cheap food ideas anybody have some? plz help

Hi easymoney. I do remember being in the same predicament many years ago when I was first married...Luckily we had chickens so we ate eggs..Eggs everything..fried, scrambled, omelets, french toast, Then it was the no-name mac and cheese in boxes and I would add stuff to it. Broccoli is healthy and sometimes on sale and is tasty when added to kraft dinner. One of my favs was kraft dinner with tuna and broccoli...I would buy flour and make biscuits as a filler with meals. When we could get a bit of hamburger on sale, I would just make a big pot of mashed potatoes, and cook the hamburg with onions and pour over the potatoes with ketchup mixed in, I also used to love rice and sausages, just cook a few sausages, and cut them up in bite size pieces, add to cooked rice with a tin of tomato soup and green peppers and mushrooms. I also would make big pots of stew that would last a couple of meals.

Get some Chesse and Bread and make some Grilled Chesse Sandwiches. they are good.

How about sausage gravy and biscuits? You would only have to get a little sausage to go in it or dried beef gravy over toast.

You still need some form of protein, especially the children. Purchasing hamburger and chicken when it is on sale is key. I would buy chicken leg quarters and boil them in a large pot. Some of the meat would be used for soup and some would be put into a casserole. Casseroles are the best way to extend your budget. Ramen noodles were a staple food in my house. I cooked a pound of ground beef and added them to Ramen noodles that were cooked, drained and had the flavor packet added. Then add some peas to this and you have a meal.

Well when I get low on money I have my mom make some bean soup its really good and cheap all you need is a few ingredients, and you wont need any meat at all, here's the recipe, for vegetable bean soup 1.two small bags of white beans, make sure you rinse them well and boil them a while before adding the other ingredients 2.one can of hunts tomato sauce 3.one can of mixed vegetables 4.cut up one or two onions for extra flavor, you can also add a green pepper too. This soup will last for 3 days and it cost well under $30.00 Recommendation's for this soup, buy the stores brand of navy beans it taste the same as name brand and there much cheaper and if you dont like hunts you can buy another kind of tomato sauce delmonte is good too.

How about spaghetti? It is fairly cheap, easy to make and lots of people like it. You can buy a pound of hamburger for about 3 or 4 dollars, noodles for 1.50 and sauce for 2.00. Depending on how much you eat, you also might have leftovers. To my sauce to make it more heartier I add a can of tomato paste and when the noodles are almost done I take about 2 cups of the pasta water and mix it into the sauce. Pour the sauce onto the noodles, mix, let sit, mix, let sit and about 15-20 minutes later the pasta thickens up immensely, plus it does not dry out. So, it seems like you have double the food. It also depends what other ingredients you have in the house. If you like spaghetti it is worthwhile to always have the ingredients on hand like parmasean cheese, spices, etc, then all you have to get every week or so is the sauce, noodles, and meat. If you are interested in like a more complete recipe, let me know. If you have 99 cent stores in your area, you can get the ingredients for cheap there.

I'm in this same boat always around the end of the month & will be reading some of the ideas you get here as well. $30 can stretch a week with a little imagination... :D Have you tried SPAM? That can go really good with eggs. Makes a good omlet or breakfast burritto. Cheaper then oatmeal & Cereal. Plus you can also cut the SPAM up in slices, cook it, serve it with green beans & mac-cheese & there you go, a meal that will fill the family up. Or you can cut the spam in cubes & mix in the mac-cheese & then have a slice of bread & greenbeans.. That's a cheap meal also. Hotdogs are cheap... but you can get really bored with them... have you tried pigs in a blanket with hotdogs? It's good & better then a plain hotdog. If I come up with any other ideas I will send them this way... Good luck... I hope you can find some great ideas!

I have a cheap food idea. I am not sure if you like beans and corn bread but you can get both of those for less than one dollar and eat on it for a couple of days with that many people.

Fortunately, food is relatively inexpensive (compared to the U.S.) here in Canada. I've got a weekly farmer's market just a hundred feed off my back door where I can get fresh organic meat and vegetables cheaper than the supermarket. There is also an Asian food market three blocks from here that has unbelievably low prices. I will make a split lentil soup with ham and carrots in a 5-quart slowcooker for under $5.00CAD. It will usually last us two or three days. I can also make a Pad Thai for 4 (there are only two of us) for around $3. Same for Singapore curry. Meat and vegetables are super cheap here. The only thing that's expensive is poultry. Monthly shopping at the big supermarket (we only go once a month) runs around $100CAD ($$80USD), so that's a savings right there. I'm going to get a pasta maker from Amazon one of these days because I can make egg noodles for around $.30CAD a pound. Pasta dishes are very economical, especially if you make your own sauce like I do.

How about stir-frys? You can use just about anything in them, so they always taste different. Eggs are good as well - they can be used in so many ways.

Boy do I know what you mean. My kids are always eating. Whatever I buy they feel they must eat it right away or it will disappear. I have to hide alot of groceries in my room. I go to food pantries. Coupons don't really help because the stores won't except them or they want to buy several items per coupon. In the good old days , you buy one item and use the coupon. Now you have to buy two or three and then use the coupon. I look for sales in different supermarkets and store food in my room. I take stuff out as I feel is appropiate so the food will last. I don't get food stamps or child support. I also do surveys on the net and those little checks add up and have saved me several times. When I had no food in the house and no money , I would get a couple of two dollar checks in the mail and and a 10 dollar. There is food money. This pass week I cashed in my hidden loose change and got 20 bucks. A few weeks ago I had one dollar left to my name, I forgot a survey I took paid 50 bucks and I got it in the mail. What a life saver. You have to just keep trying everything.

There was a time when we were growing up, Single Mom on welfare with 4 kids. I remember quite clearly we had ALOT of Puffed Wheat, milk powder, and Mac and Cheese. But you seem to be doing alot of that already, good job. Now for some good cheap food. Firstly, buy flour to make your bread with, instead of buying bread, Flour, yeast, sugar, salt and water. You can find many good recipes. You can also make pizza crusts, pastries, pasta's. It is more work in the kitchen, but it will save you a fair amount of money. Second, is fresh root vegetables, beets, turnip, parsnips, rutabaga's. You can get quite a lot of not very much money, and then dress them up in a variety of ways. As for protein, I really don't know here, eggs are cheap, and nuts. I like to make vegetarian lasanga's with nuts in them, but I some nuts are fairly expensive. And don't forget to clip your coupons, every little dime helps. Also, check with your local food bank. And perhaps your thrift shops, there were quite a few food items on the dollarama shelves last time I was i there. It won't be the best, or the tastiest, but it could be healthy this way. Best of luck you!!

self cook is a better ideal , you can pick what every dish can cook yourself. i do such thing too,it safe more than i eating outside. if i am my husband eat those cheap food outside min spend $15 a day for just 2 person meaning USD $11 a day.some time even $20 a day just for 2 meal. if i self cook a day at $10 for 2meal at most . meaning about $8USD .

sandwitches, or maybe soup with rice? You can also see what you have in your fridge, and make simething that you will think of.. you can make really great food using your imagination and with a very low budget ;) Just try anything that you believe it will be nice ;)

Hi easymoney. i know just what your talking about. Here is a web site that has some homemade hamburger helper ideas. I would use just 1/2 the hamburger and cheese that they call for. http://www.tv.com/ncis/show/16772/episode_guide.html http://www.tv.com/ncis/show/16772/episode_guide.html http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf690268.tip.html http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf600368.tip.html

The dollar stores have canned chicken and canned turkey for 1 dollar a can. I get mine at the 99 cent store. You can make soups and casseroles and stir frys with it. I would always keep peanut butter too. Ground turkey is cheap and can be substituted for beef. I also buy the large bags of chicken legs and they can be used for so many things and last a long time. You can buy corn flakes cheap, like for a dollar and add them to meatloafs and other recipes. 99 cent stores have cheap canned fruit which can be added to your pancakes. Please go to anglefoodministries.com because for 30 dollars, you get well over 60.00 worth of food. You can find the nearest location to you by following the information on the site.

Ok I'm pretty good but that's really not alot to go on. $30 will be tough no matter what you do if you are doing 3 meals for 4 people. Breakfast suggestion is buy those cheap bags of cereal or find deals on boxes if you can. Sometimes you get get them at $1 a box. Buy powdered milk for it. I know yuck but milk is too expensive for your budget. Lunches could be bologna sandwiches as bologna is fairly cheap or peanut butter and jelly. Dinner suggestions would be mac-n-cheese with tuna mixed in. Both relatively inexpensive. Could also buy those boxed meals like those complete meals. They will feed four people and are very good. Usually can get at like a super walmart for around $2.50 a box. And they come with meat in them so it helps with the meat intake. Ramen noodles and rice are always good supliments. Try adding a can of cream of chicken in with the rice for a complete meal in itself. Pancakes with butter and sugar are pretty cheap and good for suplimenting as well. You can get a package of chicken with like 4 legs in it for around $3 if you go to super walmart and make it a special thing maybe once every couple of weeks. Also you can take a 1lb pkg of hamburger (around $2 at super walmart) and fry it up, mix it with spagetti and use those 99cent cans of sauce for another meal. Again these would be more of a once a week thing. while on the subject of spaghetti, it's pretty cheap and you can get the cheap cans of sauce as well for a cheap whole meal. I still think you are going to come up a bit short with your meals so look for a local food bank to supliment. You are in a tough situation and I feel for you. Been there if you can't tell. I wish you luck.

Buy one zucchini. It costs less than $1. (or grow it in your yard and then it's free). Grate it and add 4 cups of chicken stock. Don't buy ready-made stock. Buy stock cubes and make your stock. Add 1/2 cup rice and 1 teaspoon curry powder. This is easy soup that is so cheap but tastes great, is very healthy for you and is very filling.

If you catch chicken on sale you can make a pound last more than one meal. We feed seven and also have a tight budget. Sometimes we get it for 2 bucks a pound so a pound of chicken, can of peas and carrots, rice, and scramble an egg and you have a meal all in one for less than 5 dollars. We boil the chicken to trim down the fat, the when the rice is cooked we put it in a big frying pan, with the scrambled egg, drain and add the peas and carrots, and the chicken after about 35 minutes on medium boil. Chop chicken into smaller chunks. (by now it os so tender that it pulls apart with no effort) then stir it all together. Some butter to fry in and season as you like. I use dash of cajun, garlic powder, salt, and sometimes chili powder. The kids chow down, and usually it makes enough for me to take lunch to work the next day. All for a good price. Good luck and hope the budget lightens up a bit for you soon.