Its not unheard of around here to run out of food budget before I run out of month around here, and if I haven't mentioned it before I should let you know that I feed between 8 and 10 people every day so I have had to learn a few budget stretching tricks to see us from end to end on the budget.

I thought I would share a few things Ive learned along the way about making the most of the budget.

1. Chili is your best friend. You can cook a huge pot of chili and make 3 or 4 meals of it. We like to make chili tonight, drop hotdogs in it and have chili dogs from it tomorrow night, I often cook home made french fries to go with this so they have the option of chili cheese fries as well, and potatoes are your other best friend.. cheap and very versitile. So anyway night 1 chili, night 2 chili dogs and chili cheese fries night 3 (if there is till leftovers) sheppards pie, tater tot casserole, spoon biscuit dough over the top and cheese and bake, crumble over some lettuce and top with doritos and sour cream for a taco salad, and gosh the ideas for chili is limitless. and by the way if you get those hotdogs warm and them let them sit in that chili over night I promise it is the best hotdog you ever put in your mouth.

I add 3 different kinds of beans and chicken broth to my chili in addition to a lot of peppers and onions and so my family doesnt even notice that I made 3 days worth of food out of half a pound of ground beef. I usually add a can of kidney beans, a can of black beans, and a can of refried beans to the mix the refried beans thicken it and the other beans add a protein and a good texture that masks the smaller amount of meat.

2. you can never go wrong with chicken. Chicken is the cheapest meat you can find, and I have used fried, baked, and grilled chicken and have not been unsatisfied with the results of any of these. to say bake or grill chicken tonight, use the leftovers tomorrow in a chicken chili, or chicken casserole, of chicken tacos, chicken pizza, chicken and dumplings, chicken salad, salad with chicken, chicken alfredo, chicken pot pie, Id say chicken is your next best friend.. There simply is no limit to its uses...

3. Cooking home made makes all the difference. When first stocking your pantry you might think cooking home made is more costy but trust me it is cheaper by far than buying precooked frozen foods. that flour, rice, potatoes, grits, dried beans, frozen corn, can last you several meals and when you factor in the cost of the ingredients for home made you come out cheaper in the end.

4, I almost never buy canned foods.. I will buy baked beans, canned tomatoes, and tomato sauces and pastes canned, and my beans for chili but aside from that all my veggies are either frozen, or fresh from teh produce section. Its cheaper and call me crazy but I always thought I could taste the metal from the can in my food.

5. another budget stretcher I learned by accident is damaged fruits. I stumbled on to this because I wanted some apples for my pot bellied pig. I asked to local fruit bendor if he had any bad fruit, or damaged fruit that he was going to throw away and if I could have it for my piggie. I walked away with a free box of fruit only to find out that alot of it was just bruised, or had bug bites, or was peaking on over ripeness, and was still useable fruit. In the produce business I guess you cant display and sell product that makes you look like you sell crappy produce so alot of good fruit that just needs a few spots cut out go to waste. Those are sometimes the sweetest fruits and worth the extra effort.. and If you are as lucky as me.. FREE....

well those are my helpful tips for today. I have more and will post them when i have more time but for now folks Im off to dream land as it is nearing 3 am in this neighborhood. Peace out yall...