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35 Day No-Buy Recap!

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Hello! So my 35 day no-buy for groceries was officially over on Friday, but I didn’t go grab groceries until Sunday so here I am now, giving a bit of a recap on how 35 days of not buying groceries went. It went surprisingly well. In retrospect, I don’t know that I could have chosen an easier month to have a no-buy on, because there was both of my parent’s birthdays, Father’s Day, a family dinner in Red Deer, and a family dinner with friends that took care of five dinners, plus loads of opportunities to visit my parents, and my mum is the best and always feeds me. So there’s a bit of cheating there but it doesn’t entirely wipe out the significance of not buying any groceries from May 25th to July 3rd. So did I buy any groceries? Yes and no. I bought shrimp on sale…

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In cheap eats

Easy Flatbread

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Hey! Today’s post is a quick and easy snack inspired by a restaurant dish I love! On this particular day I had been helping out at my sister’s new place all day and everyone was going to have a Famoso flatbread (seriously, check it out!) at my parent’s place afterward, but I really needed to get home and get ready for the week. So, my mum helped me assemble all of the required ingredients to make something similar myself! This recipe isn’t an exact dupe- it uses flatout flatbreads (something my mum found at Safeway and I’m now obsessed with) and I wasn’t in the mood to make my own tatziki so I used a pre-packaged hummus. Since most of these ingredients were actually my mum’s (I think she felt a bit bad I had helped all day and wasn’t going to be there for the fun post-work snack), the…

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In cheap eats

Cous Cous Salad

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This easy multi-meal salad is perfect for when it’s hot out since you don’t need to really “cook” anything. You just need to wash your veggies, boil the kettle, and you’re good to go. This version isn’t vegetarian, but you could easily remove the chicken to make it vegetarian, or add a vegan cheese to make it vegan. When I’m making this salad, I keep everything separate until the end and then arrange the toppings because I love how it looks, but if you are in a rush just dump in as you go! Mediterranean Cous Cous Salad $6.81 for four, or $1.70 per serving 1 cup cous cous – $0.44 one can of chick peas – $0.77 one tomato – $0.85 half of a cucumber – $0.38 the juice and zest of one lemon – $0.87 salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil feta (or vegan option to your preference)…

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In Food

Easy Chicken Quesadillas

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Hey! This recipe was born on one of those days where I was like, I want nothing to do with cooking, but I am STARVING and feed me now. I keep a lot of seemingly random things in my freezer, including chicken breasts, pre-sauteed peppers and onions, tortillas… you see where this was going, right?! Rather than being a true recipe post, this is more of an example of how doing some pre-work and keeping your freezer well stocked will save you the money and hassle of having to eat out. I recently bought a flat of chicken breasts at Costco and my dad helped me out by barbecuing each and every one of them for me! Since I was at my parents place, they freeze wrapped them for me, but a simple freezer bag will do the trick as well. I defrosted a pre-cooked chicken breast, a pre-sauteed package…

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In cheap eats

Lentils with Israeli Cous Cous and Mushroom Ragout

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Hi! Today’s post is a freezer meal stockup or family sized recipe that is cheap and cheerful- my two favorite things! Cooking with beans and lentils allows me to skip on expensive meat, and instead load up on healthful vegetables. Sometimes I make the choice to eat meat free and have the nice produce I want. This option actually only uses one fresh ingredient- mushrooms. These could easily be swapped out for rehydrated dried or canned if you are looking to save even more. The most common comment I get when people talk about lentils is usually a combination of “those take forever to cook” or “aren’t those hard to cook?” My answer is the crockpot we all love- seven hours on low while you sleep, and those lentils are cooked. I boil mine because I tend to do a bunch of food prep all at once and one little…

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In cheap eats

Easy Tatziki

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Do you remember this post where I said I eat my chicken and rice with fresh, home made tatziki? Here’s a reminder: What I didn’t tell you in that post is how I make my own tatziki for a lot more of an affordable price than purchasing it in the store. My favorite store bought tatziki is definitely the President’s Choice Traditional Tatziki, but it is $5.89 for about 1.5 cups (484grams). In this post I’m going to show you how I make the same amount at home in about 5 minutes, for only $2. Easy Tatziki $2, or $0.40 a serving 1/3 of a container of 0% greek yogurt: $1.27 2 cloves of garlic: $0.17 1/3 of a long english cucumber: $0.48 A few sprigs of dill (optional, but recommended): $0.07 Start off by putting about a third of your container of greek yogurt into a mixing…

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In cheap eats

Easy Rice and Beans

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This post is inspired by Clinton Kelly’s “Breakfast Beans and Rice” from a recent episode of The Chew. The Chew is one of those shows I just love to watch when I’m at my parents (they have alllll the TV channels) and my mum is especially careful to save me the episodes when they are doing specials on how to stretch a buck! I actually really appreciate that they do things like this because I often find the food in magazines and TV shows to be a bit unattainable. Clinton’s recipe came up in a segment about never wasting the last little bits of what you have in the fridge! When I saw Clinton’s recipe, I immediately thought of this salsa from Sobey’s Our Compliments brand. My mum got me hooked on it because of it’s smoky chipotle flavor, and since I use a LOT less than traditional salsa, I feel…

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In cheap eats

Parmesan Risotto with Sausage and Fennel

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Risotto is, by my mind, a total comfort food. It’s delicious, carb-y (admit it, carbs make us all happy) and can be made with pretty much any ingredients you have laying around. I’m sure someone reading this is thinking REALLY?! Three risotto recipes in three months?! I know. I’m predictable! This recipe is actually inspired by a pizza you can get at a local restaurant near to where my parents live called Buco Pizzeria. This pizza is so good it lives in my dreams sometimes! I was craving it one morning while going grocery shopping and fennel and sausage miraculously ended up in my cart. Parmesan Risotto with Sausage and Fennel Serves 4 for $10.98, or $2.75 per serving Ingredients: 1/2 an onion- $0.12 ~1 cup of arborio rice- $0.80 1/2 cup of parmesan (grated)- $3.38 1.5 boxes of vegetable stock- $2.21 2 Links of italian sausage – $2.00 1 fennel…

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In cheap eats

Zucchini Puttanesca

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Hellllooooo! My absolute favorite vegetable is zucchini. I love its texture, its willingness to take on whatever flavors you throw at it, and its crazy versatility. This post has zucchini two ways if you can believe it! Best of all, zucchini grows like a weed in the Alberta summer so for several months out of the year I either have fresh zucchini courtesy of the garden my mum keeps (I help I swear!) or frozen grated zucchini to make good use of. This is a fairly quick and simple recipe where everything gets thrown into a pot, you heat it up, taste test it all, freeze some, eat some, have a nap… well, that’s what I do anyhow. ***I got my noodling machine almost FREE thanks to my Superstore Plus points. It was VERY affordable actually, only about $20 so I think I paid about 3/4 dollars to purchase it…

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