This is one of those crazy/brilliant things that only frugal people seem to get enjoyment from. Do you cost out your meals?
It's something of a game for me, to price out a family meal. This month, we are attempting to limit our grocery shopping to milk, eggs and canning supplies, and live off of our stores, foraged food and garden produce. So, it's no surprise that most of our meals, this month, rely heavily on fruits and vegetables.
This last Sunday, lunch was just such a meal. We had a vegetable-bean-pasta salad and a large bowl of fresh blackberries, each, with ice water and iced tea to drink.
The salad was composed of lettuce, zucchini, wax beans, herbs, garlic and carrots from the garden, along with bulk purchased black beans, and dollar store macaroni noodles, in a homemade dressing of rosemary-thyme vinegar (made last summer) and olive oil.
The blackberries were picked in the wild that day.
The tea was a gift from a friend.
The only purchased ingredients for lunch were the black beans, macaroni, plain vinegar, olive oil and salt. I estimated, to feed the five of us lunch, my cost was 50 cents max, that's 10 cents per person.
I had put together the salad before we left for church, so it could chill while we were out. And my kids went out blackberry picking (on foot) while I pulled everything together at noon. We could have stopped at Mickey D's and picked up, oh, half a burger from the dollar menu for the same price, to split 5 ways. But I think it's safe to say that what we came up with, was far more satisfying.
Have you costed out a meal lately? And do you get the same entertainment value as I do? The rest of you can stop laughing at my frugal insanity now!
