Budget Friendly Dinner Ideas By Michelle P. Sharrow, MBA

Home
Family Fun
- Children's Books
- Crafts
- Games
- Humor
- Kid Fun
- Party
- Sports
Parenting
Health
Life & Style
Travel
- Are we there yet?
- Travel Tips
Finance
School
Community

Budgeting and Savings for Families

Budget Friendly Dinner Ideas
By Michelle P. Sharrow, MBA

Are you shuttling back and forth from school to extracurricular activities? Is this running you ragged and leaving you puzzled on your meal times? Well it doesn't have to be that way, with a little pre-planning, meal times can be simple and quick yet scrumptious and memorable. Here are just three ways for your family to enjoy dinner on a budget.

Sunday and Monday Meals

Start the week off with Boston Market. If you like rotisserie chicken or turkey breast, Boston Market^TM is running a great special. For a limited time with the purchase of any family meal, which comes with your choice of healthy sides, you can buy a whole rotisserie chicken for $1.99. For under $30, you can purchase a wholesome meal for four with four sides. Use the extra entrée for Monday's dinner. Your options are limitless. You can easily make chicken salad sandwiches or chicken noodle soup with the extra chicken.

Tuesday and Wednesday Night Options

I don't know about your family, but in mine's meals are very small and easy to prepare on Tuesday or Wednesday of the week. Do your kids like pizza? Would you like to have something fresher than the ones from the refrigerated section of the grocery store? Try Little Ceasars. Little Ceasars has the hot and ready pizzas for only $5. These large pizzas are available with just cheese or with cheese and pepperoni. Just as quick as grabbing one from the grocery store, these pizzas are already ready so you don't have to wait and for $5 is a great value.

Another easy meal solution is a local restaurant. Quite a few restaurants such as Lone Star offer free kids meals or adult entrée with the purchase of an adult entrée at regular price. Offered on slow nights, this is an excellent way to try some new restaurants and chef specials without going for broke. You can find many specials on free dining by paying attention to local sales advertisements that come in the mail or included in city papers.

Thursday and Friday Nights

As the work week winds down, Thursday and Friday night dinners could also be very simple. Hot dogs are a simple and quick yet fun way to feed your kids. If hot dogs don't get your excited, tuna is a healthier alternative. Just as easy to prepare, throw some tuna on bread along with some mayonnaise or salad dressing for a quick meal or boil some noodles and make a tuna macaroni salad.

Saturday Nights

For your Saturday meal, just repeat one of the previously mentioned options or settle for some good old sandwiches and chips. That's what I do.

Meal times don't have to be stressful. As more and more families spend time away from home, with commuting and after school activities, deciding what to have for dinner doesn't have to be hard.

Comment Script

Comments

I see little budgeting sense in this

Ms Sharrow, how can encouraging concerned and financially stressed homerunners to go out for $30 meals with their kids and to buy ready made meals be considered budget friendly ideas? No kudos here.

#1 - Pat Baron - 09/08/2009 - 01:05

I really do not see hpw your advice and suggestions can be considered budget friendly. $30 for a meal at Boston Market?? I don't think so when I can make something at home for half that cost. In this economy I truly believe that cooking meals at home is the way to go.

#2 - NM - 09/08/2009 - 13:51

Are you kidding me? Sometimes I only have $30 for the whole week. You don't live in the real world!

#3 - Kelly - 09/09/2009 - 12:31

Really?

I am thinking you could have really done a lot with this articles. Stressing planning, preparation, etc. What about whole week cooking? Spending a couple of hours one day a week to prepare the main dishes for the rest of the week. Then all you have to do is prepare quick sides and reheat the main dish. Fifteen to twenty minutes tops for a healthier, less expensive meal. $30.00 for one meal is not a realistic option for many families.

#4 - Heather - 09/27/2009 - 10:42

Budget Friendly Dinner Ideas

Thank you all for reading my column and taking the time to comment. You all are right in terms of $30 being a bit much for one meal or even two. From my perspective, a family of four easily spends $30 or more by dining out at places like Applebees and Olive Garden. Additionally, a quick stop at McDonalds with a couple of extra value meals is always over $12 dollars. These quick stops, at least at McDonalds, aren’t nearly as healthy or as filling. So in that context, you'll always get a bigger bang for your buck with a deal like this. Moreover, while I suggested that $30 could cover two nights, depending on how much your family actually eats at one meal, this could last three to four days. A whole chicken in my house of four is never gone even after just two meals. So there are many different ways to spin this. The overarching idea that I want you to take away is that there are many options out there to meet your needs. You simply have to keep your eyes open and make it work for you, your budget, and your time.

#5 - Michelle Sharrow - 10/08/2009 - 20:18


Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment


To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

This comment form is powered by GentleSource Comment Script. It can be included in PHP or HTML files and allows visitors to leave comments on the website.

Michelle is a freelance writer based in Waldorf, Maryland. Her areas of expertise include finances and parenting. .

Budgeting and Savings for Families