Meals on the cheap...

[madis81]

I need some ideas to help me cut back on grocery cost until I can find a job. Any ideas on healthy, yet inexpensive meals for a family of 5? Two of us can't do dairy, and there has to be SOME meat for my DH and DD.

[Cativari]

Pasta with tomato sauce

Pasta salads

lentils (I make a soup/stew with left over meat or regular stew and whatever else is in the cabniet fridge (potatos, left over plain pasta)


Whole chicken (usually lasts at least 2 meals, I make roasted/baked then Chicken noodle soup or chicken salad sandwiches, BBQ chicken sandwiches)

Hamburgers

Stew/soups

Pancakes and eggs and bacon

Deviled eggs

I'll have to think some more...

[*Erin*]

ditto the whole chicken-i usually boil one, strain off the broth and keep for chicken soup and for cooking beans in, and i use the meat for chicken and rice, chicken salad, plain meat-kids love, and soup.

quiche! plus it freezes great, so cheap and easy if you make a double batch. i can get 3 reg. pies out of a dozen eggs, sometimes 4 if i do a bit more cheese and spinach.

homemade pizza-i use a jiffy mix crust mix for ours

salmon patties

meatloaf

we eat lots of whatever fruit and veggies are cheap and in season-lately we've had lots of apples, grapes, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.

[ZTMOM]

2nd the egg idea ... I hated egg salad sandwiches until I realized how much adding dill or rosemary helps!

my husband pretty much "needs" meat at every meal, too, so I usually just reduce the amount I "normally" use to stretch it out or buy cheaper cuts & slow cook the heck out of them (tastes the same as the more expensive cuts).

Also, there is a recipe on allrecipes.com for Lentil Tacos that I tweak for our own tastes & he actually likes. I make a big batch & make it into taco salad, too.

[Marlet]

Google vegetarian recipes....most of the time you can easily add in a meat but since the focus isn't on garnishing the meat you're not going to use as much yk?

We're huge fans of lentils (we're vegetarian so take these suggestions fwiw ). We do creamy lentil soup (though not my normal recipe here is one...oddly enough, from cheapcooking.com Here you go). We also do sloppy lentils (i.e. sloppy joes with lentils), and use them in stir fry.

Veggie/pasta tosses. I've noticed it helps to switch up my vocabulary. A salad by default comes across as more of a side dish than meal. A veggie toss just sounds more filling. I make one using carrots, large cucumber, radishes, celery, broccoli, pumpkin seeds and an avocado sauce (1 large avocado, olive oil, 1/2 lemon, salt,
pepper, chives, basil, 1 clove of garlic all blended up). The nice thing is it's visually "full" and you can tweak it to fit your mood or pantry or amount of people. The sauce is tasty and due to the avocado has the filling quality you want. I like to sautee veggies and toss them with pasta and coat with a salad dressing (usually an Italian but will use a Ceasar sometimes) and some cheese.

[Bokonon]

Chili - the beans are cheap, especially if you get them dry, and you can use just a little cheap ground beef.

[madis81]

Thanks for the ideas! Now how do I convince my oldest to eat lentils, split peas, and other beans? He would rather starve!

[katiesk]

there are alot of great ideas on here!

i think i'll try the lentil tacos tomorrow.

i'm making a very cheap meal tonight...leek and potato soup, steamed broccoli, and salmon patties. very nutritious, well balanced, family likes it, so inexpensive and easy to make!

[Holiztic]

We eat a lot of homemade soup with bread and butter. Look for a local chicken farm, you can buy feet, backs, wings, etc for almost nothing and make a super nutritious stock/broth. I make about 10 quarts a week and we eat it all in homemade soups.

Last week we had: Green Pea, Asparagus, Chicken Noodle, Butternut Squash, and Pumpkin Bacon. We top it with Creme Fraische (or sour cream)--for those of you that can, of course--and have bread and butter. We eat a big lunch and have soup and bread for supper. If you need a bigger dinner, add a nutritious salad with avocados or a little meat/salmon or hard boiled eggs, etc.

I think that good bone broth is so important for anyone (but especially growing kids) that are dairy free. It is such a great source of calcium! We have recently taken DS' dairy down from about 24 ounces a day (whole milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese) to about 8-12 ounces of yogurt and cottage cheese. He now gets between 8-12 ounces of bone broth a day.

[bagare]

We eat soups quite often here... usually 2 rounds of soup to a non-soup meal, such as meatloaf, baked chicken (I save the bones and what not for stock), the occasional porkchop.

My husband's favorite is my lentil soup with smoked turkey. I put carrots, onion, celery and bay leaves in, some italian herbs or poultry seasoning, along with the turkey and broth to cover the lentils. I do saute the vegg first, because I think it makes for a richer soup. Then, when the lentils are cooked and the meat is falling off the turkey bones, I shred the meat, dump in a can of diced tomatoes and add a 10oz box of frozen spinach. Really yummy and it lasts our family of 3 3 nights. I also do chili with lots of beans and less meat. And we do shepherd's pie about once a week. How I do mine, is to boil up 12-15 smaller red skinned potatoes, skin on, toss in a few peeled garlic cloves and boil in salted water till tender. Then I chop up an onion and brown it along with a pound of ground beef. When the meat is cooked, I stir in a bag of frozen mixed veg, or green beans or peas (1 lb bags) and dump into a 9x19 inch pan. Then I smash the potatoes (leaving the skins on) with butter and milk, and I sometimes toss in some grated cheddar cheese. Spread the potatoes over, dot with butter if desired and bake in a 375 oven for 45 minutes. That gets us 2 nights, it is a one pot meal, sorta, and I portion it out, otherwise, dh goes crazy for it!