Frugality Tip #7: Eat Cheap {$0.75 Meals & $0.25 Snacks}

FIRST of all... when I say "eat cheap," I do not mean "eat ramen, mac 'n cheese, hamburger helper, and hotdogs."

Eating cheap doesn't have to mean sacrificing good nutrition.

When my husband and I married, we were both full-time college students and he was preparing to enter medical school. Tuition was expensive. Books were expensive. Rent was expensive. Gas was expensive. Insurances. Utilities. FOOD. It all added up quickly, but we were determined not to incur any debt until medical school began, at which point debt would be inevitable.

Luckily, we had a small combined income to meet our needs: He had a part-time job working on campus in the Career and Academic Advising Center as a peer advisor. I worked as an advisor as well, and held another part-time job working as a personal trainer at the campus fitness center. We also took on the job of managing some campus-approved student housing.

To stretch our pennies as far as possible, we washed all our clothes in cold water. We washed all our dishes by hand. We bought our books used. We walked, or car-pooled. We kept the apartment cool in the winter, and sweated it out in the summer. We instituted $5 (or less) date night, because date night was, and is, a MUST. He cut his own hair. My mom cut mine when we visited my parents. So, we had income sufficient for our needs... but no wiggle room in our budget once the basic necessities were taken care of.

...That may sound like an awful way to live to some, but we were very happy, and I can't adequately convey to you how wonderful it felt to be fully self-reliant and independent. We worked hard. We went without the "extras," and it was a great time in our lives!

So, one day after getting home from classes and work, I sat down on our (somewhat hideous) hand-me-down couch with a pen and a spiral-bound notebook half-filled with notes from my Sports Conditioning class, and brainstormed some meal and snack ideas that were as inexpensive as possible without compromising on nutrition, in an attempt to get our down-to-the-very-last-penny-selves a little financial wiggle room. It was a good (short) list, and it has grown as I've developed my cooking skills and have more time to prepare food.

I haven't included an exact cost breakdown or exact serving sizes for the list below, but be assured that I researched the costs. Everything on the list below, consumed in a modest serving size, is right at or below the price points given.

Complete Meals for $0.75 {or less}

BREAKFAST - (always served with milk - $0.24 per 8 oz.)

1. Breakfast burrito ~ Simple Flour Tortilla filled with a scrambled egg cooked with diced bell pepper, and sausage
2. Scrambled egg, toast (homemade bread) with Strawberry Freezer Jam, 1/2 cup fruit
3. Apple-cinnamon oatmeal ~ diced apples and cinnamon cooked in the oatmeal
4. Peanut butter maple oatmeal ~ peanut butter and homemade syrup cooked in the oatmeal
5. Cream of wheat topped with a few blueberries, 1/2 cup fruit
6. Homemade bran muffin, 1/2 cup fruit
7. Ham and veggie omelet, toast ~ egg, ham, tomato, pepper, onion in omelet
8. Maple pecan oatmeal, 1/2 cup fruit ~ Maple & Honey Syrup and chopped pecans cooked in the oatmeal 
9. German pancakes with homemade syrup or jam, 1/2 cup fruit
10. Homemade pancakes with homemade syrup or jam, scrambled egg
11. Homemade waffle with homemade syrup or jam, scrambled egg, 
12. Generic cheerios (or other whole grain) cereal with 1/2 sliced banana and milk
13. Crockpot Yogurt parfait with fruit and homemade granola
14. Homemade bagel with 1 Tbsp reduced-fat cream cheese
15. Homemade hashbrowns, scrambled egg, 1/2 cup fruit
16. Slice of french toast (homemade french bread) with homemade syrup and 1/2 cup fruit

LUNCH

1. Tuna fish sandwich on Best Wheat Bread, small green salad and light dressing
2. PB & J on Grandma's Country White Bread, 8 oz. milk, carrot and celery sticks
3. Lunch meat sandwich, 1/2 apple ~ light mustard, cheese slice, lettuce, tomato slice on homemade bread
4. Veggie quesadilla ~ on homemade tortilla, sauteed onion, tomato, bell pepper, and cheese
5. PB-banana sandwich, 8 oz. milk~ 2 Tbsp. PB on homemade bread with 1/2 banana sliced inside
6. Cheese quesadilla on a homemade tortilla, small green salad and light dressing
7. Grilled cheese on homemade bread, 1/2 cup fruit
8. Egg salad sandwich on homemade bread, small green salad and light dressing
9. Crockpot "Refried" Bean burrito on a homemade tortilla, small green salad with light dressing, 1/2 cup fruit
10. Homemade minestrone soup, homemade bread stick, small green salad with light dressing

DINNER

1. Loaded baked potato, small green salad with light dressing
2. Favorite Chicken Noodle Soup, homemade roll, 1/2 cup fruit or small salad
3. Amazing Fried Rice, clementine orange
4. Best Crockpot Chili, homemade roll
5. Homemade potato broccoli soup, small salad with light dressing, Grandma Benson's Dinner Roll
6. Homemade spicy chicken and rice skillet, roll, small salad with light dressing
7. Homemade lentil soup, homemade bread stick, small salad with light dressing
8. Tuna noodle casserole, 1/2 cup fruit ~ homemade Egg Noodles
9. Pasta, a red meat sauce, small green salad, homemade bread stick
10. Chicken and veggie stir-fry, rice
11. Vegetable beef soup, homemade bread stick, small salad with light dressing
12. Homemade Fish Sticks, Healthy Oven Steak Fries, 1/2 cup fruit
13. Homemade ham and veggie pizza, bread stick, small green salad with light dressing
14. Bean tostada (homemade fried corn tortilla) topped w/lettuce, tomato, and cheese, 1/2 cup fruit

Snacks for $0.25 {or less}

1. Cheese stick
2. Craisins (1/4 cup)
3. Raisins (1/4 cup)
4. Carrot and celery sticks
5. Whole wheat crackers, 1 Tbsp PB
6. 1/2 apple
7. Banana
8. Hard-boiled egg
9. 1/2 orange
10. 1 large graham cracker, 1/2 cup milk
11. No-bake "Food Storage" Granola Bars
12. Olive Oil Microwave Popcorn
13. PB toast ~ homemade bread and 1 Tbsp PB
14. 1/2 cup crockpot yogurt

Some notes about this list:

1.) These are not giant servings. A teenage boy would laugh his head off at this list while consuming an entire loaf of bread slathered in peanut butter... on the other hand, a 2-year old is going to think it's a feast.

2.) I make nearly everything on this list from scratch: bread, tortillas, rolls, bread sticks, pizza crust, sauces, muffins, syrup, jam... you get the idea. It's more nutritious and it's cheaper. I go through a lot of wheat that I grind into flour at home.

3.) If you were to ONLY eat what I have on this list, you may not meet your recommended intake of fruits and veggies. These ideas are meant to help lower the cost of your healthy meals and snacks, and not necessarily to be the only things you eat... though you could pull it off for a short period of time. In my family, we all take a multivitamin ($0.03 - $0.04 each... since you were wondering) and eat other things along with the ideas mentioned on this list.

4.) Some of these ideas contain only my very best guess on prices based: i.e. Bananas are $0.52/lb where I live, with about 3 medium-sized banana's per pound, making 1 banana approximately $0.17. If you live in Los Angeles or New York City, or any number of other places, you might expect to pay more.

5.) The small green salads are SMALL and use inexpensive greens (mostly romaine and little to no iceberg lettuce).

6.) The 1/2 cup serving of fruit is for fruit that is in season (therefore priced at it's lowest) and costs about $0.25 or less (but does not include things like raspberries or blackberries. Those little babies are pricey even when they are in season). Like I said... this list is meant to supplement your meal plans to save you money, and not limit you entirely from the wonderful world of more expensive produce like asparagus, green peas, cherries, and apricots.

7.) A no-brainer, but if you have a garden, raise your own livestock for food purposes (milk, eggs, meat, etc.), or grind bulk wheat into flour, the ideas on this list become cheaper, AND a whole new realm of possibilities opens up for meals and snacks that meet the parameters of the list above. 

Finally...

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND ADD TO THIS LIST!!!
Wouldn't it be great to collaborate on more healthy in-expensive meal and snack ideas? I know there are more options than the ones listed above, and I'd love to hear some of your ideas!