Stretching My Budget

You may have noticed in my meal plan that we eat a relatively small amount of meat or poultry. We are carnivores, but we are carnivores on a strict budget. This dollar diet demands that we incorporate more meals that don't contain meat. When I first started out this frugal journey (and by no means have I yet arrived), I despaired when I realized that we wouldn't be able to have meat with every meal. What was I going to serve? I was an avowed veggie-loather and so were my children. And pasta for every meal just didn't sound appetizing. So I started off with 'vegetarianizing' my homemade chili. Normally it called for ground beef, but I just left that out. And you know what? Nobody, least of all me, missed the meat! Serve a hearty helping of the chili with some sweet cornbread and everyone was happy and full.

With that small success, I saw that it was possible to incorporate vegetables into our diet and to make them the main meal. I just needed some more recipes! When I found Recipezaar I realized that I had found my partner in taming the savage budget. What I especially love about that site is that you can search for recipes by ingredient, and then find a really good recipe by how many stars it was rated. Other times I found great recipes by perusing other blogs. And some of the meals are just tried and true ones from my childhood.

Figure out what vegetables your family will eat and work those into the meal. If they won't touch turnips, then it would be a waste of time and money to prepare a dish containing those. That being said, don't be afraid to stretch their tastebuds! Never would I have dreamed that I, and my family, would have liked anything pumpkin that wasn't a dessert. Prepare the meal creatively. Maybe steamed carrots aren't your kids' favorite, try something different like glazed carrots. Variety is the spice of life, and spices add variety! Throw in different seasonings to give it a different taste. Go exotic! Try a dish from a different country. Learning about other cultures elevates dinner to new heights. Go icognito. Even I appreciate a well-hidden vegetable! :) Added bonus, you don't have to argue with your children about eating all their dinner. Salads are simple. Adding a salad to a dinner of pasta rounds out the meal. Fancy up your salad with some chickpeas for an added veggie-punch!

I hope that some of these ideas help those of you who are in the same vegetable-tolerating-but-not-exactly-fond-of-them category that I still live in! You CAN stretch your budget dollars with vegetables even if you don't like green beans or onions :)