Dinner for cheap!

**Judi Dial** · 02-27-2009, 07:34 PM

I went to a couple of markets today. As usual, I checked out the marked down stuff first. I got two steaks at one market, that's all. One of them was originally $8 and change, marked down $2. The other was originally $3.xx, marked down $1.

The second one was thin sliced round steak. When I opened it up tonight, there were 2 almost equal pieces, so I froze the larger and cooked the smaller one. I figure tonight's meat cost us $1.66 .

I cooked with this with vegetables, onions and mushrooms.

There were onions I'd cooked yesterday and hadn't used and some other chopped onion to freshen up the taste.

The mushrooms were most of a package of baby bella mushrooms, normally, I'd consider them a luxury. I'd checked the sale rack and there were 10 oz packages of stuffing mushrooms for $3. I went over to the regular mushrooms to check the prices. The baby bellas were $2.69 for 10 oz, so I bought those instead!

I don't know what I paid for the onions, sorry. I bought 1/2 bu of sweet onions when the farm stand closed at the end of October. My boss said I paid wholesale for them, and I trust him, but I have no idea how much I actually paid as I bought a lot of other food that day!

The salad we had was the end of the marked down package I'd bought last weekend, $1.49.

So dinner was:

steak $1.66
mushrooms $2.50
salad .50

for both of us it was $4.66 or $2.33 each.

Yes, I know all of you can do this for 1.00 a person, but I've never been able to, so I'm bragging about my progress. And for a steak dinner, it's not bad!

Judi

**writtenonmybody** · 02-27-2009, 07:35 PM

Yay! That is awesome!

**sueh** · 02-28-2009, 07:21 AM

That's awesome!

**cspp04** · 02-28-2009, 09:23 PM

I think you did a wonderful job in bargain hunting. You can't find discounted prices like that where I live. Bargain meat around here is hard to find. In fact, any good bargains are hard to find. Ah, small town living.

**perSue** · 02-28-2009, 09:30 PM

what a great job!

QM · 02-28-2009, 10:07 PM

Doesn't it feel wonderful saving money and being frugal?! Good job!

**Debbie-cat** · 02-28-2009, 11:01 PM

I love finding deals like that! Way to go!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 03-01-2009, 10:26 AM

I still think you did a bang-up job in finding your shopping bargain. Good deal!

**Judi Dial** · 03-01-2009, 11:34 AM

I did this once, for some reason, it wouldn't save it. Grrrr.

I live in a small town too (1400 people, 11 square miles) I got the meat at our local "large" town, (23,000 people, 38 square miles).

I've found two things that help me get meat bargains: 1) shop early in the a.m., the butchers around here put them out first thing in the a.m. 2) look under and behind the other packages. Since there's only 2 of us, I'm always looking for the smallest package. Frequently, I find the markdowns behind or under the more obvious ones.

IHTH!

Judi

**rainbowgc** · 03-01-2009, 12:17 PM

Wow you got your moneys worth plus YEAH

**Laura2** · 03-01-2009, 03:39 PM

Wonderful job! I love shopping the marked down meat at our grocery store too.

**LuvMyHubby** · 03-01-2009, 07:42 PM

That was a great job. We don't get meat markdowns like that a whole lot, so I think your price per person was fantastic.

**lilk** · 03-02-2009, 05:43 PM

WTG! I'm sure your dh appreciated and nice steak dinner.

**Michelle68** · 03-02-2009, 06:36 PM

Not bad at all for a steak dinner for two! Much cheaper than going out. WTG.

**AspiringToBeFrugal** · 03-02-2009, 06:58 PM

GREAT job! I buy the "manager's special" which is the marked down meat all the time. It's priced to move so why not move it into my freezer for use when we want to have a special dinner?!