For the two of us, I usually cook about a pound of protein with a generous amount of carbs and

vegetables on the side. This gives us plenty for dinner, and we eat the leftovers for lunches. Once
we've accumulated an assortment of leftovers in the fridge, I declare a leftovers night.

Just pick one or more items from each of these categories to assemble your dinner!

Meat or Protein
Chicken: This is probably our favorite meat because it tends to be more budget-friendly. We get
the weekly sale ads from Albertson's, and if I can get boneless, skinless chicken on sale, it's the
cheapest option in the area. It was $1.77 a pound the other week when it was on sale!
Beef: This is usually more expensive, but ground beef is very versatile, and I like to mix it with
something less expensive to make it go further. For example, I'll often make meatballs and serve
them with pasta, or I'll make a beef vegetable soup.
Steak: Obviously, this is going to be even more expensive than ground beef, so we save steak for
special occasions like Valentine's Day or anniversaries. But buying steak and cooking it at home
is still cheaper than going out to dinner!
Beans: We eat plenty of meatless dinners, even though we don't follow any type of special plant-
based diet. Beans and rice is a classic, and we'll sometimes do meatless taco bowls.
Seafood: My husband and I are actually not that big on seafood, and it tends to be more
expensive, so we don't usually purchase it. My favorite kind of seafood is shrimp, but my
husband isn't a huge fan, so I like save our grocery money for more practical meat.
Eggs: No one said you can only have eggs for breakfast!
Starches/Carbs
While some people do follow a low-carb diet, I like adding something starchy to our dinners to
make the more expensive food stretch further. Here are some of our favorites.
Homemade bread with butter: My secret to perfect bread? Letting my bread machine do all the
hard work of kneading and then taking the dough out to bake in the oven.
Cornbread: I like this Jiffy Cornbread Copycat Recipe. It tastes very similar to those delicious
box mixes, but it's much cheaper per ounce. You could even mix up a big batch of dry
ingredients for the convenience of a box mix.
White or brown rice: There are lots of different kinds of rice out there, but long grain white rice
is the cheapest. Brown rice is a little more expensive, but it's also a little healthier. I buy a five or
10 pound bag at once and store it in my Rubbermaid containers to keep Texas pests out, and I
cook it in my rice cooker for an easy dinner.
Pasta: For a full meal, make meatballs and spaghetti or a chicken alfredo dish with a lettuce salad
on the side. You can also make a pasta salad with zucchini and tomatoes so all you have to do is
cook your protein.
Baked squash: Squash is often on sale for less than $1 a pound during the fall, and you can cut it
in half, put it in a pan with water, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Eat the
same way you would eat a baked potato.
Potatoes: Boy, have potatoes gone up in price this past year! They're still a good deal for us,
though, and I like to think they're at least a little healthier than pasta.
Vegetables
Since there are only two of us, I usually don't buy fresh vegetables because they have a very
limited shelf life. Plus, we only go grocery shopping every week and a half to two weeks. Frozen
vegetables are your friend if you have the freezer space! My life is much simpler without having
to worry about using up fresh vegetables in time.
A bag of frozen mixed vegetables: I get the bags from the freezer section at Walmart because
you can steam the whole bag in the microwave and serve with butter.
Green beans: These are delicious roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and salt.
Roasted root vegetables: You might consider these more of a starch, but either way, roasting root
vegetables (like potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions, etc.) makes a delicious side dish!
Lettuce/Salad: Lettuce is probably the one vegetable I don't have to be quite as concerned about
when it comes to shelf life. I love a good salad, and there is plenty you can do with it!
Sprouts: Sprouts are incredibly easy to grow, and they taste amazing in a sandwich or on a salad.
If you get larger seeds like beams, you can also use them for a stir fry.
Broccoli: My husband has a strange love of broccoli, so I try to buy frozen bags when it's in
stock. While I don't care for steamed broccoli, it can be used for stir fry or with chicken alfredo. I
will also sometimes steam some broccoli for my husband and make myself a salad or something
else instead.
Zucchini: I don't get zucchini that often because my husband is not a huge fan, and I only like it
in small doses. But sometimes the sale is too good to pass up!
Tomatoes: If I'm making a soup, canned tomatoes are perfect for me. But fresh, ripe tomatoes
mixed with salt, garlic, and basil are amazing. We sometimes have this as a side dish to pasta or
pizza.
I hope this