Intro to Feeding a Family in a Balanced Way

This week I made 5 nutritious dinners for our family of 5 (see previous posts) and 17 individual lunches for a total cost of $39.55. For the remainder of our meals we don't usually eat together, so it's really snacks and lots of things that each person can fix for himself: cereal, oatmeal, PB&J's, fresh veggies and fruit, popcorn, chips & salsa, scrambled eggs w/crumbled bacon (with or without tortillas), tuna sandwiches, quesadillas, popcorn shrimp, etc.

Still, our costs are lower than they used to be. I do nearly all of my shopping at Aldi and Sam's Club. Here are some of what I try to keep on hand:

• Cinnamon Toast Crunch from Sam's Club - 45 3/4 cup servings $6.48
• Microwave popcorn - $1.49 per 6-pack at Aldi 
• Tortilla Chips & Salsa - $1.19 for chips and $1.49 for jar of salsa at Aldi
• Garden veggies - FREE
• Peanut butter - 2 40oz jars of Jif at Sam's for about $9.00
• Sunbeam Bread - $0.49 a loaf at our bakery outlet store
• Tuna - $0.59 per can at Aldi
• Spaghetti rings w/ meatballs - $0.69 per can at Aldi
• Sliced American Cheese - $1.99 for 16 slices at Aldi
• Baby cucumbers - about $4.00 for about 12 cucumbers at Sam's 
• Strawberries - $3.98 for 2lb pkg at Sam's
• Milk - $2.85 per gallon at Sam's
• Veggies from the garden - FREE

So, you can see that between planning frugal dinners and providing plenty of healthy breakfast/lunch/snack options for my family, I can save time and money. On top of that, I don't have to worry whether I'm meeting my family's nutritional needs. It's the best way I've been able to achieve some balance in this area of my life.