$5 Meal Ideas--
Scalloped Potatoes:
Beth Martin
Serves 4 to6
¼ cup butter or margarine Butter $.30, Margarine $.26
3 Tbs all-purpose flour $.10
½ medium onion, chopped (may use chopped chives instead of onion) .$.35
1 tsp salt
½ tsp dry mustard
_ tsp pepper Salt, mustard and pepper, Less than $.25
1¾ cups milk $.40
4 to 6 medium potatoes, sliced $.80
Over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in onion, salt, and pepper. Stir for about 2 minutes. Stir in flour and dry mustard, and stir again for about 2 minutes. Blend in milk. Stir until thickened.
Stir in potato slices. Put into microwave safe 2 qt casserole dish. Cover. Microwave at High 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, stirring 2 or 3 times.
Variation: Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin: Add ¾ to 1 cup grated cheese to sauce. Stir until melted. Serves 6 Cheese $.85
Scalloped Potatoes and Spam: Add 1 can Spam, cut into small cubes, with potatoes. Cook as above. Serves 6 Spam $2.23
NOTE: May also be baked in oven.
Plain Scalloped Potatoes $2.20
Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin $3.05
Scalloped Potatoes and Spam $5.25
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
$5.00 Meal Plan Recipes:
$5.00 Meal Plan Recipes:
Hamburger Pie: (with food storage conversions)
1.5 cooked drained hamburger--$2.68 ($1.79 lb)
3 cans tomato sauce--$1 ($.33 a can)
1 can of corn un-drained--$.50
1 can of green beans drained--$.50
½ cup dehydrated onions--$.15 ($6.00 a #10 can--cannery)
½ cup dehydrated celery--$.25 ($9.00 a #10 can—online order—various stores)
½ cup dehydrate carrots—$.33 ($7.10 a #10 can cannery)
1 tsp salt--$.04 (California Sea Salt—prefer sea salt for its trace mineral content-- 1 pound pouch $3.79 online bulk order)
¼ tsp black pepper--$.02—(1 pound pouch $5.99 online bulk order)
2 Tbsp. basil—$.38 (1 pound pouch $5.99 online bulk order)
2 tsp paprika—$.14 (1 pound pouch $6.49 online bulk order)
3 tsp sugar—$.03 ($.01 per tsp.--$4.65 #10 can cannery)
Mix all of the above ingredients in a 9x13 lightly greased pan. I just mix mine right in the pan and flatten casserole ingredients out for potato topping.
Mix 1 ½ cups of dehydrated potatoes—$.33 ($2.85 a #10 can from the cannery) with 3 cups hot water (microwave water 4 minutes in a 4 cup glass measuring cup) and season with 1 tsp salt ($.04) and ¼ tsp black pepper ($.02) and less than 1/8 tsp chili powder ($.01) (just a hint of chili powder). You may also add some butter or butter powder.
Spread potatoes over the entire casserole and top with 1 cup shredded cheese (opt. about $1) Bake 20-25 minutes on convection at 350* or 30-35 minutes on regular heated oven or if casserole is refrigerated. Frozen will need probably 10-20 minutes longer. Check for even heating. Casserole tastes best next day.
Makes 8 servings or $.80 a serving ($6.42 for a family of 8) ($4.80 for a family of 6) ($3.20 for a family of 4) ($1.60 for a family of 2) ($.80 for a family of 1) (Remember families smaller than 8 must freeze the extra portions and eat them later to maintain savings.)
12 Week Storage:
18 Pounds Hamburger (cooked and frozen or bottled) or equivalent portion TVP
Tomato Sauce—36 cans
Corn—12 cans
Green Beans—12 cans
Dehydrated Onions—1/3 of a #10 can of onions
Dehydrated Celery—1/3 of a #10 can of celery
Dehydrate Carrots—3/4 of a #10 can of carrots
Dehydrated Potatos—1 and 1/3 of a #10 can of potato flakes
Pepper (6 tsp or 1/16 of a 1 pound bag)
Salt (24 tsp or 1/4 of a 1 pound bag)
Sugar (36 tsp or 1/20th of can )
Paprika (24 tsp or ¼ of a 1 pound bag)
Basil (72 tsp or ¾ of a 1 pound bag)
--
52 Week Storage:
Hamburger—equivalent 78 pounds or equivalent portion TVP
Tomato Sauce—156 cans
Corn—52 Cans
Green Beans—52 Cans
Dehydrated Onions—1 and ¼ #10 cans of onions
Dehydrated Celery—1 and ½ #10 cans of celery
Dehydrated Carrots—3 #10 cans of carrots
Potato Flakes—6 #10 cans of potato flakes
Pepper—26 tsp or 1/3 of a one pound of bag of pepper
Salt—104 tsp or little more than 1 of a one pound bag
Sugar—156 tsp or .27 #10 can
Paprika—104 tsp or 1 an 1/16th of a 1 pound bag)
Basil— 312 tsp or 3 and ¼- 1 pound bags
For sources on bulk buying online have the blog moderator contact me. E-mail: mesquite5ward@yahoo.com and provide your name and e-mail or phone # and question and she will forward it to me and I will get you the information you might need (put in the subject line—question $5 meal plan). Also, there are cheaper options. I buy in amounts I can reasonably store. I have priced my recipes according to what I store.
**To note, the food storage conversions are somewhat exact here. I certainly don’t buy food storage thinking, “I need 1/20th of a can of sugar!” The purpose of this is so you might realize that 1 # 10 can of sugar for a year might cover so many meals/desserts. When you get your week’s worth of menu ideas, you can look at the conversions and put them together by item and figure out how much you need for your food storage. For example: If I have one meal that requires 2 cans of potato flakes for a year’s supply of that item, and another that takes .50 cans of potato flakes and another that takes .75, I know I need 3.25 cans potato flakes and since you cannot easily split up a can, you simply buy 4 cans of this item for food storage. Always buy a little more than you need. **
Also, there are a lot of figures here. It’s to help educate this process, which is to price recipes and serving costs to find your own meal plans. It’s also there to help show how little homemade items can cost. Hopefully our math (got some helpers on this) is correct--smile. Again, it is simply an educational process.
Now that we have our “spice cost chart” made as a family, recipes can come in a little quicker. Do not feel you have to go to this extent when submitting your own yummy, inexpensive recipes. This is an instructional recipe and not what is expected (although if you include numbers, that is perfectly fine!). Please submit recipes that fit in our $5 meal plan (remember the magic number is $.83 per serving or there about). Send them to mesquite5ward@yahoo.com and put in the subject line: $5 Meal Idea
DJW
Hamburger Pie: (with food storage conversions)
1.5 cooked drained hamburger--$2.68 ($1.79 lb)
3 cans tomato sauce--$1 ($.33 a can)
1 can of corn un-drained--$.50
1 can of green beans drained--$.50
½ cup dehydrated onions--$.15 ($6.00 a #10 can--cannery)
½ cup dehydrated celery--$.25 ($9.00 a #10 can—online order—various stores)
½ cup dehydrate carrots—$.33 ($7.10 a #10 can cannery)
1 tsp salt--$.04 (California Sea Salt—prefer sea salt for its trace mineral content-- 1 pound pouch $3.79 online bulk order)
¼ tsp black pepper--$.02—(1 pound pouch $5.99 online bulk order)
2 Tbsp. basil—$.38 (1 pound pouch $5.99 online bulk order)
2 tsp paprika—$.14 (1 pound pouch $6.49 online bulk order)
3 tsp sugar—$.03 ($.01 per tsp.--$4.65 #10 can cannery)
Mix all of the above ingredients in a 9x13 lightly greased pan. I just mix mine right in the pan and flatten casserole ingredients out for potato topping.
Mix 1 ½ cups of dehydrated potatoes—$.33 ($2.85 a #10 can from the cannery) with 3 cups hot water (microwave water 4 minutes in a 4 cup glass measuring cup) and season with 1 tsp salt ($.04) and ¼ tsp black pepper ($.02) and less than 1/8 tsp chili powder ($.01) (just a hint of chili powder). You may also add some butter or butter powder.
Spread potatoes over the entire casserole and top with 1 cup shredded cheese (opt. about $1) Bake 20-25 minutes on convection at 350* or 30-35 minutes on regular heated oven or if casserole is refrigerated. Frozen will need probably 10-20 minutes longer. Check for even heating. Casserole tastes best next day.
Makes 8 servings or $.80 a serving ($6.42 for a family of 8) ($4.80 for a family of 6) ($3.20 for a family of 4) ($1.60 for a family of 2) ($.80 for a family of 1) (Remember families smaller than 8 must freeze the extra portions and eat them later to maintain savings.)
12 Week Storage:
18 Pounds Hamburger (cooked and frozen or bottled) or equivalent portion TVP
Tomato Sauce—36 cans
Corn—12 cans
Green Beans—12 cans
Dehydrated Onions—1/3 of a #10 can of onions
Dehydrated Celery—1/3 of a #10 can of celery
Dehydrate Carrots—3/4 of a #10 can of carrots
Dehydrated Potatos—1 and 1/3 of a #10 can of potato flakes
Pepper (6 tsp or 1/16 of a 1 pound bag)
Salt (24 tsp or 1/4 of a 1 pound bag)
Sugar (36 tsp or 1/20th of can )
Paprika (24 tsp or ¼ of a 1 pound bag)
Basil (72 tsp or ¾ of a 1 pound bag)
--
52 Week Storage:
Hamburger—equivalent 78 pounds or equivalent portion TVP
Tomato Sauce—156 cans
Corn—52 Cans
Green Beans—52 Cans
Dehydrated Onions—1 and ¼ #10 cans of onions
Dehydrated Celery—1 and ½ #10 cans of celery
Dehydrated Carrots—3 #10 cans of carrots
Potato Flakes—6 #10 cans of potato flakes
Pepper—26 tsp or 1/3 of a one pound of bag of pepper
Salt—104 tsp or little more than 1 of a one pound bag
Sugar—156 tsp or .27 #10 can
Paprika—104 tsp or 1 an 1/16th of a 1 pound bag)
Basil— 312 tsp or 3 and ¼- 1 pound bags
For sources on bulk buying online have the blog moderator contact me. E-mail: mesquite5ward@yahoo.com and provide your name and e-mail or phone # and question and she will forward it to me and I will get you the information you might need (put in the subject line—question $5 meal plan). Also, there are cheaper options. I buy in amounts I can reasonably store. I have priced my recipes according to what I store.
**To note, the food storage conversions are somewhat exact here. I certainly don’t buy food storage thinking, “I need 1/20th of a can of sugar!” The purpose of this is so you might realize that 1 # 10 can of sugar for a year might cover so many meals/desserts. When you get your week’s worth of menu ideas, you can look at the conversions and put them together by item and figure out how much you need for your food storage. For example: If I have one meal that requires 2 cans of potato flakes for a year’s supply of that item, and another that takes .50 cans of potato flakes and another that takes .75, I know I need 3.25 cans potato flakes and since you cannot easily split up a can, you simply buy 4 cans of this item for food storage. Always buy a little more than you need. **
Also, there are a lot of figures here. It’s to help educate this process, which is to price recipes and serving costs to find your own meal plans. It’s also there to help show how little homemade items can cost. Hopefully our math (got some helpers on this) is correct--smile. Again, it is simply an educational process.
Now that we have our “spice cost chart” made as a family, recipes can come in a little quicker. Do not feel you have to go to this extent when submitting your own yummy, inexpensive recipes. This is an instructional recipe and not what is expected (although if you include numbers, that is perfectly fine!). Please submit recipes that fit in our $5 meal plan (remember the magic number is $.83 per serving or there about). Send them to mesquite5ward@yahoo.com and put in the subject line: $5 Meal Idea
DJW
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Portion Control
Some other thoughts on the $5 meal plan:
Portion Control:
It is super important that your family not go off for seconds as this blows the plan and budget. Might I suggest some alternatives? If I make an $.83 per serving soup and I divide it in its proper proportions, then I stay in budget. If everyone goes for seconds, my meal goes to $10 and that doesn't help our budget or health. Take into consideration the following: If I make all my lunches and dinners $10 each, then I am going to pay $600 just for those meals. If I double my breakfast amount of $2 per meal to $4 a meal, I am then at $720 a month. That's just too much for some of us. However, if my family feels not full on a bowl of soup, the solution is simple: Homemade whole wheat bread!!! At $1 a loaf (for my recipe) I only raise my meal budget by $1 instead of the $5 for the seconds. That's a $4 savings. It makes the meal more homey and satisfying and filling. Whole wheat bread is easy to make with a handy bread maker. I know if I begin bulk buying my bread components, I will probably save 50%, but like all of you, I am still learning and growing in skills. To make this plan work, you must follow the portion sizes for the recipes. To avoid temptation, simply divide out the meal portions and then have your freezer containers ready and put them in the freezer before anyone sits down. I promise that a warm loaf of bread is every bit as satisfying as the second portion.
What About Snacks?:
The $360 meal plan doesn't include snacks. It's basic. However, you have learned the tools of cutting a bit of this or that to allow some pennies to go elsewhere, so it is possible that leaving off the un-needed cheese could allow for a homemade oatmeal cookie for a snack or the cheese on a piece of toast later. It's about borrowing from here and there to make things work. I will be honest, snacks are expensive if they are 6 apple bars in a pack (guilty)! Consider thinking through the day's menu and see maybe what is needed. If you are dairy or calcium deplete, maybe a cheese toast slice would be good or a small plain salad of spinach with a tiny splash of dressing. I think snacks should augment the nutrition for the day. If you need more of something for the day's meal plan, then think of a healthy and inexpensive option. Our frequent (good) snacks are: Whole wheat slice with peanut butter, low fat cheese stick (or slice) and fruit slices, or small salad plate with spinach and light dressing. If this takes you up in budget and it makes this plan work for you, then plan to have a $380 or $400 budget. It's about making a plan. This is the whole point of this blog--be in control. I realize over time that inflation will take my $5 meals and they will become $7 meals, but with a plan in place, the changes will be controlled.
The Great Offsets:
We have something fun (I guess it is fun for two finance majors--smile) we do to make us work towards a lower overall food budget. It's called the "offsets" and we use them to earn free food at our house. Let me explain: Last year our electricity bill was outrageous! We were drying laundry and running the air. I don't like to scrimp on air conditioning, as it just makes us sick from heat. However, I did start hanging out our laundry daily. Well, the savings were proof positive! We save $30 a month on air drying. My clothes, while stiff I will admit, are sun fresh and are holding up better. I bought my air drying racks for $100 for two kinds and they were "paid back" in 3 and a half months from savings. Now I get to "keep" my savings. If my breakfasts are costing me $60 a month and my air drying of laundry saves me $30, then I get 15 breakfasts for free! Sounds silly, but you kind of get into it. I cut my guys' hair and save $60 a month and this fully buys the breakfasts and gives me the $30 for lunches (6 of them). If I keep finding ways to get things for free that I would otherwise pay for, I will eventually offset my food budget by half. In essence, my food budget could be $200 or less in time. Each penny makes a difference (think of dropping the cable and renting movies and stuff from the library--that could save up to $49 a month!) and over time makes it so you can really have a "free lunch".
DJW
Portion Control:
It is super important that your family not go off for seconds as this blows the plan and budget. Might I suggest some alternatives? If I make an $.83 per serving soup and I divide it in its proper proportions, then I stay in budget. If everyone goes for seconds, my meal goes to $10 and that doesn't help our budget or health. Take into consideration the following: If I make all my lunches and dinners $10 each, then I am going to pay $600 just for those meals. If I double my breakfast amount of $2 per meal to $4 a meal, I am then at $720 a month. That's just too much for some of us. However, if my family feels not full on a bowl of soup, the solution is simple: Homemade whole wheat bread!!! At $1 a loaf (for my recipe) I only raise my meal budget by $1 instead of the $5 for the seconds. That's a $4 savings. It makes the meal more homey and satisfying and filling. Whole wheat bread is easy to make with a handy bread maker. I know if I begin bulk buying my bread components, I will probably save 50%, but like all of you, I am still learning and growing in skills. To make this plan work, you must follow the portion sizes for the recipes. To avoid temptation, simply divide out the meal portions and then have your freezer containers ready and put them in the freezer before anyone sits down. I promise that a warm loaf of bread is every bit as satisfying as the second portion.
What About Snacks?:
The $360 meal plan doesn't include snacks. It's basic. However, you have learned the tools of cutting a bit of this or that to allow some pennies to go elsewhere, so it is possible that leaving off the un-needed cheese could allow for a homemade oatmeal cookie for a snack or the cheese on a piece of toast later. It's about borrowing from here and there to make things work. I will be honest, snacks are expensive if they are 6 apple bars in a pack (guilty)! Consider thinking through the day's menu and see maybe what is needed. If you are dairy or calcium deplete, maybe a cheese toast slice would be good or a small plain salad of spinach with a tiny splash of dressing. I think snacks should augment the nutrition for the day. If you need more of something for the day's meal plan, then think of a healthy and inexpensive option. Our frequent (good) snacks are: Whole wheat slice with peanut butter, low fat cheese stick (or slice) and fruit slices, or small salad plate with spinach and light dressing. If this takes you up in budget and it makes this plan work for you, then plan to have a $380 or $400 budget. It's about making a plan. This is the whole point of this blog--be in control. I realize over time that inflation will take my $5 meals and they will become $7 meals, but with a plan in place, the changes will be controlled.
The Great Offsets:
We have something fun (I guess it is fun for two finance majors--smile) we do to make us work towards a lower overall food budget. It's called the "offsets" and we use them to earn free food at our house. Let me explain: Last year our electricity bill was outrageous! We were drying laundry and running the air. I don't like to scrimp on air conditioning, as it just makes us sick from heat. However, I did start hanging out our laundry daily. Well, the savings were proof positive! We save $30 a month on air drying. My clothes, while stiff I will admit, are sun fresh and are holding up better. I bought my air drying racks for $100 for two kinds and they were "paid back" in 3 and a half months from savings. Now I get to "keep" my savings. If my breakfasts are costing me $60 a month and my air drying of laundry saves me $30, then I get 15 breakfasts for free! Sounds silly, but you kind of get into it. I cut my guys' hair and save $60 a month and this fully buys the breakfasts and gives me the $30 for lunches (6 of them). If I keep finding ways to get things for free that I would otherwise pay for, I will eventually offset my food budget by half. In essence, my food budget could be $200 or less in time. Each penny makes a difference (think of dropping the cable and renting movies and stuff from the library--that could save up to $49 a month!) and over time makes it so you can really have a "free lunch".
DJW
The $5 Meal Plan
The $5 Meal Plan
I have to admit food prices are driving me crazy! I worry about this a lot, as we are a family of 6. My husband goes with me to the store (a way for us to have some time alone) and he just gets sick at the prices of food. In an event to curb the tide sweeping us out to sea, so to speak, with the prices at the grocery check out, I want to share a concept that may be quite beneficial to you and help you to re-think your food budget.
Now again, this comes from a mom of a family of 6, and so I write from the knowledge of preparing food for this amount of people. However, I will make applicable conversions for families a little smaller and a little larger.
What if I told you that you could feed a family of 6 for $360 or less? Is that even possible? Yes, it is! I am sure you expect me to expound upon some elaborate coupon route to great savings--Nope (although coupon use would only add to savings to this plan). It's easier than that! All you have to do, is follow a simple guideline: Prepare lunches and dinners that are healthy and cost $5 or less per meal and breakfasts that cost $2 or less per meal--for 30 days that is $150 for lunches, $150 for dinners and $60 for breakfasts. This comes out to $60 per person per month for a family of 6. So a family of 4 could eat these meals for $240 and a two person household could do this for $120 and a single person for $60! Sounds great right? But how is it done? (go up $60 a person in a larger family and increase recipe amounts)
Lowering Expectations:
One of the big budget busters is the expectation of what a "meal" must look like. We envision the perfect plate and sometimes in our effort to make things as nice as a fancy restaurant, we end up paying for the fanciness! I am not saying to not include such meals on special occasions--that's what they are for and not every day re-fueling of our bodies. We also expect to eat meat at every turn and never realize how a little bit less meat can mean a whole lot of savings in our budgets or how a non-meat meal a day can dramatically cut our food expenses. We tend to forget the simple meals we had as children of peanut butter and jelly with some carrot sticks. We forget that our moms made most things by scratch and it really didn't take them much more time and we seemed full of energy and played all day without thinking of our next snack. We maybe have forgotten the power of a savory soup and piece of homemade wheat bread. Well, when you begin to take control of your food budget and your expectations, you will begin to savor not only the food, but also the amazing savings. You will begin to look at your recipe books with new zeal and become better educated on how to turn a budget buster recipe into a stand by budget wonder!
Knowing the Costs:
Are you aware of the best prices on your daily foods you eat? Do you keep track of when frozen vegetables come on sale or where you can get the best prices on bulk rice, beans, flour, etc.? Becoming educated on food prices comes over time and as you perfect your food plan, you begin to notice trends and the lowest prices on particular foods. It's at these prices that you buy! Keep a notebook or spreadsheet on what is the lowest price on the foods you eat and where you got it. Ask around to find out when the next sale will be on your items. I know, for example, that certain foods seem to cycle on a 6 week sales pattern. I know I better stock up 6 week's worth when they are deep discount pricing or end up paying double during the next month and half. Also, have you ever noticed that when you shop aisle by aisle that your check out ticker tape is long and expensive? We made this an example to our children once to show them the power of buying the right foods to keep their budgets low. I took in $100 and told them that we needed a plan and to stay out of certain "zones" to make the money work for us. Our main shopping was done in the perimeter where most of the fresh, whole foods reside. We gave ourselves a $1 per pound vegetable and fruit "budget". I told the boys to get a portion size amount for 6 people of each vegetable or item that was this price or less. Well, as you can imagine in the autumn time, we purchased apples, bananas, some large citrus, a big bag of potatoes, a bag of yellow onions, a big bag of uncut carrots, a couple full heads of green cabbage, two bags of uncut celery, and a few more $1 or less per pound veggies. We bought (we now make our own) 3 loaves of whole wheat bread from the bakery. We purchased $2 per pound or less meats--which I can assure you rarely happens, but on our trip it was family sized hamburger, frozen chicken breasts and a special on pork ribs. We got skim milk, orange juice, sour cream, large containers of yogurt, eggs, butter and bulk cheddar cheese. We then allowed ourselves specific purchases in the "aisles". We bought a large bag of rice, a large bag of macaroni noodles (always check unit pricing to make sure the bulk amount is the lesser), a few bags of black beans, pinto beans, white beans and a bag of wheat flour. Anyway...the point of the exercise was this: What did we get for our money? At our check out, we had a huge cart full and needed to have another cart to put the sacked items in. Our total was $94 (this was 2007) and we had 74 pounds of food! By knowing that whole foods cost less, are more nutritious and give us more portions of food overall, it was a powerful experience for ourselves. To keep these savings, we had to come home and process and freeze some of our produce and store properly the rest with a plan to use it. Conversely, if you were to stay in the "aisles", which I am not saying don't have good and needful things, but we tend to get mesmerized in there by 6 ounce wonders like "meal" helper, "something" a roni, snack and goodies that don't fill us up, but make us hungry. Every "time saving box of wonder food" has its homemade, whole food match. I promise. They really do. I have seen many "something" a roni recipes and they use bulk bought rice and seasonings. By knowing what are the best deals and knowing that the less processed the item, the best deal you are going to get, you are well on your way to food budget control. For fun, try the perimeter shopping experience. Buy only whole foods and see how many pounds you are able to buy with very little money. You tend to shop in season and to stay healthier and fuller. Also, realize that you pay for every person that touches your food. The more packaged it is, the more people you have paid for the effort.
Finding the Recipes:
So you know where the best prices are on whole foods, but how do you use them? How do you get the $5 a meal recipes amongst your favorite cook books? Simple. Take each recipe and figure out the exact cost for the items in the recipe. An example I will use is one of our non-meat meal recipes that a friend of mine gave me up north. It's called, "Taco Laco" and we love it.
It calls for:
3 cans of black beans (on sale 3 cans for $2.25) (scratched cooked from bulk $.50)
3 cans of yellow corn (on sale 3 cans for a $1)
2 small cans of tomato sauce (on sale for $.66)
1/2 season packet to full packet of taco seasoning (on sale for $.33)
corn chips small bag ($.99)
Additions:
shredded lettuce (I don't like shredded lettuce so we skip this)
shredded cheese (bulk bought for a small condiment in this meal $1)
sour cream ($.88)
guacamole (1 avocado bought and sliced for $1) (2 for $2)
Now, I know that that the basic recipe comes out to $5.23, but that is close enough for me. My food budget allows from some pennies over. My goal remains the same. Now you ask, but you have half the meal not accounted for? How do you make that work? Did you see where I spent most of my money on this recipe? It was on the beans. Canned beans. They are convenient and if I were in a pinch, I would rather go over budget by $.23 than go with a more expensive option for dinner. But what if I bulk bought my black beans? It is possible that by making up some black beans from scratch I can reduce the cost of the beans to $.50 for the equivalent. That gives me back $1.75. If I pick maybe one or two small add ons that I just love--sour cream and avocado slices, I am over budget by $.13 cents. Not bad at all!
But what if you think the meal is great and it costs out to $7.50 to have it all? No problem. This whole plan is about "budget exchanges". Knowing that our goal is $5 a meal, I simply need to make my lunch a $3 deal so that my evening meal can cost $5 in relativity. Does this make sense? If I spend $3 on a tomato noodle soup for lunch (homemade), I have $2 extra dollars for the day to make my taco laco just perfect.
The Power of Leftovers:
Leftovers get a bad rap. They really do. I think part of that is what we do with them after we assign them as such. We tend to put them in a plastic container and put them in the back of the fridge and forget about them. Then after a week, no one remembers what is in them and no one wants to eat them and they waste. Have you ever bought a tasty TV dinner and enjoyed that in less than 4 minutes in the microwave, they are done and you didn't have to do the work? Well, let's think frozen with leftovers. If you don't have plastic individual meal containers that go from freezer to microwave, price them, purchase them and consider this a start to great meal savings. My taco laco ends up giving me two leftover portions. If we figure the meal in it's glory maybe costs $7.50 for 8 servings, then each serving is $.93 or $5.62 for the full glory meal for 6 people! I would then only need to trim lunch's meal by $.62 to stay in budget. My tomato noodle soup then could have hamburger and become goulash. I hope this makes sense! You are to work the daily budget and figure out the price per serving. I make a really good spaghetti sauce and it costs $10, but I can make 3 meals from it! When I calculate the "stretch" of the sauce into 3 meals it is do-able. So, don't be put off if your nice soup costs $12 if you can get 14 servings out of it. You are right in line for a family of 6.
Collect up 6 leftovers and have a "Lazy Susan" dinner where each person gets their micro-waved meal. What an easy fix for after church dinners, game night dinners, etc. Also, our leftover microwave portions become our date night stand bys. We just tell the kids to have at the freezer!
Does One Size Fit All?
No. But it can come close. Let's look at this from the perspective of the family of 1, 2 or 4 (you can use a calculator to figure for any family size--obviously a larger family is going to pay more to eat, but by controlling the individual meal costs, they can stay in line as well).
If I am a single person and trying to make this plan work for me, what do I do? Well, you make a recipe for 8 people and figure to eat it 8 times in a month. If you make a $5 meal for six people and eat it 6 times in a month, you are eating for just $60 a month! You will need more storage containers (single meal sized), but your savings is pretty great because you get to cook for one week a month or less. For a couple following the same recipe plans, you are eating for $120 and cooking just 1/3 of the time. By realizing that a smaller family simply needs to make the larger portions and freeze, you are saving time and money.
Well, folks that is the plan. The goal is to find $5 meal recipes that are both healthy and hit the budget mark. Remember that if you make a meal a little nicer, you might want to pair it with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch. That's how it works!
But What About Breakfast?
Oh yeah! Breakfast....Let me tell you that breakfast can make or break your day! We have found that cold cereal consumption makes us hungry well before lunch is due. It's really not my top choice. I have cold cereal for mornings where the kids are fending for themselves or when we are just not capable of making homemade. What is my breakfast of choice? I love oatmeal. I think it's a wonder food. It keeps our lipids lower, fills us up and keeps us going. Did you know you can go to the Bishops' Storehouse in Saint George and bulk buy a 25 pound bag of oats for less than $8? We have to have about 25 pounds of oatmeal for 6 people's breakfast for a month. We put in dehydrated apples, cinnamon, some honey or sugar depending on who is eating it and a sprinkle of bulk bought slivered almonds. We can also buy a big bag of the dehydrated apples from the storehouse and it lasts 2-3 months. At $8, plain oatmeal bulk bought is $.26 a serving, so I have $1.74 for apples, nuts and sweetener a day. It's a done deal for $2 a day, even with a small splash of milk (which most of us decline). Now, we do have a Saturday breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, yogurt and fruit, but we eat it later and have it as a brunch and so we can blend our lunch and breakfast budget together and there are leftovers of this too.
It works. It refocuses your actions. You begin to think, "Hey if I make my own white sauce instead of buying a $.69 can of cream of whatever soup, I can have some little addition that I would really like to add to my meal." You can eat more fulfilled, healthier and with your budget in full control.
I will begin to share some of my favorite $5-$7 meals to get you started, but my hope is that you will all contribute ideas so we can benefit from new knowledge. Just think how those savings could benefit right now in our difficult personal economies!
DJW
I have to admit food prices are driving me crazy! I worry about this a lot, as we are a family of 6. My husband goes with me to the store (a way for us to have some time alone) and he just gets sick at the prices of food. In an event to curb the tide sweeping us out to sea, so to speak, with the prices at the grocery check out, I want to share a concept that may be quite beneficial to you and help you to re-think your food budget.
Now again, this comes from a mom of a family of 6, and so I write from the knowledge of preparing food for this amount of people. However, I will make applicable conversions for families a little smaller and a little larger.
What if I told you that you could feed a family of 6 for $360 or less? Is that even possible? Yes, it is! I am sure you expect me to expound upon some elaborate coupon route to great savings--Nope (although coupon use would only add to savings to this plan). It's easier than that! All you have to do, is follow a simple guideline: Prepare lunches and dinners that are healthy and cost $5 or less per meal and breakfasts that cost $2 or less per meal--for 30 days that is $150 for lunches, $150 for dinners and $60 for breakfasts. This comes out to $60 per person per month for a family of 6. So a family of 4 could eat these meals for $240 and a two person household could do this for $120 and a single person for $60! Sounds great right? But how is it done? (go up $60 a person in a larger family and increase recipe amounts)
Lowering Expectations:
One of the big budget busters is the expectation of what a "meal" must look like. We envision the perfect plate and sometimes in our effort to make things as nice as a fancy restaurant, we end up paying for the fanciness! I am not saying to not include such meals on special occasions--that's what they are for and not every day re-fueling of our bodies. We also expect to eat meat at every turn and never realize how a little bit less meat can mean a whole lot of savings in our budgets or how a non-meat meal a day can dramatically cut our food expenses. We tend to forget the simple meals we had as children of peanut butter and jelly with some carrot sticks. We forget that our moms made most things by scratch and it really didn't take them much more time and we seemed full of energy and played all day without thinking of our next snack. We maybe have forgotten the power of a savory soup and piece of homemade wheat bread. Well, when you begin to take control of your food budget and your expectations, you will begin to savor not only the food, but also the amazing savings. You will begin to look at your recipe books with new zeal and become better educated on how to turn a budget buster recipe into a stand by budget wonder!
Knowing the Costs:
Are you aware of the best prices on your daily foods you eat? Do you keep track of when frozen vegetables come on sale or where you can get the best prices on bulk rice, beans, flour, etc.? Becoming educated on food prices comes over time and as you perfect your food plan, you begin to notice trends and the lowest prices on particular foods. It's at these prices that you buy! Keep a notebook or spreadsheet on what is the lowest price on the foods you eat and where you got it. Ask around to find out when the next sale will be on your items. I know, for example, that certain foods seem to cycle on a 6 week sales pattern. I know I better stock up 6 week's worth when they are deep discount pricing or end up paying double during the next month and half. Also, have you ever noticed that when you shop aisle by aisle that your check out ticker tape is long and expensive? We made this an example to our children once to show them the power of buying the right foods to keep their budgets low. I took in $100 and told them that we needed a plan and to stay out of certain "zones" to make the money work for us. Our main shopping was done in the perimeter where most of the fresh, whole foods reside. We gave ourselves a $1 per pound vegetable and fruit "budget". I told the boys to get a portion size amount for 6 people of each vegetable or item that was this price or less. Well, as you can imagine in the autumn time, we purchased apples, bananas, some large citrus, a big bag of potatoes, a bag of yellow onions, a big bag of uncut carrots, a couple full heads of green cabbage, two bags of uncut celery, and a few more $1 or less per pound veggies. We bought (we now make our own) 3 loaves of whole wheat bread from the bakery. We purchased $2 per pound or less meats--which I can assure you rarely happens, but on our trip it was family sized hamburger, frozen chicken breasts and a special on pork ribs. We got skim milk, orange juice, sour cream, large containers of yogurt, eggs, butter and bulk cheddar cheese. We then allowed ourselves specific purchases in the "aisles". We bought a large bag of rice, a large bag of macaroni noodles (always check unit pricing to make sure the bulk amount is the lesser), a few bags of black beans, pinto beans, white beans and a bag of wheat flour. Anyway...the point of the exercise was this: What did we get for our money? At our check out, we had a huge cart full and needed to have another cart to put the sacked items in. Our total was $94 (this was 2007) and we had 74 pounds of food! By knowing that whole foods cost less, are more nutritious and give us more portions of food overall, it was a powerful experience for ourselves. To keep these savings, we had to come home and process and freeze some of our produce and store properly the rest with a plan to use it. Conversely, if you were to stay in the "aisles", which I am not saying don't have good and needful things, but we tend to get mesmerized in there by 6 ounce wonders like "meal" helper, "something" a roni, snack and goodies that don't fill us up, but make us hungry. Every "time saving box of wonder food" has its homemade, whole food match. I promise. They really do. I have seen many "something" a roni recipes and they use bulk bought rice and seasonings. By knowing what are the best deals and knowing that the less processed the item, the best deal you are going to get, you are well on your way to food budget control. For fun, try the perimeter shopping experience. Buy only whole foods and see how many pounds you are able to buy with very little money. You tend to shop in season and to stay healthier and fuller. Also, realize that you pay for every person that touches your food. The more packaged it is, the more people you have paid for the effort.
Finding the Recipes:
So you know where the best prices are on whole foods, but how do you use them? How do you get the $5 a meal recipes amongst your favorite cook books? Simple. Take each recipe and figure out the exact cost for the items in the recipe. An example I will use is one of our non-meat meal recipes that a friend of mine gave me up north. It's called, "Taco Laco" and we love it.
It calls for:
3 cans of black beans (on sale 3 cans for $2.25) (scratched cooked from bulk $.50)
3 cans of yellow corn (on sale 3 cans for a $1)
2 small cans of tomato sauce (on sale for $.66)
1/2 season packet to full packet of taco seasoning (on sale for $.33)
corn chips small bag ($.99)
Additions:
shredded lettuce (I don't like shredded lettuce so we skip this)
shredded cheese (bulk bought for a small condiment in this meal $1)
sour cream ($.88)
guacamole (1 avocado bought and sliced for $1) (2 for $2)
Now, I know that that the basic recipe comes out to $5.23, but that is close enough for me. My food budget allows from some pennies over. My goal remains the same. Now you ask, but you have half the meal not accounted for? How do you make that work? Did you see where I spent most of my money on this recipe? It was on the beans. Canned beans. They are convenient and if I were in a pinch, I would rather go over budget by $.23 than go with a more expensive option for dinner. But what if I bulk bought my black beans? It is possible that by making up some black beans from scratch I can reduce the cost of the beans to $.50 for the equivalent. That gives me back $1.75. If I pick maybe one or two small add ons that I just love--sour cream and avocado slices, I am over budget by $.13 cents. Not bad at all!
But what if you think the meal is great and it costs out to $7.50 to have it all? No problem. This whole plan is about "budget exchanges". Knowing that our goal is $5 a meal, I simply need to make my lunch a $3 deal so that my evening meal can cost $5 in relativity. Does this make sense? If I spend $3 on a tomato noodle soup for lunch (homemade), I have $2 extra dollars for the day to make my taco laco just perfect.
The Power of Leftovers:
Leftovers get a bad rap. They really do. I think part of that is what we do with them after we assign them as such. We tend to put them in a plastic container and put them in the back of the fridge and forget about them. Then after a week, no one remembers what is in them and no one wants to eat them and they waste. Have you ever bought a tasty TV dinner and enjoyed that in less than 4 minutes in the microwave, they are done and you didn't have to do the work? Well, let's think frozen with leftovers. If you don't have plastic individual meal containers that go from freezer to microwave, price them, purchase them and consider this a start to great meal savings. My taco laco ends up giving me two leftover portions. If we figure the meal in it's glory maybe costs $7.50 for 8 servings, then each serving is $.93 or $5.62 for the full glory meal for 6 people! I would then only need to trim lunch's meal by $.62 to stay in budget. My tomato noodle soup then could have hamburger and become goulash. I hope this makes sense! You are to work the daily budget and figure out the price per serving. I make a really good spaghetti sauce and it costs $10, but I can make 3 meals from it! When I calculate the "stretch" of the sauce into 3 meals it is do-able. So, don't be put off if your nice soup costs $12 if you can get 14 servings out of it. You are right in line for a family of 6.
Collect up 6 leftovers and have a "Lazy Susan" dinner where each person gets their micro-waved meal. What an easy fix for after church dinners, game night dinners, etc. Also, our leftover microwave portions become our date night stand bys. We just tell the kids to have at the freezer!
Does One Size Fit All?
No. But it can come close. Let's look at this from the perspective of the family of 1, 2 or 4 (you can use a calculator to figure for any family size--obviously a larger family is going to pay more to eat, but by controlling the individual meal costs, they can stay in line as well).
If I am a single person and trying to make this plan work for me, what do I do? Well, you make a recipe for 8 people and figure to eat it 8 times in a month. If you make a $5 meal for six people and eat it 6 times in a month, you are eating for just $60 a month! You will need more storage containers (single meal sized), but your savings is pretty great because you get to cook for one week a month or less. For a couple following the same recipe plans, you are eating for $120 and cooking just 1/3 of the time. By realizing that a smaller family simply needs to make the larger portions and freeze, you are saving time and money.
Well, folks that is the plan. The goal is to find $5 meal recipes that are both healthy and hit the budget mark. Remember that if you make a meal a little nicer, you might want to pair it with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch. That's how it works!
But What About Breakfast?
Oh yeah! Breakfast....Let me tell you that breakfast can make or break your day! We have found that cold cereal consumption makes us hungry well before lunch is due. It's really not my top choice. I have cold cereal for mornings where the kids are fending for themselves or when we are just not capable of making homemade. What is my breakfast of choice? I love oatmeal. I think it's a wonder food. It keeps our lipids lower, fills us up and keeps us going. Did you know you can go to the Bishops' Storehouse in Saint George and bulk buy a 25 pound bag of oats for less than $8? We have to have about 25 pounds of oatmeal for 6 people's breakfast for a month. We put in dehydrated apples, cinnamon, some honey or sugar depending on who is eating it and a sprinkle of bulk bought slivered almonds. We can also buy a big bag of the dehydrated apples from the storehouse and it lasts 2-3 months. At $8, plain oatmeal bulk bought is $.26 a serving, so I have $1.74 for apples, nuts and sweetener a day. It's a done deal for $2 a day, even with a small splash of milk (which most of us decline). Now, we do have a Saturday breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, yogurt and fruit, but we eat it later and have it as a brunch and so we can blend our lunch and breakfast budget together and there are leftovers of this too.
It works. It refocuses your actions. You begin to think, "Hey if I make my own white sauce instead of buying a $.69 can of cream of whatever soup, I can have some little addition that I would really like to add to my meal." You can eat more fulfilled, healthier and with your budget in full control.
I will begin to share some of my favorite $5-$7 meals to get you started, but my hope is that you will all contribute ideas so we can benefit from new knowledge. Just think how those savings could benefit right now in our difficult personal economies!
DJW
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