Budget friendly meals - Butterbeans

The butterbean aka dried lima beans is a  Southern classic that often gets overlooked.  Butterbeans can be cooked any way you like and many people have many twists on their favorite recipes.  I'm going to share with you my favorite way to cook butterbeans. We are having them for dinner tonight with some hot water cornbread. 

Put 1 lb. of butterbeans in a pressure cooker.  (I am using the small ones but any size is ok.)
Add in 8 cups water, 1 1/2 tsp. salt & 1/4 tsp. black pepper.
About an hour before serving turn pressure on for 20 minutes.
Check for doneness.  If not done yet turn back on for about 5 minutes. (They do not take as long as some other beans.)
When done add in 1/4 cup of butter.
Stir & serve!

You can also do this on the stove top or crockpot. Just adjust cooking times.

Stovetop- approximately 1 hour, if soaked before
Crockpot- approximately 5 hours

Butterbeans make a great main dish or side dish.  Left-overs freeze well and they also taste even better the next day for lunch.

Enjoy!

Menu

I'll start my blog back up with our menu plan for the week. I will go back to doing this on Monday's after today.  :)

Sunday- We ate out at Chili's after church
Monday- BBQ chicken leg quarters, tossed salad w/homemade ranch dressing, stuffed jalapenos, & watermelon
Tuesday- Saucy turkey meatballs, roasted vegetables (sweet potatoes, tomatoes, & mushrooms)
Wednesday- Spaghetti, green beans
Thursday-  Chicken & vegetable stir-fry, rice
Friday- Hamburger & cabbage pot
Saturday-  Soft tacos & Mexican rice

Back to Basics: How to make scottish oatmeal

3 c. water
pinch of salt
1 tsp. coconut oil (optional but it gives a great flavor & prevents sticking)
1 c. Scottish oats


In a pot with a lid place 3 cups water and a pinch of sea salt.
Bring to a boil.
Add in 1 cup Scottish oats and 1 tsp. coconut oil. (This helps to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot.)
Bring to a boil and then cover.
Turn the heat to low & allow to simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
Stir 2 or 3 times during cooking.

Serve as you would any oatmeal.

My favorite is 1 tsp. coconut oil, 1 T. brown sugar, and a little almond milk.

This yields about 4, 1 c. servings.

Pecan Pie

Find out what stores have pecan pies on sale. Buy one! 

I do like homemade pecan pie & there is seldom a time you will find me saying don't make something homemade, but to me a good store bought one is just as good.  With the price of pecans it was cheaper this year to just buy one. So I did.

$5.98 for a delicious pie that I only have to thaw out Thanksgiving morning.  Oh & if you live in this house don't forget the cool whip!

Thanksgiving is a great time to make lots of yummy food, but there is no need to feel guilty if you don't make everything yourself!

Ordering From Food Co-ops

 

I am a member of a food co-op. I've actually been in 3. Two of them several years ago that fizzled out after not enough orders and now I'm in one that orders from Azure Standard.  I've been ordering here and there for about a year & half now. 
Why don't I order all of the time? Price.  When you buy in bulk you do save money sometimes.  Not always. Then there is figuring it into our regular grocery budget.  There is no way I could afford to get all of our groceries from Azure. Organic & bulk are great but they can be expensive & only getting them shipped here 1x a month would not work for fresh items.
What I'm doing now is trying to shop every other week at our local grocery store. I'm giving myself $150 to spend each time.  With the staples usually in my home & knowing how to cook from scratch this usually works. That gives me a budget of $100 to spend for an Azure order.
Maybe others have an endless budget, but I do not. We live on a modest income & do not like to use credit so this is what works for us. 
Here are some pictures from my last order & I'll list what we got & how much the total was. 
( I love reading about recipes & budgeting type things so here is a peek into my order)

5 lbs. shredded coconut

2 lbs. sushi rice

5 lbs. red kidney beans

5 lbs. split peas

1 lb. banana chips

2 cans butternut squash

1 lb. Celtic gray sea salt

1 lb. cinnamon

1 lb. Mexican seasoning

1 lb. chili powder

20 lbs. jonagold apples

1 case (6) half gallon canning jars

1 dish mat

 

Total with shipping $98.74

 

Most of these we made into applesauce that we canned. Apples typically keep for a while so the rest are in a basket on the counter for snacks.

 

 Does that sound like a lot? I stayed within my budget & these things all will be used over time in our meals.
The main tip I can give about a co-op and buying in bulk is buy things you actually use.  When you first look on the website everything will look great.  They have lots of ingredients that you've probably seen in health food store for less & then all can look so tempting.  I can tell you from experience though that if you didn't eat them before you probably won't fit them into your usual cooking either.
The only things I usually buy in the 25 lb. bags are wheat berries that I use to grind our own flour, and some beans.  Usually pintos as my family really likes these and you can also grind them to make your own cream of whatever substitute in recipes.
Do you buy things in bulk?  I would love to hear what you get & some recipes.

Cheep & Yummy = Crockpot Red Beans & Sausage

Crockpot Red Beans & Sausage

1 lb. red kidney beans (or could substitute small red beans) $1.50
14 oz. pkg. smoked sausage  $2.50
1 T. Mexican seasoning blend (could use taco seasoning)  .25
2 tsp. salt
2 c. rice $1.00

Soak beans over night if you want but it's not really necessary with kidney beans.
In crock place washed beans, salt, & Mexican seasoning.
Cover with water to about 2x over the beans.
Turn crockpot on high & cook for about 4 hours.
Now add in the smoked sausage, sliced.
Allow to cook another hour or two or until beans are tender.

Cook rice in another pot according to package directions.

Place a scoop of rice in a bowl and ladle over a big scoop of the beans & sausage.

$5.25  for the entire meal.  Serves 6-8.

Now this is a whole yummy meal but my husband insists it needs a big hunk of cornbread on the side.   :)

Cheap & Yummy = Dirty Rice

Some of the moms in our homeschool co-op were talking about different meals. A meal swap even came up.  Sounds fun to me! 
Anyhoo, I thought I'd share a couple of really cheap & really easy meals that will serve a family.

First up:

Dirty Rice

1 lb. breakfast or Italian sausage (get in breakfast meat section)- $2.50
1 1/2 cups minute rice- (store brand)- $2.99 for whole box so I'll say 1/3 would be- $1
1/2 onion, finely chopped- .50
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped-.50
3 stalks celery, finely chopped- .25
1 1/2 c. water- free

In a large skillet add sausage, onion, pepper, & celery. Cook until sausage is browned.  Then drain a little of the grease but leave some in the pan.  Mix in the rice & then add in the water.  Allow to come to a boil & then turn fire off. Cover with a tight lid.  Allow to set about 5-10 minutes.

Serve!

Total cost:  $4.75 and I think it could even be a little less depending on the type of onion and pepper you choose.

If you have it in the budget serve with a side salad.

This makes quite a bit.  Left-overs are good & you can freeze them also.
Something else good is to reheat the left-overs in a skillet & scramble in a couple of eggs. 

Cheap & Yummy = Vegetable Barley Soup

Vegetable Barley Soup

1 can tomato paste- .50
3 quarts water -free
3 beef bullion cubes- (I get the ones in the Mexican section)- .50
1 T. oil - .10
1 bag mixed vegetables $1.50
1 cup barley $1
1 T. Italian seasonings -.25

Mix all in a soup pot. 
Bring to a boil and allow to simmer about 45 minutes.
Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
When the barley is tender it's done.

Total cost:  $4.35

The barley will fill you up. Of course you could add meat or other vegetables but that would add to the cost.  Served with a loaf of French bread to sop up the delicious broth would add about $2 more to the meal if store bought or make your own for about $1.  Still a good, comforting, cheap recipe!

This freezes well!

Farm to Fork

A cheap & easy meal that my family enjoys is purple hull pea soup.  I make it in the crockpot & I like to eat mine plain in a bowl with the broth.   It's a whole healthy meal in itself but you can make a pot of rice & cornbread to go along with it & it's over the top yummy!  The other night after class we made grilled cheese sandwiches to eat with it & that was good too.

Purple hull pea soup (Totally Farm to Fork or homemade version)

4 cups frozen purple hull peas (picked from the farm just down the road)
1/2 c. chopped green onions (from my garden & frozen)
1 quart chicken broth (I make & freeze)
pinch of cayenne pepper (from my garden, dehydrated & then ground up)

Put all in a crockpot & set on low for about 6 hours.

Done!

Of course you can make this with store bought ingredients & it's good too but there's just something special about knowing it all came from close by.

2 Weeks of Meals

This post is mainly for my sister-in-law... :) I'm going to try to plan & shop for 2 weeks at a time. We went Saturday & have everything stocked for the following meals.

Breakfasts:
eggs
bacon
toast
tortillas
oatmeal w/raisins or blueberries
waffles
muffins
juice/milk

Lunches:
tuna salad, gf crackers, carrot sticks
soup and toast
left-overs
chef salad
-Also bought sandwich fixings & small bags of chips for the guys. Mostly they take left-overs.


Dinners:
chicken stir-fry, rice
bean & cheese quesadillas, chips, salsa
spaghetti w/meat sauce, peas
crockpot bbq pork, coleslaw
oven tacos, mexi salad
meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas
black eye peas, collard greens, rice, cornbread
creamy crockpot chicken  broccoli over rice, rolls, apple crisp
Mexican cornbread casserole, beans
bean burritos w/peppers, onions, cheese, and salad
salmon patties, macaroni salad
chicken broccoli supreme, rolls, jello

I did not buy any cokes. Drinks will be coffee, ice tea, water, & lemonade.
Cheese- I bought a 2 lb. block and divided it up into freezer bags. Burger & chicken the same.

Next week I will probably have to restock on milk, lettuce, and maybe some fresh fruit but that should be it.