Many of my friends and family have heard me complain about how hard it is to feed two teenage boys without going broke. Recently I found a couple of good sources for inexpensive recipes. I have been regularly using budget meal plans from the Budget Meal Planner. You can sign up for a free weekly email plan that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack ideas for $5 per person per day. I especially love this because it plans out the meals for the week and provides a grocery list. The recipes are pretty simple and usually quite good.
In addition, I tried out Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day. This cookbook by Leanne Brown includes lots of inexpensive recipes with estimated costs for serving. For example, you could make Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato, which my son made and was quite yummy, for $2.50 per serving or Broccoli, Egg, and Cheddar Empanadas for $.60 per serving. Brown says the she picked $4 a day because that is about how much money you would have per person, per day if you were on SNAP, also know as food stamps. I really admire her work on creating these recipes because it is important that everyone be able to eat healthy and delicious meals no matter their income.
Good and Cheap, which has a photo for every recipe (yay!), also includes tips for how to shop and eat well. One tip that has been important for my family: Always buy eggs. Eggs are a cheap source of protein, and one of the first things my boys learned how to cook. In my house if someone is “starving,” they can always make an egg. Also, one thing I’m loving about my new Instant Pot is how easy it is to make hard boiled eggs.
I would love to hear if any of you have tips on keeping your grocery budget under control. I will be back with a recipe from this book early next week!
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