This menu took some work, but still came in under $5.00 per person per meal. Even includes dessert!Breakfast:
.18 = 1/2 cup 9-grain cracked cereal (Prov Pantry)
.26 = 1 cup milk
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.44 cost for breakfast
Lunch:
.30 = 1/3 cup dried banana chips (Prov Pantry)
.37 = 2 oranges
.46 = 1/4 Jiffy Cornbread mix (.13) + 2 hotdogs (.33) = 2 corndogs!
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1.13 cost for lunch
Dinner:
.87 = 1/4 pizza kit (incl crust, sauce, cheese)
.50 = pepperoni or sausage for pizza
.50 = 1/4 bag salad on sale
.35 = 6 baby carrots or 2 stalks celery (for salad)
.66 = salad dressing
.35 = 1/4 cake made from $1.00 mix + 2 eggs (.10), no frosting
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3.23 cost for dinner
These three meals total to $4.80. Does not include snacks, drinks or leftovers. Still, you're eating pretty good for less than $5.00 per person per day. You could spend the remaining $.77 for snacks like more fruit and veggies, popcorn, or drinks. Or place it in a jar to save for something special.
Tips:
- Be sure to scour the almost-expired produce section for good prices on the carrots, oranges, celery and bag salad. Or get whatever fruit and veggies are on sale or almost-expired. It's okay to change your menu to accommodate what you can get at terrific prices!
- Do you have bread about to expire, and spaghetti sauce and cheese? Make a "bread pizza" for even cheaper!
- We save cooked bacon or sausage in the freezer for when it's pizza night! That helps bring our costs down too.
- When boxes of cake mix go on sale for a dollar or less, we buy several boxes of a variety of kinds. The tubs of frosting, though, are ridiculously overpriced and completely artificial. Now.. the boxes of cake mix is an easy and cheap way to get a filling dessert. If you must have frosting or icing, how about spreading some homemade preserves on each piece, then sprinkle on powdered sugar? Very yummy.
Enjoy!
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