To those close to my family it is no surprise that the economy has not been kind to us the past three years. We are now living, on a good month, about a quarter of our budget from three and a half years ago. For a woman whose joy in life is cooking, it was a sever blow to my perceived ability to provide nutritious, delicious meals for my family. Admittedly in the beginning I didn't really even try. I resorted to Hamburger Helper, "box meals," and pasta. I sacrificed produce and non-ground meat. It is so true that we parish due to the lack of knowledge. Gaining weight and unfulfilled by the non-cooking involved with these meals I set out to discover budget cooking that is outside of the box, literally. From the start of my odyssey I reminded myself that a well stocked pantry can make or break the home cook. Slowly I began restocking, and as I did I found that I could supplement the box meals with one or two home made meals a week. Slowly I have been able to eliminate box meals all together.
First of all, you will not find any Wal-Mart hate here. I love Wal-Mart. With out it my family would have starved. However, the produce is expensive and sub-par. The answer I found was local produce markets. I LOVE my local markets. The produce is locally grown, fresh and cheep! For example, just last week I bought 1lb celery, 1lb carrots, 1lb onion, 1lb potato's, fresh rosemary, paprika and cooking twin for only $7.20! Try doing that even at Wal-Mart. That brings me back to the pantry. I always have said veggies and a few others on hand which saves so much when planing weekly meals based on the cost per recipe. I have learned how to feed my family weekly, wholesome meals- including lunches for $40 to $60!
This knowledge is what I wish to share on this blog. How to read the cost of a recipe and the recipes that I've served my family for as little as $4.50 a meal. I hope you enjoy.
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