My goal is to provide dinner for my family (2 adults and one toddler eating) for an average of $5 except on special occasions. We don’t have to eat beans and rice to accomplish this goal! We typically only cook a main dish 5 or 6 times a week, so each main dish cooked will be for 4-6 servings, and there will be leftover servings for lunches, dinners on the weekend, or to freeze for another week. This cuts down on cleaning, cooking, and meal planning- saving us lots of time!
Last week we were over run with leftovers. We never needed to make the pasta with italian sausage or the BBQ chicken. We’ll try those two dishes this week.
Pasta with italian sausage, green beans, cheesy garlic toast
1/2 box pasta @ .50
1/2 lb sausage @ 1.25
1/2 jar spaghetti sauce @ .67
1 can green beans @ .67
2 slices of toast @ .12
2 slices of mozzarella cheese @ .25
garlic
Total Cost: $3.46
BBQ chicken, baked beans, fresh corn, fresh peaches
1 lb chicken @ 1.98 (cooked with chicken from 2 weeks ago and frozen)
BBQ sauce @ .15
7 slices of bread for buns @ .42
can of baked beans @ .99
2 ears fresh corn @ .66
2 fresh peaches @ .84
Total Cost: $5.04
Season Salt Baked Chicken, twice baked potatoes, broccoli and cheese
1 lb chicken @ 1.78
2 large potatoes @ .50
1/2 cup sour cream @ .29
1/2 cup milk @ .07
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese @ 1.49
bacon bits @ .25
3 slices velveeta @ .45
1 cup broccoli @ .64
2 tbsp butter @ .03
minced onion
Total Cost: $5.49
Ham Steaks, Macaroni and Cheese, Sweet Peas, Plums and Toast
4 precooked ham steaks @ 3.00
macaroni @ .50
cheese @ 1.00
butter and milk for mac @ .10
1 can sweet peas @.62
2 fresh plums @ .46
3 slices toast with cinnamon & sugar @ .18
Total Cost: $5.86
Average cost for these 4 meals : $4.94