Stop and Shop Bargain Meal week of 9/18-9/24

My family loves lasagna but it isn't often that I have all of the necessary ingredients all together at one time. Lasagna noodles are hard to find on sale, so I've never had the chance to really stockpile them. Once in a while I find ricotta cheese on sale and when I do, I buy several and freeze them. For me, it is usually better/easier/cheaper to make some form of Pasta Lasagna to get my baked pasta and ricotta cheese fix.

This week, ricotta cheese is 2.99 at Stop and Shop- which isn't a fantastic price exactly, but with .99 pasta sauce (Francesco Rinaldi- I like their "Sweet and Tasty Tomato" sauce) and .75 pasta (Prince pasta, all varieties- except baking and flavored) it can make an affordable meal. You can stretch the ricotta using my grated zucchini method that I alluded to here, and that would make the cost per meal a little cheaper. This recipe calls for meat and some additional cheese- I wouldn't make a special trip to buy additional ingredients but use whatever cheese and meat I might happen to have around the house- another reason why lasagna dishes tend to be pricey is because people end up buying 3 different kinds of cheese and different meats and everything else. Just baking some pasta with layers of sauce and ricotta, with maybe a little bit of grated parmesan sprinkled on top, is going to be very tasty with a nice little salad or side of vegetables.

And I'm glad we're getting into cooler weather again, because I don't need to feel bad about making "comfort food" all the time. This is the season for it!

Shaw's Bargain Meal Week of 9/18-9/24

I can tell it's almost fall, because squash (butternut, acorn, or buttercup) is on sale for .59/lb at Shaw's! Unfortunately, I am not able to cook squash as much as I would like to- although my family tolerates spaghetti squash and summer squash varieties, they are not a fan of winter squashes. I don't know why, because they all love pumpkin, and I can't really tell the difference between pumpkin and butternut squash when it's cooked up and mashed (actually, pumpkin is a squash, but don't tell my kids- or my husband. Maybe I should get some acorn squash and call it mini green pumpkins?)

With ground beef on sale for 1.88/lb, some stuffed squash would be delicious and frugal. Try this Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe- it calls for zucchini but you could really use any vegetable or grain to stuff your squash.

Happy fall!

Stop and Shop Bargain Meal week of 9/11-9/17

This week at Stop and Shop, broccoli is a great deal at .88/pound. Boneless Center-Cut Pork Chops are 1.99/lb, and Success Rice is 2 for $4 for both white and brown rice. I totally heart Success brown rice- regular brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook, and it is really nice to be able to cook up nice healthy whole grains in a matter of a few minutes. There were $1 off coupons for Success Rice a couple weeks ago, making the rice only $1 a box- there are also printable coupons here.

With these ingredients you could try this recipe for pork-fried rice. I also might make a pork stir-fry. I always have the ingredients on hand to mix up a stir fry. Using a little vinegar is a trick I learned from Erin at $5 dinners... it keeps you from having to use a ton of soy sauce and having really high sodium in your recipe as a result.

Easy Pork Stir Fry

3/4 lb. pork loin, sliced into thin strips
3-4 cups cut-up vegetables of your choice (broccoli, peppers, onions, carrot strips... anything)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp flour
pepper to taste
2 cups cooked brown rice

1. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the pork until the outsides are no longer pink.
2. Put the vegetables in with the meat and turn the heat to medium-low. While veggies are cooking, mix up the sauce. Add all liquid ingredients together. Stir in the ginger and then stir in the flour gradually, breaking up any lumps. Pour sauce over the stir-fry and keep stirring.
3. When pork is cooked through and veggies are tender, remove from heat and add pepper to taste. Serve over rice.

One thing about my cooking is that I never make dinner with measuring cups- I've been mixing up my own tasty stir-fry sauce for eons but I have only a rough idea of how much I use of each ingredient. So please feel free to adjust amounts- if your sauce seems too sweet, add a little more teriyaki; too salty, add more orange juice.

I was very flattered last night at my daughter's open house at school- she had a poster taped to her desk with all of her "favorites." Under "Favorite Smell?" She wrote "My mom's cooking." Which is too funny, because she's a very picky eater! She says she loves the smell, even if she doesn't want to eat what I'm serving. Oh well.

Roast Chicken: Shaw's Bargain Meal, week of 9/11-9/17

I always talk about how bargain shopping makes me try things that are new and different for me. This week is no different... I have made a roast chicken once in my life- when I was in my late teens and making my own little Thanksgiving dinner for two people. It was easy and tasty, but I've never gotten around to doing it again. I've just been a boneless/skinless chicken-breast type person because that's how I was raised. But with Perdue roasting chickens being .88/lb a week at Shaw's, it might be worth giving roast chicken a whirl.

So, what does one do with a roast chicken? Well, basic tips for how to roast a chicken are here. There seems to be some debate back and forth as to whether cooking whole chickens is really more economical than boneless skinless chicken breast (on sale, of course.) I found the discussion here to be interesting. I'm thinking that in general, you probably get more meat for your dollar when you spend $1.59 a pound for chicken breast vs. .88 a pound for a whole chicken, bones and skin and all. However, you can make really good broth with your chicken bones once you've actually cooked and eaten your chicken and saved any leftover scraps of meat. This post at the Simple Dollar sums up what to do with your whole chicken pretty well. And beyond the cost difference, roast chicken is just very tasty. Chicken breast can sometimes be just... blah.

This week at Shaw's, Maine potatoes are 1.98 for a 5 pound bag. You can make a nice, easy meal with roasted chicken and potatoes- try this recipe for ideas. I make roasts all the time on weeknights... I get home around 4, get the roast ready, and it cooks away while I'm getting other stuff done. Of course, they always make a nice Sunday dinner too.

Shaw's Bargain Meal week of 9/4-9/10

One of the tricks of stockpiling is taking advantage of seasonal sales. Right before Thanksgiving, you can stock up on stuffing, gravy mix, boxed mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a lot of different baking supplies. If you want a box of stuffing in, say, February, you're probably going to pay full price for it. After a while, you start to realize what you need to stock up on throughout the year to avoid running out of the things you want.

Sometimes the sales reflect the customs of particular religious groups. I'm Catholic, and I don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent; fish is okay though, and sales on fish are definitely a big deal in most grocery stores in my area throughout Lent. There are many traditional kosher foods on sale for Rosh Hashanah, coming up in a couple of weeks. Even if you aren't Jewish, anyone can eat kosher foods (and actually, many of the things we eat every day are kosher, but if you aren't aware of it, you might not notice.)

Streit's Matzo Ball mix is 10 for $10, and there are Kedem Tube Soup Mixes for 2/$1. For something different and inexpensive, you could make some matzo ball soup and serve it with a side salad or sandwiches. Kedem apple and grape juice are both good prices (1.50 and 2.50 a bottle, respectively) and the Kedem tea biscuits are 3/$1, which would be worth trying. I've never had any of these foods before, but part of the fun of bargain shopping is trying new things and expanding your horizons!

Stop and Shop Bargain Meal week of 9/4-9/10

I haven't been posting as much because I'm back to work and getting back into the routine of the school year. I'm actually kind of excited about going to Stop and Shop this week... even though 3.99 is way over my normal per-pound cost for meat, my hubby loves steak tips soooo much I will have to splurge and get some of those. Corn on the cob is a great price (12 for 1.99) and it won't be long before corn season is but a distant memory... There are other good prices on meat and produce this week, so check your flyer to see what you need to stock up on.

Obviously, some late-summer grilling will be a part of most people's weekend plans, but for something a little different later in the week, try cooking up some greens. Collards, kale and turnip greens are .69/lb- a "Real Deal" that will last for a while. ( I have found kale to be a very versatile vegetable- I use it in place of spinach. It has an interesting flavor and a little more texture than spinach.) Jones Naturally Hickory Smoked Ham Steak is 1.99- a recipe to try is Delicious Greens and Ham with some nice crusty bread. Also, Countryfine Italian Sausage is 1.99/lb- you could cook it up with the greens as well- it makes a surprisingly tasty dish. And it's amazing how a big pile of greens shrinks when you cook them.

Happy Labor Day!

Stop and Shop Bargain Meal, week of 8/28- 9/3

Stop and Shop has redesigned its flyer in such a manner that I find completely distracting... all over the place there's a tacky little logo that says "Weekly Specials!" and in other places there's another logo that says "Real Deal!" And there's green highlighting in random places, and the whole effect is just very busy and confusing and unpleasant. And the deals at Stop and Shop are no better than usual (I much prefer Shaw's, if you haven't noticed...)

I was almost going to throw up my hands about the Bargain Meal of the Week because there didn't seem to be much of anything on sale, but when I looked at the flyer again I got inspired. Avocados are .99/lb, corn is 8/1.99, and plum tomatoes are also .99/lb. These ingredients are what you need to make Swan's Summer Soup, a cold, gazpacho-like soup. I love having soup for dinner because that means I also get to have bread for dinner- and I (and my whole entire family) just really love bread.