Family On A Budget

My grandmother used to make pasta e fagioli when I was a kid. This is not her recipe, but an inexpensive recipe that I use. It costs around $2.30 for the entire recipe.

4 cups broth (I used chicken or beef — whichever I have on hand)
2 cups cooked small pasta such as shells or ditalini
2 15 oz cans white northern or canellini beans
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes.
garlic powder (to your taste) or 2 cloves minced sautéed garlic
onion powder (to your taste) or 1/4 chopped sautéed onions.
1 tsp basil (or to taste)
1 tsp italian seasoning (or to taste)
hot pepper flakes (to your taste)

While noodles are cooking, add the remaining ingredients to a small soup pot. Heat at medium for approximately 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked. Add the noodles and let set for about 10 minutes until it cools off a bit.

Serve with bread and olive oil dipping sauce.

This soup tastes even better the second day. I will also throw leftovers in it such as meat sauce from spaghetti, green beans and sometimes spinach for a variation. You can cook your own beans to save more money. Very filling and nutritious

My daughters love gnocchi and it is so easy and cheap to make. I normally make it when I have left over mashed potatoes, but have also made potatoes specifically to serve gnocchi. I estimate it costs around $.30 per batch to make (without the sauce).

1 cup mashed potatoes
1 egg
2 cups flour

Mix the ingredients together. This works best with your hands. Dump out onto a flour board and kneed until smooth. Break into a few chunks and roll them into 1/2 – 3/4 in ropes. Slice the ropes into 3/4 slices pieces and let set out for at least 20 minutes. You can cover them with a towel while they are resting.

Drop the gnocchi individually into salted boiling water. Cook until the gnocchi floats – about 5-10 minutes.

Serve with spaghetti sauce, marina sauce, garlic and oil sauce or a cheese sauce.

I occasionally add in spices for a variation. Try adding garlic powder, roasted garlic, onion powder, italian seasoning. The next time I make this I am going to try replacing small portions of the flour with whole wheat flour. I will let you know how that works out. My family is picky so I will have to replace only small amounts to start.

This is not a budget tip, but a helpful one none the less. I hate press 1 if you are …. press 2 for english and so on. This site contains a list of the best ways to reach a real live human.

Get a Human

Now if there was a way to insure that the person you reach can actually speak ENGLISH and life would be good.

Let me know if this was helpful for you.

My daughter loves the chicken noodle soup at our local Eat N Park restaurant. It contains a thicker chewy homemade noodle that is really good. I have found a similar tasting noodle that we used to make an inexpensive Chicken soup. It really hits the spot on a cold winter day and costs approximately $.25 for entire the batch (noodles only). I will post my soup recipe soon.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon oil
1/3 cup water

In a bowl, mix the flour and salt together.

In another bowl beat the eggs, oil, and water together. Form a depression in the flour mixture and add the egg mixture. Mix well.

Turn the dough out onto a floured countertop. Knead for eight minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Divide the dough in half with a knife. Roll each dough piece out with a floured rolling pin until it is 1/16 to 1/8-inch thick. Place the pieces on waxpaper and cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes.

Using a knife or a pizza cutter, slice the dough into strips 1/4-inches wide. Drop the noodles one at time into simmering soup. Cook until tender. Approximately 10-15 minutes.

Baking your own bread is a great way to save money and have a fresher product. Below is the recipe I use for sandwich buns. I use my bread machine for this recipe. It makes the recipe easy and less time consuming. I estimate these cost approximately $.40 a batch which is much less than the 2.98 in the grocery store and bakery. We use them for sandwiches and for burgers. There is nothing better than fresh bread.

1-1/2 cups of warm water
1/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add the items in order or in the order recommended by your bread machine maker. Set using the Dough setting and start it. My machine takes an hour and a half to mix, knead and proof the dough.

Once the dough is done, separate into 12 to 16 equal pieces of dough. Roll the pieces into balls and place on a greased baking sheet approximately 1/2 inch apart.

Cover the rolls and let them rise until they are double in size. About 30-40 minutes. Sometimes I will proof them in the oven with a pan of hot water placed on the bottom rack.

My husband likes to use the Gillette Mach 3 razor and I decided to find a less expensive way to purchase the razor refills.

With some online research, I have located a few different sources for them.

Sams Club – Our local Sam’s club has these for 20 at 33.44 + tax. at slightly more than 1.67 each this is not the best deal. and similar to the cost at local drugstores and grocery chains.

Ebay Gillette Mach 3 listings – Today it seems that ebay has the best deal. I was able to locate a few auctions for with ‘Buy it Now’ for a quantity of 16 for $15.99 ($4.50 shipping), a qty of 30 for $29.99 (4.50 shipping), and a qty of 100 at $85.00 ($9.00 shipping). At $1.28, $1.14, and $.94 respectible, Ebay appears be the cheapest.

Amazon.com Gillette Mach 3 Listings – I found a deal on the 2 pack of 4 count (8 total) for $13.99 (4.98 shipping), with the added shipping it comes to $2.37 each and the highest cost. With Amazon prime these are probably a good deal.