5 ingredients, $10.63, happy family

So I got this new magazine at the checkout stand, a Good Housekeeping Special Interest Publication, with 200 + recipes that use about 5 ingredients. I picked a few to start with this week, knowing that the fewer ingredients called for the more likely it would mean buying prepared and/or packaged foods. No matter. I went ahead and planned them anyway, choosing only the ones which didn't compromise my standards, and of course, which used ingredients I know my family will eat. As a math lesson this week, we'll look at the cost per meal and cost per serving each night.


Tonight's meal was ham and asparagus pasta.

$1.19 - - 1 lb. box of bowtie pasta
$1.19 - - frozen broccoli florets (added these for my non-asparagus-eating family members, only used half a bag)
$2.29 - - frozen asparagus
$4.97 - - 1lb ham steak (maybe a little high in sodium, but I did trim the fat out and gave it to the dog)
$1.58 - - 8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese (the only ingredient I wouldn't normally buy or have on hand, and a glance at the ingredient list reveals no items of questionable nutritional value)
pennies - 1/3 c. milk
TOTAL MEAL cost - $10.63 ($1.32 per serving)

(Fresh broccoli and asparagus can be expensive here, so I substitute frozen at times when the quality is low.)