Frugal Food

This is the picture of the end of a very thrifty meal that served 15 people. Well, okay, that's an exaggeration. Baby Lili brings her own food source with her so that means only 14 people were fed from my crockpots Sunday.

Notice the cooker on the left. It was a gift from my parents many years ago and it has lived a long, useful life. I got the super-duper upgraded model on the right as a gift from Lulu and Dan (only Dan probably doesn't know anything about it) and I think Lulu managed to get all of her siblings involved in the purchase of it in one way or another. The new one was meant to replace my poor, disfigured, broken crockpot except I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Sure the crockery is a bit cracked and the handles are taped on but the heating element still works just fine thankyouverymuch! I'm a bit cracked and taped up but you wouldn't think of throwing me away would you?  Don't answer that.  And let me just say for the record that my heater works just fine these days - or nights - too.

Anyway, I wouldn't dream of taking the old one to church dinners or anything like that for fear of the tape working loose and the whole shebang going "bang" but for after church dinners at home? Well, it still meets a need.

I like to spend time with my extended family over Sunday dinner if at all possible. I've got a bit of my paternal grandma in me, I think. I remember fondly those days at her house playing with my cousins while the grown-ups did grown-up things . . . like playing board and card games. Some things never change. :)

I also like to be able to invite others home with us on the spur of the moment.  That isn't always possible, but there is usually room for another 1 or 2 (or 3) around my table(s) as long as they don't mind eating home-cooking served rather informally.

The secret to inexpensive Sunday dinners is in planning ahead. 'Way ahead. I'm talking think-like-Thanksgiving-Day-is-coming soon ahead. I already have next week's meal planned and part of the next week also. I'm also scheduled to take a meal later this week to a family who has a new addition so I'm preparing for that meal also.  Nothing like a new baby to make me want to go sneak a peek at the little darling.   I've learned that if you stop by with food they don't mind the intrusion.

Yesterday's meal consisted of pork tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, tossed salad, mixed California style veggies with cheese sauce, home made crescent rolls, and white Texas sheet cake with chocolate ice cream for dessert. I figure that I spent $1.50 per person. The most expensive thing was the pork, but by fixing a whole tenderloin (and buying it on sale) it went further with less waste than individual pork chops would.  Plus I didn't need to worry about the one-to-one correspondence between each person and his or her chop.  Pork chop, that is.

I made my rolls the day before with another cost and labor-saving device: my faithful old bread machine that I bought as a reconditioned item almost 20 years ago.   It has more than paid for itself many times over.

I planned the cooking of the meat and side dishes carefully.  The pork went into the old crockpot and the potatoes went into the new one. The potatoes needed the "keep warm" setting that engages on the newer model once the cook time has elapsed. I made the cheese sauce in the little crockpot immediately after I got home from church for anyone that wanted to put it over the California veggies. 

My roast and potato recipes came from the Fix It and Forget It Recipes for Entertaining cookbook  that I found on sale a few years ago and the white Texas sheetcake one came from the Gooseberry Patch Family Favorite Recipes cookbook that I bought a couple of years ago for full price, but with a gift card. The rolls recipe was from a book that I got at a yardsale in Georgetown, SC while on vacation at Myrtle Beach many years ago (strange, but true:  who goes to yard sales on vacation especially when she doesn't go to them in her own neighborhood?) called Bread Machine Magic.

So I figure that for around $21 I fed us all. I'd hate to think what it would cost to take us all out to eat at a restaurant. Even eating off a dollar menu would not be as "ful"filling.

Speaking of eating out, if you like the flavors of certain restaurant cuisine but not the accompanying price you might be interested in this downloadable e-book entitled "28 No-Guilt Copycat Recipes" that are not only cheaper to make at home but diet friendly.  (Thanks to Cincinnati Cents for the tip.)



Note to Lisa:  I don't know how I could possibly publish anything about frugality that you don't already know!  I think I taught you everything I knew when you were growing up in our home.  And you've learned to live even more frugally yourself on a military salary.  Thanks for the encouragement, though.  Maybe I'll come across something new to teach you.  Love,  Mom