Meals For Pennies (With Some Planning)

When I talk about "meals" I am talking about one serving for one person. Every other week at our house we have four people eating and the opposite weeks, we have three people. It is a far cry from the seven of us that we started out with when we combined our two families, but that is another story for another time.

I mentioned yesterday that I hit a great sale at a local supermarket. I came home with five family packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($6.00 each), three 3-pound bags of carrots and two 5-pound bags of potatoes (free with the purchase of the chicken). So for $30.00 we make 40 meals of chicken. We packaged them and froze them in packages of one full breast as that is a four person serving size for chicken at our house.

We have no leftovers to throw in the garbage unless leftovers are part of the menu planning. An example of that is the pork roasts I bought at the beginning of January from the same store. Same deal as before- buy one roast and get either a bag of carrots or a bag of potatoes free. $ 10.00 a piece, I bought seven. Cut them in half, that makes 14. Multiply by 2 meals each- we are looking at 28 meals at the very least. The roasts were over six pounds each. That is way too much to cook and the leftovers will eventually dry out and end up in the trash. Cut the roast in half. For our family, there will be leftovers. So, we plan for pork roast and all the yummy fixings that go with it one night and then another night, the pork will be cubed up and added to a curry. This last time there was even enough curry left over for me to take in my lunch. No waste.

The best deal by far is turkeys at Thanksgiving. I scooped up ten turkeys this year that ranged from $6-$7. We cooked one last week and kept track of how many meals we could get out of one bird. Counting the main meal, leftovers the next night, picking, sandwiches and then boiling the carcass and making soup we came up with 44 meals. 28 meals just with the soup, and if you add more liquid, you can stretch it even more. Throw together some biscuits and it is a meal fit for a king-or a queen!

As with any goal you set to reach success, you need a plan. A step by step map as to how you will get there.  I use pen and paper but you might set your goals on your laptop, Smart phone or some other gadget. I urge you to try. Start small. With every success you will gain momentum. You will be so glad you did!