Cheap Meals!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi S.,

here is a web page:

http://www.getrichslowly/blog/2007/07/30/16-ways-to-eat-h...

Hope this helps. D.

Hi S.. Have you tried www.angelfoodministries.com? They offer boxes of food for a small amount of money. I haven't tried it yet, but will be as soon as I find one close to my area.

cut up chicken (this stretches it so you don't need much) add two small cans or one large can of cream of chicken soup and one small can of cream of mushroom soup add a good dollop of Worstershire sauce. Cook at 375 for about 45 minutes. Serve over wide noodles or rice!

Another is one can of chicken added to one jar of gravy add one can of corn microwave for 3-4 minutes and serve over noodles or rice! This one is very fast (obviously) cheap fairly nutritious and cheap, best of all kids love it.

You can't live on this stuff - too much salt - but for quick or cheap......

Hi! I'm a bargain shopper and cooker, so I'll try and give you some ideas.
My best advice is to cook several meals at one time, and/or, cook larger portions of a meal and freeze 1/2 of it. Lasagna, tuna casserole, any baked dinner, are good examples.
It also saves you from wasting any leftovers... I know that my family can't eat a whole box of pasta, but we do eat about 3/4... so I always make a whole box, but then end up wasting some... or if I only use 3/4, I never find use for the 1/4 left over. But if I make a larger portion and freeze it, 2 dinners at one time!
Always buy meat on sale. Buy more than you need and freeze it for later, then some weeks you don't need to buy meats at all. Get your protein from beans, peanut butter, and/or other veggies to reduce paying so much for meats - which usually cost the most.
We make pizza pockets and stuff them with all sorts of good veggies (kids don't notice if it is hidden inside) and that is a good meal to avoid meats.

By no means am I a vegetarian... far from it. But meats are the most expensive part of a grocery trip... so find healthy meals without meat. Also, buy generic for all your snack items. If the kids fuss, pour them into ziplock bags and "serve" them that way so they never see the packaging.

Good luck!

Well, the cheapest yet healthiest choices are noodles, beans, rice and veggies. Stay away from the prepackaged convenience foods. They are always more expensive, though easy, and usually not very healthy. Check out tasteofhome.com for ideas with whatever ingredients you have on hand. They've got lots of good recipes there. For nights when I need to use up whatever is left in the fridge, I love pasta dishes! My kids will eat almost anything involving noodles!

Good luck!

check out www.hillbillyhousewife.com

www.hillbillyhousewife.com is a good website for good, old-fashioned ways to save money on food. Their recipes may take a while to cook, but you'll stretch your groceries with their tricks.

I know you said that you are busy, so this may not be good for you, but look at your meats. I used to always buy the boneless skinless chicken breasts, but I've realized that you can get chicken breasts with the skin on for a seventh on the cost. Also, Walmart sells chicken breasts that are frozen solid at a good price. You just have to let them defrost for a while.
Also, watch your sales paper for pork loin for 99 cents a pound. Then, you can pick up a good amount and your grocery should cut it for you, at no additional cost. So, you can leave with loin and chops for cheap.
I saw that someone else mentioned Aldi. They've got good prices, but selection is limited and I feel a little iffy about the meats and produce.
Also, I've noticed that the more food I make, the more we eat, so I've started cooking less and no one is hungry at the end of the meal. I can stretch a package of beef or chicken into at least 2 or 3 meals.
Good luck!

There's a really great book that I found called "Cooking on a Budget" and you can purchase it at The Author House. Here's the link:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~50...
I was so happy I found this book (especially in these times), that I contacted the author via email, who is a mother of SEVEN (3 boys and 4 stepdaughters). She is an experienced pastry chef and explained to me that she wrote the book because initially she was having a difficult time stretching dollars to feed her large family. Now that her children are all grown up and have left the nest, she wanted to share what she had learned through her trials as a mother. Her "Cooking on a Budget" secrets are not just for large families, but actually show you how to shop, cook, package and preserve meals so that they last longer and feed more adorable little mouths. Not only that, but the recipes are delicious! My suggestion is that you pick up a copy of this book immediately and start to watch your money stretccccchhhhh. Good luck and hope this helps :)

An age old trick, but a good one. Beans!! WE use beans as a filler in a lot of meals to make them a bit hardier. We make a pasta and beans with some chop and garlic (lots of garlic)One box of any shape pasta (not spagetti)one pound of chop meat turkey is good too or chuncks of cooked chicken, 2 cans of beans. Cook the pasta seperatly. In big pan EVOO with chopped garlic, brown the garlic a little, then add in meat of choice and brown meat, then add in the beans and season to taste (I use Emerials Essence and a little of whatever else jumps out at me). Let simmer for a minute or twoThen add in pasta. This meal is cheap and makes a ton of food! We also add a can of beans to almost any rice or couscous dish we make. It makes the side go that much further, and they have tons of fiber and are very good for you.

One of the most difficult issues we have every week is trying to put food on the table. We can easily go through the motions at times and get in the car and drive our lovely little ones from school to gymnastics and back to home but to create a meal at the end of the day, that requires planning and thought...who has time or energy for that!

I am a foodie through and through but not every meal can be gourmet and if it was, my kids would never eat! So I try and use fresh local ingredients that are in season to prepare delicious meals to keep my kids sitting at the table. Well, my oldest is 4 so I pretty much have to tie him down to his chair to keep him seated but you know what I mean.

Please check out my Market Menu each week for what is on sale in our local grocery stores and a listing of great menu ideas that you can make for your family.

It Takes a Village...
Where Dallas Moms go for Food, Family and Fun

http://www.ittakesavillagedallas.com/It_takes_a_village/M...

what area do you live we are in royersford and have an amelias..get alot of good stuff

Pizza chicken...
Chicken breasts in a baking dish. I use 4 breasts in a 9 x 13 pan for 3 people. Place the chicken in the dish, cover with pizza sauce and cook at 350 until done (half hour for 1/4 inch thick chicken), top with mozzarella cheese and wait until melts. easy and cheap!
Christina

www.angelfoodministries.com

I suggest checking out this website to see if there are any churches in your area that do it. We buy a box every month. It's $30 and you get a lot of good stuff in it. It has been a big help in cutting down our grocery bills.

PASTA SALAD

Combine in large bowl:
1 LB small seashell mac, cooked and well drained
1 LB frozen peas, thawed
1 LB frozen green beans, thawed
10 oz. package matchstick carrots (or shredded or sliced)

ADD EITHER of the following combos, then chill well:
1 to 2 LBS diced ham, AND Ranch dressing to taste

or

1 to 2 LBS shredded/canned chicken, AND Italian dressing and parmeasan cheese to taste

Makes a TON, can do half of each by starting with same veggie/pasta combination, then adding different dressings to each half. Can make day ahead. Can omit meat and add more veggies for vegetarian meal. Fantastic leftover for lunches :-)

I serve with:

FRUIT SALAD
29 oz can peaches
22-29 oz mandarin oranges
20 oz pineapple chunks or tidbits
DRAIN ALL FRUIT WELL!

Blend the following well, stir into fruit and chill:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz vanilla or peach yogurt

I used a lot of the Walmart brand products for these recipes this week to do a church luncheon. I don't love Walmart for a lot of reasons; but we were on a tight budget so I had to do it and I have to say all the ingredients I used of theirs were as good as the name brands and the prices were very low.

Buy the whole chicken instead of it's parts. Debone it yourself and save what you are not using in the freezer for another meal. Sometimes you can buy a whole chicken for less than just two boneless breast. Good luck

I always buy in bulk and than have smaller containers to put things in.Plus i shop at Save a Lot or Aldi's(and there meat is fine)..........cheap meals,
I agree with stews,soups..we use our slow cooker alot here too,anything we can get atleast 2meals out of is great.Plus my husband hunts and we have deer meat which helps in the meat department...........
What your adds for when they have hams on sale,you can get a ham at Shop-n-Save this week for $0.99 a pound....which is a great deal because there's so much you can do with a ham and it can be used for several meals.

The Better Budgeting website has a "frugal recipe" section. Go to this link. http://www.betterbudgeting.com/frugalrecipelist.htm

You mention that you love the outdoors. Do you garden? That can be something fun to get the kids involved with and can help keep your fresh produce costs down a little bit. My kids are enjoying picking cherry tomatoes to have for a snack everyday.

Here is a meal my husband likes to make that is pretty inexpensive:

1 lb ground beef
2 cans cream of potato soup
16 ounce bag mixed veggies
1/2 lb uncooked egg noodles or small macaroni (elbows, shells, etc)

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Brown ground beef; drain fat off. Add veggies, cream of potato soup and 1 can of water to ground beef. Stir ground beef mixture into noodles. Simmer until warmed throughout.

You can easily change the ingredients and amounts to your liking. You can thin the soup using more water. You can add more or less beef. Same with the noodles. We substitute whatever veggies we have on hand. If we use fresh veggies, we first cook them until tender crisp.

Check out Angel Food Ministries at www.angelfoodministries.com. You can get approximately $70 of food for about $24-$30 every month. This is not just for people in need. Anyone can do this. You place an order in person at a participating church or mail in your order by a specified date. Then approximately two weeks later on a Saturday, you take a cooler or laundry basket with you to that church to pick up the food. The food is good too. It is the same kind of food you would get in restaurants and the grocery store. It is not outdated.

Check it out. I do it almost every month. I save a bundle in food costs.

S.,
Here are a couple of ideas, hope they are helpful. Betty Crockers OR Banquet Complete Meal Kits In a box, Banquet Crockpot Dinners, and a homemade one : Chicken and Rice. 2-3 boneless skinless Chicken breast cut up in small cubes, place in your crockpot on low (8hrs)high (4hrs) with a can of cream of chicken soup and a can of cream of mushroom soup.And a little bit of water. Let cook then when your almost ready for dinner cook your rice ,Instant is easier. Good Luck.

amelias has lots of outdate food, so be careful.

Aldi's has great prices.

I cut back on the snacks. I buy when things on sale, some bulk items but not everything at bj's or sam's club a good price.

Here's a few of my secrets-
I shop at Farmstands for fresh cheap produce.Also, try tougher, cheaper cuts of meat thrown in a crock pot.I get brown rice and other whole wheat grains from bulk bins (Wegmans), and Everything else we get from Sam's Cub.We substitute different types of beans for meat sometimes, they're a cheap source of protein.
One more thing that's a bit more unconventional- this summer, we had a huge vegetable garden and had fresh organic veggies from the yard all summer long. There's even things you can grow in cold weather like root veggies and broccoli.It's a fun thing to get the kids involved with.
Hope this helps!
~S.

S.,
I also recommend ALDI. I have tried a LOT of their products and have NO complaints about any of them. The produce is great (DOLE pineapples for 1.99 vs. 4.99 at Giant Eagle!) Broccoli, celery, carrots, grapes, bagged lettuce, cucumbers, all at a fraction of supermarket prices. You will get a cart load of groceries for about $60. I buy their canned soups, frozen potatoes, breakfast sandwiches, pizza, cheeses, and some meat. (I'm a little weird about "cheap meat" as it often comes from those huge, inhumane packaging farms. I find my local farm sells much fresher meat, humanely treats the animals and is actually comparable in price or cheaper than supermarket meat!)
O. dish I make that everyone likes is a hamburger-bake type thing. Spread about 1.5 to 2 lbs of lean ground meat in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, sprinkle about 1 T of onion soup mix over the meat, spread a can of cream of chicken (or celery or mushroom) over the top of thaat and then layer frozen tater-tots as the top layer. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour or until beef is not pink. Pretty yummy--and cheap!
I'm also a fan of the boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins or breasts but I ONLY buy them (2 or 3 bags) when they are on sale. I have bought ALDI chicken breasts and they are fine.
I find things like pots of home made soups, stews, and crock pots of meatballs & sauce, and large roasts with gravy go a long way (maybe 2 dinners and a few lunches for my husband). Also cut sown as much as possible on the prepared/processed foods and snacks and eat as low on the food chain as you can--the closer a food is to the way God makes it is the healthiest option--and often the cheapest too. Example: Rice in the boil-in-bag vs a large box of plain rice. Although it sometimes costs less to buy large quantities (price clubs, etc.) only do that if it is something you consistently use a lot of. Otherwise it's just money sitting on a pantry shelf!