Hot on HuffPost Parents:
Babble.com: 8 Parenting Lessons To Learn From 'Arrested Development'
Our Favorite Tweets From Parents This Week
Family friendly meals for $10 or less
Filed under: Work Life, Nutrition: Health, Mealtime
Whenever I try to trim our budget, I always return to our food spending. Even though gas prices are falling, experts say it's unlikely that we'll see any relief in the form of falling food costs. That's not good news for families on a who live on a tight budget. USA Today recently challenged several dietitians to come up with family friendly meals that can feed four people for under $10. For that amount, it might seem like you'd have to serve everyone mac and cheese, but the group came up with a surprisingly diverse and nutritious menu. My favorite are the black bean sloppy joes, but they also recommend egg dishes for families who really want to stretch their food dollar.
We've had to give up some of our favorite "treat" foods as cost rise -- Starbucks frappachino drinks and pre-made hummus are two that come immediately to mind. But this article shows that with a little thought and creativity, it's still possible to stretch your food dollar enough to feed your family a variety of nutritious meals.
What's your favorite low-cost dinner?
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
Recently Asked
- Does the dc superior court represent the irs in a civil filing or does the irs have attorneys?
- The owner of the property or debit creditor can relieve the person(s) of the debt,(a employment position or (court) is not ownership
- Why should anyone listen to a _____, what makes her an expert? Harpo is jus an actress, all she does is sit on her tush & claim she knows it all. ...
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
The Academic Benefits of Family Meals
Education expert Ann Dolin explains the academic and social benefits children receive from a routine family meal and shares her tips for bringing the whole family together.
-
Family Meal Tricks
Daddy Clay and Daddy Owen ask their panel of parenting experts about the family dinner, "Do you sit down and have dinner with your family every night? And if so, how do you pull it off?" Some suggestions from the panel include: try family lunches, turn off the TV, call in some help, get the kids involved with the cooking, order in and most certainly make it fun. Leave your best tips in the comments.
-
Family Vacation Planning Tips
Travel expert Nancy Schretter shares her tips on planning a family friendly summer vacation that saves money, such as free meals for children and visiting the United States' National Parks.
-
Importance of the Feng Shui Fire Element in the Kitchen
Nili Nathan sits with a Feng Shui expert and discusses where she eats her family meals in the house. They also discuss the importance of the Feng Shui fire element in the kitchen.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
10-26-2008 @ 9:40PM
c_rousseau05 said...My favorite low cost dinner is baked chicken breast and white (or jasmine) rice topped with chicken of mushroom soup. Add a tiny bit of salt and it tastes great, feeds a lot of people ( I come from a family of 5 and we always had leftovers) and is very satisfying.
Reply
10-26-2008 @ 10:58PM
Lindsey said...The San Francisco Food Bank just put out a 'Hunger Challenge' to bloggers to create recipes for meals that would feed a family for $1 per meal per person, since $21/week is the amount provided in food stamps each week.
Here's an article about the challenge: http://www.blogher.com/hunger-challenge-how-eat-3-day
And here are the recipes: http://hungerchallenge.blogspot.com/
Reply
10-27-2008 @ 9:25AM
rebecca Biernesser said...Since it is getting cold outside, Stews and soups. Favorites are
15 Bean Soup with polish Sausage, rounded off with cornbread
Potatoe Soup and Sandwiches
Beef Stew with Cornbread
We also enjoy doing things like Taco Night and Pizza Night. Both are favorites of the kids.
I also enjoy Casseroles and have a great simple recipe for a chicken casserole that can be used with leftover chicken and puts new meaning to the word cheap :)
Reply
10-27-2008 @ 12:39PM
Karen said...Spaghetti.
Reply
10-27-2008 @ 1:03PM
Ellen from MindBites.com said...This is a great question. My kids love simple things and my husband and I love spicy, spicy and more spicy food. We try to figure out the easy, cost effective meals that we can cook for the kids and then amp up the spice for us.
An example of this is mac & cheese (add tabasco), spaghetti and tomato sauce (add fresh basil & crushed red pepper), grilled cheese (add jalapenos and tomato- yummy!), baked potato with butter and cheese for the kids (add spicy taco meat, jalapenos, fresh tomatoes, corn & salsa). These are all less than $10 a piece.
I would love you guys to show us how to make some of these great meals for kids http://www.mindbites.com/content/the-baby-formula. You just might win $1500 for trying!
Reply
10-27-2008 @ 2:02PM
mel said...My family loves Thanksgiving in July (or May or Feb....) We can make 3 meals from one turkey breast. I will roast the breast and we will have potatoes and stuffing, just like it's Thanksgiving. The next day I will use the meat to make Turkey Tetrazzini and then I will boil what's left of the breast and make Turkey Noodle Soup. November is a good time to buy a few breasts for your freezer since they are often on sale for the holidays.
Reply
10-28-2008 @ 4:25PM
The Cowgirl said...There are lots of cheap meals and bulk cooking ideas at http://engineeradebtfreelife.blogspot.com/search/label/bulk%20cooking
Enjoy!
Reply