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Frugal Meals
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Frugal meals, frugal recipes, frugal cooking, freezer meals, cooking once eating twice - they all really comes down to planning.

I know…I sound like a broken record, but it’s true. Plan, plan, plan.

As much as I’d like to say my life just falls into place, it doesn’t. And, as much as I’d like to say I have a plan every day, I don’t. Some days even frugal meals can't save my sanity. Some days the kids didn’t sleep the night before, or they're sick, or I'm sick, or whatever else, and I call the Chinese place down the road.

But, BIG but – it’s not every week, not even every month – very seldom.

Let’s say you had a roast chicken dinner on Sunday and there are leftovers. Plan to use the leftover meat plus the broth you made using the chicken carcass to prepare a frugal meal - creamy chicken rice casserole on Tuesday. (Cooking Once Eating Twice)

Remember, throwing out leftovers is a waste of time and money, not to mention food.

Monday you had pan-fried pork chops with Chinese oven rice and corn. You made a double batch of rice to freeze in four-cup servings, plus you have four leftover pork chops and about 1½ cups of corn leftover. Freeze the leftover pork chops in a handy dandy Ziploc Freezer Bag, but keep the corn in the fridge for Wednesday. (Freezer Meals)

Now you have at least one frugal meal in your freezer you can pull out in a pinch – pork chops and rice, just add a veggie and voila!

Tuesday we took care of already, remember the creamy chicken casserole above?

Wednesday is baked cod night with boiled potatoes, be sure to use the left over corn as your veggie. You could reinvent it by sautéing sliced onion, mushrooms and minced garlic then adding the corn and heating through. Save the leftover fish and taters, we’ll make that into a frual meal - fish cakes on Friday.

Thursday we’re raring for some beef – how about some shipwreck dinner from our recipes box? There will be no leftovers, trust me and if there are, they’re perfect heated up for lunch the next day.

Go to the Frugal Meals recipes page...

Friday we took care of already, just maybe add a salad to round out the meal, oh and maybe some homemade bread from your bread maker you preset in the morning.

Saturday can be a buffet medley of leftovers if there are any, or you can cook something amazing, or maybe its movie night and something light like egg salad sandwiches would do better so there’s room for popcorn.

Plan your Week’s Menu around the food sales and remember to use that Price Book – if there’s a great deal on something or other that you use often, stock up!