Menu planning for family of 5

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
Menu planning for family of 5
7
Fri, 10-24-2008 - 10:04pm

I have a 75 dollar food budget. I have 5 people in my family, 2 are little so they don't eat much. I am trying to put together a menu that is healthy on a slim budget and it's difficult. We are trying to cut back on eating out so this means I have to prepare for every meal. My husband has to have something cold for work. He can't take leftovers because there's nowhere to heat anything up. So I need enough snacks to last me through the week for at least 2 people. I'm thinking of making a huge batch of brownies or something this week for snacks, BUT I'm always the one that ends up eating them all and then gaining 20 pounds. I bake really well unfortunately! Any tricks you use to stop yourself from eating all the goodies and saving them for lunches! Are there any resources out there for big/cheap meals? I do have a crockpot and pretty much all the kitchen gadgets as I usually cook things from scratch. I guess I just need some ideas because I'm always cooking the same things and then we get bored and busy and fall back on takeout. This weeks sales for meat are Chicken roasters for .99 cents a pound and 85% lean beef at 3.99 a pound. I'm also going to inventory my pantry and try to use as much stuff as I can in my menu this week. What I have also done in the past is make a big pot of popcorn every night for snacks the next day. Everyone always loves that. I guess I just have to start thinking outside the cooking box. I've gotten so used to convenience foods.


Abbie

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-1999
Fri, 10-24-2008 - 10:51pm
Have you checked out the Frugal Kitchen message board here? It's great, especially if you go back through the archives. You will get a huge amount of help and input there. If you are going to make the brownies, you should freeze them in snack size portions for your husband's lunch. That would be the only way I wouldn't eat them.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
Fri, 10-24-2008 - 11:42pm

Thanks....I'll go check that out. But you want to know what's even more pathetic about me. I love frozen brownies even better than thawed brownies. I've tried the freezing method before and then they become like yummy chocolate popsicles that I just want to eat up. I guess I'll just have to be more self-disciplined for the sake of saving money!


Abbie

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2007
Sat, 10-25-2008 - 3:11am

These are things we fix all the time


And they are cheap to buy Maybe this will help you.


Home made Bean soup 5 quarts and you can eat it for two meals at least and cornbread pancakes. Kids will love the pancakes


Spaghetti with half package of pepperoni cut in stripes, green peppers, onions, black or green olives cubed tomato, with mozzarella cheese in little cubes Just what you put on a pizza Then put Italian dressing on it. Only takes a couple of table spoons Let it sit in the ice box for a couple of hours before supper. Make a big bowl and you can eat it the next day for lunch or supper because it is cold.


Take junk pork chops You know the ones they put on a bottom and cut the bad parts off and stir fry in small amount of soy sauce and make fried rice. You need to Add a cup of frozen peas onion and a little green pepper and about one carrot chopped up in little pieces and an egg..


One night you can make up salmon patties have green beans and rice that is pretty cheap because one can which is around 2.00 or so will make around 4 to 5 patties

Avatar for meandmypea
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sat, 10-25-2008 - 7:58am
This is what I do on tight grocery weeks Get a whole roasting chicken - I try to look for the ones reduced for quick sale and buy as many as I can (I often find them on Sundays at my store), or go to Aldi. You can make sticky chicken in the crockpot one night and then chicken & dumplings another night. When my twins were toddlers, I could make the chicken stretch to 3 dinners and would do a chicken stir fry night.
Bridget



Bridget
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-24-2008
Mon, 10-27-2008 - 11:27pm

oh geez i don't know if i'll be good at this... food is probably the one place i don't


cut corners because i'm a health food junkie.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 1:12am

This makes *2* meals: buy a 16 oz




iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2004
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 7:35am

Pasta with "homemade" tomato sauce. Fry an onion until it is soft, add a tin of tomatoes (depending on how many you are cooking for), let it simmer for at least 20 minutes, so it thickens, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of chili. You can keep some of the pasta and do a quick pasta salad for your DH, just add cubed ham and cheese and a bit of dressing and whatever veg you have.


Baked potato with butter or sour cream and bacon bits and scallions, it is really filling and very yummie. You can bake an extra potato, dice it, and make a potato salad for your DH's lunch.


If you roast a whole chicken pick the carcass once you've served it, you'll be amazed at how much you'll get off, mix with mayo and there's a chicken salad for your DH's lunch. make a broth on the bones, throw them into a pot with water, celery, onion and carrots, plus some thyme and salt and pepper, if you have one raw piece of chicken to add (like a wing), it'll be better. Let it simmer for a couple of hours, reduce until it has the right flavour. Filter and freeze for when you want to make a soup.


Look for other sources of protein than meat, such as beans or lentils, cheap and nutritious, and you don't have to have meat every day, which should save money.


To be able to afford fresh veg, buy whatever is in season, usually that's cheaper and you can always find recipes online.


A good snack is a hard boiled egg and a carrot.