I knew I had another $3.16 left out of my $75 budget so I popped into Zehrs to get some banana's and mushrooms, and spent $3.63. So I over spent by 47 cents this week. If I hadn't picked up two bunches of bananas I would have been under. So close but still so far, drat, drat and double drat.
This week I stocked up on toilet paper, have enough stock piled for around six months now. Picked up a 40 bag box of garbage bags, which will last us a year. We only have one garbage bag and a water softener salt bag of garbage every other week.
I didn't buy meat this week as using up in the freezer; and other than the bananas and mushrooms, we will be eating frozen veggies or fruit this week. I also remembered to update my side bars for the Shopper's Drug Mart and Grocery total challenges. I am still under budget for my weekly budget goal, but only just.
Had at least three no spend days this week, and put money in all my various pots.
Sorted out the tomato sauce I made on Saturday. Put plain sauce in two 700ml Tupperware containers to freeze. Took out two packages of ground.minced beef and made a large lasagna, had hoped to make two but didn't have enough lasagna noodles for two, and bolognase sauce for two meals.
Easy Lasagna
1 lb lean ground/minced beef
1 onion, chopped
700 ml Pasta Sauce (that's why I put the sauce in 700 ml containers for later use)
500 grams/2cups Cottage Cheese
1 cup grated/shredded Cheddar Cheese
9 pieces Lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated (I use Mozzarella instead)
Preheat oven to 350 oF and grease a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish.
In a frying pan, cook beef and onion over medium heat stirring to break up meat until browned and onion is softened. Drain fat from pan and stir in pasta sauce; bring to the boil and reduce heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
In a bowl stir together cottage and cheddar cheeses.
Spread 1/2 cup of meat sauce over bottom of prepared pan. Top with 3 noodles, then 1/2 of the cheese mixture and 1/3 of meat sauce. Repeat noodle, cheese, sauce layers. Top with the last 3 noodles, remaining meat sauce and Parmesan cheese. Cover pan with foil.
Bake in centre of oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until cheese is browned and lasagna is heated through. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
It will serve four comfortably. I don't put my cheese on until I take the foil off.
As I said before this is a basic recipe that you can alter to suit your taste.
15 comments:
You are so thrifty and clever, Gill. Thanks for the lasagne recipe. I love lasagne - although it is too hot in Melbourne to eat it tonight.
Hugs, Kaye xoxox
How great for you, Gill -- sticking to that budget.
The lasagna looks delicious! And I love your new header photo. Gorgeous, girl. :) Have a wonderful week.
Thank you. I've been hunting for a lasagne recipe.
Nice job on the tomato sauce. I also prefer Mozzarella over Parmesan for my Lasagna. Again awesome shopping skills and almost right to the penny ! Wow wish I could be that frugal, other then just plain cheap as I think myself to be ... lol.
Chris did shopping this week, soy ice cream, fresh raspberries,(a real treat) and bananas, none of which we usually have because they are too expensive...all because I was ill,and I've worried about how much it has cost. Chris also put clothes through the tumble dryer....cue minor panic attack from me!
Jane x
Mmm, that lasagna looks good! As I know you're big on saving, have you ever thought of joining Costco? It's a brilliant place to stock up on stuff!
Great recipe and I will be over groceries this month because of all the good stock-up sales. I used my Shoppers points last week too, which kept my drug store well under budget, so I shall use the drug store into the grocery budget and all come up even.....maybe!
You are doing well to stick to your budget, I think!
I haven't made a lasagne recipe in a long time. I think I will give this one a go, it looks delicious. Thanks Gill.
I love reading about your shopping.
I plan ours to the penny too.
Sft x
Hi Gill- what a great recipe- my lasagne takes two hours from start to finish so I'll be saving this one!! How are you? I have been very not around lately, but am now trying to catch up! Hope the arm is well recovered x Thanks for all your lovely comments recently- the marryoke was so cool, wasn't it- my very uber-cool brother and sister-in-law!
Yum lasagna. Thanks for posting the recipe! And great job on sticking to your food budget--a few cents over isnt a big deal.
Wow, hope I can remember everything I want to comment on...first thing that caught my eye was your use of the phrase 'drat, drat, and double drat'--I use that often enough.
the next thing is how few garbage bags you use...how do you do it? I can't even think how many we use. But it is a lot more than that.
I am ashamed to admit it but I have never made lasagna and I don't know why I haven't...we both like it. Maybe I will try that in the near future!
Gill, my canvas is 8x10.
Good for you on making your meals go a long way!! Grabing something from the frezzer when you don't want to cook will save you time and money down the road. Congrats on the TP, only those of us in the challenge might get excited to have a stock of TP put back!! Only a week left to go, I have so enjoyed following your success this month!
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