We are on the journey of downsizing our lives,living debt free and following God where He leads. All while renovating our tiny house, running our business, cooking, cleaning, raising and homeschooling our large family in our tiny house. Everyday is different and interesting...and you get to read about it right here!
I've been on a mission to lower our food budget and to find some new recipes to go along with the new budget. It has been a bit of a challenge..because we LOVE delicious food in our house. We are kind of 'foodies'..and being a foodie doesn't always fit well into a lower priced budget. Plus, we need it to be fairly healthy because we are feeding growing bodies. :)
One of our new recipes is this large family pizza we have been enjoying.
We made 2, 16" pizza's and 1 gallon of lemonade for $10.42
We ended up only eating one pizza and half of the lemonade for the dinner...so we had it for lunch the next day,
It breaks down to $5.21 a meal!!
I don't know about you, but being able to feed my family of 6, pizza and lemonade for less than $6 is a huge win at our house.
1. Skip the pizza sauce and go for pasta sauce (or better yet, make your own!), it is cheaper and goes a lot farther. Just sprinkle in a little Italian seasoning.
2. Buy the larger block of Parmesan cheese and grate it yourself! Those blocks produce so much actual grated cheese, it is unreal! Plus it melts well, and tastes so much better than its partially dehydrated, powdery, shaker filled counter part.
The recipe breakdown is at the end of the video.
The total meal breakdown is as follows..
$4.78/ 1 pizza
$0.43/ 1/2 gallon of lemonade
Happy Baking!
Lyndsay
The Tiny House Homeschool Mom
P.S. If you would like to see more budget friendly meal idea from the Tiny House Homeschool crew..then like, comment, share and subscribe. Just a couple clicks and you are really helping our family out!
Dustin is not a fan of eating breakfast super early in the morning. He leaves for work fairly early, he prefers to eat his breakfast at his first break.
At first he was eating off of the 'Food Truck'..and not one of those nice food trucks you see on tv. Plus is wasn't very cheap. When I realize how much he was spending on his breakfast, as well as what kind of a food truck it was(Gross and SO unhealthy!)...we decided it was time to come up with a solution.
So, I went to Pinterest!
Yay Pinterest!
That was back in the Summer...I found an awesome breakfast burrito recipe. It made 30+ burritos for a fraction of the price he was spending for the burritos at work. He really liked them. They were quick and easy for me to make. Once I had them made I could sort of forget it for a few weeks..and all he had to do was grab one and toss it in his lunch lox on his way out the door. Once at work he puts in his heated lunch box, and it is piping hot by first break.
I made those for a few months.
About 2 months ago he started saying that he was getting tired of his burritos. (How dare he mess with my budgeted breakfast system!) He said he would really like some breakfast sandwiches, like Mcd's, only better.
So back to the drawing board I went. It had to be tasty and it had to be cheaper than actually purchasing them from the place with the golden arches. Why?? Because I am just that frugal. ;)
I had some certain parameters to work within.
1. It had to have Bob Evans sausage, But not the premade patties.Because they shrink up like hockey pucks!
2. It had to have Kraft American cheese. (Because, if you are going to have processed cheese product, it had to be the good kind. ;) )
3.It had to be easily freezable and had to go seamlessly from freezer to heated lunchbox to table. If there were any other steps in between...it was a no go.
Ok! Let's get started!
Here is what you will need!
2lbs BobEvans Sausage (I get ours at Sam's Club)
Kraft American Cheese (Aldi)
English Muffins (2 Packs, Aldi)
You will also need
A skillet or griddle
Aluminum Foil
Gallon Sized Ziploc Bags
A Toaster
Everything you will need to make this amazing Mc Muffins!
Now it is time to get cooking!
Our sausage comes in a 2lb tube. I am not very skilled in the department of cutting them in uniform slices. So I cut the long tube in half. It is easier to work with it 1lb at a time. I divide the each lb into five even pieces. Make sure they are even!
Then form patties and cook.
Be sure to make the patties as flat as you can.
Cook and Drain the Sausage Patties.
While we are at it, take a look at that beautiful griddle!
I got it for Christmas.
Love it!! :)
While the Sausage Patties are cooking I get all the foil pieces prepped and set up the toaster.
We are shooting for fast assembly line style here.
Slice the Muffins
Label the gallon size bag
Now you are ready to......Assemble!!!
Toast a Muffin, Add sausage and cheese.
Wrap up tightly
Repeat 10 times
Freeze in labeled ziploc bag
Now if you are me..you get to forget it about for two weeks..and the husband can happily eat breakfast at his first break without breaking the budget or risking his health.
A Few Thoughts/Tips and Some MATH
(Because, what is the point of all of this if we don't include the math?! You know that is the only reason you came and bothered to read up until this point.)
1. Don't forget to lightly toast the Muffins.
Someone has continually reminded me that this is the utmost important step..and I must not forget.
Even though I have not forgotten to toast a single one yet.
You would think he thinks I have gotten forgetful after having four children or something. LOL
2. Be sure the sausage is divided evenly, or you might hear about how inconsistent they have turned out.
I love my husband dearly, but he is pretty adamant about consistency with his meals. I am a free spirit...it is SO HARD to make everything so similar every time I do it. I love him though, so I strive for consistency. However, I like to keep things slightly inconsistent just to keep him on his toes...so.. no two McMuffins are wrapped the same!
3. Try to flatten the patties as thin as possible. Because..no matter how flat you get them...they WILL shrink up!
4. You can save even more money on these by using non name brand products. My husband really prefers Bob Evans and Kraft. However, if I was to use the sausage from our butcher it would be SO MUCH cheaper! The American cheese can obviously be purchased for less.
The English Muffins....I have used the good brand (Thomas), and we have used a few of the off brands. I have also made them from scratch before. (That was before Anna. I seriously don't have the time right now.)
The brands do not seem to make too much of a difference in the taste and consistency...and I have found that Aldi has the cheapest price as of this moment in time.
5. It is best to assemble it all while it is warm so the cheese can melt and everything can stick together in true "McMuffin' form.
6. You do not have to use foil. Clear wrap or wax paper, parchment paper or some other form of wrapping would obviously be cheaper. We do not have that option because his heated lunch box gets too hot and will melt/burn anything else. So, Foil it is for the THH family!
NOW...For the money!
(Because we all know this is why I even bother with all of this stuff. ;) )
Dustin can get a Sausage McMuffin from McDonalds for $1.
Or he can get something similar from the 'food truck' (Gag) for $2.75 (Highway robbery)
I can make them for roughly $.90.
Like I stated above, you can bring the price down even more with less expensive ingredients.
All of that being said. I'm pretty happy with the price considering the guidelines I had to work with.
Now for your viewing pleasure, We have started making some how to videos to go along with the blog posts. Because..why not?! I hear we are rather entertaining. But hey, you be the judge.
Oh and don't forget to like, comment and subscribe! Thanks!
Be nice! :)
What are your budget favorite budget friendly breakfast ideas?!
Not long after we were married, Dustin bought a clipper set on sale at Sears. He had decided to cut his own hair. (He made this decision while standing in front of the sales display in Sears ;).) His first few attempts were less than desirable. The torch was quickly passed to me...because I can actually see the back of his head. hehe.
Don't get me wrong..I was not exactly a pro at hair or anything..and this was before youtube was a big thing. Sometimes, I was very thankful that he wore hats to work!
We were flying by the seat of our pants. But it was saving us money. So we pressed forward.
Over time, I got better at cutting hair. I cut Dustin's, trimmed my own and expanded with each new addition to the family.
Am I a professional?...absolutely not.
Have I screwed up everyone's hair at least once? Oh definitely!
Have I accidentally caught the husbands ear in the trimmers? Mmmaayybe...*side glance*
...sshhh...I still deny that this happened, even to his face...even though his ear was obviously bleeding. I also may have done this to our son as well. I can't help the fact that the men in this house can not sit still! Anytime I screw up, I am always quick to remind Dustin that I am saving him money and that this was HIS idea about 14 years ago. hehe
HaveI saved my family a LOT of money? DEFINITELY! :) We have been doing this for over 14 years. I can't even begin to imagine how much it has saved us over the years. At a minimum I would say it saves us $15-30 a month. Between 5 heads of hair, (Babies don't count. At least not my poor, bald headed babies) that's around $180-360 dollars a year.
I will occassionally take the kids and get things straightened or refreshed..I did it for myself as well. I do not claim to be a professional, and firmly believe that there is a time and a place to go to a salon. There is something awesome about going and getting your hair done. It feels fresh and crisp afterwards. Recently, I have been going and getting mine cut. Last Fall, I decided to go with a shorter cut..one that requires upkeep. I felt really guilty about the money for a while..then I reminded myself that I'm already saving the family enough money in the hair cutting area....as well as...this is my one thing. I am not high maintenance. Almost all of my clothes are from clearance, or from ebay. I do not wear loads of expensive make up or get my nails done. So I decided my hair is something just for me. :) It even got its own line in the budget. Thank you EveryDollar! Last Friday was my scheduled hair appointment. All of my helpers went with me. (Have I mentioned how great my hair lady is? She didn't even bat an eye at my crew.)
Emma had been on the fence about cutting her hair for months. It was really long and had been that way for over two years. Well, she decided on Friday that 'today was the day' and she couldn't wait another moment to have it gone. It had been a long time since I had done a girls short style, and I was nervous! I even tried to talk her into waiting and going to the lady who does my hair. She would not wait. So...we cut her hair. Eight inches shorter and lots of layering...and she is happy. I got really worried about half way through with the layers. Once it was washed and dried and I did a little more trimming it was ok. Her hair has a lot more body than it did a few years ago, I was not prepared for that. (I am probably going to take her to have it thinned this week. I have thin hair and have never had that problem. LOL We do not have the tools for thinning.)
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and Emma has been bouncing around like it's Christmas for three days now. ;) You can't deny the wonderfulness of a new hair cut. Even at that age! She loves it and I love the fact that we saved some cash.
Like I said above...I have absolutely no issues with Salons. I admire the people who do it. I dread cutting hair sometimes...especially in the winter. Hair cuts are so much easier, in the Summer, when you can do it outside. So much less mess!
We just feel that this is one of the areas in our lives that we can cut some corners and save a little cash.
If you decide to give this a try, there is not much to starting up.
The supply list is short.
-Comb -Squirt Bottle With Water -Clipper Set (If you have men/boys in the house) -Scissors (I usually get a medium priced pair at Walmart) -Towel (you should already have that) The start up cost is fairly low maybe $30...Then all you need is time, practice and good bit of YouTube! This is not for everyone. I know quite a few people who have tried it and it didn't work out. That's OK! There are certain things that I'm not comfortable doing to save money.(Homemade Laundry Detergent, UGH!) It is all in what you feel comfortable doing.
Do you cut your families hair?
If you read this and try it for yourself, I want to hear about it!
