Shopping List

I've been waiting for today all week! I did all of my shopping yesterday so I could get everything ready for you guys today:) First of all, if you're local or have a Super 1 Foods nearby, they're having a killer sale on ground beef. It's not the best lean/fat ratio but it's perfect for tacos, spaghetti and casseroles! And you get 5 pounds for less than $9!! What what??

Anyway...

I'll share the grocery list for each recipe and you can decide if it's something you want to try or not!

This week we have "Asian Monday" as I like to call it!! It's the most simple meal I've ever cooked. And it's really inexpensive too! I call it SESAME STIR-FRY. There are only 4 -- you heard me -- 4 ingredients!! You can choose between chicken or pork. I use pork because I usually get pork stew meat on sale for less than $3 and it's perfect for this dish. But chicken would be delicious too! So you need:

- 2-3 boneless chicken breasts OR one pack of pork stew meat
- McCormick Skillet sauce "Sesame Stir-fry". This is less than $2 so if you want extra sauce grab another one!
- Asian/oriental mix of frozen veggies
- instant rice
- frozen egg rolls (if you'd like)

Tuesday's meal is what I like to call "Soul Food Tuesday"! This is one of my favorite nights because I love fried, soul food. This week we're cooking BEEF TIPS & GRAVY. Yum!! Again, I got my beef tips on sale at a (semi) local grocery store for around $2 a pack! Feel free to substitute the beef tips for a bag of frozen beef meatballs or use some of that on sale hamburger meat I talked about earlier if the the beef tips are out of your price range!

- 2 pounds of beef tips (this will feed 5-6 people so use your judgement on how much you need for your family!)
- brown gravy mix (I am not ashamed!!)
- cream of mushroom soup
- instant mashed potatoes (I'll share my favorite below!)
- can of whole kernel corn
- frozen sweet cream corn
- frozen breaded okra (YUM!!)
- crescent rolls

Wednesday is going to be awesome! Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?? We sure do. We'll be cooking a yummy HASHBROWN CASSEROLE for dinner Wednesday. And good news for you! You could actually throw this together the night before and just pop it in the oven Wednesday! Sweet, right??

- frozen hash browns or diced potatoes (They're side by side in the store.)
- 1 pound of ground pork sausage
- 4 eggs
- lots of shredded cheese (cheddar, pepperjack, colby, whatever you like)
- can of Rotel
- cream of mushroom soup
- can of kidney beans (optional)
- veggies of your choice (mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, jalapenos)

Thursday is Crockpot Thursday. It doesn't get much more simple than dumping everything in a pot and not worrying about it for 8 hours right?? We'll be cooking CROCKPOT CHICKEN and boy is it worth the effort you put in to it! You'll need...

- whole chicken
- onion
- fresh, summer veggies (squash, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes)
- instant rice or instant potatoes (whatever your family likes best)
- corn on the cob
- a cheap bag of cornbread (Jiffy if you'd like)

And finally, Casserole Friday!! If you have leftover chicken from last night, feel free to debone it and use it in this dish! If not, you'll need...

- chicken of your choice (Super 1 has thighs on sale for super cheap so I'm using these but feel free to use 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
- instant rice (AGAIN!! It's cheap and we love rice!!)
- cream of chicken
- chicken broth (save it from the chicken you boil!!)
-  shredded cheese (cheddar)
- French onion dip (by the sour cream...took me forever to find!)
- French fried onions
- salad of your choice; ingredients for my favorite salad are bag of spinach, shredded cheese, pecans, pepper & garlic fried onions, bacon pieces (NOT BITS) and strawberry vinaigrette dressing.

And that my friends is your meal planning and grocery list for next week. I am going to assume you could probably put any of those meals in a crockpot and cook it on low for 8 hours but I haven't tried so that's up to you!

Do a quick food inventory of your cabinets and fridge BEFORE you go to the store and shop. You might have some of these ingredients!! If you have ANY questions about this list, please let me know!! I'm so excited to cook with you! Also these are the seasonings I use; salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, ground Thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper (or crushed red pepper), Zatarain's Garlic and Herb seasoning, Zatarain's creole seasoning, Zatarain's dehydrated bellpeppers and onions. If you don't have each of these, don't feel you need to go spend all your cash on the Zatarain's products. Just the basics will do :)