dinner!

When budgeting for food this year, I have made a discovery.  I have found it is actually cheaper to buy really high quality, all-natural prepared foods from the likes of Trader Joe's, Costco, the grocery store, and even, gasp, Whole Foods, than to cook most nights.

I think the cost of food in Utah has a lot to do with it (especially in winter).  I thought I'd share some of my favorite $5 ish family meals.  When time and money are at a premium, I was delighted to find this was saving me both.

Here they are in no particular order:

$6 rotisserie chicken from the grocery store + home made rolls and some frozen corn or broccoli

$4 container of taquitos from Trader Joe's and corn or rice and some sour cream

$2.50 bag of potstickers from TJ's, rice, and  a $3.50 bag of mandarin chicken from TJ's to go on the rice

The ever popular $5 little Ceasar's pizza.  We add sauteed mushrooms and olives to upgrade it.

$2.00 olive and garlic Foccacia from TJ's to go with spaghetti and a jar of sauce for a buck or two.

$1 frozen burritos (check the labels to make sure they are all natural) from the frozen food section of the grocery.  Heat up a can of tomato sauce and add chile pepper and cumin to make a sauce to smother it.  Add cheese and put under the broiler.

Our recent favorite - chicken corn dogs from the local Smith's (Kroger).  The package is around $6 and has 15 corn dogs, and they are all natural.  Corn dog night!

This sort of menu has left me room to buy the essentials I can't live without:  a big block of cheese, lots of salsa, Daisy sour cream, mushrooms and olives, and our favorite fresh fruits, cereals, and blue corn chips.