The following is a guest post from Alice Seuffert of Dining with Alice. Alice makes regular appearances on Twin Cities Live as their “Kitchen Star.” Tune in to Twin Cities Live today (Friday, 10/21) at 3pm to watch Alice share fun and easy Halloween party ideas.
I was recently asked to participate in a chef challenge sponsored by Twin Cities Live and Cub Foods. The challenge was to come up with as much food as we could for $20; we were judged on taste, creativity and quantity. We had to count the items purchased, not just the amount used (a misleading trick some magazines use) toward our total amount spent.
We were also allowed to use common pantry ingredients like flour, sugar, oil, butter, cinnamon, salt and pepper. The prize for the winner? A golden whisk and $100 in groceries from Cub!
I immediately thought of the meals my mom used to make when she was trying to save money: breakfast for dinner, kielbasa and goulash. I put my creative spin on three traditional comfort foods and came up with Brown Sugar Rubbed Pork with Peaches and Cream Waffles, Kielbasa and Apple Sauerkraut with Pumpkin Drop Biscuits, and Pumpkin Pie Goulash Cupcakes.
How much did I spend? $19.99! I made 29 meals with a cost of about 68 cents a meal. My creativity paid off and I won the challenge!
I did have a good foundation in budget meal planning that sealed the deal on my win. Here are my favorite tips for budget meal planning:
- Check which items are on sale that week before you plan your meals. Use those items as a center point of your meals.
- Look for products that can be used in multiple ways or in multiple recipes.
- Buy only what you need for the recipe. If you only need a small amount of something, buy the smallest container.
- Use the bulk bins. These bins often have beans, nuts and seeds you can buy in small quantities.
- Look for fresh spices. Cub Foods has sealed fresh spices for close to $1 a package.
- Buy items that already have seasoning contained in the can, jar or sauce.
- When buying produce, you don’t need to stick to their packaging. Take what you need and don’t be afraid to take out cherries or grapes and weigh them.
- Finally, take your time, compare prices and be flexible with your meal ideas based on the deals you find. If you can, leave your children at home – it helps so you don’t have to make rash decisions based on your child’s temperament!
Good luck stretching your food dollar!
Alice Seuffert is a St. Paul mom, home cook, blogger at Dining with Alice and the Twin Cities Live Kitchen Star. She can be reached at alicejseuffert @ yahoo.com (remove spaces) or on Facebook.
Your turn: How much do you normally spend on meals? Do you try to keep your total under a certain amount, or do you just wing it?
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Congratulations! Are the recipes posted somewhere? I didn’t see them on the Dining With Alice blog.
AJM-You can access the recipes I made for the challenge at my blog, here’s the direct link to that post. Just scroll down and you’ll see the recipes for Brown Sugar Rubbed Pork with Peaches and Cream Waffles, Kielbasa and Apple Sauerkraut with Pumpkin Drop Biscuits and Pumpkin Pie Goulash Cupcakes!
http://diningwithalice.blogspot.com/2011/09/twin-cities-live-and-cub-foods-20-chef.html
Thanks and enjoy!
Great tips! I forget about the bins where you can put small amounts of something in a bag.