Ingles 4 Under $40

Monday
Chicken legs are a favorite around here and they are super easy and super cheap. At 98c/lb you'll be out less than $3 for a family sized package. Add onions (on hand?) and carrots (less than $1 if you peel your own). Salt and pepper and put into a dutch oven. Toss in the chopped veggies and for under $5 you have a fulfilling dinner for the crew.

Tuesday
Since last week was tacos it's pasta tonight. Lensi Organic pasta is on sale ($2 ea), but so it the refrigerated Buitoni. This is a non-advertised deal and depending on which pasta you choose it's 2/$6 or 2/$7. I'm giving the whole wheat tortellini a try. There are plenty of great deals on pasta sauces, but I like Classico (2/$4). So this meal is a whopping $5. For a side I added some salad and bread we had leftover from last week so we made out cheap there too!

Wednesday
I can only hope it's chicken nugget night at church!?!?

Thursday
Smithfield bacon is $3.98 a lb this week, but choosing the Laura Lynn brand will get you by even cheaper for tonight's BLTs. Tomatoes are $1.48lb and they still look good. (Note that I won't post any fresh tomato recipes from here on until next spring and the anemic winter tomatoes are gone with the snow.) My bread trick is to buy whatever is on sale for $2 or less. Usually you can find something on the bread rack at this price and generally bread is bread. I forgot to price fresh lettuce (boo) and so we'll say it's $2 (though I know it's less). So this meal is about $8 total, but totally worth it as a last hoorah before winter.

Friday
The Preacher asked for pintos so it's pintos and cornbread Friday night. A pound of pintos is $1.38 for Laura Lynn (what I always buy). My MaMac likes to add Goya Jamon ($1.26) seasoning to hers and I prefer the Sazon Goya con azafran ($1.43). Yes, it's made for rice (think yellow Spanish rice), but it does amazing things to pintos. Soak them on Thursday night and put them on to boil at 3pm on Friday. Put in two packets of Sazon per pound of beans and then simmer until 6pm. Add a pone of cornbread and you're in the money. At less than $2.00 for the entire meal (provided you're not out of buttermilk and cornbread) you come up great.

Conclusion
Barring an empty pantry you come out like a bandit this week feeding everyone in the house for under $20!!! Though I wasn't totally impressed with the choices in the flyer, Ingles came through and this may be the best I've done so far. Let me know what you think.

~Megan