Friday, February 25, 2011

BEING FLEXIBLE WITH MEAL PLANNING

Can it be, is the month almost over? I cannot believe that this month is almost over. This has probably been one of the busiest February's I've ever had. Crafting has been a big time consumer this month. I'm doing another dishcloth swap for February and March and I also did the secret sister swap. It's been frustrating that I don't have a camera to post pictures of what I've been working on - so I just haven't been posting - bad excuse I know. This should be remedied soon. We also had a baptism and went to the RV and Camper Show (awesome!).

I had planned to post my menues for the week. I was good and made my menu plan up. Then I went shopping and walked out with a whole new menu plan for the week. What went wrong? Or maybe what went right would be the better question? Meat markdowns! I found four packages of organic ground chuck marked down to $3.34/lb and I grabbed all four packages. The best deal though (which I almost missed) were were marked down hams. Maybe I should say slashed. I typically don't look at hams for markdowns except after holidays where they'd be served. Original price for the ham I grabbed was over $32 - my price was $12.19. HUGE savings. These types of markdowns are when I could cry that we don't have a freezer to put extra food in. I would have grabbed every last one of those marked down hams. I couldn't help but laugh when Matt wrapped his arms around me and told me my frugalness was a turn on - men say the sweetest and oddest things at times.

This is also where being flexible and watching for deals comes in to play when we grocery shop. If I'd gone in with my head down and got nothing except what was on my list I would have missed these awesome deals. That $12 ham will now produce several different meals as well as sandwiches and soup. I baked the ham with a glaze that I made out of a can of pineapple chunks with juice, a large dollop of spicy mustard, a spoon of horseradish plus about 3/4 teaspoon of ground cloves (didn't have time to stud it with whole ones). Put it in the oven at 300', went to bellydance class, and came home to a very yummy tasting ham supper. Matt cooked the sides before I got home. We are going away this weekend so ham sandwiches will be our lunch on Saturday. Sunday after we get home I may take bits and pieces of the leftover ham and make scalloped potatoes with ham in them for supper. Might add some bisquits too for a nice warm comfort food meal. One day next week I'll probably take the bone and leftover bits and make ham and bean soup in the pressure cooker. Throughout the week I'm sure we'll all nibble on this yummy ham as well as use it for sandwiches. If not, I'll freeze for future meals. Who knows how many meals it will actually make total. Price for this could get as low as $1 per meal and that is pretty frugal.

I think people get caught in the price per package mentality instead of looking at the price per meal cost. Turkeys are the same way. People for some reason see them as a single meal unit instead of multiple meals. At Thanksgiving maybe, but typically even then the average family will have a ton of leftover turkey. Depending on your family size, chickens can also be multiple meal options. Even if your family eats the entire chicken, the bones can be processed down and chicken soup made out of it for a second meal. Save several chicken carcasses and process down whenever you have time.

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