I get excited about discount food. It's the best day ever when I can find discount produce. On friday, I got mushrooms for 50 cents a pound! Big bags of stir fry mixes were going for $1.80, bell peppers were 25 cents and pizza crust was $1.12.
My original shopping list didn't call for mushrooms, stir fry veggies, bell peppers or pizza. But I wasn't about to pass up on cheap produce, so I changed my menu plan to incorporate them.
One of the best ways to save money on food is to buy what's at a good price and adjust your menu to fit the inexpensive options. But you should avoid buying discount produce unless you know how you will use it. Produce that is on discount goes bad quickly, that's why it's discounted. If you don't have a plan, it will go bad before you can eat it.
You don't need a specific recipe, just a plan. The easiest way to use up veggies is to chop them up and put them in a green salad. You can put almost any veggie on top of pizza, or saute them and add them to eggs. It's easy to add shredded or chopped veggies to spagetti sauces or soups.
If I don't have a plan for a vegetable, I won't buy it, because I know it will end up as slime in the bottom of my crisper drawer.
Here's my slime preventing menu plan for the week:
Friday:
pizza (with discount crust) topped with mushrooms + big green salad + watermelon
(this photo shows zucchini and peppers with pesto sauce, but you get the idea)
Saturday:
breakfast - scrambled eggs with sauteed diced mushrooms and bell peppers + toast
dinner - stir fry mix + tofu + rice + frozen mangoes
Sunday:
lunch - pizza (with discount crust) topped with bell peppers and pepperoni + green salad
dinner - meat tacos + bell peppers + leftover lettuce from the salad @ lunch + fresh melon
Monday:
mushroom and beef stroganoff + canned green beans + canned peaches
Because the mushrooms wouldn't last that long, I made this ahead of time, before the mushrooms went bad.
(image from wix.com)
Tuesday:
split pea soup with leftover ham from easter dinner + homemade bread + watermelon
(image from budgetbytes.com)
Wednesday:
rice and bean salad in tortillas + avocado + queso fresco + frozen mangoes
Thursday:
crustless broccoli quiche (I'll add bell peppers too if any are left) + any fruit left over + toast (if there's any bread left!)
Friday: Time to grocery shop again!
Leave a comment and let me know what you've been cooking! Hopefully you'll find some discount produce at your grocery store this week!