Frugal Week 1

So for my first post for Frugal Friday, I'd like to tell you about dinner last night.
We were invited over Jason's brothers house to order Chinese. I was thinking on the way home that I already have all the ingredients for my old standby Chicken and Broccoli so there was no need for us to buy from the Chinese place and to make this the second time we ordered out this week! Since my SIL and I get along well I knew she wouldn't be thrown off by me bringing some food from home to save some cash! I got home and chopped up some Chicken into the tiny strips you get and the broccoli and threw them in the steamer and got to the sauce. The sauce I used was just a veggie/soy base that was in the freezer already from a previous recipe. I threw some sesame oil in a pot and simmered some garlic for a few minutes then put the base I already had in with some shredded ginger. I let this simmer for about 10 minutes then strained out any veggies, garlic and ginger out. After I had just a brown gravy I added a few teaspoons of cornstarch till it got to the right consistancy. It was sooo good and I was super proud of myself for making one of my take out standby's. Since we already had the ingredients we saved about 15 dollars on the cost of take out for the night!

If you don't know where to start in making some of your favorite take out foods you can google some easy recipes, I found one on Rachel Ray's website for Orange-Cashew Chicken with Broccoli . I know I would order that if it was on the menu!

This weeks participators
Mama K tells us how she scores with her Produce budget
Trace has been boosting her bank account by making food plans and pizza.

and one of my fav reads Down To Earth posted some great tips on Frugal living today

Click the link above to find out about Frugal Friday and join in on the fun! :)