I promised you all this series way back in the fall. How long ago that seems! Well, finally I think I can begin work on this project.
I follow several cooks on YouTube. They are home cooks, women who cook for their families and who do attempt to live on a budget. But I'd noticed that with a lot of the budget recipes that are made might be made still more cheaply. They will likely take more time, because cooking from scratch does take time. There may be a few instances where I simply can't beat their prices and I thought it might be fun to show those as well. There may be some older videos that were a certain price two years ago that cost the same or even more when I'm done with them, but I'll try to do a side-by-side comparison of prices where I can.
Are you ready to get started with this series? Then let's go!
I'm starting with Meals with Maria's last video. She partnered with See Mindy Mom to provide 3 meals each for $20. I want to just say this about Meals with Maria. She's a good, thrifty cook and for the most part she uses pantry items. But in this video she sticks to one store, Walmart, and does all her shopping for her meal there. I'm sure this is because it's convenient to her and perhaps near to her home.
She has little ones at home and any place she can scrunch her time is a savings to her. But if you can afford the time and gasoline to go further afield and shop at different stores, then do. And if you happen to be in an area where stores are few and far between and transportation or mobility is an issue then do the best you can where you are.
These posts are not by any means meant to beat up on anyone who doesn't manage these three recipes as well as Maria or I might. They are meant to highlight how one might possibly save a bit extra by making a few changes. It might cost a bit more in time, but the savings will hopefully be worth it.
My rules: I can use what I have on hand and if I need to purchase something I'm checking prices at Food Depot via Instacart. I chose Food Depot because it's the closest store to my home that is reasonably priced. It is not necessarily the cheapest but it's better than shopping in my hometown at the dollar store. I'll designate those items with an (S) next to the price so you know which ones I had to 'purchase'.
Tip #1 If you want to make meals as thrifty as possible, cook from your pantry.
Tip #2 Don't be store loyal. Track prices and know what you're spending on items so that you can go to the store that has the best price. Stock your pantry in that way and you will be able to trim the costs of even budget minded meals like these just a bit further.
All the recipes Maria used for her video are from Budget Bytes. I've noted that they are pretty thrifty cooks and urge you to check them out if you haven't looked at their website or Instagrams in the past.
Meal #1 in this video is a Cheesy Pinto Beans recipe. Budget Bytes includes their prices at time of publishing the recipe on their website. You can click on the link to view that.
I'll add Maria's costs here and then place mine alongside as reference.
2 cloves of garlic (.59 for one bulb) .08 (per bulb)
1 jalapeno pepper .20 .06 per website. (S)
I often see jalapenos on the clearance rack at my local Food Depot and there is easily a dozen for $1 or less so I feel this is a reasonable price per website.
1 tbsp cooking oil no calculation for this or spices. I have all of these on hand already in my home so I won't calculate for them either.
*2 15-oz cans pinto beans 1.56 *1.00 for two cans bought from clearance
1/4 tsp smoked paprika.
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
2 dashes hot sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese $1 .75
Sour Cream $1.16 $1.59(S)
The beans are served along with rice.
Rice .44 for 1 cup .55
* These are canned beans. Averaging 15 ounces per can. 1 pound of dry Pinto beans is $1.56 at the store website. That will make about 6 cups of cooked beans. We need roughly 3 cups with cooking liquid, so the cost for this replacement could lower the cost slightly, 78c for the beans. I do have beans in my pantry that I purchased for $1 per pound. My cost for those beans works out to .50 for 3 cups.
Maria's cost for making this meal was around $3.65 exactly as it is written. I calculated that she used no more than 6c in garlic.
My cost to make the meal, with the price per clove of garlic calculated (as 12 cloves per bulb) would be $2.38.
If we'd used the dried beans the cost for the entire entree would have been Maria = $2.87. Me =$1.10
Remember this is not the cost per serving but the cost per meal! I think this recipe sounds like a really good frugal meal. For myself, I'd likely want another side, such as a salad but I'm calculating meals exactly as Maria made them.
Meal #2 Maria served the one dish entree with a side of broccoli.
Chicken (she used 6 thighs) $4.56* Thighs purchased as clearance $1.99 for 6*
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsps. cooking oil
1 yellow onion .47 .49 for one onion based on last I bought
1 cup rice .44 .55
1 3/4 cups broth .98 .60
1 tbsp. Parsley
Broccoli 1.96 $2.79 for 1 pound frozen (S)
Totals:
$8.41 $6.42
Meal #3 is a Shredded Bbq Chicken Sandwich with Fried Corn, Mac n Cheese, and cornbread
Chicken Thighs $3.04 $1.32
BBQ sauce 64c 99c
Mac n Cheese 43c 33c
1/2 c. Cheddar cheese $1 75c
Corn 88c (frozen) 58c (I have canned on hand)
Cornbread Mix 98c 62c plus 15c for the egg required.
Maria's cornbread mix only called for water.
She used salt, pepper and thyme to season her chicken when she cooked it in the instant pot.
Totals
$6.97 $4.87
Note here that Maria added the cheese into her boxed mac n cheese, along with 1 tbsp butter and 2 tbsps of milk. The box calls for 1/4 cup of each. She also added garlic and onion powders and paprika, too. Seasonings can really up the flavor value of a meal so if you have them on hand, use them. I did not figure in the costs of the butter nor the milk. You don't have to add either one to make a creditable mac n cheese. You can just add water, preferably some of that cooking water from the pasta and you should have a creamy mac n cheese.
Had we made mac n cheese from scratch: pasta would have cost about 50c so there's really no savings over the boxed mix if you're using store brand. Only if you are using the name brands would you find a savings on that food item.
Maria's three meals came up to $19.03 before tax. Mine came up to $12.39. I could easily have purchased or made another meal or possibly two with that extra.
So, there you have it. Shopping from home, not from scratch is a huge money saver. When you shop from home, you can easily take advantage of items purchased at a lower cost due to sales or pre-inflation prices and it makes a huge difference. But it also makes a big difference to cook from scratch and not use mixes or pre-packaged convenience foods.
Well, there you have it! Our first post. I hope that you found this interesting. I don't know that I'll always do multiples of meals, but it certainly was an eye opener for me to know that indeed I can save over the cost of online budget meals.
Amazon Associate Affiliate Link: discounted Christmas candy? 2 of these would be comparable to one package of regular Reese's cups. 40c per cup, or about 80c compared to regular cost of $1.59.
