Fun times ahead – pizza party at home, let the kids help, too! 🙂
Pizza crusts, $1.00 each – $2.00 total
Cheese! $1.00 each = $2.00 total
2 cans corn, $1.00 each = $2.00 total
Chocolate Pudding! $1.00 = $1.00
Pretty good supper!
Pizza & a veggie & chocolate pudding for dessert – yummy!
🙂Enough for four people . . . plus a whole extra pizza leftover for seconds.
MATH TIME
2.00 – 2 crusts 1.00 – can of pizza sauce (sorry, forgot the picture) 2.00 – 2 cheese 2.00 – 2 corn 1.00 – 4 puddings _____________ $8.00 total / 4 people = $2.00 per person
Whether it’s a special holiday or just a pretty day at the park with family and friends, Dollar Tree has you covered for affordable picnicking fun. This meal was all purchased at the awesome Nacogdoches Dollar Tree.*
* This is not an ad or an affiliate link; I get nothing and there’s nothing for you to click, anyway. This “Dollar Tree Dinner” series is purely for my personal entertainment, but it’s okay with me if you enjoy it, too. 🙂
THE MENU
Hot dogs & chips Peanuts for snack Pudding for dessert Soda*
* Dollar Tree Dinners usually have water to drink – save money and eat healthy, two for one! This was a special occasion party meal, though, so I added soda this time.
Hmmmmm, that hotdog looks a little pink! But no worries, this was just for the picture. We cooked the hot dogs all the way through before we ate them (and you definitely should, too!)
The Dollar Tree Dinners are all based on four servings simply for consistency in comparison.
Some thoughts about the ketchup and mustard. I expect most people already have these in their fridge (we certainly did). But I went ahead and bought them new for the meal, just for the sake of the activity having accurate costs. They add not even a whole cent to the per-serving cost (based on the “per serving” notes on the container), but they did add $2.00 to “today’s shopping trip” cost. So, if you already have those in the fridge, you could have saved $2.00 today!
Why peanuts?
These added a little something extra to snack on while people were visiting before and after the main meal. They are also a valuable plant-based protein, for extra nutrition. (Don’t serve if someone in your group is allergic!)
SHOPPING COSTS – BASICS
Buns – $1.00 Hot dogs – $1.00 Chips – $1.00 Peanuts – $1.00 Pudding – $1.00 Soda – $1.00 ___________ $6.00 – basic cost today in the store could be as low as $6.00 total
Possible Extra Costs ? $1.00 Ketchup (if you don’t have some at home already) $1.00 Mustard (same) $1.00 Chips (I got two kinds, for variety, but one bag serves 5, so really only needed one to serve this meal) _____ $3.00 more possible items
Basics + possible extras – $9.00 – still under $10.00
MEAL COSTS – PER SERVING*
.125 – buns .125 – hot dogs .025 – ketchup .008 – mustard .20 – chips .166 – peanuts .083 – soda .25 – pudding ________ .982 = 98 Cents for this meal for one person
*I’m certainly not an accountant. This is just doing basic division of total price/servings = cost per serving. Remember wondering, “When will I ever use this?” Now you know when!
CALORIE COUNTS*
Bun – 110 Hot dog – 110 Ketchup – 20 Mustard – 0 Chips – 150 Peanuts – 170 Pudding – 100 Soda – 100 (it says 60 on the package, but we had a tall glass, so I added a few extra calories to account for that)
TOTAL FOR THE MEAL – 760 calories
I realize that’s a lot of calories for only one meal, but we decided to go for it anyway.
A party meal once in a while is good for morale! 🙂
*Definitely I am not a nutritionist or dietician or anything official. These counts are based directly from the consumer-friendly packaging that anyone else can see and use, too.
BONUS FOOD!
The photos show the table set for four people . . . that means there was a lot of food leftover! You can invite more people to the party , or some people can have more than one serving (teenagers, anyone!?)
