Welcome to my new series aimed at helping families on a budget with some new and cost effective ideas for meals! I aim for around $5-7 per meal while trying to highlight dishes from scratch, meatless options, common ingredients, and whole grains. My typical weekly grocery bill for 4 was $50-60 just a couple years ago, but with the current economy it has increased to about $80-90/week. This series shows you my average family dinners including cost breakdown, links to recipes, and other details to help inspire you!
Step 1 of saving money on your grocery bill is to MAKE A MENU! Once a week I sit down and write out a dinner menu for the next 7 days. I take into account what I have in the freezer, what our schedule is like for that week, what the weather is (hot/cold), and any leftovers. It also stops everyone from asking "What's for dinner??" From this you can easily make your shopping list to only get the items you need while keeping an eye out for any markdowns/clearance items you can stick in the freezer for a different meal. I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Aldi as I find that they have the best prices on most items. For a few other remaining items I go to Walmart.
Some meals I make are easy, some are more complicated. I mostly stick to tried and true dishes that I know everyone likes, but occasionally I like to try out a new one and experiment! I cook many style from American to Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and lots of Tex Mex. Variety is the spice of life!
For my cost breakdowns I will show real or estimated prices of items (based on current prices in western NY), but I don't include typical pantry ingredients i.e. spices/oil/butter/milk etc. unless it's a significant amount.
For this meal I made French Onion Chicken Casserole (approx 6+ servings)
Total cost of meal for 4: $5.52
Cost per serving: $1.38
Price breakdown (for entire casserole):
4c cooked brown rice: $0.75
2c diced cooked chicken: $2.50
1c French Onion dip: $1
1 can cream of chicken: $0.75
1c shredded cheddar: $2
1/2c chicken broth: $0.25
1/2c french fried onions: $1
Recipe found HERE.
This delicious casserole was an easy and filling way for us to use up some leftover Thanksgiving turkey! Otherwise you can use 1 large chicken breast for it. After your rice is cooked (the recipe calls for instant but I use regular brown rice) it throws together very quickly and is hot and ready out of the oven. You can pair it with many yummy sides, I usually do steamed veggies. Depending on your portion sizes, this can easily serve 6 or more people. For the 4 of us we have seconds, and usually a bit leftover. If you like the taste of french onion dip, I highly recommend!
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