Tim Gunn in the kitchen

My husband and I try to do one big grocery run at the beginning of the month and a small "odds and ends" run towards the middle of the month. I plan our meals for the ENTIRE month before we go to the store. This prevents us from just walking the aisles throwing random items in the cart and then getting home and having to figure out what I can make with what I have. Our monthly food budget including eating out is between 200-300 dollars. That's basically $3.00 each for breakfast, lunch and dinner per day. The problem with this setup is that the end of the month means my supplies are dwindling. Tonight I looked in the frig and the pantry and nothing really jumped out at me. I joke that I have become the Tim Gunn of the kitchen because my motto is ,"make it work!" When I only have a few ingredients I throw something together and use my creativity to just "make it work." Tonight I realized that we had the ingredients for tuna casserole. Yup...this is probably the same exact casserole your mom made you when you were a kid. It's cheap, it's quick and it's pretty tasty. I didn't take a photo because I didn't think the recipe warranted it. It's so simple I can hardly say it's even cooking! But here it is just in case you have never had it and are interested in trying. I honestly have no idea where the recipe came from. I'm guessing it's a Campbells recipe but I'm not sure.

Ingredients
1. 1 can cream of mushroom soup
2. egg noodles
3. 2 cans of tuna
4. 1 cup frozen peas
5. 1 tbsp. butter

Directions
1. Cook egg noodles until they are al dente (approximately 12 minutes). Make sure to salt the water slightly.
2. Drain egg noodles into a colander and then return them to the pot they cooked in.
3. Add the cream of mushroom soup
4. Add the two cans of tuna (drained and flaked up)
5. Adding the butter is optional but my mom always used it so I do.
6. Add the frozen peas
7. Mix the whole thing together until well incorporated

Voila! You have a circa 1985 meal the whole family will love!