My $3 Paleo Dinner (with pictures)

Chuck posted a fun contest on Friday.  Bottom line:

Make a primal dinner with meat and veggies for $3.00 or less per person.

I read that and thought, great idea!  One of the common complaints about the diet is that it’s expensive, and nothing teaches as good as experience, so why put ourselves to the test with a $3 dinner contest?   Antonie and I were eager to give it a shot.

(Our very own Ben Stafford proved the diet can be cost-effective when he successfully did a full month on $2 a day.)

First, I looked around the kitchen to see what we had in stock.   We’ve been traveling pretty nonstop for the past month, so our kitchen was near empty.   We had one tomato, about 20 eggs and a few avocados (on sale for a buck each!) we picked up at Giant supermarket on Friday.   I figured they would work well.   We needed some meat, and perhaps another vegetable.

We had to stop by Target this weekend, so I checked out their food while I there.   Cool enough, Target has an impressive array of healthy foods.   I was reminded of an excellent article called The Great Grocery Smackdown, where a yuppie foodie from The Atlantic was out to prove how bad WalMart’s food was, and walked away shocked that the quality rivaled Whole Foods, and the price was better.   Perhaps his conclusion applies to Target as well:

The vast majority of Walmarts carry a large range of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. And Walmarts serve many “food deserts,” in large cities and rural areas—ironically including farm areas. . . . I’m convinced that if it wants to, a ruthlessly well-run mechanism can bring fruits and vegetables back to land where they once flourished, and deliver them to the people who need them most.

We picked up a couple pounds of quality ground beef for $3 a pound.   I bought an onion for 78 cents.   We went back home, took pictures, and began cooking.

Our meal, for two, consisted of one pound of ground beef, two eggs, one avocado, one tomato and half an onion.  I tossed some eggs in a pot to boil.  Then I put some olive oil on the pan, added the chopped up onion until it cooked, then added the meat, cooked for a couple minutes & then tossed in the chopped up tomato.  A couple twists of salt & pepper for taste. When it was done, all we had to do was add the egg and avocado on top, pour a glass of water and begin eating:

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This is how the cost broke down:
1. One pound of ground beef: $3.14
2. Two eggs: $0.41
3. One avocado: $1.00
4. One tomato: $0.70
5. 1/2 onion: $0.40

Total cost: $5.65 + tax.  Virginia sales tax is 5 percent, which amounts to 28 cents for $5.65 worth of food.  Total cost out the door: $5.93.

Total cost per meal: $2.97 

We did it!   The meal was filling and tasted great.   We enjoyed our food, and the contest.   Thanks Chuck!