*All recipes that fall under this category can be found under the ‘Recipes‘ header under ‘Millennial Eats’ sub category.*

I started this challenge whilst faced a challenge with my finances and budget due to the fact I work part time and also study part time. Like most millennials my age I was also struggling to pay bills and the strain part time work is having on my finances is incredible. So I recently decided to focus on one of the biggest costs of living – FOOD!

Have you ever noticed those big grocery chains advertising ‘feed your family for $4 per person or less’ etc. but then read through the recipe and you have to have enough money to buy for a recipe that feeds four people with leftovers!

What happens if you don’t want to spend $16 on that one meal and eat the same leftovers for a week. What happens if you don’t have the time or the space to cook or freeze multiple meals? What if you just want to make a cheap meal for 1 person.

Now that I am currently experiencing corona virus budget challenges like a lot of other people, I am restarting this serious. I have also updated the rules to scrap from having 20 pantry basics to only 10.

The 5 items I have gotten rid of are listed at the end.

That is what inspired this series – Millennial Eats.

How it works

The Rules:

#1 – The recipes don’t take into account the purchase of the 12 (previously 20) following pantry staples, as they last for ages and nobody buys these items every time they pop up in a recipe.
Try and buy the following items when they come on sale or on special.

12 PANTRY STAPLES;

• Flour
• Powdered Milk
• Olive Oil
• Soy Sauce
• Butter
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Honey
• Sugar (or your artificial sweetener)
• Salt
• Smoked Paprika
• Ground Cumin
• Pepper

About the recipes:
Each recipe is designed to use the cheapest ingredients on sale and makes generally 1 or 2 servings.

There are exceptions for recipes that are easily frozen or stored when large quantities can be made cheaply of course (like my eggplant lasagne or popcorn recipes).

The Price Brackets:

$5             –                 $7                       –             $10                 –                 $12

There are 3 brackets that each meal can fit into and these are what the whole recipe can cost up to. For example the $10 bracket does not mean it will cost $10, it means it won’t cost over this amount.

Pantry basic I have gotten rid of:

• Eggs
• Dijion Mustard
• Sesame Oil
• Fish Sauce
• Oyster Sauce
• Chicken or Beef Stock Cubes ( depending on your flavour preference)
• Sesame Seeds
• Ground Cinnamon