French Bread Pizza would be easy and probably pretty cheap, too. Slice some french bread loaves in half lengthwise, spread with some bottled pizza or pasta sauce, top with grated cheeses, veggies, or some crumbled veggie sausage patties or Boca Burgers, bake until hot through and cheese is melted. Apple juice costs less than cider and can be kept hot in a crock pot - sweetened with brown sugar, add some cinnamon sticks and cloves tied up in cheesecloth. That will warm up those skaters very nicely! Apple slices dipped in a warm caramel sauce would be different. Taco Soup - you could use crumbled Boca Burgers instead of ground beef or add another can of beans or two. This makes a large quantity and freezes well 2 pounds ground round, or veggie burgers, crumbled 1 large onion, diced 1 packet taco seasoning 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch original dry mix salad dressing 1 can kidney beans (with liquid) 1 can pinto beans with jalapeños (with liquid) 1 can yellow hominy, optional 1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel) 2 cans stewed tomatoes (I use Mexican stewed tomatoes) 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 1 cup of water Cook beef and onion until beef is browned, drain excess grease. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Penzy's Spicy Cheese Bread 1 cup grated mozzarella, Jack or Swiss cheese 1 cup grated colby or cheddar cheese l loaf french bread sliced in half lengthwise 2 TB butt, soft 1/2 small yellow or red onion minced 1 1/2 t. Italian herbs 1 t. garlic salt 1/2 t. crushed red pepper or sprinkled on cayenne pepper Heat oven to broil. Cover baking sheet with foil. Toss cheeses in a bowl. Butter cut surface of bread and place on sheet. Sprinkle onion on both halves of bread. Sprinkle half of herbs and garlic. Mound cheese on top of bread. Top with rest of herbs and garlic and the red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, if desired. Boil 5-7 min. until the cheese melts and the bread is crusty. Slice in 3" slices.

Warning to Lisa--do not read! I am going to try this now that I have become the grill master at my house. Bacon Burger Dogs Ingredients: 1 pound of hamburger 1 pound of thin sliced bacon 8 hot dogs (the real deal, no cheap ones!) 4 slices of cheese (split the slices of cheese in half) 1 egg 16 toothpicks Tin Foil Wrap Combined hamburger, egg and your spices/seasonings to taste and form 8 hamburger patties. Spread out your bacon with every two slices being about 2 " apart. Slice each hot dog from end to end, NOT completely through, maybe half through the thickness of the dog and insert one half slice of the cheese into each dog. Place the dog on one end of the hamburger patty and carefully roll the dog while wrapping it with the patty. Place this carefully at the ends of your bacon, which should be spaced 2 " apart....(2 slices of bacon per burger-dog), carefully roll and wrap the bacon. Secure bacon to each burger-dog with two toothpicks. NOTE: Leave each toothpick exposed on one side or the other in order to remove them after cooking. Wrap your burger-dogs with tin foil and place on grill over medium heat, but do not place directly over flame. Cook for half-hour and then CAREFULLY remove foil from burger-dogs (HOT JUICE-Be Careful!) Place burger dogs back onto grill for browning. Serve with any condiments by itself or on a large Hoagie Roll

I buy Merrick 96% meat canned food to add to the dried food my dogs eat, so seeing your need for a mostly meat food for cats caught my eye. I pay $2 a can for 13 oz or so at our bargain-basement independent pet food store. It is 9 % crude protein, 7 % crude fat, 1.2 % crude fiber, 78% moisture. It does not have the added taurine that cats need, though their cat food does have it. I have no idea what the cat food costs. You might want to look into it, though. I see it does have Guar and carrageenan, though. Merrick Before Grain Salmon Canned Cat Food Ingredients Salmon, Water for Processing, Whitefish, Dried Egg, Yeast Extract, Glycine, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Guar, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Carageenan, Mixed Tocopherols, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Niacin, Lecithin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Cobalt Glucoheptanate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein (min.) 10.00% Crude Fat (min.) 4.50% Crude Fiber (max.) 1.40% Moisture (max.) 78.00% Here is a link that might be useful: Merrick

What's wrong with Aldi/Trader Joe's? I love them, and they are doing something right as the stores are always packed, the employees are always cheerful and seem genuinely happy and helpful. It's not as broad as a regular grocery but I love their specialty items, and haven't been disappointed at all. I was there last week, and the cashier noticed one of my packages was sticky, so she sent someone to get me a new one. Then she noticed a package of my lettuce was torn, so she replaced it as well. Both things I didn't notice when picking them up, and probably wouldn't have until I got home but I appreciated it even though it added more time to the transaction for them. I've heard good things about Wegman's but have never lived in an area where they are as their distribution is limited. Right now, most of my shopping is Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I usually eat fresh veggies but I think frozen are generally considered more nutritious. Fresh vegetables are often days to weeks old by the time they are in the store, vs. frozen vegetables are processed right after being picked. I get most of my veggies from a CSA delivered to my house every week which is probably as fresh as I'm going to get outside of my own garden.