Cass Cooks, Too!

posted by Cass on Nov 10

You know, sometimes I wonder why I even make menus. It’s not like we use them, becasue, out of this list from last week:

Chicken pot pie
Weiner Schnitzel
Fried Chicken
Beans and Rice
Hamburger Helper (sue me)
Home-made Pizza

We actually made chicken pot pie and weiner schnitzel. I guess that I do it to assure myself that there is actual food here to eat, ROFL! And also, so that if no one has a specific request, i at least have a plan. I’m pretty lenient with the meals, I guess: if someone asks for something, and I have the ingredients on hand, I don’t mind having a substitution. Besides, this way I only have to come up with 2 or 3 new ideas when it’s time to make a menu again.

So, here we go for this week:
Hamburgers
Fried Chicken
Beans and Rice
Chicken Fajitas
Home-made Pizza
Breakfast Casserole and fruit

posted by Cass on Nov 3

I guess I am one of the lone holdouts this week, actually posting my menu on Monday an all. What can I say, it was a jam packed weekend. This week, we are back to cheer practice and also, my husbad has started a job that has him working evenings, so we are back to the quick and easy, tempered by the fact that we will eat our main meal at lunch some days. Yeah, life is never boring here–we just don’t do the same thing long enough to create a rut, let alone get stuck in one. Anyway, on to the plans:

Chicken pot pie
Weiner Schnitzel
Fried Chicken
Beans and Rice
Hamburger Helper (sue me)
Home-made Pizza

posted by Cass on Oct 20

Well, so, here it is Monday again. I apologize for my lack of posts here, but I have been pretty much sick as a dog since last Tuesday night. I am still sick, but I have decided that I can’t waste any more time being that way, and it’s time to suck up and deal. I’ll let you know how that works out for me, unless it works out badly, and then I will be in he hospital and unable to get back to you right away. On to the menu stuff.

This will be the week we eat out of the freezer and pantry for real, with no grocery shopping at all. Should be quite an adventure, and I love a good adventure.

Seafood Broccoli Pasta
Burritos
Chicken and Pastry
Spaghetti
Pork Tenderloin
Beans and Rice
Leftovers

posted by Cass on Oct 13

As I get ready to post this, Org Junkie is down, so I don’t know that I will be able to link in with her or not, but it’s Monday, and that means it is time for a menu, so let’s make one anyway! We are continuing our eat cheap quest (of course), and this week’s menu reflects some tasty but cheap choices.

Chicken patty sandwiches with cheese and fruit
Home made mushroom pizza
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo and salad
Macaroni and cheese
Fried chicken
Seafood and pasta with veggies
Burritos

posted by Cass on Oct 6

Boy, am I glad this week for a full pantry and freezer. Times are tough all over, and we didn’t have much money for restocking this week. That’s not a huge issue, because I’ve been shopping the good deals, and also, there is still a lot of food left from Angel Food. A little milk and oatmeal, and I can eek us out for another week, and we can eat well without taking out a personal loan for food.

Learning to shop frugally is an ongoing adventure for me. Right now, we are spending between five and six hundred dollars a month. 6 months ago, we were regularly spending between eight and nine hundred. I’ve shaved the equivalent of a auto loan payment off our grocery choices, just by making better decisions in the store. We are eating healthier and we are eating a better variety, and we are doing it for less. I’m really happy with that, and I haven’t even started using coupons yet! I said yet, because I do plan to start using them as soon as I make myself sit down for a few minutes and figure out how to start getting my hands on the Sunday paper for less than 2 bucks a week.

You may notice some repeats on this weeks menu. There were several nights last week where we had something off the “official” menu. Both of my older girls like to cook, and so if they have something they want to make, I let them do so, as long as we have the ingredients. This week’s menu is a little more rigid, since we will be using up the tail end of the frozen foods. That’s ok, because I will be going shopping this coming weekend. I don’t know exactly when, since we have football all day Saturday, and I have church on Sunday morning and I am singing in a talent show on Sunday night. Anyway, here’s the menu:

~pintos (these are already cooked and the famfam says they are delish. I started them before I left for the day yesterday, just adding a large can of diced tomatoes, about half a cup of dried cilantro and a bit of salt to a pound and a half of pintos, then cooking all day in the crockpot.)

chicken on a can
ribs
chicken and pastry
fried catfish
burritos

Hey, here’s an question for ya. How do you think the recent bailout will affect food prices? I know at first glance it seems like the two are unrelated, but I’ve found that everything effects food prices in one way or another. Is the government’s 700Billion dollar attempt at saving the banks a good thing for the people? Or do you think more families will be needing debt consolidation just to afford the basics? And if they do need it, will they be able to get it with the tighter strictures on lending?

posted by Cass on Sep 29

I had another good frugal shopping week. This week’s finds included pork loin at $1.09 a pound (already made that into bbq) and catfish fillets at $1 for 12 ounces. Yumm! So, here’s what we are having this week.

BBQ sandwiches
Fried catfish
Soda pop chicken
Corn dogs
Pintos beans
Brats

We also used AngelFood for the first time this month, I am very pleased with the value, and you can expect a post on that sometimes this week.

posted by Cass on Sep 21

I had excellent results at the store yesterday, spending about $100 and ending up with enough meat for 12 main meals, plus leftovers, and almost five pounds of squash! I also had to buy a few spices. Combined with what we already had, I don’t think I’ll need much beyond bread and milk for at least two weeks. PLUS! We are using AngelFood for the first time this month, and that will stretch it even further. I’ll tell you more about that after we get our food, and I see what it looks like. But enough babbling, let’s get to the eating!

We’re having:
Polish sausage/squash/dirty rice
Soda pop chicken
Fish
Fried chicken
Hot dogs
BBQ ribs

Oh! This week is the Family Favorite Edition, and that means I should give a recipe. I almost forgot. Hmm, most of the stuff on my menu is just “food”, meaning I have cooked it for so long I no longer think of it as a recipe. I think I will tell you how I plan to make the polish sausage/squash/rice, and even that isn’t rocket science.

I’ll start with:
2 boxes of dirty rice, approx cost $2.50
3 packages of Polish sausage that I found for 99 cents each for a total of $3
2 pounds of squash, at an approx cost of $2 (also on sale)
2 onions

I’ll fix the rice according to the package directions. While that is cooking, I will slice and brown the sausage, and while the sausage is browning, I will slice the squash and onions. After the sausage browns, I’ll saute the squash and onions in a little bacon grease with salt and pepper until it is tender. I like my squash to be a little browned in places, so I start the heat high to make that happen, and then turn it down. (I do the same for the sausage.) When it’s done, I will mix it all together and serve it. I’ll have to come back and edit the post to show the finished dish, but here is a tantalizing shot of the ingredients. I’m such a tease, aren’t I?

So what are you cooking? Click the button above and join in the menu planning fun!

EDITED to add the picture of the finished dish.

posted by Cass on Sep 7

I have started making my menus mid-week. I look at the sales papers (just like my Grandmother used to do), and base our menus around what’s on sale. Sometimes, we have a great variety, and sometimes we eat a lot of chicken. Good thing I know four hundred and eighty seven ways to prepare chicken, huh?

Another thing that effects our menus is that I cannot eat a lot of beef, since I am limiting my saturated fats due to elevated cholesterol levels. Also, I have capped my meat spend at $2 per pound with rare exceptions, and beef is usually more than that, even on sale. So, pork and chicken and turkey, oh my! Except seafood. I’ll pay for that, because we all love it so.

This menu week, which began on Friday for us, we are having

• fried chicken
• BBQ ribs
• chicken pot pie
• chicken fajitas
• dry beans and rice with sausage
• spaghetti
• seafood

posted by Cass on Sep 1

This weeks menus are made, and I thought I would share. Sometimes I get to it too late to post! We’ll be having

• fried chicken
• chicken and rice casserole
• chicken and pastry
• manicotti
• pork roast
• BBQ sandwiches
• sloppy joes

I’m late this week, but I will try to get better! I’ve gone back to planning the week’s menu’s based on what’s on sale. I made this one last Wednesday, and you can tell that the sale meats were chicken and pork. I had some food in the pantry and freezer, so I only needed to spend about 100 bucks.

We’ve actually eaten some of these meals already: the fried chicken, the pork roast and the BBQ sandwiches. Those were so good and easy! I cooked the roast for lunch on Sunday, and then had my daughter shred the leftover roast and add a bit of BBQ sauce and throw it in the crockpot. It cooked while I was off doing other things, and it was ready for them to eat after the party at church while I we off again doing yet other things. Sunday is not a day of rest for me, But I do try to take a different day of the week We had the manicotti tonight, and it was good, too! I guess it’s almost time for the next menu planning session, isn’t it?

BTW, if you can get chicken leg quarters in sale, those are a great deal. We paid $6.39 and got enough chicken for the three meals above!