Each week (in a perfect world) I sit down and plan a few meals I will be cooking over the next seven days. Remember I live alone so one dish may last me three or four meals.
Each week I base my choice of meals off of what I already have in my kitchen. This way when I go the store there is very little to buy.
So this week when I started looking around the kitchen these were the things that jumped out at me:
Chicken (I have alot of chicken courtesy of Zaycon foods [1])
Zucchini, Eggplant & Onion from some people who were nice enough to give me veggies
Marinara sauce that will go bad if I don’t use it this week
Parmesan bread crumbs that I bought at a farmers market a few weeks ago
With those ingredients in mind, I starting thinking through my favorite recipes.
One that immediately jumped out is my friend Merissa’s Homemade Chicken Nuggets [2]. They are unbelievably yummy. And when I look down the list of ingredients the only thing I will have to buy at the store this week is eggs! Combine those nuggets with a bag of veggies (which I already have in my freezer) and that should be two or three meals. Harris Teeter has eggs on sale this week Buy One Get One Free which makes them $.99 a dozen. So for three meals my cost paid this week will be $.99.
I also want to use those other veggies so my immediate thought went to some kind of zucchini dipped in marinara sauce. So I found this receipe online for Baked Parmesan Zucchini Sticks [3]. This will also allow me to use the bread crumbs as well. And since I will be buying the eggs for the chicken nuggets I do not need to purchase anything to complete this meal. So my total out of pocket cost this week is FREE!
Now my third meal for this week is a bit more complicated. I have a love of Sesame Chicken but it is SO unhealthy. Deep fried chicken is not really high on the list of things I want to put in my body. I have been searching for an alternative recipe and my friend Jen has what she calls Simple Sesame Chicken at Home [4]. (I have been drooling all day over the picture). So to try to curb my craving I am going to attempt to make this as well.
Now this recipe has alot of actual ingredients in it so I will have to make an investment up front. My shopping list will include rice wine vinegar (about $2.50), cornstarch ($.97), ground ginger ($4.00- WOW), red pepper flakes ($2.50) and sesame seeds ($1.99). All the other ingredients I already have in my house. So this total will be right around $12.
So to make three dishes in my house this week will cost around $13. If I can cook the portions correctly that should be about $1 a meal plus most of the ingredients for the Sesame Chicken I will not have to buy again for a while.
This is what combining your stockpile and picking smart recipes can do. You will notice none of the prices above included a single coupon. So by taking a few minutes to plan, you can save big bucks!