Bargain Meal of the Week

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The new Hy-Vee.com is available and I have to say I like it. You can click on items as you sift through the 3 on-line ads to add to your shopping list. Also you can "browse the aisles" and essentially price check any item you need. I wish that other sites had that feature - it would make it easy to get the best deal if you plan on hitting a few different stores.

Easy Chicken Bake

1 pkg Chicken breast ($0.88/lb split breasts)

1 can cream of chicken soup ($0.67)

3 oz sour cream ($0.37)

Broccoli florets ($2.38/bunch organic)

1 package stuffing mix ($1.25)

Boil or steam broccoli until it is slightly tender (don't overcook it as you don't want it to become mushy later). Place chicken breast in pan. Mix sour cream, chicken, and cooked broccoli and pour on top of chicken. Top with stuffing mix. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain meal of the week

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According to their website there is a new Hy-vee.com coming on June 8th. It promises meal ideas and coupons so it could be worth checking out.

Parmesan Chicken II

12 chicken drumsticks ($0.99/lb or you might be able to use the chicken leg quarters that are $3.90/10lb bag)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese ($1.50/5-8oz pkg of Kraft Naturals - $1/1 coupon here)
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (on hand)
1 teaspoon salt (on hand)

In a shallow bowl, mix together salt, pepper, and cheese. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until brown.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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Sorry I missed posting this last week. I have been so busy at work and we were getting ready to head to my in-laws for a long weekend (I'll write more about in a future post). It looks like there are some good deals to be had at Hy-Vee this week.

One website I like to find meal ideas on is Once a Month Mom, where Cortney and Tricia post monthly meal plans where the idea is to do all of your cooking in one day, stock your freezer, and voila! you are ready to go. I'm not ambitious enough to cook just once a month, but on the weekends I like to make a meal or two that can go in the freezer. One that I've tried from their site is Mexican "Un"Stuffed Shells which was featured on the March menu. The recipe below makes 4 meals but you can adjust accordingly to fit your needs (I halved it and we ate one and froze the other).

Mexican "Un"Stuffed Shells

Servings: 16

Author/Source: Pamela @ Recipezaar.com #57772

DOUBLED

32 ounces seashell pasta, cooked (any pasta type will work $0.99/14.5oz)

2 pounds ground beef ($2.39/lb or substitute chicken $0.59/lb)

6 Tablespoons taco seasoning (make your own to save money)

1 cup water (free!)

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cups salsa ($4.99/66oz - can probably find a smaller/cheaper quantity at the store)

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded ($1.25)

50.75 ounces tomato sauce ($0.19/8oz)

to taste chili powder

Directions: 1. Add seasoning, water, onion, salsa, 1/2 cup cheese, tomato sauce, and chili powder to 2 pounds cooked ground beef. Mix well.

2. Stir in cooked pasta and portion into 4 8 x 8 baking dishes.

3. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

4. Cover with foil and write the following instructions: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes thawed) or 2 hours (frozen).

Containers Needed: 4 8x8 or 9x9 pans. If you are going to thaw before cooking you can also freeze in Ziploc bags or any Rubbermaid/Tupperware type container and transfer to a baking dish before cooking.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain meal of the week

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Quick Tuna Salad
1 (7 ounce) can solid white tuna packed in water, drained ($0.69/5oz)
1/4 cup creamy salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip™) (Hellmann's $2.68/jar or Kraft Ranch $1.88/bottle - even cheaper with the $1/1 kraft coupons)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, or to taste

Mash tuna together with salad dressing and relish in a small bowl with a fork. Serve.

Now I don't eat tuna or salad that doesn't involve lettuce, but I'm guessing this is served as a sandwich.

Whole grain white ($1.49/20oz package)
Bakery fresh buns ($1.88/8)

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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Sorry for the lateness this week, work has been super busy and I'm battling some sinus issue thing. Anyway, I think the Hy-vee sales are lacking a little this week, but I think you can do Parmesan Chicken at a good price.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

1 cup corn flakes, crushed ($1.58/box)
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese (Hy-vee brand $2.49/16oz)
1/4 tsp. salt (on hand)
1/8 tsp. pepper (on hand)
1 broiler-fryer chicken (3 lb.), cut up, skinned (use breasts $0.99/lb)
1/4 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise or MIRACLE WHIP Dressing

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix crushed corn flakes, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Brush chicken with mayo; sprinkle with crumb mixture.
PLACE in 13x9-inch baking dish.
BAKE 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain meal of the week

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This week's Hy-vee bargain meal of the week.

I was walking around the hall at work today when I recipe idea came to me today. This is easy and tasty. I apologize I didn't write down the source of this recipe...

Taco Skillet

1lb hamburger, browned ($1.99)

1/2c salsa ($2.50 for entire jar)

1/4c water (free!)

12 tortillas - cut into 1 inch squares ($1.28)

1 can tomato soup

After hamburger is browned, combine all ingredients in skillet. An easy way to cut up the tortillas is to use a pizza cutter. Also I'm pretty certain I just use a package of tortillas, whether that is 8 or 12 (I think the whole wheat ones I usually buy come in packages of 8).

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain meal of the week

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I'm glad that an actual recipe came to mind as I flipped through the Hy-vee ads this week. But of course I cannot find the recipe, so here is my improvised version of it.

1 package chicken ($0.88/lb)

1 bottle bbq sauce ($1.28)

Put ingredients in crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours. You can also add a package of onion soup mix or a can of pineapple (which was the recipe I was looking for). I'm pretty sure with the can of pineapple I add the pineapple and then about half of the juice mixed with a little brown sugar. But plenty of times we have just done chicken topped with barbecue sauce in the crock pot and it is very easy and tasty.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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Still not overly impressed with the Hy-Vee, although I haven't been too motivated in the kitchen lately so maybe I'm just not seeing what is there. Hopefully some of the other bloggers have better ideas than mine this week.

This is one of my favorite burger recipes. You can make it with hamburger or it is good with ground turkey as well. Also, it makes a lot (8) burgers so you can cook and freeze them or plan to use them in lunches during the week.

Turkey Spinach Cheese Burgers

2 lb hamburger ($3.18)

1 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 cup cheese ($0.67)

buns ($0.97)

Mix all ingredients (it is easiest just to use your hands). Form into 8 patties and cook until well done. Serve on bun.

I've found that these really seem to taste better cooked on the Foreman grill, instead of our regular grill. They seem to get a bit crispy cooking on the gas grill.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

*sorry for the lack of formatting. Blogger isn't listening to what I'm telling it to do :)

Bargain Meal Recipe Updates

I want to write a quick post about a couple of the recipes I'd posted for the Bargain Meal of the Week, but had never actually tried myself. Thankfully they both turned out to be pretty yummy. Last week we made Beefaroni and Skillet Pork Chops with Potato and Onion.

I was afraid the Beefaroni would be too plain but it was great. The only changes I made was cooking a chopped onion with the hamburger and I added a lot of Italian Seasoning. It was a hit with Curt and I. Bodie seems to be in some sort of anti-pasta phase so he didn't have much, but I'll definitely make it again.

The Pork Chops were also very good. Curt made this so I know that the recipe was followed exactly...he doesn't deviate unless I instruct him to :). I guess we did deviate slightly because we only used 2 pork chops, 2 potatoes, and 1 onion. Bodie is in a pro-pork chop phase so it probably would have been ok to make a 3rd chop, but I had them frozen in packages of 2.

I can now officially recommend both of these recipes. Happy cooking!!

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I feel like I've been grasping at straws recently. I guess I need to think more outside the box when it comes to this feature...

Simmering Chicken Strawberry Kabobs
1 cup lemon juice
2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple chunks, juice reserved ($0.98)
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (3 spices for $2)
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 cup butter, melted (2 8-21oz tubs for $4)
2 tablespoons brown sugar ($1.18/2lbs)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (3 spices for $2)
24 large strawberries ($1.18/lb)

In a shallow glass bowl combine lemon juice, juice from pineapple can, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix together. Add cubed chicken and marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat grill to medium heat. In a small bowl combine the melted butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar and nutmeg.

Lightly oil grate. Using metal or soaked wooden skewers arrange chicken, pineapple chunks and strawberries on each stick (approximately 4 to 6 pieces of each item per skewer). Brush kabobs with butter or margarine mixture place on grill and cook, turning on all sides, until chicken is cooked through and strawberries are sizzling. Approximately 8 to 10 minutes.

I sort of feel like I am cheating with this since the kind of chicken breast you would use for this isn't on sale. Maybe you have a pack stored away or you can find a good price on a package in the store.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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First here is my Bargain meal of the week (then I'll have a surprise snack of the week).

We have a cookbook called 4 Ingredient Recipes that I just love. Everything we've made out of it has been really good, and with only 4 ingredients it is very easy also.

Onion Baked Pork Chops

1 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
1/3 c plain dry bread crumbs
4 pork chops, 1 inch thick*
1 egg, well beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a small bowl, combine soup mix and bread crumbs. Dip chops in egg, then bread crumb mixture, until evenly coated.

2. In lightly greased 13x9 inch baking or roasting pan, arrange chops.

3. Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until barely pink in center, turning once.

*I have never used 3lbs of pork chops when making this recipe, and it probably wouldn't qualify as a Bargain Meal if you did (at least with the Hy-vee sale this week). I just use the amount of meat I need, which would be 2 or 3 pork chops (Bodie seems to love pork chops lately).

Bonus Snack Recipe...I love this recipe, and could eat it all day long. I am thinking of making it for Easter Sunday since I gave up pretzels and crackers for Lent (seems like an odd thing to give up but with a 2 year old in the house I was always mindlessly munching on things like that).

Pretzel dip recipe

3 pkg. 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 stick butter
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Original
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (dry)

Empty cream cheese into large bowl. Wash cream cheese containers, dry thoroughly, grease with butter and dust with coarse ground black pepper**.

Beat above ingredient. Press into containers. Serve with pretzels.

For best results: if dip has been refrigerated, let set out for 5-10 minutes before putting it on a plate - it comes out of the container better when it's not really cold.

**Or to make things easier just mix everything into 1 larger container, no need to grease or put pepper down first.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

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Again, I am not overly impressed with the deals this week.

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

1 (16 ounce) package dry penne pasta ($0.99)
8 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced ($0.99/lb)
1/2 cup Italian dressing ($1.99/package - Ken's brand)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($2.99/7-8oz package)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the penne pasta in the pot, cook 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the tomatoes, Italian dressing, basil, red onion, and Parmesan cheese.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I am pretty unimpressed with they Hy-vee deals this week. Hopefully that means that next week will have some great ones.

Beefaroni
1 pound ground beef ($1.99/lb)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese ($1.79)
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (Hunt's tomatoes $0.88 each - I think it would be fine to substitute 1 or both cans of sauce for tomatoes, depending on your preference)
2 tablespoons butter ($0.58/lb)
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked elbow macaroni (use one of the Hy-vee pastas on sale for $1)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Crumble the ground beef into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until evenly browned. Drain.

While the ground beef is cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, and stir in butter. Transfer to a large casserole dish, and mix in the ground beef, tomato sauce, and Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the top.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through and bubbly.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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First of all I have to brag about the awesome whole chicken deal I scored at Hy-vee last week. For the past few weeks I have been trying to use my $0.59/lb whole chicken rain check from early February but they've been out of chickens each time I go in. Thankfully they had 2 in stock last week and I picked the larger one for my purchase (5.04lb @ $1.79/lb). Evidently Hy-vee was having a "Meat Sack Sale" which scored me 20% off my purchase ($2.60 - which is more that 20% but this was the only meat I bought, so I'm not sure how that worked but I'll take it). Then the girl was trying to calculate how much to credit me for using my rain check, and finally settled on $6! So I bought my chicken, originally costing $9.02, for a mere $0.42! Or just over $.08/lb. Can't beat that!

At first look of the Hy-vee ad, I immediately knew I had to use my Mother-in-law's potato soup recipe. It definitely isn't the most frugal to make, but with the deals this week it is definitely a better bargain than any other time this winter (and at 8 degrees this morning it is sounding really good).

Cheesy Potato Soup

8 slices bacon, crumbled ($1.99/package Oscar Mayer brand)
1 pkg frozen hash browns ($0.98 Lynden Farms brand)
4 cups water
2T chicken flavored bouillon granules
1/2 c margarine
12 slices American cheese ($0.88 Kraft singles)
1c green onions
2c sour cream ($0.99/16oz)
2c milk ($1.18/half gallon)
1t salt
1/2t white pepper

Prepare bacon in skillet over medium heat. Drain and crumble. In a large stockpan combine hash browns, water and bouillon granules. Cover and place over medium low heat until hash browns are thawed and crumbled. Add bacon and remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended. Cover and cook over low heat about 20 minutes (always seem to take longer than this for me) or until potatoes are tender. Do not allow soup to boil.

For more Bargain Meals of the Week head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the week

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Last week Christine asked for links to the Hy-vee online ad. I apologize for not including links in my posts. I wish I had a good excuse but the truth is I'm just lazy. I'll try to work on that.

If you access the Hy-vee ads on line here (I had to type in a location to get this to work so you'll need to refresh with your own location) you can see there are two ads - View Ad and View Online Ad. This clears up a lot of questions for me because I'd often get confused in the store when I'd see a sign advertising an Advertised Price and I didn't remember seeing that price in the ad.

Sale Prices are indicated next to the ingredient.

Skillet Pork Chops with Potato and Onion

2 tablespoons vegetable oil ($2.48/entire bottle - not sure how many Tablespoons that is)
4 pork chops (1/2 inch thick), trimmed ($2.49/lb)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($0.17 Hy-Vee Brand)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced ($0.30 for Russets)
2 medium onions, sliced ($0.23)
3 cubes beef bouillon
3/4 cup hot water (FREE!)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Coat the pork chops with flour, and place in the skillet. Brown about 4 minutes on each side.

2. In a small bowl, mix the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 the Parmesan cheese mixture over the pork chops. Layer chops with the potatoes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese mixture. Top with onion slices.

3. In a small bowl, dissolve the beef bouillon cubes in hot water. Stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the layered pork chops.

4. Cover skillet, and reduce heat. Simmer 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender and pork chops have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

For more Bargain Meals of the Week head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I've discovered that Hy-Vee has an "exclusive on-line ad" so I am actually using that one for my deal today. I found this recipe at All Recipes, my go to site for finding new recipes.

Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Soup (I've provided pricing on the sale items)

2 cups chopped onion ($0.34)
2 tablespoons margarine
2 1/2 pounds peeled and cubed potatoes ($0.94)
5 cups boiling water (free!)
4 cubes chicken bouillon
3 cups fresh broccoli, cooked and drained ($1.67 per package, which I'm guessing is more than enough)
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese ($3.00)


In a large stock pot saute onion in butter. Add potatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Cover, bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove tough outer skin of broccoli stems and cook broccoli. Once cooked add to soup.
In a blender or food processor puree half of the soup and return to stock pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Add cheese and heat soup through until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

This would make a great (meatless) Lenten meal, if you like options other than Fish (which I certainly do!).

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I have 2 ideas based on 2 different sales ads I have seen.

I'm not sure if the Thunderous Thursday deals are Hy-vee wide or local (Eastern NE) but if you have these deals available you can make yourself a Mexican comfort meal. Growing up these were called Walking Tacos but my husband calls them Texas Straw Hats.

1 lb hamburger (weekly flyer $2.79/lb - 90% lean roll)
Fritos (Thursday sale $1.68)
Cheese (Thursday sale $1.19)
Lettuce (weekly flyer 3/$5)
Taco seasoning ($0.33)

Simply brown the hamburger and add seasoning according to package directions. Spread Fritos on plate and top with meat, cheese, and lettuce. You could also add corn (Steamfresh is advertised in the Thursday sale as $1 per package or $1.18 in the weekly flyer - cheaper if you have coupons). You could also do this a more healthy way by spreading the lettuce on your plate first (taco salad style). The Thursday flyer also advertised Michelob products for $4.25/6 pack and if you buy 4 you qualify for a $15 rebate, which works out to $0.50/6 pack. I think beer makes a nice edition to a Mexican meal!

From the main flyer this week I have a recipe for Garlic Mushroom Chicken Melt:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves ($0.99/lb)
1 envelope Savory Herb with Garlic Soup mix
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained ($1.00)
1 T olive or vegetable oil
1/2 c shredded mozzarella or Monterrey Jack Cheese ($2.48 or $0.62 for this recipe)

Preheat oven to 375. In 13x9-in baking or roasting pan arrange chicken. Pour soup mix blended with tomatoes and oil over chicken. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a side of rice (Minute Rice on sale for $1.88/box) and Steamfresh veggies ($1.18).

For more Bargain meal of the week ideas visit $5 Dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

It looks like Hy-vee is making up for their so-so sales of last week with some great bargains this week. The first thing that jumps out of me is the whole chicken for $0.59/lb! I think we will be trying this over the weekend as the rumor is there is going to be so much snow we will not want to leave the house.

Baked Slow Cooker Chicken - Need 3lb chicken

Oven Roasted New Potatoes - 1.5 lb New Potatoes ($0.88/lb)

Side salad ($0.69 with in ad coupon)

Both the chicken and potatoes call for various spices that you probably already have on hand. If not you'll need to purchase them but their cost per use will only add a few cents onto each recipe.
I should add that I try skimming over the reviews when making recipes from Allrecipes.com. There usually are great tips and ideas from people that have tried the recipes.

A very yummy way to use the left over chicken is Chicken Pesto Paninis (works out well this week too, because Hy-vee also has their cheese on sale). We've made these before and they are great! One warning - if you try to save half of your sandwich to have for your lunch the next day, please don't leave it on the table while you take you children upstairs for baths. Hungry dogs have been known to get on the table and eat these while you are away. They are that good! (Ok, who am I kidding, my dog would eat anything - but he did eat my leftovers, and I was none to pleased about it).

Frugal Meal of the Week

I'm happy to provide a frugal meal idea using the Hy-vee weekly ad as my guide. I wasn't very impressed with the sales for this week, but after digging I've come up with the following:

Lazlo-like Rainbow Chicken ($3.85)
Mashed Potatoes ($0.72) (need in ad coupon to get the great price on potatoes)
Steamed Baby Carrots (.40)

What is on sale: Chicken breast ($1.79/lb); Roma tomatoes ($0.77/lb); Potatoes ($0.99/5lb - use only 1/4 bag); Cheese ($1.77); Baby Carrots ($0.99/2-1lb bags)

Lazlo's Rainbow Chicken is at the top of my favorite dining out meals. I try to recreate it in my own kitchen and it is pretty good, but will never be as good as what you can get in the restaurant.

Rainbow Chicken
Season chicken breasts to your tastes (I use salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice). Cook on grill until chicken is cooked through (about 15 minutes). Top with about 1/2 cup cheese, diced tomatoes, and chopped green peppers. Cover (or close outdoor grill) and cook until cheese is melted.

We mash our potatoes with the skins still on them for a little nutritional boost (and add butter and milk). The baby carrots are missing from this plate as a certain 2 year old requested broccoli instead.

For other frugal meal ideas visit $5 Dinners.