Need major budget meals

[NVDisMom]

I am big on using leftovers. I used to hate leftovers and refused to eat them, until I learned how to cook with them.
Example 1: Pork butt (usually under $1/lb) Nite 1: Cooked in crockpot all day with sliced onion, peppers, garlic, brown sugar. Served with potatoes, veggie and bread. Nite 2: Shredded for bbq pulled pork sandwiches. Served with pasta salad and seasonal fruit. Nite 3ork fajitas with the onions and peppers, salsa, guacamole, and shredded lettuce. Served with spanish rice and beans. Nite 4: Pork fried rice.

Eample 2: Whole chicken(again usually under $1/lb) You will probably need two Nite 1: Roasted or BBQ Chicken served with baked potatoes, a veggie, salad and bread. Nite 2: Chicken enchiladas. Pull off all of the good meat and split it into two piles. 1 pile is for the enchiladas. Mix with shredded jack cheese, mexican rice, and beans. Top with green enchilada sauce (my family likes it when I make it creamy with cream of chicken soup). Top with more cheese. Bake until bubbly and browning. Serve with more mexican rice, beans and a salad. Nite 3: Chicken salad sandwiches with pile number two of chicken. Add lots of chopped celery, onions, grapes or cucumber and seasoning. I've stretched this with plain cooked rice or a wild rice mix too when necessary. Serve on really heavy, rich whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, onion. Serve with potato salad or mac salad and maybe some bbq beans. Nite 4: Soup, or chicken and noodles, or chicken and dumplings...the possibilities are endless. Boil the chicken carcasses to make a broth with seasonings, onion, garlic, celery, carrot. Great way to use wilting veggies. Pull the last remnants of meat from carcass, discard veggies and bones. Make soup of your choice. Serve with salad and bread sticks.

You can do this with beef too (italian dishes are great ways to use beef leftovers). Mexican and chinese dishes are great uses for small amounts of meat. So easy to stretch with beans, rice, veggies, and noodles. Chicken will be chow mein, pork will be pot stickers, etc. You see I use a lot of potatoes on nite one and then stretch and fill in with rice, pasta, beans and veggies the other nights. And don't feel like you have to eat all of the "nites" in a row. Make the chicken enchiladas ahead of time and freeze for next week. Same with the soup stock. Pulled pork freezes well too.

 

[D&DDisney]

Just be careful. Some of these meals, while budget, sound terribly unhealthy - mac 'n cheese, Spam, etc.

You say your MIL has health issues so you'll want to keep this in mind. If she doesn't eat healthy she is going to get sick again.
Put more fruits and veggies on the menu and whole grains too.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Casseroles are a great way to stretch food. So are soups. I make a Taco soup that I can usually strech at least 2 meals.

 

[blanq]

I make taco meat stretch by adding a can of drained corn w/peppers and a can of drained black beans to my hamburger sauce mixture.

We eat alot of stuffed baked potatoes in my household. I serve them fruit and it's a fairly filling and balanced meal. I will bake large baked potatoes and stuff them with:

1. chili (I use the homeade turkey variety), light shredded cheese and light sour cream
2. cubed ham, broccoli and shredded swiss cheese
3. taco meat, light shredded cheese, tomatoes and light sour cream

 

[Motherofboys]

We do the plating strategy some nights too, like when I am serving chicken breast and I want to make sure everyone gets a fair portion before my oldest goes back for seconds. I have had to do it too at family parties when I am serving an expensive entree, my older brother is a hog and he doesn't care how much he takes in relation to how much is available and who may not have gotten some yet!

I don't know if you are near a Kroger but they have turkey breasts for 99cents a lb this week, we cooked a 6 lb one yesterday in the crock pot - SO good!! Served with mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and cranberries - the whole meal probably cost about $12 and it fed all of us with plenty of leftovers for another meal

Upside down pizza, lasagna, tuna casserole - all of those are pretty cheap to make and easily feed 8 people. I think for us the biggest budget issue is moving away from the meat focus at meals. Meat should not be the biggest part of your meal and it doesn't even have to be in every meal (GASP from my DS14, blasphemy!! ).

I also like the idea of having several veggies with dinner; fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumber spears, winter squash, etc - whatever is in season and is inexpensive - that is a great way to encourage getting those daily requirements and being budget savvy!

Good luck to you, your in-laws are lucky to have you!

 

[Hannathy]

Lots of pasta, lots of casseroles. If you are making a pasta casserole use 1/2 the ground beef and add more pasta, It still gives it all the flavor and no one will notice it.
Lots of meals that ground beef is the meat. Buy the cheaper and brown it and drain it really well instead of the less fat kind.

Focus on cheaper cuts of meat and cook it longer.

Don't buy meat that isn't on sale. If you had planned on Pork chops but get to the store and they are expensive have a plan b in place.

If they like spam it is good in Baked Beans in place of hot dogs. or cubed in Mac n Cheese. Slice it, cook it and serve it on hamburger buns.

Same with vegetable ans fruit if it isn't on sale or at least reasonable you don't buy it. Use a lot of frozen vegetables and buy when on sale.Same thing with juices. On sale or frozen if not on sale, you have to do the math when buying everything.

 

[amylynne01]

I had to edit to add: avoid serving people whole chicken breasts unless you've made them into cutlets. The sizes they sell are ridiculously oversized. For instance, the quick frozen package ones, I've found, tend to be like 10-14 oz each..even up to 16 oz! But people really shouldn't have more than 4-6 oz of meat. So make that big piece, and it either doesn't all get eaten and is wasted, or people stuff themselves insanely b/c they think they need to clean their plate. I've found that if I make a recipe that's for whole chicken breasts, I can cook it as instructed, but then since I do plating, I will slice it in the kitchen, then fan the slices out on the plate over a starch. I end up using one chicken breast for the both of us! DH still thinks he's getting a lot of chicken, but he's really getting the normal size. And I've saved money. It's funny how much psychology plays into food budgets.

I do this too! For every recipe that calls for chicken breasts, I make cutlets. I now eat one cutlet as opposed to one breast. I typically cook 3 breasts since that's how they're packaged from the store, but it gives us plenty for us for dinner plus a leftover meal for DH for work.

 

[lovesmurfs]

We're a family of 6 so I know all about stretching a grocery budget. One thing I found that helps is to cook a big meal and make another meal out of the leftovers.

Night #1 - Cook a turkey dinner with all the trimmings

Night #2 - Cook a big ham dinner.

Night #3 - Have left over turkey dinner. At this point take the left over turkey/vegetables and make either turkey soup or turkey pot pie.

Night #4 - Grind the left over ham, potates and carrots and have ham croquettes

Night #5 - Make a big pot of spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Have spaghetti & meatballs with salad and garlic bread

Night # 6 - Have turkey soup and sandwiches or turkey pot pie.

Night #7 - Have meatball subs with the leftover meatballs & spaghetti sauce.

I also will do meatless dinners. Homemade macaroni & cheese, vegetable lasagne are two of my family's favorites. We also usually do a soup and sandwich night one night a week.

Don't forget Split Pea soup from your leftover ham bone!!!

Also, save your veggies after your meals in a running Ziploc gallon sized bag in the freezer. Just add your veggies (I also put leftover noodles and rice). It will save the fridge space for the stuff you're waiting to get old enough to throw away -- 2 tablespoons here and there add up!

When the bag is full, use the mixed veggies to make soup -- either with the turkey carcass or ham bone. Soup lasts us at least a couple of meals.

 

[NiftyJ88]

We did black bean & rice burgers a few weeks ago. They were super yummy (and we are meat eaters). Black beans are .59 a can at wegmans and rice is cheap too. It's also very filling and pretty healthy.

 

[disneygirl 17]

Just be careful. Some of these meals, while budget, sound terribly unhealthy - mac 'n cheese, Spam, etc.

You say your MIL has health issues so you'll want to keep this in mind. If she doesn't eat healthy she is going to get sick again.
Put more fruits and veggies on the menu and whole grains too.

I agree you have to be careful...sometimes the cheap stuff is unhealthy.

One thing we do that was mentioned above is make chili however I serve the chili over whole wheat pasta. Adding the pasta is a cheap filler and whole is better then the white pasta.

 

[Virgderon]

If MIL and FIL are in pretty bad financial shape (which it sounds like they are if they are moving in with you ) maybe they can qualify for food stamps to help out? There are some great ideas on this thread, but cash of some kind would be helpful in this situation.

 

[Justsyd2]

Justsyd2, I've never made brisket before. It is something my mom never cooked and my recipes are pretty limited to what she made. I do have more variety than what she taught me but I'm always looking for new ideas. Can you give me some tips on how to cook it?

The easiest way to cook brisket is in the crock pot. You can season with rub, BBQ Sauce, onions, etc, and cook on low 8-10 hours. Another good recipe is to add a can of coke and a bottle of chili sauce - it's delicious.

If you have a Roaster Oven that will work, too. Follow the directions, or for my Family Dinner Briskets (15 people) I cook on 225 for 13 hours for a HUGE brisket.

 

[Kay1]

Is Spam expensive? I don't think I've ever eaten it and have no idea what it costs. If they really want their Spam, maybe you could find ways to serve it in which it's almost a condiment - mixed into soup or a pasta dish. That really works with all meats and is also healthier than a big hunk of meat (or Spam.)

I can save quite a bit on fresh fruits and vegetables by shopping at our local fruit stand. I don't know if that works for you. Otherwise, large bags of store-brand vegetables are a good deal, especially when there's a sale. Large bags of apples and oranges tend to be pretty good bargains.

I noticed Albertsons had chicken thighs on sale for forty-five cents a pound, if you buy a 10-lb. bag. If you could hunt down that sort of thing you could stock your freezer and serve them roasted with a lot of rice and a vegetable.

Good luck to you. I think you are a very kind hearted woman for doing this.

 

[VeganCupcake]

You can make beans & rice with pork chops on the side.

I take 2 big cans of black beans, simmer, add lots of pepper & some salt
then I take 1 of the cans fill it with white rice, dump it in, then fill the can 2xs with water and add that in as well, simmer 20 minutes. Its super cheap. Not everyone likes beans & though...

I soak DH pork chops or chicken in mojo overnight and grill it, then serve with the beans and rice, he loves it

I actually add 1 small jar capers , 1 jar stuffed pimento green olives whole or halved, 1 green bell pepper chopped, 2 cans diced potatoes, 1 yellow onion chopped,3 cloves garlic minced and 1 TB everglades seasoning(saute/lightly brown it all together with EVOO before adding the beans) when I make it for myself, but it can bring the $ up a bit. That's a good meal for me, and my hubby eats that with pork chops. It make a big big pot of food. Also, if everyone drinks a big glass of water before dinner they'd all get fuller faster but I don't know how you could make everyone do that haha!

 

[JOCAmom]

Thank you, thank you everyone!

Yes, they do contribute a little bit of money to the household. But with things being pretty bad for them, we wouldn't dream of asking more than we do.

I do like all the bean recipes that you've all have posted. I make a pretty good chili but never thought of putting it over noodles.

tinkerbelletreasure, could you post the recipe for taco soup?

VeganCupcake, I'm going to have to try that rice & beans recipe. My oldest DD is a pescatarian and I'm always looking for new menu items for her too.

 

[VeganCupcake]

Its really good with the veggies & extras in it, I also sometimes carmelize some onions and put them on top as well. Hope everything works out well for you & your family!

 

[TiffanyK]

I'm not tinkerbelletreasure, but here's how I do Taco Soup. I'm planning to make a big pot of this today and freeze it in 2 portions. I won't even cook it today (except the hamburger), just mix it together and freeze. 1/2 batch fits in my 6qt crockpot and I can just let it cook all day.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Here are a couple recipe blogs I like. I hope they help. Growing up I rememeber eating alot of porcupine balls, chipped beef on toast, spaghetti and cheese, and hash.

http://mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com/

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/