How to eat without spending a penny?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
How to eat without spending a penny?
12
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 5:49pm

Hey all,

I just balanced our checkbook and realized that, once again, there is too much month for my grocery budget. I need to make it to Thursday for payday. Can ya'll help me plan some yummy meals?

I have canned tomatoes, tons of spaghetti pasta as well as several jars of pasta sauce (but we'd go crazy having spaghetti every night), some rabbit meat in the freezer (cooks like chicken, so chicken recipes will work for that), carrots, apples, flour and bulghur wheat (but no rice or grits), various dried beans, some frozen bacon and frozen sausage, frozen pepperoni, cheese (mostly mozzarella), butter, oats, sugar, one can of chick peas, and probably other stuff I'm not thinking of. Very little bread, but plenty of flour (could make some flat bread? Something without yeast, maybe?).

I need a diverse menu to last the next few days, so we won't feel so deprived we throw up our hands and go get take-out even though we have no money. I would LOVE ya'll's recipes based on these basic ingredients. If the recipes include a few other things, include them anyway--maybe I have what I need, maybe I can substitute. I also have a full stock of herbs and spices.

Thank you all SO much in advance. This will help us get through the rest of the month without adding to our debt or stealing from our savings.

Blessings,

Heather

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2005
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 6:16pm
You could probably do "breakfast" for dinner!

 

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Avatar for 2locachicas
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 6:23pm

what about some bean soup in the crockpot with seaoning & a little bacon for flavor?
You could do rabbit & carrots
How about pizza pasta? Pepperoni w/ pasta & sauce then throw it in the oven on 350 witha bunch of mozz mixed in and sprinkled over the top til the cheese browns.
Do you have any cream soups? I love chicken with cream soup over it baked in the oven.
With the chickpeas...you could make falafels or make baked chickpeas.

I might come up with others....

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2005
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 6:33pm

I don't have any answers for ya, but if you post this same question on the Frugal Living and the Shoestring Budgeting board I bet you will get a TON of great help there!!!


Base on what you said, I bet you can make a pepperoni pizza one night; spaghetti another; pancakes; grilled cheese sandwiches are always easy and cheap.

Lara

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2006
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 7:24pm

Right off the top of my head, chili came to mind...you can use the tomatoes, beans, sausage, carrots, and add some spices. Make a big batch and that will do for lunches (don't know if you need lunches too or not). I second the breakfast idea, for supper sometimes we will do that (and my kids love it). Don't know if you have any dairy stuff or not, but drop biscuits are easy and quick and you can make a double batch, they can go with the chili. Or make a basic rabbit stew (with whatever you have to add) and serve the biscuits with them.

Do you have cornmeal? Cornbread is always a favorite here. Pasta, you can always whip together some baked ziti...cook the pasta (a lot, so you have leftovers) and add sauce, mix with cheese, bake at 350 degrees covered for about 20-25 minutes, remove cover and sprinkle with cheese and seasonings (I use basil and oregano), then put back in uncovered until the cheese melts.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2003
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 8:08pm

I'm a lousy cook & fortunately, I can eat the same thing over and over.

Pumpkin

&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Sun, 03-26-2006 - 11:56am

I'm not very helpful with these kinds of challenges - we're the kind of people who can go for days eating the exact same meals without even noticing. (All of the sudden, it will be: hey, didn't we eat this yesterday?)

What came to mind when I saw your list was: apple crisp (which DH will eat all of at a time, so I make very small batches)
baking powder biscuits (or drop biscuits)
stew (rabbit, carrot, - do you have any potatoes?)
pizza sticks (I make the pizza dough, but roll it out into a rectangle and cut it into small rectangles - sticks! Works well for lunches)

I second the chili vote

If you have potatoes, you can make potato skins with the bacon and some onion or pepper. This is a fun side.

I have a couple of other ideas, but I need to hunt down recipes, as they are a bit odd. I'll try to find my little book and post again tomorrow. (I just have no idea where my Mexican recipe book is...)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 03-26-2006 - 7:08pm

Thanks for the terrific ideas! I think this can get us through Thursday. We're even having guests tomorrow, and I'm gonna make the pasta pizza suggested. I do have corn meal, and some of the other things listed. I also, I forgot to add, have an egg substitute (soy flour) that can be used in baking, though obviously not for quiche or scrambled eggs.

So we'll have the pasta casserole/pizza thingy tomorrow night, then bean soup (great suggestion--I have a perfect recipe for that, too) on Tuesday, then maybe some rabbit stew or breakfast the next night (maybe bacon or sausage biscuits, oatmeal, and pancakes). The next night I can choose something else from your suggestions or eat leftovers (we don't mind leftovers--we just don't like eating the same thing several nights in a row, and for lunches too).

Tonight, sadly, we spent $8. We went and got sandwich bread, and--gasp--hot dogs and buns. We had kind of a weird day with some, a-hem, unexpected news, and although we were good all day (I made muffins this morning, and we had angiera bread--an Indian specialty that looks like a thin pancake--wrapped around spiced lentils for lunch), we just couldn't face cooking tonight. So I have to "find" $8 somewhere in the budget to cover us. But that's the last of it till payday!!

Thanks so much everyone,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 03-26-2006 - 7:09pm

About hummus and pita breads? You could do that with the chickpeas (low fat recipes drop the tahini that's usually recommended) and pita bread recipes don't take yeast. If you can't find one let me know and I have one in a cookbook.

Taleyna

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 03-26-2006 - 7:16pm

Oh, thanks for the reminder about hummus! I have tahini--that's what the chick peas are originally for! I had just forgotten that it was an option. And I didn't know I could make pita bread (I thought it would take yeast), so I'll look for a good recipe. Thanks so much.

Oh, and we like to dip carrots in hummus, too. Maybe we'll do that for lunch tomorrow.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 03-26-2006 - 8:03pm

"fess up-is the a-hem news a new addition to the family?

taleyna

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