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Can I have a home cooked meal for $5.00?

 

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With the cost of everything shooting up I have been looking a lot closer at what I am spending and trying to find ways to cut the costs. As I sat thinking about this while the TV droned in the background, a commercial for a national chain of sandwich shops came on. they were touting their $5.00 dollar foot long sandwiches and I decided to see what I could come up with for $5.00 dollars. I went shopping at the local grocery store in town and went to Wal-mart as well. I came up with a couple of different simple dishes that I think are more satisfying than a foot long sandwich and will feed 2 to 4 people.

First up is my Sausage and sour kraut dinner. I picked up the ingredients for this meal at my local grocery store.
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  • smoked sausage ring $2.79
  • can of whole kernel corn $0.59
  • can of sauerkraut $1.09

Total $4.47 and with frequent shopper card discount the cost was $4.21, a savings of $0.26.

This is pretty simple. Heat up the sausage, sauerkraut, and corn. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove. Serve and eat. This will easily serve 2 people. The sausage can be grilled, or fried instead of just heated in the microwave if you like. After cooking this meal I decided that this really was not much different than opening a can of soup or chili and not really a good home cooked meal. I need to try a bit harder to offer up a good filling meal that is simple, has a fairly short list of ingredients, and will stick with you for a while.

So here is my weenie mac and cheese.
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  • 16 oz. Elbow macaroni $0.97
  • 16 oz. Velveeta cheese $2.76
  • Hot dogs $0.77

Total $4.50

I am a big fan of the Velveeta shells and cheese box mixes. I am not, however, a big fan of the cost. This is my version of that for a lot less money. this makes a meal that is more than enough for at least 2 meals for 2 people or to feed a family of 4.

Cook the macaroni until tender.
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While the noodles are cooking, dice up the Velveeta cheese and hot dogs to make it easier to melt into the noodles. You could melt the cheese in the microwave or in a pan if you like.
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Drain the macaroni.
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Put the noodles back in the pan. Add a little milk, the cheese and hot dogs. Mix well. Continue stirring until all of the cheese cubes are melted and mixed in with the noodles. Serve and enjoy.

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So there you have it. A decent meal for about the same price as a double mocha flappa whatsit from the coffee drive through.

Photo Credit: Jeff Love

One Response to “Can I have a home cooked meal for $5.00?”

November 19, 2009 at 8:30 AM

I think at last you got all the thing to prepare your eatable item with $5 dollars. It seems to be quite surprised that you got something which all totally cost less than $5 dollar and its funny to hear that you have saved the money too.Hope you enjoyed.

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