Cooking from scratch

One of the biggest ways I save money is by cooking instead of going out to eat. I am pretty comfortable in the kitchen so I love to experiment and try new things. I often hear people say they "can't afford to cook" and that "McD's is sooo much cheaper then making it". Those statements are soo wrong and I will show you why!

There are 2 in my family. Myself and my icky teenage son. For us to eat at McDonalds I would spend somewhere around $10. That price don't include super sizing or deserts. I can take $10 to the grocery store and buy hamburger, buns and fries for less then that. Plus the stuff I get at the store will likely last a couple meals. If I skip frozen fries, I can buy between a 5-10lb bags of potatoes for $1 generally and make my own. I can buy ground beef and make it stretch by adding bread crumbs or crushed up crackers. Add coupons to the mix and the savings is greater.

Here is an experimental recipes that was soooo good (This can be considered a spicy dish)
1 package of Jewel Hot Italian Sausage (recently on B1G1 and bought with register rewards)
1 package of sweet cherry tomato's (also on B1G1, paid for with coupons and register rewards)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3/4 tsp sage
1 Tbsp dried basil from my Grammas garden
Sandwich spread (minced giardinara)
a little red onion
ground red pepper flakes

So I cut each sausage into three pieces so they would cook quicker. I put a little water in the pan added the sage, basil, and ground red pepper flakes. I let it cook until the sausage was 3/4 done. Then I added Tomato's halved, garlic, onions and sandwich spread and let the sausage finish cooking.

I served the Italian Sausage on bread and the sauce was similar to a tampanade which we spread on the bread like a condiment.

My son saw the tomato's go in and just knew he would hate it (he loves Ketchup, tomato sauce just not tomato's, smh). He went back for seconds, had leftovers willingly the next day and has been begging me to make it again.

Financially that meal hardly cost us anything thanks to sales, coupons and register rewards. The bonus is that meal was way healthier then anything the fast food joints sell.