March 13, 2011

What's for Lunch - Sunday, March 13th


Our family including our DS and DIL attend the same church.  Every Sunday we get up and head to Sunday School and the morning Worship Service.  Afterwards everyone comes to our house for lunch.

Sometimes I serve something elaborate such as turkey or a roast, but today's menu was simple.  I served Beef n noodles, oyster crackers, fruit salad, grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberry shortcake.  We had milk or water to drink.

Usually when I make Beef n Noodles I use leftovers from a beef roast.  This time I used hamburger.  I began last night to prepare this meal so that all I would have to do after church today was to heat the soup and make the grilled cheese sandwiches.  I used 1 lb. of ground beef that I browned, drained and rinsed.  I cooked some No Yolks noodles and when they were done, I drained them into a colander in the sink.  To the same pot I added 3 cans of beef broth, the browned beef, a little beef bouillon for flavor along with some onion powder and a little garlic powder.  When this broth mixture had simmered, I added the noodles and let the entire pot cool down.  I put the pot and all in the fridge.

I was able to get a 16 oz. container of fresh strawberries for only 99 cents at our grocery store on Friday.  I sliced them and added a little sugar and put them in the fridge.  I made my mother's "cottage pudding" recipe for the shortcake. 

When we got home from church I took the pot of soup from the fridge and set it on the stove to slowly simmer.  I made the grilled cheese sandwiches and set them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven to keep warm.  I opened a can of fruit cocktail and sliced pears for the fruit salad and set out a bowl of oyster "saltine type" crackers. 

This meal was composed entirely of items that I had bought on sale and with coupons.  The ground beef was only 80 cents a lb. bought at a mega sale last month.  The no yolks noodles were 50 cents for a large bag, the beef broth was purchased for only 30 cents a can using coupons in December, the oyster crackers were 50 cents in December, the canned fruit was on sale in January for about 70 cents a can, the cheese slices were only 99 cents a package last fall and the bread was a 24 oz. loaf on sale for $1.19.  I only used 6 cheese slices and 12 slices of bread.  And as reported earlier, I only paid 99 cents for the strawberries. 

So you do the math.  This was a simple, nutritious and tasty meal that fed 6 of us with enough soup leftover for another meal for my DH, me and our youngest DS.  This is why I scan for great deals on food.  I buy the majority of our food on sale and with a little thought I can take those sale items and make a great meal for my family.

It didn't take long to heat up the soup and put everything else on the table.  Afterwards I just had to put all the dishes in the dishwasher and that was the easiest cleanup ever.  This meant I could sit in the comfy chair in the livingroom and take a little Sunday afternoon nap. 

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