$90/week menu for 6?

[micah_mae_]

Life is about to get hard..moving to a new house..we were depending on our tax return to move but the IRS is doing things different this year so I don't know when we'll get it.

Borrowed $ for the deposit from the in laws, have to pay them back plus all our regular bills, etc. Basically we will have $45/week for food for our family of 4 (everything has to make 6 servings to be able to feed my oldest and my husband). Sigh. This will last a month starting..like now.

We have 14 C ground beef and about 10 C shredded chicken frozen along with 30 C chicken broth. I also have one bag of tilapia (3-4 filets). Very little pantry goods. 

I've been trying to get my kids to eat potatoes more but they resist. They will eat pasta though and dh and I will eat either.

ETA: I managed to figure out how to get it to $90/week. Muuuuch better. Thank yall!

Edited by micah_mae_ - 1/28/13 at 6:16pm

[phathui5]

Do you qualify for WIC?

If you do a half cup serving per person, you could get 4-5 meals out of the beef. You could either serve it over rice (cheap) or buy/make rolls.

[CookiePie]

I found this blog entry especially helpful ...... Take a look at both the blog as well as the website, they both have useful info.  I think it can certainly be done with careful planning, shopping and execution.  Knowing it is a temporary is situation is helpful.   

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by phathui5 

Do you qualify for WIC?

If you do a half cup serving per person, you could get 4-5 meals out of the beef. You could either serve it over rice (cheap) or buy/make rolls.

I do but we don't have it..

Originally Posted by CookiePie 

I found this blog entry especially helpful ...... Take a look at both the blog as well as the website, they both have useful info.  I think it can certainly be done with careful planning, shopping and execution.  Knowing it is a temporary is situation is helpful.   

Thanks that's an awesome blog!

[NorthernFamily]

Originally Posted by CookiePie 

I found this blog entry especially helpful ...... Take a look at both the blog as well as the website, they both have useful info.  I think it can certainly be done with careful planning, shopping and execution.  Knowing it is a temporary is situation is helpful.   

What an amazing blog!

[phathui5]

Is there a reason you're not on WIC? If you're having a tough time with your food budget, the things they provide can really help. We ran out of money before we ran out of January and today we were able to go use the WIC vouchers to get 3 gallons of soymilk, 6 cans of tuna, a loaf of wheat bread, 3 cans of frozen juice, 2 pounds of cheese, 2 dozen eggs and 2 boxes of cereal.

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by phathui5 

Is there a reason you're not on WIC? If you're having a tough time with your food budget, the things they provide can really help. We ran out of money before we ran out of January and today we were able to go use the WIC vouchers to get 3 gallons of soymilk, 6 cans of tuna, a loaf of wheat bread, 3 cans of frozen juice, 2 pounds of cheese, 2 dozen eggs and 2 boxes of cereal.

Money is tight most of the time but I didn't want to take it if we didn't *need* it. I don't even know where my card is from when we used to have it, I wonder how quick we could get back on?

[CookiePie]

Micah~ Why not call and make an appointment, I'm sure it isn't a problem to get you a new card!  It will at least take a little bit of the pressure off!

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by CookiePie 

Micah~ Why not call and make an appointment, I'm sure it isn't a problem to get you a new card!  It will at least take a little bit of the pressure off!

True, thanks I think I'll do that. :)

[orangekoolaid]

do you have a food bank/food pantry in your area where you can get some free groceries?  

[mar123]

Call your local Catholic church. There is a program that provides assistance for bills, etc. We used it one month last year. The max they could help with was $350. They send it directly to the company or landlord or whatever; they will not give you the money, but if they paid a bill or two, it would free up cash for food for you. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the program, but all the Catholic churches around here do it. You have to call the one within the physical bounderies of where you live. I just called the church we live closest to and asked if they had a program that helped families struggling financially. They took my contact information and someone called me within 48 hours. We had a meeting and they asked questions to be sure we had a deficit. For a family of 5 (all teens and adults) they figured I spend $1,500 a month on groceries. Considering that was half my total income at the time, it wasn't true, but it was the amount they assigned. They paid $350 towards my rent, which really helped out. (For the record, we are Catholic, but I don't think that matters)