Weeknight Dinners

The Kid and I hit Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill on the way back from our weekend visit, so this week's dinners have relied heavily on the products we picked up.

Tuesday night was the big exception to the above, mainly because I had milk that I needed to use or toss because it was on the verge of souring. So I went to my old standby for that situation, which is homemade mac and cheese. My side dishes were canned Margaret Holmes brand collard greens (my favorite), and orange wedges. (Aldi has a great price on naval oranges this week, and $1.49 for a 4 lb. bag.)

Totals:

$3 - ingredients for mac & cheese
$1.20 - collards
.30 - oranges

$4.50 for dinner for 3 (with lots of mac & cheese left over - I've been having it for lunch every day)

__________

Wednesday was a busy day and I was out until just before dinner. I'd bought a bag-to-skillet entree at Trader Joe's that seemed like a quick dinner solution. It was called Chicken Chow Mein, but I've always understood Chow Mein to mean crunchy noodles and these were soft - more like Lo Mein. No matter, it was very good - chicken, noodles, broccoli, carrots, onions and red pepper, with a thick, slightly sweet soy-based sauce. My only complaint was the serving size. The package said it served 3, but I really think it was a dinner for 2. Luckily I had a side dish/starter to round it out, which was another great deal I got during HT's super doubles. Several varieties of Kashiki brand frozen Asian foods were on sale for $2.50 each, which brought them to .50 each after $1 coupons were doubled. I had more coupons than they had packages of egg rolls, so I literally cleared their shelves.

Totals:

$3.99 - Trader Joe's chicken chow mein
.50 - Kashiki frozen egg rolls (3 to a package)

$4.49 for dinner for 3

__________

Tonight I made a batch of beer bread from a Trader Joe's mix. Anything else I served was superfluous. OK, not really, but this bread is THAT good. I also pan-fried a vacuum-packed package of Trader Joe's Roast Beef hash. I made indents and cracked raw eggs into the hash, then covered and cooked until the eggs were set. Half a jar of chilled tropical fruit (also cheap after HT super double coupons) made a nice side dish.

Totals:

$3 - beer bread ($1.99 mix + beer & butter called for on package)
$1.99 - roast beef hash
$1 - 1/2 jar chilled fruit
.30 - eggs

$6.29 for dinner for 3, with 1/2 loaf bread left over