*Feed Your Family $10 A Day Challenge*(AT HOME)

[brenl]

I also don't see how you can get more then one meal out of a whole chicken.We are a family of four and we eat a whole chicken in one meal. Unless I cook chicken and noodles or chicken salad then I can get a whole chicken can last longer then one meal. I am lucky our hamburger does not cost 4.99 lb.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

So if she is feeding one person on $10 per day, I could easily feed 4 for $40 per day. We'd be eating steak dinners 3 nights per week.

I feed myself, and my cat on about $5 a day. Actually, I think the cat's meals may be more expensive then my own.

Breakfast

I skipped
Fancy Feast for the Cat - 50 cents

Lunch

Crab Melt - $1.35 (The cat ate some crab)

Snacks

Cheese and Crackers - 40 cents
Ice Cream Cone - 50 cents

Drinks

Pepsi - 20 cents
Capri Sun - 6 cents

Dinner

Chili - Free

Total - $3.01 If I were feeding a family of four, and if I served the same food, my cost would be $9.96. (I'm not including the cat food in that cost.)

 

[JennyMominRI]

I also don't see how you can get more then one meal out of a whole chicken.We are a family of four and we eat a whole chicken in one meal. Unless I cook chicken and noodles or chicken salad then I can get a whole chicken can last longer then one meal. I am lucky our hamburger does not cost 4.99 lb.

I can miake killer Matzoh Ball soup with the carcas with a small amount of chicken left on it

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I feed myself, and my cat on about $5 a day. Actually, I think the cat's meals may be more expensive then my own.

Breakfast

I skipped
Fancy Feast for the Cat - 50 cents

Lunch

Crab Melt - $1.35 (The cat ate some crab)

Snacks

Cheese and Crackers - 40 cents
Ice Cream Cone - 50 cents

Drinks

Pepsi - 20 cents
Capri Sun - 6 cents

Dinner

Chili - Free

Total - $3.01 If I were feeding a family of four, and if I served the same food, my cost would be $9.96. (I'm not including the cat food in that cost.)

My family would be starving.
When I was single I could eat very cheaply. Mainly because I could eat things like cereal or a bagel for dinner and didn't care. I also would skip meals because I didn't have time to eat. Now those are not options.

 

[pearlieq]

If you are serving meat every day, you CANNOT average $10 per day. It is impossible (I am saying real meat, not hot dogs or spam). If the meat is organic, you won't even come close. Organic produce however is doable if you buy in season.

For 2 it would be no problem (DH and I do it without much fuss). 3 would be more of a challenge, but doable. It would involve more scratch cooking and simpler meals. I couldn't imagine doing it for a family of 4 or more.

And yes, of course, organic meat would be out of the question. Organic beef here is over $8 a pound, as is chicken breast.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I can miake killer Matzoh Ball soup with the carcas with a small amount of chicken left on it

We love Matzoh Ball soup.

Could you please post or PM me your recipe.

 

[nuke]

I spend about $350 a month on groceries for 3 people. Then I spend an additional $5-7 a week on soda's and snacks at work. I bring my lunch almost everyday but I buy a soda or iced tea daily. I just like it better from a fountain. My DH packs a lunch everyday but will stop for coffee almost everyday. When school is in session I have to figure another $40 appox. a month for hot lunch. My son is going to eat hot lunch in Sept and if it's not enough to keep him full then I have to start packing a lunch for him. With a 10 year old that eats more than his mom, that should be a budget breaker.

Anyways, there is no way we are under $10 a day. In fact some days I think we eat more than $10 of fruit in one day!!

 

[JennyMominRI]

We love Matzoh Ball soup.

Could you please post or PM me your recipe.

1/2 cup matzah meal
2 eggs
2 tbsp. oil or schmaltz (melted chicken fat)
1 chicken carcass with some meat still attached
1/2 c crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
a little black pepper
Water, 8 c ? I eyeball this
A handful of baby carrots or regular carrots cut into large chunks (optional)
a few stalks of celery cut into large chunks (optional) any other veggies I need to get rid of
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage


Bring the water to a vigorous boil, add chicken carcass then reduce the heat until the broth is just simmering. Add the vegetables to the broth (if used) tomatoes and seasoning cook 1-2 hours.
Remove chicken and let cool a little bit before removing what chicken you can.. Add chicken back to pot

Beat the eggs, oil and water together thoroughly. Add the matzah meal, parsley and black pepper and mix until you achieve an even consistency. Let this sit for a few minutes, so the matzah meal absorbs the other ingredients, and stir again.

Wet your hands and make balls of about 1-2 tbsp. of the batter. Drop the balls gently into the boiling water. They will be cooked enough to eat in about 15 minutes; however, you may want to leave it simmering longer to absorb more of the chicken broth flavor. They are done when they float on top of the broth and look bloated.
For lighter matzah balls, use a little less oil, a little more water, and cook at a lower temperature for a longer time. For heavier matzah balls, do the reverse. If you are using this to treat a cold, put extra black pepper into the broth (pepper clears the sinuses).


Sudbstituting soda water for the water makes the matzoh balls even lighter.

You can also leave out the crushed tomatoes, I just like the deeper flavor
The packaged Matzoh Ball mixes also are surprisingly good

 

[momx2]

I feed myself, and my cat on about $5 a day. Actually, I think the cat's meals may be more expensive then my own.

Breakfast

I skipped
Fancy Feast for the Cat - 50 cents

Lunch

Crab Melt - $1.35 (The cat ate some crab)

Snacks

Cheese and Crackers - 40 cents
Ice Cream Cone - 50 cents

Drinks

Pepsi - 20 cents
Capri Sun - 6 cents

Dinner

Chili - Free

Total - $3.01 If I were feeding a family of four, and if I served the same food, my cost would be $9.96. (I'm not including the cat food in that cost.)

But you would be starving your family. No breakfast and no veggies or fruit. This unrealistic. If want to eat that way, fine, you're an adult. But your family would be malnourished!

 

[mickeyfan2]

The packaged Matzoh Ball mixes also are surprisingly good

Thank you.

We alway make it with the mixes.

 

[momx2]

I also don't see how you can get more then one meal out of a whole chicken.We are a family of four and we eat a whole chicken in one meal. Unless I cook chicken and noodles or chicken salad then I can get a whole chicken can last longer then one meal. I am lucky our hamburger does not cost 4.99 lb.

The only way I can do it with a family of 4 is that I buy a 5lb. chicken and roast or crockpot it with carrots, celery and onions and serve with rice or mashed potatoes. Plus my 6 yr. old eats a small amount. If she starts eating like her 9 yr. old sis then it will probably stop. Now I get about 2 cups of chicken left over to make chicken and noodles, which also has lots of veggies in it. Now it doesn't work if I buy anything less than a 4 1/2 lb. bird.

 

[JennyMominRI]

Thank you.

We alway make it with the mixes.

I order my geoceries from peapod,and half the time they bring matzoh and half the time they bring the mix

 

[mommiepoppins]

I spend about $350 a month on groceries for 3 people. Then I spend an additional $5-7 a week on soda's and snacks at work. I bring my lunch almost everyday but I buy a soda or iced tea daily. I just like it better from a fountain. My DH packs a lunch everyday but will stop for coffee almost everyday. When school is in session I have to figure another $40 appox. a month for hot lunch. My son is going to eat hot lunch in Sept and if it's not enough to keep him full then I have to start packing a lunch for him. With a 10 year old that eats more than his mom, that should be a budget breaker.

Anyways, there is no way we are under $10 a day. In fact some days I think we eat more than $10 of fruit in one day!!

hey maybe you could cut soda and snacks ot of your daily life and it would save money

 

[disneyfav4ever]

This is what I could eat tomorrow, (everything listed I have in my fridge right now,) I'll mutiply all the prices by four and "pretend" it's for four people.

Breakfast

Cereal - 80 cents

Lunch

Grilled Cheese Sandwhiches - 75 cents
Salad - $2

Dinner

Pork Loin - $3
Veg - 66 cents
Mashed Potatoes - 50 cents

Drinks

Sodas - $1
Capri Suns - 60 cents

Total - $9.31 and that includes veggies at lunch and dinner. It's still doable for four people for less then $10, or just above maybe, because I didn't include any snacks, but it wouldn't be much over $10.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

If I were feeding a family of four, and if I served the same food,

I seriously doubt you could convince a couple of teen boys to voluntarily skip breakfast everyday and I'm thinking that "free" chili isn't going to just jump out at your mythical family of 4 on a daily basis unless you take them to the soup kitchen or something.

This is what I woke up to find my 17 year old ate last night as a "snack" after he got home from his date.
1/2 a tub of blueberries
1 bagel with peanut butter and raisins
1/2 a box of pasta
1/2 a jar of sauce
2 granola bars
and 2 snack packs of sun chips.

This was AFTER 3 full meals during the day.

 

[Beca]

If you are serving meat every day, you CANNOT average $10 per day. It is impossible (I am saying real meat, not hot dogs or spam). If the meat is organic, you won't even come close. Organic produce however is doable if you buy in season.

I agree, and this is why I find this thread so interesting. My dd had a LOT of health issues when she was little, and now, as a result antibiotics (even those found residually in meat) totally mess her system up. She is also VERY sensitive to pesticides and preservatives. Her health improved almost instantly when we switched her to 90% organics, so I figure I pay $$$ either way...either for food or medicine, and I would MUCH rather not have her on medicine.

She does not eat huge variety of veggies, and her dr. says "either fruits or veggies", so I try to supplement with fruits. Since she is eating SOOO many fruits, I feel a need to buy a variety, and that is where we end up spending a lot of money. I can usually get one or two organic fruits cheaply, but if I only fed her one or two fruits, she would stop eating fruits pretty quickly. Sometimes, that means I have to pay $6.00 for a quart of strawberries, and $5.99 for a pound of grapes. However, I don't know what else to do. We don't have very many "pick your own" places in Texas, and none that I find are organic.

The cheapest I can find organic hamburger is 94/6 organic in the 1lb package at Target for $6.99. Sometimes, I do opt for the all natural buffalo instead (I have heard that buffalo is equivalent to organic beef, and I REALLY like the taste (dh and dd cannot tell the difference, thank goodness...they would never eat it if they knew).

As far as chicken, the cheapest I can find is frozen organic chicken tenders (dd will only eat white meat) at $14.99 for 2lbs. My dd LOVES rotisserie chicken, but we don't eat dark meat (dh will eat a little), so it is hardly worth it when an organic chicken I can rotisserie is $19-20 for one chicken (the only place I can find raw, whole organic chicken in whole foods), and we basically eat the breast meat off of the chicken. However, because my dd LOVES the taste of rotisserie chicken that I cook at home (with no sodium or preservatives "injected" in before cooking), I will break down and make her one of these 1-2 times per month. On those days, our food budget goes up to around $40 for that day.

Anyway, I don't mean to complain...I know I do what I do out of choice. And, honestly...I am not even focused on trying to get below $10 per day for our family. I am impressed with those of you that do, and I think that if I cooked more "from scratch" items, I could possibly save a bit more...but, I never seemed to be disciplined enough for that.

However, I know it seems to many that people who are not posting their menus are just here to pick on those who post here. I just wanted to explain why I do not post here (the amount I spend on food is sometimes shameful), but continue to read.

I appreciate any "frugal" organic tips anyone could pass my way.

 

[nuke]

hey maybe you could cut soda and snacks ot of your daily life and it would save money

Sure, I could also feed everyone 59 cent hotdogs but I don't want to do that.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I seriously doubt you could convince a couple of teen boys to voluntarily skip breakfast everyday and I'm thinking that "free" chili isn't going to just jump out at your mythical family of 4 on a daily basis unless you take them to the soup kitchen or something.

This is what I woke up to find my 17 year old ate last night as a "snack" after he got home from his date.
1/2 a tub of blueberries
1 bagel with peanut butter and raisins
1/2 a box of pasta
1/2 a jar of sauce
2 granola bars
and 2 snack packs of sun chips.

This was AFTER 3 full meals during the day.

I know what you mean. A while back my cousin, his wife and three teen boys came to visit. We bought $300 in groceries for the three day visit and we also ate out. BTW they ate everything.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Sure, I could also feed everyone 59 cent hotdogs but I don't want to do that.

I don't they are 49 cents

 

[momx2]

This is what I could eat tomorrow, (everything listed I have in my fridge right now,) I'll mutiply all the prices by four and "pretend" it's for four people.

Breakfast

Cereal - 80 cents

Lunch

Grilled Cheese Sandwhiches - 75 cents
Salad - $2

Dinner

Pork Loin - $3
Veg - 66 cents
Mashed Potatoes - 50 cents

Drinks

Sodas - $1
Capri Suns - 60 cents

Total - $9.31 and that includes veggies at lunch and dinner. It's still doable for four people for less then $10, or just above maybe, because I didn't include any snacks, but it wouldn't be much over $10.

There are so many things to comment on I don't know where to begin. First 80cents isn't going to cut it for 4 people eating cereal and milk. Plus my 9 yr. old DD also needs protein or she is starving an hour later. So we throw in a few eggs or something. Plus there are no snacks. Once again my very active 9 yr. old DD eats about 7 or 8 times a day. She would starve. My youngest DD also eats 2 to 3 snacks daily. Also, I don't know how .75 covers 4 grilled cheese sandwiches. You also list no fruits in your diet, that is a no-no. Also, .66 isn't going to cover 4 peoples veggies, even from farmers market. We do grow some ourselves, but not all. I could give up the soda and capri suns, but they would drink milk, skim for oldest DD and soy for youngest. Your family would be malnourished.

I skip breakfast. I shouldn't, but I do not allow my kids to skip, even when they want to. I buy generics, don't eat organic and I'm not a food fanatic. Heck, we had ballpark franks and mac and cheese today for lunch (with carrots, cucumbers and watermelon) and we do that about 2x per month. But you just aren't being realistic. Has this just become a game to you?? A growing child should never eat this little. That is the only thing that has bothered me about this thread. I love getting frugal meal tips, but some kids represented on this thread are not eating enough. I would be very worried if my 9 year old only ate as much as some of you post your kids eat. My DD 9 developed GERD earlier this year and lost down to 68lbs. and I was worried sick. She was lethargic, couldn't finish her soccer games and just gaunt looking. Not her at all. Now with meds. she is up to 75lbs. and herself again. She is very athletic and basically all muscle. Please consider the affects of letting your children not eat well. Sorry so long, I just had to say this. Also, I'm not trying to insult anyone, I'm just really concerned.