Welcome to the column to go to when you’re a broke, tired college student in a dorm. With today’s article, I’ll be going over ways you can spice up a classic: Grilled Cheese. It is literally a piece of bread with a piece of cheese in the middle. That’s not all it has to be, though.
The pricing for the cheapest grilled cheese is as follows:
Smart Way Bread is $1.41 after tax and is available in white and wheat. There are 12 servings per pack. Kroger brand cheese is the cheapest to go for either singles or slices. Singles are $2.51 after tax and come in pepper jack, 4 Cheese, Swiss and American with 16 servings per pack.
While slightly more expensive, sliced cheese without wrappers are $2.79 and come in colby jack, colby, aged sharp white cheddar, pepper jack, orange rind Munster, Gouda, Swiss, provolone, mozzarella, Havarti and cheddar, ranging from mild to extra sharp.
If you are vegan, your least expensive cheese option is Simply Truth Non-Dairy Slices, coming in at $4.36 a pack, with mozzarella, hot pepper and cheddar options.
If you like to use mayonnaise or butter, Kroger brand mayo is $3.60 after tax, while Hellman’s Vegan Dressing and Spread is $8.20, with 30 and 48 servings respectively. Private Selection Butter is cheaper up front at $3.82, and comes in flavors of garlic, parmesan, basil and black truffle. You also have a choice of honey butter from the brand. (I’m not here to judge your flavor profile.) All of these options have 13 servings per container.
Vegans may purchase Country Crock Plant Butter, priced at $4.91 with 32 servings per container. The absolute cheapest option is 36 cents a serving using Smart Way bread, Kroger brand mayo and singles slices. This costs $7.52 after tax for all the ingredients. You can make at least 8 servings before your cheese runs out. For vegans, this is 79 cents per serving using Country Crock Plant Butter, Smart Way Bread and Simple Truth Non-Dairy Cheese Slices, costing $10.68 up front, also with 8 servings available
before running out of cheese.
To make this grilled cheese, preheat your chosen pan to medium low heat, put your cheese in the bread, butter your pan/spread mayo on the outsides of the sandwich.
Cook/flip/cook until your bread is toasty and your cheese is melty. But, if you want to make this a party in your mouth, here are some ways to make grilled cheese exciting:
Bacon. Kroger has precooked bacon for $3.83, with 3.5 servings per container. Just take a couple of pieces, tear those bad boys, and put them in your grilled cheese before cooking. You may also buy Gwaltney brand raw bacon for $4.36 with 7 servings per container.
The perk here is that there are more servings per pack in every case. If you are Muslim or Jewish and can’t eat pork, this column also has you covered. Simple Truth Turkey Bacon is $4.92 a pack with8 servings per pack, and beef bacon by Devanco Foods is available for $8.74 having 10 servings. Please cook your bacon beforehand if it is not precooked. This brings your price up from $1.45 per serving using Kroger Precooked bacon, 98 cents using Gwaltney Bacon, 97 cents using Simple Truth Turkey Bacon and $1.23 using Devanco Foods Beef Bacon.
Pepperoni. Include in your grilled cheese in the same way as precooked bacon. Kroger brand is the cheapest at $2.99 a pack and 49 cents a serving.
Caramelized/Grilled Onions. A single onion is less than $1.09 per pound with tax and will bring up your price 24 cents, since you will only be using ¼ of the onion, and you might just have one left over if you read my last column for tortilla pizzas. To use these effectively, you’re going to slice your onion in half, then into thicker rings, then halve them again. Spray a pan down with nonstick spray and put butter in the pan on medium low heat. If you previously cooked bacon for your sandwich, you can also use the (fresh) leftover grease from cooking your bacon instead.
Carefully put your chopped onions in the pan and coat them with whatever you have chosen to use. Stir every five minutes or so, and salt, preferably with seasoned salt, but regular is fine. Once they are done to your preference, you can choose to deglaze the pan with 1 tablespoon of whatever alcohol you may have on hand if you are above age. Your onions are now ready to be stuffed in your grilled cheese.
Starkist Tuna Creations adds $1.69 to the price of your grilled cheese but adds a good bit of protein you may otherwise be lacking. It also has a ton of options. They have lemon pepper, hickory smoked, sweet and spicy, Thai chili, herbs and garlic, sriracha, ranch, deli style tuna salad, honey BBQ, bacon ranch, jalapeño and hot buffalo.
A cheaper way of adding protein than tuna is with Kroger brand premium canned chicken breast, going down to adding 99 cents by splitting the can in half. However, there are no options as far as flavor goes like there is with Starkist tuna.
Finally, mix and match the cheeses you use. Nothing stops you from putting several types of cheese on this sandwich or mixing the above methods.
Use your imagination and go wild!
You must be logged in to post a comment.