Cheap eats begin at home!

As you get to know me, you’ll soon find out that I love old sayings, Proverbs, and “words of wisdom” in general.

One of these is “Two can live as cheaply as one.”

At least, this is what people told me before I got married. This would also be the time that most writers would take a “dig” at their beloved spouse to illustrate how this old saying just doesn’t cut it in their situation.

Yours truly, on the other hand, is going to take the high road and leave my wife out of this discussion.

There are ways that we can economize with respect to our spending. The one I am going to focus on today is what we spend to eat.

If you have eaten in a restaurant lately, I can honestly tell you that you cannot possibly eat as much food for a lower price than you can by purchasing the groceries and spending a little time and effort to cook the meal yourself. This is something that I can prove to you in just a moment.

Plus, by preparing the meal yourself you will be in complete control over how the food is cooked, so that you are able to achieve the maximum nutritional benefits while consuming the minimum number of calories.

When you think about it, those who are in the business of running a restaurant are first and foremost interested in selling you food that will look and taste great. Preparing a meal that is also healthy and economical is secondary to their overall number one goal: serve you a meal that you enjoy and will come back to their establishment to dine again.

My favorite kind of prepare-at-home meal is of the one-pot variety. In other words, all ingredients are combined into one large pot on the stove and cooked to perfection. Usually these meals also do not take as long to fix compared to more complex offerings. In addition to saving time, they also taste great!

My friends are incredulous when I tell them that I can fix an entire meal (six servings) for just about $2.00 total. (American currency, of course.) It may take just a little bit of navigating on your part, but it can be done. Here’s how I do it in this case.

One such recipe is called Salsa Surprise. (The surprising fact is just how great it actually tastes!) Here are the ingredients:

2 cups of long grain white rice.
1 32 oz jar of salsa.
1 16 oz can of corn, undrained.

Cook the rice following directions on the bag. Add the jar of salsa and can of corn. Stir and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until finished.

That’s it! Your dinner is served!

Honestly, how on earth in this day and age can someone prepare this meal for about $2.00?

The first trick, I will fully confess, begins with shopping at your friendly Aldi store. Where else can you purchase a three-pound bag of rice for 99 cents? Since this recipe calls for two cups of rice (one pound) that comes to 33 cents. (By the way, all of these referenced prices are effective in the Spring of 2007.)

Your biggest expense is the jar of salsa, still only 99 cents. Follow that up with the can of corn, at 67 cents. Combining the three, .33 + .99 + .67 = $1.99.

If you want to “splurge” a little, you could serve this meal over a small pile of tortilla chips (a medium size bag will only set you back another $.99.)

This meal gives you a very low fat offering, and the nutrition from vegetables (tomato-based salsa which includes peppers), corn, and the rice, which are healthy grains. In fact, the U.S. Government has a great menu planner that will help you calculate calories, fat, and carbohydrates at http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/menuplanner/menu.cgi

Naturally, the fat content and cost remain rock-bottom because there is no meat in this dish. It’s your choice as to whether or not you would add this to the mix.

The benefits to you in preparing this especially tasty meal are incredible cost savings, plus saving on time and effort.

This is another way in which you can be living the balanced life.