Frugal Meal Series: Easy Tuna Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

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 Tuna Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Total cost of meal for 4: $3.64

Cost per serving: $0.91

Price breakdown:

4oz shredded cheddar: $1

1 box macaroni and cheese: 0.50

1 can cream of mushroom: 0.75

1 can tuna: 0.89

1c frozen peas: 0.50

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400. Prepare box of mac and cheese. Drain tuna and add remaining ingredients, mix well and top with shredded cheddar then bake in 8x8 dish for 15-20 min until heated thru and golden on top.

As you can see this is a super cheap and easy recipe that is a favorite for kids and parents alike! We love this one on a slow weekend day or for a quick lunch for the kids. You can double the recipe to make even more, or add on sides to make dinner go farther.