The Creative Homemaker

Our family budget, like those of many other families, has been tight lately. The easiest place to cut back is the grocery budget so along with couponing I’ve been shopping at Aldi and hitting the sales at each store in our area, trying to get the most bang for my buck.

Our budget-friendly meal for tonight is going to be sloppy cheeseburgers with steamed veggies and macaroni and cheese.

Sloppy cheeseburgers are basically sloppy joe without the sauce, dressed up like a cheeseburger. I find it easiest to buy hamburger in bulk when it’s on sale, brown it all up, and then freeze it fully cooked. This works great for chili, spaghetti, tacos, soups, and casseroles, but not so well for cheeseburgers. Therefore, we are having sloppy cheeseburgers!

I will microwave the hamburger to heat it through, add some steak seasoning to give it a grilled flavor, and then, when the sides are ready to go, compile each sandwich with meat and cheese and nuke them for a few seconds to melt the cheese a bit, and hold the sandwich together. We can then add mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onion, lettuce, tomatos, bacon, or barbeque sauce to top it off.

In a matter of minutes we will have a simple, easy, delicious, fun and FRUGAL meal for the whole family.

Cost for the entire meal:

Buns - Pkg of 8 from Meijer for 89 cents - 11 cents each
Ground Chuck - From County Market for $1.59/lb - 1.5 lbs for $2.38 - 40 cents for quarter pd sandwich
cheese - 24 slices for $2.00 at Walmart- 8 cents each

Green Giant frozen steamer - 22 cents at County Market w/ mfr coupon and store coupon - 4 cents per serving (5 servings)

Aldi brand macaroni and cheese -33 cents - 7 cents per serving (5 servings)
margarine - aldi brand - 9 cents - 2 cents per serving
milk - aldi brand - 2 cents - less than penny per serving

Total = 73 cents per person (1 sandwich per person) - $3.65 for family of 5

That’s it, a complete meal for my entire family for under $4.00!

What are you having for dinner tonight?

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