Help me feed my family on $13 a day

[herbmama3-7]

Dh and I have a very tight budget for the next 10 days, and have basically $13 a day to spend on everything. A little background,

Our car is on empty,
The cat's need food and fresh new cat litter (both are just about out)
My freezer has no staples
my cubords hardly have anything to work with.

I have a hard time building my cubord because I can only afford to buy food we need at the time, it gets eaten up before I can afford to buy more food, so we are generally pretty bare.

I prefer to buy fresh and organic, (probobly the reason I can't fill my cubord),
However I am willing to go non-organic for the time being if I have to.


Today I am going to make burgers because I have some hamburger meat in my freezer, but I am wondering if I should use it in a dish that can feed us for 2+ night, like chile, Any thoughts? How do you all do it? Does $13 sound doable?

[Om Girl]

: mama!
$13.00/day sounds doable. You'll just have to be creative.
I would make that hamburger stretch for 2 days. You can make a "hamburger helper" with 1/2 the hamburger tonight with tomatoes, pasta and a little cheese and then tomorrow add the leftovers to chili (adding chiles, peppers and spices)

I would buy organic/conventional utilizing the "dirty dozen" list of produce. I'd try to eat local-in season produce, because it's the cheapest.

[PrettyBird]

A huge pot of chili and some cornbread would go a lot further than hamburgers. I definitely think it is do-able, but you probably won't be able to go heavy on the organic produce for that amount.

[josybear]

we're living on 10$/day, a year ago is was 5$/day. it's perfectly doable, you just need to adjust your expectations. burgers are not a good use of ground beef, chili is better, soup is best. unless you make a LOT of chili. then it's the same as soup.
soups are a time-honoured way of stretching food and budgets. we eat carrot soup, lentil soup, beet borscht, black bean soup, hot & sour soup, um... lots of soups.
also adding small amounts of meat or beans or whatever to lots of rice, with chopped veg/ frozen veg, etc, and an egg or two for fried rice. that's good for using up what's in the fridge.

[BetsyS]

This blog just did an experiment where she copied a 1950s textbook 7 day menu for 3 meals a day. Her groceries were $67 for the week. http://likemerchantships.blogspot.co...cost-menu.html

Some meals we make to cut costs:
breakfast for supper
quesadillas (with leftover meat or not)
spaghetti
chili
soup (tortilla, black bean, vegetable, corn chowder, potato, lentil, 5 bean are some of our favorites) Homemade bread makes soup feel like a "treat" meal
homemade hamburger helper--we call it "Italian skillet delight"
bean burritos
enchiladas

Another thing that really helps our grocery budget (when I'm on the ball enough to do it) is to plan out ALL our meals. I plan all three meals, plus a snack or two a day. This takes some more thought up front than just buying whatever looks good, but it saves thought in the long term, and we end up wasting less food and spending less money.

Our standard breakfasts:
oatmeal
waffles or pancakes
eggs and toast
cheese grits or eggs and grits
cheese toast
breakfast burritos

Lunches:
leftovers
soup
veggie burgers
grilled cheese
quesadillas

[Benji'sMom]

Definitely do something else with that meat. And don't buy any more ground beef, get chicken instead. Look for whole chickens on sale, or you know what else goes on sale often, the bags of chicken leg quarters (because the most popular meat in the US is chicken breast so the leg quarters sell cheap). You can use 1 bag of leg quarters or one whole chicken for several different meals. And buy a lot of dry beans instead of meat, it's way cheaper.

[kijip]

You have $130 for ten days. That is a good start! First, you need to figure out how much gas you need for the next ten days and get that much gas + the smallest, cheapest amounts of pet supplies possible. Then whatever you have left is for food. I would suppose that is about $70-100 depending on how much you need to drive. Could be less left over for food if you have a long commute to factor in or a gas guzzling vehicle. Until you figure out how much you have left after gas, I can't say for sure how to eat. If you had $13 a day for food (no gas or pet food) that is way more than $6-7 a day for food (need to drive a lot for work).

Make chili, use some veggies in the chili too, vs. hamburger.

I'd fill your Crockpot or pan with tomatoes, garlic, beans, veggies, an onion and any seasonings you want with the browned hamburger now and then eat that for dinner today and lunch and dinner tomorrow.

Buy a big box of oatmeal with the first couple of bucks of your $$

[AlpineMama]

Think of meat as the side dish, the vegetables and/or pasta as the main course. If you're hungry and not hugely concerned, you can do lots of pasta varieties. My mom used to make them with little ham cubes, with cocoa powder (it's good!) and walnuts, with cheese... it's not just about tomato sauce!

Buy a bag of potatoes and maybe some onions; prepare them in lots of styles. Mashed, baked, "french fried", etc.

Bananas are usually cheap and pretty filling.

Always add a can of vegetables or a pack of frozen veggies to the food to make it stretch further. (Or if you have the inclination use fresh!)

Make milkshakes with canned fruit... Eat lots of bread, homemade if you can. Cereal also works in the morning. If you're OK with eating peanut butter, a spoonful goes a long way when you're hungry.

Make a large pot of tea every night and refrigerate it for the next day. One teabag can last you the whole day...

Anything sound useful there?

Oh, and we *rarely* (I mean maybe 3-4 times a year) make something from packaged ready-to-eat foods, but last night was one of them, and it was cheap and delicious. We got one of those Polish sausages, sliced up very small. I baked that with a can of corn for about half an hour, then added a Southwest rice packaged rice. It was super easy and tasted great, and I think cost about $4 total for the whole family. You can make a more natural version of that if you like. Vegetable and rice bakes mean you can add a very small amount of meat for flavor and still have it come out great.

[miss_sonja]

What do you use for cat litter? Would you consider switching to wood stove pellets if you're not already using them? They're super cheap, ~$3 for a HUGE bag and smell piney when the cats pee:-).

Check the sales and see if you can get a big bag of potatoes. I second the chili option. Maybe use some TVP, it's cheap and nourishing.

keep us updated!

[miss_sonja]

Also, do you have stores called Grocery Outlet there? We do and you can find great deals on frozen foods especially. Some are close to the expiry date, but still safe to eat. They do tend to have a lot of packaged stuff, but you can find some healthy, good deals.

Local markets might have better deals than chains. We have a local two location market that has super deals on produce--$2.49 for a 20 lb bag of Russet potatoes last time I shopped there.

[MamaPam]

$13 a day for a month is $403 and that's a little more than what we spend on groceries plus household items each month. We eat a lot of organic and no pre-packaged/processed stuff. Check what is on sale this week especially for meat. My DH isn't big on meatless meals but if there are mushrooms in the spaghetti sauce or whatever he's okay without the meat. There is a thread somewhere in here about $2 meals, try searching for it. Check out Hillbilly Housewife for emergency and frugal menus too.

I'll list some of our cheaper meal ideas and let me know if you want a recipe.

Breakfast
We tend to do snacky things like fruit or muffins. Pancakes are a favorite with the kids. Hot breakfasts tend to be much cheaper pr serving than cold cereal and packaged breakfast items.

Lunch/Dinner
Soups-Baked Potato, Chili, Taco Soup, Chicken Tortilla, Tomato Soup Variation(curry, creamy, basil etc)

Breakfast-eggs-use leftover veggies in omletts, grits/oatmeal, biscuts, bacon, pancakes

Rotissaire Chicken- eat part as a meal with veggies/potatoes etc and use leftovers for chicken salad, soup, or another meal. I often make chicken broth with the carcass especially if the leftover meat is going towards soup.

Enchiladas/Burritos-just beans would be the cheapest I usually do chicken with refried beans to streach the filling

Spaghetti-for a cheap and yummy homemade sauce-take a large can of whole italian tomatos and slice in half, place cut side up in baking dish, bake for 35-45 min at 400, drizzle with olive oil and juice from can and bake another 10 min. Depending on your consistency preference you can mash with a fork or put it in the blender.

Easy Alfredo

[kathirynne]

I feed my family of 5 (including 2 teen-aged boys and their 11-year-old brother) for $11 per day on average. It can definitely be done.

Can you post your kitchen inventory, so that we can help you get started?

[TheGirls]

Eggs make a great cheap protein source. Also beans.

Pasta often makes for a cheap meal. Cook up whatever kind is on sale, and add whatever kind of veggies are on sale (fresh or frozen), then work around that. Maybe some meat or beans, some oil, some garlic, etc. Or canned tomatoes. One of my favorites is pasta with broccoli, onion, olive oil, and garlic. Sometimes I add some chicken.

Rice and beans are obvious. Add some canned tomatoes and garlic for spanish rice...

Bean burritos are good too. Tortilla wrapped around refried beans and a bit of cheese, topped with salsa. These work out to less than 0.50/ea, even if you use premade tortillas, canned beans, and salsa. It's cheaper still if you make your own. Add a side dish of whatever veggies are on sale and some of the spanish rice from above. 3 course meal!

Breakfast for dinner is great. Breakfast burritos. Pancakes. Scrambled eggs. Toast.

Oatmeal is cheap for breakfast if you buy plain oats and season them yourself.

Make chili with that beef, but use it over 3 or 4 days by serving smaller portions of chili over a baked potato or rice, and adding a side dish of an inexpensive vegetable. Increase the beans in your chili recipe and decrease the meat to make it last longer. When I make chili I usually use about 1 lb of beef and it lasts 4-6 meals (2 people).

With some planning you should be able to do $130/10 days, even after the gas and cat things. It probably won't all be fresh & organic, but you can do pretty well.

[herbmama3-7]

WOW, thank you all so much, this is just what I need. I should mention that I live in Boulder CO, so there are not any cheapy type stores, but there is a bulk section in every store.

So I got inspired to use what I have so I threw a soup together in the crock pot: a chicken (rotisorie, mostly eaten, using the bones for a broth) Some barlely I had in my freezer, along with some left over potatoes, some seasoning, black beans, and some butternut squash that I had in the freezer, I am going to make some bisquites to go with it, so I hope it turns out ok.


Later I will pick up some dry beans, and cans of tomatoes to go in the chlie that I will use the ground beef for, also some cornmeal that I can make into some corn bread, for tomorrow.

Hopefully these will feed us dinner or at least lunch and dinner for the next 3-4 days.

Please keep the ideas coming, I really, really appreciate it.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

There is a book called "feed you family on twelve dollars a day or something like that. The author is Rhonda Barfield. Its not organic recipes but they work in a pinch

Chandi

[Ruthla]

Make sure you figure out all your meals BEFORE going shopping- even with cheap foods, it's wasteful to buy stuff that you're not actually going to be using. Yeah, it will feed the pantry, but now isn't the time for restocking the pantry. Why spend even an extra $.50 on a bag of beans that you won't need?

[UUMom]

Thta sounds very doable! Can you cook? Do you like to cook? Maybe get lots of bulk brown rice, quiona, whole wheat flour (if you eat wheat), oatmeal, carrots, cabbage, kale, potatoes, celery...the basics.

[courtenay_e]

Yes, do meal plan before you do any shopping. A good rule of thumb is to do what you have just done...first plan out of your pantry and freezer. Then meal plan like crazy before you shop for what you need. If you have time do some math. How much does it cost for a packet of yeast? Do you have flour? If you have flour, it can be cheaper to make your own bread (and it's simple, too). If you can make your own bread cheaper than you can buy it (which is most often the case unless you have a commercial bakery with an outlet nearby), things like an egg pudding breakfast for dinner or french toast is very inexpensive.

Doing a "rubber chicken" with whatever roasting meat you find on super sale...like a rump roast or a roasting chicken. We roast the whole thing the first night, strip the bones of the meat and make soup for the second night, then on the third night we shred some and make tacos or enchiladas or shepherd or pot pie...and sometimes (if it was a big turkey for example) we even have some meat left for hot sandwiches with gravey (because a pot pie or taco can be filled with mostly other things...and just a tiny bit of meat.

Check out the meal planning forum...they have wonderful ideas and LOTS of threads on how to feed a family on very low budgets!

[1happymom]

check out this thread! : )

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=520224

[Norasmomma]

Here's something I just did with about 2lbs of burger meat we had frozen, I cooked it up and added green peppers(that I had in the freezer), onion and I grated up a bunch of carrot into it the I used part for sloppy joes, and the rest I will use in spaghetti sauce or tacos, I haven't decided. Another thing I like to do is make a bunch of chicken breasts when I can find them cheaply and freeze them for different things, I bought a huge pack of chicken tender last week and have made 4 meals out of them, it was about 5 dollars for the pack. I made homemade chicken strips, chicken salad, paninis w/ homemade bread, tonight we're having a casserole with what's leftover. I just baked them up and put them in a bag. I would get a small bag of cat food and some cheap litter for them, my store I can get a fair size bag of cat food for 6.99, and I also have a dollar off coupon, so 5.99. I also thought about making tamale pie with that leftover hamburger, I have beans I cooked already and cornbread mix that I need to get rid of, that could be an option for you also. HTH.