McDonald's Dollar menu!
Seriously though, I always buy the staple foods. Whatever meat is on sale, potatoes, rice, carrots, onions, cream of mushroom soup, tomato soup, hamburger, spaghetti sauce, tortilla wraps, etc.
It's fun and challenging to see what you can make from only buying the things that are on sale.
For example, my last trip to the grocery store, I used coupons, and only bought the sale items. I saved a whopping 45% on the haul. That night, I made AWESOME chicken quesadilla. I shredded the chicken myself, and I have a collection of basic spices (fajita seasoning is one of them). Pico de gallo, cheese, and sour cream. Here's the quick recipe:
Tortillas
1 package (about a pound) boneless skinless Chicken breast
Pico de Gallo
shredded cheese (I prefer mild cheddar)
optional:
Sour Cream
salsa
additional toppings
To make the shredded chicken:
Start with boneless skinless chicken breast. Put on a cutting board, and cover with saran wrap. Using a meat pounder, pound the chicken to about 1/4" thick. This will make it easier to shred.
Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a skillet on low/med heat. Season the chicken generously with fajita seasoning (you can buy it in a plastic jar like any other spice), and add to the skillet. Cook covered over med. heat, turning often to prevent browning.
When chicken is no longer pink in the center, remove from skillet, and pull apart with 2 forks (one in each hand). I prefer to pull with the grain, as it shreds better.
once this step is done, the rest is super easy.
Put a tablespoon of olive oil (i suppose vegetable oil would work fine too) in a pan, and heat. This oil will help the tortilla shell brown instead of burn.
Add tortilla to pan.
Sprinkle the entire tortilla with cheese.
add chicken and pico de gallo to HALF of the tortilla.
When tortilla is browned, fold in half, and remove from heat.
Cut, and serve with the sour cream, salsa, or whatever else you prefer.
The nice thing about this, is the chicken will keep for up to 5 days in the frig, although I normally burn through it faster. It becomes a fast easy meal that, once the chicken step is taken care of, only takes about 5 minutes to make. Just don't assemble/cook and then refrigerate. The tortillas get soggy. Just put the leftover shredded chicken in a tupperware container and refrigerate.