Great Food, Little Cash

I keep hearing that one particular fast food joint's profits are going up (more than 5% this month alone) because people love the "cheap" dollar menu. I'm figuring this out: four people per family, a minimum of three $1 items per person, and that cheap meal has cost a minimum of $12, not to mention the cost to your health.

Being on a tight budget doesn't mean you have to eat cheap fast foods or foods from a box, like the one that helps your hamburger. You can create great meals while keeping costs low, and even beat the $12 minimum. Here are some tips to show you how to do it.

• Look up low-cost recipes online or in cookbooks. The more ingredients, in general the more the cost. Search with words like cheap, nutritious, low cost, recipes.

• Learn to substitute less expensive foods for the high cost ones. Here's an example. Sometimes sour cream is cheap, sometimes it is cottage cheese, and sometimes yogurt. You can usually substitute yogurt and sour cream (except for toppings). Many times you can blend cottage cheese with a little vinegar for a very good sour cream substitute. Go with whatever is cheapest that week. The same thing applies to many meals, when you can substitute chicken for beef or pork by adjusting the timing a little.

• Cheaper cuts of meat do well in the crock pot, the cook's friend. Even the toughest meat can be tenderized by marinating with an acid (red wine vinegar, beer, or other marinade) and cooking in the crock. Side effect: You don't have to be at home while this wizard makes your dinner.

• To save energy, look ahead to other meals and cook extra. If you'll need carrots later in the week, add extras to today's roast. If you'll need cubed beef for hash later in the week, Cut a piece off of the roast and save it till needed. Freeze it if you have nibblers.

• You can add pasta or rice to leftovers to turn them into an entirely new meal. Leftover pork, a white sauce, and noodles combined with a plop of sour cream make stroganoff. Leftover chicken added to broccoli and cheese sauce makes a great casserole. Add rice to leftover diced meat and veggies for a signature stir-fry.

• Before you head to the grocery, make a list of what you need. Don't allow yourself to run out of basics. Be prepared to change your menu or to add to your freezer if you find a very good in-house special.

• One final idea that you might consider is to observe the serving sizes in the recipe. If it says it makes six servings, it really does except for teenagers. That means that if there are four of you and the recipe serves six, you should remove 1/3 of the food and package it for lunches before you serve dinner. Helps the budget AND the body.

A home cooked meal is always the way to go, whether you are cooking for yourself or for a house full of people. Try putting some of the suggestions listed here to good use. You'll be glad you did, and so will your budget.