Healthy and Cheap Family Meals for Tight Budgets

Classic Carrot and Turnip Mash

4/25/2016

This was a common vegetable dish in our house growing up. It’s perfect for frugal-minded households concerned about nutrition, and that description fits Mom exactly.

Carrots are one of the cheapest vegetables out there, and loaded with nutrients besides. Turnips are also very nutritious and budget-conscious, and their tangy flavor blends with the sugary sweetness of the carrots to make for an interesting and tasty combination.

This dish is also very versatile in terms of flavoring. I like it with just some salt and pepper and just a little butter or margarine, but you can add whatever spices or flavorings to the mash that appeal to you or offer a nice accompaniment to the rest of the meal. Mace, ginger, cumin, and curry are just some possibilities that lend this dish different taste accents to suit any entrée.

Fresh Garlic Bread, the Quick and Easy Way

10/21/2015

"That is the BEST garlic bread! Soooo good!" That's a direct quote from my 10-year-old nephew after I served this when we had him over for dinner recently.

There's no doubt that serving this garlicky, buttery bread as a side dish for a meal is always a huge hit in my house. It can turn a mundane meal into a bit of a feast, no question about it.

And I have streamlined the process so that the bread is ready in no time at all, so it takes almost no effort.

I make a habit of picking up extra loaves of whole grain, Italian or French bread in our local grocery store bakery department when they go on sale for $1.

I take and use only the amount of bread I need for each meal by cutting them into meal size portions.

I store the rest away in meal size portions in the freezer for for another time.

Homemade Salsa (Easy)

9/27/2015

There are so many more food options available in grocery stores now than there were when I was even a young adult. For example, nobody had even heard about salsa and chips when I was a child, but now they are a favorite snack in many households.

And as snack foods go, they are one of the healthier options, with far less sugar and undesirable fats than many others, in addition to providing a serving each from the grain and fruit/vegetables group.

I used to buy salsa for our household when it was on sale, but as my boys grew and their appetites increased, they could go through a jar of it in no time flat, and it became a much rarer treat, due to its cost.

Then it occurred to me that I could probably make my own far more economically -- yes, even kitchen veterans like me can be a little slow to recognize cost-savings that are staring us in the face -- so I began to experiment with various recipes.

Homemade Salad Dressing

9/17/2015

Making Your Own Cheap, Easy, and Healthy Salad Dressing

As I’ve mentioned before, the cumulative effect of even small spending habits can have a substantial impact on our bottom line. The little things add up. Sometimes it’s just that we are not aware of how we fritter money away and simply need to be more mindful about our choices. Sometimes we just don’t realize that there are cheaper alternatives available to us.

Salad dressing is one such case. It seems like such a minor thing that doesn’t matter much, so most people use store-bought versions without thinking about it. But it’s actually much less expensive -- and healthier besides -- to make your own. And it's also a cinch.

Classic Carrot and Turnip Mash

Fresh Garlic Bread, the Quick and Easy Way

Homemade Salsa (Easy)

Homemade Salad Dressing

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