Taco Bell Value Menu

My previous experience with Burger King was less than good, so we've stricken that one off our list. But sometimes a person just wants some fast food. Taco Bell has always been a favorite of mine but it can get costly as most fast food does.

Recently, TB has released their new value menu which uses three different tiers of pricing: $.79, $.89, and $.99 items. Ever a fan, this past week gave me an opportunity to try them out with the BF on an errand busy lunch.

The verdict: this is a pretty good deal! While not as cheap as eating at home, you can get something to tide you over for less than $5.00 and if you like the taste of Taco Bell, the cheaper items are no less in quality. For lunch, I had a double beefy cheese and rice melt, a soft taco, and mango strawberry Frutista Freeze for $3.95. Not bad considering the drink was the most expensive thing I bought.

This shouldn't mean it's okay to go to TB everyday of the week. Four bucks a pop still comes to $28.00 if you ate it everyday, and that's only for one person, for one small meal. Plus it's fast food, so it's not really healthy. But for a treat or a grab on the go lunch, you could do much worse.

Cheese and Spinach Burgers

We found a recipe for a different sort of burger that we tried out today. I'm not entirely sold on them but the BF really liked them. They have a weird tang to them that I'm not accustomed to. However, they lend themselves to several different variations and were fairly cheap to make:

1 pack dry French Onion Soup Mix (GV brand - $.68, which is for the whole box, so one envelope is actually $.34).
2 lbs hamburger (price varies. We were able to get ground round on sale for $1.99 a lb so about $4.00)
10 oz box of frozen spinach ($.96)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (GV brand - $1.98).
Buns (we bought reduced bakery buns at WalMart for 1.34)

1. Squeeze the moisture out of the spinach and let dry
2. Mix soup mix, cheese, dried spinach, and hamburger together.
3. Form patties and grill or broil (we used a George Foreman grill).
4. Serve on a bun with your choice of toppings.

Notes: This recipe should yield 8 burgers, therefore we cut the recipe in half, which still yields two meals for each of us. Taking that into account, the cost per person per meal is approximately less than $2.50 person, and that's taking into account we ate it with Pringles (on sale for $.88 at Dillons this week).

There are several areas where costs can be cut even more. You can get standard hamburger buns for around a dollar in some places and you can find shredded cheese for cheaper than we did. Cheaper cuts of hamburger can be found, though they may have more fat and will shrink the size of the patties.

Some of the variations of this include substituting the french onion soup mix for a ranch dressing powder, using mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar, and using more or less spinach depending on your palate. Next time we try these, I will probably forego the spinace while the BF will probably want more of it.

Easy and cheap recipe. Try it.

Lazy Day Options

Being limited in what you can and can't do because you don't have the money is really tough. What I need to remember is that when I do get money, I do not need to spend it all at once, but by saving and budgeting it, I have a better chance of not finding myself in this position again.

Said position is me stuck at home, not wanting to go anywhere because of the need to save on gas. Grocery shopping needs to be done, but I only want to make one trip, so I'm waiting until the BF gets out of class so I only have to drive once and then park for the night.

Not going anywhere meant having to find something to eat and keeping myself busy all day. Lunch was macaroni and cheese. If anyone had an Aldi near them, I recommend giving it a try. They have mac and cheese for about 33 cents and it's actually comparable in taste to the name brands. That's my opinion, and I'm sure not everyone would share it. Aldi is along the same lines of a Sav-A-Lot. It's a bring your own bag and bag your own stuff place that offers fairly low prices basic grocery goods. The funny thing about Aldi is that you sort of "rent" the cart by putting a quarter in a slot to release it and then getting your quarter back when you return it to the cart corral. This is their way to save on labor. They don't have to hire anyone to go chase after stray carts.

Note: Mac and Cheese is very starchy and carby, and should be served as a side with some sort of protein. As I have no protein in the house and am making do with what I got, it didn't make a bad meal for a lunch.

So what does one do when she's homebound? See list below:

1. Cleaned house
2. Looked for cheap living tips online
3. Engaged in Facebook poking wars with friends
4. Uploaded photos from digital camera onto the computer
5. Played Guitar Hero II

None of these things are an immediate cost to me, though internet does cost most people and if you don't have a digital camera or Guitar Hero, it's not overly frugal to go out and just buy it.

Other things to do when boredom sets in:

1. Read
2. Write a story or a poem
3. Journal
4. Organize something (you may find things to sell for extra money)
5. Watch TV or a DVD/VHS
6. Call a friend (which I can't actually do since it costs me cell minutes)
7. Take a walk

In truth, I'm not going to pretend that anything is that exciting when you'd rather be out driving around and/or spending money. But be aware that there are always options, even when you're feeling extremely poor.