Mom becomes Web cooking guru

A stay-at-home Ohio mom has made a thriving business out of her quest to reduce her family's grocery bill while producing healthful meals.

Last summer, when gas prices went sky-high, Erin Chase scoured the family budget to find ways to save money. She couldn't lower prices at the gas pump or reduce the mortgage, but she did find ways to trim the grocery bill.

“We were already at the basics on everything, and groceries seemed the only practical area to reduce,” she said. Because Erin's two sons, nearly 2 and 4, suffer from a neurological disorder, she was determined to make their meals as healthy as possible.

“I turned to the world of frugal blogs and started looking at coupons,” she said. “The grocery bill started to drop immediately,” from $500 a month to about $250.

One night, she told her family their dinner had cost $3.85. From that, the idea of $5 dinners “popped into my head,” she said. Turning to the Internet, she discovered that no one had focused on that concept, and she immediately registered the Web site, www.5dollardinners.com, designing it herself. It took off immediately, drawing 200 hits a day after a couple of days.

As Chase blogged and added recipes, sharing shopping and cooking tips, she connected with others struggling with the same problem.

The Web page premiered Aug. 22, and by mid-September, she knew she needed a professional Web designer. Her redesigned site appeared soon after. By early October, the site featured its first advertising.

Gradually, Erin realized that the project she did for fun could become a business.

“When I started, I didn't realize you could (make money from a blog,” she said. From there, she developed a video for her site on how to save on meat and chicken by buying in bulk during sales, separating the proteins into meal-size packages and freezing them until they were needed.

When Wal-Mart announced a contest on money-saving tips, Erin entered that video, titled “How to Save When Buying Proteins,” by uploading it to YouTube. On New Year's Eve, she learned that she was one of 10 national winners. The prize was a year's free groceries at Wal-Mart, valued at $6,000, more by far than she spent for her family in a year.

That, of course, drew media coverage and sent readers to her Web site.

As traffic to her site grew, she heard from manufacturers who wanted to post free giveaways, drawing even more viewers.

Then, Twitter and Facebook became part of the new media picture, drawing even more readers. Notes such as “Dinner's on the table,” or “Serving dinner on Twitter” drew about 2,800 viewers checking out what she's serving for dinner that evening.

Then, Rachael Ray came calling. First, field producers flew to Ohio and filmed Chase planning her menus, grocery shopping, cooking and serving dinner. Then she flew to New York to tape a visit with Ray for a show that aired in April.

Chase's mom, Vicki Boyce, executive director of St. Luke's Lutheran Health Ministries in San Antonio, said her daughter was no stranger to finding value for her food dollar.

What best prepared her to become a $5-meal mom was her experience teaching at a Christian school in the Dominican Republic after she graduated from Texas Christian University. She met her husband, Steve, there, and the first year of their marriage they were house parents to 10 teenage boys. “That's where she learned to cook,” Boyce said, “and she took it as a challenge to do it well.”

Chase agrees. “In the Dominican Republic, I learned how to cook from scratch. There were no processed foods, nothing in a box, and many things were too expensive. I was cooking for 12 to 15 people and shopping in a Third World market.”

After six years, the Chases moved to Steve's hometown of Centerville, near Dayton, Ohio, and that's where her latest odyssey began.

As she deals with her growing business and increasing celebrity, the basis of it all remains the same. She clips coupons, watches for sales at the grocery, plans healthy meals for her family and her Web followers, and cooks dinner each evening.

She told Ray's television audience she was amazed at how easy it was to cook $5 meals. With an investment of 30 minutes a week to clip coupons, check sales and plan meals, she saves $50 to $80 a week.

@Giza 12 Point:Asian Chicken Wraps With Steamed Snap Peas

Teriyaki sauce or marinade, to taste

1-2 tablespoons tahini

3 chicken breasts

1/2 bag baby carrots or 1 carrot

1 bag snap peas

Salt, to taste

Handful of chopped romaine lettuce

1/4 cup peanuts, finely chopped

4 flour tortillas, heated

Combine teriyaki sauce/marinade with tahini.

In skillet, add sauce mixture and chicken. Saute chicken about 5 minutes on each side until cooked through (cooking times will vary depending on thickness of the chicken). Slice chicken into strips.

Shred carrots. Rinse and pat dry the snap peas. Place them in a saucepan with about 1/2 inch of water. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Season steamed snap peas with a pinch or two of salt.

Assemble wrap by adding chicken, shredded carrots, lettuce and peanuts in tortillas. Serve with side of steamed snap peas.

Note: For a guilt-free version, replace the tortilla with a large piece of lettuce and make lettuce wraps.

Makes four servings, each 500 calories (28.8 percent calories from fat), 16 grams fat, 50 milligrams cholesterol, 1,390 milli- grams sodium, 57 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams dietary fiber, 30 grams protein.

Cost $5.09: Teriyaki sauce, 50 cents; tahini, 5 cents; chicken, $2.21; carrots, 49 cents; snap peas, 99 cents; lettuce, 10 cents; peanuts, 25 cents; tortillas, 50 cents.

Source: Erin Chase

Potato, Egg and Cheese Tacos

6-8 small white potatoes, diced

Salt and pepper, to taste

6-8 eggs

1-2 cups shredded cheese

8-10 tortillas, warmed

1 orange, cut into quarters

1 apple, cut into quarters

Cook diced potatoes in small amount of water in bottom of skillet until tender (use oil if you prefer “greasier” potatoes). Season with salt and pepper, or other seasonings to taste. Transfer to plate.

Scramble eggs in the same skillet (mix in a little milk, if desired).

Season with salt and pepper. Once eggs are almost fully cooked, stir in potatoes and mix.

Add cheese to potatoes and eggs in skillet and let melt, then spoon into tortillas and roll, or spoon egg/potato mix into tortilla, then sprinkle with the cheese. Roll to eat.

Serve with orange and apple slices.

Makes four servings, each 730 calories (31.5 percent calories from fat), 26 grams fat, 355 milligrams cholesterol, 940 milligrams sodium, 99 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams dietary fiber, 29 grams protein.

Cost $4.98: Potatoes, 99 cents; eggs, 95 cents; cheese, $1.25; tortillas, $1.29; fruit, 50 cents.

Source: Erin Chase

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