One of the changes we’ve made to help cut costs in the grocery area is to purchase Honeysuckle White Ground turkey to use in place of recipes that would traditionally be made with ground beef. We made the change for a couple of reasons. First off, ground beef is a little pricey, and ground turkey is always priced lower. If we do purchase ground beef, it is super lean (7%-10% fat content) which makes the price even higher because of the type of meat that we want to purchase. Second, ground turkey is healthy to cook with; we purchase the 93/7 Lean Ground Turkey roll by Honeysuckle White turkey.

Some of my favorite uses for ground turkey are meatloaf, meatballs, Southwestern Goulash, and salisbury steak. These are all comfort foods around our house. They are easy to make, quick, and low cost. Because a roll of turkey (1 lb.) costs around $2, any meal we make with turkey keeps our cost at about $5 for the entire meal to feed 4.5 people (our son is 4 and isn’t a big eater). Occasionally we do have leftovers depending on the type of side I serve with dinner which either my husband or I eat for lunch the next day.

I notice that one of my go to dishes is either pan seared chicken or pork chops. I realize that this is something I cook fairly often because one, it is easy, and two I love most anything that’s fried. Cooking pan seared pork loin chops for dinner tonight helped to keep the meal under ten dollars. I tend to purchase pork because it is usually cheaper than beef, and sometimes cheaper than chicken when I find it on clearance.

Tonight didn’t seem like a complete meal since it was only the pork chop and scalloped potatoes, but the potatoes were such a heavy dish that I didn’t want to add any additional sides. The meal was completely satisfying, and met the comfort food criteria in my book. Comfort food for me is fried chicken or pork, usually with a gravy on the side, mashed potatoes (with gravy of course), and some kind of green like green beans or spinach. I would normally make a pan gravy for the pan seared pork, but because of the scalloped potatoes I opted for a simpler meal.

Scalloped potatoes are really easy to do. I used a mandolin to slice the potatoes, but slicing them with a knife works just as well. Once you figure out how to make a gravy, making scalloped potatoes is a cinch. I followed a recipe very loosely for my scalloped potatoes, but thankfully I made all the right decisions and didn’t mess it up. I made a pan gravy for the scalloped potatoes using bacon grease that was kept in the refrigerator, which not only helps keep costs low, but makes it taste good as well. The bacon grease has no effect on the cost of the meal since it is a by-product of bacon, but I will include the price of butter instead for those who either don’t cook with bacon grease (gasp) or like butter instead. I completely forgot to add onions, garlic, or parsley to the dish, but these would have worked well also.

I was in an absolute rush on the scalloped potatoes because I didn’t put them in the oven in a timely manner (I’ll have to work on my time management a little more). I upped the temperature on the oven to 400 degrees instead of 350 to speed the cooking time up and because of the increased temperature I was able to cook it in less time. I could have purchased a larger package of pork chops and even added another side to keep the meal under $10.00, but it just wasn’t necessary.

3 large pork loin chops ($3.39)

2 – 2 1/2 pounds (about 4 cups) thinly sliced potatoes ($1.00)

2 3/4 cups 2% milk: ($0.90)

1 egg ($0.15)

3 tablespoons flour: ($0.15)

3 tablespoons bacon grease/butter ($0.30)

4 tablespoons olive oil  ($0.10)

1 teaspoon kosher salt: ($0.10)

1 teaspoon black pepper: ($0.15)

4 tablespoons breadcrumbs ($0.20)

4 teaspoons Parmesan cheese ($.40)

TOTAL: $6.84

Recipe: Place four tablespoons of olive oil in the pan on medium high heat. Season pork chop with salt and pepper, dip in egg and milk mixture (1/4 cup milk), then in bread crumbs.  Sear pork chop in pan flipping half way through the process.  Remove pork chops from pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thinly slice potatoes and place in greased baking dish. In a separate pan add three tablespoons bacon grease/butter and three tablespoons of flour on medium low heat.  Keep heat on medium low. Add milk (2 1/2 cups) slowly while stirring constantly to make gravy. The gravy is considered finished once it begins bubbling.  (Depending on your stove’s idea of medium low heat, you may have to adjust your setting.)  Add the gravy mixture to the sliced potatoes and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake scalloped potatoes for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until done on 350 degrees.  NOTE: I omitted cooking time on the pork chop since we have stainless steel cookware that tends to cook very quickly.

I wrote the other day about leftover eggplant that needed to be cooked to avoid throwing it out. My daughters’ aren’t big fans of eggplant, and Ratatouille didn’t interest anyone in the least. I ended up slicing the eggplant, dredging it in eggs, and coating with breadcrumbs to prepare it for frying in olive oil. I served the eggplant along side some Ravioli that I usually purchase at Aldi. The Ravioli is stuffed with ricotta and tastes fresh once it’s been cooked.

The eggplant turned out great! I salted, peppered, and put garlic powder on the eggplant after slicing, and then dredged the eggplant through eggs, and then in breadcrumbs. While I was preparing the eggplant, I allowed the oil to heat up so that it would be ready for frying. I’ve learned when frying to let the oil heat up completely before putting any food in or I will end up with greasy almost inedible food.

We served the ravioli with leftover marinara sauce. Since this is the second time we’ve used the marinara sauce for leftovers it is difficult to put a price on what it cost, but I will estimate it at $1.00.  We used one whole eggplant to feed four of us, but one eggplant would easily feed five people. My three year old does eat the ravioli without marinara, but will not touch eggplant.

1 32 oz bag Ravioli ($2.99)

1 1/2 cups homemade marinara sauce ($1.00)

4 oz Parmesan Cheese ($1.20)

1 Eggplant ($1.80)

1/2 cup bread crumbs ($0.20)

2 medium eggs ($0.30)

8 tablespoons regular Olive Oil: ($1.20)

1 teaspoon kosher salt: ($0.10)

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper: ($0.10)

1 teaspoon garlic powder ($.20)

TOTAL: $9.09

Recipe: Pour eight tablespoons of olive oil in the pan on medium high heat. Dip seasoned eggplant (salt, pepper, garlic powder) in beaten eggs, then dredge in breadcrumbs. Move breaded eggplant to frying pan, cooking on both sides until light brown and crispy.

Bring large pot of water to boil and place frozen ravioli into boiling water. Cook ravioli three to four minutes, or until they begin to float which indicates they are ready.

My series on “Meals for less than $10.00″ will be back shortly. There are a few reasons for its absence – the kids have been away at camp, the holidays, a brief vacation, and of course we’ve had a bunch of events that combine our families. The series will be back along with some great photos and posts about our garden and fresh cooking.