Need cheap dinner ideas so i can go to disney again!

[kelconic]

Is your budget $200/week for food for a family of four? That seems really high to me, and I think you can cut back really easily. I have a family of five and seldom spend more than $100/week. Sometimes I'll do a big order one week with a lot of meat and then the next week get by with $35-40. Like people say, go with a meatless night like breakfast for dinner. Eat cheaper lunches and breakfasts.

For me, two things work for dinners. 1) I buy the about to expire meat. It saves me tons. I shop at Wegmans, and they often reduce their really nicely prepared meat. I then take all of the reduced meat packages to the fruit scales and buy the heaviest ones. Why spend the same $5 for .85-lb when I can get 1.06-lb? I walk the rest back to the meat department in the matter of minutes.

2) I buy the big bulk chicken breasts and ground beef packages. It's so much cheaper to buy the bulk ones and then separate at home and freeze.

And only buy what you need. Good luck! I think you can shave a lot off of your grocery bill.

We are actually a family of 5, kids are 11,9,&7. Also, they go to a private school so I pack all of their lunches every day as well. And I admit to being a terrible grocery shopper lol! I don't use coupons or sales papers or really even look at prices. I actually shopped at Wal-Mart today (which I NEVER do because I just hate going in there) and spent $120. Easily $100 less than I usually spend at Martin's. I may suck it up and start grocery shopping there every week

 

[kymom99]

I have recently discovered jambalaya from zatarrains (sp?). It costs less than $2 for a box and I can get a sausage for $2.50 to add in. I also cut up some onion and bell pepper to bulk it up and give it a fresher taste. Very cheap and very tasty.

We also make our own pizza. My husband canned pizza sauce this summer.

Another cost cutting trick I use is to stock up on hotdogs when they go on sale over the summer holidays. My son loves cheese coneys and I can make them pretty cheap with a can of skyline chili, some buns, and shredded cheese. probably less than $1 a piece and they cost almost $2 each at a restaurant.

My husband bought a whole chicken the other day and baked it in the oven. We ate half of it for dinner, then I picked the rest of the breast off the bone. I had a leg and thigh left which I kept intact. I made soup using Mrs. Grass chicken noodle soup mix. It is our fav. I made the soup and cut up the breast to add in. I also put the other pieces in, bone and all, while the soup cooked. I added a couple extra carrots. After a bit I took out the leg and thigh, removed the meat from the bones and put it back in the soup, and pitched the bones. The soup is awesome and so easy to make.

I used to just go to the store and buy whatever caught my eye. Now I coupon a little bit but I really watch the sales. Everyone who says to plan your meals around the sales is right on!

 

[kelconic]

Wouldn't picking up an extra shift or 2 a month earn you more than $300 a month?

HA! Yes, you sound like my hubby. But I love being a stay at home mom!

 

[worm761]

We are actually a family of 5, kids are 11,9,&7. Also, they go to a private school so I pack all of their lunches every day as well. And I admit to being a terrible grocery shopper lol! I don't use coupons or sales papers or really even look at prices. I actually shopped at Wal-Mart today (which I NEVER do because I just hate going in there) and spent $120. Easily $100 less than I usually spend at Martin's. I may suck it up and start grocery shopping there every week

I know that this sounds crazy but DH is an instructor for the Navy so we get up at 5am every morning. So, I look at sales then write my menu and shopping list. Then on Saturday we go shopping at 5am at Walmart for anything I am willing to buy there. I won't buy meat at my Walmart. While the employees are very friendly and the store is clean, the meat department leaves a lot to be desired. I buy my meat from a local Butcher. It is so much nicer shopping at Walmart when there is no one else there.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Have breakfast at least once a week.
I have scrambled eggs, sausage and toast. Or you could do pancakes/waffles.

Chili one day then chili on baked potato or chili dogs.


Use coupons when shopping. Look for the sales at CVS.

As crazy as Walmart is they do have cheaper prices. Just last week I went to Giant Eagle and looked at getting 2 lbs of potato salad and the price was $6.98!!! Since GE was out of another item I needed I said forget it I am going to walmart were I paid $2.99 for potato salad.

As for hotdogs I get them at BJ's they are Oscar Meyer 30 for $3.00

Sloppy Joes then I use the leftovers on a baked potato.

 

[minnie1012]

I find planning ahead saves money. Look at the supermarket circulars and see what is on sale. Like this week Ronzoni pasta is .59 in my store. So we are having something with pasta one day plus I bought extra to have for other weeks etc. I try to have all items to make 7 meals for a particular week. Then if I have enough leftovers and don't need the meal I carry it over to the following week. I find planning the meals out helps in not have to run to the store for last minute items that are not on sale or from ordering out.

 

[ArmchairDetective]

Be sure to check out Budget Bytes. She has phenomenal, budget friendly recipes.

Our personal favorite is the super easy, super tasty Italian Wonderpot. Bread a single chicken breast, saute it, slice it and throw on top. Deeeee-lishhhh!

 

[daisy_77]

When I am trying to save extra money, I make soups and stews. There are a TON of recipes online. Pinterest has some good ones. They are filling, usually healthy, affordable, and good.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We wanted to save a little of our grocery budget this past week. We are a family of 5 with 3 adults, ds12 and dd10. Our grocery budget is $100 a week. Once a month we go to Sam's for bulk/paper products and we are stocked up on toiletries/personal/laundry items for very little with the use of couponing. We went to Aldi Sunday afternoon and got our groceries, the dollar store for cereal ($1 box) and meat from Kroger. We spent $80 total for the week.

We do breakast foods, spaghetti, hamburgers, tacos, etc when we are looking for cheap.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Dupe

 

[McKelly]

I like to buy a turkey breast/turkeys when they go on sale. I make it traditionally and eat it with potatoes and veg the first night. I make turkey a la king and turkey noodle soup with the leftovers and sometimes I even have enough leftovers to make turkey salad for the kids lunches.

 

[tar heel]

Our grocery store sells rotisserie chickens for $4.99 on Sundays. I make chicken quesadillas with it, flour totillas, cheese, salsa, carmelized onions for DH and me. There is usually enough left over for a couple of sandwiches or a some chicken soup.

My family eats very well by mostly planning around what's on sale and using coupons. I work full-time and sometimes it's just too much trouble.

I personally am not going to buy "fresh" meat from Walmart, but I'll get other things there. I love Aldi for basics, too.

I think your goal is too large. You should start by cutting $25 a week.

Picking up a couple shifts a month does not mean you aren't a stay-at-home mom ... Working a few hours will affect kids that age a lot less than feeding them strange ramen noodle dishes.

 

[Tree]

We are going in August and our eating out food bills is where I can probably cut the most.

 

[goingtowdwwithkiddos]

I do not live on a grocery budget as bad is that sounds. We eat out rarely and I do do a lot from scratch, leftover rotisserie makes chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. One of my cheapest meals is ground hamburger mixed with cream of mushroom over rice season meat with onion if I have it but always seasoning salt steak seasoning and worst shire sauce. If you do breakfast for dinner you can use leftover bake potato for hashbrowns we mix everything meat potato egg cheese, served with toast, biscuit, or tortilla. I am big on a roast in crockpot to be 2 or 3 meals. I try to waste less and only buy what I need but can not give an average as I do not keep track :/

 

[wvjules]

Our grocery store sells rotisserie chickens for $4.99 on Sundays. I make chicken quesadillas with it, flour totillas, cheese, salsa, carmelized onions for DH and me. There is usually enough left over for a couple of sandwiches or a some chicken soup.

My family eats very well by mostly planning around what's on sale and using coupons. I work full-time and sometimes it's just too much trouble.

I personally am not going to buy "fresh" meat from Walmart, but I'll get other things there. I love Aldi for basics, too.

I think your goal is too large. You should start by cutting $25 a week.

Picking up a couple shifts a month does not mean you aren't a stay-at-home mom ... Working a few hours will affect kids that age a lot less than feeding them strange ramen noodle dishes.

Amen! I'd rather my mom work than serve us crap for dinner. lol

 

[danygirl]

Here is what I like to call the "three legged stool" plan for saving on groceries

1. Combine coupons with sales. There are tons of blogs that will do all the work - you just print or clip the coupons to match the list they post

2. Build a stockpile - when things are free/cheap buy as many as you can and save them for later

3. Price match/ try new things/ plan meals based on what you have

 

[crisi]

Our grocery store sells rotisserie chickens for $4.99 on Sundays. I make chicken quesadillas with it, flour totillas, cheese, salsa, carmelized onions for DH and me. There is usually enough left over for a couple of sandwiches or a some chicken soup.

My family of four can do three meals easy from a rotisserie chicken. Chicken on night one - something with the leftover meat (like chicken tacos, or chicken in a stirfry on day two, chicken soup on day three)

We do some polenta meals - polenta with sausage, peppers and mushrooms or spinich and leeks or frankly whatever looks good or is in the fridge. Ratatouille over polenta is wonderful - and a farmers market staple.

Rice is another staple.

If you don't bake bread, start. I don't do it anymore because I'm gluten free (or try to be) and fresh bread in the house is too tempting and then I'm crampy all the time - but you can bake good bread for far less than $1 a loaf. And its easy to do if you are home (its a pain to do if you are working because you need to be home to have it rise).

 

[mrzrich]

It's really about how you shop. Chicken and pork when bought on sale are a heck of a lot cheaper than ground beef. For example Publix has whole pork tenderloins on sale for $1.99 /lb this week. I bought two today. I plan to cut them into 3 roasts and a bunch of boneless loin chops.

I won't buy ground beef less than 85%, so I can't get that less than $3/lb.

Zaycon's coming to town next month, I'll get my case of boneless skinless breast then.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Meat is often a major factor in the food budget, so eating more meatless meals can really help. (We are vegan, so all our meals are meatless!) Tonight for dinner, for example, we had (homemade) black bean burgers with (homemade) potato-kale soup. Inexpensive, filling and delicious.

I make soup for most meals. It's an easy and inexpensive way to use up leftovers, add extra nutrition and fill up hungry tummies! You can make a big batch of soup without much effort and save the extra for another night or for lunches.

The more I make from scratch, the more I save. We eat a lot of hummus, for example, and a small container from the store is at least $2 on sale. I can make two or three times that amount for about a dollar, and that's if I used canned chickpeas rather than dried. And it takes very little time - I just throw all the ingredients in the food processor and push the button.

TP

 

[Sadie22]

We are actually a family of 5, kids are 11,9,&7. Also, they go to a private school so I pack all of their lunches every day as well. And I admit to being a terrible grocery shopper lol! I don't use coupons or sales papers or really even look at prices. I actually shopped at Wal-Mart today (which I NEVER do because I just hate going in there) and spent $120. Easily $100 less than I usually spend at Martin's. I may suck it up and start grocery shopping there every week

You probably can shave your grocery bill by shopping sales and stocking up. For example, a local chain here periodically puts canned beans on sale. I bought about two dozen cans today to replace what I had used over the past couple of months. I like to stock up on different kinds which I rinse and use for various soups, stews, and meat and vegetable chili. If you get to know the prices and stock up when items are at their lowest costs, you will always have food on hand to plan meals rather than eating out, and you won't need to buy at the higher prices.