Super Cheap, Super Easy—Fried Rice

            Although I usually only buy it when it is on sale or clearance, meat is one of the most expensive grocery items I buy.  Therefore, in order to keep my food bills down, I try to prepare meals with little or no meat.  I replace or supplement the meat with cheaper sources of protein such as grains and legumes or eggs.

            One dish that my family loves to eat and I love to make is fried rice.  Not only is it tasty, but it is cheap and easy to prepare.  I often plan to make it a day or two after I’ve made rice and meat for something else then use the leftovers for the fried rice.  I cook extra white rice, measure out what I need, and refrigerate it.  I also chop and measure the meat I will need.  This saves me a lot of time on fried rice night.

            The key to making fried rice that is not gummy or gooey is using cold rice.  This is why using leftover rice is so great.  When I don’t have any rice leftover, I make a pot of rice the day before or that morning and refrigerate it until I’m ready to cook it.

            Another reason this dish is super quick to make is that it uses frozen mixed vegetables.  It is possible to use fresh vegetables if you want.  Just stir-fry them a little before adding the rice.

            If you don’t already have sesame oil in your pantry, you might be tempted to omit it or substitute with a different oil—DON’T!  A jar of sesame oil is pretty pricey, but you only use a little at a time (I’ve had the same bottle forever), and it gives fried rice its distinct Asian flavor.

            When I make fried rice, I make a big batch (about 10 cups, you may want to halve the recipe), and I make it in my 12-inch iron skillet.  If you do not have an iron skillet, a wok or large frying pan will do.  But I would advise everyone to invest in a good iron skillet.  Always be sure your skillet and the oil are really hot before adding food.

            For vegetarian fried rice, simply omit the chicken.  For vegan, omit chicken and eggs and add tofu if desired.

Fried Rice

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided

2 eggs, beaten

1 lb. frozen mixed vegetables

1 c. meat (raw or cooked), chopped

6 c. cold white rice

2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

¼ c. soy sauce

Pinch sugar

Heat skillet over medium-high heat and add ½ Tbsp. vegetable oil.  Stir-fry eggs until set; cut up and set aside.  Heat ½ Tbsp. vegetable oil and stir-fry meat (do this even if it is already cooked).  Set aside.  Heat remaining 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil.  Stir-fry rice and vegetables until heated through, about 10 minutes depending on cookware and stove.  Season with salt.  Add meat and mix well.  Stir in sesame oil, soy sauce, and sugar.  Turn off heat; stir in eggs.  Yields about 10 cups.  Total cost:  less than $3.00!!!

Note that it cost me less than $3.00 to make about 10 cups of fried rice!!  The last time I made it, one batch fed my family of five plus a neighbor and we had leftovers for lunch the next day.

BLT Wraps with...Clearance Meat???

We all know that stores clearance items they're trying to get rid of, but did you know that grocery stores clearance meat? While "clearance meat" doesn't sound all that appealing, there's nothing wrong with it; and it is a great way to get meat at a bargain price. It's simply meat that has a sell-by date that is within the next couple of days. The main thing to keep in mind is to either use it or freeze it right away. Most grocery stores mark their meat on clearance on Friday afternoons, so the best time to shop for it is Friday evening or Saturday morning. Many grocery stores have a designated area in the meat section for their clearance meats.

A couple Saturdays ago, I was at the grocery store to get a few items, so I headed over to the clearance meat section. I was excited to find chicken leg quarters on clearance for 50% off, making them only 65 cents per pound. I grabbed a pack of five leg quarters for my husband to BBQ. A couple days later, he BBQ'd three of the leg quarters and I stuck two in the freezer. We ate two of the BBQ'd ones that night, and I used the third to make BLT wraps the next night.


Bacon is a special treat in our house. There are two reasons I don't purchase bacon on a regular basis: 1) it's usually out of our price range, and 2) it's not healthy. When I can find bacon on clearance or on sale for under $2 per pound, I will sometimes buy it. A couple months ago, I found it for $1.68 per pound, so I bought 3 lbs. and froze it in usable-sized portions. I used a portion of that bacon for these.

BLT Wraps
Bacon, cooked and crumbled
Chicken, cooked, diced, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
Romaine lettuce, shredded
Tomatoes, chopped
Grated Parmesan
Caesar salad dressing
Tortillas, warmed

Layer ingredients on tortillas, filling mostly with lettuce. Wrap the tortillas like a burrito, and serve immediately. I also put a little avocado on mine, since I found a great sale last week!


Even though these contain chicken and bacon, they can be made at little cost, because they contain mostly lettuce.

Summertime = Lemonade!!!

One of the many things I love about summertime is homemade lemonade!!  And I mean real, homemade lemonade.  From lemons.  My parents have a lemon tree in their backyard that produces year-around (made possible by the warm California climate).  Robbie and I take my 6-year-old daughter, Keanna, out to pick bags-full of lemons a few times each summer.  When we get home, Keanna and I get busy juicing.  We have a simple electric citrus juicer that makes quick work of it.

If you don’t have a lemon tree, lemons from the store will work just as well.  Bottled lemon juice will suffice, though there is a noticeable difference in taste from fresh-squeezed lemon juice.  Unfortunately, lemons are somewhat pricey at the grocery store.  Fortunately, lemon juice freezes very well.  If you do not have a lemon tree or know someone who has one, you can buy lemons when they are on sale, juice them, and freeze the juice.  I usually freeze the juice in one-and-a-half-cup portions so I can pull it out of the freezer anytime I want to make lemonade.

One thing to keep in mind when using fresh-squeezed lemon juice is that the acidity and potency will vary from tree to tree and lemon to lemon.  The following recipe is simply a guide that you can adjust to your taste.  Like it sweeter?  Add more sugar.  Like it weaker, add more water.

Lemonade

1½ c. lemon juice

6 c. water

1¼-1⅓ c. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a 2-quart pitcher and mix until sugar is dissolved.  Serve chilled or iced.  Yield 2 quarts.  Total cost (if you have a lemon tree):  almost FREE!!

Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping

The main key to my success in keeping our food bills low is menu planning. I plan two weeks of meals at a time and do most of the shopping for those two weeks in one shopping trip. In doing so, I not only save money but also time. 

Some basic principles: 

1) Consider your schedule when planning. If you have an afternoon appointment, plan a quick and easy meal, a crockpot meal, or leftovers. 
2) Plan meals that use the same ingredients (e.g. tostadas one night and taco salad another). This results in buying less and wasting less. 
3) Plan meals that use fresh produce for the first few days after your shopping trip. For the rest of the two weeks, plan meals using frozen vegetables. 
4) Take inventory of your pantry, fridge, and freezer, then plan meals using ingredients you already have. 
5) Look at the weekly ads and plan meals with things that are on sale. 
6) Every few shopping trips, skip one week of shopping. This forces you to use the staples you have stocked up and saves a lot of money. Plus it makes you be creative with what you have. 
7) Go to the store with a list and stick to it. This doesn’t mean you can’t pick up something you see at a great price or something you realize you’re out of, but don’t deviate from the list too much. 
8) Organize your list according to your grocery store’s layout. 

Here is an example of one of my lists. I started by writing out the next two weeks’ worth of days and filling in activities (in parentheses). Then I decided on the meals, taking into account what I already had. 

6/29T – roast chicken, rice, sautéed zucchini

6/30W – BBQ chopped salad (with leftover chicken from Tuesday)

7/1T – fried rice (with leftover rice and chicken from Tuesday), Asian salad

7/2F – (doctor appointment) Date Night!!

7/3S – spaghetti, Caesar salad

7/4S – BBQ at Mom and Dad’s

7/5M – (doctor appointment) leftovers

7/6T – baked potatoes with broccoli and chili (made from leftover spaghetti sauce)

7/7W – pancakes, eggs, fruit

7/8T grilled cheese, tomato soup

7/9F – pizza, peas

7/10S – baked chicken, oven fries, sautéed carrots

7/11S – BBQ at Mom and Dad’s

7/12M – burritos, corn

Here is the shopping list I made for this menu (organized according to WinCo’s layout).  Keep in mind this list takes into account items I already have in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. 

Produce 
Zucchini

Romaine

Tomatoes

Green bell pepper

Russet potatoes

Bins 
Red beans

Flour

Chow mein noodles

Right side
BBQ sauce

Mandarin oranges

Tomato sauce (75 oz.)

Diced tomatoes (30 oz.)

Tomato paste (12 oz.)

Tomato soup

Left side 
Tortilla chips

Cereal

Paper towels

Meat/Dairy 
Whole chicken

Chicken leg quarters

Mozzarella

Pepperoni

Sour cream

Frozen 

Corn

Mixed veggies

Broccoli

Peas

I also make a Costco list.

Coscto

Milk

Bananas

Eggs

Tortillas

This system of planning and shopping has worked for me since Robbie and I got married almost seven years ago!  It does take time to plan meals and make a list, but in the long run, I save a lot more time than if I was running to the grocery store several times a week.

Price Matching

When I was a kid, I loved getting mail! It didn't matter what it was as long as it had my name on it. Since most of the mail that comes with my name on it now is either junk mail or bills, I can't say I have the same excitement that I did when I was a kid. However, I still get pretty excited when the mail comes every Tuesday. Why? Because that's the day the grocery ads come in the mail. To many, these probably fall under the "junk mail" category, but for me, they are a key to grocery shopping on a budget.

Competition in retail is wonderful for consumers. All the grocery stores are competing to get me to shop at their store, and the ads are their way of enticing me in. Stores will often have loss leaders, which are sales in which the store is actually losing money, but they're willing to take that loss knowing that once I'm in their store, I will most likely buy other groceries on which they'll make a profit. To get the most benefit out of store sales, you need to shop at more than one store, buying only the best sales at each store. Most weeks, I find a couple great sales at several different grocery stores, but it's really not practical for me to drive around town just to get a few groceries (especially with a toddler). However, I don't want to miss out on any of the sales, so what do I do? Well, thankfully there's a thing called price matching.

Price matching allows me to get all the stores' great sales, but I'm able to get them in one stop. There are two major chains that I know of that price match: Wal-Mart and Target. I usually go to our Wal-Mart Supercenter since it has a full grocery store. I take my weekly grocery ads with me, and when checking out, all I need to do to get the competitor's price is show the cashier the ad. If you do choose to price match, I would suggest organizing and marking your ads before you get to the register. I circle the items I'm planning on buying with a green or red marker, so that they're easy to find at the register.

Last week, I was able to price match avocados and tomatoes - two things I don't buy unless there's an amazing sale. Since I had both of those ingredients (which doesn't happen very often), I decided make guacamole! I based my recipe off Alton Brown's recipe found here, but made a few changes based on what I had on hand and our taste preferences. Here's my recipe:

Guacamole
3 avocados, halved, seeded, and peeled
1 Tbsp lime juice
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ medium onion, diced
1 Roma tomato, seeded and diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
¼ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

In a large bowl, add avocados and lime juice (the lime juice does more than add flavor! It also slows down the oxidation process - the process in which avocados turn brown - so don't leave it out!). Mash avocados with a fork until desired consistency is reached. Add remaining ingredients and mix. I would recommend tasting and adjust it as you go. Remember, you can always add more ingredients later, but you can't take anything out! For something a little different, try using guacamole as a spread on your turkey sandwiches!

Before you start price matching, I recommend reading the policies of each store. Target's can be found here and Wal-Mart's is located here. Each individual store may have additional rules and regulations, so I suggest calling your local store with any questions you may have.

And, speaking of avocados and saving money, find out how you can get a coupon for avocados here!

Cook Once, Eat Lots---Pasta!

A few days ago my wonderful neighbor took the kids for us so my husband and I could go out on a date. She even fed them dinner! But despite the fact that I didn’t have to cook for my family, I still made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce. Why? I am due with our fourth child in about two-and-a-half weeks and am trying to fill my freezer with delicious, nutritious, and easy meals for after her arrival. My family loves pasta, and spaghetti sauce is easy to make in large quantities and freezes well.

When making spaghetti sauce, I don’t pay extra for lean ground beef. Because you brown the beef before you use it, a lot of the fat cooks out. I watch the grocery ads for great deals on 80% lean ground beef. I can occasionally find it for $1.67/lb. in a 10-lb. bag at Raley’s. Whoa, that’s a lot of beef! Yes it is! I take it home, pull out my kitchen scale, and freeze it in 1-lb. portions.

Speaking of freezing meat, that is one of my weaknesses. Sometimes I buy too much, knowing I can freeze it. I don’t have a food sealing system or even use zip-top bags when freezing meat. I’ve found that tightly wrapping it in plastic wrap and then foil works just as well and is a lot cheaper. Before sticking it in the freezer, I always write the type of meat, how much there is, and the date on each package.

On another note, this recipe calls for two celery ribs. Just as a point of clarification, a rib of celery is one piece, or stick of celery. A stalk of celery is a bunch of celery ribs and is how it is sold at the store.

Back to the spaghetti sauce, another great thing about this recipe is that you can turn leftover sauce into chili or minestrone. I’ll post those recipes another time.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 large onion

2 lbs. ground beef (or turkey)

75 oz. tomato sauce

12 oz. tomato paste

30 oz. canned diced tomatoes

2 celery ribs

1 green bell pepper

6 mushrooms

½ Tbsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

½ Tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried parsley

½ tsp. dried thyme

3 bay leaves

NOTE:  For sweeter, more tomatoey sauce, use less herbs. For more savory sauce, use more herbs.

Dice onion. Place in large stock pot (at least 5 qts.) with ground beef. Cook over medium heat until no pink remains in beef, stirring occasionally. Drain off fat. Return pot to stove over medium heat and stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. Chop celery, bell pepper, and mushrooms; mix into sauce. Add all seasonings and herbs; mix well. Turn heat to low and simmer 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until celery and pepper are tender. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve over hot pasta. Freeze leftovers in usable portions in plastic containers or zip-top bags. Yields almost 5 qts. Total cost:  about $10. Unit cost:  about $2/qt.

Excuse Me, Where Can I Find the Toast?

My parents often joke about a single male friend of theirs who would to the grocery store and ask where the toast was. At the time, asking for toast in a grocery store was a pretty ridiculous request. How hard can it possibly be to stick a piece of bread in the toaster? However, this type of request is becoming less and less humorous, because it is becoming more of a reality. Today, stores are selling things that people would have laughed at 20 years ago: frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and they even removed the crust for us!), frozen grilled cheese, premixed pancake batter (not pancake mix, but batter, where all you have to do is shake and pour), frozen pancakes and waffles, frozen potatoes. Yes, I said frozen potatoes.

I think that the reason people use frozen potatoes is because they think washing, peeling, and cubing potatoes is a lot of work. Let me say that it really isn’t. If you need some convincing that it really is worth your time to prepare your own potatoes, let’s start by looking at some numbers. I went to the grocery store this afternoon and checked the price of frozen potatoes. The name brand was on sale for $3.69 for a 38 oz. bag (9.7 cents/oz.). The store brand was also on sale and was quite a bit cheaper than the name brand. It was “only” $2.50 for 32 ounces (7.8 cents/oz.). However, last week I bought a 10-lb bag of Russet potatoes for 97 cents – the price I typically pay for potatoes (0.6 cents/oz. – notice, that’s not 6 cents/oz., that’s o.6 cents/oz.). The store brand frozen potatoes cost 13 times as much as fresh potatoes, and the name brand frozen potatoes cost 16 times as much as fresh potatoes!!! That’s enough to make me stop and think before I throw the bag of frozen potatoes into my shopping cart!

Now, some of you may be thinking, “Yes. The 10-lb bag of potatoes may be a lot cheaper, but my time is more valuable than that.” Let me challenge you by telling you that it really doesn’t take very long to peel and cube potatoes, and cooking them takes about the same amount of time. It only took me 10 minutes, maximum, to prepare the potatoes for the recipe below.

If you’re not sure how to quickly cube potatoes, here is how I do it. Slice the potato lengthwise.

Your slices should look like this:With the potato slices stacked, slice into long, thin strips (like French fries). Turn the “French fries” a quarter turn and cube. Don't be discouraged if it does take a little longer the first couple of times. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, and the less time it will take you to do it.

Breakfast Potatoes
3 Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1-2 Tbsp oil
¼ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. paprika
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat 1-2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add potatoes. Make sure to stir the potatoes occasionally. You want to make sure they don’t burn, but you also want them to brown and get a bit crispy, so don’t stir them constantly. Once the potatoes are tender, remove from heat and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, adjusting the amounts to suit your personal preference.

One of my favorite things to make with potatoes is breakfast burritos. They’re easy, tasty, and inexpensive.

Breakfast Burritos
1 batch breakfast potatoes
½ each green bell pepper and small onion, chopped and sautéed
3 eggs, scrambled (I like to add ½ to 1 tsp Montreal steak seasoning into my eggs)
¼ lb breakfast sausage, thoroughly cooked
Tortillas, warmed
Burrito toppings (cheddar cheese, sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, ketchup, etc.)

Place desired ingredients on tortilla and wrap into a burrito. Eat. I said it was easy!

On a different, yet related note, let me tell you that my favorite way to heat tortillas is on the stove. I used to wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave them, but my wonderful sister has enlightened me to a much better way to heat tortillas. Now I heat them in a skillet on the stove over medium to medium-high heat until they’re warm and soft. Try it sometime. I doubt you’ll ever go back to heating them in the microwave!

Ok, let’s get back to the breakfast burritos. Here’s the cost breakdown, give or take a few cents.

• Potatoes: $0.13
• Bell Pepper: $0.30
• Onion: $0.40
• Eggs: $0.30
• Sausage: $0.50
• Tortillas: $0.38
• Toppings (cheese, ketchup, hot sauce): $0.50

TOTAL: $2.51

For $2.51 (the cost of the potatoes alone, had I bought the frozen ones), my husband and I (and our toddler) were able to eat dinner, plus we have enough leftovers for both of us to have lunch tomorrow. That’s not a bad price for two meals for two adults! And for those of you wondering what to do with the other 8½ lbs of potatoes you now have sitting around your house, rest assured, there will be plenty of potato ideas coming your way!