I found some great boneless and butterflied pork chops marked down on clearance at Homeland for $2.71.  Since the pork chops were almost to the “sell by date,” the store had marked them down considerably and I just happened to be there doing my shopping that day. I froze them until I was ready to use them.  The spinach I used is your standard Birds Eye frozen variety.  I made a nice “pan gravy” from my old Betty Crocker Cookbook and we had a nice meal. After reading “The South Beach Diet,” our family has done our best to avoid high carb meals and this meal was no exception. My husband loved it because it had two of his favorites: gravy and bacon.  This was really a meal for 4.5 people since my son ate some of my pork chop and had a small bowl of applesauce.  I could have bought a bigger package of pork chops and still kept the meal under $10.00, but this is how I did it on this particular night.  

2 large butterflied pork chops (cut in half to make 4) ($2.71)

1 package of Birds Eye frozen spinach: ($1.39)

3 cloves of garlic ($0.15)

1/2 small white onion ($0.20)

3/4 cup 2% milk: ($0.30)

2 tablespoons flour: ($0.05)

1 strip of bacon: ($0.25)

3 tablespoons regular Olive Oil: ($0.75)

1 tablespoon butter: ($0.10)

1 teaspoon kosher salt: ($0.10)

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper: ($0.15)

TOTAL: $6.15

Recipe: Place two tablespoons of olive oil in the pan on medium high heat. Season pork chop with salt and pepper.  Sear pork chop in pan flipping half way through the process.  Remove pork chops from pan. Add one tablespoon of butter to pork chop drippings in the pan and two tablespoons of flour.  Keep heat on medium low. Add milk 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.)  In a separate pan, on medium high heat cook onions, garlic, and diced bacon with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until the bacon is cooked and onions are translucent.  Make sure your spinach is thawed and add the spinach to this mix.  Cook on medium low for 5 minutes to blend flavors and heat the spinach.  NOTE: I omitted cooking time on the pork chop since we have very good stainless steel cookware that tends to cook very quickly.

Today is the first entry in my series of feeding a family of 5 on less than $5.00 or $10.00. Some days we eat very nutritional meals that we prepare for less than $5.00 and have leftovers for my husband’s lunch or another meal entirely. To cook interesting meals in a frugal way, there are some initial expenses for items such as good seasonings, bulk rice and beans, and bulk meats. This style of cooking also requires portioning of bulk meats into freezer bags. For example, we generally eat two large chicken breasts between the 5 of us for a meal (most nutritionists recommend 4 oz. portions of meat for adults). It is fun to eat crockpot food in the winter or come up with variations on traditional meals from different cultures.  Above all, it is the right thing to do to sit and eat together as a family. Last month, we cooked several meals all for under $5.00 and $10.00 each and we’ll be profiling a few of these weekly.

The first meal in our series is our gourmet vegetarian pizza that we prepared for less than $10. We used approximately one pound of fresh asparagus, half a bag of frozen broccoli florets, and a package of pre-shredded mozzarella cheese. The dough is homemade using items from our pantry. After oiling the pizza stone, we spread a few cloves of minced garlic over the dough and then sprinkled oregano over the oil and garlic. Then, we spread the mozzarella over the dough. While all this was happening, we blanched the asparagus and broccoli slightly in boiling water and then placed it on top of the cheese. The pizza should bake for approximately 18 minutes on 425 degree heat. We served it in squares with fresh parmesan cheese. (Of course, little square in the right is for our three year old son who does not care for anything green at this time.)

Prices
1 lb fresh asparagus: $4.22

½ bag frozen broccoli florets: $1.10

Pizza dough: $0.75 (homemade)

1 lb mozzarella shredded: $2.36

2 cloves garlic: $0.10

5 shakes oregano: $0.05

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: $0.25

Handful grated parmesan cheese: $0.50

TOTAL: $9.33

NOTE: We use private label products (read: store brand) for almost everything.