I follow a thrifty mom on her blog “Life as Mom” (see her link and a few others on the left panel over there!) and quite enjoy her insights and cost-cutting ideas. I’m all about saving a buck and getting a great deal.

Today she’s asking about how people stretch their food budget. Interesting topic – I didn’t even realize that I was doing just that until I started reading her blog a few months ago.  There are 4 of us, not including the furry, finned, or shelled beings in our home. I have a silent “rule of thumb” that I try to keep dinners at $10 and under, except on special occasions. It’s not so much that I “have” to do it, but it’s a psychic challenge I started a long time ago when funds were especially tight for us.

Meatloaf is a good way to do this – ground pork is much cheaper than ground beef, so I use a smaller amount of ground beef  and combine it with ground pork, plus all the other ingredients, like egg, bread crumbs, etc. I put diced olives in my meatloaf to give it a bit of extra flavor. Makes for a very yummy meatloaf.

We have fajitas quite often, and I slice a bunch of veggies to help fill our wraps, along with the chicken. This way we end up using less chicken, and we get the extra veggies in our diet.  My kids adore red bell peppers.

We love fish. Well, my husband and youngest daughter and I love fish. The Teen… notsomuch. I try to have it once a week, and Talapia is a very yummy, fairly inexpensive fish. I put them in a pan, put a dash of HP sauce (or whatever) and then some grated cheese, and bake it until it’s flaky. OMG yum! Put that with Basmati rice (I adore my rice cooker!!) and some veggies, and it’s an awesome meal.

I buy in bulk when there’s a sale. I bought a small freezer that I call my “stock up” freezer. We especially adore pork tenderloin, and it tends to go on sale on a monthly basis at the nearest SuperStore. I buy 5 or 6 packages each time, and that lasts us nicely until the next sale.

We have pasta once a week, and that is about as economic as you can get – buy a cheap pasta sauce and add your own spices and veggies/meat to it. I buy the slightly more expensive “Smart” pasta that has extra fibre, but it’s still a very cheap meal.

I don’t do coupons usually, but that is because I never EVER remember to bring them with me. I’d love to be as organized about that as this lady is, but alas, I just don’t think it’s meant to be.