Meals Under $7 to Feed the Whole Family

Throughout my years in college, I have developed some very cheap and somewhat healthy recipes to make for a quick and easy dinner. I'm sure my recipes would never make it into a cookbook but I find them to be tasty. Most importantly, they are very inexpensive, which seems to be everyone's goal in cooking these days. I've adjusted the recipes so that they will feed a family of four and tried to include approximate prices where I could. Frozen vegetables will become your best friend.

Spaghetti Stir Fry

1 box of spaghetti - $1
1 bag mixed frozen veggies - $2

Boil the spaghetti. While the spaghetti is cooking, put a few table spoons of olive oil in a frying pan and add the bag of veggies to thaw them out. Drain the spaghetti and mix it in with the vegetables so that the olive oil coats the pasta and the veggies are mixed in. Top with any spices you like. You can make this even healthier by using whole wheat pasta. This is a delicious dinner that only costs $3 for the entire family.

Personal Pizzas

Premade ball of whole wheat pizza dough - $2
Jar of tomato sauce - $2
Bag of shredded mozzarella cheese - $2
Bag of frozen broccoli - $1

This meal is a little more expensive at about $7 for the family, but is more fun for the kids. Break the ball of dough into 4 parts and allow everyone to make their own personal pizza. Top the dough with sauce and cheese and then add the broccoli or whatever toppings you choose. The simply pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes according to the directions on the dough package.

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

2 cans of tomato soup - $1
Loaf of bread - $2
Cheese slices - $2
Butter

This is an old classic, but it is still delicious. Prepare the soup according to the directions on the can (you will probably need milk). Each can should serve two people. Then, coat two pieces of bread for each sandwich with butter on the outside and place a slice of cheese in between. Put the sandwiches on a frying pan on the stove and heat until toasted. Flip over and do the same to the other side. The loaf of bread and package of cheese slices will make many more than 4 grilled cheeses so the cost for this entire meal for everyone is about $1 - $2.

Leaving meat out of your meals really makes a difference in price. I try to load my meals up with frozen veggies because they contain lots of vitamins and don't rot on me like fresh ones. I found myself wasting too much money throwing rotten vegetables away.