Meat meals

We have started to purchase our meats only when they are on sale. Safeway's "buy one get one free" packages of meat offer a real cost saving if your willing to do a little organizing after you arrive home.

With Chicken thighs we separate them into packages of 4 and have only one each at a meal meaning each frozen package cover meals for two days. We find we can have chicken for $1. each per meal this way.

We also buy the roasts offered on this same sale and then slice into about 1 or 1.5""thick steak slices. We wrap each steak separately and use only one if we are having a stir fry. A stir fry meal will cost us $1. for the meat. If we b.q. the steaks, we marinate them for a few hours and we each have one steak........this meal will cost us $2. for the meat.

Watching the sales, cutting back our servings to healthier sizes and taking the time to divide or cut before freezing means we have been able to cut our meat expenses considerably.

Vegetable Chowder

Another soup we enjoy and have regularily costs us $1.65 for soup for two for lunches.

1 pound parsnips
1 large yam
1 small head broccoli
1 small onion, diced
3 cups water
salt to taste
8 oz ricotta cheese (low fat)
2 cups milk (I use 1 or 2% milk)
1/2 cup grated potato
black pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 T grated parmesan cheese

Peel parsnips and yams and dice to 1/2 inch, Cut broccoli head into small flowerets peel the stem and dice to 1/2 inch cubes.

bring the water and salt to a boil, add parsnips, sweet potato, broccoli stem, grated potatoes and onions. Return to a boil and turn very low to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli flowerets and simmer 3 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.

Combine ricotta cheese, milk, pepper and nutmeg in a blender. Whirl until pureed then stir into soup. Gently heat through before scooping into soup bowls and sprinkling with parmesan cheese.

If this gives you 4 servings (it gives us 6 servings)

per serving 300 calories, 7 g fat, 49 g carbs

Cutting expenses and eating well.

I've kept my grocery till tapes and broken down my expenses so I know exactly what different meals and recipes are costing us.

The soup recipe listed here costs 37 cents a meal (that's a meal, not each. Feeding two of us costs 18.5 cents each). I freeze, in zip lock bags, 2.5 cup measures from each batch of soup. Having a variety of soups in the freezer, ready to quickly thaw in the microwave, makes our lunches very easy and still delicious.

My Vegetarian Lentil Soup

canola or Olive oil
1 cup onions, diced small
4 medium carrots, diced/sliced to 1/2 inch
1/2 cup of red split lentils
1 1/2 cup veggie stock
pinch of ground mace
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
2 med or 1 large yam, diced to 1/2 inch
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (or dice a cup of fresh tomatoes with the seeds removed)
add water to thin to required consistancy as required

Saute the onions and carrots in the canola or Olive oil in a large heavy frying pan over medium heat for 5 minutes stirring occassionally.

Clean the lentils and rinse. Add the lentils, veggie stock and seasonings to the pan, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomatoes and yams, stir and cover. Bring back to a boil and reduce heat again to simmer another 20 minutes until the yams are soft and the soup has thickened stirring occassionally. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve immediately or freeze in med or small zip lock bags in meal sized batches.


I really enjoy this soup. I hope it's something you find filling and satisfying too. For 18.5 cents a bowl you can't do much better.

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