Eating out of the Pantry Again

Image by skitzianist

It's been a hectic month financially already. This was the first month that my husband and I switched to a new financial plan with a very set budget. We had it all planned out... groceries, eating out, entertainment, everything. 

Well of course this didn't go to plan. Firstly, it's our anniversary month so we went out to a nice dinner.... a really nice dinner. It eliminated our entire eating out budget on November 5th. 

As far as groceries, we started $70 down due to the Very Pricey Chocolate Cake and then we went to Jacksonville for the weekend and had to pull out some hotel money. We also had someone over for dinner and we tend to go all out when that happens. So that made our grocery budget run out on about the 14th. 

We're out of grocery money and food money. So, we'll be eating put of the very meagre pantry. I made a big batch of chili that should last two more meals. I have a sack of potatoes and a carton of eggs. I have bread ingredients. 

We're stocked up on other stuff and ready to hunker down. Only 13 days to go. 

This is going to suck. 

$25 Gift Certificates for $2 at Restaurant.com Today

Today Restaurant.com has a special where you can buy a $25 Gift Certificate to many restaurants for just $2.

Restaurant.com is a great site that normally offers you $25 gift certificates at participating restaurants for $10. Today, though, they have an 80% off special if you put in the code TREATS at checkout. Offer expires at 11:59pm October 31st.

I just snagged $100 worth of certificates for $8 for restaurants that my husband and I already go to. Certificates are valid for one year, but be sure to check the restaurant terms because most have a minimum purchase requirement.

Thanks to Get Rich Slowly for posting this initially!

A Very Pricey Chocolate Cake

Image by JessicaFM

Every Tuesday, my husband and I have date night. This Tuesday, we decided to do something a little different and bake something together. We flipped through my cookbook and settled on a really delicious and unhealthy Chocolate Cake. It was complex, and would take about two hours to make. We didn't have most of the ingredients, so we toddled off to the store and bought:

Organic Dark Chocolate (Used 10.5 of 12oz) - $3.99
Organic Milk Chocolate (Used 1.5 of 12oz) - $3.99
Organic Eggs (Used 8 of 12) - $3.99
Organic Vanilla Extract (Used 1 Tbsp of 15Tbsp) - $8.99
Organic Dark Brown Sugar (Used 4oz of 32oz) - $3.99
Organic Granulated Sugar (Used 4oz of 32oz) - $5.99
Unsalted Butter (Used 1.5 Sticks of 4 Sticks) - $2.69

Plus 8% Tax

Total Spent - $36.36

We picked up a few other things that we "needed", which brought our total to a whopping $69.31.

To me, thats a very expensive chocolate cake. I worked out that we ended up using $10.23 worth of ingredients, the rest will be used in other things. Thats not a bad price per serving for a high end cake, but it's the other items we bought while at the store that caused problems.

Where we went wrong

Impulse buying is what did it. I picked up some Vital Wheat Gluten which will get used at some point, I'm sure but certain wasn't necessary that day. We also bought a smoothie for my husband and two energy bars for me which we didn't need. Those came to more than $5. We also bought food for a small dinner we had last night, one of the items being a $6.50 block of cheese. If we had been at Publix instead of Whole Foods, we probably would have paid about $3 for the cheese.

Stick to your list

I went in with a list and we didn't stick to it, which usually happens when my husband and I go to a grocery store together. We are both easily distracted and tend to put a lot more than we should in the cart. Next week begins the start of a new budget for us, and hopefully having a strict budget will enable us to lower our impulse buying. I'm a bit concerned, though. I think we'll have to lay off the chocolate cake for a while.

By the way, it was quite delicious.

Frugal Food - Three Ideas for Frugal Dinners

Image by ExperienceLA

More often than not, by the time the end of the month comes we are out of grocery money. 

Groceries are where I slack off in the planning department. Because my husband and I keep odd and busy schedules, I'm reluctant to buy fruit and veggies because they tend to go bad. I also don't keep the pantry stocked as well as I would like, and we rent so our freezer is tiny. 

Often I find that I need to head to the store to pick something up for dinner and I generally don't have much money to spend. I have a lot of cookbooks, but I've found that often the recipes I make myself based on what is in my fridge or what I'm craving serve me well. Isn't there a saying that necessity is the mother of invention?

Here are three of my easy dinner staples that are simple and cheap.

Potatoes and Peppers with Cheddar Cheese

Ingredients:

1 Red Pepper

4 Red Creamer Potatoes

1/4 C Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Grated)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Dice the potatoes and the peppers. Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the potatoes. Stir over medium heat for 8 minutes. Add the peppers, cover and cook for another 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the potatoes are browned and cooked through, divide into bowls and cover with the grated cheese. 

Serves 2 with lunch leftovers for one.

Egg and Cheese Burritos

2 Large Flour Tortillas

3 Eggs

1/4 C Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 Tbsp Oil

Heat the oil in a small frying pan or omelette pan. Break eggs into a bowl, add a tablespoon of water, and beat with a fork. Put half of the eggs mixture in the frying pan. Cook as you would an omelette. When done, place omelette in the center of the tortilla. Sprinkle half of the cheese down the middle, then roll it up. Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. 

Cheese and Tomato Pasta Bake

1 Can Diced Tomatoes

2-3 C Small Pasta Shells

1/2 C Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta in boiling water according to directions. Drain the pasta and place in a small casserole dish or pan about 8" by 8". Mix in the can of tomatoes, cover with the cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown. 

You can add garlic or other herbs as you choose to bump up the flavor. 

By the way, thanks for visiting and reading Distilled Rose. Your presence is noticed and appreciated!

A Menu Planning Experiment

A few days ago, my husband and I sat down with a huge stack of recipe books. I'm quite the collector when it comes to cookbooks, so we had a lot to go through. We each went through the books and marked on a post it note the page numbers of recipes we would like to try. By the time we were done with five or six books, we were a little weary and called it a day. 

However, we had marked more than sixty new recipes that we would like to try. Later this week I will be turning them into a small database and we will start going to the store to get ingredients for three or four of these new meals at a time. Then, we will start the great menu planning experiment. Anything to shake the eating out habit. 

Do you menu plan? Do you have favorite recipes? How do you avoid eating out?

Frugal Food - Lunch for Less

Photo by bmann

Buying lunch is the achilles heel of many people on a budget, especially if you have an office job. It is so easy to duck out to a fast food joint with your colleagues, or order chinese food for delivery. 

Bringing your own lunch is definitely recommended, but I always forget to make myself something every day. Recently, though I've started having the same lunch every day and I don't have to spend time in the morning making it. 

I eat an English muffin, toasted and a wedge of Laughing Cow spreadable swiss cheese. The muffins come in a pack of 6 and the wedges come in a pack of eight. 

This costs me approximately $0.70 per lunch session. 

If I want to jazz it up I might add a piece of fruit or a hard boiled egg. True, this is a relatively small lunch, but I'll also drink a nice big glass of water as well and it gives me enough energy to make it through the day. 

I would say this probably saves me anywhere from $10 to $25 weekly, depending on where I would go for lunch. I keep the muffins at my desk and the cheese in our community fridge. English muffins tend to keep for about 8 days or so without any trouble, so I don't have to worry about them going stale. 

What are some of your frugal lunch ideas?

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Saturday Handy Tip - Getting the Most out of Citrus

I cook often and hate juicing lemons and limes with a passion. I tend to have to press down really hard and rarely get enough juice. Luckily I have a handy trick that makes juicing easier and more productive. 

When you are getting ready to juice the fruit, microwave it for 30 seconds and then roll it on a counter with the heel of your hand, pressing firmly. The fruit will feel much softer. Be sure to cut it in half over a bowl because the juice will likely start coming out as soon as a knife is inserted. 

I find this usually gives me about 25% more juice when I use this method. 

Previous Handy Tips

Photocopy Your Wallet

Power Strip Your TV

Overcome Writers Block

Frugal Salad Dressing

Frugal Food - Cost Analysis of a Lasagna

Yesterday I came across a great article about 20 Healthy Foods for a Dollar on Yahoo.

It was a good inspiration to figure out how much I spend when I cook. I really love making food, and eating out is too expensive for me right now. So after a trip to the Farmer's Market, I decided to figure out how much money I was saving by making my own Lasagna.

Ingredients:

Ricotta Cheese - $1.00
Canned Tomatoes - $0.80
Garlic - $0.05
Sundried Tomatoes - $0.15
Orange Pepper - $1.18
Mozzarella Cheese - $2.00
Portabella Mushroom - $1.00
Zucchini - $0.81
Lasagna - $.30
One Egg - $0.20

Spices from my Cabinet

Total - $7.49

Cost per Serving - $1.49

It took me about five minutes to prep everything, which included making my own very basic tomato sauce out of canned tomatoes, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and oregano. I just pureed it together in a blender. I mixed the ricotta with the egg and some basil, and then layered the vegetables, lasagna noodles, mozzarella, ricotta and sauce in two layers. Then I put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

I'm really pleased with how inexpensive this was. I always felt that is was cheaper to cook, but I've never sat down with a grocery receipt in my hand and really looked at it. The only thing I would change would be using red pepper instead of orange, which is all they had at the market. It would probably have lowered the cost by a few cents.

I think there are some things that I do make that are probably less cost effective, like when I make pesto with store bought basil, pine nuts, and really good parmesan cheese. It's definitely a lot more pricey for what I can do with it, unless I just use it as a pasta sauce.

I think it's a good idea to work out what you're really spending when you cook and to check to make sure that you are getting the best value for money when selecting ingredients. Could you substitute one kind of squash for a cheaper one? Is Watermelon a better value than Cantaloupe?

So what is the cost per serving for your favorite home recipe?

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