Tell me about your cheap budget friendly meals Please..

[Katy Belle]

I made a big pot of chicken noodle soup tonight! Loosely using this recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-chicken-noodle-soup/detail.aspx

I found chicken breasts and thighs, bone in, skin on, on sale. I roasted all of that , shredded meat. Made broth with bones, skin, scraps.

I used some of the meat and all of the broth for the soup. My men all loved the soup.

 

[LJSquishy]

Quiche DH won't even eat an omelet or scrambled eggs with cheese or anything on them but salt an pepper. Eggs are 3.00 a dozen here anyway.

Believe me nothing goes to waste here. Costco an Sams is a good 30 miles away. Publix is our closest, sometimes Winn Dixie has some decent sales it's 3 miles away.

It seems as though you're just making excuses as to why you can't save on groceries. It doesn't matter which grocery store you shop at...you could shop at Whole Foods and still save money if you make everything from scratch. Even little adjustments such as buying dried beans in the bulk section and soaking them yourself vs buying canned beans makes a considerable difference when you do lots of those little things.

$3 for a dozen eggs is cheap to me. I buy pastured organic eggs and pay about $6.50/dozen when I have to buy them from the local organic market. When my husband's coworker has eggs to give us from her own chickens we still pay $4/dozen. Even with my super expensive $6.50/dozen eggs, it's still way cheaper than the price of essentially any meat so maybe try looking at it that way.

Whatever entree you're making, cut the amount of meat in half and add in a lot of extra veggies. I frequently use less ground meat and substitute with finely chopped mushrooms, although I don't find it much of a money saver since organic mushrooms are around $6.50/lb. I suppose conventionally grown mushrooms are cheaper than conventionally grown ground meat, though, so you may see a larger savings than I do.

We don't eat pasta aside from maybe once every 3 months or so but pasta is dirt cheap...maybe that would work for you. Homemade soup (made from your own chicken, beef, or vegetable stock) is always inexpensive...potatoes are cheap...rice...not that I recommend large amounts of any of those, but I'm trying to be helpful.

 

[Callie]

I like to make Chicken Fajitas.

Chicken Breasts are usually very cheap.
Green Peppers I can find 2/$1
Onions less than a dollar a pound

Add in some sale Sour Cream and Shells. It saves well in the fridge.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Another cheap meal (especially one where you don't have to limit yourself too much like with my pasta and soup suggestions for follow-on bacon meals...Grilled Kabobs.

Get chicken breast (or ham chunks, or beef chunks, or a turkey breast off the bone, etc), the weekly cheap veggies (onion, green pepper, cherry tomato, yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms, whatever) and a diabetic friendly marinade (even if it's as simple as olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper) and just grill it indoors or out - as long as you keep the kabob at 3-4 veggies per slice of meat, you will keep it inexpensive. If you have veggies that will take longer than the meat, do those on a separate kabob and combine at the end...you can serve over a mushroom barley risotto...

Or even better, you can reverse the meal and make a chicken, mushroom, and barley risotto the 1st day (w/ 1/2 lb of chicken) and then take the extra 1/2 lb of chicken and make kabobs with any extra mushrooms, onions (from the 1st recipe), and other loose veggies in your fridge and serve with any extra risotto made into risotto balls...

 

[Marionnette]

I'm only feeding 2 people here we are retired. With food prices soaring higher an higher like everyone else our food budget keeps going higher an higher.

We are already only buying what is on sale using coupons etc usually we spend less than we save at the grocery store.

I have cut down our meat in casseroles from a pound to 3/4ths a pound to save a little bit an stretch or meat a little further we never miss the 1/4th of pound.

Only time DH will go meatless is Fridays during lent. We eat simple tacos is about as fancy as we get DH is not eating anything he can't pronounce very basic meat an taters man with a dinner salad an he is good to go.

I do have to watch my carb intake due to diabetis.

Tell me about you cheapest meals give me some new recipes an ideas.

TIA

Yeah lots of leftovers here too most of our leftovers taste better than the 1st go round.

DH will not eat whole chicken no matter how it is cooked he hates the bones an even if I debone it for him still not eating it esp if veggies has been cooked with it. I used to be able to get by with this once in awhile when he worked but now that he home all the time NO WAY his nose in kitchen to much.

To me chicken is expensive now but then I can remember my daddy bring home 50 lbs of whole chickens at 29 cents a lb he worked in chicken factory at the time could really get good deals.

Only dry beans DH will touch is great northern an only 3 or 4 times a year. Those beans are high anymore to us an at least 3.00 for a bit of ham to season with , altho I did find salt pork at the dollar tree for a buck used that last time an didn't salt beans they was fabulous.

Quiche DH won't even eat an omelet or scrambled eggs with cheese or anything on them but salt an pepper. Eggs are 3.00 a dozen here anyway.

Believe me nothing goes to waste here. Costco an Sams is a good 30 miles away. Publix is our closest, sometimes Winn Dixie has some decent sales it's 3 miles away.

I think that you're going to have a hard time cutting down on your grocery bill. Between what you've written in these three posts, it doesn't sound as if you are open to the cost-saving options that a lot of people are willing to take in order to reduce their food budget. I would be hard-pressed to find budget recipes that do not include beans & rice or eggs as the main protein source, while satisfying your other dietary restrictions and preferences.

Perhaps you could look at other places where you could cut your overall budget in order to absorb the impact from the rising cost of food? Serving budget recipes to a man who won't eat them is not going to save you any money in the long run.

 

[SplashMo]

Perhaps:

6 eggs a day for breakfast for two: $1.50

Lunch salad for two (use the 1/4 meat saved out of dinner): ?? Not much

Dinner has meat and potatoes or noodles or rice and a veggie. Perhaps you eat less of the starches and more of the veggies and vice versa for DH.

A scoop of ice cream for desert.

Drink water or iced or hot tea. No pop, etc... Beverages can be a big expense and are mostly not as healthy as water...

 

[danygirl]

I don't understand the can't eat that because of diabetes -most of the suggestions here are non processed and feature lean protein. As a diabetic you still need to eat veg and fruit but stay within your carb limits per meal. So aside from rice and beans. Or pasta meals most things here apply

 

[pls5286]

There is a store about 20 miles from here that has wonderful prices on meat. Once or twice a month we go there and stock up on meat...usually $150 or so on meat and that usually lasts us pretty close to a month. We buy the biggest packs of meat they have, pick up some freezer bags and come home and sort it into meal size bags. Out of 2 big packs of pork chops that run about $7 each, we can get at least 4 meals for 3 and 1 or 2 meals for 2 (we do meals for 3 and 2 because DD goes to church on Wed nights and is gone to her dad's every other weekend). Very little meat is wasted here.

 

[Darcy03231]

Cook big meals to get two or three meals out of them: Ham, Turkey, Roasts.

First night: Meal

2nd night: Leftovers

3rd night: Something made out of what's left. Ham or turkey croquettes, open faced sandwiches, tacos, fajitas, etc.

Make soup out of any remaining little bits left over. I keep a baggie in the freezer that I put all of the little bits of things that are leftover. If your husband isn't a veggie eater puree them and us the puree as a soup base. I even puree leftover salad, lettuce, etc. to use a soup base. Many nights, especially in the winter we'll have grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with homemade soup. DH is a meat and potatoes guy and he doesn't realize how many pureed veggies are in his soup!

 

[justmeinflorida]

Buy in bulk and use coupons...that's what we do. We are members of both BJ's Wholesale Club and Sam's Club both have their advantages.

Sam's Plus membership gives us 2% back on every dollar we spend. They have in store coupons, large limits between 2-99 per customer and you can order a lot of items (yes groceries too) online and pick up and pay for in store.

BJ's membership has in store coupons but they allow you to stack manufacturers coupons with theirs (love this).

We have the advantage of buying in bulk so we don't have to shop as much. Plus at both stores I find their meat prices to be very good compared to even BOGO at the regular grocery stores.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

I have trained myself to look at the price per serving for meat and vegetables instead of the price per pound. Granted the price per pound influences the price per serving. We usually eat 1/4-1/3 pound of hamburger for a burger but much less than that for a casserole. Eggs may be expensive per dozen but 2-3 eggs makes a protein serving. Hope this helps.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I love to cook in larger batches and freeze. Having things on hand that are easy and healthy makes us less likely to eat junk or eat out. Lately it has been soups, and chili and casseroles.

just today I made a huge pot of soup. We ate dinner (with corn bread), will have lunch tomorrow, and I made two containers for DH lunch and froze a huge container for later.

It had -
pack of reduced price beef-5.00 -
often I have leftover meat.
Two huge cans of tomato (B1G1 plus coupon)-.50
left over green beans, lima beans and corn
1/2 box of pasta -.50
couple potato from my 2.98 for 10# bag
couple of carrots from my .39lb bag
spices etc on hand.
It was really yummy and super cheap

Tomorrow i will make several casseroles to divide and freeze.

 

[tina.tina]

Make soup out of any remaining little bits left over. I keep a baggie in the freezer that I put all of the little bits of things that are leftover. If your husband isn't a veggie eater puree them and us the puree as a soup base. I even puree leftover salad, lettuce, etc. to use a soup base. Many nights, especially in the winter we'll have grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with homemade soup. DH is a meat and potatoes guy and he doesn't realize how many pureed veggies are in his soup!

This is a great idea that I've never thought of. Thank you!

 

[justmeinflorida]

I forgot to also mention that we raise our own chickens and grow our own veggies. Potatoes grow really well in 5gl buckets (sourced free from the deli dept.). Buy a bag of potatoes (yes you CAN grow them from store bought), cut in half, put in 3-6in of compost or cow manure, put cut side down/skin up. When leaves start showing about 6-8in put more compost/manure but leave top leaves above ground....rinse and repeat. Fill to top of bucket and leave them alone, just make sure the dirt stays damp...not wet. In 90 days you'll have a bucket of potatoes.

Our chickens get a little egg layer in the morning and at night. They forage the backyard during the day and get free (no longer good for sale) veggies and fruit from the farmers market, also garden and table scraps, bread, etc. Their eggs are delicious, the yokes are a deep orange...always looks like I put cheddar cheese in the scrambled eggs...LOL!

We plan on raising two pigs to market this coming spring...this will be our first time but I've been researching this for over a year and I think/hope it will turn out good. Feeding them like we feed the chickens, minus egg layer of course , giving some milk and boiled (in shell) chicken eggs...we could bring our price for pork down to about $2.00 per pound.

And it's ALL organic

 

[lauradis]

Why are you trying to cut down your food budget????

When we have a budget issue, we discuss it and brain storm on how to solve it best for us.

Anyways,

Saving money on food is simple, its all about a plan, eat less, make 80 plus percent home made, try not to buy from the middle of the store.

Find a cheaper place to shop, Local grocery store Giant eagle is a lot higher then walmart. Walmarts is a lot higher then Aldi. Know your prices.

Cutting out one bag of chips and 12 pack of soda in a week is almost $500 a year.

Breakfast for dinner. Mickey Waffles, 1/2 lb of bacon, 2 eggs for hubby.

Rice, cream mushroom soup and hamburger or deer meat.

When hamburger is on sale or I can get cheap half cow. We package them into 1 lb packages. Plus we can get whole pig little cheaper then store sale prices. again packaged from the processor the way I want it.

Barter I know a farmer that likes to take his wife out twice a month, He sells these awesome free range chickens for about $10-15 a chicken. Which I buy anyways, well his wife asked if I would mind her son spending the night at my house two nights a month. I said sure Ill take 2 chickens every time he spends the night. lol I get awesome chicken and its fun to play with their son. win win.

 

[staceyeileen]

This chili feeds both me and DH for 2 nights. We get the canned goods from Aldi, so it's really cheap. To make it even cheaper you could use ground turkey, I'd imagine with all the spices you wouldn't even tell the difference. We serve with shredded cheese and/or a dollop of sour cream on top, and maybe some corn bread (homemade or something like Jiffy mix)

1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 lb ground chuck beef
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (10.75-oz) can condensed tomato soup
1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes/sweet onions (undrained)
1 (10-oz) can milder diced tomatoes/green chiles (undrained)
1 (16-oz) can chili beans in mild sauce (undrained)
1 (15-oz) can black beans (drained)

Steps
1. Preheat large saucepan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Place beef, chili powder, seasoned salt, pepper, and one-half of the onions in pan; cook 4–5 minutes, stirring to crumble meat, or until meat is brown and no pink remains.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients, including remaining one-half onions. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 10 more minutes to blend flavors. Serve.

 

[js]

I do a lot of carryover meals. get a big roast, cook all day. use some for dinner that night with potatoes/veg. Next day, take some of the leftovers and have bbq beef sandwiches with it. Last day, take remaining meat/veg and turn it into soup. I do the same with chicken, pork, and turkey. We eat a lot of beans and lentils in my house. Lentils are a great meat substitute. Cut your meat for tacos and such down to 1/2# and throw a cup of cooked lentils in with it...stretches it like crazy, taste and texture remain. We turn a lot of leftovers into omlettes and pizzas. Leftover chicken, veggies and beans from tacos? Works great in an omlette. Breakfast for dinner is always cheap. Pancakes, eggs, some fruit. Make a big pot of soup and eat from that for a week... We eat very healthy in my house, for very cheap (I budget $400 a month for a family of 4..). That is breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all 4 of us, 7 days a week.

Hi. Although not the OP, thanks for your tips. I have to ask though how old are your children? I have a family of four but most of the year my dd is in college. My dh likes to eat and although my ds somewhat watches, he needs a big protein meal. He is very athletic, exercises and is a pitcher playing very competitive baseball. He is 16 and 6'4". My dh does the food shopping and not sure I could keep him at this budget.

I mostly eat fresh fruit, salad and nothing really processed and loads of yogurt and granola with some fish or white meat chicken thrown in to the mix. I am watching the make your own yogurt thread so maybe that may help.

Thanks.

 

[Minnesota!]

Hi. Although not the OP, thanks for your tips. I have to ask though how old are your children? I have a family of four but most of the year my dd is in college. My dh likes to eat and although my ds somewhat watches, he needs a big protein meal. He is very athletic, exercises and is a pitcher playing very competitive baseball. He is 16 and 6'4". My dh does the food shopping and not sure I could keep him at this budget.

I mostly eat fresh fruit, salad and nothing really processed and loads of yogurt and granola with some fish or white meat chicken thrown in to the mix. I am watching the make your own yogurt thread so maybe that may help.

Thanks.

My kids are 10 and 8 and huge eaters - both athletic boys. We do very little canned\boxed\processed. Most shopping is done at Costco. Fill in with stuff from target.. Red Card and cartwheel.

Husband takes leftovers for lunches, kids get wrap or salad, a veg or fruit, and a snack mix I make.

Breakfast is smoothies, hard boiled eggs, and toast. I have oatmeal with almond milk and blueberries. Husband typically has eggs and toast.

We do a monthly meal plan. Tonight, for instance, was Swedish meatballs with.potatoes and Dilled peas.