Designated cooking day

Once a week I like to set aside most of the day to prepare several meals so that I have choices each time hunger strikes.

Bell peppers and onions

I believe that most meals taste better with the addition of bell peppers and onions so each week I purchase a very large green bell pepper, a very large red bell pepper and a couple of onions.  I chop up the entire batch and sautee them in butter until they are just right.  I then fill a couple of sandwich baggies with the finished product and freeze them.  Additionally I fill a couple of plastic containers and keep those in the fridge for daily use.

I can't tell the difference between these and fresh chopped.  I use these in breakfast burritos, spaghetti, rice pilaf, bean and beef burrito filling, mashed and scalloped potatoes and anywhere else that seems right.  This method saves gas and avoids the usual discarding of half used vegetables.  It is also much quicker when preparing meals which means I am apt to use them more often.

Molida

Molida is ground beef and it is one of my favorite entrees no matter how it is prepared.  When I buy it, I buy a kilo (2.2 lbs).  When I get it home, I separate it into 8 packages, some patties and some bulk, for later use.  By freezing the patties they are always ready to use and there is no waste.  A kilo in San Blas costs 65 pesos and you get to watch them grind it!

Betty Crocker potato side dishes

Betty Crocker must sell 20 or so potato side dishes with a majority being Au Gratin, Scalloped, et cetera and the minority a variety of mashed potatoes.  These come in a box with a packet of sauce and a packet of potatoes.  When I was at my brother's in Bakersfield I stocked up.  Usually these sell for $1.79 to $2.29 per box.  I noticed a sale at Albersomn's market and stocked up.  All varieties were on sale for $1.29 quite a deal!  Added to that, if you bought 10 items (assorted) you got an additional 50 cent discount per package.  I shopped on a Tuesday for a very good reason: Anyone 60 and over gets an additional 5% discount on Tuesdays!  To make the deal even sweeter, several of the boxes had a "use it now" coupon offering 50 cents off on the purchase of two packages.

I purchased a total of about 150 packages that day and figure that my average cost per package was around  $0.70 and each package provides two meals!  These are ideal for Dod as they almost never expire, they are lightweight, and they are square so they store well in cramped spaces.  Of the 150 packages purchased in November, I am now down to the last 50 or so.