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

[mommiepoppins]

How much are pre-cooked chickens where you live? They are $5.99 here at all the stores, and I dont know how you could portion it in to seperate meals for your family size. You are pretty amazing.... maybe I need to move....

It was a whole chicken. I cooked it and then seperated it inro meals and then froze it.

 

[Davidsmommy]

It was a whole chicken. I cooked it and then seperated it inro meals and then froze it.

Yes, but how much are your precooked whole chickens? Our at the stores around here are $4.99 - $6.49 each (depending on store) and they are tiny. It is much cheaper for me to buy a larger whole chicken (on sale) and just cook it myself. For us, those precooked chickens are more of a convienence item than a budget saver. But, others must be cheaper or bigger.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Yes, but how much are your precooked whole chickens? Our at the stores around here are $4.99 - $6.49 each (depending on store) and they are tiny. It is much cheaper for me to buy a larger whole chicken (on sale) and just cook it myself. For us, those precooked chickens are more of a convienence item than a budget saver. But, others must be cheaper or bigger.

I have bought them for about 450

 

[mommiepoppins]

B
Pancakes 15 cents (I made a lot of big pancakes, I bought the box from the $ store)
Juice (25 cents)
DH and I did not eat breakfast.
=40

S. this is for the day
Cookies =50 cents
Popcorn = 25 cents
Ice cream = 2$
=275

Lunch and dinner combined
Hot dogs 40 cents
Rolls =25 cents
Hamburgers= 2$
Rolls =50 cents (DH and I are not real bread fans)
Squash=173
Corn= 2$
Spray butter= 25 cents
Salt = 3 cents
Juice 75
=791

$11.06, for the day. Not bad for our weekend. Also my oldest is away .

 

[bookgirl]

forgive me if someone already posted this.....

the Target Sutton Dodge $2 meat coupon.....print it out and put it in your purse. Actually, print about 5 of them out.....

Every time I am at Target, I check their meat. When they have packs (for instance) for $4.11, and it is going to expire in a few days, they put a $2 off coupon on it. Then I use my $2 off coupon and viola! A pack of red meat for 11 cents.

I get 4-5 packs at a time like this and put them in the freezer. They are steak so I make strir fry or fajitas or beef burritos etc.

Leave more money for other things in the budget.

I so do this all the time. I got stew meat for .07, .45, and .21 cents the other night.

 

[kmchar1]

I really do love this thread. It has really inspired me!

We are a family of three: DH, me and DS (6 years old, picky eater). We buy a lot of our food at Dollar General, Walmart (generic) and fruit/veggie stands.

Breakfast:
DH: free at work
Me: water and an apple .25
DS: milk, 2 cups of cereal (on clearance) and a banana: 1.00
*total: 1.25

Snack:
Me: nothing
DS: yogurt .50
*total: .50

Lunch:
DH: free at work
Me: 1/2 can of chicken noodle soup, handful of generic crackers, plum and water 1.10
DS: 1/2 can of chicken noodle soup, handful of generic crackers, peach and water 1.10
*total: 2.20

Snack:
Popsicles for all three of us (the fun cheap kind) .30
*total: .30

Dinner:
We ate at my parents' house: roasted chicken, mashed taters, grilled corn on the cob, rolls and oranges for dessert: free
*total: free

Snack:
DS: Handful of pretzels .25
*total: .25

Grand Total: $4.50 but we got a lot of freebies today!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I so do this all the time. I got stew meat for .07, .45, and .21 cents the other night.

Yeah, I'm not the only one.

I stock up doing this. At one time, I had about 20 packages of red meat in my freezer. It helps out so much on the weeks when I need a little extra money for other things. (then I don't have to buy meat that week.)

 

[bookgirl]

Yeah, I'm not the only one.

I stock up doing this. At one time, I had about 20 packages of red meat in my freezer. It helps out so much on the weeks when I need a little extra money for other things. (then I don't have to buy meat that week.)

Nope you're not the only one I'm right there with you.
I always make a run through the meat department and stock up.

I do it just because it makes more sense to prebuy and spend a little now to save money later. It's amazing how cheap groceries are when you have little to no meat to buy. We are fine with the same old thing so we stocked up on rice a roni recently and a few other items. We (family of three adults plus my brother and the twins eat with us often) often have only a few staples to pick up.


I have the stew meat, some mock steak, some real steaks (okay they were NOT cheap but I did get a break on them with markdowns and it's grilling season so I chose to spend now and stock up with coupons), hamburger, and a roast.

I did have a lot of chicken breasts from a good coupon there a few months ago but I finally ran out and now I'm on the bags of IQF breasts that were on sale, but I really need chicken to have a great sale.

I wish they carried pork.....but they go on sale fairly often even without coupons so I have to catch it when I can.


We try to avoid red meat every time we cook, so I switch it around, but we are big protien eaters so every little bit helps.

 

[dawn1967]

Breakfast

waffles and syrup 1.25 for only 3
1 apple sliced and diced added to mixture .15
Water and coffee Free

1.40

Lunch

Last of the turkey on bread with pickles and mayo and tomato's for 3 of us i'm .35 pickles are from dollar store and home made bread.


Dinner
Spaggitti and meat sauce and garlic bread. pasta .50 tomato's free spices free. garlic bread left over from fathers' day dinner free. meat is ground turkey .88 lb

Dessert Home made banana bread and cream cheese 1.25
snacks
air popped popcorn .25
lemonade icee's .50

Grand total 5.13

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I hear you guys on the cheap meat! We don't have a Target close enough--yet, one's moving in soon, though. But I did really luck out at a grocery store last week. They had boneless chicken breasts for $.99 per pound, which I stocked up on, and then pillow packs of ground turkey for $.50 each. Not per pound--per package! I didn't even stop to check how much they held, I was too busy throwing them into my cart. I'll definitely be stopping back at THAT store the same time next Sat.

One thing that irks me on meats, though, is at least around here, meat ends used to be dirt cheap--like $.99 per pound (DH likes real lunch meat, not super processed stuff). Now they call them "premium meat ends" and they're like $3.49 a pound! Are they kidding me? With tuna $.39 a can, we'll get that, thank you!

 

[Kellyscrapbooks]

I keep meaning to post my weeks menus, but I think I'll just post when I think of it! I'm calculating in my head as I go!

Here is yesterday's menu, I didn't quite make it, but I came close, weekends ALWAYS cost me more because we eat bigger breakfasts.

Breakfast:
Pancakes and milk, the only one to use syrup is hubby.
1.00 (I used half a box of mix, plus whatever syrup hubby used)
yogurt for the kids .50 (bought yogurt at Aldis for .25 each)
1.00 milk maybe
tea for me (I calculated out what I spend on tea once, either hot or cold, plus the splenda and lemon I put in it and it works out to .10 a cup)
coffee for hubby ($1, hubby uses a ton of flavored creamer and expensive coffee. He only has 1 a day and it's way cheaper than him hitting the coffee shop!)
$3.60

Lunch:
4 PB&J's $1
4 apples (bag of apples was $3, 12 apples in bag) $1
Kids had little hugs, a treat left over from when we had a picnic last week .25
I drank water with fresh lemon slices. I am not bothering to count the lemon slices since it's already calculated into my tea.
dh had half a huge bottle of flavored water I bought from aldi's .25
2.50

Dinner:
Teriyaki pork tenderloin $2.85
grilled fruit kabobs-fresh peaches($1-bought at farmers market) and canned pineapple (.25 a can)
baked potatoes .50 with herbs from the garden
steamed green beans bought at the market .50
We all drink ice water with dinner
$5.10

Dessert:
Chocolate Chip cookies (got the bake and serve for .25 a pack!)

Snacks: $2
For snacks in my house I keep 2 divided trays, 1 filled with sliced fresh fruit and 1 filled with fresh cut up vegetables, It works out to $2 a day and it's well worth it. I don't post snacks because everyone can help themselves to any of this at any time and I don't keep track. If there is something else I'll post it!

Total for the day: $13.65

Someone mentioned drinks, we keep filtered tap water in the house, I also buy packs of bottled water at Aldis' for $1.99 for when we need to grab something to take someplace with us. Mostly we drink a lot of water during the day, but hubby does drink some pop, we are currently trying to do away with it because they think it might be contributing to his kidney stones...eeek . Kids sometimes drink Kool-aid, but are not allowed to drink pop and they don't even like it now Sometimes we have lemonade which everyone loves so it goes fast.I'll post things like that! I drink tea (hot or cold) or water.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Well, I still think you guys are running low on vegetables. I'm going into Toronto today to see a ballet with my daughter, so we'll be eating at least one and possibly two meals out, but here's from yesterday - I'll try to estimate the costs. This is for two of us (me and my son).

Breakfast:
My oatmeal concoction: Oatmeal with raisins, dried cranberries, added bran cereal, and just-peanuts peanut butter. Yes, I cook the oatmeal and mix it all together and it's pretty good. I'm guessing this cost about $1.00.

Snack: strawberries and cherries - another $1.00? I bought a basket of each at the farmer's market so it's hard to estimate the exact cost.

Lunch:
Steamed broccoli and asparagus - about $3
Fiesta vegetable soup - $1.70
Grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches - $1?

Snack:
Carrots and green pepper strips with dip - .50?
Leftover tofu/fruit smoothies (silken tofu blended with bananas, orange juice and blueberries) (from the night before) .50

Dinner:
Roasted mixed vegetables - potatoes, sweet potatoes, red, green and yellow pepper strips, onions and mushrooms - drizzled with seasoned olive oil and baked for 45 minutes. I made a big dish of this and it filled us up so that's all we had for supper. cost - $4.00?
Dessert - strawberries and cherries again (gotta use them up!) $1.00

Bedtime snack: almond butter on whole wheat English muffin $2.00

So - total cost about $16, for only two people. I've been generous in my estimates and it may actually be less than this. But plenty of fruits and vegetables! We mostly drink water, other than the smoothies.

Teresa

 

[dawn1967]

Well, I still think you guys are running low on vegetables. I'm going into Toronto today to see a ballet with my daughter, so we'll be eating at least one and possibly two meals out, but here's from yesterday - I'll try to estimate the costs. This is for two of us (me and my son).

Breakfast:
My oatmeal concoction: Oatmeal with raisins, dried cranberries, added bran cereal, and just-peanuts peanut butter. Yes, I cook the oatmeal and mix it all together and it's pretty good. I'm guessing this cost about $1.00.

Snack: strawberries and cherries - another $1.00? I bought a basket of each at the farmer's market so it's hard to estimate the exact cost.

Lunch:
Steamed broccoli and asparagus - about $3
Fiesta vegetable soup - $1.70
Grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches - $1?

Snack:
Carrots and green pepper strips with dip - .50?
Leftover tofu/fruit smoothies (silken tofu blended with bananas, orange juice and blueberries) (from the night before) .50

Dinner:
Roasted mixed vegetables - potatoes, sweet potatoes, red, green and yellow pepper strips, onions and mushrooms - drizzled with seasoned olive oil and baked for 45 minutes. I made a big dish of this and it filled us up so that's all we had for supper. cost - $4.00?
Dessert - strawberries and cherries again (gotta use them up!) $1.00

Bedtime snack: almond butter on whole wheat English muffin $2.00

So - total cost about $16, for only two people. I've been generous in my estimates and it may actually be less than this. But plenty of fruits and vegetables! We mostly drink water, other than the smoothies.

Teresa

I'm just curious where is your protein? I didn't see much I know for my two boys this is very important why i asked.

 

[shortbun]

I'm just curious where is your protein? I didn't see much I know for my two boys this is very important why i asked.

I see the protein in the cheese, the tofu and probably lots of beans in the fiesta veggie soup. My son is a vegetarian and there are loads of protein sources other than meat.

 

[KKB]

forgive me if someone already posted this.....

the Target Sutton Dodge $2 meat coupon.....print it out and put it in your purse. Actually, print about 5 of them out.....

Every time I am at Target, I check their meat. When they have packs (for instance) for $4.11, and it is going to expire in a few days, they put a $2 off coupon on it. Then I use my $2 off coupon and viola! A pack of red meat for 11 cents.

I get 4-5 packs at a time like this and put them in the freezer. They are steak so I make strir fry or fajitas or beef burritos etc.

Leave more money for other things in the budget.

On the Target site?

Super Target opens July 29! YEAH!

SOLVED...no coupons this week, but should be in future! :->
Looks like I can beging printing in TWO weeks!
THANKS!~ You guys ROCK!

 

[dawn1967]

I see the protein in the cheese, the tofu and probably lots of beans in the fiesta veggie soup. My son is a vegetarian and there are loads of protein sources other than meat.

Didn't think of the cheese since if my kids eat cheese it's those ekky kraft singles and really not a good source of protein since mostly fat.
Thanks for letting me know on the tofu i didn't know silken was a source of protein i just googled it since if i ever used it it was only for replacement of oil or butter, since it's used mainly as a substitute of fat.
And since she didn't say the beans in the fiesta soup i didn't think of it because i make a low carb fiesta soup in the winter that has no beans.

 

[bookgirl]

On the Target site?

Super Target opens July 29! YEAH!

SOLVED...no coupons this week, but should be in future! :->
Looks like I can beging printing in TWO weeks!
THANKS!~ You guys ROCK!

go to the internet and type in the search-- full cup coupon generator--. There are target coupons from this week and the last 2 to 3 weeks. The meat coupons are there.


There is also a forum that you can go to where the posters list all kinds of deals.

 

[kmchar1]

It seems as though this thread is causing a lot of controversy. Whatever. Im not perfect. I like reading these posts because it inspires me and gives me better ideas. We certainly don't eat as healthy as we should...but by reading these posts, I've gotten some great ideas.

Breakfast:
DH: free at work
Me: water, oatmeal (on clearance), apple - .50
DS (6 yrs old): milk, 2 cups of cereal (on clearance), banana- 1.00
*total: 1.50

Snack:
Me: baby carrots (1/4 of bag or so) .25
DS: Baby carrots (1/4 of bag or so) and fat free ranch to dip .50
*total: .75

Lunch:
DH: free at work
Me and DS: Homemade pizza with fresh tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms and mozz cheese. We ate 3/4 of the pizza, so it cost maybe $2.00 and ice water to drink
*total: 2.00

Snack:
All 3 of us had those fun cheap popsicles: .30
*total: .30

Dinner will be for all 3 of us:
Bag of frozen mixed veggies with a splash of olive oil and parm cheese: 2.00
2 steaks bought at Target using coupons/sale: .50!!! (DS and I will share a steak since they are big)
Baked Potato for DS with a pat of butter: .25
Clementines for dessert: .75
Ice water to drink
*total: 3.50

Snack later tonight (family game night):
2 Bags of popcorn (DH will eat one himself): .50
Can of soda for DH: .25 (walmart brand)
*total: .75

Grand total: $8.90

I think it's semi-healthy. Better than what I had been feeding my family just a year or so ago (not enough fruits or veggies on a daily basis but I'm working on it! It takes a lot of work to get kids to come around!). DS gets as much fruit and veggies as he'd like and if he wants more to eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner, I would never deny him because I'm counting the cost.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Sunday
B Pancakes and syrup 45 cents
Milk 60 cents
=105

L. and dinner combo
Summer squash 173
Corn on cob 2$
Hamburgers 263 (93 % lean)
4 buns 30 cents
Juicy juice 1$
Mac and cheese from a box 25 cents
791

Sn. For the day
Fresh strawberry’s picked 250
Oatmeal 40 cents
Milk 60 cents
Popcorn 25
= 375

12.71 for the day and oldest dd was away

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Sorry, I was out all day and didn't get to reply sooner - but yes, there's protein in the peanut butter, almond butter, beans in the soup, cheese in the sandwich and in the tofu in the smoothies. Really it's very easy to get plenty of protein without eating meat!

Teresa