Since DH is picky why don't you give us ideas as to what he WILL eat...so we can go from there.
When we are poor the kids eat pot pies, ramen noodles(add veggies to them), anything with brown rice and sandwiches. You can save a lot on lunch when the DH are gone. Do you have an Aldi's around?
How about breakfast for dinner once a week? That is a super cheap meal.
Let us know about DH...you should be able to make that, your budget. I have less than that left and I feed 59(with allergies).
I'm in a similar boat-but it's 15.00 to last until July 1 so we'll see-I'm going to plan out my meals for the next couple of weeks in this post and then print it off for myself.
Aravis, A little late probably where you are but if maybe there's one this week, is there a farmer's market nearby? You might be able to get some really nice spinach and salad greens and who knows what else.
I would personally look at what's on sale at the stores. Not sure which day your ads change (it's Wednesday here) so you might get some stuff that's on sale this week and then wait for the ad to flip and buy what's on sale next week.
I get a lot of mileage out of a whole chicken. If I roast it, then I can make chili with the leftovers or chicken salad or chicken enchiladas. I don't know how temps are out there right now though. You could crock-pot it.
I also wanted to suggest you ask the meat man at the store what time of day they do their markdowns. Most stores do it fairly consistently and if you can get there when they mark it down, you might be able to get some good deals on stuff that needs to be cooked that day.
On another track, have you ever tried to stock pile loss leaders? Most stores put several items on sale at very low prices each week to entice you into the store. The trick is to stockpile items you often use at those times so that you can wait to buy them again the next time they go that low. Doing some stockpiling would also help you on months like this. Doesn't sound like you have much in your pantry so if you beefed that up a bit each month, it would buy you some breathing room. This would be really gradual so you wouldn't impact your budget but you would eventually get ahead of the curve. If you haven't heard about this, you might also want to search on 'price book' on the net and read how some people track prices over long periods to identify the best possible prices.
Maybe DH would be willing to eat some less appealing things a couple of nights so he can have steak one night? Here are some more things we eat: cereal for dinner(kids think it's a treat) eggs(egg salad, fried, scrambled, french toast) pot pies(50 cent ones. DH gets 2) bbq chicken(boneless skinless chicken in crockpot on low with whole bottle of bbq) pasta hillbilly casseroles(from hillbilly housewife site) Oatmeal lots of brown rice sandwiches Penne past w/sausage & mozz chicken w/cream soup(chicken breast in crockpot w/ 2 small cans of cream soup on low) peanut butter tacos Corn bread & anything;-)
Let me know if you need other ideas for specific ingredients or have qs on what I posted...
I had one other thought this afternoon...do you have a 'day-old bakery' type place? We have a few in our area and they have bread and other stuff. I haven't been in one forever but they used to have pretty good prices. Even if the bread wasn't fresh as a daisy you might be able to make french toast or stuffing out of it.
Also, if you are in an area that has ethnic foods, sometimes they have good prices on things. Like asian stores often have really cheap rice, that sort of thing.
Hi, Aravis---Desparation Dinners? Everyone has yummy recipes so far. Some things we do also:
l) Taco Salad or tacos. 2) Chicken--put Golden Mushroom soup over chicken, a package of onion soup mix, some white cooking wine or chicken broth and bake, top with some parm. cheese 3) For the corn muffin mix---add some creamed corn and regular corn, sour cream, eggs, a little milk,bake--good. 4) Salads---I concur, the farmer's market might be a way to get inexpensive produce. DH goes every week now, and gets fresh strawberries, etc. 5) Vegetarian soups 6) To cut back on sodas, juices, etc., DH has been adding some lemon and orange slices to his water. 7) Ramen flavored noodles
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Since DH is picky why don't you give us ideas as to what he WILL eat...so we can go from there.
When we are poor the kids eat pot pies, ramen noodles(add veggies to them), anything with brown rice and sandwiches. You can save a lot on lunch when the DH are gone. Do you have an Aldi's around?
How about breakfast for dinner once a week? That is a super cheap meal.
Let us know about DH...you should be able to make that, your budget. I have less than that left and I feed 59(with allergies).
Hi Aravis,
I ran across something that might not only help you but lots of us out there who are trying to cut down on our grocery bill.
lvhunnie2005
When I said DH is picky, I meant this:
Thank you for the link - I'll definitely check it out!
DH knows better than to ask for a steak right now!
I'm in a similar boat-but it's 15.00 to last until July 1 so we'll see-I'm going to plan out my meals for the next couple of weeks in this post and then print it off for myself.
Aravis,
A little late probably where you are but if maybe there's one this week, is there a farmer's market nearby? You might be able to get some really nice spinach and salad greens and who knows what else.
I would personally look at what's on sale at the stores. Not sure which day your ads change (it's Wednesday here) so you might get some stuff that's on sale this week and then wait for the ad to flip and buy what's on sale next week.
I get a lot of mileage out of a whole chicken. If I roast it, then I can make chili with the leftovers or chicken salad or chicken enchiladas. I don't know how temps are out there right now though. You could crock-pot it.
I also wanted to suggest you ask the meat man at the store what time of day they do their markdowns. Most stores do it fairly consistently and if you can get there when they mark it down, you might be able to get some good deals on stuff that needs to be cooked that day.
On another track, have you ever tried to stock pile loss leaders? Most stores put several items on sale at very low prices each week to entice you into the store. The trick is to stockpile items you often use at those times so that you can wait to buy them again the next time they go that low. Doing some stockpiling would also help you on months like this. Doesn't sound like you have much in your pantry so if you beefed that up a bit each month, it would buy you some breathing room. This would be really gradual so you wouldn't impact your budget but you would eventually get ahead of the curve. If you haven't heard about this, you might also want to search on 'price book' on the net and read how some people track prices over long periods to identify the best possible prices.
HTH!
Peg
Thank you all for your help so far.
Aravis-
Maybe DH would be willing to eat some less appealing things a couple of nights so he can have steak one night?
Here are some more things we eat:
cereal for dinner(kids think it's a treat)
eggs(egg salad, fried, scrambled, french toast)
pot pies(50 cent ones. DH gets 2)
bbq chicken(boneless skinless chicken in crockpot on low with whole bottle of bbq)
pasta
hillbilly casseroles(from hillbilly housewife site)
Oatmeal
lots of brown rice
sandwiches
Penne past w/sausage & mozz
chicken w/cream soup(chicken breast in crockpot w/ 2 small cans of cream soup on low)
peanut butter tacos
Corn bread & anything;-)
Let me know if you need other ideas for specific ingredients or have qs on what I posted...
I had one other thought this afternoon...do you have a 'day-old bakery' type place? We have a few in our area and they have bread and other stuff. I haven't been in one forever but they used to have pretty good prices. Even if the bread wasn't fresh as a daisy you might be able to make french toast or stuffing out of it.
Also, if you are in an area that has ethnic foods, sometimes they have good prices on things. Like asian stores often have really cheap rice, that sort of thing.
Peg
Hi, Aravis---Desparation Dinners? Everyone has yummy recipes so far. Some things we do also:
l) Taco Salad or tacos.
2) Chicken--put Golden Mushroom soup over chicken, a package of onion soup mix, some white cooking wine or chicken broth and bake, top with some parm. cheese
3) For the corn muffin mix---add some creamed corn and regular corn, sour cream, eggs, a little milk,bake--good.
4) Salads---I concur, the farmer's market might be a way to get inexpensive produce. DH goes every week now, and gets fresh strawberries, etc.
5) Vegetarian soups
6) To cut back on sodas, juices, etc., DH has been adding some lemon and orange slices to his water.
7) Ramen flavored noodles
Whiz.
Pages