Tag Page BudgetFriendlyEats

Jenny Marker

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🛒 Five Dinners for $41: Tuna melts + cucumber tomato salad = budget win.

We’re really tightening our grocery budget this week—$41 for five full dinners to feed our family of four. It’s not always easy, but I love cooking and love the challenge of making every dollar count. Day One: We kicked it off with tuna melts on sliced French bread, paired with a quick cucumber and tomato salad. All it took was: Two cans of tuna Mayo Sliced cheddar A cucumber One tomato And that $1 bakery French bread 👏 No fancy extras—just salt, pepper, and a hot skillet. I even used mayo to toast the bread instead of butter (try it, it works!). I still had bread and tuna leftover, so tomorrow’s meal might get a little boost. The salad is just sliced cucumber and tomato with a sprinkle of salt and pepper—basic, fresh, filling. This meal fed my husband, my six-year-old, my toddlers, and me, could only be consider as a family of 4. Budget meals don’t have to suck—and we’re proving it every day this week. ❤️ #BudgetMeals #FeedAFamilyForLess #TunaMeltMagic #RealLifeDinner #FiveDinnersUnder50 #BudgetFriendlyEats #FrugalAndFull

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Robin Nichols

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Thanh Huong - A Colorful Budget-Friendly Vietnamese Spot

This Vietnamese place in North San Jose, 95132 is a feast for the eyes! So many Vietnamese snacks I've never seen before, all bursting with color and amazingly cheap, averaging $10-15 per person! Here's what I got: - Chicken Banh Mi: Crispy French baguette filled with shredded grilled chicken, onions, pickled radish, cilantro, and green chili peppers. Sweet, tangy, and plenty filling! Oddly, this isn't their best-seller. Saw quite a few Vietnamese people coming in and straight-up ordering the No.2 Banh Mi. No clue what number 2 is! - Veggie Banh Mi: As above, Vietnamese sandwich without meat, purely vegetarian. It came with tofu, seemed like fried tofu skin. Crunchy, nice! - Pandan Waffle: A pandan leaf flavored waffle, soft and sweet. Loved it! - Xoi Mam Rice: Sounds like it's supposed to be like sticky rice stir-fry with sausage but the rice was a bit hard. At $5 a box, I'm not gonna complain. - Spring Roll: Regular offering from a Viet place, $7.5 for 3 rolls with meat and veggies, worth it! Pro tip: Always eat Vietnamese spring rolls with sauce and cold; don't heat them up. I made the mistake of microwaving mine when I got home for a minute. Ruined the texture, boo! - Xoi: Colorful sticky rice half wrapped in a thin rice skin with purple and green sticky rice. Came with a small box of powdered peanut sugar, not bad! - Banh Bonh Lan: An old-school honey mini cake. Cake is quite dense, be careful not to choke! - Beverage & sweet: Not sure what they're called! The beverage was this really sweet combo of jujube, longan, goji, white fungus, and barley. Had to dilute it 1:1 with water. The dessert was sticky rice with coconut milk, sweet but not too cloying. OK! Overall: Got a ton of stuff, only cost me around $40. Apart from Vietnamese snacks, they also serve boxed meals and noodle soups. Lots of choices and easy on the pocketbook. Super excited to find a budget-friendly spot with signature dishes in this era of rising prices! #ThanhHuong #VietnameseFood #BudgetFriendlyEats #ColorfulCuisine #SanJoseEats #VietnameseSnacks #DeliciousDishes #AffordableMeals

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