Recent Dinners

The Kid and I were out of town visiting friends for the weekend, but I did cook last Thursday night and again tonight.

Thursday was another busy day, full of errands and super-double-coupons shopping, so I put together a strictly heat n' eat dinner that night. I know I've mentioned the value of Harris Teeter rainchecks in the past, and I have a perfect example of that to share. Back in 2008, Harris Teeter had a BOGO sale on a certain brand of refrigerated, heat n' serve entrees. They ran out, so I got a raincheck. Several months later, I noticed they were no longer carrying that brand so I asked the customer service manager about it. She said she'd honor the raincheck on any similar product that they carried. So, last week, I used my raincheck to get Hormel and Jack Daniel's heat n' serve entrees BOGO, even though they weren't on sale. Even better, I had $1 and $1.50 coupons for the Hormel entrees which were doubled. My total price after raincheck and coupons was $3 per entree, down from $7.49 - $7.99 each.

So Thursday's dinner consisted of a Hormel meatloaf, with pre-made, refrigerated mashed potatoes (bought with super double coupon) and green beans heated with a little chicken bullion (my trick for jazzing up canned green beans when I don't have the time or inclination to slow-cook Southern-style with fatback). The green beans were actually free because I agreed to take part in a survey about them. The company sent me a free can, I filled out a quick survey, and now they'll send me a check for $5. I guess I could say dinner was totally free because I recouped the $5 cost in the green beans, but that's going toward the "fun money" account, not the food budget.

Totals:

$3 - meatloaf
$2 - mashed potatoes
free - green beans

$5 for dinner for 3, with 1 full serving left over

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Monday I made grilled ham and brie sandwiches on crusty homemade bread (from the bread machine), and served them with leftover split pea soup.

Totals:

$1 - sliced ham
$1 - brie
.20 - homemade bread
free - split pea soup (accounted for in another meal)

$2.20 for dinner for 3, with plenty of bread left over

NOTE: Grilled ham & brie is awesome spread with a little apricot jam, but I didn't have any.