I am not a fantastic cook, but I do have a talent for making tasty meals on very little money for 2 people. If you wanna make meals on the cheap, my first suggestion is to go to the grocery store right when you get paid and get a bunch of meat to store in the freezer so you can pull it out when you need to eat! I spend 20-40 bucks a month on meat on average. I get a big bag of frozen chicken breasts (10 or so pieces) for 8 or 9 dollars, about 6 lbs of ground beef (I spend a little extra on the lean beef) for 20 or so dollars, but if that is not important to you, you can get it much cheaper.

Every few trips, I pick up a bag of frozen pre-formed hamburgers. It helps to have these on hand for hamburgers, so you can use the ground beef that you bought on other dishes as you feel like it. I also pick up at least one top round roast (London Broil cut) for 5 bucks or so.

With that in the freezer you will need a few more supplies on hand, you will need to buy these items but do so when they are on sale only. It can be hard to spend more than you want to but you will be happy when you have cupboards full of what you need, reducing your store trips.

• Cream of Mushroom soup or Cream of Mushroom w/ Roasted Garlic soup (I recommend only Campbells, which is why it is important that you buy a bunch when they are on sale. I hoped the generic would taste close to the real thing, it was very disappointing and bland.)
• Macaroni and cheese (If you have a bulk club membership, Mac and cheese is a better deal, take advantage of it)
• Canned tuna (any kind is fine but get white albacore when it is on sale, it tastes much better)
• Ritz Crackers
• Hamburger Helper goes on sale every other week at my local grocery store, Safeway. The generic Safeway brand Hamburger Helper is very good, and is even cheaper. I find the safeway brand on sale for $1 a box regularly.
• Spaghetti can be used for many things besides the old fashioned italian favorite. This goes on sale for 80 cents a box regularly, and that box can feed a small army.
• Stock up on spices. It took me a while to realize this as an amateur ghetto fabulous chick but spices make food taste better. It's true! I never wanted to waste my money on them but I started buying one bottle of spice every other shopping trip, now I have a nice supply to experiment with.
• Frozen vegetables have a long shelf life, and generic on sale is your best bet for saving money, stock up on your favorites.
• Sloppy Joe Sauce when on sale (Generic is fine)
  

The one thing I never stock up on is fresh veggies and fruits. With the two of us we just see them get rotten before we get around to eating them. However, I make a small trip to the store when a recipe calls for them and it really helps save there as well.

I have lots of recipes I plan to share in the future. They will make moms and people that actually cook regularly laugh about how simple (& ghetto) they are, but if you are low on money, don't think that you can cook and you find you never have food, you will appreciate them I am sure. This one came out well recently so I will post it first.

Ritz Fried Chicken (Recommended side dish: Mac & Cheese and cooked vegetables)
1-2 Eggs
3-4 bonesless chicken breasts thawed
1/2 cup of butter of margarine melted
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Crush crackers until fine. One good way to do this is to put the crackers into a ziplock bag. 3. Then use a potato masher or the flat end of a big spoon and bash! It will take some elbow grease to get them all fine, or 2-4 minutes of bashing.
4. Pour crumbs into a shallow dish
5. Crack egg into large bowl and wisk until beaten
6. Dip chicken breasts into egg, and swirl them around into the crumbs until covered.
7. lace on a greased cookie sheet
8. Pour melted butter or margarine over breasts until covered. This will make them golden brown!
9. Into the oven they go!

Bake 30-40 minutes

Labels: Ghetto Fabulous Living