Saving more this week

The Monkey got sick with either food poisoning from bad fruit or just a quick virus. Either way Tuesday was lost completely and today we have watched more Barney than I care to remember.

The bright side (always have to look for it) is that I didn't cook today because, in part, we had so much left over from last night. So the crockpot meal I was going to make will be bumped to next week.

As for last night's version, which I mentioned here, it turned out pretty well. Next time I will add less broth (even at half the rec'd amount it was still too soupy) and a bit more than a TB of flour. My hubby loved it though, so thats always a good sign.

Stay dry and safe, the weather outside today is insane!

Our food diet this week

In my efforts to eat what we already have, this is our menu for this week.

Tonight: hamburgers (we had the meat), paid $1.17 for buns at Harris Teeter. Total out of pocket cost: $1.17

Tuesday: crock pot recipe found online. Have never tried. Its called Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup.
The ingredients: 1 lb chicken (check); 2 cans of black beans (we have one that I have been dying to figure out a way to use so check); 4 cups chix broth (we have this, but I am only using 2 so as not to make so runny); 1 cup mushrooms (we didn't have so bought a package of slicked for $1.79, using half on Wednesday-see below); 1 cup frozen corn (check); 1 jar of salsa (we have almost a complete jar, so check); cumin 1 1/4 tsp cumin(check, will probably use more, I love cumin!); 1/2 cup sour cream (check); shredded Cheddar cheese to sprinkle at end (check). Total out of pocket cost, $1.79/2 = 89 cents.

Wednesday: Guinness Beef Stew in the crock pot. I have had this recipe for years. I thought it was a version of Rachael Ray's but can't find online. So here goes.
2 1/2 lbs stew meat (I have 1 lb, so am halving everything, check); 5 TBSP of flour (check); 1 tsp salt (check); 1/4 cup olive oil (check); 2 medium yellow onions (didn't have so bought for 79 cents at Trader Joes); 1 can of Guinness (check..hey we are Irish, of course we have Guinness on hand); 1 lb baby carrots (check); 1/2 eggplant (didn't have so bought for $1.49 at Trader Joes and will cook the rest shortly); 1 cup of mushrooms (see above, check); 2 cloves garlic (sorta check, I have minced garlic in the fridge so will sub this); zest of an orange (didn't have, so bought one for 69 cents); fresh parsley (subbing dried); fresh thyme (subbing dried); bay leaf (check); one stalk celery (check). If you want how to put together, email me. Total out of pocket cost: 79 cents (times 2) + $1.49 + 89 cents + 69 cents = $4.65

Thursday: leftovers from either Tues, Wed or the pizza from last week.

Friday: on the road for family wedding

Saturday: wedding dinner

Total cost (clearly not including our dinner from Sunday night): $6.71!

Planning this out helped me a lot. As I have said before I am going to try to do this more often.

Night!