$50.00 left for a week of Groceries!!!!

[BellasMom]

Whew the weekend went fast, and here I am on Monday with $50.00 left in my pocket for the week of groceries. How am I ever going to feed a family of four on that???

Girls, I know this is a common problem for most of us. What are you best tips to get through the week, nutritiously on $50.00??

[FamilyCorner]

One of the best tips I can think of is to cut the meat portion down a bit. For example, when making chili, use less ground beef and more beans. For chicken soup, use less chicken and put in barley or small pasta. Try baked macaroni and cheese for dinner one night, or grilled cheese sandwiches and soup.

Sometimes it makes my stomach turn to see how much food gets wasted at my dinner table. Especially the littler kids, seems like they never eat!

[barbszy]

BellasMom, I know you live in a part of the country where food prices can be high.

I'd advise trying to plan your meals around "planned leftovers." If pot roast is on sale, buy one big enough for 2 dinners. Eat pot roast one night and beef enchiladas made with the leftover, another night.

Also, do a "pantry challenge." How many meals can you make just using what you already have in your pantry, fridge and freezer? It's that much less that you have to buy.

[Janet]

Never leftovers in my house!

I never have leftovers in my house..now I have to cook more..for we get alot of unexpected visitors..teenagers coming over after school..and we eat early.. how in the world do you plan for that?

For example when I fix chicken breasts..I cook 3 for my family...what do you do when more hungry teens show up?

Any suggestions?? How budget for that?

Hugs, Janet

[jjoj]

Janet, You could cut the chicken you prepared into strips or bite-sized pieces and make stir-fry served with rice or pasta, or make chicken quesadillas or something like that.

[ajrsmom]

Never leftovers in my house!

I never have leftovers in my house..now I have to cook more..for we get alot of unexpected visitors..teenagers coming over after school..and we eat early.. how in the world do you plan for that?

For example when I fix chicken breasts..I cook 3 for my family...what do you do when more hungry teens show up?

Any suggestions?? How budget for that?

Hugs, Janet

Instead of cooking 3 breasts, cook 6 or 8. That way, if they show up, you will have food but if they dont, you will have chicken already cooked for other meals.

[cat lover]

Try to plan at least a week at a time. Have soup and salad one night, soup and sandwich another night. Try another night with some type of casserole, another night of no meat meal; you could do rice and beans that night! You can drastically cut down meat portions to 3 oz per serving( that is all we are supposed to have anyway) and fill everyone up with more veggies and always a potato dish. You could include a roll or bread as a filler also and don't forget everyone could have fruit and cottage cheese salad. Or you could do a jello salad with the meals. So an example would be

Rice and Beans
Cornbread
Fruit and cottage cheese

Soup
Tossed Salad
Dinner rolls
bowl of strawberries and banana chunks

Macaroni and cheese casserole
peas
jello salad with fruit in it
bread and butter

Chili
Cornbread OR Crackers
cheese slices to go with crackers

Tomato Soup
Grilled Cheese sandwiches
sliced tomatoes & cucumbers

Just a few ideas for some menus, of course you would have to plan it around your families likes.

I also watch the groceries for their markdown foods. Most of the time the meat is freezeable for a later use and I plan that night or the next night meal around produce when I see it reduced. So my meals change according to the "deals" I can get at the store. Once you have a pantry with your basics it makes this all wrk rather well. I have budgeted $240.00 a month for groceries for the past ten years and on thoise earlier years there were four of us.

Another idea if you have a yard is start a vegetable garden. Even just some tomato plants and a few other things would help a lot! You can grow everything for fresh salads every night and that really fills up the meal some. You would be surprised at how much you can get out of a little garden. Good Luck!

[redcardinalbird]

I always check the reduced racks in the store. In ours they will put produce that may have one bad piece in the package or gettin ready to expire on a reduced rack. The same for meat that has a sale by date that is ready to expire they will mark it 30 - 40 off. It is perfectly safe as long as you cook it that day or the next or freeze it. This store also puts items that are not selling as fast, or the package has been opened (but not the inner package) or box squished on a clearance rack.

The other is to cut back on the meat or do without. For instance make a stir fry which does not use much meat. We have spaghetti but never have meatballs with it. I will just use the sauce or mix vegtables with it.

[cat lover]

I always check the reduced racks in the store.


Another good Idea; made me think of another rack I check. In some groceries that have a fresh bakery they reduce bakery goods of all kinds on a daily basis. I get lots of French bread, buns, and rolls this way. They also have sweets on it, but I have to pass those up because of diet issues. All of this will freeze great! I always have a freezer full of these items which make good g oalongs with whatever meal you decide on.

Once you shop around you'll discover (they don't make it an obvious spot usually) where each store puts these items and what time of day and so on. Makes for great savings!

Good Luck!

[RobertaD]

I budget $300 a month for my family of 4 plus 2 dogs which includes all paper & cleaning supplies as well. I also feed my in-laws dinner up to 15 times a month as well.

To stretch my grocery dollars every day I fix pasta, rice or potatoes with every dinner as well as having fruits & veggies. Meat cut into strips or chunks will stretch farther than a big hunk of meat that everyone cuts off a piece of. You can also control the meat serving size if you fill plates at the stove and let them dish up as much of the rest of the meal as they want.

A month ago I started making a list of 15 meals that I can fix with what I mostly have on hand. After making 10-12 of the meals I started a new list and added 10 more meals to use up the meat I have in the freezer.

I've been pretty good with keeping up on the freezer inventory list I made when I reorganized it about 6 weeks ago and found I had meat for at least 50 meals in the deep freezer. This has really helped me to know that I need to pass on the "xxx" sale as I have enough for 5 or more meals still. So I'll wait before buying more "xxx" until I have only 1-2 packages in the freezer.

I freeze bread purchased on sale with coupon at the grocery or from the day old store in the next town over. I can get 3 loaves of a national brand bread for $2 or less. I wrap the loaves in a plastic grocery bag for a little extra protection.

I also scan the discounted meat, bakery & can goods section when I'm at the store to see if there is anything that I can use and if I can add a coupon so much the better.

I do shop with coupons with the purpose of making donations to the local food bank as well as stocking up my own pantry.

Roberta

[VTMama]

Hi Bella's Mom,

I understand your $50. dilema!!

We have two grocery stores in "town" which is at least 1/2 an hour away. I usually check their flyers and make my list according to that.

Last week one of the stores had chicken legs for .69 per pound and a family pack was something like $3.50 and the other had BOGO on bags of potatoes. Grilled chicken legs with microwave or baked potatoes and canned veggies is a good meal. (I have 3 kids, a husband & mother in law so the whole family pack goes.) LOL!

Also, I look for the marked down meat. That's very important. If you bring it home and cook it or repackage it in freezer safe ziplocks it's still great.

Also, boxed macaroni & cheese makes an inexpensive afternoon snack for 4 kids. You can usually get it for something like .60 per box & split 4 ways is ok with me! ;)

[Catwoman]

Don't forget breakfast for dinner! Quite a few breakfast staples, like eggs, oatmeal, pancake fixings, potatoes, bread, etc. are cheaper. Breakfast for dinner was always a real treat when I was a kid.

[momperson]

BellasMom, Do you have any food or pantry ingredients on hand? Things like flour, sugar, Crisco, coffee, tea & some spices/herbs?

momperson

[VTMama]

"Whew the weekend went fast, and here I am on Monday with $50.00 left in my pocket for the week of groceries. How am I ever going to feed a family of four on that???"

Hi Bella's Mom!

I was wondering how it went? You posted on the 12th and here it is the 23rd. How did it go? Were any of the suggestions helpful?

:) Viv

[cat lover]

Here's another "budget" dish!


Frank and Potato Bake

1 pound hot dogs
2/3 cup milk
1 tbsp all purpose flour
8 oz Velveeta type cheese (store brand works well)
2 tbsp onion, minced
2 tsp parsley , snipped fine
8 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled and sliced

Reserve 3 hot dogs, but slice the rest and set aside. In pan stir milk into flour till smooth. Add cheese and cool and stir till thickened and smooth. Add onion, parsley; fold cheese into potatoes and sliced hot dogs. Turn into a 2 qt. casserole and bake, covered at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Halve reserved hot dogs and arrange on top of casserole. Bake, uncovered 10 minutes. Top with parsley. 8 servings

Serve a tossed salad and rolls or garlic bread and yuou have a meal!

[joyann]

One way to save on food is to make biscuits and cornbread from scratch. One or the other will go with about anything you cook. Biscuits, especially are very filling. Also, I have started mixing my own milk from powdered. This might not work with kids as they are sometimes resistant to change, but you could try adding the milk you have mixed yourself to the milk you bought and gradually switch them over. I figure I save about $2 a gallon by doing this. Freezing leftovers to be used later will stretch food $$ quite a bit.

[cat lover]

[B Also, I have started mixing my own milk from powdered. This might not work with kids as they are sometimes resistant to change, but you could try adding the milk you have mixed yourself to the milk you bought and gradually switch them over. I figure I save about $2 a gallon by doing this. Freezing leftovers to be used later will stretch food $$ quite a bit.[/B]


I made my milk from powdered when the boys were little, but we never did quite adjust to it even though now we all drink skim milk! What did work when they were little for us anyway was to make 1/2 gallon at a time of chocolate and strawberry flavored milk and keep that in the fridge. Whenever they were "thristy" they had the flavored milk and we saved the "real" milk for mealtime. Much better than soft drinks and they would only drink so much water or juice!:)

[cat lover]

Here's another frugal main dish!

Cranberry Turkey Loaf

1 egg
1/2 cup herb seasoned stuffing mix, crushed
3/4 cup wholeberry cranberry sauce, divided
1/8 tsp pepper
1 pound ground turkey

In a bowl beat the egg and add stuffing mix, 1/4 cup cranberry sauce, and pepper. Stir in turkey and mix well. Spoon into an ungreased 8 x 4 x 2" loaf pan. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or till a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees. Heat remaining cranberry sauce in microwave on HIGH 1 minute. Slice loaf and top each slice with sauce. 4 servings

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Cat, I don't know if I could mix my cranberries with my stuffing. I guess this is one of those eat "almost" anything with stuffing dishes for me. LOL

[cat lover]

I thought the same thing till I bought by mistake one time a Stove Top that had cranbereies in it; I was hooked. A lot of times I'll add dried cranbereies now to my homemade stuffing.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

That's oka. You can have it. LOL Adding cranberries to turkey is a different matter though.

[cat lover]

I'm really a closet cranberry junkie! LOL I buy several bags when they are available and freeze them for use throughout the year.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I was force fed so much cranberry juice when I was a child that I rarely touch it except as a side dish at Thanksgiving.

[cat lover]

You and I sound like we both had rather "strict" childhoods!

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Strict doesn't even cover it.

[Jo-Anne]

OK, I'm going to take the $50 challenge. I think most of what I will save is by pantry shopping, second, I will shop only the outside isles and the baking isle. The only thing that will blow the budget is if cheese is on special because then I always get about 6 blocks...I do my shopping Friday..I'll post here about how it goes.

[cat lover]

Jo-Anne; please do share once you've completed it, I'd be interested in the outcome! Do you have a garden for things? I'm just really curious on how you only shop the outside aisles. What do you do for all the stuff that is on the "inside" aisles?

[Jo-Anne]

Jo-Anne; please do share once you've completed it, I'd be interested in the outcome! Do you have a garden for things? I'm just really curious on how you only shop the outside aisles. What do you do for all the stuff that is on the "inside" aisles?
I can't shop the outside isles only EVERY week (because my staples include rice, pasta, cleaning products and diapers, hygiene products some weeks)...but I'll tell you about THIS week's groceries...
bread
bananas
carrots
lettuce
cucumber
tomatoes
potatoes
brocolli
corn
bacon
(hamburger or chicken whichever is cheapest this week)
ice cream (just because I wanna!)
cream
milk
eggs
butter
and the one inside isle (baking)
flour
baking soda
brown sugar
I'm going to do a price tally after lunch and see if it comes to less than $50...
Jo-Anne

[cat lover]

So you usually keep a stocked pantry at home I suppose and only refill and get fresh stuff?

[Jo-Anne]

So you usually keep a stocked pantry at home I suppose and only refill and get fresh stuff?
Yes, but I don't have a lot of room, so at any given time I'll have about 4 packs of various pasta and one bag of rice, lots of spices and baking stuff, canned tomato and mushroom soups for casseroles. When we have conveniece food (I mean the expensive stuff that comes in cute kid-appealing packages) its a treat for the kids -- I'm a little concerned about this coming September. For the first time I'll have a child who takes a lunch to school -- and I KNOW the garbage that some kids take (I used to be a teacher and I have seen a child who got McDonalds for lunch EVERY day and another who brought a BIG bag of chips and bottle of pop for lunch everyday). I am not the healthiest eater, but I am evolving and TRYING. I hope he won't complain too much about his homemade cookies and muffins, cheese and crackers, fruit and carrot sticks -- more importantly -- I hope he won't throw it out behind my back -- I'll be asking the teacher!!
Jo-Anne

[cat lover]

I don't know if it would help or not ,but maybe your child could help with the preparing of the foods for their lunch. Maybe the fact they are cooking it or just preparing it in the lunch container would help. I know kids can be mean sometimes, and give ones who bring their lunch a hardt ime. When my boys were little they always took their lunch because we are on a very low fat diet and the stuff they fed them at their school for lunch was unbelievable!

[barbszy]

Jo-Anne, I can tell you that my kids' friends get very jealous when I send a homemade treat (brownie or cookie) in the lunchbox.

One thing I did was to buy these "compartment" lunch containers, I think they were those Gladware or something like that. It has a big spot for a sandwich and 2 little spots. I would put in the sandwich, and use one little spot for a "treat" like cookies or small brownie. The other little spot would have baby carrots or some grapes.

OR you could get some of those snack size little bags. Fill them with healthier snack choices like mini pretzels, peanut butter crackers, lowfat fig newtons....each day in the lunchbox you put a sandwich, fruit, drink and one snack bag. Yogurts are a fun & healthy treat also.

I spent the last 2 years volunteering in my kids' school lunchroom twice a week. What I saw kids eating (or not eating) was appalling.

[Jo-Anne]

catlover...You know, the kids really are proud of when they make their own stuff -- like we're growing tomatoes and peppers this year and they will at least try them because they grew them. And if I start off right, then maybe by the end of Sept. he'll be able to make his own lunch unassisted -- and make good choices!

barbsky...Yeah, I'm definately going to get those re-usable tupperwares with divisions. I have TWO boxes of small snack size baggies, but I started re-using bags and not using bags when I read about Throw-away society on FC -- you wouldn't believe the improvement in my recyclables since I'm re-using. I save just about every size container to re-use and put our last name in BIG letters and remind the kids that these containers are to be returned home.

[Jo-Anne]

oops,

I think a brownie will make my son happy with his lunch -- and I can always make them with whole wheat. :)
The kindergarten class was supposed to be healthy snack only but they were pretty generous with what was healthy -- I was real pleased with this -- its pretty easy to throw an apple in a knapsack. The same teacher became really slack the second year of implementing -- my guess is that she had flack...I can't imagine why, but some people favour convenience over health and some people think some things are healthy because of the advertising that goes with it -- like the Sunkist fruit JU-JUBES!! At least when I eat Lays chips I KNOW I'm eating garbage! And I'll be the first to admit that my ice cream is only BARELY a part of the daily dairy requirement LOL!!! And most recently I had to laugh at KitKat Dark Chocolate bar advertising that dark chocolate may prevent cancer -- as if I needed ANOTHER reason to eat chocolate!! I'll make the lunch healthy and hope for the best.
Jo-Anne

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Jo-Anne, brownies also freeze well so you can make a big batch to freeze. Then, you can just pull one out for his lunch.

[cat lover]

catlover...You know, the kids really are proud of when they make their own stuff -- like we're growing tomatoes and peppers this year and they will at least try them because they grew them. And if I start off right, then maybe by the end of Sept. he'll be able to make his own lunch unassisted -- and make good choices!

It really does make a difference; my youngest son couldn't have milk or anything with milk by products in it when he was small. He became very good at reading lablels when he wasn't at home. And he learned to eat a lot of fruit as a snack because there wasn't much else he could snack on unless we made it at home and sustituted so he could have it. To this day he doesn't east much sweets and prefers fruit and he's 27 now. So I really do think starting early with them on their diet works well; good luck!

[Jo-Anne]

Ok :(
Who was I kidding? Just did the groceries and I spent $80. Happy that it was $20 cheaper than usual, largely because I stuck precisely to my list, sad that I even stopped trying once I hit the meat isle. I am going to have to plan OUTSIDE of the box -- meaning that my regular menu will not accomodate a $50 week. I had no stock either...and won't next week...so at least I'm on an even playing field with next week. So....my new menu will follow in the upcoming week. A couple of vegetarian nights, a couple of fish nights, maybe one full chicken for the week and a couple of recipes with it. I snuck some oatmeal in with the hamburger the other night and it fooled dh...but I'm not really sure how much it bulked up the meat kwim? Sorry....just brainstorming outloud as I wait for the kids to fall asleep. I'll give it some thought and get back to it.
Jo-Anne

[cat lover]

If you have a fully stocked panty and then shop weekly it might work, but you sure can't count that stock up trip! LOL I have an 8 x 10 walk in pantry that is fully stocked and a freezer. I have no idea what it costs to orginally stock them. But every since then I only buy items on sale so that helps a lot. And we have a large garden we eat out of as well as lots of fruits we grow. I guess it does make you see what you spend though! LOL

[Jo-Anne]

Well, I have planned and scrutinized my list and I am surprised by how little you can get for $50 (nevermind the 15% sales tax we have here). I just can't do it this week. Mostly since I have my family coming over to dinner on Sunday, which will add about $10 to the groceries. So I am going to adjust the list to $65 -- still a savings of $35.
I have to look into the powdered milk thing, since I pay about $18/week in milk alone.
Kids are screaming I must return to them!
Jo-Anne

[cat lover]

Wow and I conmplain about 6% sales tax! I guess maybe if we all just watch what we actually buy at the grocery that will at least help keep the cost dow some! LOL

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Way to go Jo-Anne!

[barbszy]

I haven't made it down to $50 either. But last week I bought a lot of produce (it's at good prices now because it's in season) and still I did manage to come in $10 under my usual. This week I'm going to aim for $5 less than last week's total.

[Jo-Anne]

Well....it just ain't gonna happen. I spent $90 in groceries. I know why I went over budget, at least, I bought a $15 bag of milk powder for my yoghurt, and a $10 bag of wings for dh's and my Friday date night (at home, we eat after the kids have gone to bed). I'm thinking that maybe 50 is just not realistic with 6 people. Every week I seem to have a new excuse for going over $50. If I HAD to do it because we just didn't have the money I guess I could, but with the want and not the need to do it...it ain't happenin'. I'm going to try it again next week. I'll post back how it goes.
Jo-Anne

[RobertaD]

My average monthly total is $300 for a family of 4 with two dogs (total includes paper, dog food, cleaning supplies, etc. all things bought at grocery).

I've been working at bringing that total down but right now I've been spending so much money on fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, cantalope, peaches, etc. that we haven't been eating frozen or canned veggies & fruit.

We do have potatoes, rice, or noodles once a day to help stretch budget. I buy enough meat for at least 4 meals when on sale for $2 or less a pound. Though with prices having raised over the last two months I may need to raise my target amount by a quarter or fifty cents.

Roberta

[Jo-Anne]

Mmmmmm, had corn on the cob twice this weekend. I don't find fresh fruit and veggies cost less or more here, about the same, but fresh tastes WAY better. Almost every fruit is 99/lb here at its cheapest. And I also avoid any meat over $2/lb. I have avoided meat altogether lately because I want it under $1/lb. I buy canned tuna and salmon for about a dollar a meal. I know I can get chicken for 97 cents/lb at Maple Lodge Farms, its just a matter of making the trip out there, so I do without for now. I include all the tioletry stuff, diapers, in the weekly bill, too. I am guessing that 2 dogs must cost as much as two people, Roberta, so you got a family of 6 too -- $300 is really good!! I generally spend $450/month. So far I've spent 170 in two weeks, so I may get it under 450 this month....but I have to buy a case of diapers next week.....If nothing else, this thread comes in handy for me keeping track and staying focussed on the task!!
Jo-Anne

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I make 2 meals out of 1 chicken. One meal, you can make quesadillas or enchaladas and the next, you boil the carcass to make a soup or a stew. Boiling it loosens any excess meat. You add veggies and rice or potatoes.

[cat lover]

I just did beer can chicken last night and we had chicken sandwiches for lunch today and then I froze the bones and what was left and on a cool day we will have chicken soup; three meals out of a $3.71 chicken; it was almost 5 pounds.

[Jo-Anne]

I just did beer can chicken last night and we had chicken sandwiches for lunch today and then I froze the bones and what was left and on a cool day we will have chicken soup; three meals out of a $3.71 chicken; it was almost 5 pounds.
I have started buying whole chickens too...for this purpose of stretching a meal.
Would you mind telling me how you make beer can chicken? I see these fancy contraptions for making "beer can chicken", they say -- and I'm wondering -- how is the contraption any different than using an actual beer can, which we can get for "free" ;)??
Thanks.
Jo-Anne

[cat lover]

I broke down and bought one of the beer can chicken racks because I have to go down 19 steos to get outside and it does hold the chicken more steady! I put the beer can in the rack and put the chicken over it and put the whole thing in a 8 x 8 pan to catch the juices while cooking so I don't have flare ups.

Here's the recipe I use for beer can chicken

1 whole chicken
rub for barbecue (recipe I use follows)

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Turn grill with lid on HIGH on one side only and close lid to preheat. Put rub on chicken (this part is messy).

BBQ Rub

1/4 cup salt (I use No Salt brand; no sodium)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup coarse grind black pepper
1/4 cup paprika

Combine all BBQ Rub ingredients and palce on chicken by patting it on. Open 1 (12 oz) can of beer and empty out 1/2- add 2 tbsp liquid smoke. Place whole chicken over top of the beer and put 1 peeled whole onion wedged into the neck opening of the chicken. Place chicken sitting on beer can in a 8 x 8" pan and place on UNLIT side of grill an close lid. Cook 1 hour and turn heat to medium and cook an additional hour. Cook till chicken is done.

Really good!!

[RobertaD]

I also get multiple meals from a whole chicken if it is just us I can get 3 meals from one if the inlaws are here we get 2 meals from one. Meat the first night, meat with noodles or rice the 2nd and broth with meat the third for soup or stew.

I can get two meals from a roast using the leftover meat in a stew or beef & noodles.

I buy the 40 lb bags of dog food for my 2 medium size dogs (35-50 lbs) which lasts about a month.

This is probably a no brainer but I hope you are washing the beer can before stuffing it up the chicken.

Roberta

[DeBora4BobbyL]

That is one area I cannot save $ on is dog food. My oldest baby has failing kidneys so he is on a prescription kidney diet, which is expensive.

[cat lover]

Yes i do rinse it off, but I uppose the heat it experiences would take are of it, maybe?

WIsh I could figure out a les***pensive way on the dog food. Our problem is we have four dogs! LOL I guess I need to lessen the mouths to feed! The cats are just as bad; 5 of them! LOL I do take advantage of coupons and every now and then I'll get some in the mail for free bags, luckily 3 of the dogs aren't picky so they 'll eat it!

[Jo-Anne]

Oh, awesome! I did a search and came up with this beer can link. I can't wait to try it....but I don't have a bbq so I'm going to do it in the oven with a pan to catch the juices.....can't wait. Thanks for the idea catlover! Dh will love an excuse to have beer -- LOL -- I'm going to tell him the idea and then say, "Well there's no need for you to buy beer, I'll just get a cheap old can of noname coke!"
http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/recipe/view.aspx?c=poultry&r=213
Jo-Anne

[cat lover]

Thanks for the link, I'll copy that one down too! You can use coke or even 7-UP although I've always used beer with the smoke seasoning poured in it. Let us know which you try and how you like it!

[CrazyBMarie]

We eat lots of beer can chicken here--dh is always looking for ways to add more beer to his diet lol!! As far as soda goes--ds1 had brought home a can of store brand apricot-flavored soda(????), and I used that and topped the chicken with an apricot sauce and it turned out okay.


$50 a week? It can be done, but it takes planning and practice. Cutting the meat consumption in half is pretty easy, especially in dishes like spaghetti. Hehe--I used to just add lots of vegetables, but have found that lentils work as well as meat. They're chewy and the texture is kind of like ground beef. They work good on sloppy joes, too. Maybe tacos or enchiladas would be good with lentils? Something with a lot of extra flavor to hide the fact that it's not meat.

Another thing that really helped our household was not putting the whole meat dish on the table. I'll only put out half. That way, there's extra if someone wants more, but it won't go to waste if they take a huge helping and don't eat it all. I always put out lots of veggies and bread--very cheap and very filling and if you can make your own, healthier, too!

[BellaMama23]

Another way to stretch your meat is to add TVP (Textured vegetable protein). You can get it at health food stores and amazon.com sells it also Amazon.com: tvp (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_hg/103-6903955-2259839?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tvp)

Here's a description of it from Amazon:

Textured Vegetable Protein is a highly nutritious soy product. It is incredibly wealthy in complete protein, low in calorie and contains no fat, so it is an excellent alternative to meat. It is also a good source of dietary fiber, iron, magnesium and phosphorus. Textured Vegetable Protein is made from defatted soy flour that has been cooked under pressure and then dried. It is very easy to prepare, and since it takes on the flavor of whatever recipe it is added to, the array of recipes in which it may be used is immeasurable. - Low Calorie - High Protein - Gluten Free."

Heather

[cat lover]

We use the TVP quite a lot. I found it in small packages in our regular grocery. But for bulk purchases I pick it up on the helath food store when we go to the city. It works out about the same price because our one grocery store is high priced since it is the only one in town and of course in the health food store in the city things tend to be pricy too. It is healthier to eat and in our case great as we have to drastically cut the amount of fat in our diets. Thanks for the info though for anyone that maybe doesn't know about it!

[katharina]

Wow and I conmplain about 6% sales tax! I guess maybe if we all just watch what we actually buy at the grocery that will at least help keep the cost dow some! LOL

We have 6% here, too, but it's not paid on food. I'm enjoying this thread because I'm thinking I need to cut back on the grocery bill. There are some fabulous ideas here!

[happy2bg33k]

I found a site at point that had all these little tips on how to feed yor family cheaper and there was an article called "$45 Emergency Menu for 4 to 6". Here's the link to it:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

[barbszy]

That website has a lot of great hints. Thanks, happy! :)

[katharina]

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I make 2 meals out of 1 chicken. One meal, you can make quesadillas or enchaladas and the next, you boil the carcass to make a soup or a stew. Boiling it loosens any excess meat. You add veggies and rice or potatoes.

This sounds like a great idea. I've often used a chicken for two different meals like this. The breast meat is kept for a second meal and the rest of the meat is cut up to put in chicken/corn/noodle soup.

[barbszy]

I do this too, DeBora. When I roast a chicken I get the hugest one I can find (8 pounds or more). The first night, I serve the wings, drums, thighs and part of one of the breasts. The rest of the breast meat is frozen with a little chicken broth and used later in a recipe calling for cooked chicken (pot pie, dumplings, enchiladas, casseroles.)

If I were really industrious I would make soup with the carcass.

[Coll]

I like to brown a couple pounds of ground meat, freeze in 1 lb potrions and freeze. Use portions for tacos, hamburger helper, spaghetti sauce or hamburger gravy.
I do this with chicken breasts too. Cook and shred for enchiladas, burritos, chicken salad, etc.

[megray]

When I was away revently, I had spenmt time in the previous fortnight doubling some recipes: spag bol, mexican chicken, fried rice. When I came home it was to an empty freezer. My family had eaten well and not had to buy heaps of take away or conveience foods!

[cat lover]

Thi recipe is very reasonable to make and you can change the veggies around to what you have on hand or growing in your garden which makes it even more frugal to make! If you don't have the white wine on hand or don't want to use it just increase the chicken stock by an additional 3 cups


Chicken Vegetable Soup

6 cups chicken stock
3 cups dry white wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups diced potatoes
2 cups diced butternut squash
1 cup sliced carrots
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp oil
2 large onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large diced bell peppers
6 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups green beans, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
pepper to taste

Combine the chicken stock and white wine in a heay soup kettle over high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the tomato paste and potatoes and cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the butternut squash and carrots and cover and simmer for 15 minutes. In a skillet add A margarine and oil and cook till the margaine melts. Add the onions and saute till the onions are soft. Add the garlic and bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato and continue to cook stirring frequently for 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the broth to the skillet and stir well to scrape all of the vegetables from the pan. Scrape the onion mixture into the soup and stir well. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the green beans, chicken, and sliced basil. Cover the pot and simmer till the green beans and squash are fork tender, but not mushy.. Season to taste pepper.

[CrazyBMarie]

Catlover, that soup sounds heavenly! It's cold and breezy here today, and anything warm sounds great lol! I make a soup similair to this one, but as you mentioned, a lot of it comes from the garden when it's producing like crazy.

When money is very tight, my staples for meals are bread, tuna, eggs, and pasta with sauce. I can feed all of us with a pound of pasta and a loaf of bread--pasta with browned butter and herb sauce(or marinara, white sauce, whatever) and toasted bread with garlic butter. Or plain buttered noodles mixed with a can of tuna. Sides are usually a veggie of some sort.

[katharina]

Catlover, that soup sounds heavenly! It's cold and breezy here today, and anything warm sounds great lol! I make a soup similair to this one, but as you mentioned, a lot of it comes from the garden when it's producing like crazy.


When I read recipes like this, it makes me wish that we'd planned a garden this year. :) I can get stuff at the farmers market, but it's not really the same as growing the ingredients myself. I had homemade veggie soup last night that I'd made a few weeks ago and froze the leftovers. It's so good and I really should make even more of it at one time so I could freeze a few containers.

[cat lover]

When I read recipes like this, it makes me wish that we'd planned a garden this year. :) I can get stuff at the farmers market, but it's not really the same as growing the ingredients myself. I had homemade veggie soup last night that I'd made a few weeks ago and froze the leftovers. It's so good and I really should make even more of it at one time so I could freeze a few containers.


It really isn't too late to start a garden. You won't have time to start everything by seed, but some things will still work that way! And the other thngs you can pick up the plants!