Today's Cheapskate Meal: Barbeque Pizza

We love this dinner!  It takes some forethought, but it's really quite easy.  When the meat and cheese are bought on sale, it's a super deal, too!

Here's the rundown:
1 batch pizza crust -- $1.75
1 tub barbeque meat -- $3.00
1 1/2 c. cheese -- $1.25
Total -- $6.00 -- This is really not a good deal for a family trying to be frugal.  BUT, the pizza is HUGE and delicious, and we didn't have to tip a delivery person or drive across town to get it.

As you can see from my costs, I haven't done very well with couponing lately.  I've tried to stick to things that are on sale, plus the things I need, but I have gotten out of the coupon loop since Audrey was born in October.  Maybe after the new year I'll be able to get back into the program.

Today's Cheapskate Breakfast - cereal!

I definitely cheated this morning when it comes to creating a cheapskate breakfast.  We went to Publix early this morning to avoid the crowds, and we were all starving by the time we got home.  I just grabbed a box of Cheerios and the milk, and we dove in! 
The Cheerios were free a while back, and the milk expires at the beginning of next week, so I'm glad for a way to use a good amount.  (I hate throwing away bad food, and it seems like we never go through the milk before it expires. I'm glad to be closer to using it up.)
Milk is running about $3.85 a gallon right now, so I'm guessing this meal cost us around $1.

Today's Cheapskate Breakfast - Orange Scones

So, it's going to become reeeeaaaalllly obvious that I am addicted to scones, since I make them for breakfast at LEAST twice a week.  I use this recipe for my scones . . . so quick and easy.  I never thought I'd be able to handle scones; they tasted too delicious to be within my ability level.  I love making them, and I love eating them.  I am not fast AT ALL in the kitchen, so it sometimes takes me 20 minutes to put together a batch, plus the baking time.  If I have it together (a rare situation), I can get a batch into the oven in just 10 minutes. 
What's special about the scones I made today? Other than the fact that we have eaten almost all of them? I added the zest of an orange to the dough and used the juice of the orange to make a glaze that I applied after they came out of the oven.  I was concerned that it would end up being too much, but it totally wasn't.  They were awesome.  I loved them!  My husband loved them!  My son keeps going back out to the kitchen to take a bite of his second scone and announcing, "MMM, delicious!" 
I am planning to bake another batch for breakfast tomorrow, but I'm going to add almond extract and poppy seeds instead of orange.  Maybe the next batch after that will have cinnamon and sugar.  I hope this recipe continues to adapt itself to the variations I come up with.  Amazing.
Here's the cost breakdown:

1 3/4 c. flour -- $.58 (I figured this by taking the $2.99 price for 5 pounds and dividing by 9 cups -- the amount I think I get out of each bag -- then multiplying by 1.75.)
1/3 c. real butter -- $.65  (Butter is ridiculously expensive, isn't it? Crazy.)
3 T sugar -- $.15
2 1/2 t baking powder -- $.20 (total estimation; I have no idea how much that can of powder cost me.)
1/4 t salt -- $.00  (I received a giant canister of Himalayan sea salt as a gift and have been using it.  How much could 1/4 t of salt cost, anyway? Maybe $.02?)
1 egg -- $.15
4-6 T milk -- $.06
A bit of milk for brushing over scones, and a teaspoon of sugar for dusting over milk-brushed scones -- $.05
1 orange -- $.80
Total for this delicious batch of Orange Scones -- $2.64!

Today's Cheapskate Meal - Italian Steak and Pasta

We gobbled up tonight's cheapskate dinner so quickly, I didn't even think to get a picture of it!  I know, I know, I haven't posted any pictures at all yet.  Yeah, I'm still working on it. 
For tonight's dinner, I took a steak out of the freezer this morning and let it marinade in a bottled Italian dressing and marinade all day while I went to work.  I fired up the grill pan and cooked the steak for about 5 minutes per side.  (We do NOT like red or even pink meat, so we cook our meat to medium well.)  The steak was probably 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, so it didn't take long at all. 
While the steak was cooking, I put on a pot of water to boil, then added half a box of Barilla Piccolini wheels (my son's choice of pasta).  When the pasta was cooked and drained, I added about 1 tablespoon (maybe 1 1/2) of butter, some garlic powder, and some oregano, maybe just 1/8 tsp. each.  I sliced the steak up very thin and tossed the pasta and steak together. 
It was such a quick and easy meal.  I like that mixing the pasta with the steak helped me to stretch a steak that -- if I sliced it and served it on its own as a main course, would have been not-enough for the whole family.
Here's a cost breakdown for this very simple dinner:

about 1 lb. steak -- $2.58 (after $1 coupon)
Ken's steakhouse dressing/marinade -- just under 1/2 bottle -- $.20 (it's been too long since I bought this to know exactly how much it cost)
1 1/2 T butter -- $.18
Garlic powder and dried oregano -- $.05 (I'm positive this is an over-estimate since we used so little of these things)

To be honest, I did not serve vegetables tonight, because I just needed a quick meal  before we move on to the next activity, and there's always something next to move on to.

Total for tonight's dinner: $3.01.  I'd add $1.25 to cover the cost of the drinks and dessert we enjoyed (grape juice and Luigi's italian ice, both bought at Publix on sale with coupons).  So, no more than $4.26 for tonight's quick, easy, and delicious dinner!

Today's Cheapskate Dinner -- barbeque pork sandwiches and garlic-butter pasta

I really do need to figure out the whole picture from the phone to the blog thing.  I did post the picture of part of  tonight's dinner to my other blog: http://www.wannabecheapskate.blogger.com/. 
We are having barbeque pork sandwiches on wheat-white hamburger buns (homemade, 2/3 wheat, 1/3 white flour) with pasta tossed with butter and garlic.  Super yummy.
The barbeque pork came from a tub -- can't take any credit here.  I just microwaved it.  Of course, I bought it on sale, as I did the pasta. 
Here's a general run-down on the price, but I'll admit to having to estimate several items:

1 batch hamburger buns: $1.50 (I tried to overestimate on the cost of the ingredients so that it doesn't seem like I'm making up numbers.  I really do have some mathematical values in place.)
1 tub of barbeque pork: $1.75 (I might be tempted to break out a second tub since the bread is so fresh and good.)
1/2 box Barilla Piccolini pasta -- $.08
Butter -- $.15

Total cost for this dinner -- $3.48.  This made 10 buns and enough meat (according to the tub) for 5 sandwiches.  If I double the meat to match the meat, this meal would cost just $5.45 to feed up to 10.  (I doubled the amount for pasta and butter, too.)  What a deal!

Today's Frugal Lunch: Frozen entree

I mentioned in my previous post that I coupon pretty obsessively.  I detest when I get less than 50% savings, although it's been known to happen lately more often than not.  I am amazed at how much I have been able to stockpile, though, and have prepared many meals out of my pantry and freezer without having to purchase anything else.  Today's simple lunch is one of those meals.

I heated Marie Callender's frozen entree, Southwest Chicken Bake.  I think that's what it's called.  It has rice, cheese, black beans, corn, red peppers, some kind of sauce, and a bit of chicken.  (Not much chicken, truth be told.)  I made 1 1/3 cup of rice (measured before cooking).  We had Diet Coke and water for drinks, and had Luigi's Italian Ice for dessert.  The rice is the only thing I purchased without a coupon.

Here's the cost breakdown:

2 Marie Callender's frozen entrees -- $3.99 sale price - $1.50 Publix coupon = $2.49 each or $4.98 for both
1 1/3 c. rice -- $.10 (estimated)
Diet Cokes -- bought with Extra Care Bucks at CVS, so we paid $0 for them!
Luigi's Italian Ice -- $.67

Total for this meal after sales, deals, and coupons: $5.75

Plus, we didn't eat all of the second frozen dinner, so I have some to nosh on later this afternoon.

I just had a thought that I did not explain right off the bat who it is that I am feeding.  My husband and I, of course, along with our 6 year old Dianna and our 4 year old Jarod.  Our newest addition, Audrey, is expected to be born in mid to late November.  So we have 4 to feed, but sometimes it feels like 5, since I have long-since left behind the sick-all-the-time phase and have been in the hungry-all-the-time phase for quite a while.  Hence, my pleasure in knowing I have some Southwest Chicken stuff to nosh on later.

Basic Scones

Check out my new favorite cooking blog: http://www.ourbestbites.com/.  I have been visiting this blog more than once daily for the past couple of months and have tried many (MANY) recipes.  Most of them have been total winners.  I'm sure that there has been something we didn't like, but I can't think of anything right now. 
Today, I made the recipe for Basic Baked Scones.  I guess a LITTLE back story is appropriate here.  I LOVE scones.  I fell in love with the scone the first time I tried one, which was when I was about 25 years old at an afternoon tea held in celebration of my best friend's upcoming wedding.  Since then, whenever I've found a scone, I've tried it.  I enjoy the cranberry orange scones I get at the Publix bakery.  I've had scones at Disney World.  I bought a packaged scone mix from Harry and David's and tried that.  All good.  I looked up a scone recipe and bought the supplies to make them, but the directions were so complicated that I didn't have the heart to try.  Then the buttermilk I had to buy for the recipe went bad, and that was the end of my desire to make scones.
Then, I stumbled on the our best bites website.  Those girls are incredible.  I have browsed through the recipe index so often that I know the repertoire of recipes almost by heart.  When I found the scone recipe, I was intrigued but cowardly.  Then, just last night, I decided that today I would give them a try.  I have a rare weekday off and knew we could run to McD's if I totally failed. 

I didn't.

As soon as the dough came together, before I even patted it into a circle, sprinkled with sugar, or cut into wedges, I smelled it.  I love the smell of dough, and wanted to see what this one was like.  It smelled scone-y!  I was elated by the intoxicating scent of what was created by the purposeful mixture of ingredients in certain proportion.  The ingredients are not unlike what I would put in the bread I make about every other morning, but the smell is so different!  (Of course, I do use yeast in the normal morning bread batch.  Obviously, the smell would be different -- not yeasty -- but it was so very different than what I expected.) And I didn't have to purchase any special ingredients.  All the ingredients are staples in any well-stocked (or even moderately-stocked) pantry.  I am THRILLED with the results and can't wait to make them again.  I'm making some for my husband's work crew soon.  They will think I am a goddess; they already think I'm a bread-baking fairy.
I hope to figure out how to upload pictures from my iphone to this new blog so you can see the beauty that is the scone.  (I did upload the picture to my other blog: http://www.wannabecheapskate.blogspot.com/) In the meantime, here's the approximate cost breakdown:

1/3 c. real butter -- $.66 (Why is butter so darned expensive these days?  I need to check the price at Sam's again, and see if we can't get a better deal.  It's almost $4 a pound at Publix! Walmart might be better, but I just refuse to shop there unless desperate.  Who's with me?)
1 3/4 c. flour (I used bread flour.) -- $.78
3 T sugar -- $.02
2 1/2 t baking powder -- $.04 (estimation)
1/4 t salt -- $.01 (estimation; I used pink Himalayan sea salt that I received as a gift, so it didn't cost me anything.)
1 beaten egg -- $.14
6 T milk -- $.06

Total cost for the batch of 8 scones: $1.71
Cost per scone: $.22

Considering that I happily pay $1.75 for ONE scone at Publix, I think this clearly qualifies as a cheapskate meal!  I should note that, while I coupon almost obsessively, I am using non-coupon prices here.  These are all basic ingredients that I have a hard time finding coupons for.  Sometimes butter goes on sale at Publix; I think it needs to do so again so I can stock up!  I go through enough flour (about 5 lb. a week) that I wish I could buy it in a not-quite-bulk size.  I bought the giant industrial sized bag from Sam's last year and still have some of it, but I don't get good results anymore when I use it.  I think I just need to pitch it.  Anyway, all that was to say that the cost might be significantly less when using coupons!
We ate them plain and loved it.  The girls at http://www.ourbestbites.com/ say to serve right out of the oven with butter and jam, lemon curd, or honey-butter; but I really liked them plain. 
On my next shopping trip, I will price dried cranberries and orange to see if I can come up with a Publix-like version.  (I really do love those overpriced cranberry orange scones from the bakery.)
Thanks for reading my first post on this new blog endeavor.  Check out my other blog, which I don't update nearly as much as I should. For more info about me and my family, see our family blog: http://www.fltupua.blogspot.com/.