Hi! Welcome to Eating on a Dime. I am Carrie Barnard the recipe developer, food stylist and photographer behind this food blog.

Here you will find easy recipes with simple ingredients for any lifestyle. Whether you are a busy mom, or an avid cook, you will love the variety of comfort food and fresh ingredient recipes.

A Little Background About Me

I grew up with both of my parents running their own restaurants. From as young as I could remember we were always there. From a toddler sleeping in the back all the way to helping manage my mother’s restaurant as a teenager, I began my love of cooking.

I originally started cooking at home in college to save money and hated complicated recipes.  My new hobby became simplifying recipes and experimenting with how to create delicious meals with as few ingredients as possible. This grew and grew as I loved having people over to share my newest creation. Eventually I was called “Betty” in reference to Betty Crocker as being the cook in the family..

Over the past 25 years, I have been cooking at home for my family and friends and have learned how to make amazing dinner without the need for complicated recipes or complicated ingredients.

I am now a mother to 8 amazing children. Yes I said 8! I have some biological children and have adopted through foster care. I am a huge advocate for helping others which is how Eating on a Dime was born.

With over 3 Million Fans on Facebook and recipe videos with over 100 million views, Eating on a Dime has become a trusted source for easy recipes the entire family.

Eating on a Dime has been featured on KOCO5 where we shared our money saving tips for cooking at home. We were also featured in an Oklahoman Article as a money saving Experts where we share how to stretch your budget in the kitchen.

My recipes have been shared on BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Business Insider and Parade!

As a former math teacher, I combined my love of teaching, helping and cooking to create a site to help even the busiest family. From slow cooker recipes, to easy stove top recipes, and air fryer recipes, I am on a mission to help as many people cook well on a budget.

While I love all my recipes, I take extra pride in using my slow cooker to make all sorts of delicious meals that my family and friends love!

Most Popular Slow Cooker Recipes

My Most Popular Recipes

Why I created The Lazy Day Cooking Club 

In 2018, I unexpectedly become a single mom to my 8 amazing kids.  This is when I found that it was even harder to get dinner done.  Through trial and error, I found that it was easier to make my meals for the entire week on 1 day and store them in the freezer.  Then all I had to do was throw the freezer meal in the crock pot in the morning and dinner was done.

This is how the Lazy Day Cooking Club was born. In the Lazy Day Cooking Club, we teach families how to get dinner done every night of the week in less time than ever.  Now this cooking club has thousands of members and we’re helping families get dinner done every night of the week while saving money too.

To All the Moms Who Struggle with Dinnertime

Save hours in the kitchen every week and reclaim precious family time without blowing your budget. Join the Lazy Day Cooking Club.

Join the Club

Then in 2019, I married, Cory Barnard, a math teacher and basketball coach (I can’t believe it either)!  If you follow me on Facebook, he can be seen in my live videos (during his teaching breaks) helping me show you how to create my easy recipes at home.  

He doesn’t have much cooking experience yet, so I have been enjoying teaching him how to create family friendly dinners too. He does take his job as our recipe taste tester very seriously.

Meet Christina!

Also, in 2019, my sister, Christina Auchter, joined the Eating on a Dime team.  She loves to call me Betty in reference to “Betty Crocker” since I’m always experimenting in the kitchen and now we call her Betty Junior.

She actually hated cooking previously and fell in love with our style of easy recipes on a budget. She is now such an amazing support in our Lazy Day Cooking club and shines with her biggest tip of Cook once eat twice, where she teaches our members how to create a second meal out of leftovers. She is a wife to Drew and they have 2 daughters together.

My promise to you!

I’m so glad that you’re here and promise to continue to provide you with easy recipes that are delicious too!  I will also share my tips with how to save time in the kitchen without have to sacrifice flavor.

If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

You can follow Eating on a Dime on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or Youtube! Also, you can sign up for our free newsletters so you don’t miss a single recipe.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy my recipes!

5 Secrets to the Easiest Dinners

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