I'm trying to be better about menu-planning and doing a real budget (other than "as little as possible"). There are two of us and I usually spend $.75-$1.00 per serving on dinner. Depending on what I make and how many servings it is, I spend anywhere from $2-$6 on dinner. Which includes main dish, side dish, and veggies. (or all three if I make something like pizza.)
So, thinking maybe I could get this down even more, I started Googling around to see what other people have out there for budget recipes. It seems like the "budget" recipes cost even more than mine. Like, a main dish may end up costing $1.50 per serving -- but that's just the main dish and doesn't take into account side dish and vegetable.
I buy pretty much all generic, buy only sale meat (except for ground turkey, because it never goes on sale), and don't buy many pre-packaged products. I used to have a membership at Sam's Club, but I let it expire because it cost $40/yr and their prices weren't any better than my favorite grocery store. So now I'm wondering if I'm being unrealistic and if my meals are pretty much as cheap as you can get and still be relatively healthy. I mean, sure, I could eat toast and jam all week, but it's not exactly nutritious. Plus how can all these people afford to eat ground beef?? Here in Iowa it's three bucks a pound, or you can get it for $2.50 if you don't mind it being mostly gristle and strange white tubey things.
Sometimes I think that when people claim that they're feeding six people on $200/month they fail to mention that they're getting food stamps. 
--------------------
jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
What do you consider to be a budget meal?
