Can you help me with this challenge?
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Can you help me with this challenge?
| Thu, 01-14-2010 - 5:44pm |
Thanks to life, I have like 1/2 my grocery budget left for this next week. My challenge now, is to feed my family of 5 on $60. (I am nearly out of deer meat, so no help there - however, we do qualify and recieve wic, so I will not need to purchase milk, juice, eggs and

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One of my favourite and inexpensive recipes is Tuna macaroni casserole.
Pretty much all you need is some pasta, can mushroom soup, can of tuna and some veggies, (we usually use peas) breadcrumbs,or potato chip crumbs
I cook the pasta and put it in a casserole dish, mix in the mushroom soup, the tuna, if the tuna is packed in water I toss that in too. a cup or so of what ever frozen(or leftover) veggie you have. Top it with the crumbs and cover and bake for about 1/2 hour at 325-350. Sorry I don't have measurements for you too follow. I also like this the next day heated up with a bit of marg in a fry pan.
If you family doesn't like tuna, I have used the cans of flaked ham and chicken with success too. (depends on which is cheaper when I'm shopping)
IF you can make tacos for cheap, then a good idea is tacos day 1 and then about day 3 mix the leftover meat with a can of tomato soup (or even tomato juice)...throw in some beef oxo or taco seasoning or even a little chili powder...voila taco soup...kids love it...top it off with crushed taco shells if you had any leftover & shredded cheese & sour cream... (I always serve rice with tacos so that I can guarantee a couple leftover shells & likely leftover cheese)
You can stretch it out with rice & corn, or even beans, and if you had leftover chopped tomato from the tacos throw that it..etc etc.
My kids also love taco rice, same concept...a can of tom sauce/soup mixed with the leftover meat & corn, and then they top it as they please...
Or depending on the price, you can stretch a whole chicken pretty far:
- 2 breasts can be chopped and used in stir fry or a pasta dish
- 2 leg/thigh meat can do the same,
- Boil the rest until the meat is cooked; then remove the meat & simmer the bones with some veggies & spice to make a good stock. (Best if you refig it overnight and the fat will congeal on the top & you can skim it off). Then the stock & cooked meat can make a hearty soup (rice, barley, etc).
What we call "goulash" here is less than a pound of grnd meat, mixed with macaroni that has been cooked in tomato juice/canned tomatos (or cook the pasta & throw the canned toms in after)...
My supper budget for our family (5 ppl 4 days, 7 ppl 3 days) is $70 every week...and we don't have wic here, so that includes cheese & stuff...and I have to have leftovers for hubby 3-4 days too!
Edited 1/14/2010 6:11 pm ET by young_momof5
Same recipe works with chicken ---Buy a whole and make a meal for one day---
Then take leftover pieces --- you don't need much-- add cream of chicken soup and noodles and green beans( or whatever you have that they like) and bake with some breadcrumbs on top.
My family also loves spahetti and meatballs
One thing that could help you a lot is if you check out the Frugal Kitchen message board on ivillage: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-fdfrugal
That is an excellent place to get some great ideas. You can check back through the archives from years ago when Elaine was the cl on that board...if you look for the old "grocery exile" posts you will get a ton more ideas in addition to all the current posts.
There are also the Frugal Living and Eco-Friendly cleaning message boards. The frugal living board will also give you lots more ideas.
One thing I would suggest off the top is you cut out the juice. It costs a lot and you don't need it.
The other thing I would suggest to you is rice, potatoes and lentils.
Here's my very cheap recipe for Lentil soup. I would not rate my cooking skills as much higher than yours, so don't be intimidated, this is easy.
First, do you know what split red lentils are? That's the kind of lentils I use for this. They are really cheap. Here's a link to a picture of them: http://sites.google.com/site/spiritualfoodcsa/_/rsrc/1226686059948/food-a-pedia/red-lentils/Red_Split_Lentils.jpg
I would take about 1 cup of dry split red lentils, and in a bowl or whatever rinse them over. I put them in a big measuring cup and fill it with water and rinse them a bunch of times. Just be careful you don't dump them down the drain.
Once you've rinsed the lentils, put them in a pot with enough water to cover them over. Put on stove and bring to a boil. When they boil, turn the heat down to low and cover the pot and let them simmer for about 10 minutes. They expand in volume about to about three times their original size, so use a big enough pot.
Then, in another pot that will have enough room for the lentils plus the follow, saute a couple of roughly chopped (not totally minced) onions and mushrooms. Cook them until they are soft but don't burn them. When they are soft, add the lentils. Most of the water should be absorbed by the lentils. If there is much extra water in the pot of lentils, pour it off (get rid of it). Add the lentils to the onions and mushrooms. Mix it all up and let it simmer on low. The lentils will continue to cook down and it will turn into a stew. You can add a crumbled up stock cube. I add salt and pepper and some vegetable seasoning. I also add bacon bits for extra flavour. That's all there is to it. Serve with a nice loaf of bread or dinner buns.
Now, if you are used to traditional looking meals, this one is different, just stew and bread, but it is really good and totally cheap and very, very good for you.
Good luck on your quest. Sticking around here helps a girl to stay on the bandwagon!
Not sure about recipes, because I don't ever follow any, but usually we cook a big pot of gumbo (yes, we're originally from the gulf coast).
Here's a few suggestions.
Norma
"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus
well there are a few blogs out there, one i look at is $30 weekly grocery challenge just search for that she has recipes etc.
but like you said, tacos. i woudl also take that extra taco meat and put it on top of baked potatoes one day.
what about buying oatmeal instead of cereal this week? that goes farther and is cheaper.
check out the discounted meat befoe it expires...that is way cheaper. definetly search your cupboards and get creative!!
Order to be paid off
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Doctor -7500
Other loans
Truck loan paid off in summ
$60 is all I have until Friday the 22nd, so I am right there with you!
Definitely make sure to look through your grocery store sales flyer. I find mine online and that helps because I can print out a list. This week I had only 43 dollars to last my family of 5 through 4 days of lunches and dinners. I did it by only buying the sale items. My grocery store was having a deal where if you bought a pork tenderloin on sale for $6.99 ($1 off regular price) then they would throw in a free bag of salad. I baked some potatoes that I had with the pork and then added in a huge portion of salad because we didn't have enough meat to give everyone huge portions. I thought that was a pretty good meal for $1.40 per person. I also got a deal where if I bought 2 grapefruit juices at 2 for $4 dollars, I could get a whole bag of grapefruits free. My husband has been eating the grapefruits for breakfast and I've been diluting the grapefruit/tangerine juice with seltzer water. I can't even tell you what awesome deals I've been getting just by taking the time to pre-plan my menus around the sales. And if you have coupons to go with those sales, even better!!!
You can definitely do this! Another cheap thing...although completely unhealthy. Mac and cheese and hot dogs. I do it sometimes for a cheap lunch.
Hi,
This can be done.
I would first go through what you have in your cupboards? Do you have the makings for chili? Ground beef is always the cheaper of meats. There is nothing wrong with pancakes and breakfast sausage for dinner either.
My favorite is my "Garbage" casserole. I use rice, water, a can of tomato soup and basically whatever is in the fridge. It could be left over ground beef or bacon or sausage(meat not even required), mushrooms(canned or fresh), celery, onion(any kind), tomato, salt(garlic salt or seasoning salt) and pepper, etc. When the casserole is almost done cooking I top with grated cheese(whatever you have) and it is really good! It uses up what I would normally throw out(last legs veges). When I cook bacon on the weekends I will steal a few pieces and freeze them in a freezer bag to have on hand. It is perfect for spinach salads, this casserole etc.
Quesidillas are the same ideas as tacos. Cheap and easy, serve with salad.
Good luck!
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