Another installment of how did she do that?

 Last night we had hot dogs. Oven fries, and a fruit platter.   Its the season and we had grapes, cherries, strawberries,  blueberries and raspberries.

We continue to spend less than our 4,00 a day budget,  I did, however, prorate our case of hamburger purchase,  Zaycon is out of business .

How did she do that!   Meals that are super cheap, especially when you efficient scratch cook

1. Beans, rice, and cornbread .  Rice in the insta pot is easy. Ditto the beans,   Scratch beans and rice save a ton of money,   Bagged Reid rice can be 50 cents a serving,   Homemade costs .02.  Cornbread is another cheap side.  My family doesn’t eat cornbread, so we make beer bread.   It, too, is really easy,   
2. Spaghetti w pasta sauce .   Sour dough bread takes 10 minutes and costs a quarter. 
3. Split Pea soup. 
4. Homemade pizza.  Another one that is cheap and easy. 
5. Bbq chicken (leg portions) and oven fries.  Leg portions  can be less than a buck a pound. Potatoes are a quarter a pound here,  wash potatoes with vinegar water.  We have a dedicated brush,  cut potatoes in eights, dry with a paper towel.  Toss with olive oil and  sprinkle with  desired seasoning,  we use garlic pepper.   Place on sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes,or until done. 
6. Mac and cheese,  scratch Mac and cheese is easy.   Start with a white sauce mix (homemade) add grated cheese.   Cook elbow macaroni until done,   It takes 2 minutes in the insta pot, quick release,   Use a quart of water for a box of pasta.   Have been finding Barilla at the DT.  Put the Mac and cheese in a baking pan and top with a breadcrumb mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesean  cheese and parsley,   Bake at 350 until heated through.  We use homemade breadcrumbs, real parmesean cheese.   You can have real foods and still stay on a low budget. 
7. Stirfry,   Stirfry s t r e t c h e s.   A little meat,    When you are butchering your bulk meat, you can often set aside bits of meat for stirfry,  add veggies and you have a meal.  Add rice or top ramen noodles,  
8. Fried rice, 
9. Cheeseburger macaroni,   Scratch takes no longer than the box and has better and more ingredients,   When we dissected  a box  of mix it had 4.2 ounces of macaroni including the take weight, and a 1.57 ounce package of cheese sauce that didnt have any cheese in it,  It did have a whole lot of things that we couldn’t pronounce .   The recipe is on the blog.   
10. Tuna Melts.   
11. Nachos,   
12. Breakfast for dinner,   Pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, fruit,   

The best tip I can give, is to develop a set of meals your family likes that use inexpensive sources of protein,   Keep a stock of shelf or freezer safe foods that you will use to cook those meals,  buy stocking when prices are low,you can maintain a 4-6 week supply of ingredients and you will avoid the pantry is empty and there is 4 days until payday syndrome.   Its a nice place to be.  It doesn’t happen overnight,but it can happen.