Thursday, August 19, 2010

the Bewitching hour


I use coupons, to fill my pantry.

I use my pantry, to feed my family.

I make food for my family, and try to add some to the freezer. How do I combine all these into one?

Well I used my coupons (and sales) to fill my pantry with Safeway brand pasta for .69 a box. I used coupons to get Ragu sauces, Rotel tomatoes, and the bacon bits. I also waited for a sale and got ground beef on sale and used a coupon for $3 off.

I put all of this together to make a casserole. I doubled a batch and one went right into the freezer.

Making/planning your meals out of the pantry is one of the best ways to save money!

Bacon, Cheeseburger dinner

1 box pasta, any kind, cooked to al dente
1 jar of Double Cheese Ragu sauce
bacon bits (to taste)
Ro-tel tomatoes (these are a little spicy so if you/your kids don't like that, any diced, canned tomatoes would work)
Ground beef ( I cooked a 3lb. pkg, using about half in one casserole and half in the other

Brown ground beef, drain.
While browning, start pasta in a pot to boil. When finished, drain.
Line a 13x9 dish with foil (make sure you leave some hanging off the sides)
Mix together, cheese sauce, ground beef, noodles, bacon and tomatoes.
Bake at 350 for 10-15 min. to warm up.

My kids DEVOURED this. Each had seconds. I served this with Pillsbury bisquits (purchased on sale & with coupons), carrot sticks, and apple sauce(also bought with coupons &on sale)

6 comments:

Beth said...

This sounds so good! I have a question though...do you bake it and then freeze it to use another time? And when you want to use it out of your freezer how long do you warm it up for? (I guess that was 2 questions!)

Your favorite sister said...

I bake two. I put one in a glass 9x13 and serve it to my family. Basically just do everything twice. 2 boxes of pasta, 2 jars of sauce etc. Then one is used for dinner, and one goes in the freezer. I either use a disposable aluminum pan and cover OR, line another glass 13x9 with foil. Once it has baked and is cool, using the foil, lift it out. Use foil to wrap. Then I do a second layer of foil and place it in a labeled freezer bag. To defrost, I pull it out in the morning. Let it thaw in the fridge until you are ready to bake. Then bake according to the directions you would normally follow. For example I baked this at 350 for 15-20 min. Really just to warm it up. So with everything thawed, it should take the same amount of time. Does that make sense? If not let me know and I will try to write it better!

Beth said...

That does make sense!! Thank you!! Now that I have a second freezer, I really want to get some meals in there for nights when we are just too busy or when we are too poor for anything else!! So, keep posted recipes for me :)

Susan said...

Sounds good - nice and simple. I'll have to try it.

Sandra said...

This sounds SO good and so simple...thank you Marie :)

Blessed Beyond said...

oh this sounds so awesome!!! Thank you for sharing.

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