Now let's get started - Cooking for $5.50 a day

So here's the essentials:

- Meal Planning

- Ad watching

- Coupons; when it's something I had originally intended on purchasing

- Freezing & storing food

- Making the most use out of leftovers

Initially, I was not sure that it's possible to work with around 5.50 a day, to feed two people 3 daily meals without those essentials. So here's what you need to do to get a little more confident: sit down and make a list of both of your favorite foods & meals.

My husband, loves chicken. And I do too, so this is a staple in our house. We buy from a large Warehouse Store chicken breasts, thighs & legs for less than a dollar a pound. That's a crazy great deal, especially since they carry natural chicken. This is where you'll see me buy most of my groceries; in big, large quantities because I do something I call 'Staple Cooking'. I went ahead & made up the term to encompass what I do. I have about 15 things I use to make a month's worth of meals that were mentioned in my Food Challenge Blog.

We both love, slow cooked home made tomato sauces that are actually cheaper to make, and have an indescribable level of complexity that is only experienced once you taste a homemade sauce. So, I buy a 5 lb can of tomatoes, nothing special done to them (the ones that are crushed, etc. tend to cost more from my experience) for about 2.20. It's crazy cheap - and I do so many things with it that I hope will influence you to try!

So once we sat down, I got a general grasp of what we both like, and from there, I can start. This is what you should do, too.

About once a month, we hit the higher end markets, to buy a big lamb leg to slow roast - and it's our treat that we financially account for through our 'fun funds' budget allowance. We know, it's costs us about 30 bucks, and that is really about 3/5ths of what we spend on food in one week, but i'm a firm believer in splurging to have fun - because you know what? Budgeting the whole way through, gives you the money & excitement of totally splurging on something you both love.

Things you're going to see here that are going to help you

- Meat reduction/reducing pricey ingredients from dishes. I do a stuffed cabbage, where I reverse how much rice & meat should be used. I do 3 cups of rice, instead of meat - and vice versa. So that automatically trims money from a dish, that ended up being far more heart healthy!

- Making big dishes at dinner to become leftovers for lunch the next day. I hardly pack my husband or myself lunches that weren't derived from dinner. For example, let's say we had Falafel's or Meatloaf the night before.. What I do is transform it for a yummy lunch that if I weren't to point it out to my husband that it was last night's dinner, he would have hardly a clue. I'll do something like Stuffed Falafel Pita Sandwiches, with Tahini, Hummus & a salad. Really yummy, and even the bread is cheap, if you'll remember from my Bread rant & rave Make your own baked goods! 

- Milk is amazing. Amazing, amazing and more amazing. From making plain & greek yogurt, to ricotta, to being used in baking, and making rice pudding creamy & delish. We'll be using it a lot, so make sure you have a place where it's decently priced for the gallon. I go for 2 gallons for 4.25 all total. (I'm telling you: WAREHOUSE STORES are amazing. Not for everything, but if you can do the simple math of pricing by oz, you are set. Email me or Twitter message & i'll give you the breakdown) Along with milk, we'll use staples like this to create a whole array of wonderful foods!

- When I say 5.50 daily - I am talking about as an average from an entire month. Weekly you'll spend anywhere from 40 - 55, and once you divide the days out of the week is once you get this average. I've seen blogs & sites where it's 5 dollars meals - but we're talking 5 DOLLAR DAYS! All meals included. It's all about smart shopping. Which is so much easier, than paying for premade foods that cost you extra time at work to pay for. And did I mention, it's not very good if you can't pronounce more than 5 things on the package!

Get your list together & locate the Warehouse Markets, Discount Stores & where the loss-leaders are (not sure what this is? weekly, stores post ads w/ specials on the front - this is where they are losing the most money, and it's the best time for you to take advantage).

See you guys soon!

- BCB

Polenta Pizzas - Crazy cheap dinner that is crazy delish!

Here's to one of the funnest & cheapest recipes i've come up with in all of my endeavors. Polenta pizzas. A good friend of mine is a Chef, a super awesome one, and introduced me to polenta! It was always one of those things I was always apprehensive to try, and never imagined making it at home, but once I picked up my 5 lb bag for less than 5 bucks, I knew i'd be making a load of meals!

You first want to start with all ingredients depicted; all 7 of them! (Cheese, Marinara Sauce, Cornmeal, Salt, Water, Olives & Olive Oil)

Here's how to make the Polenta; for every 1 3/4 cups of Polenta you need 6 cups of boiling water that has 2 tsp of salt. This is the proportion I use to make dinner & lunch for my husband the next day. It's deceivingly a ton of Polenta. So let's say you go with the proportions I stated above, here's what you should do:

Get 6 cups of h20 boiling, add 2 tbsp of salt, and slowly... I repeat slowly mix in the polenta. My friend said that if you were to add it all, you'd get a big funky ball of cornmeal, so I listened to him & so should you. 







If you run into lumps like this, which is pretty common on my end, don't fret because it's easy to fix & the more you make Polenta the easier it gets! Just grab your immersion blender, and for a couple minutes blend into the smooth mixture you intended to achieve.

Ah, there we go! Look at that, nice & smooth. As if it never happened!

Reduce your heat to simmer Polenta for around, 10 - 15 minutes. Throw in half a cup of chopped olives, a little cheese, and whatever else you normally like on top of your pizza (get creative!) Then, place in an elongated glass dish & let cool for around 1 hr 45 minutes (or until it's set into a solid) in the fridge. This stuff is so amazingly simple to handle once it sets right!

I personally prefer cubes, but one time to add character to the plate I used a round cookie cutter to have circles! Then, in a side sauce pan, heat about 3/4 of a cup of any kind of pasta sauce. I'll grab my store purchased stuff for this one, because making a home made sauce here isn't necessarily cheaper. Cut the polenta into cubes/squares, grill for a few minutes. Then, spread the marinara over your polenta slices, and sprinkle cheese. Mmm!

After making this my way, I know you'll find your own variations you absolutely love!

I like to serve a salad with this!

Want some other ideas for when you buy the big bag of Cornmeal?
1. Homemade baked or friend Corndogs
2. Hush Puppies
3. Use as a coat - on things you'll fry like fish
4. Cornmeal pizza crust
5. Polenta soup, garnished with freshly grated parm, tomato slices & basil - mmm!
6. Cornbread - my fav to make is Mexi style w/ onions, peppers & corn!
7. Morning muffins w/ berries
& it definitely doesn't end there! See you guys soon! - BCB