Wednesday, July 13, 2011

5 Dollar Dinners One of my Favorite Websites

One of my Favorite sites to read is 5 Dollar Dinners. This site is fantastic because Erin, the creator is always posting about budget cooking for her family, how to save money at the grocery store and more

Some of her great budget ideas are:
  • strategic couponing. Basically use coupons for items that you will need and use. This is not Extreme Couponing like many of you have seen on TV, but more so about using coupons as another way to save money without going crazy and clearing shelves at the store.
  • Buying items on Sale.
  • Cooking from Scratch
  • Batch Cooking
  • Dinner Planning
  • Growing a vegetable garden to reduce your budget on veggies.
I read her website a few times a week and actually own her cookbook.

For the month of July, Erin and a few other bloggers have teamed up for a Freezer and Pantry Challenge. Basically try to make all of your meals from what you have on hand and only purchase perishable items. When I read this on her blog I decided that this was a great idea, especially since I need to make sure I have room in my freezer for all of the items that I will be harvesting from my garden.

So far I am well under my July Food Budget because of this challenge. While some of my meals will be more then $5 (how can you have Steak for under $5 for a family of 4), however I do ensure that when my favorite cut of steak is on sale, I stock up, vacuum seal and freeze the steaks. This way a steak dinner will still be under $10 for my family.

Get out your cookbooks everyone and look in your pantry and freezer. See what you can make this month from the items that you have on hand.

So far this month, here are some of the items that we have had....and I did not need to go to the grocery store for any of these meals.

  • Ribs with Potato Salad
  • Spaghetti with Bacon & peas and Salad
  • Grilled Chicken Wraps with Hummus and Grilled Asparagus
  • Asian Chicken and Veggie Stir fry with Rice
  • Pork Cutlets with Salad and Baked Garlic Pita Bread "chips"
  • Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Fresh Ontario Grown strawberries
  • Tonight we are having Pumpkin Lasagna with Salad and Garlic Bread
  • Tomorrow we are having Grilled Steak with potatoes and corn
Check out 5 Dollar Dinners.

Will you be joining the July Summertime Pantry Challenge?

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