Penny is an artist who uses her creative side and imagination to express herself. She’s now using this opportunity with ASDNext to not only do that through art, but also blogging. For much of her life, she felt like the “quirky sidekick” stereotype in a movie, always doing what others expected of her. When she was diagnosed with autism later in life, that all began to change. This news was life changing and she knew it was time to rewrite her story. She’s no longer on the sidelines of this so-called movie that is her life, she’s the director, leading-lady, or whatever other part she needs to play to figure out who she REALLY is! Every small step toward authenticity is now a victory for her in this new stage of life.
View all postsBusted AC to Batch Cooking: A Week of Frugal Meals
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Owning a home is a life goal I’m proud to have achieved. Yes, I am living the dream. However, sometimes it can feel like living a nightmare. Besides the lofty mortgage payment, homeownership also comes with the major downside of being solely responsible for maintenance. So, when my central air conditioning broke down this month, the costly surprise repairs hit my personal budget hard. When my parents or a landlord were in charge of my humble abodes, a busted AC was their problem. Now it’s mine. Immediately, I knew I had to cut back on any extra spending. No more convenience meals! It was time to lock in and hyper-focus on frugal meal prep.
I’ll be honest, thankfully, I wasn’t starting from complete scratch when it came to finding my way around the kitchen. I know basic cooking skills and how to follow recipes. However, cooking is not something I consider a fulfilling way to spend my free time. By the time I’m done with work and commuting home, I don’t really feel like cooking. BUT on weekends, I have an established habit of prepping ONE large batch meal and dividing it out for work lunches. So, I knew I was capable of meal prepping, grocery shopping, and eating reheated dishes. I just had to commit to cooking nothing but cheap meals for the sake of my bank account.
Recipe blogs tend to be riddled with advertisements, so my number one place for frugal menu inspiration came from YouTube. I went down a rabbit hole of “emergency” and “extreme budget” meal prep videos. Two channels with super easy meals and laid-back cooking methods stood out to me. “Julia Pacheco” (Emergency Budget Grocery Plan, Eating on $12 a Week, 5 Best Lentil Recipes) provided many flavorful dishes with frequent reuse of basic ingredients. Her videos included shopping walk-throughs as well as step-by-step demonstrations of the recipes. The second channel was “Claire Risper.” My favorite videos from her were focused on single servings, primarily cooked in a rice cooker (something I also owned). Both channels seemed to gravitate toward a lot of dry beans and rice; who knew 2 ingredients could create so many meals!
For a one-stop shopping experience in my area, Walmart is king. My $45 Walmart haul included 2 cans of black beans, 2 cans of lentils, 2lbs of thin-cut chicken breast, 2 gallons of spring water, 1 gallon of almond milk, 1.5lbs of potatoes, 1 head of broccoli, 3 bananas, and 1 bag of shredded carrots. For snacks, I grabbed microwave popcorn and cheese curls (treat yo self!) I wasn’t ready to experiment with the patience of making dried beans, so I took a marginal hit by grabbing canned (but I did choose the Walmart brand). Similar to the fancier cut of chicken and pre-cut carrots I chose, I might have walked away spending less than $45, but I have to go with easier-to-work-with options if too many steps become my barrier of entry (yes, I am that lazy). Items on hand I planned to use were tortillas, rice, cheese, dry pasta, and tomato sauce.
Sunday, I prepped my lunches, which ended up being cooked pasta, canned lentils, tomato sauce, and veggies. I also batch cooked rice in the rice cooker, the ultimate side dish and a very filling building block. The dinners were flexible. Monday, I made my version of Taco Bell complete with “Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes,” and 2 soft shell bean tacos. Tuesday, I threw the entire 2lbs of chicken into the slow cooker with teriyaki marinade, so by the time I came home all I had to do was plate it with the pre-prepped rice, and more veggies. Wednesday was a repeat of Monday (there were plenty of potatoes left). Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday. Friday was leftover rice, and canned beans crammed into tortillas with cheese, toasted up in the air fryer (pretty sure I ate that Saturday too).
Overall, I declared the week of frugal cooking a success. I didn’t spend extra money on convenience meals. I stuck to the ingredients I bought, cooked the recipes I found online, and all ended up being super filling. Seasoning staple ingredients like chicken breast, beans, and rice made cheap feel like CHOICE (need I remind you I had homemade Taco Bell twice that week?) Appliances like my air fryer and rice cooker definitely cut down on multiple steps. The downsides were the actual cooking and the number of dishes it generated. I already generated a menu for next week and purchased just enough ingredients to complete it. Let’s hope I can turn this success into a habit that really sticks!
Penny
