Sometimes, food just has to be convenient. Taco Bell has their Family Pack of 10 tacos or bean burritos, in any combination you prefer, for $7.90. Arby’s often runs their 5 for $5.95 deal, which means that each of us could get 1 roast beef sandwich and 1 order of curly fries for $11.90. Still not an unreasonable amount for dinner, I suppose. But the health cost of each of those options is high. It takes 5 minutes to drive to either restaurant, 5 minutes to drive back, and sometimes up to 10 minutes waiting to order/receive the food.
Last night, for the same amount of time, I put this together for dinner:
- Angel Hair Pasta Primavera
- Salad
- Garlic Cheese Breadsticks
Angel Hair Pasta Primavera - $3.47
- 1 pound ground beef - $1.49
- Ragu Pasta Sauce - $.32 w/ coupons
- Mushrooms - $.35
- Black Olives - $.79
- Vegetables - $FREE w/ coupons
- Garlic - $.05
- Angel Hair Pasta - $.17 w/ coupons
- Can Hunt’s diced tomatoes w/ garlic, basil, and oregano - $.30 w/ coupons
Salad - $.58
- ½ bag of Publix Salad - $.53 ($1.05 for the full bag w/ BOGO sale)
- Salad Dressing - $.05 (Fraction of a bottle of Newman’s Own that cost $.50 w/ coupons)
Garlic Cheese Breadsticks - $1.50
- Pillsbury Pizza Crust $.30 w/ coupons
- 2 tbsp olive oil - $.10
- Garlic - $.10
- Sargento Cheese (Parmesan & Romano blend) $1.00 w/ coupons
Total - $5.55
For less than the cost of one “value meal” at most fast food restaurants, and less than the time it took to drive to pick them up, I made a great meal for my family. By the way, I would probably pay FULL PRICE (gasp) for the Sargento Parmesan & Romano blend cheese again. The flavor was absolutely fabulous and you should definitely give their Artesian Blends a try. (They are NOT paying me to say this)
What About You?
Do you have a “standby” meal for when you’re too tired to spend a lot of time in the kitchen? Share some of your quick tips here. We’re always looking for new ideas!
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I forgot to add: There were leftovers! So, I got a couple of lunches out of that amount too.
Hey I love this post. I do those calculations of home-cooked meals to prevent myself from ordering in or buying fast food. If you think about it, the time used to get food that is already prepared is not that much faster or less energy consuming than making a simple, healthy meal for your family.