Now that my hubby is picking up an extra shift during the week (he is a Chef and works part-time at a restaurant - up to now only on the weekends), I am faced with the dilemma of making dinner for the kids after spending 8 hours at work and 2 1/2 hours commuting. I was not exactly thrilled with the prospect, but set my mind to find something I could easily make which would be hot, fresh and not cost a lot (in other words - no prepackaged dinners).
That is when I hit upon the idea of having breakfast for dinner on "Mom's" night to cook. I billed it to the kids as a mid-week treat and they are now hooked. I am hooked as well, because as we all know, breakfast is one of the cheapest meals to make as long as you keep it simple.
Last week we had pancakes, eggs, corned beef hash and toast. The total for the entire meal was well under $5 for all four of us. Plus, it was easy to whip up - it only took me a total of 15 to 20 minutes to cook it all (and that was while I cleaned up the kitchen from the day's events and loaded the dishwasher - you have to have something to do while waiting to flip those pancakes!).
Next week, I am going to plan on waffles, plus anything else I find in the frig that is breakfast type food which they will eat and which will not take me a long time to cook.
So, in the old days I would have found somewhere to buy dinner for the 4 of us on my way home, at an average cost of $30. Now, I have it down to approximately $5 and we are more likely than not eating healthier (I am certain someone will debate this with the above reference to corned beef hash, but it is not a staple in our house, just a left over from our summer "camping" food that happened to be in the cupboard).
Even if you don't have breakfast for dinner once a week like I am planning to, even once every other week and once a month will still help to bring down your overall food cost!
Until another frugal moment hits,
The Frugal Queen
