Eat Well, Spend Less: Week 2 Round-Up

The second week of our Eat Well, Spend Less series brought a wealth of tips and helpful  suggestions to reach our goal of spending less on groceries, while still eating well.

I’m learning tons from the eight other bloggers that I have teamed up with on this series. It’s obvious that these ladies have the task of feeding their families down to a science and I can’t wait to share the round up from Week 2 with you!

On Monday I listed my top five favorite frugal meals and shared a recipe for a Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with Sweet Potato Mash for my contribution to Eat Well, Spend Less. Let’s take a look at the topics the other girls covered this week, and then I’ve got a one-time-only offer for you at the bottom of the post.

5 Frugal Meal Ideas

from Alyssa of Kingdom First Mom.

“I am convinced that soup is one the biggest restaurant rip-offs. Wanna know a trade secret? “Soup-of-the-Day” is often just repurposing the previous days’ leftovers. You can make an entire pot of soup at home for less than the price of one bowl in a restaurant. If you keep stock and veggies on hand, you have soup. I resisted making my own soups for years until I realized just how easy and frugal it really is. We enjoy it year round!”

Alyssa shares her rock-solid strategies for making meal-time a success as well as five of her family’s favorite frugal meals.

Read the post at 5 Frugal Meal Ideas.

Recipes From The Pantry

from Carrie of Denver Bargains.

“For me, the key to cooking frugally is to be willing to experiment: there aren’t very many recipes in my house that are set in stone. I try not to let the lack of one or two ingredients keep me from making a meal, so I often experiment with different substitutions! Sometimes we find that the experimenting leads to new favorite dishes; other times we learn we really prefer the “old way” better.”

Carrie then lists five meals that she finds to be very versatile and can be made primarily from ingredients she keeps in the pantry.

Read the post at Recipes From The Pantry.


Meal Planning: 5 Meals to Help You Eat Well, Spend Less

from Jessica of Life as MOM.

I have a few go-to meals that my family enjoys but that don’t cost a lot of money. They are simple meals that are filling when times are tight, but they can also be dressed up deliciously when the budget is a little looser.
One of the tricks that I’ve found to make simple, inexpensive meals more palatable is to make sure that there’s a little “extra” involved to make the meal fun.

Jessica shares how to save time, money AND sanity, and also lists five frugal meals, each with their own ‘extra’.

Read the post at 5 Meals to Help You Eat Well, Spend Less.

Pantry Meals to Keep the Budget on Track

from Katie G of Good Life {Eats}.

“I’ve found that I can be pretty resourceful when it seems that there is “nothing” in the house to eat. In reality, there’s quite a lot when you take a look through the pantry items. Very few of us actually have “nothing” in the house. The only thing that can get you out of making dinner is ordering take-out, and doing that regularly isn’t easy on your body or wallet. Dinner is just something we have to do.”

Katie shares some of her favorite budget recipes for breakfast, dinner and dessert from the pantry.

Read the post at Pantry Meals to Keep the Budget on Track.

Five Frugal Must-Have Real Foods

from Katie K of Kitchen Stewardship.

“Making some foods from scratch saves a couple bucks. Making other foods from scratch saves a couple cents. Your job, as a good kitchen steward, is to figure out the difference. Unless you have the luxury, like I do as a Type A stay-at-home-mom, of working your behind off making literally everything from scratch, it’s vital to run a cost-benefit analysis to prioritize.”

Katie also shares five expensive foods that jack up your budget, some which you may not even think about.

Read the post at Five Frugal Must-Have Real Foods.


Menu Plan Monday: Eat Well, Spend Less Edition

from Mandi of Food…Your Way.

“This week, rather than sharing my actual meal plan for the week, I’m sharing my favorite “budget meals” for eating well on a budget! As it turns out, inexpensive and easy tend to go hand-in-hand (in our house, at least).”

Mandi’s go-to frugal meals will leave you hungry. Be warned!

Read the post Menu Plan Monday: Eat Well, Spend Less Edition.

When Two Meals Become Five

from Shaina of Food for My Family.

“In our house, we often start by planning two main meals for the week and building from there. We aim to plan five total meals each week, leaving some room for flexibility. Flexibility is key when you have two working parents and four kids, each with their own schedule for life. Those five meals are intended for Monday-to-Friday consumption, though they have been known to creep into the weekend here and there. Weekend meals are generally whatever we have left that needs to be cleared out of the fridge: makeshift quesadillas and wraps, leftovers or something that will end up on the blog that is separate from the meal plan.”

Shaina lists several ways she gets the most bang for her buck, plus a clear look at how she plans the meals for the week.

Read the post When Two Meals Become Five.

5 Favorite Frugal Meals

from Tammy of Tammy’s Recipes.

“I’ve found that regularly serving meals that we like that are affordable is the easiest way for me to stay within budget at the grocery store.”

Tammy lists her family’s top five frugal staples and gives tips on sourcing and preparing them.

Read the post 5 Favorite Frugal Meals.

BONUS! The Everything Beans Book Discount

Katie from Kitchen Stewardship is offering a special discount on The Everything Beans Book for the Eat Well, Spend Less series. I been cooking a-plenty from Katie’s book (which I reviewed not too long ago) and it is certainly helping me stay on budget.

HEAD HERE to get your discounted copy of The Everything Beans Book, and use coupon code LESSSPEND to get 40% off the list price of $9.95 through Friday, April 15 at noon!

Don’t miss this great sale. Remember, it ends tomorrow at noon!

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14 Comments

  1. This is such a great and timely series. Loving it! Lots of great ideas and recommendations. Having a well-stocked pantry with basics like rice, pasta, tomato paste, diced tomatoes and spices is key, I think.

    1. Thanks, Sarah, and you are right about that. We’re eating mainly from the pantry this week and I’m making so many discoveries – both of long lost ingredients and new combinations!

  2. I love these tips!
    Ew, so the soup of the day might be just the leftovers of yesterday? Well that’s one thing I will never order again, that’s for sure! Not that I got that often to the restaurants with the current prices anyway…
    Marika

  3. Even though I’m on the GAPS diet right now, I’m bookmarking this series of posts. Thank you for addressing BOTH eating well and spending less – it is possible, and inspiring!

  4. I love to cook so that I am always open to new tips and suggestions. Looking for a delicious and healthy recipe that is why I am so happy to try something new that my family will surely love.