My favorite meals

Everyone in my little family of 3 are all big eaters and we eat some meat with almost every dinner. I also buy a lot of fresh produce like large bags of baby carrots, lettuce, bell peppers, cucumbers, celery, apples, and bananas. Those things are staples in my house. It gets very pricey, very fast. Because I am the type of person who plans what to cook and then goes out to buy the groceries I spend A LOT on groceries. That has to change. I have to change my mentality. From now on I will be planning meals based on sales and coupons.

This couponing thing got me thinking about how I can be more frugal with my meals. So I started thinking of the things I make that are inexpensive and would easily work around spending less at the grocery store. I still intend to eat healthy and buy produce but I am going to be smart about it.

Here are some meals that I make that come as second nature to me and are inexpensive to make. Many of these I learned to make from my Mom or are similar to things I had growing up. Some are typical meals that most people eat fairly often.

• Mini meat loaves with mashed potatoes and green beans

• Chicken stroganoff on rice (my Mom learned this one from my Aunt. I LOVE it! Stay tuned for the recipe)
• Spaghetti with salad and garlic bread (sometimes)
• Tacos (with ground beef or chicken)
• Chicken pot pie (either using homemade crust, store bought crust or puff pastry)
• Shepherd's pie (meat, veggies, sauce, topped with mashed potatoes)
• Cornflake chicken with potatoes and corn
• Bacon, eggs and potatoes (like hash)
• Pancakes (love me some bisquick supreme pancakes!) - sometimes with add-ins like blueberries
• Beef stroganoff with egg noodles
• Hamburgers or hot dogs with tater tots and watermelon
• Whole roasted chicken with roasted veggies
• Chicken noodle soup (usually made with the left over chicken from roasted chicken)
• Baked ham, cheesey potatoes and veggies (like asparagus)
• Split pea soup (using the left over ham and hambone)
• Enchilada lasagna (I will post the recipe eventually)
• Cheesey chicken enchiladas (Cambell's soup recipe)
• Chili with cornbread
• Mini pizzas (made with rolled out Pillbury biscuits) with salad
• Lasagna (this is really is more economical when you can get cheese on sale)
• Busy day casserole (doesn't get cheaper than this - tomato soup, french cut green beans, onions, ground beef and Worcestershire over mashed potatoes. So good!)
• Scalloped potatoes and ham
• "Toscana" soup - an Olive Garden imitation. Served with cheesey bisquick biscuits

Whew! There were more of those than I thought. And I am sure there are many more in my memory banks that I didn't put up there. As I make these things with the groceries I buy on sale I will try to remember to take pics and post recipes.