How do you plan out what to cook at home?

I usually try to plan for the week using a few base recipes and expand on them each night. For example, I'll buy a bunch of chicken breasts on Monday and season and bread them in a gallon ziplock and stick them in the fridge, and just bake whatever I need each night as I need them. I'll also make a marinara on monday. With those two I can cook 4 different meals. I can use both with some pasta and cheese to make a easy chicken parm, I can use the marinara with a pizza crust, cheese and vegetables and make some homemade pizza, I can use just the chicken for some baked chicken and vegetables, and if I still have some left I'll throw some baked chicken and marinara on hoagies for a nice little sandwich.

Just plan ahead and be creative throwing things together, and you amy come up with a few nice surprises. Then come here and give us the recipes.

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Woody

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I like that approach. I bought a cookbook by Ming Tsai called Simply Ming and he does something similar. He has different bases for cooking various dishes. A lot of cool dishes in that book.

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Also, learn to make basic things from scratch so you don't have to rely on pre-packaged versions. You'll save a good bit from that as well.

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I'll have to work on this as well. Too many times I'll be exhausted from work and use pre-packaging. It could add up over the course of a year.

Typically the less it has to be processed, the cheaper it is. AKA whole chickens vs buying the parts separate or pre-cut.

I think having a vacuum sealer is worth the money, I have a Seal-a-Meal (a present) wish I had the more expensive Food Saver. I buy a lot of meats from Sam's, good quality, low price. On whole pork loins I portion them out, seal and freeze. Same with chicken breasts or leg quarters. I don't buy ground meat that way, I grew up watching my father get it ground for him, and that is the only thing I go to Albertson's for.

Look for specials and don't buy processed food, except maybe a frozen pizza now and then. During cool weather I will bake bread while watching the games, a home baked loaf costs about a buck to make. In hot weather it heats up the house to much.

Fresh Pickins on Coursey, or any other veg market, is a third to a half the cost of a grocery store, and the quality is much higher.

On Saturday or Sunday I make big pots of marinara sauce, or gumbo, or red beans, or beef burgundy or any other big pot dish, portion it up and freeze in vac bags.

We usually have a choice of 3 or 4 meals if my wife or I don't feel like cooking after work. Just take a bag out and stick it in boiling water. If we feel like grilling the portions in freezer bags thaw out very quickly in a bowl of warm water.

I would have thought produce stands were more expensive for the higher quality. I'll have to check it out. Anybody been to P'ville Produce?

first i check the albertsons ad to see what meat is on sale, as well as any other sales i cant pass up. (i refuse to eat walmart meat) i meal plan by the week, so that i have less waste. i do a entree and one side. write them all down on the fridge. walmart is usually cheaper than albertsons, so i go there for the non-meat stuff. i also go to fresh pickens bc they're cheap. when i get home from the store i open all the meat and seperate it into the portions i need. i keep the portion i need for the week out, toss the rest of the packs in the freezer. the next week i use what i didnt the week before, if there arent any meat sales. 400$ is usually what i spend, and there are 4 of us. i find recipes with few ingredients, to keep the cost down. crock pot stuff is usually pretty cheap. oh, and i use turkey meat instead of beef bc its cheaper (and healthier). if you buy it in the little tubes, its also half the price that the SAME meat is in the packs.

its a little finer, but for what i use it for, it doesnt matter....no fine dining at our house usually burgers, spaghetti, lasagna, or jerky.

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the taco seasoned ground turkey at Wal-Mart

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Where in Walart (freezer, fresh meat case,ect)? It is already seasoned--all you do is fry it up???

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When my wife goes to Wal-Mart, she'll spend 200 bucks and have nothing to show for it.

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Same here. 90% of what she buys is beauty products and dog toys.