spinoff - share your cheap meal plans!

[sunnylady303]

Reading the thread about how much some of you spend on groceries made me curious. We spend about $1000 a month for 4 (and one is only 18 months so she's not eating a lot! ) Can you who spend less than we do (which seems like everyone!) post a sample of what you eat each week? We have got to cut our grocery budget. Thanks!

[kristia]

I spend about $300 for my family of 3 and that includes diapers, tp, etc. I really try to challenge myself to keep it to $300 sometimes we go over but the past few months I have been good. In May we joined a Community Supported Agriculture through a local organic farm. It cost us a one time fee of $350, but it goes for 26 weeks so it averages about $13.50/wk. THis means that once a week we pick up a box of fresh local organic in-season veggies. It runs through November so I try to limit the veggies that I buy in the grocery store which tend to be alot more expensive. I buy all of my chicken and turkey when it is marked down or on bonus buy. This week we grilled chicken and turkey burgers two nights. I served with veggie salad and fresh strawberries that I picked on Saturday. Last night I made spaghetti with salad again. Tonight is out to eat night and tomorrow we are grilling again. In the summer we grill alot and I don't really "cook" too much because we eat alot of veggie and fruit salads. Winter time is more of a challenge for me because I cook more elaborate meals with more ingredients. I think one key to my low grocery bill is that I really try not to buy too much prepared foods or snack foods. I do indulge in ice cream when it is BOGOF, but I don't buy too many chips, cookies, etc. For breakfast we eat cereal with fruit or eggs and toast. Lunch is usually leftovers or sandwiches with fruit. We eat alot of fruit in the summer. I try to eat as healthy as possible, but we do have our vices.
I also rarely buy toiletry items, because I do the free after rebates for shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc anything that I can get for free and this really helps me lower the bill.

This is a great thread hopefully you'll get alot of ideas!
Good Luck
Kristia

[becoming]

Here's our menu for the next week:

Tonight:
oven-fried chicken (boneless skinless chicken breasts "battered" with bread crumbs, butter & spices, then baked)
corn on the cob
barbecue beans
salad

Saturday:
Breakfast - cereal for DH & I, oatmeal for the kids
Lunch - BLTs & chips
Dinner - out to eat w/ in-laws

Sunday:
Breakfast - pancakes
Lunch - fast food (we won't be home)
Dinner - grilled hamburgers, fries

Monday:
Chicken enchilada casserole (boneless skinless chicken, corn tortillas, cheese & enchilada sauce)
Spanish rice
Tortilla chips & salsa

Tuesday:
Southwestern bacon & egg pizza

Wednesday:
Tater tot casserole (meatless)
Green beans

Thursday:
Fettucini alfredo
Salad
Garlic cheese biscuits

Next Friday:
Scrambled egg sandwiches
Fruit

My DH works offshore and is gone half the time. The kids (ages 5.5 & 19 months) and I don't eat much meat when he's gone, so our grocery bill for those weeks is around $60. When he's home, the grocery bill is around $100.

We buy a lot of our fruits & vegetables from a local farmers' market for really cheap, and we also have generous elderly neighbors that bring us vegetables from their garden about once a month.

And I buy generic everything at the grocery store. Everything.

[sunnmama]

this is not a sample week, but these are some of our staple cheap meals:

beans and rice
fried rice, with egg and veggies--or lo mein (same, with left over spaghetti)
egg casserole (5-6 eggs, greens, cheese, milk, salt, anything else you want to add.....scrambled together and baked)
homemade pizza
spaghetti and sauce
homemade macncheese, stewed tomatoes, veggies or salad
soups, with egg or beans for protein
salad meals--a great one is lettuce, corn, chopped tomatoes, black beans (drained), and crumpled corn chips with ranch dressing

[becoming]

Originally Posted by sunnmama

salad meals--a great one is lettuce, corn, chopped tomatoes, black beans (drained), and crumpled corn chips with ranch dressing

Mmm...that does sound good. And cheap!

[vanilla]

lots of grains, beans, pasta, potatoes, and veggies.

[root*children]

We spend $200/month, feeding vegetarian me, carnivorous DH, 7yo omni son and 4yo omni son, and 4 days a week, we also have 2-3 other preK age children here for daycare.

Breakfast is either:
Oatmeal with raisins or apples
Scrambled eggs w/ toast & jelly or cinammon sugar or w/ half a bagel
Randomly we'll have rice pudding, muffins or bread pudding if we have leftovers of anything to make those
Even more scarcely we'll have cereal (they get about 2 boxes/month, which are usually devoured in 1 day between everyone!) and homemade soymilk.

Lunch:
- PB/almond butter & something (bananas, pear/apple butter, jam, honey, sliced apples, etc.) - depends on what we have on bread or tortillas
- WW noodles or other grain with nutritional yeast sauce adn plain veggie on the side (usually broccoli or sweet potato)
- Quesadillas (or beansadillas if we have alot of leftover beans)
- Leftovers

Dinner:
We have lots of different things for dinner, so I'll just give you last week's menu (haven't made one for this week yet)
Day 1 - Rotisserie Chicken (these leftovers were eaten nearly all week for snacking or as a side with other dinners), Fried Tofu, Mashed Potatoes, Greens (from the garden)
Day 2 - Pasta Salad (pasta, broccoli, olive oil, garlic, parm cheese), hamburgers
Day 3 - Azuki Beans & Rice, Last of Spinach greens mixed with mustard greens, all from garden
Day 4 - Pizza (half-pepperoni, half cheese, all with swiss chard from garden)
Day 5 - Ate out (this was not friendly for the budget of course, but it was a friends' birthday party)
Day 6 - Curried Tofu w/ Peas (from the garden)
Day 7 - Breakfast for dinner (French Toast)
Day 8 - Leftovers
Day 9 - Bean/Potato Enchiladas
Day 10 - Spaghetti & Peas (from the garden)
Day 11 (tonight) - Pizza (same as pizza before)

Those last few nights were me being tired and not wanting to go to the grocery! I was trying to find anything in the pantry I could make meals out of! The enchilada filling was already in the freezer, and I had sauce made up already in the fridge (I had no idea it could last that long! ). But our cupboards are starting to look bare, and I need a new menu, so I have to go shopping tomorrow!!

[kerilynn]

chili
spaghetti
black bean tacos (all we eat is beans, cheese, and salsa - cheap!)

check out the hillbilly housewife - not the healthiest, but homemade at least, and cheap!!