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I made an exception for this series. Normally I only use oil salt and pepper, but this time I allowed 2 seasonings and 2 condiments, all available at dollar tree which would add no more than $5 onto this and these items would last anyone for several weeks/months. I have done several variations of this all for different groups, this one was catered more towards individuals cooking from scratch and therefore I needed more things to make the meals flavorful. I understand that not everyone is going to have those items, but some will. My content is very inclusive and I try to make something catered towards everyone, in that sense, not every video is ultimately going to be representative of everyone, but I try my best 😊 I mentioned in the 2nd part that this isn’t meant to be a tutorial, more of an inspiration. Hope that clarifies! Enjoy!
Since the extras ony affect flavor and all these recipes can be made without them, I'd say that's STILL inclusive while giving an extra idea for those who do have the means! You're absolutely the sweetest, and I'm making sure to share your channel with anyone who'll listen and either is, knows, or works with low-income families
I think this is a very realistic addition. I think it is reasonable to expect many people to have at least :some: condiments and seasonings/spices. I like that you included them in the beginning so anyone following along can make sure to check for those items or pick them up as necessary. I always hate when I buy a list of ingredients, then come home and find out a bunch of little bits or this and that were not included in the list. I hope you will continue to do things like this, as it helps remind people to use up the random bits of leftover spices/sauces too.
I love your mismatched appliances. I, too, have a white microwave, black oven, white dishwasher, and stainless steel refrigerator. My cabinets are the same oak color, too. Maybe someday, everything will match. I’m just grateful everything works!
Exactly, as long as your appliances work and are functional, you work with what you have…I had oak cabinets when I lived in my cute apartment and I learned to love my place bc it was mine and organized/clean! I’m in a room now and have a mini coffee mkr, fridge & micro that match so I got a Foreman grill & my crockpot, it’s not the best but I’ve got all my things with me and I’m in a safe, clean neighborhood in a nice house with an awesome family. I gotta save and I’d be thankful to go back to oak cabinets & white/black appliances!!
@@DollarTreeDinners you can always add giant full appliance size decorative magnets to the dishwasher or fridge to cover the front, they come in pretty designs/murals to match your house theme! I stuck one on my white dishwasher in a 🍇/ 🍷 vineyard theme and it was adorable, I hope I packed it when I moved! 💜
i found if i batch cook items like my dry beans, pastas, rice and ground beef for the week portion out and freeze it makes life so much simpler. i even will bake a 3# bag of potatoes to use in different ways. chopping items like onions, peppers, celery. then most my items are ready for the next several weeks.
Me, too. And there's a bonus to pre-cooking potatoes and then chilling them in the fridge even beyond being able to make the best home fries: the development of resistant starch, which is really good for gut health.
I love you and your videos and you don’t have to explain yourself all the time! Not being mean but people need to back off if they are crying because “things are not authentic”. You are helping more people than you know! Keep up the amazing content and continue to be authentically you ❤
The $5/$25 dollar general coupon also pairs with their other digital coupons. So any food items that may be on sale that week, as well as have a digital coupon, paired with the $5/$25 on Saturdays, REALLY helps me save on food/household paper goods! Love all of your ideas! ❤
This! Got 4 bags of chips and three cases of soda for a Super Bowl gathering for $13 dollars. I think Torok Coupon Hunter is who I got the deal from, but I've also got shampoo for a dollar, lots of laundry detergent for cheap by just scanning items in-store to see if the coupons attach.
I have been couponing at Dollar General for about five years now and I have such a stockpile that I also helped my sister and my daughter that is off at college. I have taught friends how to do this as well. I can’t imagine paying Walmart prices for my laundry, cleaning products, personal care, products, etc..
My grandmother used to make fried bologna regularly. I don't really like bologna as a deli meat, but fried, it really does have a nice flavor and texture to it.
Yes! My mom cut the bologna up into squares then added ketchup when almost done frying. The sugar in the ketchup caramelized. So unhealthy but so good.
Bologna is basically a giant hot dog sliced into disks, so cooking it makes perfect sense and really brings out the flavour by warming the fats and crisping the edges.
I would love to see a shop where you have to buy things for your home. Like you have a $60 total budget (like myself and my partner do) but you have to get toilet paper, laundry soap, those kinds of things AND groceries. What you buy during a week like that?
ALL DOLLAR STORE HAVE THAT STUFF. OUR FAMILY DOLLAR HAS 4 ROLLS OF THEIR BRAND TOILET PAPER WHICH IS REALLY REALLY GOOD QUALITY THATS ONLY 4 ROLLS FOR $1.25 & I GET MY OXY CLEAN THERE FOR $5.00 FOR A HUGE SIZED BOX & I USE OXY FOR EVERYTHING ALMOST, YOU CAN MAKE SPRAYS TO CLEAN WITH TOO & IS OKAY FOR RUGS BEFORE YOU VACUUM TOO*. BUT A LOT OF THEM HAVE GOOD DEALS & QUALITY OF THEIR BRANDS*. HOPE THAT HELPS!👍🏻🙃😏😎👍🏻
To add on, Dollar General & Family Dollar have a spend $25 get $5 off coupons on Saturday. Both of you get the app and you'll save $10 between the both of you.
@@stephenyeasley3299 these are awesome suggestions. As walmart tends to be what's near us we mainly go there. It would be interesting to see how she would handle a situation like that and what she would buy. The struggle of such a small budget and needing things for your house to function is so hard!
Walmart is the nearest to me as well, so it's also my go-to store. I did not realize until recently that Walmart has Grocery "Deals" and "Clearance" listed online. You can find these under the "Departments" heading. You can also search specifically for household items (like you mentioned) or for pantry, canned goods, fresh/frozen food, etc. You can sort your results from Lowest-to-Highest or within a certain price range (say, $0-$5), too. Even if you shop in person, looking online beforehand helps! I got a 3-lb bag of Granny Smith apples for about 1/3 off this past week that I might have missed otherwise because fresh fruit is so expensive that I've been avoiding it. Hunting for those little blessings can be fun, and it truly is such a treat! Good luck!
I cook mine from dry in our seven quart crockpot. It runs hot so usually only need four to six hours on high. If I put foil between the crock and the lid they cook faster but watch you don’t put too much water, mine have boiled over once.
Can I offer… my mom makes amazing pinto beans and one thing she makes with it always is cornbread, and staying with your budget, a box of jiffy cornbread is usually .49-.70 cents. She usually place a slice in the bowl And ladles beans over and I always pour tobassco over it
Mom used to make fried bologna, but she didn’t cut a slit in it, so it would lay flat, she let it fry up into a little cup and filled the cup with mashed potatoes. YUM!
I often have only $40 (or less) for a month of groceries. It's not easy, and I've learned a lot of ways to cut corners. Your videos are a great inspiration, so thank you for that! Another inspiration is the channel Atomic Shrimp--he does amazing stuff with tiny budgets and foraged food.
@zzydny One thing I don't think I'll make is his baked potato with paté. I could get behind a lot of other recipes in that video but not that. His green onion potato soup had me drooling
@@JellieGHope LOL Yeah, that pate potato looked rough. But I've been vegetarian (of medical necessity) most of my life, so there's no way I'd be eating that anyhow.
OMG, the sorting the bag of mixed veggies is genius idea!! I used to not buy it because I hated the way the green beans tasted on my rice. Now I can just divide them and use them for different things. Thank you!!
They really do look good on her. I always wonder how people that find glasses that really look great on them find them. I feel like I've never found my perfect glasses. 😊
I add a little mashed potatoes as a thickener for soups. I also add mashed potatoes to meat for tacos. It helps bind the meat so it doesn't fall out of the shell, adds great flavor, too. I would say those are fried burritos.
We have 5 adults in the household and we keep our groceries and toiletries under 200 a week. This gives us about 30 dollars a person. That is everything, all meals, drinks, and we do drink bottled water. I have made it work for about a year now but it takes so much planning, searching for the cheapest deals, we buy some breakfast things, but other than that we cook 1 large meal a day, that has left overs. We have 1 left over night a week as well.
I love the zero water water pitcher as my family used to go thru bottled water like crazy and got the zero water filtration and used it and it is very similar taste as bottled water. We will reuse the 20 oz Gatorade bottles to make the single serve drink mix packets (Great Value propel mix) and find the 20 oz compared to 16.9 oz actually tastes better bc not as strong of flavoring. Has saved me a lot on garbage bags and hauling packs of bottled water around. Very cost effective for the initial $30 investment.
Watching that fried bologna bk sandwich I couldn't help, but think a slice of tomato would have really set that off. A slice of tomato really shines with salty food like bacon or bologna.
These are really good ideas girly. The other day i was so broke that i wrapped a weiner and american cheese slice in a corn tortilla and shallow fried them. I made 4 and dipped them in salsa. In my head i said to myself she would be so proud of me ❤😂
Sometimes dollar tree has refried beans, enchilada sauce, shredded cheese and burrito flours. A burrito meal for two for 5 dollars. Hot dogs, buns, french fries and chili is another one for 5 dollars Your videos are inspiring. Keep up the good work.
Remember kidney beans need to be brought to the boil because they contain toxins, once they have boiled they can then be put in a slow cooker to finish cooking.
There is another reason for soaking beans, other than to soften them. Beans have lectins. Lectins are considered anti-nutrients. Soaking beans then discarding the soaking water removes most of the lectins. (Lectins are water soluble) Your body is able to absorb more nutrients from your food once the lectins are removed. (For much the same reason, you should remove & discard the skin from tomatoes.)
This chick seems really down to earth and humble. She has good content that is both entertaining and informative. Definitely helpful to show how to save a few dollars.
Next time you make gnocchi, season the dough. Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, fresh parsley, garlic powder, onion powder. Cut them a little smaller. 😊
I think she couldn’t do that because she didn’t buy the stuff from this episode. I know she used a couple things that she didn’t buy this time but that’s super rare. Usually she just does oil salt and pepper. I agree those seasoning when made them good
I wish everybody had bulk spices at stores near them... You can buy like a tablespoon of garlic powder if you want. Then you can get almost every seasoning without spending $1-6 per ingredient. At Winco they even have like bulk gravy powder, flour/corn meal, dog biscuits, pasta, beans, rice, bulk everything. They even have bulk tea now. You can just get a cup of flour if that's all you can afford. Like they even have hummus powder. I wish everyone could have that ☹️
You could’ve put a little bit of that powdered chicken flavoring in your dumplings when you you are making them I do that when I do noodles for chicken and noodles.
I combine my shopping with Kroger sales, Walmart, Family Dollar, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Super One Food. Now we have a new ALDI here I will be visiting them very soon!
Remember to bring a quarter (so you can get the shopping cart - don’t worry, you’ll get it back when you return the cart) and to bring your own bags or boxes for when you have paid for everything. Aldi’s doesn’t do bags.
ALDI SELLS german Chocolate sure it's mass produced off brand store brand like ghetto heresy but IT'S MADE IN GERMANY BROlike germany germany not germany usa
i live in an area where there are not many options but we do have a Dollar General in the next town over from where I live. Thank you for doing these video's It always gives me idea's to try something different. I look forward to your video's.
So for the pupusas, the sauce my family uses for it is tomatoes, white onions, salt, veggie bouillon and water. Blend to combine and then cook until thick. It adds some moisture and acid to balance the savory
I got to get into some of this action. I spend more in 1 day eating out than this lady prepares nice meals for a whole week. Can’t wait for the week to finish out so I can do this preparation. Thank you so much for sharing. 🎉
You're the best! The directions you give are so simple, yet technical, you really mention everything in such a helpful way. And I think it's great how you experiment and try things but in a very thoughtful way. It shows that realistic budget cooking doesn't have to be boring or depressing.
Do you have an Aldi in your area? Would be great to see how you do a week's meals at their prices. Foid is getting expensive everywhere.😢 Thank you for all that you do!
I wish that individuals getting food from the food bank or getting food assistance, would be able to take a class from you. I heard a woman we know complain that they were not getting more in "food stamps". Three adults in that household, no one works. I gently suggested that my understanding was that the help was to be "supplemental" (ie: you have another way of getting food in addition to the government, be it gardening/hunting/foraging and/or working) This woman said she didn't like the types of food Food Share gave her. She also complained that Pepsi was now so expensive, she didn't see how she could buy fresh food with her EBT card. It seems there is a huge disconnect as to where food comes from, what we do to earn or produce food and then how best to utilize the food we've been blessed with. You really share an important and inspiring message. I'm very frugal and a good cook. However, I've learned a lot from you - thank you!
When I first moved out it was pasta with sauce no meat for quite a few meals. After a while I found that those frozen mixed veg are an absolute life saver especially when risking food spoilage is not in the budget. Stir fry with cheap cuts of meat, a veggie fried rice, as a side, In a soup especially if you get the mix with potatoes in it.
Here in middle Tn we can buy fried bologna biscuits at just about any little market gas station. Very popular 😊 Everything looks great! Thanks, Rebecca 🥰
Here in North Bama there is an Alabama fast food joint called Jack's that their monthly special is fried bologna biscuits right now. They have branches out in the surrounding states but not completely gone regional yet.
You’re amazing! Were you trained as a chef/cook? I ask because you make cooking and throwing ingredients so simple and tasty! Makes me want to try these esp during the busy days! Please keep these videos coming!
No professional cooking background, just an accumulation of knowledge from enjoying food and always looking for ways to eat cheaper. Being restricted to a certain dollar amount or certain ingredients is a way to really get the gears churning and come up with some new meals and possibilities
Rebecca I just want to say I love your channel. i found it about a week ago, and have watched every single video. Once I got stared I didn't want to stop! You have given me so many ideas. Thank you for caring so much!
I'm going through a bit of a life style change and your tips and detailed walk throughs for your prep and meals have been so helpful and It's greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I honestly don't understand why anyone demonizes using dry beans as part of a budget meal plan. I love beans. All types of beans. They are tasty, cheap, store well for a long time & are so easy to cook in a huge variety of ways. If you're on a brutally tight budget, beans will keep you fed deliciously.
Ours was simply boiling a chicken breast in a pot of water and simple spices shredding the breast in the broth and bringing back to a boil mixing up a batch of drop biscuits and dropping the dough into the pot which thickens the both as well while the dumplings ( drop biscuits) cook easy peasy cooks in min. We often ate with mashed potatoes and spinach on the side.
We use our Dollar General coupon every Saturday so this was good info for us. I enjoyed your video. Definitely the corn chowder will be made soon.I have turkey bologna will make your fried bologna sammy for dinner tonight but hubby needs cheese. All your meals looked good and fun to watch.
Fantastic & creative way to stretch your budget. Also, I found your audio quality to be pretty good (especially with the dogs walking around in the background 😊). Patiently waiting for your next video! Thank you.
Yes fried bologna and egg sandwiches are so good! Your pupusas looked pretty good! I actually tried my first pupusa from a coworker that was from El Salvador. My favorites are the frijoles con queso (beans with cheese) and the chicharrón (pork that is usually shredded) 😋
Thank you for these videos, they give me so many ideas that I normally wouldn't think of. My favorite $5 meal is smoked sausage with a package of cheddar broccoli rice! cheap and filling.
I save 15 oz pickle jars and pasta sauce jars. I wash them out, and reuse them to put beans inwhen I cook up a pound. That way i have them proportioned for recipes. I freeze what i don't use right away after they're cool enough.
I love that you put chips on your sandwiches lol, i always get looks when ive done that even though it adds extra flavor and a satisfying crunch to them. Way better especially with tuna or lunchmeat sandwiches
I am definitely going to be separating frozen mixed veggies from now on. Honestly, that chore looked like fun and I can think of several ways to use each veggie. Thanks! Diane
My biggest suggestion for gnocchi is to cut the pieces up a little bit smaller. For reasons beyond my comprehension, it helps immensely when making a neutral flavored soup Edit: This tip is also useful for dumplings and homemade pasta.
Those look so good! I love how creative you were with flour, I tend not to think of making my own breads or tortillas but t definitely can help when you need to strict things out. Also, those Pupusas looked amazing!
I did not even notice (or mind) the voiceovers. The audio seemed even throughout to me. If there was one critique it's just that the lighting at your table is on the dark side. But since you're not trying to show the food there I dont actually find it a problem. Thanks for all the creative ideas. Always look forward to "hanging out" with you.
lol I’ve been craving a bologna sandwich!! I don’t buy it a lot but I also like to eat plain chips with mine too!! I also crave a grilled hotdog too sometimes
The breakfast clip was excellent. The mic was perfect. Love ❤️ the video !!!!!keep them coming ❤❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much for all the effort and work you put into making them. For an untrained eye it may look simple but I know it’s far from it. Thank you! You are awesome 🤩
The instant potatoes are so versatile! I make a creamy potato soup with them that my family loves and it only takes a few minutes to come together...they also work really well to make other soups thicker and creamier without adding dairy products...and lastly, I've seen recipes where you can use them to make potato candy (I'm going to try that sometime). I am really intrigued by the potato dumpling ideas! Also, I found a baker's blade like that at DT (I was stoked because it is dishwasher safe!).
I pressure can so will do 7 qts of dried beans. Out of a qt can usually make 2- 4 meals depending on how im using them in a recipe. I do an assortment of beans and peas so i basically hav 4 cans of each per qt of about 12 different beans all the time. i grew up on fried boloney and spam. tho spam was a special treat!!!!
I love when you do these videos! So realistic ❤ and I love how you take the time to explain your thought process, but for me personally it’s not necessary. I totally understand like why you said $21 not $20 or that eggs might be more at DG but some people don’t have access to other stores. You’re amazing please keep doing budget menus!! Oh and you don’t need to explain why we can’t always have cheap and healthy! 😊❤❤❤❤
I have never made pupusa’s, but they looked really good, and something that I could make my husband to travel to work with that he would enjoy. Also that he could eat without making much of a mess because that’s kind of what made me sit up and pay attention to them
I recently started slow cooking my beans. No soaking overnight and so easy to set and forget. 4 hours on high for 1 lb of beans. I also add a pack of ramen seasoning and a few bay leaves. Then add water until 2 inches above beans and go about my day. 😊
The old fashion chicken and dumplings is boil the chicken and remove.Then take one cup of the broth and cool. Then just go to adding flour until it turns into dumping dough.Then roll out until thin enough for dumplings.Cut them and boil into the broth.My mother in law taught me this 58 years ago.
When I first "met" my therapist (online), she suggested that eating is better than not eating when she asked about questions about my general health. I've been working my way towards eating a little bit healthier as I can and can afford. But eating is better than not eating. Thank you for work.
I love fried bologna with eggs! I usually chop up the bologna, fry it, add when scrambling eggs. I usually have a pack of flour tortillas instead of bread from Dollar Tree and make a quick bean/cheese burrito with leftover beans. A favorite meal is a bag of frozen stir fry veggies, make a "spicy" bowl of Raman noodles, mix together after stir fry is about done. It's not too spicy after you mix with the stir-fry veggies but lots of flavor, and pretty presentation too! I'm a new subsciber, frugal by necessity most of my life. Sending blessings from Grandma Gia in the Ozarks
@@DollarTreeDinners Hi Rebecca the short answer is to use something acidic in the dough and baking soda. so looking over the haul and add-on the only things with acid in them, specifically vinegar are the hot sauce and the mustard. so use one of them and bit of baking soda or just vinegar and baking soda... people usually have some vinegar lurking about. hehehe ...love solving these puzzles Jim
I would add half an onion, a bit of garlic powder and ground pepper to your beans at the start of the boil. It makes them so flavorful. You can remove the entire half onion and dump it aftewards.
most dollar generals do not sell onions, with the exception of a new type of dollar general that is integrating some variety of fresh produce. although I am unsure of the pricing of the produce or what they offer as I don't have one.
I’m only using oil, salt pepper, and the two seasoning mixes I mentioned at the beginning, the more extras I add in the more potential costs someone would have to follow along
Your mashed up beans reminded me of a recipe I grew up with, foul mudammas! It's a middle eastern breakfast staples of beans, and a hard boiled egg. So good and filling!
I sure wish my family wasn't very picky eaters, especially my husband. I get so lost and stressed on what to make they don't seem to understand we're on an extremely tight budget in comparison to a few years ago for us.
When I was a kid we used to fry bologna all the time! it was a staple lunch for us. My dad would go down to our "little" store and buy a chub , kinda like you can buy a chub of hamburger and he would slice it himself! you always come up with some very unique meals! thanks for sharing! xoxo
I have always considered the time needed to prep items as part of the poverty tax. Anything that saves you time costs you money, and whether you are just being frugal or you really don't have the money to spend it always ends up costing you time.
It's terrible because most disabled people are poor or destitute. It's literally not possible for a lot of people to do so much, but there's no money to buy anything or get help
I love how your content mentions and recognizes that a lot of people struggle to feed themselves not only because of finance, but now how, and access to things. I love love love your recipe for bean burritos that doesn’t even require a fridge. I recommend trying out a dorito chile pie sometime. Great, fun, simple and cheap meal that honestly slams paired with some wheat or corn bread.
Old fashioned dumplings were made like a pie crust. Flour, crisco, salt, milk etc, then making a dough and rolling them out on counter top. Take a knife and cut the dumplings into strips. Drop the dumpling in the boiling chicken stock.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I was unmotivated to make anything this week, and didn't have much planned for meals this week for the family. With all this inspiration I am so excited to implement these very things your showing us in this video, you are amazing!! 💖 So thankful for your channel 🥰🙏💯 Gonna start this week off great and I look forward to the other videos to follow along!! 🎉
I am so happy to hear that it got you motivated and got you thinking of the possibilities, I am the same way! Sometimes I lose motivation to cook, but watching other people be creative can reignite the excitement!
