It doesn't get any cheaper than this!

Before I get to my thrifty Thursday meal, I have to take a moment and say thanks to my good friend Laura. We both "froze" our gym memberships over the summer and returned today. We like to go together so we can push each other to do better. Today she really had to push me, and I'm so glad she was there. First we thought we would try the 75min yoga class. We had never done that. After 20 minutes of the warm up we were both toasted! Hats off to all you die hard yoga people (my hubby included) THAT is hard stuff! I don't seem to have any upper body strength and that made some of the poses hard on me.

We decided to slip out of the yoga class and go work in the fitness center (weight room). Since we both have good strong legs from all the running we do, we thought we would work on arms, chest and back. That way if we ever try yoga again, we might survive the whole time. Anyway, we did 20 assisted pull ups and 20 dips, then ab work. All this means is we used a fancy machine that will actually compensate or "lift" some of your weight so you can actually do a chin up/pull up. Wow! Even with the machine lifting half my weight I was really struggling. If Laura had not been there I would have stopped after one set of 5. But because she was there and encouraging me (plus the competition fact that she is way stronger than me and I have to catch up) I managed to finish all four sets of 5, barely... So, thank you Laura!!

Ok, today's meal is virtually free of cost. Huh? Yeah, I used all the left overs in my fridge so it wasn't any extra from what I used the night before. And the meal I made the night before only cost (bag of beans--$1.25, water, 1/4 cup butter maybe $0.20, egg, milk and corn meal that I already had) so let's say $3.00 total. So if I half that to cover 2 days we get $1.50 for each meal. Not bad. Maybe that is why we ate so many beans growing up.

1. I then added some chopped onion, 1 clove garlic and half a chopped zucchini which I fried in a little olive oil. (I had all this left over from earlier dishes. I had bought more than I needed.)

2. Then I added the drained pinto beans left over from the night before and a can of chili ready diced tomatoes (so add another$0.80--walmart brand, just as good and really cheap). Sprinkle some chili powder and cumin to taste and whatever spices you like. I topped it with cheese and a little sour cream. The cornbread was also left over from the night before.


The funny thing about this meal? When it was just beans, no one would touch it. Add some spices, onions, zucchini and tomatoes, call it chili and everybody but the most picky ate it.