Day 1: Meal #2, Goulash

Our first meal tonight was the goulash.  It had such a pretty color when I came home from work - it was red because of the beets.  Once we ate it though, a couple hours later, it had changed color a bit.  It then looked a bit more like this:

It is supposed to be served with a garnish of sour cream - which is a very nice addition to the flavor.  Overall, it was a little bland for my husband's taste, but I thought that the flavor was a little sweet, a little savory, and very different.  It was so different - and unlike any goulash I've ever had.  I really enjoyed it.  The 6 year old loved it.  My husband wants to try and fix it up a bit - see if he can't enjoy it more.  We'll keep you posted if we find something we like better.

The Recipes and the List

Without further ado, the recipes and grocery list: Click HERE.

Hope you enjoy them!  We made our first one tonight - so excited! :)

The deets

A few rules that I followed:
1.)  I used a butcher for the meat.  He cut all of the meat like I wanted it, and this way I could be assured that it was fresh.  This costs bit more, but (in my mind) adds to the healthfulness of the meal, and ensures that none of the meat was frozen ahead of time.

2.)  I did not use coupons.  You absolutely could, but then how would you know how much it would typically cost?  I will probably use coupons in the future.

3.)  I did use some food that I had on-hand.  So, if you don't have oranges in your house, for example, that might cost you more.

4.)  I went to three stores: the butcher, Costco, and Meijer.  I bought everything I could in bulk.  There were some things (like green pepper) that I had to purchase at Meijer because they didn't have them at Costco (you should have seen the looks I got purchasing 10 green peppers at Meijer!!!).

Here was what I spent:
Butcher: $248.99
Costco: $42.68
Meijer: $136.61

TOTAL:  $428.28

I know this seems like a lot, but remember - this is 30 different meals - more if you count leftovers, etc.  If we assume that we eat a different meal each night, then this is $14.28 per meal.  If we assume there are 4 people eating each meal, then this is $3.57 per person - not bad!  Think about how much cheaper this is than going out to eat all the time!  I'm so excited!  And my freezer is packed!  Here's a picture - this is actually minus 7 meals which had to go into a different freezer!

Because this post is taking too long, I'll post recipes and the grocery list in the next post.

So there you go.  We actually made the first meal tonight, and I can't wait to share more about it with you!