YOU CAN DO IT - PART II

Are you experiencing déjà vu? Are you thinking that you have already read this post?

You are not seeing double nor re-reading an old post.

This is the sequel to last year’s original post entitled “You ‘Can’ Do It”.

The premise of that blog post was to meal plan for a week using cans in Old Mother Frugal’s cupboards.

Old Mother Frugal did it again.

Welcome to the next installment of meal planning using canned goods.  

The accomplice to the cans was a rotisserie chicken. It was a freebie from Sam’s Club making this week of meals very economical and inexpensive yet still healthy.

The canned items in Old Mother Frugal’s cupboard and pantry are numbered with a Sharpie marker. The number indicates the month in which it is best to use the contents of the can.

Stored properly and without damage, canned foods may be used beyond their ‘best use by’ dates. Given two cans from which to choose, Old Mother Frugal prefers to use the older cans first, saving cans with a later ‘best use by’ date for a future meal.

That’s the back story.

Here is the list of cans under consideration…

-       Clams (2) 6.5 oz each

-       White Chicken Chili

-       Red Kidney Beans

-       French – style green beans

-       Mushrooms

-       Asparagus (large and small cans)

-       Cut sweet potatoes

-       Baked beans

Two cans of clams were used with broth made from shrimp tails and fresh potatoes to make a pot of Clam Chowder. This pot was served as an entrée for one dinner and a side dish for a second dinner.

To extend the amount of chicken that was pulled from the rotisserie chicken, a can of White Chicken Chili was incorporated into the Cowboy Beans with Chicken recipe as well as a can of red kidney beans. A can of sweet potatoes and French-style green beans were scheduled to be served but instead it was served over rice with fresh fruit.

That moves canned sweet potatoes and French-style green beans for meals later in the week.

About twice a year, Old Mother Frugal makes a batch of crepes. A batch will yield about 20 crepes. Using five for this meal, 15 crepes are ready to be used for future dinners and desserts. This meal was Chicken with Mushroom and Asparagus Crepes using the cans of mushrooms and asparagus. It was served with free croissants.

Using a larger can of asparagus, classic Chicken Divan was made subbing asparagus for the broccoli. This was a casserole layered with asparagus as the bottom layer, a layer of sliced chicken breast in the middle and parmesan white cheese sauce on top. This was served with the can of sweet potatoes.

Two rotisserie chicken drumsticks were deboned and used to make Chicken Patty Burgers. These were served on burger buns with a can of Heinz Baked Beans, pickles and a cup of soup.

Another entrée created from the rotisserie chicken was Chicken Paprika. This was served with egg noodles and the unused green beans from earlier in the week.

The final meal made from the chicken but required no canned ingredient was a Fruited Chicken Salad.  Old Mother Frugal was able to cull enough chicken scraps from broth made from bones and chicken wings. This meat, combined with diced celery and chopped grapes, made just enough chicken salad to fill two croissants served with fresh fruit and leftover soup from the prior week.

A free chicken valued at $4.98 and 10 cans of food from Old Mother Frugal’s pantry fed two adults for a week. The price of the cans ranged from a low of 27 cents to a high of 99 cents. These meals for a week would have been budget-friendly even if Old Mother Frugal bought the rotisserie chicken!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s Tip: Check the mark-down and clearance areas of your grocery store when stock-piling your pantry. You can see a savings as much as 50% in your grocery bill by taking advantage of merchandise that has been priced to sell. If can beans are not available, consider dry beans as a cost-effective substitution.