Meant to run this a few days ago, but hey, better late…

I always advise shopping the stockpile but it’s a hard habit to get into.  We’re programmed to pick up something on sale at the grocery store and maybe use a couple of boxes of GG frozen vegetables for a side (which we delude ourselves into thinking is stockpile using – it’s not).  So every once in a while I’m going to make dinner completely from the stockpile.  Admittedly I have two upright freezers, two refrigerators and a full basement, so it’s a trifle easier than pulling cans out from under a bed.

This is black bean chili.  It consists of four pub burgers browned in Wesson oil, three cans of black beans, 3 cans of Hunt’s fire-roasted tomatoes, 3 cans of Libby’s kernel corn plus plus salt, chipotle powder and several onions from last year’s farmer’s market – the Kraft cheese crumbles were offered as topping.  I made enough to fill a huge cast iron dutch oven, which made for a nice dinner, some lunches and late night snacks.

Bottom Line Cost:  Pub burgers were free; Wesson oil was from the last great cat deal at Jewel (50¢ bottle); Bush’s black beans were 25¢ on the clearance cart, but I used L’Oreal hair color/coupon overage to bring that down to zip; Libby’s corn was free from the DG deal 11/10; Hunt’s tomatoes were from the good old days at Jewel, so maybe 75¢; Kraft cheese was about 50¢ worth. By this point you’re almost compelled to include the cooking gas just to get up to a buck or two!