Traeger smoked pork chop dinner for four, under $8

[GON]

Traeger smoked pork chop dinner for four, under $8.

Pork chops smoked for 90 minutes, then barbeque sauce for last ten minutes.

Green beans microwaved for eight minutes, the sautéed in olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, salt, and pepper for 15 minutes.

Store packaged alfredo pasta.

Easy to prepare meal for four, under $8. Nothing to rave about, but just a good old American dinner. Steaks would of put this in the $30 plus range. The current difference in price per pound between steaks and pork chops is currently huge. Prefer steak over pork every day of the week, but price is becoming a factor when the spread is so wide.

Cheesecake for desert.

 

[Danno]

Looks great. I like some char marks on grilled chops, but that works.

 

[Rand]

That doesnt look like under 8$ but seems a good value.

BBQ sauce, pasta for 4, 4pcs cheesecake, 4 pork chops of decent size, green beans.

Even leaving out the spices and garlic as free.

Here 4 pieces of cheesecake would be $8

I made the air fryer pork chops the other day.. was quite pleased with them.. even the leftovers were decent.

 

[GON]

That doesnt look like under 8$ but seems a good value.

BBQ sauce, pasta for 4, 4pcs cheesecake, 4 pork chops of decent size, green beans.

Even leaving out the spices and garlic as free.

Here 4 pieces of cheesecake would be $8

I made the air fryer pork chops the other day.. was quite pleased with them.. even the leftovers were decent.

$4.50 for the pork chops Sam's club
$1.00 for the Alfredo at LIDL
$1.99 for the green beans.

Cheesecake is frozen leftovers from a while back... so I omitted that from the dollar amount.... should of posted that. I did not include the cost of condiments and things like butter (1tsp) and milk (1/2 cup) for the alfredo in the price of under $8 either. Things like that- that are already in the refrigerator, freezes, cabinet I do not include on my basic price posting. Nor did I post the cost of the Traeger wood pellets.

BTW- we don't keep milk in the house, so I actually use half and half as a milk substitute.

 

[Rand]

First off, let me say I enjoy your food posts and I'm not trying to be negative or harassing.

We dont have LIDL, and the pork chops would be a 10pack at sams and I dont freeze meat unless its for tacos or meat sauce.

So Local pricing at traditional large grocery on sale.
Green beans if I bought fresh bulk I could get for 1.99lb.($2) in a package would be 3.99 and too small for 4ppl.
BBQ sauce I detest the cheapest so the lowest I would go would be sweet baby rays.. $2-$3
Regular Pork Chops 4-5 would be around $4-$5 on sale. ( Random statement: I love super thin boneless ones crispy off the cast iron griddle)
The Pasta and sauce $3-$4 If I boiled it and added jar sauce such as classico

Even if I shopped at walmart grocery(ugh)
I'd say it would be hard to get under $12 not counting cheesecake.

 

[CKN]

My wife will buy a cookie from one of the local "cookie stores" for $3.00/ea but will scuff if peaches are over a certain price. Kind of like the beef vs. pork issue. What does a $3.00 each a cookie come out to a pound-given the cookies are a certain size? The answer is PLENTY......

But of course GON you lost some money on the Mercedes before your current one.

 

[GON]

First off, let me say I enjoy your food posts and I'm not trying to be negative or harassing.

We dont have LIDL, and the pork chops would be a 10pack at sams and I dont freeze meat unless its for tacos or meat sauce.

So Local pricing at traditional large grocery on sale.
Green beans if I bought fresh bulk I could get for 1.99lb.($2) in a package would be 3.99 and too small for 4ppl.
BBQ sauce I detest the cheapest so the lowest I would go would be sweet baby rays.. $2-$3
Regular Pork Chops 4-5 would be around $4-$5 on sale. ( Random statement: I love super thin boneless ones crispy off the cast iron griddle)
The Pasta and sauce $3-$4 If I boiled it and added jar sauce such as classico

Even if I shopped at walmart grocery(ugh)
I'd say it would be hard to get under $12 not counting cheesecake.

All is well, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to respond to your questions.

I was surprised that Sam's sold a "six pack" of boneless loin chops, I think $2.49 per pound. Came to $4.50. Use to shop COSTCO and don't think I could get a small package of pork chops like Sam's sold. I typically buy meat that is about to expire, and since just the Wife and I, very easy to take advantage of small package of meat being discounted. Tonight's meal will feed us for two nights. Last weekend I bought a roast and made pot roast that was 30 percent off a already discount grocer price.

The alfredo was a Knor mix, LIDL sells them for $1 per packet. Very easy to make, boil some water, milk, butter, add the mix, stir for seven minutes, let it cool down for two minutes. I did use your go to, Sweet Baby Rays. Just had it already in the fridge, this was SBR's honey BBQ sauce. I prefer the original.

When I go shopping for a meal (I cook weekend meals), I buy what is on sale/ clearance, and try to make something nice from it. I never buy what I may have a taste for.... that is what makes a meal so much more expensive. And I avoid "main street" grocery chains like Publix, etc... they are out of my price range... nice stores but easy to spend a lot of cash. My Wife only shops at Publix...... but she never eats out, where I go out to lunch.... so we both spend differently to achieve the same end state.

 

[gman2304]

I find your “frugal” grocery purchases and varying cooking endeavors interesting as well. But I couldn’t help but notice how close to the house your smoking grill seems to be. ICBW but it looks to be a little too close for comfort.