Snacks

When Aldi has their eggs for 79¢/dz I usually buy 3 dozen. I will hard boil at least half of the eggs for egg salad and for snacking. The my family also likes to snack on trail mixes – so we make our own. I will throw together whatever we have on hand to make the mix – pretzels, almonds, raisins, cheez-its, dried fruit, and all sorts of cereal. They like to put this in baggies and take it with them while they are on the go.

I always watch for sales on snack a good snack for us is pringles or other snack chips. I prefer the ones that come in snack size portions but i have no problem buying a bag and separating them. I also try to make snacks like rice crispy treats and cookies.

Dinner

I buy a lot of chicken. I buy it because it is cheap, healthy and versatile.
Aldi sells their whole chickens for 79¢/lb so I usually get at least one of these. I also stock up when our local store has their boneless/skinless chicken breasts for $1.68/lb.

Here are a couple of the things we do with our chicken:

Chicken Soup – I know, this one is a no-brainer. I cook the whole chicken in the oven and then pick off the meat and put it the pot of chicken broth, cooked carrots, celery and wide egg noodles. This is a staple that we all love.
Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches – I cook the whole chicken in the oven and pick the meat off the bones. I then put the meat in a pot and cover in BBQ sauce and simmer until hot.
Chicken Pot Pie – I cook the whole chicken in the oven and then pick the meat off the bones. In a 9×13 pan (or 2 for our family) I put 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup. Add about 1 can of milk to get desired consistency for sauce. I then add 2 cans of mixed vegetables and then the chicken. I make my crust with Bisquick – same recipe as biscuits, just rolled very thin. Slit the top crust and bake.
Chicken Fried Rice – This is one of my favorites. For this, I use the boneless/skinless chicken breasts. I like to marinate them a little in soy sauce and then cook them in a saucepan. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and set aside. Meanwhile, cook bacon (cut up) and onion together. Scramble 6 eggs and add to bacon and onion mixture. Add chicken to eggs, bacon and onions. Cook a little more rice than you think you’ll need. Combine rice and the chicken mixture. Add either Soy sauce, or if you are odd like me and my boys, add ketchup!! Mix until soy or ketchup is absorbed evenly through the rice!
Chicken Soft Tacos or Fajitas – Cook whole chicken in oven. Pick the meat off the bones and then place in a sauce pan with water and Taco seasoning (or fajita seasoning). Top with lettuce, tomato, re fried beans, sour cream, onion – whatever you like!

Another favorite is home made pizza. At Giant Eagle you can get bag of pizza crust for $0.78 we will use 2 and a half jar of pizza sauce we can get for $1 or less. And some cheese, we make this one of out ‘Meatless nigh dinners’. Once a week we have a meatless night where we have pizza, mac n cheese, some form of pasta, grilled cheese or something like that with out any meat. Plus i try to sneak in a left overs night but since hubby started taking the left overs to work for lunch those are rare.

Another way to lower you food cost is to have a breakfast dinner once a week, pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs ect are cheap and easy too!