15th
personal challenge
as i mentioned about a week ago, i’m on an austerity program in terms of spending money. it’s easy, and going very well, but one thing i didn’t mention is that i gave myself a personal challenge:
make meals out of the food in the house. no purchasing except for milk/half-and-half and bread (these items will likely need to be acquired tomorrowish). given the high price of food, it’s important to only buy things you use, and to use everything you buy. it’s wasteful not to. i’m also keeping track of the things we DO use on a regular basis, so that hopefully by the end i will have a list of core foods matthew and i should always have in the house, and should buy in bulk when they go on sale. that black bean soup that sounded SO GOOD last winter when i bought it? that will likely be lunch tomorrow. i have three cans of refried beans that i have to do something with. what, exactly, i don’t know.
other things i have are:
canned tomatoes/sauce/paste
canned tuna fish
frozen ground beef (A LOT)
frozen chicken (A LOT)
canned soup in questionable flavors, inclu. 1 cream of mushroom
canned kidney and cannellini beans
canned baked beans
canned chili
pasta
anyone have any good sites and or ideas for random recipes that uses some of this stuff?? it’s important that the recipes are healthy…high in protein and good fats, lower in carbs and bad fats. i’m pretty good at substituting stuff with what’s on hand, so please (PLEASE!!) feel free to throw anything you can think of out there.
xoxoxoxox.
You’ve got some awsome options that can be cheaply assisted by a few fresh things.
Chili and lean ground beef? Sloppy Joes.
Tuna, salsa, fresh lettuce and refired beans? Tuna tostadas.
Cream of Mushroom soup over chicken in the oven at 375 with a side of steamed collard greens (less than $.75 a bunch and sooo good for you)
Some of that tomato sauce with sauteed shallots, 1/4 cup of marsala or sherry (cheap cooking wine) and cannelini beans over pasta is high protein and tastes expensive.
Good pantry selection!
