This easy casserole is the perfect gluten-free side dish for burritos or any other Mexican meal. Or, you can do as I do, and just eat it as a stand-alone frugal meal… because it’s just that good!
We LOVE this easy casserole!
Whenever I say something about Green Rice Casserole, most people do a double take. “Green Rice Casserole? What’s that??” they’ll ask incredulously.
My mom has made this recipe for as long as I can remember and I’ve always loved it.
Since I’ve been married, it’s been fun to introduce it to my own family, too. Everyone gobbles it up and usually asks for more!
By the way, this is in no way a low-fat recipe, so if you’re on a diet, counting calories, or trying to lose weight, you just might want to skip over this post. 😉
Ingredients for Green Rice Casserole
- 3 cups cooked rice (we use brown rice)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup chopped dried parsley (or 1/2 to 1 cup fresh parsley)
- 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion, finely chopped (or 1/4 cup dry onion flakes — can be omitted)
Substitutions and Variations
Try adding 2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken or cooked ground sausage to this mixture for a more hearty meal.
Or add 2 or 3 extra eggs to make it more of a breakfast casserole.
Try variations of white, brown, or even wild rice to see what you prefer.
Mix up the seasonings — swap basil for parsley for basil or add more Mexican seasonings like cumin and chili powder.
Try Pepper Jack cheese for a little extra spice, crumbled Feta for a brighter kick, or Mozzarella for a super creamy texture.
How to make Green Rice Casserole
1. Cook the rice (if necessary)
2. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
3. In a large bowl, combine cooked rice with all other ingredients.
4. Cover dish with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
5. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
How to Freeze Green Rice Casserole
This recipe freezes beautifully — just cover the pan tightly and pop it in the freezer (before baking) to freeze for up to 3 months.
You can also dump the contents of the uncooked casserole into a gallon-size freezer bag and freeze it flat as a space-saving option.
When you’re ready to bake the casserole, simply defrost it in the fridge or on the counter and continue with the baking instructions above.
Green Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cups rice (already cooked)
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup dried parsley (or 1/2 to 1 cup fresh parsley)
- 4 oz. chopped green chilies
- 2 cups cheddar cheese grated
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion finely chopped (or 1/4 cup dry onion flakes — can be omitted)
Instructions
- Cook the rice (if necessary).
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
- In a large bowl, combine cooked rice with all other ingredients.
- Cover dish with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Love this recipe?
Make sure to share and save it on your favorite platform below!
FREE DOWNLOAD: 60 Meals To Help You Avoid Takeout!
Meal time just got so much easier!
Yesterday’s Dollar Tree shopping trip (and a lesson in finances for the girls)
Yesterday’s Dollar Tree shopping trip (and a lesson in finances for the girls)
We’ve been using Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Junior with Kathrynne and Kaitlynn to teach them the value of money and stewardship. In addition to their daily required (unpaid) chores, we also have a list of extra paid chores they can choose to do if they’d like. We want our children to learn that there are chores you do as part of being an asset to our family and there are extra chores you can choose to do and get paid for.
While this is not exactly how it works in real-life, we thought it would be a great way to help them learn the value of work and money on a small scale. So far, they are pretty excited about it — most of the time, at least! 🙂 — and it’s working out well. Plus, it’s providing lots of great opportunities to teach life lessons when it comes to work ethic, why we save, why we want to be givers and so much more.
Last week they had their first “Pay Day” and they were quite thrilled! At this point, we’re letting them choose how they want to spend the money in their “spend” category. So we went to Dollar Tree yesterday and they got to spend their own hard-earned money on a few items of their choosing.
It’s exciting to watch as they begin to grasp the basic concepts of giving, saving and spending.
Please note: We don’t profess to know much about this child-raising thing; we’re just learning as we go. I share this with you as an example of what we’re doing in our home, not setting it up as something you should emulate in your home. Do what works best for your family and your children!
While at Dollar Tree, I also picked up some more Nature’s Own Bread for just $1 per loaf. (Nevermind the fact that one bag is half eaten. We love Cinnamon Swirl bread around here! Yum!)
How are you teaching your children about giving, saving and spending? I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions.
31 Weeks to a Better Grocery Budget Video Series: Storing Your Stockpile
31 Weeks to a Better Grocery Budget Video Series: Storing Your Stockpile
This video gives you a little peek into my household supplies stockpile closet.
I don’t have a massive stockpile like some because I tend to stockpile on a smaller scale and typically don’t keep more on hand than what we can use in a three to six month period (there are some exceptions to this rule of thumb, such as the 31 tubes of toothpaste I “bought” for free last year).
I’d love to hear additional creative ideas you’ve come up with for storing your stockpile, especially if you live in a small house or apartment.
This Week’s Menu Plan
Bread dough and beautiful tulips my husband got for me!
Breakfasts:
Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit
Strawberry/Banana Smoothies
Cold Cereal, Juice x 2
Lemon Cranberry Scones, Hardboiled Eggs, Fruit
Mango Lassi, English Muffins
Oatmeal with Apple Slices and Walnuts
Lunches:
Leftovers x 2
Spinach Oven Omelet, fruit
Tuna sandwiches, frozen veggies, oranges
Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese, carrots, apple slices
Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches, fruit
Turkey sandwiches, fruit, veggies
Dinners:
Lasagna, Bread Machine French Bread, Frozen Veggies, Fruit
Haystacks (build-your-own Mexican dinner), Green Rice Casserole (from the freezer — recipe coming on Thursday!), Fruit
Steak, Sweet Potatoes, frozen veggies, Toast
Tilapia, Mashed Potatoes, frozen veggies, fruit salad
Chili Burgers, Seasoned Baked Potato Wedges, frozen veggies, fruit
Dinner with Friends
Dinner Out
What’s on your menu this week?
Want to Save the Most? Do Without!
This article by Heather from QueenBee Coupons is excellent:
When I think about one of the biggest ways that my family has saved money in our grocery bill the last few years, I think about all the times we did NOT buy an item because it just wasn’t a good enough deal. We simply do without. Sounds drastic and depressing. But I don’t see it that way. Let me explain. . .
You only have a certain budget for food for the month. As a consumer you get to decide how that gets spent. Just as with anything when there is a limited supply (time, money, energy) you have to prioritize how to use or spend it, right? This is a personal decision, the priorities will be different in every family.
When I decided to stay home with my kids, it meant cutting our income by 60%. That’s right, 60 percent. Take $100 and throw $60 of it out the window. What was once $100, is now $40 at the grocery store. I wouldn’t change it for a second. I wouldn’t trade anything for those extra 60 dollars, but I will be picky in how I spend what I have left.
For us, this means – if it’s not on sale and/or we don’t have a coupon – we generally don’t buy it. It’s that simple. If it’s not a loss leader in the grocery ad (one of the best of the best deals), we will generally wait, and do without, until it does go on super sale.
Refinancing: Take Years off Your Home Mortgage
Guest post by Megan
“Will I ever pay off my mortgage?”
This question has taunted every mortgage holder in America at one point in time or another. My husband and I have been blessed to have a decent amount of equity in our home, and yet the thought of shelling out hundreds of dollars a month for another 28 years has still sent quivers through me a time or two — at least until recently.
I had purchased a house in 2007 before my husband and I were married. I grew up flipping houses (buying, fixing and then reselling) with my family. This instilled in me a desire to try my hand at one myself. I thought it would be an excellent way to get ahead and that I may as well start knocking out mortgage payments sooner rather than later. So with a 30-year, $80,000.00 mortgage at a 7% interest rate, I started doing just that.
Thanks to the help of friends and family, I completed the necessary renovations on the home I purchased and then proceeded to rent out my house while I continued living at home. Even after getting married a year later, my husband and I decided that, for the time, we would continue to rent the house I owned out. For us, it made more sense to let someone else pay our mortgage while we lived in an inexpensive apartment.
The arrangement was working nicely, but it still seemed as though we could be doing more to manage the finances that were tied up in our rental investment. We started looking into refinancing options and were very surprised by the numbers we discovered.
What does it mean to refinance?
Simply put, refinancing is paying off your current loan with a new one to reduce the term of the loan. This in turn saves you a good deal in mortgage interest. We were so excited to find this silver lining in our current economic cloud!
How Much We Saved By Refinancing:
Before Refinancing: After Refinancing:
$80,000.00 loan $80,000.00 loan
30-Year Note 15-Year Note
7% Interest ($112,168.12 ) 4.25% Interest ($28,330.41 )
$811.00 Monthly Payment $846.00 Monthly PaymentNote: In the process of refinancing, my husband and I recently decided to move from our apartment into our rental, as residential loans offer lower rates than investment loans.
As you can see, our return on two months’ worth of paperwork has been $83,837.71 in interest savings and 15 years off the life of our loan!
I was, and am still floored at the savings in interest alone. You may have noticed our monthly payment increased by $35. For us, this is an overage my husband and I are willing to make up in other areas of our budget. We believe it will be worth every penny in the long run!
If you are interested in pursuing the option of refinancing your home, here are a few tips to get you started:
1) Calculate Your Current Mortgage Information
Before you start shopping for a better interest rate, you’ll want to know what percentage you’re trying to beat. Pull out your latest mortgage statement and input the information into Dave Ramsey’s Mortgage Calculator. This is my favorite tool for tracking our mortgage, as it is very simple to use.
With it, you can see how a lower interest rate can affect your loan, or you can calculate how much you would save by simply paying a little extra on your monthly payment. This tool can even help you calculate how much you could save by simply cutting a few restaurant visits and coffee stops each month!
2) Start Shopping For Rates
It is a good idea to start with the company who currently holds your loan. Although this was not the case in our situation, often your mortgage holder will offer you a better rate so they may keep your loan, thus keeping your business from moving to their competitors.
Once you have their rate quote, ask for rate and payment quotes from one or two additional banks before making a decision. Don’t be afraid to let each company know what the others are offering you as they will want to know what would be necessary to acquire your business.
3) Recalculate Your Proposed Refinance Information
Now calculate your proposed rate, payment and loan term information in the Mortgage Calculator to see if refinancing will incur a savings for you and your family. If it does…
4) Act Fast!
Quickly contact the company that gave you the best rate quote. Although interest rates may be low now, there is no guarantee they will stay that way in our ever-fluctuating economy. In fact, we took our time during a certain portion of our refinance, during which the rates jumped on us by 0.75%. Believe it or not, this “little” jump cost us a savings of nearly $5,000.
It is likely that few of you will have the exact scenario we had, but if this information helps you save even a few thousand dollars and a couple years from the life of your loan, I wish you Godspeed!
Megan is a recently married, working young woman who desires to be a good steward of the earthly possessions God has blessed her and her husband with.
Do you have an idea for a guest post? I am always looking for high-quality,original (i.e. not published anywhere else online) content with tips and ideas Money Saving Mom® readers can use. If you would like to submit a guest post, please follow the Guest Posting Guidelines.
Free Customizable Half-Sheet Household Management Planners
After many requests, we’ve re-vamped some of our free customizable household management organizational pages to fit a half-sized planner or notebook. We’ve put together a free download package of half-sheet planners which includes:
- Daily Docket
- Daily Cleaning List
- Monthly/Semi-Annual Cleaning List
- One-Week Menu Planner
- Seven-Day Menu Planner
For more information on how I use these sheets to keep my life and home organized and better manage my time, check out my Time Management 101 series or my free Time Management 101 ebook.
How to use the half-sheet planners
- Download the Half-Sheet Planner here (6 pages, 1.4MB pdf)
- Open the file in a PDF reader such as Adobe Reader, which you can download for free.
- Use your TAB key to tab through the customizable fields of each form. Each form has numerous fields in which you can enter your own information.
- Click on the section(s) you’d like to fill in.
- Type in your text.
- Print out the document when you’re done typing in your text. You’ll need to cut each sheet in half and properly holepunch it to use it in a half-sheet planner.
- Save your document if you’d like to save your changes. You’ll be able to open the document again to add different text at any time.
A big thanks to Joy from FiveJ’s for helping me put this together for you all!
Super Savings Saturday
So, I wasn’t as disciplined as I’d hope to be this past week (am I ever, though?!), but I at least didn’t stay up until 2 a.m. any night — except for a few nights when I was up with Silas who has been having these middle-of-the-night coughing fits (Anyone have a great middle-of-the-night coughing remedy? I’m ready to try anything you want to suggest since we’d all love to be getting more sleep around here!)
And I actually did get pictures of my groceries this week, unlike last week! So I guess that means I had a more on-the-ball week, too, though I still have a laundry pile in my room (I promise it’s not the same one as last week, though!) 🙂
Health Food Store Shopping Trip: Spent $9.09 — see a complete price breakdown here.
Dillon’s Shopping Trip: Spent $23.99 — see a complete price breakdown here.
Walmart Shopping Trip: Spent $4.19 — see a complete price breakdown here.
Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country. You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog 
and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
Thursday’s Walmart Shopping Trip: Free-plus-overage Millstone coffee & $0.12 Gain dryer sheets!
Thursday’s Walmart Shopping Trip: Free-plus-overage Millstone coffee & $0.12 Gain dryer sheets!
My husband and I made a quick trip to Walmart on Thursday night after our monthly date night because I needed to get bread for lunch with friends on Friday and Dollar Tree hadn’t gotten their shipment of Nature’s Own bread in yet.
I happened to have my Walmart coupon envelope in my purse and I was able to snag a few other deals while we were there:
2 Millstone Coffee packages — $1.64, used 2 $2/1 coupons from the 2/13 RedPlum insert (expires 3/31), free plus $0.36 overage on each (Thanks to a reader who tipped me off to this deal!)
Purex Laundry Softener — used free coupon I received for being apart of the Purex Insiders
3 boxes of Gain Dryer Sheets — $3.12 each, used 3 $3/1 coupons from the 2/13 RedPlum insert (expires 3/31), $0.12 each after coupons
4.62 lbs of bananas — price-matched to the local store’s Thursday-Only $0.18/lb. special — $0.83
Nature’s Own Bread — $2.28
My total after coupons with tax was $4.19.
Pick-Me-Up Smoothie Recipe
This deliciously refreshing smoothie is packed with frozen fruit, protein, and just a touch of honey for that “pick-me-up” you need mid-afternoon. Give it a try instead of reaching for cookies or another cup of coffee.
You will LOVE this Smoothie!
At first glance, the ingredient combination might sound a bit odd, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
If you love smoothies like my family does, you must try this combination of fruits…. we’ve all agreed it’s one of the best smoothie recipes I’ve come up with to date.
It’s perfect when you need an extra shot of energy and oomph on “one of those days”. And it’s quite healthful, too — and a great way to use up bananas and grapes that are a little over-ripe!
Ingredients for Pick-me-up Smoothies
- 2 frozen bananas (I like to freeze mine chopped, though you can freeze them whole)
- 1 cup frozen red grapes
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)
- 1 Tbps. honey
How to Make this Smoothie
1. Add frozen fruit to a high-power blender (we use a Vita-Mix).
2. Add milk, yogurt, and honey.
3. Blend on high until thoroughly blended and smooth.
4. Pour smoothie mixture into 3 glasses or mugs.
NOTE: I’m not sure how the grapes would blend in a regular blender. If you try it, let us know!
This smoothie is great as a quick breakfast for busy mornings, a mid-morning pick-me-up, a protein-packed after-school snack, or even a fun evening treat after the kids go to bed!
Pick-Me-Up Smoothie
Ingredients
- 2 bananas frozen in chunks
- 1 cup red grapes frozen
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup yogurt plain or vanilla
- 1 Tbsp. honey
Instructions
- Add frozen fruit to a high-power blender (we use a Vita-Mix).
- Add milk, yogurt, and honey.
- Blend on high until thoroughly blended and smooth.
- Pour smoothie mixture into 3 glasses or mugs.
Notes
Nutrition
Love this recipe?
Make sure to share and save it on your favorite platform below!
More Smoothie Recipes:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
- Tropical Smoothie
- Sweet Potato Smoothie
- Berry Smoothie
- Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie
- Blueberry Ginger Smoothie
- Orange Cream Smoothie
FREE 50+ Easy and Cheap Breakfast Ideas!!
Mornings just got so much easier with this FREE list of 50+ Easy & Cheap Breakfast Ideas for Busy Weekday Mornings!
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
Today’s Dillon’s Shopping Trip
We also stopped at Dillon’s and got a few great deals. Since pasta was just $0.39 per box after coupons and sale, we stocked up on enough to last us for the next three or four months (we typically go through an average of 3/4ths of a box of pasta per week). This is a great example of how we practice the Buy Ahead principle.
Dillon’s Shopping Trip
3 cartons of strawberries — marked down to $1.29 each
2 packages of sliced turkey breast — $2.99 each
1 package of sliced cheese — $2.19
Vitaminwater — $0.49
2 Pure Protein bars — $1, used 2 $1/1 coupons = free after coupons
12 packages of Healthy Harvest and Smart Taste pasta — on sale for $0.89 when you bought 10 participating items, used 6 $1/2 coupons = $0.39 per package after coupons
Triscuits — on sale for $1.99 when you bought 10 participating items, used 2 $1/1 coupons = $0.99 per box
Annie’s Mac & Cheese — on sale for $0.49 per box when you bought 10 participating items
My total after coupons was $23.99.
Today’s health food store shopping trip
The girls and I stopped by the health food store after a fun morning out together (while Grandma watched Silas). Here are the deals we found:
2 half-gallons of Horizon Organic Milk — marked down to $0.99 (it expires tomorrow, so I’ll be freezing whatever we don’t use by the morning to use for pancakes and waffles)
1 box of Barbara’s Organic Cereal — marked down to $1.59
2 Mangos — $0.50 each
1 and 1/2 head of cabbage — on sale for $0.17/lb. for St. Patrick’s Day
1 box of Mi-Del Honey Grahams — marked down to $1.59 (We all ended up thinking these were icky so I think I’m going to re-purpose them as a graham cracker crust, unless anyone else has a great suggestion!)
1 tub of Wallaby Organic yogurt — marked down to $1.99
My total was $9.09.
Letting Go of My Expectations in Order to Find Joy in Saving Money
Letting Go of My Expectations in Order to Find Joy in Saving Money
Lynette says, “This is my front porch. It’s not likely to be nominated for any trendy or stylish award, but it’s functional and that’s what matters.”
Testimonial by Lynette at Cleverly Simple
“What a difference a year makes”, I thought to myself as I hauled in another load of wood with slippers on my feet and a 19-month-old screaming for breakfast. Living in Virginia Beach twelve months earlier I had visions of our first winter in Central Ohio all snuggled by the fire with a good book and a cup of tea.
The reality of saving money in negative degree weather set in quite quickly as the first load of wood was dropped off onto our cute 1940’s porch. Visions of cute winter accessories were quickly replaced by a woodland piled high and covered in a bright green tarp.
My family had decided late fall that our budget for heating oil was going to be quickly broken as the first oil company bill came in at $600. That lasted us six weeks with the thermostat set at 62 during the day and 55 at night. I was frustrated at the thought of continuing to spend hundreds of dollars and still feel that the house was not a warm place to hang out.
Knowing that the coldest months were ahead, the solution was to spend hours cutting wood from fallen trees at my grandmother’s forest to supplement our heat. We would still need to fill the oil tank, but by using wood as our main source of heat in our living area we would be able to drastically cut our expenses.
I’ve learned so much… one log at a time:
I’ve Found Joy in the Company of Others
As the days turned into months of using wood, I found joy in helping our family save money with each load of wood. I quickly realized that we were not alone. I drove along our curvy small town road and soon took notice of the number of houses with smoke crawling out of their chimneys. They, too, had a woodland on their porch and were providing warmth for their families.
I’ve Learned to Let Go of the Look
I had to let go of the cute accessories we had planned for Christmas in return for green tarp. At least it was a festive color! If letting go of accessories meant saving hundreds of dollars then it had to be okay.
I’ve Realized and Basked in My Blessings
What a blessing to have a husband, brother and father who would spend hours chopping and splitting fallen trees. The cost was free. They were willing to spend their time and resources to help us save money.
I’ve Developed More Creativity
We’ve enjoy our fireplace not only for the heat, but for the s’mores we’ve made together. Yum! And yes, I still enjoy an occasional good book and cup of tea by the glow of the fire. For that, I choose to have a grateful and joyous heart to save money with our small woodland porch and its green tarp.
Lynette blogs about money-saving ideas, creative adventures and family recipes at CleverlySimple.com. She lives with her hubby and son in small town Central Ohio.
Do-It-Yourself: Homemade Face Wash
Simple Organized Living shows you how to make your own face wash.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
My Stock-Up Price List
I’ve received countless requests over the years for me to post my “Price List” (i.e. the price I shoot to pay for all items I purchase). I resisted doing this for a long time because I was afraid that many of you would find it discouraging since prices vary so much by area. However, I finally decided to go ahead and put this list together since many of you promised me it would be helpful.
Please note that the prices listed below are the prices I try not to pay more than. Of course, free or free-plus-overage is always the best thing, but if that’s not possible, than these are the prices I aim to match or beat when purchasing items. Also, note that these prices are normally the prices I shoot to pay by pairing a coupon with a great sale. These are not typically the shelf prices you’ll see here!
We don’t have a CVS or Rite Aid and we only have two grocery store chains in our area, so I’m not able to get some of the deals many of you can get routinely. At the same time, though, we’re blessed to have Walgreens, Walmart, Target, a few Dollar Stores and a health food store in addition to the two grocery store chains.
Toiletries/Personal Care
Bandages — $0.50 per 30-count box or less
Bar Soap — $0.30 per 2-pack or less
Cough Drops — $0.25 per bag or less
Deodorant — $0.50 per regular-sized stick or less
Floss — $0.25 per package or less
Liquid Soap — $0.30 per hand soap pump or less
Lotion — I rarely pay for lotion as I usually get trial-sized bottles for free by signing up for free samples or by using coupons.
Mouthwash — free
Pain Reliever — $1 per bottle or less for name brands
Razors — $1 per package or less
Shampoo/Conditioner — $1 per bottle for name brand, $0.50 per bottle for off brands
Shaving Cream — $0.50 per bottle or less
Sunblock — I’ve never paid anything for sunblock before.
Toothbrushes — $0.20 per toothbrush or less
Toothpaste — free
Baby Items
Baby Food — I don’t buy baby food unless I can get it for free. Otherwise, I make my own or just use a baby food grinder at the table.
Diaper Rash Ointment — free
Diapers — I personally don’t pay for diapers because I used to get them free by working them into my drug store deal scenarios. Now, I get them free by using my accumulated Swagbucks. If you don’t play the drugstore game, $5 per package or less would be a typical stock-up price. Anything less than $0.10 per diaper is usually considered a good deal. Less than $0.08 per diaper is usually a great deal. However, with the insane Amazon diaper deals right now, you can often get diapers for less than $0.04 each shipped to your door!
Wipes — $1 per 64 wipes or less
Refrigerated Items
Butter — $1.69 per pound or less (Whenever I find a great deal on butter, I usually buy a few pounds and freeze them.)
Cheese — $1.69 per 8 oz. or less
Cream Cheese — $0.50 per package or less (Whenever I find a great deal on cream cheese, I buy four to six blocks and freeze them.)
Eggs — I pay $2 per dozen for farm-fresh, free-range eggs. If I were buying non-free-range eggs, I would shoot for $1.29 per dozen or less. (Sometimes Aldi will have them as low as $0.69 per dozen, but I’ve not had great success at freezing eggs, so I don’t buy more than 4-6 weeks’ worth at a time.)
Milk — The cheapest I can usually get rBGH-free milk is $2.50 per gallon. Milk can be frozen, but we’ve found we prefer to only use milk which has been frozen in cooking. If I find organic milk marked down to $1.99 per half-gallon or less, I buy it and freeze it to use in pancakes and waffles.
Sour Cream — $0.99 per 16-oz. carton or less
Yogurt — $0.25 per serving or less
Produce
Bananas — $0.19 to $0.44 per pound (Once a week, a local store has bananas for $0.19 per pound, so if I’m out shopping that day, I’ll price-match at Walmart. Otherwise, I buy them reduced at Dillon’s for $0.39 per pound or $0.44 per pound at Aldi.)
Fruit in Season — $0.99 per pound or less
Grapes — $0.99 per pound or less
Lemons — $0.25 each or less
Salad — I buy organic greens when I can get them for $1.99 per 16-ounce tub or less. Otherwise, I try to get heads of lettuce for $1.59 per head or less. Occasionally, they go on sale for $0.99. I also look for bags of salad greens which have been reduced as this is often a better deal.
Salad Dressing — $0.99 per 16 ounces or less
Strawberries — $1.85 per carton or less
Tomatoes — $0.99 per pound or less
Watermelon — $2.99 per watermelon
Carrots — $0.99 per bag of baby carrots, $0.99 per one-pound bag of whole carrots
Frozen
Frozen Dinners — We basically do not buy these except for the on rare occasions they are free or almost-free.
Frozen Pizza — Again, we have only purchased this a few times when it was free. We much prefer homemade pizza!
Frozen Vegetables — $1 per bag or less
Ice Cream — We usually only buy Breyer’s ice cream — yes, we’re ice cream “snobs” 😉 — and try to get it for less than $3 per tub.
Meat
Beef, Ground — We buy 93% lean beef and I usually try to buy it when it is on sale for $3.69 per pound or less.
Chicken, Boneless Skinless Breast — $5.99 per 3-lb. bag
Chicken, Whole — We don’t buy whole chickens, ever. Yes, I know that breaks one of the major laws of frugality, but none of us like dark meat, so it’s more cost-effective and less wasteful to just buy chicken breasts. 🙂
Roast — $3 per pound or less
Steak — $2 per pound or less
We rarely ever eat pork, so I’m not even sure what a good price on it would be.
Dry/Canned Goods
Bread — $1.49 per loaf or less (for the nicer, higher-quality brands)
Brownie Mix — $0.39 to free
Cake Mix — free
Canned Tuna — You can often get the pouches for almost-free, so that’s usually what I buy when buying tuna.
Cereal — $1 per box or less
Chocolate Chips — $1.69 per package (Aldi regular price) or less.
Cookies — We rarely ever purchase packaged cookies, but I would buy them if they were free.
Crackers — $1 per box or less.
Flour — $0.69 per pound for organic wheat kernels (we grind most of our own flour) or around $0.50 per pound for unbleached flour.
Hamburger/Hot Dog Buns — $1 per package (I get Nature’s Own Hamburger/Hot Dog buns at Dollar Tree for $1 or Rudi’s Organic Buns for $0.99 when they are reduced at the health food store.)
Honey — Aldi has the best price the I’ve found in our area (around $3 for 16 oz. last time I checked) unless you have a Sam’s Club membership or buy from the Bulk Foods Store. I love the raw honey from Tropical Traditions and do splurge on it when I can get it Buy One, Get One Free plus free shipping.
Jelly/Jam — $1 per jar or less.
Ketchup — $0.50 per bottle or less
Mayonnaise — $1 per jar
Mustard — free
Oats — $1.69 per canister (Aldi price) or less
Pasta — $0.50 per box or less
Peanut Butter — $1 per jar or less
Soup, Canned — I pretty much only buy this if I can get it for $0.15 or less per can.
Spaghetti Sauce — $1 per jar or less
Sugar — $1.34 per pound for turbinado (raw sugar). We’ve not purchase white sugar for a long time, but Aldi usually has the cheapest price on it.
Syrup — We make our own or buy organic maple syrup when it’s on a great sale from Amazon.
Tomato Paste — $0.15 or less per can
Tomato Sauce — $0.15 or less per can
Tortillas — $0.99 per package
Vanilla — The best price I’ve found is at Sam’s Club. Last I checked, they sell one pint for $6.88.
Cleaning Supplies/Paper Products
Aluminum Foil — $0.50 or less for a 20-foot box (Walgreens sells it at this price fairly often).
Dishwasher Detergent — $0.50 or less per box of tabs
Dishwashing Soap — free
Laundry Detergent — $0.99 per 32-load bottle
Toilet Paper — $0.25 per roll or less
Kitchen Trash Bags — $2.98 for 32 bags (Aldi price)
Zipper Bags — $1 per box or less