When I want a low cost meal, okay a really cheap meal, that still has a variety of ingredients but will please my family, I pull out the tacos! Tacos are the one meal that my kids never, ever, complain about. The nice thing about tacos, is that not only are they a cheap dinner, but they can be customized somewhat to meet everyone’s needs.
With some strategies, you can reduce the cost of tacos even more. Here are my tips.
First, switch from regular ground beef to ground turkey. My family likes the 85 percent lean. It has a little more fat than the other options, so it is nice and juicy, and it is the cheapest. Here is another way to save–just use less of the taco seasoning when you prepare the ground turkey. it doesn’t need as much as beef might, I have found. If you find that you need more flavor, choose the seasoning that is hot instead of mild. I found that one packet can do about one to two pounds of ground turkey in our house.
Next, prepare all of the toppings yourself. That means dice the tomatoes and shred the lettuce and the cheese. You’ll save quite a bit that way.
For the sour cream (some of us have to have our sour cream) I generally buy the store brand and look at the unit pricing. For this week’s taco meal, I found that two smaller containers cost less than one larger one (don’t worry, I needed the extra sour cream for other meals).
The taco shells we really don’t want to compromise too much about. We have our favorite brand and we like to stick with it. To reduce the cost her, I just use coupons and sales to stock up when I can. Occasionally, some boxes will wind up on the discount rack because the shells have gotten broken. I can get great deals this way and simply turn the taco meal into a taco salad meal, placing all of the ingredients mixed together with the broken taco shells on top.
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