Who can make the cheapest meal for a family of 4 or 5 people?

[jsmla]

Made my potato/sausage/peppers skillet last night. Cost around $6 and fed four (two of them large hungry men!) with plenty of leftovers. The sausage I used is locally produced and kind of pricey. If I had used sausage bought on sale with a coupon it would have been even cheaper.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Just looking for cheap meal ideas. Is anybody else feeling the economic down turn. Funny thing the stores never drop their prices when things are bad.

I'm feeling the September cash flow pinch. This time of year is worse than Christmas with the back to school stuff, sports registrations, new equipment for said sports cause your kids had a growth spurt. Ugh. Then you get past that and panic when you realize it's only a couple more months til Christmas.! Lol.
Was already planning to hunker down and plan some cheaper meals so will definitely use some ideas in this thread you started. Thanks!

 

[LovesTimone]

Meal planning, Searching your local ad's, seasonal produce, coupons, Warehouse membership, stock-up your pantry/spices, rethinking non-food items, 2 for 1 meals, Freezer meals. Basically saving money and stretching your budget is hard work. But once you get started it becomes easier.

For me all these things go together, and one lends itself to another so that you can feed your family health and yummy options that they will eat. Because if they won eat it... its a waste.

For instance - yesterday I made 150 small meatballs. With ground chuck that I bought on sale in a family pack, It was around 10.00 dollars. I did a basic seasoning, salt, pepper, some Worcestershire sauce, egg, bread crumbs - mix of Italian and plain panko. With about 30 of them I made a red sauce for dinner with corkscrew pasta, the leftover will be for baked pasta later in the week( 2 for 1) The rest will go into the freezer ( freezer meals) in different size packages for, meatball subs, pizza toppings, or another batch of red sauce. So out of the one package of hamburger I got about 6 to 7 meals. Everything else I had on hand.

On Saturday we are having company so I am going to cook 2 Boston butts, using one for the meal and the other for shredded pork to freeze for pork sandwiches, tacos, burritos, or whatever. They were on sale and the total for both was 15.00 dollars. So I will get a lot of options for later on.

Local Farmers markets - I love going, but do go with a plan in mind, what can you make and use up before it goes bad.

Warehouse shopping - Here you can get some great items to stock up on, but knowing what is on sale at your local market can help you make the best price choice. Paper products and cleaning supplies are normally a good value, as normally they are a larger size, bundled together, much less in cost. Diapers, and wipes are much cheaper here.

Coupons - most stores have in store coupons, and will let you use a manufactures coupon with the store's so sorta double dipping.

 

[kymom99]

Meal planning, Searching your local ad's, seasonal produce, coupons, Warehouse membership, stock-up your pantry/spices, rethinking non-food items, 2 for 1 meals, Freezer meals. Basically saving money and stretching your budget is hard work. But once you get started it becomes easier.

For me all these things go together, and one lends itself to another so that you can feed your family health and yummy options that they will eat. Because if they won eat it... its a waste.

For instance - yesterday I made 150 small meatballs. With ground chuck that I bought on sale in a family pack, It was around 10.00 dollars. I did a basic seasoning, salt, pepper, some Worcestershire sauce, egg, bread crumbs - mix of Italian and plain panko. With about 30 of them I made a red sauce for dinner with corkscrew pasta, the leftover will be for baked pasta later in the week( 2 for 1) The rest will go into the freezer ( freezer meals) in different size packages for, meatball subs, pizza toppings, or another batch of red sauce. So out of the one package of hamburger I got about 6 to 7 meals. Everything else I had on hand.

On Saturday we are having company so I am going to cook 2 Boston butts, using one for the meal and the other for shredded pork to freeze for pork sandwiches, tacos, burritos, or whatever. They were on sale and the total for both was 15.00 dollars. So I will get a lot of options for later on.

Local Farmers markets - I love going, but do go with a plan in mind, what can you make and use up before it goes bad.

Warehouse shopping - Here you can get some great items to stock up on, but knowing what is on sale at your local market can help you make the best price choice. Paper products and cleaning supplies are normally a good value, as normally they are a larger size, bundled together, much less in cost. Diapers, and wipes are much cheaper here.

Coupons - most stores have in store coupons, and will let you use a manufactures coupon with the store's so sorta double dipping.

I made meatballs using a box of stove top with lb. of ground chuck and a lb of ground Italian sausage. I froze them in several bags to pull out as needed. They were pretty good!

 

[LovesTimone]

I made meatballs using a box of stove top with lb. of ground chuck and a lb of ground Italian sausage. I froze them in several bags to pull out as needed. They were pretty good!

Sound interesting... with 2 pounds of meat was 1 box of stove top enough to get evenly through the meat?

 

[kymom99]

Sound interesting... with 2 pounds of meat was 1 box of stove top enough to get evenly through the meat?

yes it came out pretty good. I think there might have been an egg and some water in there too. Check Pinterest or google it.

I just looked. It says 1 1/4 cups water and 2 eggs. It also says 2 lb ground beef but I used half beef half sausage

 

[mom+3girls]

Dollar Tree Meal, 1lb dried beans soaked over night $1.00, drained and rinsed, the add 1 package of Spicy Sausages $1.00 find them with the hotdogs in the refrigerator section , add in some Cajun spice, place in crock pot cook on low for 6 hour or until beans are tender, server over rice. You will have enough for probably 2 meals for 5 people or lunches the next day.

 

[mom+3girls]

I haven't done this one for a while, but sometimes you can get chicken legs for very cheap at a small grocery store here in VA, I think you get like 12 legs for less than 3 bucks, I take them home through them in the crock pot with some salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and let them cook, make some mashed potatoes and some green beans and for less than 5 or 6 bucks you got a really good meal

 

[crisi]

Yesterday I went to the store and got three pounds of chuck roast for $15. And as part of the "meal deal" a bag each of rolls, potatoes, carrots and onions for free. Some of the potatoes, carrots and onions went into yesterdays soup. The roast will make three meals - I'm thinking shepards pie (using the potatoes, onions and carrots), tacos (adding spice, tortillas, rice, salsa and an avacado), and bbq beef ("free" rolls, barbeque sauce, pickles, corn on the cob).

I also got three pounds of ham for $9. That I'll turn into ham (duh), bean soup, and and egg bake.

The trick with buying a big piece o' meat is to make it not the same thing day after day.

 

[robinb]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but www.flipp.com has searchable flyers for many grocery stores. Only one of my local ones is missing.

 

[kymom99]

Yesterday I went to the store and got three pounds of chuck roast for $15. And as part of the "meal deal" a bag each of rolls, potatoes, carrots and onions for free. Some of the potatoes, carrots and onions went into yesterdays soup. The roast will make three meals - I'm thinking shepards pie (using the potatoes, onions and carrots), tacos (adding spice, tortillas, rice, salsa and an avacado), and bbq beef ("free" rolls, barbeque sauce, pickles, corn on the cob).

I also got three pounds of ham for $9. That I'll turn into ham (duh), bean soup, and and egg bake.

The trick with buying a big piece o' meat is to make it not the same thing day after day.

Really the key, as you illustrate here, is to set time aside to cook real, basic food. You can find a good sale on some meat and add potatoes which are really cheap and a vegetable. That's what I grew up on. Meat and taters. It doesn't have to be a fancy cut of meat. There are plenty of ways to make it taste good on a budget. And don't throw out the left overs. They can be eaten in another form.

 

[xlxo]

Costco hot dog combo is a great budget meal idea.

I pull by the grocery store in the late evenings cruising for 30% discounts for items running out of "Best before" times.

 

[Dakota731]

I was actually not aware that we are in the midst of a economic downturn?

When one out of seven people in the US are on food stamps, I'd call that an economic downturn! Two of the biggest employers in our area are laying off hundreds of people currently and two of my children had to move to other states to get work. I guess it depends where you live - if you are in the DC area where there are tons of government jobs, you are safe. But if you live in a manufacturing area, people are hurting. With the cost of health care and everything else rising but the salaries, people don't have money for big ticket items any more which causes layoffs.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I am Puerto Rican so our staple dinner is rice and beans or root vegetables. It ends up being very economical even though it's just our culture. We don't do the same rice and beans. There are so many variations. We usually serve them with some type of meat. Chicken thighs or legs are cheap. A green salad made with iceberg lettuce, tomato and some corn with an oil and vinegar dressing. Avocado, sweet plantains, green plantains - you can get all of these for a $1 at a Spanish store. We eat rice and/or beans about 3 times a week in our house. Growing up we ate it everyday. Maybe once a week my mom would make something different. That was a treat.

 

[kymom99]

I am Puerto Rican so our staple dinner is rice and beans or root vegetables. It ends up being very economical even though it's just our culture. We don't do the same rice and beans. There are so many variations. We usually serve them with some type of meat. Chicken thighs or legs are cheap. A green salad made with iceberg lettuce, tomato and some corn with an oil and vinegar dressing. Avocado, sweet plantains, green plantains - you can get all of these for a $1 at a Spanish store. We eat rice and/or beans about 3 times a week in our house. Growing up we ate it everyday. Maybe once a week my mom would make something different. That was a treat.

Not really any different than my family eating potatoes in some form nearly every day. That's what we had plenty of around here. I wish I could make beans and rice taste better.

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, I promised a beef meal and the fam wanted chili...this week at Aldi's is probably the week to do it cheap and easy...
Ground Beef 80/20 $1.99/lb (use 1lb if you want no leftovers - more if you do - I had this from another shop for same price, so I'm using the other shop's b/c I don't love Aldi meat and b/c I had 1/2 of last night's raw ground beef pack that I used to make a pasta dish to still use)
1 green pepper $.50
2 small onions $.50
McCormick squeezable chili sauce skillet mix $1.49
Diced Tomatoes can $.49
Black Beans can (or Kidney Beans) $.49
1 Beer Bottle (can skip this, or use beef broth, but my hubby brews beer, so I use this up for him when he has too much - listing Aldi price for 1 of 6) $1.00
Salt/pepper/garlic/olive oil/extra chili powder for a little more heat $.25

Total to Feed Family of 4 $6.71

I made this, as is, above tonight...it smells pretty good and should get better over the next hour or so...

Optional Extras
Diced Avocado Topping $.89
Cheddar Cheese Topping (if desired) $.44 (1/4 of bag)
Sour Cream Topping $.32 (1/4 of tub)
Tortilla Chips (if desired) $.75 (using 1/2 of Aldi's tortilla chips)

You could pick any of these to come in about $7.50 (we are using cheese, but I did think about the avocados, but they were too hard to use today, so I had to pass on them at the store)...

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Tortilla shells make good pizza crusts in a pinch.

My daughters do this all the time for lunch.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Eating cheap and healthy is my favorite! I don't often use recipes for our usual dinners, more of a method. We eat many vegetarian meals, so much better for you! Add two in per week if you can. Look up recipes for bean and rice nacho dip, vegetarian minestrone, baked potatoes with broccoli and cheddar sauce and one pot fettuccine Alfredo. Pairing these meals with a simple salad, rolls or frozen roasted broccoli are all favorites of ours.

 

[MataHari22]

• CONGEE
• 1 cup uncooked jasmine rice $0.50
• 2 cloves garlic $0.15
• 1-2 inches fresh ginger $0.10
• 3 whole green onions $0.25
• 6 bone-in chicken thigh pieces $3.00
• 7 cups water $0.00*
• ½ Tbsp salt (or to taste) $0.05

TOPPINGS
To add when serving.

• 3 green onions, sliced $0.25
• ¼ bunch cilantro chopped (optional) $0.25
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce $0.05
• 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil $0.35

Cook in crockpot on high for 4-5 hours. I take out the whole scallions and pieces of ginger before serving. Garnish with the toppings.

* I like my congee on the thicker side. You can add more water if you like. How much water you use will also depend on how hot your crockpot cooks and how much, if any evaporation there is, how much liquid the chicken throws off.

Serves 4-6
Total $4.95
$1.24 - $ 0.83 per serving

 

[neatokimmo]

I thought of another one. Aldi always has different canned beans pretty cheap. A lot of times the pre seasoned ones will be clearanced out. I got Cajun navy beans, chili kidney beans, and seasoned black eye peas (jumping something?) for .49 or .59 a can.

Cook a pound of ground beef, add these three cans. I added extra chili powder and it made a pretty good chili. It was enough for dinner and one lunch.