Healthy Freezer Recipes

Check out these budget-friendly, easy freezer recipes from Prevention. 

Clams with Rouge Sauce on the Cheap

One of my favorite dishes when eating out is linguine with clams in a rouge sauce. Cost at restaurant = ~$10 per serving.  Here is my own hack (thanks to Sue for giving me the push to begin my hack life ;) )

Clams with Rouge Sauce

• 1  16 oz box linguine (I usually can get this for $0.25 a box at Meijer and stock pile it)
  
• 1  jar Ragu spaghetti sauce (bought for 3/$5 + had 3 $0.50 coupons, so $1.17/jar)
  
• 3  cans Snow's chopped clams (bought at Rite Aid $0.99/ea + had 3 $1.00/2 coupons, so $0.49/can)
  
• 1  12 oz can Carnation Evaporated Milk (bought at Meijer $0.99/can + had coupon for $1/2, so $0.49/can)
• 2 T cornstarch mixed with just enough water to make it the consistency of maple syrup

In sauce pan, mix together last 4 ingredients cook until heated through and sauce has thickened.  About 10 minutes.  Served my family of 4, plus had 1 portion leftover. Your mileage may vary. Total Cost = $3.38. Cost per serving = $0.68. 

My girls who normally HATE spaghetti sauce gobbled it up and told me it was awesome. As soon as I picked myself off the floor, I entered this post.  ; )

Happy Hacking,

Colleen

Saving Money on Chicken

We eat a fair amount of chicken over here. It's generally inexpensive, a good source of protein, and is tasty. I generally look for recipes that make it easy to stretch our grocery dollars, chicken included. But today when I saw the price of frozen drumsticks vs. frozen chicken breasts, I realized that it was worth a little extra time and the dollars-saved to think "outside the box."

I buy whole chickens semi-regularly -- that is to say, when they're on sale. I roast them and then feed my family three meals from the same chicken. (Before you think I restrict their food-intake, they leave the table satisfied and content.) But for other meals, I've been in the habit of buying individually frozen chicken breasts and using those, even for stir-fry dishes or things where I don't *have* to use white meat chicken.

The price of 4lbs of chicken breast was $8 at our local store; the price of 4lbs of drumsticks was $3. Quick math says that it's a big savings, especially if I don't mind doing the extra work to make the drumsticks in to usable meat. Which I didn't -- right now, I have more time than money. ;)

I came home and placed the entire bag of drumsticks on a metal baking tray and seasoned them a bit. I baked them at 350F until done (about an 1.5 hours or so). I let them cool and then ignored the plaintively mewing cat at my feet while I stripped the meat from the bones. Was it slippery? A bit. But my hands wash pretty easily. Was it time-consuming? Yeah. But like I said, I have more time than money, so it works out for me. What I ended up with was 3 bags of chicken suitable for stir-fried rice, a stew, or some other dish where the flavour of the meal will permeate the meat for about $1 per meal. Out of 4lbs of drumsticks, there was a lot of water & bone, but what came from it was worthwhile; there are bags of frozen chicken meat, ready-to-use and fuss-free the next time I need them.

I'll still buy the frozen chicken breasts for dishes that we enjoy and can't use a substitute. But for other meals, this chicken-hack works out pretty well. It's worth the time because of the monetary-savings, but also because I've done the labour for future meal-prep. :)

Happy cooking!

~Sue

Easy Cheesy Vegetable Soup

If you want your family to eat more vegetables (willingly!) and enjoy good, hearty soups in the fall and winter, this one is for you. It's my own concoction, adapted from Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner. This recipe is suitable for a crockpot or stove-top.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, cored & broadly chunked
3 medium carrots, peeled & chunked
3 stalks of celery, washed & chunked
4 c. chicken broth (water + bouillon cubes work well)
1 t. thyme, crushed
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8 oz. shredded cheese
2 c. milk, divided
1 jar Ragu Double Cheese pasta sauce

Put the first set of ingredients in a stock pot (6 qt) or large crockpot and cover. If using crockpot, cook on low for at least 8 hours or high for 4 hours. If using stovetop method, allow the ingredients to boil and then reduce to low until the vegetables are soft and easily broken with a rubber spatula or knife.

Once the vegetables are soft enough (as indicated above), turn the heat to low and use a stick blender to puree the contents of the pot. If you don't have a stick blender, strain the vegetables and a small amount of the broth to a blender and whirl on purée until smooth.

Once the contents are smooth and there are no more chunks and/or strings from the celery chunks, add cheese (anything except mozarella or swiss) to the pot, stirring to melt. Combine 1 cup of milk and 1 jar of Ragu Double Cheese Pasta Sauce in as well. The pasta sauce will be thick and you'll use another cup of milk in the jar, swishing it around to get the rest of it out and in the pot of soup. Combine well.

Season with salt & pepper to taste and serve up with salad and crusty bread. It's a hearty, filling soup that your family will rave about! :)

Bon appetite!

~Sue

Half & Half Hack

Do you like the taste of half & half in your coffee or tea? Do you hate the price of the stuff? We do and we do over here.

My husband & I consume a full pot of java every morning and our choice of addition is half & half. For a while, I could find it cheap(er) in small containers at Kroger, but as the cost of fuel went up, so did the "sticky prices" of groceries (more on that in another post). And our precious half & half went to the ridiculous point.

Then I began buying it in bigger containers at Costco -- making the run there every 4 weeks or so. And then those prices went up.

So as they say on our son's favourite Disney show ("My Friends Tigger & Pooh"), "Think, think, think."

A few weeks ago, I was at Costco and noticed the price of heavy whipping cream was less than half & half when compared ounce-for-ounce. Half & half is merely whole milk with heavy cream added, so could I make half & half for us cheaper than buying it ready-made? Hmmm. I bought a single container of heavy whipping cream and figured it was worth a try.

In order to successfully complete this "life hack," you need to have a container for combining milk & heavy cream that can be closed and shaken when you're ready for it. Happily, our milk is delivered in glass bottles with plastic lids, so I generally have a clean glass bottle hanging around. :)

Pour equal amounts of milk & heavy cream in to the container and shake. Half & half that comes from the store has been homogenized (a process whereby high-pressured air is shot through the product to break up milkfat molecules and make it smooth), and the stuff you're making won't be. However, I've discovered that as I shake, I'm getting a fresher-tasting half & half in my coffee and a head of foam on my cup that makes me feel like I'm drinking an expensive cuppa coffee from a gourmet coffee shop. ;)

If you've got the inclination and the willingness to hack something yourself, let us know. This little hack saves us about $1 per container of half & half and is entirely worth it.

~Sue

One Dish Taco Meal

This dish is hearty, easy, and makes a lot. I make it healthy by using very lean ground beef and brown rice, but feel free to tweak it to fit your family's tastebuds. Props to Mary Hunt at Debt-Proof Living for the idea for this meal; I tweaked it to make it "mine," but her idea was the basis for it.


1# lean ground beef, browned and (if necessary), drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 can seasoned, diced tomatoes (either Ro-Tel or Italian-style)
2 pkts taco seasoning
4 cups beef broth (may substitute 4 c. boiling water + 4 bouillon cubes)
1 box instant brown (may use white) instant rice -- 14 oz.

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Place beef, corn, beans, tomatoes, and taco seasoning in a large pan (I use an electric skillet), combine well. Add beef broth and stir well. Heat contents on medium-high and add entire 14 oz box of instant rice, stirring well. Cover the dish and allow contents to cook on med-low for 30-35 min (or until all liquid is absorbed by rice). Sprinkle with shredded cheese, serve with sour cream & hot sauce, as desired.

~Sue

Stick Another Stone in the Pot

We can clip coupons, shop sales, and turn down thermostats all in an effort to save money. But what do we do with the food items we procured on-sale, with (doubled) coupons, and that don't shove our utility bills through the roof?

I've got answers. And recipes. One of my passions is creating hearty meals that are budget-friendly and taste good; most of them will feed a family of 4 at least twice (or provide enough leftovers for a few days worth of lunches). All of them are tasty and healthy.

Check out the new category and new recipes as I add 'em. :)

Happy cooking!

~Sue