The Brady Bunch: Fake out Take out for under $15

One of our many New Years Resolutions was to save money!! One of the places we spend the most money is the grocery store. I cook sometimes 3 meals a day not to mention snacks and baking experiments. This causes our grocery bill every month to be outrageously high, I think a family of 4 could eat comfortably on what I spend at the grocery store. But, in saving money I am not willing to give up making great food, baking, cutting out processed food, lowering sugar and in general eating healthy! So there are a few tips that I have learned in researching food cost savings that I feel apply to us!

1: Find meat on sale or buy in bulk! I refuse to pay over $2 a pound for chicken. We like beef and beef is expense! I have learned to buy on sale and freeze!!

2: Have a stocked pantry. The recipe I am about to share only cost me $9 at the store yesterday because I had everything but one item in my pantry.

3: Go to multiple stores. I shop Kroger and Publix because let's get real Publix is outrageous on some items for example their rotissiere chicken is $7 and is half the size of the $5 one at Kroger. I don't go to two stores weekly but I do big shopping at Kroger weekly and small trips inbetween I go to Publix. Also our cereal is $3.29 at Kroger but $4.29 at Publix.

4: Buy fresh vegatables from a farmers market or local grower. We use Blooming Colors and the AG market at the university. Also try to make your menu around what is in season.

5: Make a menu! And try to use the same ingredient multiple times in one week. For example if you need 1 cup of chicken broth for a recipe try to use the rest of the container in another recipe that week to avoid waste. When I analyzed my fridge I noticed we have a lot of waste, leftovers, extra stuff and just sometimes I buy too much.

I am going to try these tips for a month and see what happens!!!! The recipe I am going to share with you today is an inexpensive homemade version of A Chinese takeout favorite: Beef and Broccoli! Jamie said it was the best meal I had made in a while and one of his new favorites!!

Yummy! Here are the ingredients:

I had all of these in my pantry and only had to buy the chuck roast! And this is a slow cooker recipe so you can start it before work! Also I used the Splenda brown sugar blend because Jamie is diabetic but you can use brown sugar if you would like. First you need to make the sauce in the crockpot.

1/2 cup soy sauce, 1 can of Beef Consommé, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons minced garlic. Whisk together and prepare your meat!!

Here is my $18 chuck roast, last minute recipe decision so I couldn't find one on sale! I cut it in half and froze the other half to use later, maybe next week since Jamie loved this!! The. I sliced it very think using a super sharp meat clever.

Then put it in the crock pot and toss I the sauce. Set it in low for four hours!! After the four hours you will need to make a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce!!