Cooking on a Budget

Review: Reggano Lasagna Skillet Dinner

Jenn — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:08:18 +0000

Reggano Lasagna Skillet Dinner is basically a generic Hamburger Helper that I bought for less than a dollar at Aldi grocery store. The directions tell you to add 1lb. of hamburger, cooked and drained, and 3 1/3 cups of water. When I made it I used slightly less than 1lb. of hamburger (I bought a 5lb. package the other day and split it into 6 baggies when I put it in the freezer) and added 1 small chopped sweet onion to the hamburger while I browned it, and served green beans on the side. Nutritional information can be found here. On a scale of 5 I would rate it a 3.

First off I wouldn’t really call this lasagna. To me lasagna is layers of noodles, meat, sauce, and cheese that is baked in the oven. This is a mixture of hamburger, sauce (a packet of powder) and noodles that is, as the name implies, cooked in a skillet. The noodles included in the box are like miniature versions of actual lasagna noodles. The sauce is rather sweet, and on the bland side. I think adding onion helped, and adding garlic would have helped more.

As far as lasagna from a box goes Reggano brand isn’t much different from more expensive brands. It wasn’t great, but it really wasn’t bad either. The total meal cost me about $3.50, and I would honestly have to say it was worth the price. If I would have had mushrooms, bell peppers, black olives or parmesan cheese to add it probably would have been better.

Reggano also makes a stroganoff and a cheeseburger macaroni skillet dinner. I bought the stroganoff also, but I usually don’t buy the cheeseburger macaroni version of any brand because to me it tastes like regular macaroni and cheese with hamburger added, and a box of generic macaroni and cheese usually runs about $.40 cheaper.

Posted in product review

Convenience Foods

Jenn — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:09:07 +0000

The definition of convenience foods is ‘a food or meal that need little preparation or cooking, especially one sold prepackaged’. Going by the definition it doesn’t sound that bad.

Convenience foods however, are looked down on by a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. Some people say it’s not really cooking (I agree), others say it’s cheaper to make it from scratch (not always true). I think though that the main reasons people don’t like them is that for the most part they aren’t good for you, and usually don’t taste very good either.

While I agree with that, I have to admit my cupboards are full of them. Mainly because with the prices of fresh ingredients going up it can be a lot cheaper to use them, but also because with everyone in the family in school there is not always a lot of time to spend cooking. The thing is these foods may not be that great on their own, but it is usually pretty easy to make them better without adding too much time or spending a lot of money.

The easiest way to not only make them taste better, but make them more nutritious too is to add vegetables. I prefer frozen vegetables myself because they taste better, look better, and are better for you. Store brand frozen vegatables are really not that more expensive than the canned variety, and you can usually find a good selection of different vegetable blends so there is more to choose from.

Another way to make them better is to experiment with different seasonings, and to vary what you add to them each time you make them. Also don’t feel like you have to completely stick to the directions either. For example if the box says to add hamburger, you usually can substitute any meat you like (if it’s not ground meat you may have to dice it up first), or you usually can get away with not adding any meat, and using it as a side dish.

Posted in general

Welcome to Cooking on a Budget.

Jenn — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:37:49 +0000

While I can think of several posts that I’d like to make, I’m having a hard time coming up with something to say in this first one. I suppose I should start my introducing myself. Hi, my name is Jenn. I’m 30 years old, married and have a 10-year-old daughter. My husband and I are both going to college, and since neither of us is having much luck finding part-time work at the moment, we are pretty much living off of our financial aid. This means we do not have a lot of money. I’m not complaining, we can afford to keep a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food on the table. Not having a lot of money does mean that groceries, like everything else, are bought with cost in mind more than quality. At first this meant that while we were getting enough to eat, it wasn’t always that good. Luckily I like to cook. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really use recipes, but am more likely to go out in the kitchen and throw some things together. Sometimes this turns out great, sometimes it turns out terrible, most of the time it turns out pretty good and this is where my idea for this blog comes in.

My plans for this blog are to share some of my meal ideas with others who may be cooking on a budget. I also plan on doing some product reviews for cheap items that I use regularly, and anything new I decide to try. There will be times that I post food that isn’t cheap, because sometimes we have some extra money and can splurge on more expensive meals. There may also be times when I post something that has nothing to do with food, but I promise there will not be a lot of posts like that.

So like the title of this post says, welcome to Cooking on a Budget. If you are like me and like to cook, or are just looking for some cheap meal ideas, I hope you find this blog useful. If you try anything I post on here, feel free to comment on how it turned out for you. If you find a way to do things differently or if you can take my ideas and make them better, please leave a comment. If you have a lot of good ideas to share or want to see a post on something specific you can send me an email.

Posted in welcome