Okay guys, I thought I’d do something a little more all-American, comfort food style for this week’s meal prep. This Garden Vegetable Turkey Loaf Meal prep contains my veggie-packed Mini Garden Vegetable Turkey Loaves,...
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Hey guys! It’s Sunday and you know what that means—I’m sharing my meal prep combo for the week! That’s 2-3 Budget Bytes recipes that I’ve combined to create four pre-pack meals to eat over...
Hi! Guys, I’m seriously so excited to be back in the kitchen. It feels sooooo good. I’m still trying to find the “good light” in my new house for food photos, but we’ll figure...
Welcome back! Okay, I thought last week’s meal prep was the last I was going to cook in my kitchen before moving, but I was wrong. Mid-week I decided to use up the last...
OMG you guys, I think I may have just cooked for the last time in my kitchen. 😢 If you haven’t heard, we’re about to move from New Orleans to Nashville and later this week...
This week has been super crazy, but I’m proud of myself for still getting my weekly meal prep in order. Even though I’m only prepping four days worth of one dish, it’s still been...
In case you missed it last week, I’m starting a new “Sunday Meal Prep” series where I pair old recipes together and show how to prep them ahead for a few days worth of...
Life is pretty chaotic right now and my eating habits have totally gone down the tubes, so it’s time to start meal prepping. In addition to my new Sunday Meal Prep series, this week...
“Meal prepping,” as it has now come to be known in fitness circles, has always been a huge part of my budget eating strategy. Cooking your meals ahead of time and having them pre-packed...
Spinach is one of my favorite ingredients because not only is it nutritious, but it is extremely versatile. In fact, I keep frozen spinach on hand at all times. That being said, I do like...
Okay, I know this Mango Coconut Chia Pudding is a little out of the ordinary for me, since I don’t usually hop on to health food trends, but let me explain. I have this...
After seven years of food blogging, I find myself experimenting with new and unusual flavor combinations. Sometimes they’re bad and sometimes they’re unexpectedly delicious. The most important thing, as I’ve found, is to keep an...
Hey guys! I want to take a few minutes this Friday afternoon to share with you an organization that I’ve become more involved with lately. That organization is Feeding America. I first found out about...
Y’all know how I am about leftovers. I try to use them whenever and wherever I can because food waste is one the the biggest areas where you can recapture some of your food budget. While...
I love to talk about how the principles for eating on a budget and eating healthy are so closely aligned. Fill up on whole grains, trade in some of your meat for beans, legumes,...
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday! I decided to take advantage of this “holiday hangover” day to compile my very favorite recipes of 2016. I’ve been making these year-end recipe round ups since...
Happy Friday! In my on going quest to help ease new cooks into the kitchen, I’ve created a new category at Budget Bytes called Extra Bytes. This is a place where I will share kitchen...
I had so much fun curating gift guides the last two years, that I’ve been waiting all year to do it again! As with previous years, the 2016 gift guide is full of fun,...
I’ve been a little cabbage obsessed since discovering Beef & Cabbage Stir Fry and I always seem to have either a half or whole head of leftover cabbage in my fridge waiting to be used. Cabbage is...
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m just coming back from vacation and am totally craving “healthy” homemade food. So, I prepared these Chili Garlic Tofu Bowls to eat for lunch the rest of the week. They’re...
Egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches are one of my favorite meals in the whole world. Luckily, they also freeze quite well, so I can meal prep my favorite breakfast for busy days. With these...
So what’s the deal with Overnight Oats? They seem to be everywhere these days, right? Well, it’s for good reason—they’re AWESOME. Why are they awesome? They’re fast and easy to make, they’re healthy, and...
It’s a pretty busy week around the Budget Bytes household, so I’m just going to take a quick minute today to round up some really fast and easy ONE POT or ONE SKILLET meals for...
Y’all know I love my bowl meals! Everything you need in one easy to eat (and transport) bowl, no need to worry about what side dishes go with what. Plus, they’re easy for you...
Whats up, friends! Friday again. Already. How?? Today’s recap will be brief because I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking this week. Why? I cut my hand open really badly on Tuesday morning, leaving me...
It’s that time again. Oh how the week flies! It was a super busy week this week, and I mean SUPER busy. The kind of busy where you don’t even stop to think, “What...
Happy Friday! This is my first week back on weekly budget after having my freebie-fun week. I decided to do a series on farro this week that kind of messed with my weekly menu plan,...
Hello friends! It’s time for another weekly recap. I had a pretty low-key week as far as grocery shopping and cooking is concerned. I knew I wanted to take time to post about freezing leftovers...
I use my freezer a lot. I love to stock it with leftovers from cooked meals so that I have a constantly rotating stock of single serving dishes to choose from on nights when I just...
Happy Friday, Y’all! I hope you have great plans for the weekend. I’ll be cooking up some good stuff, but before that it’s time to check in with my weekly recap for last week...
You know how some people have an addiction to purchasing things when they’re on sale, whether they need them or not? Like, they see a wedding dress on sale for 70% off and can’t say...
Happy Friday! It’s finally time to recap all the things I bought, cooked, and ate last week (my week runs from Thursday through Wednesday, BTW). The week went pretty smoothly and we were very well...
Hellooooo and happy Friday! I skipped the weekly recap for the week between Christmas and the New Year because it was just crazy crackers. There was so much going on between parties, holidays, and...
As the year draws to a close, I naturally start to reflect. 2015 has, without a doubt, been the most fantastic year of my life. And before I launch into the top 20 recipes...
Merry Christmas! I thought I’d slip this short weekly recap in before I take a day or so off to bake cookies, listen to Christmas music, and lounge around in my PJs. :)
What a crazy week, ammiright? Holiday insanity is in full swing and I was still getting over the tail end of a nasty cold last week. Both of those factors combined created a grocery...
Bet you thought I forgot to do my weekly recap, didn’t you? Nahhh, I’ve just been busy battling the most horrific cold of the century. But now I’m on the upswing, I can think...
It’s that time of year again! I’m so excited to be doing another gift guide this year because it’s the one time each year that I get to share all of my favorite things...
Alright, so I’m a little late on this one, but we had a holiday to contend with. The week before Thanksgiving I experimented with my grocery shopping a bit, and even though I’m late,...
It was SO hard to wait all week to share this with you. Why? Because in addition to my regular weekly budget, this week I had guests over for dinner for the first time!...
I’m really having fun sharing these weekly recaps with you! There are so many subtle decisions that are made throughout the week that really impact how I navigate my food intake and grocery budget....
Hey, it’s that time again! And boy was this a fun week. I was pretty much like a kid in a candy store while doing my grocery shopping for this week. Why? Because for...
Have I mentioned yet just how much I love shopping only one time per week? It really is a game changer. I love knowing exactly what I’m going to buy (even though there’s a...
The title of this post should be, “Weekly Recap and the Case of the Missing Bananas” Because I can’t find my bananas.
Alright, exciting news first… In case you missed it on social media, I started a Youtube channel! After learning that I didn’t need a bunch of fancy video and sound equipment to make decent...
What-what? The September Challenge is over already? It’s so funny how quickly I went from completely dreading beginning the challenge to, “Hey! I’m going to keep doing this!” But I guess that’s why it’s important to...
Okay, this whole September Challenge is going super quickly! I can’t believe I’m in my last week already. Week three went very smoothly, and I’m even contemplating continuing the challenge indefinitely. Week three’s menu felt...
Wow, week two is finished already! I have to admit, I’m really enjoying the challenge this year. Because the rules for my September Challenge are a little more lax than the SNAP challenge, I’m...
One of my favorite dinners from my childhood was a big bowl of rice, black beans, salsa, and cheese, or what I call “Poor Man’s Burrito Bowls.” Looking back I don’t know if that...
I can’t believe a whole week of this year’s challenge is already finished! I kind of dreaded doing the challenge, but I’ve already learned a lot from just one week’s worth of mistakes and...
How did September get here so quickly?? For the past month I’ve been trying to decide if I was going to attempt last year’s SNAP Challenge again this year. It was a tough decision...
Today I had this insane craving for cold and crunchy vegetables all wrapped up inside a fluffy pita (it’s weird how specific my cravings are sometimes). So I threw together this super simple Roasted...
If you’re not on the “overnight oats” train, it might be time to hop on. Overnight oats are an amazing way to eat oats cold, which is perfect for the summer. And the tropical...
One of my favorite places to save a dollar on food is the bulk bin section of my grocery store. Not all stores offer bulk goods, but it’s a a great feature when they do....
Incase you need another reminder (who doesn’t?), Mother’s Day is swiftly approaching. May 10th will be here before you know it, so don’t be left rushing to the drug store on the day of...
I know, I’m about a month late on this post, but so many good things happened in 2014 that I wanted to make this roundup, even if a bit late! 2014 was a...
This is kind of like Oprah’s “Favorite Things”, but the Budget Bytes edition. These are all things that I have and love or things that I wish I had and am sure I would love....
I want to do a final wrap up of my experience with the SNAP Challenge to record my overall thoughts and impressions. I learned so much, not only from doing the challenge myself, but from...
Last week was one of the most chaotic/stressful/exciting/exhausting weeks of my life and it was also the final week of my SNAP challenge. Going into the week I really wasn’t sure I’d be able...
For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here. **UPDATE: Well, I overlooked the fact that you can’t buy rotisserie...
It’s funny how three days into this challenge I couldn’t wait for it to be over, but now that I’ve completed three weeks I feel totally in the groove and like I could possibly...
Remember that head of purple cabbage from week one of the SNAP Challenge? Well, to my surprise, it still hadn’t gone rotten. Sure, it was a little discolored on the open/cut surface, but I...
This Penne Pasta with Sausage and Greens one of my favorite “sweep the kitchen” recipes. It’s a no brainer pasta and sauce dish with a little Italian sausage and whatever frozen greens I happen...
For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here. Oh what a difference a week can make! I can...
After going through a week of hunger in week one of the SNAP Challenge, I knew I had to rethink my strategy. Luckily, the hunger allowed me to pinpoint certain ingredients that really keep me...
Wow, one week of the SNAP Challenge is over and I can’t believe how many thoughts I’ve had so far. I could write a ten page paper on my feelings, experiences, and observations already…...
This is one of my favorite quick, savory breakfasts and I’ve made about a hundred versions of it. It’s going to seem gross or weird to a lot of you, but I LOVE it....
For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here. Whew. I meant to post this days ago, but this week...
If there’s one thing I knew right away starting the SNAP Challenge, it was that I was going to have to bulk out my meals considerably with inexpensive beans and grains to stay under...
I can’t believe it’s September already! I’ve been planning to take the SNAP Challenge for months now, and today, September 1st, is day one. What is the SNAP Challenge? The SNAP Challenge is a...
I eat a LOT of oats. They’re cheap, filling, nutritious, and can be prepared a variety of ways. What’s not to love? Sure, a lot of people have not-so-fond memories of gluey, tasteless oats...
It’s almost turkey day! I won’t be cooking a huge spread myself, but I wanted to compile a list of my favorite Thanksgiving options from years past. Hopefully this list will help you get...
Have plans for a big Easter brunch this Sunday? I’ve gotcha covered! Here are some of my favorite brunch items to help you feed a bunch of hungry mouths (and help lure them away...
So many wonderful things have happened this past year and looking back makes me feel overwhelmingly grateful. I want to thank each and every one of you for enriching my life and giving me...
I freaking LOVE October. Pumpkins, costumes, cider, the smell of fallen leaves, MY BIRTHDAY, and lots and lots of candy… what’s not to love? In celebration of October and all things pumpkin, I’ve put...
So, I was sitting on my porch yesterday when my neighbor wandered up looking rather forlorn and wistful. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I’m hungry and too tired to go pick up food or make...
I’ve got another quickie for you tonight. It’s more of an idea than a recipe. I’m sure a lot of you Budget Byters already stock your freezers with these handy smoothie packs, but I...
Wow, so 2011 went by fast, right? As I was scrolling through the recipes from this year I couldn’t believe that I made some of these in 2011, they feel like ages ago! People...
Over the past few months I’ve been compiling a list of principles to shop and cook by. I have identified 6 practices that have really helped me take a big “byte” out of my...
Not everyone will have the same prices or recipe cost as me—that would be impossible. Grocery prices vary quite a bit from region to region, store to store, and even day to day. The point...
There’s still a whole week until payday and you just blew the rest of your food budget on last night’s take-out, which has only left you feeling bloated and groggy in return (thanks, lo...
