprised.   Certain,y, you can get a lot better nutrition for that amount of money per pound,   

Besides the usual carrot and celery sticks, peanut butter and apple slices , veggies and hummus , and air popped popcorn, there are a few things you can make on a hurry that are good snacks. 

1. Although, full of sugar, rice crispy treats are quick and easy.    
2. Granola bars - another sugar loaded, but peanut butter and oats are good.  
3. Oatmeal, blueberry banana bread is quick and full of good nutrition 
4. Berries with a little yogurt on top
5. I'm the summer, we make pop cycles from yogurt or a fruity herbal tea.   I bought forms on clearance at Fred Meyers, but we use dollar store ones too.   

What really happened. .....

I did go to Safeways today with the blanket coupon my daughters boss so generously gave me.   I didn't follow my examples because we already had a lot of what was on that list.  I started with the largest dollar items,   Adding in my head as I went along.   I pick three pounds of ground round, and a pork tenderloin.   Just short  of  17.00.   I went down the isles, comparing prices.   Just about everything else was higher than my target prices.   I never buy anything that is more than my target price unless we really really, need it.   I , realizing that everything was twenty percent off provided I stuck to a 25.99 limi, picked up no sugar added apple sauce for granddaughter, (2.00) .  I paid 1.69 for it at Fred Meyers .    The net price  of it will be 1.60.  

Up to 19.00.   Six to go.   My husband picked blue cheese.  That left a few cents short.   I added a package of ramen noodles that I use for stirfry without the flavor packet.  

25.18 less five dollar coupon made 20.18.  

I didn't use any manufacturers coupons.   I stuck  to protein because it is the most extensive of the food groups.    No sugar applesauce is hard to come by at a low price. There is fruit cups  and applesauce at the dollar store, but they are full of sugar, anywhere from 16-20 grams of carbs.    No child needs that many  carbs added to their diet.    

Why?....

Someone once asked my why I fed us for fifty dollars a week. ( this was some years ago) .   My husband and I had both been laid off of work and  while we were fortunate to get jobs, we took a cut in pay to get them.    My answer was , " because the mortgage company doesn't have a sense of humor.   ".   LOL.  They really don't care what your situation is, they just want you to live up to your promises.  

Honestly, no matter how much we have earned, I have always economize on food.   It was how I was raised.   We never wanted for food, we always had good quality food, but my mother never wasted food or allowed us to have junk in the house.  Cold cereal was only in the summer time, and not very much of that.  Drink mixes or fresh fruit, or pop just never happened.   We grew up in the fifties when fresh wasn't quite as easy to get as it is now.    

I have read economizing tricks and articles for years -- like over fifty years.   I've tried a lot of things: some worked, some didn't.   I never got soy beans or lentils to come out any better  than rocks.   LOL.   I am still reading a lot.  Only,now, we have the internet that makes things  easier.   

I have been watching  a lot of grocery hauls.   Some mothers that virtually make everything from scratch.   Some mothers that buy everything in a box or bag, and some that are in between.  Some mothers that buy everything organic and spend two hundred dollars a week.   Some that still spend two hundred dollars a week and buy organic milk, but boxed Mac and cheese.   Some that buy everything from the dollar store or .99 store regardless of how big the box or where it came from.

All of them buy their food one week or two weeks at a time.  

What I have developed is a different way of grocery shopping,  it is easier, and a lot more economical.   It's neither all organic, or all junk food.   It's some planned, controlled, scratch cooking And a little ready made when it makes sense.  It developed over a lot of years trying things, twekting things, and sticking to what worked to keep our budget in tact.   

It works.   It takes a few weeks to get up and running.  It takes some time  to get planning and organizing.  Once you get yourself set up, shopping is a piece of cake.  Some weeks I don't have to shop if I don't feel like it-- and it doesn't mean that we are eating out three days a week.  I can cook a variety of meals any day .    I have dinners on the shelf that can make dinner on a hurry.  Tonight we were going to have tacos.    By dinner time, my body wasn't cooperating.    My granddaughter and I made scratch cheese bread and we had chilli.    

No body died!   

Life goes on......

Terrific Thursday - 4-14-16

One of the ways to stretch your food dollar is to take advantage of extra promotional sales when offered.     Somewhere, ( I'm working on where) there is a specials coupon for five dollars off of twenty five dollars at Safeways.

The trick is  is to only spend the twenty five dollars and  only  on things that are already a good price, and use coupons.    It can be a really good saving opportunity.    Usually, most of the items in the store are full price.  

Safeway's- virtual shopping trip-- shop Friday.   

2 dozen eggs  ( 1.98) with coupon on ad
Strawberries ( 2/4)
Pork tenderloin -24 ounces (5.00)

Either :
I chub of ground sirloin ( 11.97)
              Or 
Buy 4, get free milk participating GM products ( up to 399 value)

1.  Cheerios , Cinnamon Toast Crunch ( 2 each- use dollar off coupons ) nets you 8 dollars for a 3.99 milk, and four cereals.    Depending how you look at it , if you attach a regular sale price of two dollars to the milk, you are paying  six dollars for four cereals, or 1.50 each.   ( that is still higher than my target price.   

Now you are up to either 22.95 - buying beef or 18.98 buying cereal.    

Fill in 2.05 in the case of beef, or 6.02 if you bought cereal.   

This is the key point: if you overpay for  your fill in, you loose.   

Ideas -1) ramen 5/1 , sour cream 1.50 (250)

Or.      2) 10 ramen -2.00, tortillas, signature kitchens 167, salsa, 1.67 , romaine 1.49, (6.83) 

That's as close as I can come and not buy somethings that are not over priced.    

For 20.45 ( beef option) you get ( protein option ) 

1. 2 dozen eggs
2. Two pounds strawberries 
3. 1 pork tenderloin 
4. 3 pounds lean ground sirloin 
5. 5 top ramen 
6. 1 sour cream 

Or 

For  20.81 - cereal option you get ( breakfast option) 

1.  2 dz eggs 
2. 2 pounds strawberries 
3. Pork tenderloin 
4. Gallon milk 
5. 4 boxes cereal 
6. 10 top ramen 
7. Signature kitchens tortillas 
8. Salsa (1.67) 
9. Head of romaine 

In my opinion, I would go for the beef option-- it gives you more bang for your buck.    I can get more meals out of it.   We don't eat a lot of cold cereal.   It can get costly if you have a child that would abuse it amd not eat their meals.   

1. 
   

  

        

 

Alberways ad

since Albertsons and Safeways have identical ads, I'm just posting one set of prices.  
Albertsons bought all of the Albertsons and Safeway stores.   The prices are the same, but the stores still have two names.    The Safeway store in shoreline that became a Haggens, is,now back to being  a Safeways.

Strawberries 2/4
7 percent ground beef 3.99
Eggs .99@@


5 dollar Friday
Shrimp
Pork tenderloin


Buy  4 General Mills indicated cereals, get milk free. Assuming milk costs two dollars, that makes the cereal two dollars each.   There are coupons out there for cereal to make them cheaper.   Also includes,uses nature valley granola bars.

Wicked Wednesday.

So, I don't know what is wicked about it, but it is Wednesday.   There are no ads for QFC this week, it is a two week ad last week.  That means that the buy 10, save five salemsmsill on.  A lot of the items are for processed foods.    I am trying to steer clear of too much salt, sugar, and fat,    A little at a time.    I'm using what we have stock  on and starting with the things that we eat the most of and replacing things with healthier versions as long as the budget will hold out,  I am still on budget.   I went to Winco and Fred Meyers this week along with doing an extreme couponing for the B10;save 5  haul.  

At Fred Meyers I picked up a few non food items.    They had 160 count tissue for a buck and the shampoo was cheaper than the dollar store.   I just bought fruits and veggies and a couple of cream cheese packets for a buck.   I also bought six white beans and garbanzo beans so we can make hummus and chicken Chimichangas.     I got one more Barilla pronto with a .75 off coupon,  

Strategy for buy XX, save XX sales.    First, make sure that there are enough things in the list that are not too processed and that you will actually use.  

Nothing is a bargain if you feed it to the garbage disposal.   That bears repeating.   Nothing is a bargain if you feed it to the garbage disposal.    

Usually, there are a few things that are in the dollar range.    I never do a haul if I can't match coupons with it,    That's a deal breaker.   You can't save enough money.    This time I was close to sixty percent,  last time i was  at 78 percent.    I do keep frozen pizzas on the freezer.   While I can make pizza from scratch, pizza is our go to meal when my husband and I are gong out , or when someone is sick and we don't feel like cooking,    Cheaper and not any worse than take out.    Tombstone was on sale, imhadmcoupoms, and there was an Ibotta on it too.   They are 3/10 at Fred Meyers and there is still the coupons and Ibotta.  

I had coupons for ritz crackers and I found lowered fat and whole wheat.  We eat crackers,my it not a ton of them.  Dtto salad dressing and BBQ sauce.    We eat a few more hot dogs on the summer time,
Nathan's is my hit dog of choice,  it's the best ingredient wise and it has as many hot dogs as there is buns in a package.   Of course, in a pinch, you can make pigs in blankets.  

When to meal plan

Meal plans help you stay on track and not cave into the take out or pizza delivery demons.   We stopped the pizza delivery when a driver told my daughter that twenty percent wasn't enough tip.   It's expensive and in the to,e it takes to wait for the delivery, you can Doctor up a frozen pizza and have it 1/2 cooked.   I'm still trying to perfect a thin crust home made.  

The magic question is whether to plan before shopping or after.   Since I already have most of the basics before I go shopping, I plan on a specific day.  Before Alberways happened, I used to shop on Fridays.   Because there is no consistency in the times the ads come out, amd some places don't have ads, that doesn't quite work.   We go to Fred Meyers usually on Sunday or Monday because the ads come out Sunday.  I can check the ads for QFC and Alberways and see if there is anything worth a trip.    Otherwise it's usually Friday for Winco.   I do meal plans on Monday.  Whatever day you choose, make it the same day.

Doing certain things and having a plan is a lot more efficient.   If I don have. Plan, I might do a few things, but I get a lot more done with a list.  

Making a matrix saves a lot of time when planning,   I use a protein based matrix to give us a variety of foods and keep everyone happy.   Some people use a theme based matrix : i.e.  Soup, breakfast for dinner, Mexican, Italian, casseroles, pizza.   Etc.  

Most people have a list of meals they make often.   Of not written down, on their head.   Wrote them down under the type  of protein.   It makes meal planning a cinch.  

1. Make a list of things in your fridge that need  to be used up soon.   
2. Check your schedule for nights out, or appointments that will make your day hectic.   Plan on a crockpot meal or a meal you can make the morning of or the night before to accommodate.    
3. Check your matrix and fill in the blanks using the things that need to be used up and adding any things you need to fill in the meal.   

Product review.....one cheap dinner.

I purchased pronto spaghetti ( Barilla) at  the dollar store  with a .75 coupon.   I was a little Leary, expecting it to be starchy like a hambirger helper, but it wasn't.    It took ten minutes and was just the consistency of boiled pasta.   I googled a recipe and adapted it to use up ingredients I had in the fridge.   I added 8 ounces of pasta sauce. A can of white beans and 1/2 of a package of beer brats we had left over.    Total cost 1.90 for six servings.   I added a salad.   ( I pulled two servings out before I added the beer brats for daughter and granddaughter. ) and added a sprinkle of parm and parsley.

5 Bargain dinners.

Continuing the five theme....Less than five dollar dinners from the specials this week.  

1. Tombstone pizza   2.00  salad 1.00   Total 3.00
2. Speghetti, meatballs. Sauce.    Sauce w coupon .79, Speghetti with coupe , .25. Meatballs 2.00 total 3.05.   Green beans .58.   3.63 
3. Pulled pork sandwiches 2.50, buns .98. French fries. .75 Carrot sticks..50.     4.73 
4. Pigs in blankets. 1/2 - 1.75,  pasta salad   .75 
5. Scrambled eggs 1/2 dozen .84, oranges .84, fried potatoes .20, Bisquits    1.88

Now, I would not eat all of these meals on the same week.   Far too much processed foods.

But, incorporating them into your meal plans can severely reduce your food budget.    

Extreme couponing, QFC buy 10, save five.

Total spent 19.93.   At least two of the items were already marked down from regular retail.    The slip says a 57 percent savings.  I also picked up a 1/2 gallon of milk for .99.

Nathan's hot dogs
Tombstone pizzas w coupon
Lloyds BBQ meat w coupon 2.49. Retails 6.00
BBQ sauce .99
Kent dressing on sale with coupon
Ritz crackers, whole wheat with coupons


Plus a Catalina for 1.25 off tombstone pizzas and a dollar Ibotta on the pizza.  

Meal plans

Meal Plans for week of April 11

These plans are on no particular order.  I have a weeks worth of plans, but no rigid schedule.   I do have a matrix based on origin choice.

1. Chicken pot pie 
2. Ham and chicken quiche , salad 
3. Tomato,roasted red pepper soup with  basil.  . Cheesy Bisquits. 
4.  Meatballs  and speghetti pronto 
5. Pizza , salad 
6. Tacos,re-fried beans, rice 
7. Salmon patties , rice, broccoli 

Chicken is chicken breasts I de-boned - 1.00 a pound 

Ham is from cubes in a pouch from Winco - 1/2 pouch - 1.20

Tomato soup is from Costco -2.00- add basil, milk. 

Meatballs are already madman freezer

Taco,shells, seasoning and sauce is a dollar at grocery outlet , taco meat batch cooked.    

Salmon patties recipe is on "jenny can cook" .   

That's it for today..... 

Don't throw the baby out with the water.

Pinterest and u tube are really good sources for finding new recipes .   It's nice to shake things up and cook something  different .  It broadens our horizons and stretches our brain.   Often times, a recipe will sound good, but in examination, it either has expensive  ingredients or is very unhealthy.  

Now, if the main ingredient is lobster, you prolly should skip it.   But, often, you can adjust and substitute an ingredient to make a recipe more healthy or less expensive.  

Basically, if  you substitute an ingredient, you need to replace it with something that has the same bulk and flavor.   My husband does not like onions, green pepper, or mushrooms.   I often substitute celery or red and yellow peppers.  

I saw a recipe on u tube.   I was intrigued because it was an oven recipe that made chicken and rice in the oven.  The problem was that it called for onion soup mix ( onions and a lot of salt) , cream soup and two cans of water.    Basically you put rice in the bottom of a baking dish, add rice, boneless , skinless  chicken breast, and add a cup that has onion soup mix, cream of celery soup, two cans of water and bake for 2 hours  at 320 f.  

1. Grease the pan.   Add raw rice ok .
2. Debone 1/2 chicken breast .  Difference is 3.00 a pound savings.   
3. Instead of onion soup and cream of chicken soup ( too much salt and preservatives and cost. ) use a can of cream of mushroom soup, 2 cans  of chicken stock and some grated onion.   You can get cream of mushroom soup for as little as forty cents with coupons at thanksgiving time.  Stock up for the year providing the pull dates on the can are far enough out.   We don't  use a lot.  It was hard to tell how much liquid he was using because it was imperial measurements.   
4. I would also add parsley to the top for color and serve with broccoli.    I would still bake for 2 hours on a medium oven 350 degrees.  

That was a hard one because I was dealing with Celsius and method measurements,  their can if soup didn't look the same size either.   

Basically, I'm saying don't overlook a recipe that sound good just because an ingredient is too expensive or not healthy.  Look for an equivalent in taste and mass.  If it is a spice, don't use it, or replicate the flavor with something else.   No capers!   Add a little salt.     

Or goggle the dish and see what pops up.   

Happy cooking.