Frugal Meal on A Budget for Less Than $4

It's been a little while since I last posted because I can't seem to stay motivated once the cold weather hits! My spouse suggested that I do some cooking (that's not my job usually, I'm more the desserts creator). Tonight I challenged myself to make a balanced meal for 2 for less than $5!

Since becoming a member of Freebies Deals And Rewards I have learned many tips and tricks to reduce my overall expenses and one that I will forever cherish is buying meat from my local butcher instead of the grocery store.

I spend an average of $1.50 per pound to $2 per pound for my meats which really helps stretch a buck! Today I thawed a single chicken breast portion to make a sitr fry dinner which was $1.65.

And I was a little strapped for time, so I used a frozen stir fry mix called Zen Garden by Europe's Best. The bag cost $2.99 after a coupon and I used 1/3 of the bag, making the cost roughly $1 for this meal.

 

I decided to make a side of long grain and wild rice blend as well. It is the Sensations brand found at Sobeys stores. The bag was $3.99 but there's a lot of servings in this bag. From past experience, we can get eight 2 person servings, which works out to $0.50 per 2 person meal!

 

I used some seasonings and spices such as curry, vegetable seasoning, salt, soya sauce and saffron, which works out to only pennies for the entire dish! The final meal cost me only $3.15 (plus the spices and drinks). We had Nestea Iced Tea from a canister of powder mix that I bought for $1.99 on sale with a coupon. Since we can get 104 glasses from a canister, it's only about $0.02 per glass. We each had a glass with dinner making the meal less than $3.25 all in all!

I could have made it slightly cheaper by visiting a local farmer's market and buying fresh vegetables, preparing them for stir frying and freezing them for when I wish to make a stir fried dinner. I'm so happy that I was able to beat my self-challenge of dinner for under $5 and you can too! And think, you could go eat at McDonald's for $17! No thank you!

For more meal ideas, visit the Cuisine Forum at Freebies Deals And Rewards.