Sunday Dinner From Prairieland Food

It dawned on me while preparing our Sunday dinner that almost all ingredients in this meal are from our Prairieland Food Prairie Paks or specials. What better time to snap a few pictures and show you the incredible value you may glean by turning in your volunteer hours (to any entity) for about half off grocery store prices utilizing monthly discounted food packages from Prairieland Food.

This was not intentional but since most all our meats come from Prairieland Food and many of our fresh fruits and vegetables too, it seemed like a no brainer to make this meal a good example of the great food and magnificent price breaks we receive.

First off, we purchase a minimum of two (2) prairie paks each month and usually a special or two (sometimes more). Our freezer is almost always full with good meats and veggies from Prairieland Food so actually, for people who have to budget for everything, we eat really well.

Today’s menu consisted of:  6 stuffed pork chops – baked potato casserole – broccoli, cauliflower, carrots – sliced kiwis and garlic potato bread. OH! We had company coming.  Enough food for six hearty appetites.

Total Cost is at the end of this article. Guess (go ahead!) how much this meal would cost if you prepared it from scratch by purchasing all the ingredients at the grocery store.  Guess now, but don’t peak down there!  You need to understand what a great meal this was before you find out the final, actual cost.

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The Potatoes – (we love ’em) – Eileen’s Baked Potato Casserole with Cheddar Cheese.

My baked potato casserole consisted of 8 baked potatoes (not baked) (from January 2012 Prairie Pak), peeled, quartered and cut into 1/2 cubes. Steamed ’till cooked well – 1/2 stick of real butter and about 1 cup of sour cream.  Tossed up together with a little basil salt, pepper and chopped chives, as shown below:

OOps! I decided I wanted to go a little further and add some of the cheddar cheese (December 2011 Prairieland Food Special) so I shredded a pile to mix in the casserole:

Topped it all off with more shredded cheddar cheese. Then it was time to heat it all up in the oven and melt the cheese on top a little. about 15 minutes at 300 degrees.  Because the cheese is real, hard sharp cheddar, it does not melt like soft cheeses do and I did not want to scorch my casserole on the bottom!  It was lovely and my grand-sugar liked this the best, well, except for the kiwis! She loves those.

SO, for this dish the two main ingredients, potatoes and cheddar cheese came from Prairieland Food at a cost of  $7.41. This price includes $2.00 for ingredients not provided by Prairieland Food.

Mixed Vegetables – Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots – ALL fresh from Prairieland Food.

In December we received 2 bags of baby carrots with our 2 Prairie Paks ordered. We used one but kept the other in the refrigerator crisper. The Broccoli and Cauliflower came in our Prairie Paks for January. We just chopped it all up; steamed in a large steamer pot, and added a little chopped chives along with a bit of butter. My DIL remarked she could sure tell the difference of my fresh veggies as compared to the frozen kind she usually buys.

The cost of the vegetables total comes in at — (drum roll please!)  $6.24 (this includes the butter and chives too).  We still have some fresh left for another meal on some other day.

The Fruit – Kiwis! Always yummy.

We peeled and sliced all 10 kiwi’s we received by way of the two January Prairie Paks. A lovely side dish of fruit for everyone:

Yikes! Blurry picture, but the only one I took, so blurry it has to be.  Our kiwi’s came in at a cost for 10 at $4.16 through Prairieland Food. Perfectly ripe and delicious.  Try getting 10 kiwis at the grocery store for that price!

The MEAT! Six (6) Stuffed Pork Chops.

I cooked these on top of the stove with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Glass lid on with about 1/4 heat on electric stove top. Cooked about 30 minutes, turned, cooked another 30 minutes (covered).  This cooks them through, but I wanted a grilled look so I drained the pan of all juices, added a bit of olive oil again, turned the heat up to medium to brown both sides.

The pan I used is a chicken fryer so is bigger than a normal frying pan – It’s 11 inches wide with straight sides and is 3″ deep. These pork chops completely filled the space when I put them in the pan, but of course, shrank a tad with cooking.  Still, one is all anyone could eat.  This is the priciest part of our meal.  The stuffing was generous and delicious.

And this was a price we don’t usually pay for meat with Prairieland Food.  It was a January 2012 Special coming in at $21.00 for the six. I choose these this month as we thought:  #1, we could actually afford it for a change, and #2 it has been awhile since we bought something of this quality.

So that’s our Sunday Dinner from Prairieland Food and it come in at a mere $38.81.  UNDER $40.00 for a meal, for six people. When was the last time you were able to do this?

I thank my lucky stars each day when I am preparing our meals here at home that we have a program like Prairieland Food in Kansas.  I truly don’t know what we’d do without the discounted food packages.

SO, how was your Sunday Dinner?

🙂