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

[Plantlady]

dd 10 HATES MEAT.. so I am trying to make something she would like it is trial and error.. I will let you know!

Does she like the Boca Burger Crumbles? We buy a box (for 2.50), then add them to refried beans for our taco "meat". I can usually make one box last for two meals, when using it for casserole type meals. it adds a bit more bulk to our beans, so we like it.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Does she like the Boca Burger Crumbles? We buy a box (for 2.50), then add them to refried beans for our taco "meat". I can usually make one box last for two meals, when using it for casserole type meals. it adds a bit more bulk to our beans, so we like it.

If it is made with soy she will not eat it,because that grosses her out to ( she will read the box to). It is very hard to get her to eat a meal with out picking through everything and complaning if it has " an onion or I hate meat"... She loves cheese and eggs type of meals, however dh and the rest of the family can get sick of it. Also lots of cheese is not good for my other child (to much dairy food and alergies can spark up) so it is hard. I will let you know about dinner.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

mommiepoppins, we use refried beans ALL the time in tacos (soft and hard). Sometimes we add ground turkey, sometimes not. We can't use Boca crumbles any more since dd12 was diagnosed with a soy allergy

We call refried beans "gooey beans" here

And I think your taco bake sounds good! Did you crush the taco shells or break them in half to layer?

 

[vickyBaby]

Sauce is fresh and home made i bought the pasta for .88 and the ground turkey for .88 only thing i bought was the tomato paste for .10 a can. and i only use half.

Do you have a garden? Want to share some of your tomatoes? Mine still aren't in yet. Do you use the paste to thicken the sauce after the tomatoes cook down?

 

[Plantlady]

Well, it is probably for the best, not using the soy products. I think some of those packaged fake meat products... if we eat too much of them, it is not good. I have just read that. I try not to use them too often, they are a treat around here.

Good luck with the taco bake!

 

[dawn1967]

If it is made with soy she will not eat it,because that grosses her out to ( she will read the box to). It is very hard to get her to eat a meal with out picking through everything and complaning if it has " an onion or I hate meat"... She loves cheese and eggs type of meals, however dh and the rest of the family can get sick of it. Also lots of cheese is not good for my other child (to much dairy food and alergies can spark up) so it is hard. I will let you know about dinner.

Try if you want the texture of meat Brown or Portabella mushrooms added in the beans haha they won't know. At least my family doesn't if i get to costco's i can get 5lbs of baby portabellas i shred some up and use as meat replacement.

 

[dawn1967]

Do you have a garden? Want to share some of your tomatoes? Mine still aren't in yet. Do you use the paste to thicken the sauce after the tomatoes cook down?

Yes i have a garden. I planted my tomato's in April and they seem to be producing fairly well this year. I use about 3oz of tomato paste to thicken it up especially if the tomato's are really ripe. My family doesn't like soup like sauce. Another thing i use if not paste is parmasan cheese about 1/4 cup will thicken it up nicely. Especially if the tomato's are very sweet gives it some balance.

 

[dawn1967]

mommiepoppins, we use refried beans ALL the time in tacos (soft and hard). Sometimes we add ground turkey, sometimes not. We can't use Boca crumbles any more since dd12 was diagnosed with a soy allergy

We call refried beans "gooey beans" here

And I think your taco bake sounds good! Did you crush the taco shells or break them in half to layer?

Refried Burritos and cheese and salsa burrito's Are wonderful. Maybe because where i live in oregon but refried bean burritos are a staple in some families. Think people get turned off of them because of places like taco bell but trying my friend irma's bean burrito's you will never ever eat taco bell again.

 

[mom2dea0813]

When we make tacos we use a half of a lb of meat and then 1 whole can of refried means and mix them in right after the meat is done . It thinckens the meat and makes it last longer Agian another way to make cheap tacos unless you can find ground beef on a good sale or even ground turkey if your family will eat it .

I honestly thought the dinner sounded good except the lettuce but thats cause I hate hot lettuce . If you put lettuce on the plate and served the taco meal on top then yummy !

Do let us know how it turned out
Sarah

 

[mommiepoppins]

I let the kids add the lettuce to there own taco bake. I hate hot lettuce

They all LOVED it however they had to pick through the salsa for onions and pepper so the next time I make it I told them I would not put salsa in it. I would just layer it with the "meat aka beans" and Cheese they were thrilled with that. I did not use all the shells (I had 2 left over) I could have easly feed dh with this to. It was so filling.. I have a bowl left over. I will eat it tomm.

 

[mom2dea0813]

So glad it turned out good

Our menu today I will post even though I am sure I will get yelled at !
B~
All three kids had ceral and milk Free
I had a bagel (6 for 1.00 ) and cream cheese and strawberry jelly (homemade) .37
OJ will count the whole cost here and count it as free the rest of the week .
.75
Dh had peanut butter and Syrup (YUCK ) but this is something I guess him and his dad has done for yrs . PB was free Syrup maybe .15

L~
Kids had hotdogs (.27 package from target with coupon ) .16 (2 hotdogs each )
Carrotts and Dip .75
Chips .50 (half the bag 1.00 bag from walmart )
water free
Me ~ Left over stir fry with chicken free
DH ~ forgot lunch

S~
4 Peaches (3.00 for 8 .99lb) 1.50
2 pringles packges free (sample freebies)

D~
Ground beef 1.00 (lb on sale and then frozen )
Cream of mushroom soup .50
Canned Green beans .50
Rice .50 (half a package and whole cost me 1.00 )
Rolls (4 packages for 2.00 ) .50
Dh had soda .25
me tea .25
Kids juice free

After dinner S~
Well I am very pregnant and was craving candy but Dh brought home a cake and frosting to make . YUM to top it all off he even made the cake for us !!!!!
2.00
milk free

Dh then had a quarter bag of those same chips .25 and a peach .37 I guess he was hungrey from skipping lunch

Total = 10.30

 

[dawn1967]

mom2dea0813;19938586]so glad it turned out good
Our menu today I will post even though I am sure I will get yelled at !

If there gonna yell ask them to feed your family then otherwise no one has room to complain.

 

[mommiepoppins]

I am not yelling, but I could go for some cake

 

[mom2dea0813]

The cake was yummy ! And I am sure we will have it for about 3 days

Sarah

 

[tinkarooni]

I know exactly what you mean. I have been dealhunting and couponing heavily since 1998 with mycoupons.com . I have also used www.couponmom.com which was way before the grocerygame (as cutouthunger.org when she advocated giving any surplus goodies to foodbanks). I know very well that you can get free or nearly free stuff if you really want to, especially if you can double or triple coupons. I have known people that do this regularly and successfully. Those ladies are amazing!

I don't coupon like this as much because I eat differently, but yes, it is wonderful if you can do it. It doesn't sound like this is what is being done and it wasn't being accentuated.

I was expecting more of this kinda discussion. I think you should definitely post more and tell 'em how it's done.

This is exactly what I said a few pages back. It can be done. In some areas of the country I'm sure it's harder than others. I shop at CVS and make use the ECB program, I did grocerygame for a while until I started doing it myself. So many things can be free or almost free. I am a bit compulsive when it comes to couponing these days but my food bill used to be $600 or $800 per month and all of the above ideas along with some serious gardening cut the last 6 months food bills down drastically. Last month $125. including HBA, paper products and feeding two dogs, two cats and a bunny. I shop to replenish my pantry and freezer. Buy what is on sale in bulk with coupons. I also go to Aldi's (their brand no coupons) for some things we actually like better.

Two adults and two kids 6 and 9.

My point is that if you actually want to do it, you can. It takes some time, something which so many of us are short on. But i personally made the decision to dedicate some time and keep more money. Good Luck!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Today's meals (Wednesday):

Dd7 didn't eat much today---I think she's still tired from the sleepover Monday night. And ds14 didn't eat as much as usual. He's finishing up a stop-motion animated Lego film (called a BrickFilm) to enter into a Lego contest. Deadline is Saturday

Breakfast

just whole wheat toast w/ butter $1.25
orange juice, 1/3 of carton at $2.50, $0.83
coffee, $0.90

Lunch

I have no idea what dh took for lunch He left before I even finished my first cup of coffee.
one whole wheat tortilla, $0.17
corn tortillas, 10, $0.40
leftover grilled chicken breast (about 4oz)
refried beans, $0.50
cheddar cheese, about 4oz between the 4 of us, $0.50 (from major sale)
grapes, $1.50
water
sun tea from yesterday

Dinner

I made up an enchilada recipe using
black beans, cooked from dry, about 1/2 the bag, $0.35
brown rice, 1c uncooked so 2.5-3c cooked (?), $0.10
cheddar cheese, 8 oz, $1.00 (some was sprinkled over the top)
rest of red onion from last week
some garlic powder and chili powder
corn tortillas, 24, $0.96

with a sauce made from
2 cans tomato sauce, $0.32
3 packets ( 2 3oz and 1 4-5 oz) of taco sauce left from various taco meal kits

and
squash, zucchini and yellow crookneck, garden, FREE

Snacks
5 frozen Minute Maid lemonades, $0.63
Cheez-Its, 3 kids and dh, $1.00 (guessing based on what's left in the box)

We're out of milk so the kids just had water all day. I was all set to go out to the store when the clouds opened I'll go tomorrow!

Total for today: $10.41 plus whatever dh packed for lunch (salad?)

 

[Plantlady]

I made up an enchilada recipe using
black beans, cooked from dry, about 1/2 the bag, $0.35
brown rice, 1c uncooked so 2.5-3c cooked (?), $0.10
cheddar cheese, 8 oz, $1.00 (some was sprinkled over the top)
rest of red onion from last week
some garlic powder and chili powder
corn tortillas, 24, $0.96

with a sauce made from
2 cans tomato sauce, $0.32
3 packets ( 2 3oz and 1 4-5 oz) of taco sauce left from various taco meal kits

This sounds good! I love enchiladas. I have never considered putting rice in them. I do serve taco rice (made out of brown rice) on the side. But, it would be quite tasty inside. And I just *love* black beans. mmm. good just thinking about it.

 

[neatokimmo]

I'm trying to catch up on this thread Where do you find eggs so cheap? They have doubled in price in this area, tonight I paid $2.50 for 18 of them, just normal everyday eggs and that was the cheap price.

I don't use mayo in my tuna, and milk is made with powdered milk and water since i'm the only one who has milk in my cereal kids won't touch it. Bread crumbs would be free to me since i make a loaf of multi grain bread for .25 cent.
if i'm taking 4 pieces and putting them in the food processer to make breadcrumbs it would be free. Eggs i get 5 doz for 4.00 so what's that divide 60 into 4.00 ketcup it cost me 1.00 at the dollar store so what's that .10 maybe less if i used it not sure were not ketcup people. We use salsa in our meatloaf and i make that fresh.

This is how i figure out my cost also I make everything except my hamburger hot dog buns and lasagna pasta everything is pretty much grown in my garden and home made. If we want to eat it we grow it or make it. If my husband wants cookies and chips he can have them at work or buy them with his weekly allowance. The kids can have chips and stuff if they buy it them selves with there allowance and they figured out it's just not worth it.
So only time we have junk food is camping, and if any left over we use it until it's gone.
After reading FDA.Org on all the recall foods i don't think i want to eat anything processed again.

 

[neatokimmo]

Ok I made it to the end!

mommiepoppins - will your daughter "dip" stuff? You can take 2 cans of chick peas, rice, ground turkey, corn & 2 packs of taco seasoning, cook it all up then whirl it around in a food processor and get a dip like consistency. You can make bean burritos or use chips to scoop it up. The meat is hidden

 

[dawn1967]

neatokimmo;19943907]I'm trying to catch up on this thread Where do you find eggs so cheap? They have doubled in price in this area, tonight I paid $2.50 for 18 of them, just normal everyday eggs and that was the cheap price.

Look for local farms they sell them real cheap compare to grocery stores. Buy them 5 doz at a time and they are much cheaper and I only have to buy eggs twice a month instead of 4 or 6 times a month.