Stop and Shop Bargain Meal week of 10/23-10/29

Since we're all completely sick of pork chops on sale, yet again (I'm sure you've stocked up plenty and you have enough pork in the freezer to last until Valentine's Day, at least) why not breakfast for dinner? My kids love "egg pie" and it's their favorite dinner request these days. They don't even mind when I throw in some veggies- even spinach (eek!) and kale (gasp!) have passed muster. A dozen eggs at Stop and Shop are $1 this week, and Stop and Shop Bacon is $1.77 for a 12-16 oz. package.

• "Egg pie" a.k.a. my version of quiche is pretty easy.
• I often make it without a crust, but if I do use a crust it's something improvised (I've used stale crackers or a thin layer of Bisquick mixed with milk pressed on the bottom of a greased pan and baked a few minutes ahead of time-- and you can also use leftover rice or slices of bread.)
  
• Then I chop up veggies, ham, bacon, whatever, and sprinkle it over the crust (If I'm not using a crust, I will pour in the eggs and then add the veggies or whatever).
  
• I often make my quiche in a 9x 9 glass dish but it goes pretty fast- 13 x 9 would be better for more than 4 people. (Make sure to spray with nonstick cooking spray)
  
• I whisk my eggs together with just a little milk (I use 5 eggs for the 9x9 pan- you could probably use a whole dozen for the larger pan.)
  
• Then I pour the eggs in the pan, add any extras if I haven't already, and sprinkle cheese over the top. I have used all kinds of cheese, even American cheese from the deli broken into bits, and they have been fine.
  
• I bake it at 350 for approximately 25-35 minutes (the deeper the eggs are in the pan, the longer the baking time.) When a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, it's good to go!

With a slice of homemade bread and some salad, this is a very satisfying- and frugal- meal!

Shaw's Bargain Meal of the Week

During the fall and winter months (and really, anytime at all,) making a nice pot of homemade soup is a great budget-stretcher. Usually a few cans of relatively inexpensive ingredients will make you a nice soup, and you can throw in almost any random leftover meat, bean, grain or vegetable that you happen to have languishing in the refrigerator.

This week's Bargain Meal from Shaw's is especially budget-friendly- I think the total cost might be around three dollars, plus whatever you decide to serve with it. With avocados on sale for $1 each and Shaw's canned corn on sale for .60/can (and even less if you use the printable coupon,) Avocado Corn Soup
would be a great recipe to try sometime this week. You could serve it with tortilla chips (Tostitos are 2.29 this week) or Ritz crackers (1.88/ box)- or to be more healthy, some whole-wheat bread.

Move over, Netflix

We've been using Netflix for our DVD rentals for several years. We always sort of hem and haw about canceling the service, because we don't have tons of time to watch movies and my husband and I are both kind of clueless about pop culture so I don't have any idea which movies might be good. We end up filling our queue with movies that we think we might want to watch, but since we have the bare-bones 1 DVD at a time plan, when the DVD arrives we find that we don't actually feel like watching it, and so we avoid watching it, sometimes for weeks and weeks at a time. Recently, it got really bad- I think we received a movie in early August, and I just sent it back last week because I had absolutely no desire to watch it. So essentially we paid 2 month's worth of rental fees to allow this movie to gather dust. Pretty much a big waste of money.

If the above information has left you with the impression that my husband and I are major dorks, I'll do nothing to disabuse you of that notion. In the same time period, I think I probably read about 12 books. So... yeah.

Last week I was at the library with the kids and we took out a bunch of DVD's. We are heavy library users, as I have mentioned before, but never once has it occurred to me to use the library for anything but books. To my surprise, the local library does have a decent selection of movies- they may not have 40 copies of the latest new releases, like Blockbuster, but they probably do have one copy. So you might have to put a really popular movie on hold, and wait a few weeks to be able to watch it (so it's definitely not "on demand")- but you will eventually watch it, and it will be free, and you can take it out for a week and maybe even renew it for another week.

I'm continually amazed by the reources available from my local library. And my kids are thrilled to be able to rent DVD's on a semi-regular basis now. I may just finally cancel that Netflix service.

Shaw's Bargain Meal week of 10/16-10/22

Lately, the only thing I've gotten excited about at Shaw's has been some interesting Catalina sales. Unfortunately, I'm almost maxed out on shelf and freezer space so I don't know how much more stockpiling it's humanly possible to do. This week has a General Mills deal where you buy $25 worth of products (based on shelf price) and you get $10 back. So that's worked out well. However, there isn't much to speak of as far as meat and produce sales are concerned.

I find that, more and more, my family has been eating vegetarian meals without anyone really noticing or complaining. One way I can get away with serving a vegetarian meal is by cooking a pasta dish with really chunky veggies, or substantial amounts of cheese, or both. This week, to stretch out the meat budget, you can serve a vegetarian pasta meal along the lines of Stringy Macaroni. I would personally reduce the amounts of cheese (for health and budget reasons), and you can substitute premade sauce like Prego (1.49 this week, and there are various coupons available.) Hood cottage cheese is 2.49 a container which isn't a wonderful price, but with the 1.00/2 coupons out there it isn't too bad. (It never occurred to me to use cottage cheese in pasta recipes before, instead of ricotta, but so many people swear by it-- I tried it in manicotti the other night and it was really good!)

Again, I apologize for missing last week's bargain meal- things have been crazy!

Stop and Shop Bargain Meal week of 10/16-10/22

I apologize for my MIA-ness this past week... we had a death in the family and things have been a little chaotic... plus I really did not find anything particularly inspiring to write about last week. So I just didn't. But I feel like the crummy friend who doesn't show up for the 3 p.m. coffee date and then makes lame excuses afterwards. So, I am sorry.

You know how nutrition people recommend shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, where all the fresh foods are, and staying out of the middle aisles? With Stop and Shop, I have come to find that to save money, I only need to look at the front and back page of the flyer. Deals are hard to come by in the middle pages- I find that lately I just skim the middle pages quickly because I never expect to find anything good!

This week, on the front page of course, boneless pork sirloin chops are 1.99/lb. I know, I know... pork, again? But I found a recipe for a Pork and Beans Skillet Supper that sounds quick, easy, and it uses a lot of ingredients most people have in their pantry all the time. If you need canned veggies, S&S has Green Giant canned veggies on sale for 1.99 for a 4-pack, and Bush's Best Baked Beans are $1 a can. This recipe sounds like it could lend itself well to crockpot experimentation- throw all the ingredients in the crockpot, put it on low all day and see what happens. I'm a heavy crockpot user once the weather turns really cold- nothing's better than coming home to a warm and comforting meal that's been cooking all day.

Stop and Shop Bargain Meal, week of 10/2-10/8

This week at Stop and Shop, roasting chickens are .99/lb, strawberries are $2 per container, and Romaine lettuce hearts are 2.50 for a package of 3. If you roast a chicken, you can use some leftover meat as part of a strawberry chicken salad; add some red bell peppers at .99/lb for additional flavor and crunch. It won't be long before fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables are a distant memory, and most people probably won't feel like eating salads anymore. I know I go for months in the winter without touching salad (of course, we eat cooked vegetables as a side.)

Shaw's Bargain Meal, Week of 10/2-10/8

This week at Shaw's, pork loin is 1.69/lb, which is a really good deal... check here for some suggestions on what to do with pork loin.

For this week's Bargain Meal, take advantage of the "can-tastic" sale this week and the Shaw's Boneless Chicken Breast that's 1.99/lb- Southwest Chicken uses chicken, a can of corn, a can of tomatoes, and a can of beans. The recipe calls for making it with a skillet, but some reviewers made it in the slow cooker and it sounds like it would be perfect made that way. Serve it with hot rice or rolled up in some tortillas. Yum.