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A restaurant about 2 miles from my house in North Mississippi is offering a $150.00 per couple Valentine "Deal". Not going to happen. I freaked and decided I would go with your video ideas. My husband has been diagnosed with cancer and I wanted to have a great date with him. NOT at $150. He prefers to stay home anyway. We will be having shrimp and salmon. I will be decorating with odds and ends from around the house to offer a more Date Night look. I cannot believe how much I have learned from your videos. Thank you!
Sorry to hear about your husband. My husband passed 5 months ago and some of our best Valentine dinners together were made at home. He was more of an introvert and wanted to stay home most of the time anyway. Not only that, but he wanted our children present as well. He said we were a family and we should celebrate together. Enjoy your special meal together!
Honestly, you are one of the most creative food creators on the tube. It is very impressive how you are able to come up with and execute these meals. Thank you for providing good content.
To get a steak that thin closer to med rare, pop it in the freezer for 15 min, blot dry the outside, then fry in a hot pan. The colder inside gives the outside a chance to crust before it't overcooked.
I make them with Bisquick and Old Bay, and definately do garlic butter on the top once they come out. So yummy. I might use way more butter butter on top than the recipe calls for ;-)
Thank you so much! We were not going to be able to go to dinner for Valentine's Day because it was not in the budget. I can definitely afford $20. I am going to surprise my husband now. Wow, just Wow!
Whenever I make the garlic shells, I add garlic powder while I'm cooking, and sprinkle in a generous amount of parmesan after plating. Adds tons of flavor!
Look at you, infusing the milk! I find that, the more i cook, the more I just naturally adapt smart techniques I've seen on tv etc. Masterful, literally!
Well done! We've been cooking Valentines Day dinner at home for years. It's cheaper but it's also less stress and more comfortable. We've usually done surf and turf too but this year we are going to make pizzas in our new pizza oven. ❤
I love this video. I know you usually never make a recipe video where you assume anyone has anything but salt and oil in the pantry but have you ever made a video about cheap pantry staples from dollar stores one could build up?
Frugal Fit Mom has a couple videos about building a pantry with DT items, but I'd love to see Rebecca's take on it. And yes, I've seen flour and sugar, along with nearly every pantry basic, at DT.
@recoveringsoul755 Around the holidays, I have seen lots of baking staples i.e. sugar, baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar etc. One of the best baking finds I found at DT is a cinnamon sugar blend in the spices section. I have also found shredded coconut, chocolate chips, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Last fall I stocked up on canned pumpkin from DT for my pumpkin desserts.
if you have a spring form pan you could bake your cookie and thaw the icecream til very soft and add it on top of the cookie while it's still in the pan and freeze to make a icecream cookie 'cake'
Coming back by to say thanks for the inspiration. As soon as I heard your Surf & Turf concept, i realized I had most of the ingredients already and it would save me hunting down another beef tenderloin. As senior citizens, we split a baked potato, split a beef tenderloin, used up some popcorn shrimp. I splurged on the Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix. Dessert is a riff on tiramisu using ingredients we had on hand. Great Valentine's Day dinner!
I love that you share how we can have a delicious dinner on a budget and for someone who says it doesn’t taste like Red Lobster most of the time they can afford going out to that kind of dinner. It is about having decent and tasty meal that’s a bit of splurge but doesn’t break the bank and is still good tasting & quality. Thank you for working so hard to continue to bring us great meals at great prices and while you only allow salt pepper and oil many of us have items of spices or condiments already which allows to add even more!
Red lobster is insanely pricey when you find out that 90% of what they serve is premade and in plastic..they just cut the bag open and heat unless it’s a market seafood catch or a steak. This looked infinitely better and so much cheaper.Salmon is an absolute fave around my house and we eat it once a week.But our dollar trees don’t carry food which is a shame !
To cook a 1/2 to 1 inch steak edibly rare to medium rare, heat lard or coconut oil in a skillet to high heat. Sear about 30 seconds to one minute on each side to get a good crust. Remove immediately and top with butter.
This is such a great premise. I wanted to make an (affordable) valentine's meal for my small family of 3, and this is an option for sure! Thanks for sharing!
@@DollarTreeDinners I can't beleive people lose their mind over that. It's just not a big deal. We have meals without veggies sometimes, especially with pasta dishes. We make a lot of one pot type meals over here. I often put veggies in whatever dish I am making, but with certain dishes, I just don't bother.
@@DollarTreeDinnersI honestly was going to say you could eat that whole dessert and I wouldn't judge either lol. After then you said you couldn't stop eating it haha
Happy Valentine's Day All, Rebecca you're doing so well I only have two notes. if a steak is a bit tough before you cook it you can "mechanically tenderize" it ... there's a tool with lots of sharp needles that does this job or you could just stab the steak over and over with sharp forks or a knife point. or you could pound it with a meat tenderizer...one of those bulky metal kitchen hammers with textured faces. For Lovey dovey day you could bake the cookie on a flat sheet and form it into a heart. 💖 we make little heart shaped cookies out of several cookie doughs. for Holidays, whenever I make cookies, I save a bit in the freezer so we can have a big variety to celebrate with. Wishing everyone the best Jim Mexico
I've been watching a while but this is my first time commenting. Your videos are a great resource for people who don't have a lot of money but still want to get creative with cooking!
@aprilgranger4914 Unbelievably I find the pork 18:08 chops from Aldi to be the best, no kidding! The biggest factor with pork is to not over cook it! I know many people think they'll get sick or whatever so they overcook it to shoe leather, like my mil. Example, boneless PC take 30 mins or less in the oven, my Mil cooks them for 3 hours...🙄
@@aprilgranger4914Pork typically is higher fat, I always soak in buttermilk before patting it dry and seasoning. Take it out at 135 and then let it rest under foil…it’ll keep cooking and still be yummy.
Way back it might’ve been 2007 it was Christmas time and our traditional family meal was filet mignon. Times were tough and I didn’t think I could have afforded this. I was reading the local newspaper and saw that dollar tree had filet mignon for a dollar. I got up early and went to dollar tree and they had it! It was delicious and my family enjoyed it so much they kept asking me where I got it. I didn’t tell until 2 years later when at a random dinner I said dollar tree. They all looked at me and said what? I finally told them that Christmas I had gotten filet mignon at dollar tree. I don’t think anyone finished their dinner that night because we were all laughing so hard.
I really look forward to your videos. You are one smart lady. Thank you so much for sharing all of your wonderful meal ideas with us. 🥰 I used to be depressed having such a tiny food budget, but you have made it fun.
That's a great amount of food for $20, and it definitely doesn't look like it came from dollar tree. I'd probably skip the steak and make an appetizer, but I'm not much of a steak eater to begin with. Everything looks great though!
At the Tree, and really any store, I try to get spice mixtures that don’t have salt because we already have salt at home so I feel like we’re getting more of the ingredient we want and need,
Ohhh! I’ll keep my eyes open for frozen asparagus at the Dollar Tree near me! It’s my favorite vegetable, and I agree that it seems a little on the fancy side! Fun menu, easily customizable, and a nice treat for any special occasion.
You are the sweetest human on the planet. This is my new favorite content on RU-vid. I find grocery shopping meal planning and budgeting all extremely difficult I kind of just wish you were my sister wife lol.
I usually go all out, but this year husband gets a taste of making Valentines special on a budget. I'll be nice and send him this to help but otherwise he's on his own. I'll let you know what he does and include pictures. I would b3 happy with yours but would add a Walmart basic salad but it's warming up in Tulsa and I crave fresh veggies in spring. Happy Valentines Day y'all
Rebecca, I love your holiday meal ideas!!!! It was so much fun watching you shop and then cook; you make everything look delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipes!! You're the best!
I totally agree that asparagus feels fancy, I made it as one of my sides for Christmas. I love making cheddar biscuits from scratch. And that chocolatey dessert is always going to be a hit. We don't need to go out and gut our wallets for a good dinner, no siree.
Your just like me... adding spice to butter to add flavor... even Italian dried herbs that swell up with buttery flavor... just the little things... so cool.
I love watching your inexpensive meals. My son is a Valentine's Day baby. We used to be able to take him out to restaurants to celebrate. Now I can watch your videos and still have an expensive tasting meal for 4 people. Thank you so much ❤😊
@@DollarTreeDinners I like seeing you shop for food as well! The great thing about it is that when they are out of something you want, you seem to be able to come up with something else on the fly. Seeing that helps me use my imagination more when shopping.
We don't go out for valentines or mothers day, the crowds are just too much. Your dinners are special without the $$$$$ prices. Thanks for all the thought that you put into these videos.
Oh my god bestie!! I cant wait to spill tea! I was a general manager for dollar tree and worked red lobster for five years running the establishment... I got all the dirty details.. which store you want pie? I got you jack.. 🤔🤷🏼♀️🤣🤣🤣🤣👏👏👏👏
This was awesome. I found you on TikTok first and I follow you but I definitely love your RU-vid videos. I feel like I’m right there with you shopping and cooking. Thank you for doing this for us.
looks awesome ! I had to laugh when you said that you are convinced if you look hard enough for an item you will find it I do the very same thing and sometimes as sad as it is to admit, I have been known to go BACK down the same aisle more than once as though the item I am looking for is going to just appear as if by magic just because I walked away away for a few minutes 🤣🤣
You looked so pretty in this video! This looks like such a great meal, I can't wait to try it! Thanks for giving us so many great ideas & cooking tips. You have been such an inspiration!
You are amazing! You remind me of my grandma and mother. IN A GOOD WAY! I am obsessed with our women cooks from our past and how they stretched a dollar but still had wonderful tasting meals. You give me the courage to try and do the same. Thank u!
I'm so appreciative of your videos. I love your creativity. Your innovation has been helpful in more ways than one when trying to make a nice meal on the cheap 😊
I appreciate the ideas here. We're seniors and have never really gone out for Valentine's Day. I had penciled in filet and baked potato but I've been hunting for a little more marked-down filet. However I do have popcorn shrimp in the freezer. And all the scratch ingredients for cheddar bay biscuits. My husband suggested tiramisu for dessert, which made me regret not grabbing the ladyfingers from the clearance rack last week. I know he'll be good with anything involving chocolate!
Since you have shrimp, you could make shrimp tacos or a shrimp alfredo. That would be a lovely meal. We don't go out for Valentine's either. I usually get my daughter a small gift, but I don't care at all about it. Neither does my hubbie.
Rebecca, I'm going to make this meal for myself this year. I used to be a vegetarian but because of some health issues I had to go back to eating meat. That is a really awkward transition when for the longest time I had a hard time with it. I'm learning a lot from you about preparation. TYSM! and Happy V-Day friend! 🤍
I use those ribeyes to duplicate the steak sandwiches I got many years ago from a now-defunct local barbecue place (Bill's, for any Richmonders watching who may remember). One minute on a side is quite enough cooking for me due to their thinness. With mayo and chopped onion on a burger bun, it definitely gives me a gustatory trip down memory lane!
Bisquick is a general mills product. General mills owned Red Lobster, not sure if they still do. More than likely their CHeddar Bay biscuits are made with a bisquik base.
A bunch of chemicals, meat, glue, pesticides, and who knows how the farm raised fish were kept, what their environment looked like, is not a quality meal. It might look like one, but it is filled with a bunch of carcinogens and chemicals!
You made such a nice meal to fit our budgets! I’m in the mood for a seafood “boil” but really I’m craving that garlic herb butter and that salmon will work with 🍤 and I’ll do asparagus and maybe corn! The biscuits looked great and it’s so nice to see a dessert that isn’t work but a very affordable scrumptious treat! 🍪 🍨 I ❤️ seeing what you come up with for holidays! Happy almost Valentine’s Day! 🩷
an alternative for the surf portion: that knorr alfredo pairs really well with shrimp. (especially after i copied your trick of decreasing the water. thank you for that.)
I always read on the back of the packs of individually packaged fish to cook it from frozen, but I didn't know why. When I looked it up, I learned that you can get botulism if you thaw the fish out in the packets, but it is fine if you thaw them opened in the fridge. -Kryste
I wasn’t going to watch this because I thought when I saw Red Lobster I was like no thanks. I am allergic to shellfish but what a nice surprise you picked Salmon! My late Father’s birthday is Feb14th and every year I eat something he liked in his honor. Salmon was not one of them but what a great meal! Thanks for another wonderful. Recipe!
You mentioned there was a good amount of the pasta leftover: what if you saved about 2/3 of one of the smaller salmon filets and combined it with the leftover pasta (with one of the extra biscuits on the side) as a light lunch the next day? 🙂 Fantastic meal, by the way- even if I can't find the salmon or steak at my DT, it still gives me ideas for the next time I may find it on markdown elsewhere and need a quick and simple way to prepare it!😍
This is so cool and cozy. Kudos to you for creating a special Valentine's Day meal and dessert. This is the kind of stuff I'd appreciate way more. Also nice not to give into the pressures of consumerism.
This is such a fun and creative dupe Red Lobster meal. I love the cheddar bay biscuits but the mix is super expensive so the DT mix you found is a great alternative. I rarely eat red meat but your salmon looked delish. Mmm. Another fun dessert idea for the cookies is to bake large cookies and make ice cream sandwiches. I would be all over that cookie skillet/ "pazookie." Yummmmm.
Hello! I really enjoy your videos. It’s clear that you plan and prepare well and put a lot of thought into your content. I appreciate the budget-friendly ideas!
Thank you for this video, especially right before a major holiday for couples. I do have a suggestion. I noticed that you have a bandage on your left hand. It’s a good idea to wear a glove on the hand you have a bandage on while cooking. It would be a shame to put all that effort into a romantic meal, only for the bandage to find its way into the food. It is also for your own safety, since you were handling raw meat. You don’t want any chance for the bacteria in the raw meat to seep through the bandage into the open wound. Thank you again. You are helping lots of us who are hurting for cash have a better quality of life within our budgets.
