Fun and Frugal Cooking

While the housing is 61% cheaper down here, grocery shopping hasn’t been as inexpensive as anticipated. With even the Big City Daily Newspaper a joke, I don’t get the local store circulars. After a couple of shocking grocery totals, and visiting some less than stellar chains, I decided to stay mainly with Harris Tweeter and use their on-line sales site.

July starts the new frugal budget in earnest so today’s project is a good start. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs were on sale (a major bargain) so I froze them waiting for a time with nothing planned and a week without travel.

I like to put my ingredients into a Google search so I entered chicken thighs and onions plus recipe and a host of meals popped up. It didn’t take long to identify a good choice that also included another inexpensive favorite, sweet potatoes, with the bonus of being a slow cooking method. Great! Time to myself and an awesome smell permeating the house while I unpack, blog and watch HGTV – this is good living.

Additional ingredients sound odd but potentially tasty – cayenne pepper, paprika and peach preserves. Spices were already on hand purchased earlier on sale for a buck at CVS. The name brand preserves were also on sale in a smaller size which is good as I’m not sure if the leftovers would actually get eaten. One lesson learned – thighs were purchased in a large pack and frozen. I should have split the package before freezing because not all pieces fit in the cooker and I don’t think you should re-freeze defrosted meat. Next time I will not make the same error (boneless, skinless chicken breasts in fridge to be divided and frozen this afternoon). This meal will be a bargain nonetheless.

Rather than place on rice, I’m using barley as an alternative opting for the higher fiber and more filling base. Hopefully, I will be able to make leftovers last longer if it’s a more filling dish. I didn’t have to consider anyone’s taste beside my own as I’m no longer feeding Youngest. I plan to sit down tonight to a proper meal and open a crisp inexpensive Riesling. Will report on results later.