Open up: Chili and cornbread

This isn't from scratch, but just a quick example of a tasty meal that requires little more than opening some packaging. Yes, of course we would all like to eat organic home cooked meals at all times, but I am here to show you how it is possible to eat cheap with some variety!

Start with a can of Chili and a box of Jiffy cornbread mix.

Corn Muffins:
Follow the directions on the box. Now, I hate crumbly cornbread. I'm already a hot mess without having to brush crumbs off my top. My little secret is to add 50% more milk or water than the box suggests. It makes them more moist and less thirst inducing. Everything else remains the same.


Chili:
Open up a can of chili and heat it up on the stove. You can use any kind of chili you like. I used Ralph's Chili with Beans. I added water because I thought it was a little pasty thick. I wanted more of a soup chili than a topping chili.

We put the hot corn muffins right into the chili. It was delicious.

Cost Breakdown:
Can of Chili (Ralph's): $1
Corn muffin mix (Ralph's): $0.33
= $1.33/2= $0.67 a person

Wino "Fancy Pants" Steaks

A friend gave me 2 bottles of wine at a dinner party. We didn't end up drinking it, and I discovered I didn't like it. But, being both cheap and considering dumping booze nearly a sin, it's been sitting on my counter. I marinated a roast in it. But I wanted to try something new and I had a couple of steaks to dress up. I've heard and read about wine reduction sauces. My mom is a great cook and she works at Richard's Farm Restaurant.

I turned to my old friend Google and began a search. I had decided on a dinner of steak with a red wine reduction sauce, baked sweet potatoes and green beans. I looked at several red wine reduction sauce recipes and got a general idea of what to do and just made my own version.

Baked Sweet Potatoes:
I'm still working on doing mulitple steps and having everything done at the same time. This should have been my first step.

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Wash sweet potatoes and puncture them.
2. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 45 -60 minutes.
3. Cut open and garnish with butter and brown sugar.

Wine sauce
Ingredients:
Olive oil
Fresh Garlic; chopped (You could use the minced kind in the jar)
Diced onion (I used the dehydrated kind you buy in the spice aisle)
Red wine
Flour

1. Heat saucepan on the stove
2. Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Heat the oil.
3. Add chopped garlic and onion. Let the garlic and onions carmelize.
4. Pour wine into sauce pan. (I think it was about 2 cups. I don't make it a habit to measure when pouring wine.)
5. Add a couple pinches of flour to thicken the sauce as it reduces.
6. Boil until the mixture reduce to 1/2, maybe a little more. Stir occaisionally.

Steaks
I covered the steaks lightly with a rub of olive oil, salt and pepper. As they were thin steaks, I only cooked them 1-2 mintues on each side.

Green Beans
Let's not pretend. I opened a can of green beans and nuked them with some diced onion mixed in.

Cost Breakdown
Steaks: $2.10 (Ralph's Manager Special)
Wine: $FREE.99 (You could pick up a bottle of 2 buck chuck and drink the rest)
Baked sweet potatoes: $ .34 (1/3 of the $1 bag from 99 cent store)
Green Beans: $1 (Ralph's)

$2.10
$0.34
$1.00
_____
$3.44/2 = $1.72 a person

Cheap, easy and fast never tasted so comfy

Hey all -

A quick little post reminding us again that there are often things in the house that can make a great meal. I heated up a can of Campbell's Chunky Beef and Veggie Soup and made 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for me and Zell. Fast, easy, cheap. All things I had in the cabinets or fridge.

Before you run to the store, double check all the stuff you "don't have to eat" in the house. It will probably surprise you.

Sloppy Cost Breakdown:

The soup was probably from the 99cent Store. We all know how I love that place.
4 pieces of bread - 7 grain loaf cost $2.50 ish (yeah, day old bread!)
2 slices of cheese - a 16 piece package was on sale at Ralph's for 2/$4

Soup - $1.00
1/4 loaf of bread: $.63
2 slices of cheese: $.25

= $1.88/2 = $.94 a person

Sometimes, You Get What You Pay For

It is unfortunate, but sometimes this is true. For example, I bought one of those put-the-soap-in-the-handle dish sponge things at the Dollar Tree. I used it today and not only did it not work, it fell apart and changed the color of the dish water. So, the lesson is, if it looks cheap, feels cheap, and is actually cheap - don't expect much out of it.