Feeding Your Family on a Budget, Part 4

Lentils, black beans, and great northern beans

Meatless Meals There are a number of ways you can have a meatless meal. You could take one of your favorite recipes and just make it without the meat. For example, have spaghetti without meat in the sauce or a soup without meat, or even a casserole without the meat.

You could also replace the meat in the recipe with something like tofu (although I don’t use this so I am not sure how much you would be saving), beans, or more veggies. If you like sloppy joes, make it with lentils instead of ground beef. Burritos—make them with just refried beans and veggies instead of with meat. Stir-fry is great and just double the veggies and removing the meat to save money.

There are also lots of great vegetarian meals out there. I’ve experimented and continue to experiment and have come up with a few family favorites that are not only vegetarian, but also cost effective.