Recipe: Low Cost Tip from Ingrid F. - Adding Courses to Dinner

From Ingrid F:
"I don't have a recipe, but want to share my best low cost tip: When budget is low, I always add courses for dinner. Preferably an extra first course.

People who get salads with greens, tuna and cubed cold boiled potatoes eat much less of the main course, which often is the most expensive part.

A hearty soup and a dessert with lots of starch in it also helps - a pudding, cream or pie.

Add cheese, fruit and bread between main course and dessert, and people think they get a wonderful and extravagant meal (which they do) while you really are saving money.

I did this when I was a poor student, and other times when money is low - my daughter in college do the same now, and always get the same result: The lowest food budget of all her friends, the healthiest and apparently the most extravagant meals."