Bargain Lover Mom Spreads the Savings Around

If your food budget is feeling squeezed these days (and isn’t everyone’s?) you really should check out the blog, 5dollardinners.com. Food blogger Erin, who calls herself $5 Dinner Mom, can show you how to stretch your family food dollar and still eat well.

Her blog’s only been around for a couple months, but it’s quickly become a popular site for frugal-minded foodies.

Erin lives in Dayton, Ohio, with her husband and two young boys, ages 3 and 18 months. Her 5dollardinners.com blog chronicles her mission to make meals for her family for under five bucks. She says she strives to make healthy, wholesome and nutritious meals using mostly raw and natural foods. Along with a post detailing each night’s meal and cost breakdown, she offers money saving tips, monthly menu plans, and other suggestions for getting the most out your food purchases.

She’ll often include little sidebar notations. A recipe ingredient list may mention “I bought chicken thighs that were marked ‘priced reduced for quick sale’—they went straight to my freezer.” Or a recipe calling for pears might include a notation: “lots of pear sales lately!”

Overall the site is colorful and uncluttered and often encourages visiting other food blogs. Many recipes include photos, but not all do.

We recommend you bookmark 5dollardinners as a place you’ll want to visit often, especially when your pocketbook’s feeling pinched.

Try her recipe for Bacon and Egg Quesadillas, a delightful way to put a new spin on your basic bacon-and-egg breakfast.