Fit and Tasty...

Every once in a while I crave a good German meal.  I guess because I'm about 51% German heritage that makes sense. 

So this week I decided to make a nice kielbasa with sauerkraut meal.  Reminds me of my mother's mother. 

Luckily, I found a nice turkey kielbasa at Aldi's on my shopping trip.

It was German week, so there were all kinds of German products on sale.  Including a big jar of sauerkraut.  I paired my German specialties with some spinach that I sautéed in chicken broth, and some baby carrots, all of which were purchased at Aldi's. 

Here's the finished product. 

 

 

 

I was skeptical about the taste of the kielbasa because I had never tried the Fit & Active brand before.  But it looked good, smelled good and even tasted good after I cooked it in the sauerkraut.  Normally, when I buy heat and eat foods, I get bombarded with salt, but this product was definitely not overly salty.  It had a crisp bite to the meat and it wasn't too dry or too wet.  I was impressed with this product and will definitely purchase it again. 

 

 

 

Here's the cost breakdown for the meal:

 

Total Cost                              My Meal Cost

 

Kielbasa  $ 2.39                     $0.60

 

Sauerkraut  $1.69                   $0.22

 

Spinach       $1.79                   $0.90

 

Chicken Broth $0.49               $0.25

 

Carrots        $0.49                  $0.10

 

 

TOTALS:  $6.85                     $2.07

 

 

 

I cooked the meal intending to feed 4 of my 5 family members. (I have an Autistic son who only eats chicken nuggets, pizza, eggs and a few other things, so I generally don't factor him into my count for meals)  Unfortunately, that night 3 of the four of us who were going to eat were sick.  So I had the meal alone, giving myself a little bit extra, and saving about half for leftovers.  Numbers are approximate, but again, for $6.85 I could conceivably feed a family of 4 a meal that consisted of a healthy protein and 3 vegetables. 

 

I've also found a new, less expensive version of a product a normally buy that has less of the processed meat taste.   It's a win win in my book.

 

Stay tuned!  I've got more recipes, more product reviews and more tips for shopping at Aldi's coming up. 

 

You can find me at twitter, @camp3082 and on facebook, Toni Smith.  Thanks for reading!



 

 

 

 

 

 

Aldi Challenge, First Recipe....

Yesterday I was hungry but didn't want to make a big mess.  Such is my life, being the messy chef that I am....

*Note to Self...copyright and pitch the show "The Messy Chef" to Food Network


Cue the one pot meals.  I love these kinds of meals.  Everything in one pot means less dishes that need to be cleaned and put away. 

I checked my fridge and my haul from Aldi's, and I found some ground beef and some beautiful looking green peppers.  I knew that I had some frozen peas, some onion, some pasta sauce and some quinoa (again, I could have purchased these at Aldi's but I didn't want to be wasteful).

 

The choice was obvious....


STUFFED PEPPERS!!!!!!

So here's what I did

Ingredients
Approximately 1 lb ground beef (I used 80/20)
1 cup frozen peas
1 small onion chopped
2 medium green peppers, sliced in halves
2 cups pasta sauce
11/2 cup quinoa
1 tbsp. butter
4 slices provolone cheese (optional)


Directions

1.  Cook quinoa according to package directions.  Set aside

2. Heat butter in a sauce pan.  Add onions and cook until translucent. 
3. Add ground beef and brown until done.  Drain off excess grease (optional)
4. Add pasta sauce and peas.  Simmer for approximately 10 minutes, stirring mixture.

5.  Combine quinoa and meat mixture.  Mix thoroughly.
6.  Spoon mixture into green peppers halves.  Transfer to a baking dish.  Add enough water to cover
     the bottoms of the peppers.
7.  Cook on 375 for approximately 45 minutes or until pepper is tender. 
8.  Add optional cheese to tops of peppers 10 minutes before removing from the oven.

 

 

This recipe gave me a TON of leftover mixture.  I froze half of what remained for another night.  The rest I gave to my kids, who do not enjoy eating peppers.  They chose to top their mixture with "Chinese cheese" which to the layman is grated parmesan in a shaker. 

It was super tasty and super filling.  Cost wise, here is the breakdown:

Ground Beef: $4.35 (but more like$2.20 because I had leftovers)
Green Peppers: 66 cents
Peas:  50 cents for a can (based off prices at Aldi)
Pasta Sauce: $1.50 (based off prices at Aldi)
Onion: 50 cents (based off prices at Aldi)


*The quinoa I used I could not find at my store.  I will have to look for it again on my next trip.  I paid approximately $10 for a 2 lb bag, of which I used approximately 1 cup, bringing my cost to roughly $2 for the quinoa.

That brings my grand total for this meal to $9.51, leaving off the provolone cheese (which I don't have a price for), which I will divide in half, since I have leftovers.  The total cost is $4.75.  That fed two hungry adults, and two not so hungry kiddos. 

WOW!  I can't believe how little it cost to make so much!  As you can see, one pepper half is enough for me.  My husband ate 2, and we had one half leftover.  The meal is full of vegetables (I count 4 different vegetables, which includes the tomato sauce), protein and vitamins and minerals.  It's quick and easy, and involves minimal dishes. 

Let me know what you think of the recipe! 

TOMORROW NIGHT:  Turkey kielbasa, sauerkraut and sautéed spinach, all purchased at Aldi

Dissension in the ranks...

Over the weekend my family revolted on me.

While away on my weekly shopping trip, my husband was at home with the three kids.  He, during this time, had to change a messy diaper.  While he was doing this, he sent me a picture of the diaper and complained that the reason for the mess was because of the food we've been eating.  He also told me to bring home food.  Now.

So, as lofty as my ideals were, I've set them aside for my sanity.  I caved and brought home Taco Bell which was summarily devoured as we watched "The Great Muppet Caper" on VHS. 

I've decided to continue the experiment on my own.  I will eat on $1.50 a day for the next 2-3 days.  I'll see how long I can last. 

I will say that we have learned a lot in the few days that we've done this.  My husband constantly fighting back "But we're not poor!"  I've found that living in the US gives us an advantage.  We have access to clean, healthy food that often goes on sale.  We can have variety in our meals because of sales.  You CAN eat for a small amount each meal, day or week, as long as you have access to supermarkets with large variety and good sales. 

I went heavy on pasta products this week, thinking it would be a large amount of what we ate.  I could have saved a few of those dollars and gotten some meat or some fresh veggies. 

If nothing else, I've definitely learned to shop smarter for myself.  That smarter shopping will hopefully allow me the extra few dollars that I can then "pay forward" by donating to our local food shelf. 

So wish me luck, dear readers.  For I embark on the journey alone from here on out. 

Remember, follow me on twitter @camp3082 and keep reading!

Snacks....

My kids are used to having snacks at their finger tips.  We always stock the house with yogurt, cheese sticks, fruit snacks and granola bars.  (All healthy items of course)

So since we didn't have room in our budget for any of these items, I set out to do a "swap" for granola bars.  I'm taking approximately 6 cups of the cereal we purchased, some of the marshmallows and some butter to make cereal bars.  If I had my druthers, I'd throw in some raisins, but I am druther-free this week.

This treat is simple to make - following the recipe to make Rice Crispy Treats.  And it will take the place of the granola bars we can't have.  There is plenty of cereal left over for breakfasts this week, and maybe some lunches.  I'll be cutting the treats into bar shapes. 

Ingredients
6 cups of cereal
4 cups mini marshmallows
3 TBSP butter

Directions
Melt butter in a large sauce pan.  Add marshmallows and heat on medium until completely melted, stirring constantly.  Add cereal.  Spread mixture onto a greased cookie sheet or waxed paper.  Press down until mixture covers the pan.  Allow to cool.  Cut into squares. 

Any leftover marshmallows we'll use to have an indoor campfire.  We "roast" the mini mallows over a lit candle using toothpicks.  It's fun and the kids make memories, one thing I hope will come out of this experience. 

Shopping day...

So this is my haul from the grocery store.  Using the guideline of  $37.50 (which is 7.50 per five days for five people in my family) from the Below the Line Challenge (www.livebelowtheline.com), I was able to purchase the following:

3 jars pasta sauce
3 boxes angel hair pasta
2 packages turkey franks (8 each) 
2 dozen eggs
3 cans Chef Boyardee (with meat)
3 cans veggies
2 boxes mac n cheese
6 packages Ramen
1 head iceberg lettuce
4 3/4 pounds bananas
1 package frozen rice and veggies
1 package of marshmallows
1 large package "cheerios"
1 loaf of bread
1 jar of Peanut butter (doesn't appear in the picture)
1 package breakfast sausage (doesn't appear in picture)

This was the total cost of the haul, with tax.  My supermarket had some awesome sales this week, and I was able to get a jar of pasta sauce for free.  That helps out a lot, meaning I can use the sauce with some of the other items purchased.

The 3 dollar surplus I'm chalking up to butter, salt, pepper and other spices.  You can't buy this stuff in small quantities, so I'm giving myself 3 bucks worth of leeway.  

Stay tuned for Day 1 menu and recipes.  

Please check me out on twitter @camp3082 for more up to the minute updates and photos.  Thanks for reading!