Most of us come here to save money and alot of us use coupons. There was a recent thread on how much we were saving/getting free with coupons. So I am just curious what type of dinners you are making and how much they are costing you and what coupons you are using? This is what we are having for dinner:

Homemade chili:
Hormel ground pork 1lb.- .59 (used a 1.00 coupon which doubled)
Red Gold tomatoes- .08 a can (used the 1.00/3 coupon doubled combined with a sale)
Chili seasoning mix- .57 on sale
2 lbs pinto beans- free they were given to me
Kraft grated cheese-1.00 (used 1.00/2 coupon doubled combined with a sale)
1/2 chopped onion- .10 (big bag of onions for 1.00 on sale)

Total cost of meal $2.34 and will be enough for dinner tonight for the 3 of us and lunch tomorrow. I have found you cannot tell the difference in flavor of the ground pork vs ground beef when it's in something like this, plus it has much less fat in it than the ground beef does.

Last night's dinner:
Steak- .97 (used 2-2.00 coupons on 2 markdown steaks)
Stove top stuffing- .25 this was a markdown going to expire in 2 weeks
Mashed potatoes- free these were given to me
Green Giant Corn- .09 can (used the 1.00/4 coupon doubled combined with a sale)
Rhodes rolls-.49 (used the 1.00 coupon doubled combined with a sale)
Total cost of last night's dinner $1.80 for 4 people (2 grandkids were over, but 14 year old was at a friends) not including the cost of butter and milk for the potatoes.

Then the grandkids and I made oatmeal raisin cookies:
Quaker oatmeal-free (used a $5/5 coupon combined with a sale)
Sunmaid Raisins- .25 (1.00/2 coupon doubled combined with a sale)
1 stick Blue Bonnet marjarine- .16 (on sale .67 a pack)
3/4 cup sugar -paid .89 4lb bag of C&H sugar (.40c doubled combined with a sale) not sure how much that would cost, lol.
2 eggs- free used egg mix which was given to me

Total cost for 2 dozen cookies .41 plus the cost of the sugar (don't even want to try and figure that one out), also 1/2 cup of brown sugar also used a coupon.

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They don't double $1.00 coupons anywhere around where I live! Wouldn't that be nice though?

St. Louis area as well. Double only up to 40 cents. No printed coupons. And I find less and less coupons that I can use.

Wow! I have no idea how my my meals cost. I try to shop frugally, but I don't keep track of how much each meals costs. Good for you!

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

LOL, I don't normally either, but it's a rainy day outside and I was bored and I just started thinking about it. That's why I only thought about today and last night, that's about as far as I remember what we ate for dinners, lol.

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visit my homepage http://penny.mycoupons.com/

Same here. I would have to sit down and get the Costco receipt and the calculator out.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

For us -- cheap protein, carbs, canned stuff, and processed cheeses are easy. It is the the fresh fruit, fresh veggies, and healthy snacks that add $ to our healthy meals. Few coupons there, so we have to pay attention to the Sunday ads.

We have an apple and peach tree and have tons of fruit (still have apples on the tree) so I made jelly, applesauce, fruit muffins, etc. We have not bought any fruit except grapes, cherries, strawberries and bananas since the beginning of July, because we have so much to eat of ours from our trees. Also got pears given to us. We also grew tomatoes this summer, so we didn't have to buy those, also still have tomatoes growing. We eat alot of salad which I buy the bags for .99 on markdown since they don't even last a day in our house, we just add a few other things to it.

We have alot of friends that have farms and grow gardens, so we barely had to buy any veggies all summer as they were all given to us free, as everyone seems to grow to much cucumbers, onions, squash, zuchini, cantelopes, watermelon, etc.

Then I wait until potatoes go on sale for 2.50 for a 20lb. bag and I buy 2-3 bags. I get frozen broccoli free with coupons and plenty of canned veggies free with coupons to use when we don't have fresh.

We also planted a pear tree this year, will be a couple of years before we get fruit. My goal is to be able to grow most of our own fruit. Need to buy some grape vines and a cherry tree. We grew our own strawberries last year, but this year the plants all died.

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visit my homepage http://penny.mycoupons.com/

We are urban dwellers and no one gives us food. I thought this was a using coupons thread.

Hmmmm.... not sure what that comments means...

Penny, we are lucky sometimes during the summer, as well, and will get some veggies from my parents. However, mostly I have to shop for it all. We eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, so I am very familiar with buying the in-season fruits and veggies to make the most of our money... I also will shop the farmers markets and price match.

However, in response to your question, we haven't eaten too much at home the last few days, but I'm thinking about a few recent meals...

On Wednesday, we had cube steaks, which were $3.34 for the package of 4
mashed potatoes - used 4 potatoes out of a bag that cost about $1.99, so I'm going to say $.40.
A can of corn, which I got for $.40
Gravy for the cube steaks - not enough milk or flour used to really count. So, for 4 of us, the meal was $4.14. Just a little over a dollar each. Not bad!

Another recent meal I remember was brats, asparagus, and rice. A package of 4 brats was $2.25 at Aldi's, the asparagus was on sale and I think I paid about $3.50 (kind of expensive) and the brown rice was free with a coupon. 3 of us ate that night, so it still worked out to less than $2.00 per person.

Most of the time, I can keep our meals to a cost of a couple of dollars each. I will keep an eye on it this week and report back with better numbers. Interesting thread, though! I wish I lived in the land of doubles to a dollar.

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Kim

It means we don't have land to grow our own vegetables or land for mature fruit trees, and no one gives us food. 3/4 of our dinner is fresh fruit, vegetables, and grains.

To answer the question for today's dinner. A large salad of 1 red pepper, 1green pepper, 1/2 onion, cucumber, 3 tomatoes, 1 alvacodo, feta cheese, and dressing = about $3 each. 1 pound of frozen shrimp = $3 each. butter/salt/garlic/ pepper/etc/ = not much. Fresh brocholli = $1 each. A cup of brown rice = 50 cents maybe. 1 glass white wine = $5 each. A baked apple split = 25 cents each. Coffee and cream = ? 50 cents per cup. So = average dinner for two is about $26 I guess.

Few coupons for the above. It is next to impossible to eat a healthy diet cheaply. Hence the obesity problem in the US. But, we look at the Sunday paper to see who has veggies, dairy, and fresh seafood on sale and go from there.

Tonight's dinner was on the lucky side, since I scored with the chicken purchase. Six of us ate - here's the final tally:

- chicken = $4 (was originally tagged for $11.xx at Fresh & Easy, yummy, preseasoned, split whole chicken that was gorgeous after baking - who spends 12 bucks on dinner meat )
- 10 potatoes = maybe $1 (from a 10# bag)
- salad = I dunno, $3 (79c bag marked down + red bell, yellow bell, part of a red onion, a cucumber, celery, tomatoes - pretty much all the things listed that nightowl had, except for the avocado, and the $3 per person price tag) plus the red wine vinegar/olive oil dressing, and freshly cracked pepper
- baby carrots = $1
- bread/butter for the hubby - his scrawny, far-from-obese butt eats nothing but cheap white bread + real butter, so that = a quarter, maybe

HUGE Sunday dinner that came to a whopping $9.25 for 6 and there is leftover chicken and carrots that will be used later (or eaten at will). Not a single coupon was used. Except for the bread, nothing was processed (unless you call the chicken sprinkled with parsley, oregano, and lemons/lemon juice "processed"). In no way will a $5/glass wine fit in to my budget, not that I really want it to, but fresh veggies? oh yeah. Organic? No they don't fit, oh well. When the stuff I want is out of season, I buy frozen - there are even coupons for that, woohoo. Everything was purchased by me for my family: at the 99c store, Fresh & Easy, or Winco, and my kitchen sink (we drink tap in my house).

I bet this is pretty typical for a Sunday dinner at my house, because I do keep an eye out for bargains. (Weekdays, the salads are not as nice, more like a head of romaine with one of added veggies and some dressing, but the meat will be in the $3 - 6 range, with rice or potatoes, green beans from a can - usually hovering the $8 mark. I'd prefer less. A lot less. Oh well.)

I apologize for my snarkiness, but we're all here for one reason or another - sharing our wins is one of those reasons. Sharing your stories helps open up my eyes, or reminds me as, to what can be found and where. (It also reminds me that there really are people out there who spend more than 30% of their budget on booze.)

We also eat a lot of veggies, fruits, fish, meats (dh), and other raw ingredients like organic sugar, long grain and wild rice, herbs and spices, whole grains, etc so I don't find many coupons. That's one big reason I shop at Costco. Maybe you can get a free, say $2, package of something by doubling coupons but at Costco you can get something that would cost $20 at another store for maybe $8-$10 so for me that is better than coupons. I do go to other stores so I know the current prices of things and will not buy at Costco if I am not saving money.

It's true that not only the coupons, but also the ads (tv, etc) encourage people to eat processed junk food. I would rather pay $1 for an apple than have a piece of junk for 50 cents.

On the other hand a nice glass of Pinot Grigio costs me about $1 a glass. I drink Barefoot wine it's reasonably priced and a delicious table wine.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Not sure what an "alvacodo" is ?

Alright, we're a family of 5 , including 3 teenage boys (yeah, those non-stop eating machines) and my 2 nephews during weekends and school vacations (just because they really like to be at our house). I spend about $600 a month on food. I generally don't break it down per meal because some meals are a bit more expensive, some meals a little less and it all works out in the end. We're all healthy, none of us overweight at all and we eat well.
Tonight's dinner was 15 bean soup with jowl bacon, sliced tomatoes and french bread. Last night was chicken putanesca with olives and green peppers,served over whole grain fettucine, with baby greens salad and pepperoni bread.
Tomorrow will be oven roasted chicken with brussels sprouts and garlic mashed potatoes. Just a few examples. I don't believe $20/day for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks and drinks for 5-7 people is too much.

Really? You couldn't guess that it's probably a misspelling of avocado?

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

Well for us lately it has gotten very easy, since I am a vegetarian and so are my daughters those meals are easy. Now with one daughter living on her own, and my younger daughter Caitlin away at school 4 nights a week and my son Tommy doing his own thing with his many girl-friends now, him and his long love broke up 3 months ago, I really only good chicken or fish or turkey for my husband and always fresh veggies and alot of rice or pasta . Also with my big time coupon savings we do pretty well. Peace.. Catherine

Edited to say only cook chicken , turkey and fish sorry for the typo and nightowlrn in your answer about growing your own veggies. I would dearly love to increase my garden however I have a little secret right next store to us is our lovely neighbors and they grow everything and share all with us thanks Marie and John they are the best neighbors her fresh garlic and basil and parsley and tomatoes and squash is the best yummy yummy for sure.. Peace. Catherine

Here is a blog on eating healthy while on a budget Living Healthy On A Budget

I'm not posting this to start an argument on whether her choices are really healthy or not, just some reading material for those who may be interested.

Selena

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