$5 Dinners

About:

I'm Erin Chase.

I have a little problem. I can not make a meal that costs more than $5. Even if I try. My brain will no longer allow it. It's filled with prices on my favorite products. It races through recipes and numbers as I go through the grocery store, wondering 'can I pull off that meal for less than $5? Is that price on those chicken breasts too high to swing a $5 meal?' It's unnatural, really. But, my pocketbook thanks me!

I'm a child of God, wife of an adorable, supportive and godly husband and mom to 2 precious little boys (3.5 and 1.7).

I grew up in San Antonio, TX, and went to college at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. A few short months after graduating from TCU, I found myself in the Dominican Republic as a missionary and high school math and science teacher. I met my husband in the DR. We married a year and a half after meeting. We continued living and ministering in the Dominican Republic as houseparents after we were married. This year as a housemother really allowed me to polish the skills that I now use everyday here on the blog! I learned the ins and outs of budgeting, shopping, and menu planning...all in a 3rd world country! It was my responsibility to shop, plan and execute (cook!) 3 meals a day, 7 days a week for 12 teenage boys!

We later taught at a small elementary school in our town, where I managed the hormones of the 6th and 7th grade classes, and hopefully taught them a few academic things too. The year that I was pregnant with my oldest son, I was the principal of our elementary school. Talk about a hormonal roller coaster ride! After his birth, I worked part time from home as a consultat/part-time administrator at the school. After 6 years of ministry in the Dominican Republic, we moved back to the US 2 years ago while I was pregnant with my youngest son. At first, I found life in the US overwhelming. Now that the reverse culture shock has worn off, I really enjoy the luxuries and comforts of home.

When I'm not couponing, grocery shopping or blogging, I enjoy date nights, training for and running half marathons, scrapbooking, hanging out outside (at 60 degrees or higher :), reading and hanging out with girlfriends!

How $5 Dinners came to be...

Back in late summer 2008, I began couponing. It started paying off immediately! I love to cook and I love the challenge of coming up with a meal that costs under $5. A few weeks before I started the blog, I'd shared with my husband that "this meal was only $3.85, or tonight's dinner cost about $5." One night as I was cleaning up the dishes from dinner I thought of the phrase "$5 Dinners". The rest is history!