Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway

Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway from North Carolina Lifestyle Blogger Adventures of Frugal Mom
As I have said before starting this blog has made me step out and do things I never would have thought of doing. Interviewing an author on a television show, meeting and interviewing members of the Carolina Railhawks soccer team, prescreening of movies, trips, and product reviews to name a few. But nothing would prepare me for the day when I opened my email to find an invitation to take part in the Food Lion Frugal Cook off. I was a little hesitant at first but I decided that this would be an awesome opportunity to grow as a person and also a chance to give the blog more exposure. To say I was nervous would have been an understatement.

As the days approached for the cook off I mentally planned my wardrobe because I did not want a wardrobe malfunction like what happened with da Luz. With that settled I waited for the email to let me know who my teammate would be. I was given a name but at the last minute she backed out and I was assigned a new partner, Jen from Jael Custom Designs. All I have to say is that God was smiling down on us- because we hit it off immediately. Having only gotten each other’s names the day before the cook off we scrambled for ideas of things to cook.

Now here is where the Frugal Cook Off gets tricky. We had no idea what protein we would be getting we knew that it would be chicken, pork, fish or ground turkey. But we also did not know what would be in the Food Lion Pantry as well. So brain storming was all that we could do.

Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway from North Carolina Lifestyle Blogger Adventures of Frugal Mom

Then the day of the Cook Off came, with my youngest two daughters and hubby in tow, I arrived at the Driftwood Southern Kitchen to take part in the challenge. Jen and I would be 2 of 8 bloggers that were chosen to compete that night.

Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway from North Carolina Lifestyle Blogger Adventures of Frugal Mom

Once I checked in with Allison, the PR rep, the nerves started in. Allison was so friendly and greeted each blogger with enthusiasm as well as with our own apron personalized with our name as well as our blog’s name. How cool was that? Once everyone arrived it was on the main event.

Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway from North Carolina Lifestyle Blogger Adventures of Frugal Mom

We were given 10 minutes to plan our meal (a main dish and two sides), 10 minutes to shop (Oh and did I mention we couldn’t go over $15.00) and 45 minutes to prepare it. Our surprise protein was pork. So we made Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops. You may remember I shared that recipe a few weeks ago. For our sides Jenn took the lead and made yummy sautéed spinach and parmesan noodles. We were the first ones done preparing our meals. The folks from Food Lion said it was a Frugal Cook Off record. Because we were the first ones finished we were also the first ones to present our dish to the judges. Food Lion had assembled an awesome panel for our judges.

Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway from North Carolina Lifestyle Blogger Adventures of Frugal Mom

They were Mike Hall, Director of Operations for Food Lion, Ashley Delmar from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Delony Spraggins, Director of Operations for Food Lion and Alex Butler, the cohost of My Carolina Today from WNCN.

Food Lion Frugal Cook Off Fabulous Fun and a Giveaway from North Carolina Lifestyle Blogger Adventures of Frugal Mom

They were all so friendly and encouraging to all of the contestants. Although we did not win, I am glad I took part in this cook off. I made some new blogging friends Kelly from Kel’s Cafe of All Things Food and Rachel  from Fit Triangle Mom as well as Jen. And I experienced something that I have never done before. Even though it was fun, I was exhausted and ready to go home by the end of the night.

For participating in the Food Lion Frugal Cook Off- Food Lion gave each blogger a swag bag filled with Food Lion Products as well as (2)$100 Food Lion gift cards. One for me to keep and one for me to giveaway. Interested in winning a gift card just use the rafflecopter below to enter.

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89 Comments

  1. A frugal meal for me is making a big pot of chicken noodle soup and you get a couple meals making it.

  2. We like to make homemade spaghetti and meatballs with venison. The meat we have on hand, and the sauce is nothing more than tomato paste, spices, onion, mushrooms and garlic. Makes a huge pot and usually makes 4 batches to freeze.

  3. I make a pot of spaghetti for an inexpensive meal. I usually try to make extra so that we can have it for lunch the next day.

  4. Sounds like it was a fun event. I would love to attend one of these one day. We don’t have a Food Lion around here though unfortunately.

  5. My frugal food tip is reuse left overs to make new dishes. I also love to prepare freezer meals ahead of time.

  6. Good for you for stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying something new! I haven’t quite gotten there yet but I’m working on it!

  7. My frugal idea is to make different meals with chicken. I took leftover baked chicken and made chicken salad.

  8. I always love watching cook-offs like that! I’m not creative enough to take part in one, but they seem like a lot of fun.

  9. That’s awesome that you got to participate! I can’t even imagine how nervous I would be to be in a cook-off!

  10. I find a big pot of stew is a great cost effective dish. We get a few meals out of a pot.

  11. My frugal meal idea is soups. Soups are tasty, can be frozen if you make a big batch and are usually pretty inexpensive to make.

  12. My best frugal idea for a meal is Spagetti! A box of spagetti and a jar of tomato sauce is so cheap! You can feed four people with that for under $5!

  13. Wow! That looks like such a fun event! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

  14. My favorite frugal meal is upcycled vegetables for a pot of soup! It is great after a holiday and you have leftover veggie tray.

  15. My favorite frugal meal is making a whole chicken and using the left overs to make shredded chicken rolled tacos. That and left over hamburger to make tacos

  16. A frugal meal–spaghetti add butter, Italian herb bread crumbs and tuna. Or brown some hamburger-throw in some bottled sauce add to spaghetti–You do sound like you had a great if exhausting time!

  17. A frugal meal for me is Ramen soup and if broccoli is on sale you can bump up the nutritional value by adding some broccoli florets as well. 🙂

  18. What a fun event. This makes me sad that I missed a cookoff that I was invited to here in Boston this past summer. It sounds like you guys had a blast.

  19. A frugal meal for my family is chicken and beef enchiladas. I make up several pans at once and then freeze for a later time.

  20. What a great experience to have! You may not have win the cook-off, but you’re still a winner for doing something so different. 🙂

  21. What a great experience! I love making any kind of pasta dish, not only will my kids eat it if it has pasta its very budget friendly.

  22. Aww! Looks like you had a blast!
    Frugal meals here are taking something we had last night or the night before and creating something new and tasty.
    We might have roasted chicken one night and then chicken soup the next.

  23. A frugal meal for me is using my leftovers creatively. I made chicken the other day and saved the juice (natural chicken broth) then used that in potato soup for the family. They loved it! YUM>

  24. Sounds like such a great event, I would have loved to participate. We do not have a Food Lion here that I know of (still learning my way around town!), I used to always shop there back home.

  25. Congrats on getting chosen! It sounds like you had a lot of fun. You are much braver than I am, I’m still panicking over having my picture taken for a bio!

  26. We do tuna wiggle. Easy to make and cheap.Tuna, peas, in a white gravy over crackers. Old New England recipe that everyone says doesn’t sound great but can’t stop eating once they try.

  27. That looks like fun. My challenge everyday is to make my frugal meals. Stretching the leftovers is fun to do to.

  28. I love this event! It must have been totally fun to participate! MY frugal meal would be coconut curry chicken. Using chicken breast and things in the pantry I can make this in 15 minutes

  29. How fun! I’d love to be in a cook off it looks exciting but also stressful, and I love that kind of thing!

  30. This looks amazing! What an awesome experience, you deserve to be super proud of yourself.

  31. I love to cook, but I don’t think I’d be able to do a cook off! I would be too nervous! It sounds like a lot of fun, though.

  32. That sounds like it was SO MUCH FUN! Like a Master Chef challenge! (Love that show!) Sounds like you aced it!

  33. Thanks MAria, It was a struggled but I figured if I want this blog to grow I need to more exposure.

  34. I would love to do this someday what a fun event! Chili is a frugal meal in our house. I love it with fritos, hot dogs, on a potato, or by itself. You can make it so many ways and stretch it. 🙂

  35. That would have been very nerve-wracking although it sounds like you had a good time. I know I could not have risen to that occasion because I am just not that good of a cook. Sounds like your meal was a winner to me.

  36. That sounds like so much fun – I’d LOVE to do something like that. Although, as much as I like to think I can cook, I’d probably freeze and end up undercooking my meat.

  37. That sounds like such a fun event! I think for me, spaghetti is pretty much as frugal as it gets.

  38. There isn’t a Food Lion near me, but I’ve shopped there while on vacation and loved it – but then again, I was on vacation and that makes everything better! 😉

  39. My favorite frugal meal is buying a whole chicken. For the first meal I will roast it. We’ll have homemade gravy from the juice in the roaster pan, potatoes and vegetables with it. After we are done eating we will pull the chicken apart. Bones and fat go in a pan with water and seasoning for slow boil. We’ll use that for a future meal like chicken and rice or egg drop soup. We’ll use the chicken meat and leftover gravy to make a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. We even make our own noodles.

  40. Spaghetti and meatballs or meat sauce is my go-to inexpensive family meal. My kids love it and my husband and I tolerate it.

  41. Well that’s one of the beautiful things about blogging. It forces you out of the comfort zone sometimes. I love that! Good for you. You should be proud and I can only imagine the nerves!

  42. Cook offs are always so much fun! I haven’t attended one in a while. It brings out creativity and I love that

  43. My best frugal ideas are:
    1. As so many others said, soup because you can throw in what you have, make a lot and free rest
    2. Breakfast for dinner
    3. Pasta carbonara because we always have eggs, bacon and parmesan

  44. A frugal meal for us is taking a rotisserie chicken, eating it for dinner then using the carcass to make chicken and rice soup.

  45. I would make a big pot of Chili with fresh bread. It would make quite a few meals with the leftovers.

  46. We love tuna melts and mac n cheese. I add seasonings, garlic, cajon spices, onions, relish to the tuna mixture, on bagels. This is one of our favorite frugal meals. 🙂

  47. I would say try to grow some of your own food, like tomatoes and cucumbers. Also freeze herbs, since you seldom need the whole bunch when you buy them fresh.

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