Cooking With Sale Items & A Stockpile (Pt.4 & Final?)
Woo-Hoo! Here it is. The actual menu list!
Here are 11 meals that we have recently eaten by combining our random sale items & the items we have stockpiled. Our (semi-picky, but not too bad) family of 6 enjoyed them all. :)
(If you missed post #3 in this series, it lists our "random sale items" for a couple of weeks. It'll explain why we used which fresh ingredients we used.)
1) We had Mediterranean Night with grilled chicken thighs marinated in oregano, garlic & lemon juice. I made a Lebanese cabbage salad using the cabbage & lemon juice. We threw it all together with pita, hummus & tabouleh. The girls begged to eat that way more often. We felt full, but healthy. (Next time, we'll have some couscous from my stockpile.)
2) We cooked a whole chicken in the pressure cooker with the carrots, onions & lemons. I cooked some rice from my stockpile. This process also made a ton of delicious chicken stock that I froze into small portions for later use.
3) We used the leftover chicken for my mother-in-law's chicken enchiladas which were mind-blowing! (I'll post the recipe on the Frugal Recipes page. There are some less expensive ones out there, so I'll post those soon, but these were delish!) It also used the onions, the cheese & some stockpiled cream of chicken soup.
4)We made a roast in the slow cooker with the carrots & onions. I just added water & whatever seasonings sounded good.
5)The leftovers made Cheesesteak-style sandwiches. First, sautee' onions & bell peppers. Then split hoagie rolls & pile with shredded beef, peppers, onions & top with any white cheese. Stick 'em right up under the broiler until they're brown & bubbly!
6) We eat a lot of tuna salad sandwiches (which I used to hate!). We have a ton of canned tuna stockpiled as well as mayonnaise & some dill pickle relish I got for free. Do this when Lay's Kettle Chips are on sale for $1.88 & add some stockpiled pickles & it's a pretty enjoyable lunch.
7) My sweet hubby just made us a killer batch of chicken salad which utilized most of our Pressure Cooker chicken. Just combine the chicken with some green onions, celery & stockpiled mayo & serve on toast with a mound of on-sale Kettle Chips. (Not to brag, but along with making & delivering this plate directly to my computer desk, the hubby also surprised me with a Bloody Mary. *happy sigh*)
8) For breakfasts, we quite often combine some stockpiled cold cereal ($1 or less per box is the rule) with a lot of whatever fruit was on sale that week (oranges, bananas, apples, mangoes this week!, berries, etc.)
9) Speaking of breakfast, Huevos Rancheros is a yummy dinner. Eggs had been on ridiculous sale, plus I found a coupon. So, the Huevos Rancheros used some stockpiled salsa, stockpiled refried beans, the jalapenos & the cheese. I just added tortillas & sour cream.
10) We also do some dinners of omelets, bacon & toast when I've had a good bacon coupon.
11) Mom was in town & dinnertime snuck up on me one night. I made a huge pot of WonTon Soup with leftover chicken and chicken stock from the pressure cooker, a bag of frozen potstickers, 2/3 of a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies & a can of water chestnuts. At the end, stirred in a beaten egg to give it an egg-drop soup consistency. A splash of soy sauce & sesame oil gave it authentic, deep flavor. It was a big hit & I pulled it out of thin air with stuff we had on-hand. (I always keep a box of Fortune Cookies from the 99Cent Store on-hand to make any Asian meal seem more fun.)
These are just a few examples of what our particular stockpile & sale items created. Your family might love some recipes or ingredients that our family isn't crazy about...you might be vegetarian...customize your cooking to your heart's desire.
If you're not feeling creative, Google an ingredient followed by the word "recipes" & see what pops up! Also, visit allrecipes.com because it allows you to type in your ingredients & it gives you a list of recipes that include them! Fun. It even lets you list ingredients you'd like to avoid. God-send!
Here are 11 meals that we have recently eaten by combining our random sale items & the items we have stockpiled. Our (semi-picky, but not too bad) family of 6 enjoyed them all. :)
(If you missed post #3 in this series, it lists our "random sale items" for a couple of weeks. It'll explain why we used which fresh ingredients we used.)
1) We had Mediterranean Night with grilled chicken thighs marinated in oregano, garlic & lemon juice. I made a Lebanese cabbage salad using the cabbage & lemon juice. We threw it all together with pita, hummus & tabouleh. The girls begged to eat that way more often. We felt full, but healthy. (Next time, we'll have some couscous from my stockpile.)
2) We cooked a whole chicken in the pressure cooker with the carrots, onions & lemons. I cooked some rice from my stockpile. This process also made a ton of delicious chicken stock that I froze into small portions for later use.
3) We used the leftover chicken for my mother-in-law's chicken enchiladas which were mind-blowing! (I'll post the recipe on the Frugal Recipes page. There are some less expensive ones out there, so I'll post those soon, but these were delish!) It also used the onions, the cheese & some stockpiled cream of chicken soup.
4)We made a roast in the slow cooker with the carrots & onions. I just added water & whatever seasonings sounded good.
5)The leftovers made Cheesesteak-style sandwiches. First, sautee' onions & bell peppers. Then split hoagie rolls & pile with shredded beef, peppers, onions & top with any white cheese. Stick 'em right up under the broiler until they're brown & bubbly!
6) We eat a lot of tuna salad sandwiches (which I used to hate!). We have a ton of canned tuna stockpiled as well as mayonnaise & some dill pickle relish I got for free. Do this when Lay's Kettle Chips are on sale for $1.88 & add some stockpiled pickles & it's a pretty enjoyable lunch.
7) My sweet hubby just made us a killer batch of chicken salad which utilized most of our Pressure Cooker chicken. Just combine the chicken with some green onions, celery & stockpiled mayo & serve on toast with a mound of on-sale Kettle Chips. (Not to brag, but along with making & delivering this plate directly to my computer desk, the hubby also surprised me with a Bloody Mary. *happy sigh*)
8) For breakfasts, we quite often combine some stockpiled cold cereal ($1 or less per box is the rule) with a lot of whatever fruit was on sale that week (oranges, bananas, apples, mangoes this week!, berries, etc.)
9) Speaking of breakfast, Huevos Rancheros is a yummy dinner. Eggs had been on ridiculous sale, plus I found a coupon. So, the Huevos Rancheros used some stockpiled salsa, stockpiled refried beans, the jalapenos & the cheese. I just added tortillas & sour cream.
10) We also do some dinners of omelets, bacon & toast when I've had a good bacon coupon.
11) Mom was in town & dinnertime snuck up on me one night. I made a huge pot of WonTon Soup with leftover chicken and chicken stock from the pressure cooker, a bag of frozen potstickers, 2/3 of a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies & a can of water chestnuts. At the end, stirred in a beaten egg to give it an egg-drop soup consistency. A splash of soy sauce & sesame oil gave it authentic, deep flavor. It was a big hit & I pulled it out of thin air with stuff we had on-hand. (I always keep a box of Fortune Cookies from the 99Cent Store on-hand to make any Asian meal seem more fun.)
These are just a few examples of what our particular stockpile & sale items created. Your family might love some recipes or ingredients that our family isn't crazy about...you might be vegetarian...customize your cooking to your heart's desire.
If you're not feeling creative, Google an ingredient followed by the word "recipes" & see what pops up! Also, visit allrecipes.com because it allows you to type in your ingredients & it gives you a list of recipes that include them! Fun. It even lets you list ingredients you'd like to avoid. God-send!
Bon Appetit!
Will you share what you do to make Huevos Racheros?
ReplyDeleteHere's a super easy and fast meal idea that works with whatever you around. Using the broiler instead of oven saves time and $ :)
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/egg-and-toast-ideas
Ever come across coupons for real bacon bits? I never buy raw bacon because they save time and mess and when I cook bacon everyone eats it instantly! Bits make it a lot easier to cook with and they're so flavorful!!
True, everyone eats bacon ASAP. I'll cook the pound & we'll have a big breakfast for dinner & then usually crumble the leftovers on an iceberg wedge salad the next day. But, honestly, EVERYthing goes fast when you've got 6 good eaters. :/ I'll keep an eye out for bacon bit coupons. Your recipe looks awesome! How long do you broil instead of bake? Thanks for the input! :)
ReplyDeleteMmm the Won Ton Soup sounds absolutely amazing. You are always so creative and clearly recipes are no exception. :) I love you and can't wait to see you!
ReplyDeleteHuevos Rancheros recipe will be up in a couple of days. ...& thanks, the Won Ton Soup was surprisingly successful (meaning the teenagers gave me compliments!)
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing! Thank you so much for letting us in on your creative meals with rock bottom priced ingredients. I was getting stuck in the taco or pasta dishes to use my stockpiled stuff. Your recipes are much better!:) Are you going to post your Lebanese cabbage salad? It looks scrumptious! Thanks again!
ReplyDelete