I came up with this Sausage Alfredo Casserole out of desperation on how to use up a bunch of marked down sausage that I had in my freezer. I know it doesn’t look to pretty in the picture, but it tasted really good! It’s really easy to make, and only requires a few ingredients, so it keeps the cost way down. And the leftovers (if you have any!) freeze really well. You can substitute your favorite vegetables, and if you don’t like Alfredo, you can put in your favorite tomato based sauce!

TOTAL COST for 6 servings: $4.14 (packaged sauce) $5.13 (assuming $1.99 jarred sauce)

Ingredients

1 Package of Sweet Italian Sausage, uncooked
1 Package (or jar) of Alfredo Sauce (additional ingredients required to prepare)
1 Package of frozen Spinach
2 Squash, washed and diced

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES

1. Bring water to boil, add sausage and when it starts to boil again, cook sausage for about 20 minutes or until fully cooked. (Temperature should be 165 degrees to be fully cooked). Cut sausage into slices and put aside.

2. Meanwhile, prepare your Alfredo Sauce according to package directions (if you aren’t using a premade jarred sauce).

3. In a skillet, add 2 tablespoons of margarine, and add squash and spinach. Saute for a few minutes, until vegetables are no longer frozen and starting to cook through. This takes about 10 minutes. Add prepared Alfredo Sauce to this mixture. *You can substitute tomato sauce if you prefer!

4. Add sliced sausage to mixture, and toss in some salt and pepper to taste. Then transfer to 13 x 9 inch pan (or a round casserole dish, leaving it uncovered). I use my 13 x 9 inch pan because I feel it cooks more evenly.

5. Pop in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until bubbly.

**THIS DISH FREEZES GREAT, SO IF YOU HAVE LEFTOVERS, PUT THEM IN A CONTAINER FOR ANOTHER MEAL**

So here we are in our last installment to ‘The Well Stocked Pantry’ series. The reason I decided to start my blog with this series is to help you be better prepared to make most of my recipes in the most economical way. In the ‘Refrigerated’ section, we’ll discuss the items I feel in my kitchen are essential to helping me come up with new and healthy recipes without spending extra money.The ‘Fresh’ section contains only a few items that keep well, to avoid having to make trips back and forth to the food store.

Refrigerator Must-Haves

Minced Garlic: I know many cooks would be very upset with me for suggesting to use this item over fresh garlic, but for those of us who need to stay on a budget, jarred minced (or whole) garlic can be a way to have it on hand so we don’t have to do without it. Some dollar stores carry minced garlic in smaller jars, so it is very economical.
Mustards: These come in many varieties, and I use them all! Spicy Brown, Dijon, Yellow, and Horseradish are the flavors I keep. I just grab them when they go on sale at the store, and they come in handy when I make up sauces for my meals.
Hard Cheese: While most people always have sliced cheese for sandwiches, not everyone keeps hard cheese in their kitchen, and I feel this is a big mistake. I can think of many times when I needed just a little something else to make a dish special, and having some hard cheese on hand to shred over the final product was just what that meal needed. And when you have kids, it can make the difference as to whether they will eat or not!
Juices: Instead of keeping fresh lemons and limes (which can be pretty pricey and tend to spoil quickly), I always have a bottle of lemon juice and lime juice available. These juices usually don’t have any added sugar, and make great citrus marinades to tenderize chicken, pork or beef. They are reasonably priced at your local supermarket, usually only costing around $1 to $2 a bottle, and lasting at least 2 months.
Salsa: If I can, I try to make my own salsa, mainly because jarred salsas can get pretty pricey to cook with. To make a meal with them, you usually have to use a whole jar, and that can add $2 or $3 to your meal, which in my meals, would practically double the price!! I like to keep it on hand though, as it is very helpful when you’ve run out of canned or fresh tomatoes. Just remember it isn’t an essential, but if you see it on sale (particularly in the large bottle), make sure you grab it to save on being left without a sauce!!
The Usual: These items are the typical things that most people have in the refrigerator-Milk, Butter, Eggs. I really don’t use these items very often (butter more than the others), but they are handy to have when creating dishes.

Fresh Items

Onions: I use these in practically every dish I make, so I always make sure I have at least 3 on hand at all times. I’ve found that it is cheaper to buy them in the 3lb (or if you can find it, the 5lb) netted bags, where you can get anywhere from 8 to 10 in a bag. Choose carefully, though, as they tend to spoil quickly!
Celery: Before we started our low carb lifestyle, I never kept celery, but now I use it quite often. It’s not too expensive, and if you keep it refrigerated, it stays good for about a month. I purchase it marked down as well, because even if it’s a little limped, you can still cook with it.
Tomatoes: During the summer months, I go through a TON of tomatoes. Whenever I find them marked down, I buy them all, because it saves me from using up my pantry kept canned tomatoes. This is another item that you can buy mushy (but not too mushy…you can only salvage them up to a certain point). A great money saver!
Seasonal Fruit and Vegetables: One of my biggest money savers is when I purchase any fruit that is marked down and bring it home to cook with. Peaches, pears, apples, oranges…you name it, whatever is in season you can usually find marked down. I just picked these marked down apples up yesterday at the store. With apples on sale for $1.69/lb, I found this 3lb bag for just $1.74!! I see homemade applesauce in our future recipes, paired along with a beautiful pork loin (that was marked down, of course!!)

This is true for vegetables too. Eggplant, Squash, Zucchini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Spinach…the list just goes on and on.

As you will see from my recipes, I use a variety of ingredients, and that is mostly due to the fact that I plan my meals around whatever I can find marked down and need to use it up fast! Make sure you keep that in mind when making your meals, because if you need to go out and purchase the ingredients without getting them on sale, you will wind up spending too much on your meals.

Now that we know what we need to have in our kitchen, we will be moving on to some great money saving grocery shopping ideas that I use all the time. After all, we don’t want to overspend stocking our kitchen, as that will lead to the price of our meals skyrocketing! If you would like to be informed (by email) when my next post is up, just hit the “Follow” button on the right. And if you have any questions, please feel free to comment. I would love to hear from you!