Using What We Have

I have a confession to make. I don't always take my coupon binder to the store. I have 4 kids. Time is very limited. I have a bag of unclipped, unfiled coupons sitting under my desk right now. I used to feel a bit guilty about it but now I just feel great that I actually bought the paper and thought to take the coupons out! But I have some good news:
You don't have to use coupons to save a ton of money on groceries! There are some very frugal things that you can do to cut your grocery bill in half. Check back each day for new things you can do to save money.

Today I want to talk about what we already have. We all have food in the backs of our cabinets that we never do anything with. This is generally the food we reach for during the canned food drives at the library or church. But if you can't figure out what to do with it, the people visiting the food pantries in your city probably can't either. You need to use these items. Think of it as money sitting in your cabinets. If you had a dollar in there, you would take it out and put it in your wallet.

I have some canned chicken, artichoke hearts, and some dried beef. I also have copious amounts of dried beans.

This is what I am going to do with it:
I found this recipe at allrecipes.com using their ingredient search. It looks simple enough and will use the ingredients I already have. I will modify the recipy slightly to account for the chicken being cooked and canned.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Artichoke-Chicken/Detail.aspx

The dried beef will be used for some Creamed Beef on biscuits.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chipped-Beef-on-Toast/Detail.aspx

I will use the dried black beans to make black bean burritos. Mix a half a pound of cooked ground beef, beans, and a pack of taco mix together. Put some spoonfuls in tortillas, roll them up, put in baking dish, cover with jarred salsa and cheddar cheese. Bake until cheese it melted and dish is heated through. The ground beef can be omitted entirely but my husband would revolt.

So I have 3 suppers and I did not even have to go to the grocery store. I have a pretty decent stockpile right now so I don't anticipate going to the store at all except for milk and bread. WOO HOO!

So this week I encourage you to look in the dark places of your cabinets, get those odd foods out and try something different. You will save money and hopefully find a new recipe to try and love!




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