Another budget meal – this one for the crockpot! Again, it makes 6-8 good sized portions, and can be easily halved or doubled. Average cost, less than $11 – slash that with sales and coupons. (Note that canned broths are on sale BIG TIME this time of year – hint, hint.)
I have never had much luck with chicken in the crockpot. Unless you watch it like a hawk, it tends to go all mushy on me – and watching it seems to defeat the purpose of using a slow cooker. I use precooked chicken strips, and dump them in 20 minutes before serving.
It’s a good way to use up leftover chicken, “on sale” chicken you’ve precooked and frozen, or you can pick up those precooked strips in the meat aisle.
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Prewarning – this is NOT an “official” Tex-Mex chili, Bec can go read something else. 
Another budget-conscious comfort food! Like most of my recipes, it’s hardy. This one makes 6-8 man-sized portions, and costs an average of $11 a pot. That works out to $1.38 to $1.80 per serving. Again, that can easily be slashed by 40% if you are watching sales and using coupons for the canned goods.
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Lain asked me for some recipes that let me feed my family on an average of $45-$65 week, not including bread, milk, and produce. here’s the first in a series 
This is not just a great comfort food recipe, but it is quick, easy, and economical. I love to make it from leftover chicken, a day or two after we’ve had an oven roaster – just pull the skin off, pop the carcass in a soup pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, then simmer until it begins to fall off the bone. Pick the bones out, and the base is ready to go!
Don’t have any leftover chicken? Boil a bird the same way (it will take 90 minutes or so)!
Without further ado ….
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No! Not Christmas, although that’s coming soon enough.
Apples are in season!
We have been on a real bent to economize meals here, as well as adopting a healthier lifestyle. Buying in season is an important part of that. Living in “apple country,” they are cheap, cheap, cheap at the moment, so I have a nice variety of them around.
Using them in recipes is always tricky. How many apples in a pound? Or a cup, chopped?
Well, my friend, Sherry, has the answer! Pop over and print out her post, Apple Equivalents, and pop it in your Household Notebook!
While you’re there, leave her a note and tell her I sent you
Interesting concept. Lifehacking Your Grocery List describes an easy way to collect ingredient lists and other data important to creating meal plans and grocery lists.
Instead of a time consuming planning session, that is prone to error and forgotten detail, you jot key information as you go – during actual dinner prep. Since we’re all creatures of habit, over a period of time you’ll find you are no longer making many notes – because you already have it covered.
At that point, a quick analysis and organization of the data collected will yield easy menu choices for meal planning, and a quick reference for creating a grocery list that doesn’t have you running back for a jar of salsa mid-week.
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