Tuesday, January 4, 2011

$20

Let's play the 'How Many Meals Can We Get From $20' game. I went to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon to pick up a few staples after getting home from Iowa. I walked out with $20 less in my bank account. Because I have the intention of staying within my budget for groceries, I'm going to see how long we can eat off this.

Here's what my bags held:

18 Eggs
1/2 Gallon Almond Milk
Iceberg Lettuce
4 Roma Tomatoes
8# Bag of Potatoes
16 oz. Light Sour Cream
1 Ranch Seasoning Packet
1 Bag of Bananas (more to come on these in another post)
Croutons
Loaf of Double Fiber Bread
3 oz. Grilled Chicken (from the salad bar)

We bought a quarter cow this past year, so beef is not going to be on my grocery list. I realize that does make this not as replicable, but it gives you the general idea.

#1-Saturday night's dinner was 'Chicken Cobb Salad'. It was pretty fantastic. I used the lettuce, tomato, croutons, eggs & chicken from the store. I had cheese in my freezer that I pulled out, and used leftover bacon from breakfast cut into small pieces. For the dressing, I put the ranch seasoning into the sour cream.

My oldest won't eat any other ranch. Kind of strange.

#2-Sunday dinner was Roast! Yum. My whole house smelled like my grandma's, and that was fantastic.

I stuck it in the crockpot frozen at 9:30am. 7 hours later it was falling apart AH-MAZ-ING. I baked 4 potatoes, made gravy from the broth and pulled out the leftover salad. Night #2 in the books.

#3-Monday's dinner was Open Faced Roast Beef Sandwiches. Again, YUM! I shredded the leftover roast and warmed it and the gravy in my cast iron skillet. I boiled 3 potatoes cut into cubes, drained them and added the leftover baked potato creating 'smashed potatoes'.

I love adding rosemary and garlic to those babies.

Toasted 4 pieces of bread, topped it with the potatoes, then beef and gravy. Added broccoli from my freezer and night 3 is done.

I don't know how much longer I can stretch this, though. Iceberg lettuce only satisfies me so long.

Tonight I may make Upscale Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. My Grampsy cans ham and sends it to me in a care package. I add a secret ingredient to make the dish totally delish!

Or tacos. Or taco salad. I'm in the mood for Mexican.

If I can use my $20 for a family of 5 for 3 nights and counting, maybe you can too! Or maybe you can do even better!

What's your money saving grocery tricks? How do you stretch your groceries? Do tell, because I love to get new ideas!

2 comments:

  1. You've got me in the mood for chicken cobb salad now and mexican...that's what we're having tonight! And now I'm feeling challenged to take my next trip to buy groceries and see how much I can NOT spend :)

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  2. Oh yeah, we had taco salad tonight. I could totally go for chips and beans at the moment. Let me know how you do at the grocery store!!! I'm always trying to spend less and less.

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