Cooking beans from scratch is another area that’s easy and can save quite a bit of moo-lah. I bought a pound of black beans for just a little over a dollar, cooked them in the crock pot with water until they were soft and ended up with enough beans for six meals. I used them in our Navajo tacos last week, the BBQ salad this week, and I put four bags in the freezer. A can of black beans is .68 cents around here and the bag of dry beans made at least 8 cans worth of beans. That’s a lot cheaper! And it’s not any harder to pull a bag of beans from the freezer than it is to open a can. By cooking a lot at once, it doesn’t increase your work load by much.
Remaining for the Month: $96.90
Click HERE for Cheap Eats Week 3: Snacks
Comments & Reviews
Sarah says
I'm totally intrigued by cooking beans! I've wanted to for awhile but don't really know how and we use a LOT of black beans… and I didn't think about freezing what you don't use! I'm totally going to have to do this… how long does it take in the crock pot?
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
I'm not sure exactly how long it takes. I put them in the CrockPot in the morning and they are nice and soft by dinner. I usually add salt too. Hope that helps!
Sarah says
@Jennifer {The Craft Patch}
Thanks! I'll try it! 🙂
Tharvey says
Very interesting. Normally I would think the canned beans are so cheap, why bother, but I can see how the little stuff like that adds up over time!
Do you have any recipes to replace cream of soups?
I'm also excited about the Porcupine Meatballs recipe! We've tried to make them a few times but they are never cooked quite right.
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
To replace cream soup, you would make a roux: 1 TBSP butter, 1 TBSP flour, 1 cup milk. It isn't as creamy as creamed soups because it's not as full of fat. But that's a good thing, right? 🙂
Another reason to buy dry beans vs. canned beans is that dry beans have a really long shelf life so they are perfect for emergency situations/long term food storage.
Danielle says
That potato sauce looks delicious. I have just decided to make it for my own dinner tonight. Thanks!
Danielle says
Also, I am very interested in what your family has for snacks. We seem to go through a TON of cracker type stuff, and I like to have fruits/veggies along with something that can stick to my kids' ribs a little more. I am eager to hear what you come up with.
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
I'm glad you're going to try the potato topping! Hope you like it!
I think I will dedicate a whole post to cheap snacks. That seems to be a hard one for a lot of families…especially families with young kids. So look for that post soon!
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
@Danielle
I'm glad you're going to try the potato topping! Hope you like it!
I think I will dedicate a whole post to cheap snacks. That seems to be a hard one for a lot of families…especially families with young kids. So look for that post soon!
Danielle says
Great, I can't wait! Also, my family loved the cheese sauce last night, and they are picky! Potatoes are usually a difficult meal for them, but this one worked out great. I will be putting it in my regular rotation. Thanks for all the great posts. I love your blog.
Catherine G.N. Marcoux says
Hi! I've found your blog a few days ago, and I found this very "cheap eats" interesting.
I'm living with my boyfriend and even since we were together, we only had one income coming in (studies (mostly) and bad luck). So, we got used to live on a very tight budget.
But, ouch!, you're so lucky to have two gallons of milk for that price! Same thing for chicken breasts! One gallon of milk is 5,81$ where I'm from, and chicken breasts are normally around 6$/lbs, sometimes they are half price, but not so often… Either way (or price) cooking from scratch sure does help. 😉
And thanks for sharing the gnocchi recipe! We ate that once at a friend's house, I love it, boyfriend no, but if I have the same success as with homemade eggrolls, it is worth a try! Thanks again!
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
Hey Catherine, I know am very lucky to live in a low cost-of-living area. We all just have to do the best with where we are, right?
Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the comment!
Klondike Brands says
Hey Jennifer! Thanks for linking to our Gnocchi Recipe! It is such a great recipe and we are so glad that you like it!
Another note on the recipe! Make sure you check out the How-To Video (the link is right under the picture on the recipe page). Chef Bryan does a great job teaching you how to make those delicious little noodles!
lila. says
Yeah where do you live to get food that cheap?! I want to live there!!
Tony Val says
Curious, where is your "low-cost-of-living" area (or region at least)? I'm really not trolling here, but this is the equivalent of the McDonald's employee budgeting tool from a year or two ago. You're giving people false hope by completely omitting any explanation of your circumstances and it seems like you're getting lots of attention from this so-called "receipt". What's the deal?
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
Tony, I don't know what to tell you. I copied my receipt exactly. This post was meant to do the opposite of what you accuse me of… I want to give hope to other families in my situation. It IS possible to live frugally, no matter where you live, even if it's not the exact same numbers that I have. Society in general tells people they need more and more "stuff" to be happy and I want to stand up and say that you CAN be happy with less!