Mmmm.
02 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
Here are two yummy meals that I have made this week. They are pretty affordable too. The first one is great in hot weather as you can cook everything in the microwave.
Both are courtesy of Eating Well Magazine, so instead of pasting the recipe here I have linked to their page.
Enjoy!
Routines, Coupons, and Shopping Around.
21 Sep 2010 1 Comment
in recipes Tags: recipes, tips
So, firstly I am sorry for the lack o’ blogging recently. Unfortunately, I had to leave town for a family emergency. However, all is now well and I am hoping to return to my regularly scheduled blogging routine. There is something to be said for maintaining a routine, and after spending many days sleeping on other people’s floors, couches, or air mattresses I am quite happy to be back at home in my own bed, with my dog.
Despite the upheaval I have managed to find a few experiences to report back on. One of which will save me $155 a year. Prior to moving I did a lot of research on internet providers. (Un)Lucky for me, there are only two in my area: The telephone company and the cable company. Well the telephone company couldn’t offer me anything other than mega high speed fiber optic internet service. Amazing service, not great for someone on a budget. Internet was going to be my only form of entertainment, but I still had to be budget conscious. Therefore I was left with the cable company who had a few different packages with the cheapest being $42. Until I called back a different time and got a price of $32.95. Not great, but it was better than $50+ tax that I would be paying for the mega fast super amazing high speed. Well, after a suggestion from another individual I called back again this week following receipt of my first bill. There were no surprises, the bill was for $32.95 as promised, however I was told I could get the same service for $19.99 so I thought I would call and see if I could get any deals. I was not holding my breath, as I had called the company 4 previous times in order to get a good deal when I was doing my initial set up, why would they reduce the fee of an already paying customer? Well, they did. For some reason, maybe it was because I actually called and asked. So, I went from $42 to $32 to $19.99. I guess calling back a fifth time was worth it.
In more important (read: food) news I have a new recipe to share. I’m sure it is not high on the health food meter, and probably equivalent to a million WW points, but it was good and it was cheap and would have been 40 cents less if I had been able to print the coupon.
~1 package of a velveetaesq shells and cheese dinner (my generic one was $1 and would have only been 60 cents if I had been able to print off the 40 cents off coupon but couldn’t due to technical limitations).
~1 can of cream of XXX soup. I used mushroom but chicken or celery would work too—59 cents
~1 soup can worth of milk—35 cents approx.
~1 can of tuna—59 cents
~1 cup of frozen peas—25 cents
~10 or so crushed up saltine crackers—15 cents
Cook the noodles until they are al dente, mix in the mysterious cheese, the can of soup, the can of milk, peas, and tuna. Other ingredients could also be added, like onions, garlic, hot peppers, etc. Put this mixture into a casserole dish and cover with the crushed up crackers. Everything is basically cooked, but I popped it into the oven for 30 mins at 400ish.
The total cost for this meal is under $3 ($2.93) and I got 5 heaping servings out of it. That means each meal is 59 cents. Yes, it is basically a glorified tuna casserole with a rubber cheese additive and yes, it is not the healthiest meal on the planet and I want to get away from pasta centered meals, but as an occasional quick, easy, and cheap meal you’re going to be hard pressed to find something else. It also freezes well which is important for me as I pack away a lot of food for lunch the next day.
Up next will be a vegetarian pot pie. Again, using the cream of mushroom soup. I wonder if anyone ever eats these soups or are their only duties to serve as a foundation for yummy meals.
End of Week 1.
27 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in daily trials & tribulations, recipes, resources Tags: a day in the life, recipes
So, today marks the end of my first week. I only spent three days working at the actual housing authority. The rest of my time was spent going to meetings and networking. I am getting pretty good at networking and developing my “elevator speech.” This week I looked at some of the supportive services my clients are going to need in order to be successful and eventually graduate from the Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program. These are programs like ESL courses for families whose native language is not English, or groups that provide counseling on proper interview behaviour, provide resume help, or even provide attire for interviews. Supportive services can also include things like child care; making sure that there is someone to help care for their children while they are at work, or at some of the FSS meetings. After school care and tutoring for their children is often key, as parents worry that the homework/school responsibilities will not be taken care of if they are out of the house in the evenings working. So, I spent this week trying to form a list of contacts for these types of programs. Luckily, on Thursday I met two other volunteers who are working with projects that provide these supportive services. I’m looking forward to adding them to my spreadsheet on Monday.
Yesterday I spent the better part of the evening making some frozen meals. I love butternut squash ravioli, but hand making ravioli is very time consuming, and last time I made it I got sore muscles from rolling out the pasta (no, I don’t have a pasta machine). This time I decided to just purchase some large pasta shells and use them instead. Well, my idea worked great. I cooked the squash for about 45 minutes until it was mashable. Added a few spices and some brown sugar and stuffed spoonfuls into the al dente shells. Below is a breakdown of price and the recipe. This is not the cheapest meal, but I consider butternut squash ravioli-esq dishes to be pretty gourmet, so for the type and quality of food, it is a good deal.
1 box of large pasta shells ~ $1.99
1 1lb/454g jar of Alfredo pasta sauce ~$2.50
1 cup of yogurt ~ $0.50 (or less if you have a large container)
1/2 cup of milk ~ $0.14
1 green pepper ~ $0.50
1 large tomato ~ $0.80
1 sm onion ~ $0.33
3+ cloves of garlic (I love garlic!) ~ $0.20
3 tbsp of margarine ~ $0.10
1/2 a butternut squash ~ $.75
spices/sugar
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds. In the hollow centers you can put in your spices, sugar, and margarine/butter. I added a few tablespoons of fake butter, a tablespoon of brown sugar, some paprika, cumin, and pepper. You will need to cook the squash for about 45 minutes. Once it is done, remove from the oven and scrape the meat out of the skins. I mashed in all the spices and sugar, and then added garlic. Set this aside until the pasta is done.
Boil all the pasta shells for about 7 minutes, until they are cooked but still al dente. Strain and rinse.
In a saucepan heat up the entire jar of alfredo sauce. Chop up the onion, tomato, and green pepper. Add in garlic.
I added in the yogurt and milk to stretch the sauce a bit. It is really thick, and I find that adding in a bit of yogurt and milk helps it go a bit further. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook it until the yogurt/milk have mixed in with the sauce and the veggies have begun to soften.
Set out your partially cooked shells into a lasagna/glass pan so that they are facing open upright. Scoop in the squash into the shells.
Once you have filled up your shells pour the white sauce mixture over the shells and squash. Because you have already cooked the shells/squash/sauce I just covered the pan with tinfoil and popped it in the 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes to finish cooking the pasta and to heat up the squash and sauce. There is no meat in this dish so you don’t have to worry about cooking out and killing bacteria.
I only used 1/2 the squash and plan on freezing the other half to use in a lasagna later on. The approximate cost of this meal was under $8.00 ($7.81). I managed to freeze 5 very large portions for future lunches and had enough for a small dinner for myself (bread not included). This means that each meal cost approximately $1.30. Not bad for something that I consider to be a pretty fancy meal. The cost of this meal will fluctuate as produce comes in season, or if you are smart, with use of coupons. You could also add some cheese to the top if you are feeling in need of extra-comforty comfort food, but foods like cheese will be more expensive and add to the overall cost of the meal.
Enjoy!
