Have you ever tried cooking a fresh meal for your family of four for under $10? At DMA, we define a “fresh meal” as one that does not include processed ingredients. Lately, as we’ve been experimenting with the “Fresh” discussion online through social media outlets, there’s a clear misconception amongst consumers that “fresh is more expensive.” This got us to thinking…as mothers and heads of the culinary art in our homes, can we cook a fresh meal for our hungry families for under $10? In all fairness, we were able to use staple items that could be found in the pantry or in the refrigerator as accent ingredients to our meals.
Here is what we came up with:
The Optimist – Megan
Spent: $9.92
Purchased:
1 pound of fresh Chicken breast strips
3 ears of sweet corn
1.36 pounds of fresh green beans
1 Russet potato
1 Sweet Texas Onion
1 Cucumber
With a hungry husband and growing little boy, it’s all about meat and potatoes at our house. We cook just about every night and always work to find that sweet spot that marries flavor with nutrition. The $10 meal challenge was great fun and something that we will continue to do in order to keep an eye on our wallets and our fresh intake! When we do splurge on processed foods, even at our favorite fast food restaurant, we spend $20 in the blink of an eye for three meals.
Here’s what we devoured for dinner under $10: Grilled chicken strips marinated in a splash of EVOO, reduced sodium soy sauce and freshly ground pepper. Fresh green beans, snapped and cooked with sautéed onion and a strip of bacon (it was in the fridge!). Grilled, sweet corn on the cob, kernels shaved and sautéed in butter with diced onion. Mashed potatoes and cucumber and onion salad doused with EVOO and red wine vinegar. So easy and fresh!
The Analyst – Marci
Spent: $8.25
Purchased:
3 chicken breasts
1 pound of fresh broccoli
4 ears of sweet corn
Admittedly, cooking is more of a chore for me than a creative outlet at the end of my busy work day. And most of my week days are filled with evening activities that prevent eating at home, so unfortunately I don’t have the control over my family’s diet that I would like to. But on the days I can cook, we stick to simple meals that are quick to fix, that I’m sure my kids will eat and are full of fresh, healthy produce. Luckily, my kids love most of the fruits and veggies that I put in front of them and often times eat them before finishing the protein. Can’t complain about that!
As a mom who purchases her fair share of drive-thru and take-out fare, there is no doubt that only $8.25 is a fantastic price for a four person meal. Here’s what I came up with: Baked chicken breasts marinated in a lemon peppercorn marinade. Steamed broccoli seasoned with Lawry’s Vegetable and Pork blend and corn on the cob slathered (that’s right – slathered) in butter with a little bit of seasoned salt. Voila! They cleaned their plates.
So What?: We’ve taken a challenge to squash the notion that cooking with fresh ingredients is too expensive. While we realize that canned and frozen alternatives may, at certain times of the year, be a strong competitor on price alone, one cannot argue that our experiment proves that a family of four can have a FRESH and flavorful meal very inexpensively. Adding an additional perspective, the Department of Agriculture, reports that Americans are spending 48.9 percent of their food dollars away from home. Who can argue that these prepared meals are not generally at least double the cost of our home cooked FRESH meals? Expensive shmensive, we say.
Posted by: The Optimist (Megan Zweig) and The Analyst (Marci Allen)
