Cheap Eats — Slop, er Pasta For Dinner, But It Is Good, Healthy Cheap Food!

LOL – the one place we can control costs is in the grocery store. I do not mean that we should sacrifice healthy food. In fact, I am a big advocate of staying in the outside aisles of the store and purchasing food that are close to natural. In other words, most of our grocery baskets should contain fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and low fat dairy or meat. That is not to say that you will never find me with a carton of diet Coke or a bag of tortilla chips. But I do look at my basket and try to keep those purchases to the 20% of my basket, where the food I can justify stays in the 80% category.

So what about slop? Well, that is just my family’s name for a combo of some sort of meat OR dairy, mixed with a grain, and usually topped with a good tomato based sauce.

The basic base could be spaghetti. Here is one of the easiest and best recipes I have found:

1 LB. hamburger (or ground chicken/turkey) – Brown and Drain Very well.

1 Package Turkey Sausage – also Brown and Drain Very well, and cut into bite sized pieces.

1 Big Can or Jar Tomato Sauce (You can find a decent can for less than $1). Add this to your skillet after you have drained the meat. Now go ahead and slice up a little extra onions, peppers, Italian Seasoning, etc. Note: Sometimes I add a small 4 oz can of Tomato Paste for thicker sauce.

Simmer the whole mess for a few minutes to make the flavor blend. While you are doing this, put a mess of your favorite pasta in the pot.

VOILA – In about 20 minutes, you have a family favorite on the table that should feed 4 – 6 big appetites without skimping. Add a salad and a loaf of good bread, and you have food fit for company!

You also have the basis for variety. My family likes it when I replace the ground meat with seasoned, grilled chicken breasts. Or sometimes we skip the meat and use cheese. When you use cheese, you can add tuna! If your family will tolerate it, you can add some vegies to the sauce. Think frozen or fresh mixed vegetables. Instead of pasta, use rice sometimes.

Do you see what we are doing here? What we are doing is coming up with the healthy staple food to provide good, balanced meals. The really expensive part of it is the fresh produce like fruit and veggies. But by using the more expensive meat basis sparingly, and filling them in with cheap sauces and carbs, we have actually balanced it out.

save money, cheap food, pasta recipe

Popularity: 25% [?]

Technorati Tags: save money, cheap food, pasta recipe

Related posts:

1. Cheap and Free Weight Loss Tips