Meals on a budget. $1-$2 Per Serving!

I am inspired to write this post after reading a Facebook from a fellow mommy who was struggling with hunger because she was unable to work because she would make less than daycare for her two children will cost.  They are surviving on her husband's income alone and a small allotment of food stamps that never seem to stretch the entire month.  There is nothing more heart breaking than a mommy who has to lie to her husband about eating so that her family will have enough to eat.  Going to bed hungry night after night is extremely difficult but as we all know sometimes mommy gives up what she has to make sure those she loves have what they need.

So here is a few menu ideas for a family of 4 on a very strict budget.

Click on the title for the recipe and photo.

These meals cost around $1-$2 per serving!

Biscuit-Topped Chicken Potpie

Cost per serving: $1.83
 This tasty Biscuit-Topped Chicken Potpie recipe will be a hit with both the kids and adults. Take a shortcut: If you’re pressed for time, use 6 large refrigerated biscuits from a 1-lb. can.

BLT Salad

Cost per serving: $1.95
 This classic sandwich-turned-salad is a great, easy weekday meal option. Feel free to use turkey bacon if you want to lighten up this hearty dish.

Butter Chicken

Cost per serving: $1.96
This easy and affordable Butter Chicken recipe is bursting with flavor. Use leftovers in a wrap for lunch the next day and add your favorite veggies for crunch.

Salmon-Spinach Frittata
Cost per serving: $1.08
Get even picky eaters to happily eat their veggies with this Salmon-Spinach Frittata recipe. This frittata is great any time of day—serve it at brunch, or eat any leftovers at room temperature for lunch.

Italian-Style Turkey Meat Loaf

Cost per serving: $1.34
This Italian-Style Turkey Meat Loaf recipe is an affordable, lightened-up comfort food favorite. Even if you're pressed for time, don't forgo the resting time. It firms it up and makes it easier to slice. Chop up leftovers and serve in pasta with marinara sauce.

Pineapple-Coconut Crisp

Cost per serving: 75¢
This Pineapple-Coconut Crisp is inexpensive, easy to prepare and simply delicious. Make it special: Add some sliced almonds to the topping for extra crunch. Serve the crisp warm with vanilla or coconut ice cream, or top it with some freshly whipped cream.

Asparagus with Ham and Cheese

Cost per serving: $1.75
To round out the meal, serve with toasted slices of crusty bread to soak up the cheesy, creamy sauce.

Chicken and Chorizo Paella

Cost per serving: $2.49
This spicy one-skillet dish is ideal for an easy weeknight meal. You can save time and money by using leftover chicken or chorizo in this recipe if you have it on hand.

Spaghetti with Eggplant, Ricotta and Tomatoes

Cost per serving: $1.65
Give this budget-friendly dish a little more color and sprinkle some chopped fresh parsley or basil on top just before serving. Also, instead of mixing in the ricotta, try dividing the pasta among four dinner plates, then topping each with ¼ cup ricotta.

Spinach and Feta Quesadillas

Cost per serving: $1.82
Give tortillas a Greek flair by stuffing them with spinach, feta and black olives. Serve with cherry tomatoes sautéed in olive oil, garlic and parsley.

Chicken, Snow Pea and Cashew Fried Rice

Cost per serving: $2.39
Make it takeout night with this recipe that's healthier and cheaper than the restaurant alternative. To transform the dish into a vegetarian supper, use vegetable broth and toss in cubes of tofu rather than chicken.

How do I become a product tester?

One of the questions that I get asked the most is how people can receive free products for review. 

Really, anyone that has a blog can move into the product review niche. I just wanted to share some things that I wish someone had shared with me when I began receiving products for review and some ins and outs of the product review niche. Of course, folks that focus solely on product reviews may have some stellar advice that I can’t offer you here, but I will certainly try my best.

Start reviewing what you have. If you have not done any product reviews before, one great way to begin venturing into the world of reviews is just reviewing the items you already have in your possession. Look around at the things in your home and review the items that you would hope to receive for your blog. Want to review the latest drugstore products? Start a blog by reviewing what you use in the morning to get ready. Want to own the latest technology gadgets? Start with the laptop you are working on. Of course, you want your niche to fit well with your site so try picking products that would interest your readers. As a family blogger, our readers are interested in the latest toys and tools to make their days easier & more productive. I started by sharing tools that I used to clean my home, not intending to ever receive products from companies. Many companies saw my comments about their own particular products and my experiences with them, and I would begin receiving requests to send me products. That is truly how all of this started for me, just writing about my experience with items in my home.

Put together a set of terms for review.When companies contact you to review one of their items, be sure to have a standard procedure for reviews. Here are some examples of procedures you could use:

• It is a requirement by our company that we be able to keep the product that we are reviewing.
• It is requested that we be able to offer one of your products to our readers in a giveaway.
• We require a fee from your company in order to do a review.
• We request that you provide a discount code for orders that can be placed online.
• We request items that fit with our readers. We are a _____ site that caters to _____. Please make sure your product matches the efforts on our site.

Make sure that your terms are very clear and that the company understands what is required of them. These terms can be made visible on your website or you can just have a document ready to go and email the companies that you are interested in working with.

Streamline your product review process as much as you can. Now that you are receiving requests for products, what are some ways that you can streamline the process? My suggestions truly come from trial and error through my past experiences with companies.

• Set up a seperate email address for your product reviews so you can keep track of what is coming to you. If it is set up in a different email address, set up an automated response that lets the company know that their request has been received. At this time, it is also appropriate to say, “We receive many requests for products and will try to respond to you in a timely manner. If you would like your product to be immediately seen I would like to provide our advertising rates.” This will give the company an option to pay you for prompt attention and lets them know that you have received their request without them hounding you repeatedly through emails.
• Word your mailing address so you know if you requested the product or not. I won’t give away my secret, but I have a very separate wording for products that I request. There have been weeks where we receive product after product and I can’t remember what I requested and what I did not request. Establishing a specific mailing address that lets you know it is an item you genuinely wanted to try will help you when multiple mailings start coming in.
• If you are doing a giveaway with a company, request that they mail the product directly to the winner. Trust me, it is so much hassle to have the product shipped to you and then reshipping it to the winner. It is expensive, not timely at all, and one extra step that you don’t want to be dealing with.
• Keep track of that paperwork. Keeping the winner(s) information in a file along with the PR contact who handled the giveaway will be of great help to you if there should be a snafu with getting shipment to the winner. Hang on to this information for awhile because I have had errors occur months down the road. At this point, it can be time-consuming trying to hunt down that person who forgot to mail shipment to my winners.

Decide how you will handle products that you don’t like. Of the twenty requests or so we receive each week, we only pick one or two items for the review site because I try to pick things that we would actually enjoy reviewing. Because of this very reason, you won’t see a lot of negative reviews on our site because it is products we really know we will love. There have been the occasional bad products though and we try to review those honestly. There are times though where I have chosen to not do a review and emailed the company privately instead. One company in particular sent me a giant box of their cleaning products that caused me to go into a fit of asthma when I tried them. Rather than bash them publicly, I sent them an email and said, “I am sorry, but these products did not work for me. The scent in them was too strong and caused me to have an asthmatic reaction. I am happy to review them, but wanted your company to be aware.” Instead of posting a review, they took my feedback privately and forwarded it to the team who developed the products with the recommendations that they come out with an unscented line.”

Don’t forget to stay true to yourself & your site. It can be easy to get caught up in all of the loot, but you need to remain true to your readers and the intentions of your site. Our website is family-focused and shopping for family needs fit with our site. Shopping did not fit with a frugal blog though so that is why we chose to move the reviews to its own separate section of the site. If you are conflicted on if it is a good move or not, try to be more heavy with the giveaways rather than the reviews themselves. Nothing makes a reader happier than that email from you letting them know that they won something on your site. It keeps people returning to your review blog if you are sharing the products with others.

Another way that you can stay true to your mission is by donating the items to charity or participating in charitable drives in your community with the items you have received. I am working on a big donation to our local shelter and am so thrilled to be able to pass on some of these wonderful products to others. The items that reflect
our mission and goals will be reviewed, but the majority will be donated or given back to our readers. I feel lucky to be able to give in ways that I could not necessarily do on my own and I hope that others can benefit from our relationships with these companies as much as we have.

Macy's 8pc Comforter Set, All Sizes $43

Macy's 8pc Comforter Set, All Sizes $43

Macys.com drops the price of the pictured Tristan 8pc Reversible Comforter Ensemble, along with several other styles, from an original $100 to $49.99 in all sizes: twin, full, queen, king and California king. Code VETS drops the price again to $42.49, the lowest price we could find on a comparable set right now. Each bedding ensemble includes a sheet set, comforter, bedskirt, and shams. Shipping adds $9.95 or is free over $99, and there is also a $3.25 surcharge per set, regardless of order size. Sales tax is charged in most states.

Lysol Power & Free Multi-Purpose Spray Cleaner & Wipes

I was super excited to receive these products as part of the Healthing Movement from BzzAgent for testing purposes.  I opened the box like a little kid at Christmas :-) and followed the exact directions on the Lysol Power & Free Multi-Purpose Cleaner when applying it on the tile of my daughter's shower.  I waited, per the instructions, for it to set in and when I rinsed it with the handheld shower sprayer I felt this overwhelming sense of disappointment!  It looked exactly the same as before I "cleaned" it with this product.  

The Lysol Power & Free wipes were much better.  I used them to wipe down the stove, counters, high chair, car interior, kids plastic toys, and light switches.  They looked very clean and smelled fresh.  The wipes are soaked in the Lysol Power & Free cleaning solution so I would be sure to test the affect it might have on certain surfaces before going on a wipe craze. I have to say that the wipes really saved the brand for me.  Over all I would give the Lysol Power & Free Multi-Purpose Spray Cleaner a "C" and the Lysol Power & Free Multi-Purpose Wipes an "A".  

Have a beeeautiful day,

The Queen Bee