Cheap Eats :: Make your own bagged salad

I mentioned in my "Meal-planning 101" post that you should never bother with buying bagged salad or lettuce. Good quality lettuce is expensive when purchased bagged and the quality suffers so much before you ever even open it. Buying lettuce, chopping, washing and storing it yourself is super duper simple and best of all...it's cheap!

At Winco, I buy a head of Romaine lettuce for $1.48. When I get it home, I get out my handy dandy Lettuce Knife (pictured) and prepare to chop. The lettuce knife is plastic and serrated. It's said that using a plastic knife keeps the lettuce from oxidizing and turning brown at the edges. I have used both a lettuce knife and a regular metal one and have noticed very little difference. So, if you don't have one, don't let that deter you from trying this.

Equipment Needed:

• Cutting Board
• Salad Spinner or large bowl and strainer
• Plastic Lettuce Knife or a good sturdy knife
• A gallon zip-top bag
• A paper towel or napkin 

 

I chop before I wash. It's much easier that vice versa. Lay you head of lettuce on the cutting board and begin chopping at the base.

Throw that bit away, compost it...or use it to regrow your head of lettuce.
Continue chopping it in one inch slices all the way up!

 

Dump the lettuce in your salad spinner and fill the bowl with the coldest possible water from your tap. The cold water with refresh your lettuce and make it bright and crispy. I let mine soak for awhile...usually while I cook dinner.

Once you let it soak strain it and empty the water from your spinner. I spin my lettuce twice to get it as dry as possible. If you don't have a spinner, you can let it sit out in the strainer or dry it with paper towels...though a salad spinner is a worthy investment and can be bought on the cheap.

Dump the dried lettuce in the gallon sized zip-top bag, toss in your paper towel or napkin and seal it up, removing as much air as possible from the bag.

And that's it! My salad lasts up to a week or more in the fridge. I've had it last 2 and a half weeks before with only slight browning at the edges (which doesn't effect the taste very much at all).

Never buy that bagged crap again!

 

Cheap Eats :: Barbecue Baked Chicken

Barbecue Baked Chicken is one of our staple dinners. It's very inexpensive and easy to make. I feel almost silly even blogging about it, but since I once needed to to a Google search on how to do it, I figured you might need the know-how too.

Barbecue Baked Chicken

Ingredients

• 8-10 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or legs
• about a half a bottle of BBQ Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce, I love all the flavors of this brand...and it's cheap!)
• kosher salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F
Rinse chicken and pat dry
Place chicken on foil lined baking sheet
Sprinkle each leg with salt and pepper
With a sauce brush, coat each piece with BBQ sauce

Bake for 20 mins
Take chicken out of the oven and brush each piece with BBQ sauce again
--
Bake 20 more mins
Take chicken out of the oven and brush each piece with BBQ sauce again
--
Bake 5-10 more minutes
Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 mins and serve

Total approximate costs:
8 Chicken Thighs :: $3
1/2 Bottle of BBQ sauce :: $.75
Side dish costs :: We had salad
1/4 head of Romaine lettuce $0.50
2 carrots $0.25
A bit of Ranch $0.25

Total : $4.75 serves 4 :: $1.18 a serving

Cheap Eats :: Sausage and Tortellini Soup

I love tortellini and have seen around the cybershpere a few recipes for tortellini soup and I have always been intrigued.
At both Trader Joe's and Winco, I have seen dried tortellini and been very curious about how dried cheese pasta would taste.
Last week, while doing my routine recipe browsing I ran across this recipe. I liked that dried tortellini was used and decided to give this one a go, with some minor changes based on what I had in the house and whatnot. 

And here is what I did:

Sausage and Tortellini Soup 

1a. Boil according to directions in a small saucepan
4 oz of dried tortellini [drain and set aside]  
1b. Brown in soup pot/dutch oven
1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage [pull it out of the pot and set aside]

2. Saute with a bit of olive oil or butter
1 cup chopped sweet onion [for 5 mins]
1 clove garlic, minced [throw in for the last minute or two]


2. Add, and simmer 30 minutes:
5 cups beef broth (use homemade, canned, or reconstituted bouillon) [I used bouillon because it's more cost effective, we're on a budget here!]
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes [next time I'd used crushed, but that's just me]
8 oz. tomato sauce [Left out, because I forgot it...ha!]
1 cup sliced carrots
1 medium pepper, chopped [I used a healthy pinch of red pepper flake...not the same, but I like a bit of heat.]
½ teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon rosemary (I omit this) I also left this out

3. Add and boil for 1 minute:
½ cup red wine or sherry no booze, too expensive...so I omitted it.
4 oz. dry tortellini, cooked according to package directions
Browned Sausage

The soup was good! I think dried tortellini is pretty good! It's not fresh, by any means...but not a bad inexpensive substitute. Way better than no tortellini at all!! HA!

I served mine with fresh baked bread made with the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method.

This recipe for bread is my favorite and super simple to have fresh bread whenever you want. Delicious!

Cheap Eats :: Blueberry Scones

Yesterday was my birthday. I woke up earlier than usual and I was bleary-eyed and hungry. I wanted something a little bit special, but it was just me, home alone.
So I looked at my Pinterest food board "Eat This!" to find something yummy looking and easy.

I found this pin for Simple Scones.

image from The Grower's Daughter blog

It looked easy enough. I had all the ingredients on hand and I even had some frozen blueberries to throw it for extra measure. Why not?



Here is their recipe: [with their notes]

Simple Scones

1 tbsp. Icing sugar
2 1/2 c. plain flour [spooned and leveled]
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder [good quality to help them rise beautifully]
pinch of salt
1 c. milk
1 oz. melted butter
White sugar and 1 tbsp. milk for tops

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, sift together dry ingredient. Add milk and butter. Stir with a knife to combine [don't over mix, and stop stirring once it's mostly incorporated].

Once it's roughly together and sticky, turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead quickly and gently together just until smooth. [This is key! The dough should be slightly sticky and moist so that the dough incorporates quickly. Just do quick little pats and turns until it's fairly smooth and not piece y. Over - kneading activates the gluten too much and makes the scones tougher.]

Pat disk out until it's about 1 1/2 inches thick. Using a 2" diameter circle cutter, cut scones from dough. Place circles on a lightly greased cooking sheet. Quickly and gently knead the scraps and cut again until all the dough is used.

Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 minutes and remove when golden.
[I found that the baking time was actually more like 15 minutes, and that they browned nicer, without over baking, when I turned on the broiler for the last minute or two, watching carefully.]
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok...so a couple of things...

One, there is no where near enough salt in this recipe. A pinch is relative, but yikes...I would add at LEAST a full 1/8 tsp of salt next time...and I used salted butter. I may even want to use 1/4 tsp. I think a bit more sugar would be nice too...not much, just another teaspoon to so.

Second, do not make these too thick. Even at around 1 3/4" thick (I went a tad thicker than the recipe), these took a very long time to bake through...20 full minutes at least (not 10-15 as stated). I would go with 1" to 1-1/4" thick next time.

Otherwise, they were ok. I will attempt them again with more salt + sugar and see how it goes. After I perfect the recipe, I'll repost it.

They were edible with butter and Lemon Curd, next time with more salt + sugar...they will sing! I'm actually kind of excited to try them again!

Cheap Eats :: Dinner Menu for May 25th thru June 8th

Here's the plan for the next two weeks of dinners: (in no particular order)

1. Teriyaki Pork + Calrose Rice
2. Pepperoni Pizza
3. Chicken Noodle Soup + Bread
4. Beer-Braised Chicken Thighs* + Drop Biscuits
5. Spaghetti and Meatballs + Salad
6. Hamburgers/Sloppy Joes + Salad
7. Sausage and Tortellini Soup* + Bread
8. Homemade Mac and Cheese* + Salad
9. Taco/Burrito Night + Salad
10. Tomato Soup + Bread
11. Spicy Peanut Pizza*
12. Grilled Pineapple Pork Chops*
13. BBQ Chicken Thighs + Roasted Potatoes
14. One slot for eating out Backup is Creamy Pasta (I have everything to make it on hand)

*indicates a new recipe I'm trying for the first time.

I plan to feature recipes for most of these in the next two weeks, so subscribe to keep up!

Eating Cheap :: Meal Planning 101

Taking the time to meal plan seems overwhelming and tedious...but it doesn't have to be that way. It can be rewarding and you feel awfully productive afterward. The biggest incentive to meal-planning should be the MONEY! You will save so much, the small amount of time it takes will easily be worth it.

In this post, I'll walk you through my process step by step. It's easy and relatively painless, I promise.

Take Stock :: What's in your kitchen now?
You should go into your kitchen, survey the freezer, the fridge and the cupboards. Take a look at those things you already have in the kitchen that haven't yet been utilized in a recipe. Use them as a starting point.
As an example, I had pork chops and chicken thighs that I had purchased earlier in the month at Costco in my freezer. I can plan several meals around them. If your stumped for what to do with your meat, Google or Pinterest can make short work of looking for a recipe that will be just right!

Cheap Eats :: What's for breakfast?

Weekly meal planning focuses on dinners, but having things available for breakfast and lunch are just as important, especially for a stay-at-home mom with a baby at home.

I admit, I don't eat breakfast as much as I should...but I do eat it a few times a week. Most of the time, a bowl of cereal gets me to lunch without feeling like I'll faint. Plus, it's easy to share with my baby girl, Lulu.

A couple times a month, I do make a loaf of banana bread! It's easy easy! I always have bananas around for my son Jack (it's his favorite afternoon snack) and I over buy them just so I can throw one in a batch of weekend pancakes or...make a loaf of banana bread.

Lately, I've been using this recipe.  

Eating Cheap :: Introductions

I'm Tamie, and I eat cheap food.

I feed two adults and two kids for less than $300 a month.

 

I know what you're thinking...ramen, mac n' cheese, Hamburger Helper, right? I can't say that ramen and mac aren't ever consumed in my house, but rarely and almost never for dinner.

Things we regularly eat; homemade bread and hearty soups, pizza from scratch, bbq chicken, teriyaki pork, Thai noodles, meatless meals a few times a week.

On top of that, I try to incorporate new recipes into each meal plan. Last week, it was a Brie and Bacon Quiche recipe that I found on Pinterest. (which I use to find new recipes all.the.time.)

What I plan to write about here is just how I go about making meals work on such a thin budget. Meal-planning takes time and effort, but it's worth it. It won't take nearly as much effort as the crazy couponing thing...which I could never find the time to do.

Basically, meal-planning takes about an hour of your life to do. I do it in front of the tv at night while I catch up on shows. We'll go into all the meat and gravy of the process in a future post.

And now we're acquainted...hope you enjoy!


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