Who can make the cheapest meal for a family of 4 or 5 people?

[kreckl]

I just had to check the date on this post- where do you all live? The grocery prices for us here ( MA) do not compare! I've never heard of Aldi's. But for a recipe this week, needed three peppers and they cost $1.19, $1.59, and $1.69 each depending on the color....This at the local Stop and Shop- not a speciality store.

 

[mom+3girls]

Not sure where everyone is from but our Foodlion has boneless skinless chicken breast on sale for 1.79 per pound. I got a pack of 4 for 4.94. Last night I made sweet and spicy chicken nuggets from 2 of the breast, I used orange marmalade and sweet chili sauce I had both of these on hand and used very little I think about a 2 tablespoons of each, made chunks out of the chicken breast rolled them in the marmalade and sweet chili sauce and baked them in the oven, Foodlion chicken broth on sale 50 cents a can I had large box of rice already at home, I cooked 3/4 cup of rice in one can of chicken broth, so maybe .25 cents worth of rice. I had enough for 2 meals and will have left overs for dinner tonight, so for around $3.50 I got 2 meals. Later this week I will be using the other 2 breast for a second meal and some baby bell peppers. red onions, salsa and more rice with some frozen black bean I already have on hand to make another dish. the Baby bell peppers were 1.49 for the pack, the red onion was .79 and I bought a jar of Salsa for 2.79 I will probably use half so around a 1.35 for the salsa, I am going to use some of this over rice the other I will put in a tortilla these tortillas were 2.29 but I'm only using one, so I don't know how the math works out on that one. This one will come out around 6.00 but I will still get 2-3 meals out of this one.
I live alone so it is a challenge to come up with meals that I'm not wasting. I eat a lot of left overs.

 

[kymom99]

I just had to check the date on this post- where do you all live? The grocery prices for us here ( MA) do not compare! I've never heard of Aldi's. But for a recipe this week, needed three peppers and they cost $1.19, $1.59, and $1.69 each depending on the color....This at the local Stop and Shop- not a speciality store.

Look up aldi online. They are all over the world and opening in new areas all the time. They aren't fancy and selection is limited but they have pretty good specials on fruits and veggies.
Our Meijer will have peppers for $1 or technically 90 cents when they do buy 10 get 11th free.

 

[kymom99]

My husband found some boneless thighs on sale cheap a while back and froze some. Last night we had copycat chipotle bowls and he made a sandwich out of one of the thighs. Rice and beans plus some seasonings. I had to buy a lime and some cilantro. Turned out really good.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I just had to check the date on this post- where do you all live? The grocery prices for us here ( MA) do not compare! I've never heard of Aldi's. But for a recipe this week, needed three peppers and they cost $1.19, $1.59, and $1.69 each depending on the color....This at the local Stop and Shop- not a speciality store.

You need to find the loss leader produce at any store and plan your week with those items. Aldi's had a good week this week for what we like, so I stopped there, but I stick to my normal national chain usually for 2 other weeks (out of 3). If I hadn't hit Aldi's this week (and I admit, I picked up 2 packs of zucchini, 2 packs of mushrooms, 2 bags of tomatoes, 2 bags of onion, and 2 2 packs of green peppers for almost nothing there, making my meal planning easy), I'd have probably used from my local chain...

8lbs of navel oranges for $5 (and I did get this when I had to run in for lunch meat)
Bagged bananas for 36 cents/lb (the ones which "go bad" aka need to be frozen sooner - although at my store, this normally isn't the case, since people always are ripping off single bananas and the store just throws these in the bags - I did get this, too, but I'd have gotten more without my veg pick up)
Broccolli Crowns for $1.49/lb
Fresh Express Salad Bags for $1.25 each
Organic Celery for $1.25 each
Grapes $1.99/lb
Red/Yellow Peppers $1 each
Gala Apples $3.79/3lbs

I'd have probably thrown in onions (at 99 cents/lb) and with that produce, had the makings of a stew/chili/meri poux (onions, celery, peppers), had roasted broccoli (or broccoli cheese soup since cheese was stupid cheap at my national chain - better than Aldi), had easy salad (that I could add any of the onions, celery, peppers, or even apples to), sliced oranges/apples/bananas and fresh grapes, muffin fruit (apples/bananas), etc...

Would it be as cheap as Aldi - probably not quite, but it still would be very cheap for my needs...

 

[Liberty Belle]

My cheapest meals:

Rice, black beans, and ranchero sauce (you can buy premade, but I make my own, which is more expensive, but delicious!). You can add shredded chicken, if your budget allows.

Bean burritos

Grilled cheese and tomato soup (I've used canned soup and added a few croutons to make it "fancy").

Omelets (especially cheap if you have a garden with tomatoes and peppers).

Kielbasa or skinless smoked sausage with mashed potatoes, saurkraut, and lima beans.

Egg salad sandwiches and veggies

Salade Nicoise - leaf and romaine lettuce are often 99 cents here, just add tuna, sliced egg, and vinaigrette.

 

[Poohbug]

Two packages of boneless pork ribs, $1.44 each($.99/pound), bottle of BBQ sauce, $.25, five ears of sweet corn $.90($.18 each). Our BBQ pork rib with sweet corn supper cost $4.03 for all five of us.

 

[Liberty Belle]

There is a large portion of the US that has lived with paycheck increases that have not kept up with (or even come close to) must-have expense increases. And I'm not talking Disney vacay expenses, but expenses for health care, taxes, food, rent, etc. It's great that gas is low - you can thank the US energy industry and the global economic slowdown for most of that - but that doesn't change that many things, like healthcare, have seen double digit increases year after year, while paychecks might increase 1-2%. It's the ingredients for an economic malaise...

Take a federal employee as one example - there has not been a salary increase above 1.6% in 8 years, with 3 years of 0%. Even if you factor in step increases (that were also withheld a few years), that employee has not increased their take home pay by more than 2.5% total/year (at the most) over this period. In the last 8 years, the costs of all of the things I mentioned above (health care, taxes, rent, food) have all increased more than 2.5%/yearly, so that employee has felt a bigger and bigger pressure on their paycheck and had to pinch their spending more and more.

And federal employees are probably lucky - many private employees have had to deal with fully paying for healthcare that was previously offset by employers, have had to deal with 0% increases or even pay cuts over a few years, have had to stress about their jobs being outsourced or eliminated, etc. That's tough...

And there are always exceptions for certain people, certain cities, etc...but we are talking generalities and that's why people are still calling this a terrible economy. No wage growth, only job growth is in part time employment or low wage jobs, employees paying more and more for healthcare and taxes without subsequent salary increases, high-paying jobs being outsourced and forcing trade downs to lower paying jobs, etc...

Or years, in my and my husband's cases, of NO paycheck increases.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Lucky's (not sure where all they're located) is generally expensive, but each week they have some great deals on produce (avocados for 50 cents, pineapples for 99cents, etc).

 

[lola202408]

I just had to check the date on this post- where do you all live? The grocery prices for us here ( MA) do not compare! I've never heard of Aldi's. But for a recipe this week, needed three peppers and they cost $1.19, $1.59, and $1.69 each depending on the color....This at the local Stop and Shop- not a speciality store.

Hi kreckl,

There are Aldi's in MA, in Worcester, Medford, Milford, and Leominster. I don't know what part of MA you live in. But I do feel your pain, groceries are so expensive here. Aldi's is good for some things, but when I do shop there, I end up needing to supplement at another store.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

My favorite cheap meal is Berbere okra and tomatoes with meat. We got this recipe from Epcot's F&W.

One bag of frozen okra
One large can of tomatoes
One package of stew meat (or whatever cow is cheapest that week).
Berbere spice (this is a combination of several spices, but it includes chilies, ginger, garlic, cloves and cardamon. I've done this by just tossing in spices and it came out okay. You need chili powder, garlic and cloves though.)

Toss everything in the slow cooker, add spice and salt to taste, let it cook. Serve over grits. If I am home by myself, I can pretty much eat on this for one week, lunch and dinner. If I have my husband at home, it is about 3 meals.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I just had to check the date on this post- where do you all live? The grocery prices for us here ( MA) do not compare! I've never heard of Aldi's. But for a recipe this week, needed three peppers and they cost $1.19, $1.59, and $1.69 each depending on the color....This at the local Stop and Shop- not a speciality store.

If one of the Aldi's listed is even sort-of near to you, it might be worthwhile for you to make the trek. I moved to NC from NH last year, and I do miss Aldi's! (Not enough to move back,though.) Where I lived, we had Price Chopper, Hannaford, and Market Basket--while I shopped at all three, Market Basket was the best overall. I know that's a MA/NH chain. I never thought Stop and Shop had great bargains--my sister lives in CT, she has one right around the corner.

Both up north and down south, I have always found boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.99/lb, pretty consistently. Sometimes b/s thighs are even cheaper. Oddly, ground beef--even the cheap 73% stuff--is generally over $3 a pound. And I don't know if it's regional or market fluctuations, but pork is quite cheap down here--tenderloin for less than $3/lb, Boston butt or other, fattier cuts for less than $2/lb.

Also, you should know that Food Lion and Hannaford are owned by the same parent company. Both tend to have decent specials without jumping through hoops, and the "my essentials" house brands are identical. This helped me a lot when we moved here, as so much was new to me--not just a new state, but the climate and weather are different, plants are different, landscape is different (I miss hills!), new house, new schools, new accents, new local sports (surfing versus skiing)--but I felt at home in Food Lion!

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Forcing myself to stay out of the economic downturn debate, but the main few ways I save money.

1. We don't waste food. The most expensive food is the food you throw away. We just moved so this month, we have had some more waste getting into a routine, but overall it was about 6 dollars in waste. We use up ingredients before they go bad even if that means being creative and we eat all of our leftovers.

Another key to this is to repurpose ingredients. A meal we've been loving lately is beef and broccoli which can be made super cheap, but I save the stalks off the broccoli and freeze them all and whenever I decide over the winter to make a broccoli cheese soup, I already have plenty of broccoli flavor and will just need a small thing of broccoli.

2. We meal plan. This goes hand and hand with not wasting food, but I plan based on what we already have on hand and what our plans for the week look like. If we have ingredients that are about to go bad, I make sure we use those. I personally only plan 5 meals a week, since we usually eat out once or twice and I don't want food to go to waste. Another thing I like to do with that is to use the ingredients in different ways. We've been loving sour cream noodle bake lately, but it only uses 1/2 cup of sour cream, so I will also plan to make carnitas rice bowls for another night in the week. This helps us not throw away the sour cream.

3. We stock up when prices are good. We try to freeze what we can. For instance, there was a sale a couple months ago for Johnsonville Brats 2lb packages were $2.20. So it was a little over a dollar a pound for packages of brats. We ate a lot of sausage stuff which is also cheap meals for us. Sausage and potatoes, we use it in Jambalaya, smoked sausage pasta and breakfast burritos.

4. I buy produce to snack on based on what is on sale/ in season. We buy organic fruit based on the "dirty dozen" so we only buy certain things when they are a good deal or when they are cheaper. We usually get about 2-3 pounds of fruit a week based on what is a good price that week. We also buy our "snacks" for our two year old based on what is on sale.

5. I also use coupons from time to time, but food coupons are harder for me based on how we eat.

 

[pjlla]

If one of the Aldi's listed is even sort-of near to you, it might be worthwhile for you to make the trek. I moved to NC from NH last year, and I do miss Aldi's! (Not enough to move back,though.) Where I lived, we had Price Chopper, Hannaford, and Market Basket--while I shopped at all three, Market Basket was the best overall. I know that's a MA/NH chain. I never thought Stop and Shop had great bargains--my sister lives in CT, she has one right around the corner.

Both up north and down south, I have always found boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.99/lb, pretty consistently. Sometimes b/s thighs are even cheaper. Oddly, ground beef--even the cheap 73% stuff--is generally over $3 a pound. And I don't know if it's regional or market fluctuations, but pork is quite cheap down here--tenderloin for less than $3/lb, Boston butt or other, fattier cuts for less than $2/lb.

Also, you should know that Food Lion and Hannaford are owned by the same parent company. Both tend to have decent specials without jumping through hoops, and the "my essentials" house brands are identical. This helped me a lot when we moved here, as so much was new to me--not just a new state, but the climate and weather are different, plants are different, landscape is different (I miss hills!), new house, new schools, new accents, new local sports (surfing versus skiing)--but I felt at home in Food Lion!

FWIW, Aldi's is moving into New England..... recently opened one in Manchester, NH. I don't LOVE it, but it is good for some things.... but there is probably no way I could do a "full" shop just there...............P

 

[pjlla]

Forcing myself to stay out of the economic downturn debate, but the main few ways I save money.

1. We don't waste food. The most expensive food is the food you throw away. We just moved so this month, we have had some more waste getting into a routine, but overall it was about 6 dollars in waste. We use up ingredients before they go bad even if that means being creative and we eat all of our leftovers.

Another key to this is to repurpose ingredients. A meal we've been loving lately is beef and broccoli which can be made super cheap, but I save the stalks off the broccoli and freeze them all and whenever I decide over the winter to make a broccoli cheese soup, I already have plenty of broccoli flavor and will just need a small thing of broccoli.

2. We meal plan. This goes hand and hand with not wasting food, but I plan based on what we already have on hand and what our plans for the week look like. If we have ingredients that are about to go bad, I make sure we use those. I personally only plan 5 meals a week, since we usually eat out once or twice and I don't want food to go to waste. Another thing I like to do with that is to use the ingredients in different ways. We've been loving sour cream noodle bake lately, but it only uses 1/2 cup of sour cream, so I will also plan to make carnitas rice bowls for another night in the week. This helps us not throw away the sour cream.

3. We stock up when prices are good. We try to freeze what we can. For instance, there was a sale a couple months ago for Johnsonville Brats 2lb packages were $2.20. So it was a little over a dollar a pound for packages of brats. We ate a lot of sausage stuff which is also cheap meals for us. Sausage and potatoes, we use it in Jambalaya, smoked sausage pasta and breakfast burritos.

4. I buy produce to snack on based on what is on sale/ in season. We buy organic fruit based on the "dirty dozen" so we only buy certain things when they are a good deal or when they are cheaper. We usually get about 2-3 pounds of fruit a week based on what is a good price that week. We also buy our "snacks" for our two year old based on what is on sale.

5. I also use coupons from time to time, but food coupons are harder for me based on how we eat.

Couldn't agree more with the bolded part (my bolding). It makes me crazy to see food waste! I just roll my eyes when folks talk about throwing away "leftover" because _______________ (fill in the blank with the person they blame.... spouse, kids, etc) won't eat them. Umm..... first of all.... call them "planned" overs.... puts a whole new spin on it! And second of all.... disguise it! Leftover meatloaf or taco meat? Chop it up and make it into hamburger (or taco) soup! Leftover beef roast? .... toss with some canned tomatoes and kidney beans and call it chili! Make-your-own TV dinners using single servings and tupperware type containers. Perfect for one of those crazy night when everyone is home for dinner at different times. Or pack your leftovers for lunch the next day.... anyhow you get the idea! There are even websites and blogs dedicated to the art of creating a meal with "a little bit of this and a little bit of that"!..........P

 

[Minnesota!]

Just made my weekly plan yesterday.

Yesterday – spaghetti/meatballs in the crockpot, salad. Cost ~ $10. Will get dinner for 4 out of it, plus lunch for husband, plus the leftover sauce will be rolled over to Thursdays dinner

Tonight – coconut/curry pork chops, buttered noodles, roasted Brussel sprouts. Brussels were on sale at Target for about $2/bag. The pork chops were part of a Costco pack that was in the bottom of my freezer from February, coconut milk was bought on sale a few months ago and the egg noodles are about 50 cents/use. Probably $7 for the whole meal for 4.

Tuesday – hamburger soup. Hamburger is the last of a Costco pack from months ago (again, cleaning out deep freeze), veggies are from the dollar store (frozen), I will make the soup out of a large can of crushed tomatoes (1.50) and a box of veggie broth (1.50). Add in the rest of the egg noodles at the end. Serve with the rest of the bagged salad from yesterday.

Wednesday – leftovers. “Free”

Thursday – naan pizza (with naan from the deep freeze), the sauce from Sunday, meatballs from Sunday, and whatever cheese I can find leftover in the fridge. Might be high end, might be velveeta Another round of frozen veg and roasted brussels to round it out. Total is about $6.

Friday – Egg bake, veggies. Costs about $5 and feeds us for at least 2 days.

Total for the week - $31 or so (for dinner)...

 

[QueenIsabella]

FWIW, Aldi's is moving into New England..... recently opened one in Manchester, NH. I don't LOVE it, but it is good for some things.... but there is probably no way I could do a "full" shop just there...............P

Actually, I had shopped at Aldi in NY, before I moved to NH. Then one showed up in Brattleboro, VT, then one in Keene, NH. Then we moved to NC. On the good side, there are rumors of one being built in my new home city--actually, very close to our house. So, I'm keeping an eye on that, Aldi's is a huge money-saver.

That said, I agree 100% on not being able to shop for everything there. They keep improving and adding new products, but they'll never have the selection of a full grocery store. Like, they'll have light brown sugar, but not dark brown. And while their meat and produce selections have grown through the years, they are still more limited than a regular grocery store--based on their business model, I don't see that changing. But, you can get maybe 80% f what you need there. Besides, a trip to the regular grocery store now and then is a good thing--grab the loss-leader items and experience sticker shock on the regularly priced stuff that you get at Aldi's.

 

[NotUrsula]

THE cheapest meal I know, hands down, is that day-before-payday classic, rice and gravy. Yep, plain white rice with a couple of packets of beef and onion gravy made and poured over it. If you buy gravy packets when they are on sale and stock up, and if you normally buy rice in bulk, this one will feed a family of 4 for under $1. (Homemade gravy that you kept in the freezer is nicer, of course, but I don't make pan gravies anymore because I need to do my best to avoid too much fat. My local grocery store's house brand packets are $.25 each when they have a sale, they don't contain any fat, and only about 290 mg. of sodium.)

It's not the most well-balanced meal, of course, but when the pantry is bare, then you do what you can. I ate this quite often as a student.

 

[scrapquitler]

I just had to check the date on this post- where do you all live? The grocery prices for us here ( MA) do not compare! I've never heard of Aldi's. But for a recipe this week, needed three peppers and they cost $1.19, $1.59, and $1.69 each depending on the color....This at the local Stop and Shop- not a speciality store.

I'm in CT and I always think the same thing when people start quoting the prices of groceries. We never see some of the really inexpensive prices that I see people posting....I see "chicken thighs for 69cents a pound" here on the board, but when I go to Stop and Shop I see them at $4.29 a pound, or something equally ridiculous. And yes, if the peppers are on sale 3 for $5 I figure it's a good price.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I'm in CT and I always think the same thing when people start quoting the prices of groceries. We never see some of the really inexpensive prices that I see people posting....I see "chicken thighs for 69cents a pound" here on the board, but when I go to Stop and Shop I see them at $4.29 a pound, or something equally ridiculous. And yes, if the peppers are on sale 3 for $5 I figure it's a good price.

If you don't live near Aldi's, do you live near Shop-rite? This week's ad had 99 cents/lb family pack chicken thighs (and 99 cents/lb peaches - that I would love) and a bunch of other very specific, very cheap things (the same kinds of things I find at Aldi's - I'd buy the 12-15 big deals and use them a lot each week).