How much $$ do we spend on dinner?

[Craiger]

Hi everyone, since this is Smart Canucks and we all enjoy saving money while eating healthy as well, I am wondering if everyone sticks to a budget when it comes to making dinners.
For me I budget $100 a week for groceries (that includes myself, husband, and 2 young daughters), some weeks I spend less and that extra money I bank for weeks that work out to be more than $100.
I aim to make dinners for under $5.00...so far so good and I am able to stick to that. If a dinner is more than $5.00 it generally is a meal that I can split up into 2 dinners to make it $5.00 a meal anyways.

Anyone else have a dollar amount they follow and any tips/tricks to stick to it.

[anastasia1009]

Weird I was just thinking this cause since being laid off I am on a tight budget and I try to spend less than 5 a meal for two people. I want to spend less than $100 for two people and 4 cats per week. Cost a bit more cause of allergies to milk and pork and by products. I would love to read some tips too

thanks
deb

[blueeyetea]

Wow. What kind of meal do you can you make for $5 to feed a family of four?

For a while I was keeping track of how much it costs to make a particular recipe, but keeping tabs on the cost of every meal would be too overwhelming. We budget about $100 a week for myself and my husband, but using the pantry system to cook our meals, some weeks cost more and other weeks cost less.

[gracesmommy]

i was thinking about this the other day, i too can do it for around $5 or a bit more.. one that i like is when the marc angelo ssgs come on sale for $3 - $1 coupon ($2), some peppers (which i bought in bulk at NF for $1.88/4 - sliced and frozen), some pasta sauce (either homemade or the hunts thick n rich from NF 98c -$1WUB2), catelli healthy harvest pasta (25c at WM a few weeks or so ago), toss in a few mushrooms, some garlic, onions etc. and voila! pasta with veggies and ssgs. throw together a side salad or some crusty bread (usually 99c or so at NF) ..feeds 2 adults and 2 kids and sometimes some extra for my DH to take in his lunch the next day. great thread!

[lighthousejen]

That's so funny, just yesturday I was saying that dinner cost about 5.50 and that's over my alotted $5 I have set for dinner(family of six). My daughter was like your too hard on yourself mom, when I was l all frustrated.lol. But I have to work really hard to get it down to that. Nothing packaged. It's kind of a good challenge that I enjoy

[Craiger]

I like the challenge as well.

This is what we had lastnight for $4.50 total (lasagna $3.50, garlic bread .50, and veggies with dip approx .50)
Homemade lasagna (I made 2 pans a couple of weeks ago and froze them, each pan does for 2 meals and cost $7.00 each to make) $3.50
Garlic bread (I used the D'Italino 2 pack of bread from No Frills dollar sale $1.00 for 2 loaves and I just used 1) .50
Fresh cut up carrots, cucumbers and celery with dip (I always have a bowl in the fridge for snacks) .50

[anisa]

dinner usually costs us $10-$15 bucks when i make it. sometimes $20, depends on what i feel like making. we are 2 adults, one 9 yr old and one picky 3 yr old.

I cook maybe 4-5 times a week, the rest of the time it is leftovers, and one day a week eating out or ordering in. we have to have healthy, hardy meal. if i attempted to serve hubby something like soup and sandwiches or hotdogs and chips, my head would roll! more often than not i am also cooking something for me and the kids which is different from what has been cooked for hubby.

i cook from 99% scratch, and we eat meat every day. the meat i get is from a local butcher that uses their own locally raised meat. it's not specifically organic or anything.

our groceries cost us a lot, even after all the efforts to save

[Natalka]

My son, who helps with the grocery shopping, has started keeping track of this! Usually it's four to five dollars for supper - I cook recipes for a family of six.

[Craiger]

Tonight we will have the leftover lasagna from lastnight ($3.50)
Garden salad which includes romaine, green pepper, cucumber and fresh mushrooms (1/2 romaine was .47, 1/2 green pepper for .29, 1/2 cucumber was .33, 1/2 package of fresh mushrooms .44) and dressing of course

All for just under $5.00

[Natalka]

Craiger (and others!) - we need you to join in the What's for Dinner? thread in the Food section!!!
Plus, share recipes and ideas in the section if you like.

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/83292-w...er-canada-651/

[Ami1984]

I love this thread I always have a hard time trying to figure out what a meal cost, and how to figure it out, this has helped me alot to figure it out

[lekate]

I do this, but mostly to break down the cost of my lunches, I try to make a big batch of something and get at least 4-6 meals out of it. MY Quinoa stir fry made 6 lunches and came in around 9$ all told (Quinoa- 1$, Tempeh - 5$, Frozen Veg mix - 1$, yellow and red peppers - 1.5$). Nummy

[Craiger]

Dinner today includes...
Meatballs from m+m's (1/3 of the package) = $3.33
Whole Grain Rice (big bag cost me $2.00 at NF can't remember the name brand) = approx .20
1/2 Bag of No Name Frozen corn from NF = .80

All total of $4.33

[ChristieJ]

I'm jealous of those of you who are able to make dinner for under $5. I spend at least $10 a meal for my partner and I. We typically eat vegan twice/thrice a week (religious reasons and to cut down on meat). Other days it's meat or fish/seafood. Though our vegan meals are under $5. I try, but can't make it that cheap. The other day, my partner made his specialty, Penne with Salmon. We both ate it, plus he let me have the leftover for lunch the next day. But it still ended up costing $13 to make. Heck, even a roast chicken with potatoes and salad still costs $10, and we don't 2 "full" meals out of it.

[babyluck]

This is a great thread. I have been trying so hard to lower our grocery bill, but so far, not a big success. And my meal planning has failed too. I will be following this thread to learn tips and ideas, hopefully by end of this year, I will be able to cut down to $100/week for a family of 5.