Recipes for Minimalist Living

So part of the challenge is living on $5 per day.  The best way to accomplish this is by eating all the food and not throwing any of it in the garbage.  I also like to have a variety of food.  Preprocessed and ready to eat foods are typically more expense, have more preseratives, and are smaller portions so I stay away from these.  I like to create dishes with a handful of ingredients, make enough of certain ingredient to have some leftover to make it into something else.  This also allows you to potentially only have the stove on for making one batch of something, saving energy, for example cooking noodles that can be used in multiple dishes over an extended period of time.

Here are some meals that I have enjoyed over the past 6 weeks following this minimalist life style.

Salad

• Iceberg Lettuce
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Red or White Onions
• Carrots
• Hard boiled egg
• Deli meat ham or Turkey
• Shredded Cheese
• Ranch Dressing

Breaded Chicken Tenders

• Chicken Tenders
• Italian Breadcrumbs
• Garlic Salt
• Egg
• Olive Oil

Breaded Chicken Sandwich

• Onion Bagel
• Fried Chicken Tenders
• Red Onion
• Tomato
• Spinach
• Provolone Cheese
• Mayonnaise
• Horseradish Brown Mustard

Spaghetti Ala vodka

• Spaghetti noodles
• Tomato Sauce
• Heavy Cream
• leftover Meat
• Parmesan Cheese

Tuna Noddle, Egg Salad

• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Celery
• Carrots
• Celery Salt
• Tuna
• Elbow Pasta
• Salad Dressing

Pasta Cheese Bake

• Elbow Pasta
• Shredded Cheese
• Garlic Salt
• Italian Bread Crumbs
• Heavy Cream

Bagel Sandwich

• Onion Bagel
• Deli Ham or Turkey sliced
• Red or White Onion
• Tomato
• Spinach
• Provolone Cheese
• Seasoning Salt
• Mayonnaise
• Horseradish Brown Mustard

Green Bean Casserole

• Can green beans
• Mushroom soup
• French's Fried onions

Vegetable Stir-fry

• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Butter
• White Onions
• Crushed Garlic
• Vermouth 
• Soy Sauce

Fried Rice

• White Rice
• Chicken Bouillon 
• Egg
• Peas
• Carrots
• Seasoning Sauce
• Sesame Oil
• Sesame Seeds

Sausage

• Sausage
• Buns
• Ketchup
• Horseradish Brown Mustard
• Sweet Relish

Tacos

• Taco Seasoning
• Ground Beef
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Shredded Cheese
• Fresh Cilantro 
• White Onion
• Soft Flour Shells

Hamburger

• Bun
• Ground Beef
• Onion
• Italian Breadcrumbs
• Egg
• Ketchup
• Red Onion
• Tomato
• Spinach
• Garlic Salt
• Horseradish Brown Mustard
• Sweet Relish

Chicken Delight

• Rice
• Canned Chicken
• Sour Cream
• Cream of Chicken Soup
• Italian Breadcrumbs
• Ritz Crackers

Breakfast Cereal

• Generic Rice Chex 
• Unsweet Almond Milk
• Honey

Seasonal Fruit

• Bananas
• Pineapple
• Apples

Other

• Granola Bars
• Tortilla Chips
• Vanilla Sandwich Cookies
• Banana Bread

I have been able to stay at $35/week for groceries.