I hate it when this happens!!!

I am a believer of anything is good for one meal when its prepared with love. Lentils are high in protein and can replace meat for one meal. If you have a little rice you can mix with the veggies and serve with the lentils. Along with the love you put into it, it will be a satisfying meal in my opinion.

I have found that menu planning goes a long way toward savings in the grocery department. I have also found that planning meals for hot weather is a lot different than for the colder times. Since 8 oz of meat is considered a serving, and since my family likes their meat, I usually figure about 10-12 oz per person...most days. Meats can be used as flavoring in a great many dishes, and although we hear how bad animals fats are for us, the flavor those fats impart can greatly enhance a meatless or nearly meatless meal. Beans cooked with a bit of bacon fat or side pork have a lovely flavor and since beans are a protein base, you've fulfilled your meant requirement for the day. Salads, such as tuna with pasta, add an egg and it has become a nearly complete meal, toss in a couple thin slices of cold ham, roast beef or turkey for sandwiches makes it a stomach filler. Lettuce salads with small bits of bacon or ham, beef, turkey, chicken with a hard boiled egg can be very filling and satisfying. Soups are good for those cooler days, a little meat goes a long way. Broths are also good for adding flavor to vegetable dishes, if you have meat with bones in, then save those bones for rendering into broths, you'll have the base for everything from gravies to meatless vegetable dinners.

Do you have any room for a garden or even just one pot of tomatoes? If so, then its the easiest way to stretch your food budget. I grow food and then use the fruit in other dishes. One suggestion about meat is to divide the meat up when you get home from the store for all the days and freeze portions not needed right away. This is what I do so there is meat for both weeks.

Sadly things like that happen to me all too often! Especially with the kids being home and my hours cut the past few weeks (or no o/t for hubby) we run thru groceries like water! I would pair up things the best you can. If they don't match up very well so be it. I liked having meals with a meat, veggie, and starch but it just doesn't happen as much as I'd like it to. Do you have flour and eggs? You could make your own noodles, it's a bit time consuming but worth it!

It seems to me that people eat a lot of meat in the US. And they don´t know many dishes that can be made without meat. I´m not a vegetarian and I like all kinds of meat, but I make legumes once a week, casseroles with little meat, omelettes of various kinds and pasta without meat added. I don´r buy cans (except for a couple of tuna cans just in case). As for lentils, I like mine with no meat or sausage. I cook them with water and a bit of milk (no salt added) and I make dice fried onions, a bit of diced bacon, a clove of crushed garlic and salt and pepper to add to hem whem cooked. In my pressure cooker , the lentils take 10 min to cook, just the time enough to fry the onions and stuff. I serve them with parmesan cheese and/or homemade croutons. Lentils are a wonderful source of proteins, but they are also the kind of food men like. They won´t be hungry with that, I can assure you. And you will be saving in meat.

Yeap, it's that of the week again. I suggest you make a quick run in the grocery store and just buy a few of what you need. On the weekends, you can re-stack on your food requirements. Anyway, what are you cooking jah? It's difficult to make a meal without proteins. Do you have canned foods like tuna or beef?

Food never seems to last long around my house. I think I have gotten enough food to last for awhile, but as soon as I turn around it seems I am going to the store again for something else. I am not sure what would go well with Lentils. If it is not too hot where you are you could maybe make some cornbread to go with it.

Don't ask me, but no I wouldn't say the sausage would go well with those types of beans. I'd suggest baked beans to go with sausage. Is there any kind of produce or something you can use with the lentils?

I would actually use the sausage too as it will add flavor to the lentils and be more filling also. Yes it is hard these days to purchase enough food for so many and try as much as you can to buy rice and past as they will keep and you can also create more meals with them.

It's really hard to make ends meet specially on tight budget. I suggest start eating vegetables, they're a lot cheaper than meat. Also they are healthier. happy mylotting!

It's really bad when this happen! I think you should use the sausages to prepare the lentils, because I don't think that only the lentils are going to be enough. Also, because it's going to taste a lot better with the sausages.

It's okay. It happens to me too. Just invent a recipe of you own. Nothing can go wrong with cooking anyway. Hehe. Just kidding. Cheer up! It is important we have something to stuff our stomach with.

i will rather advice you to reduce they way you take the meat when it happens that ther's no much of it in your fridge and all yoy just need to do is the food bank suport,thats what i also do when that kind of thing happens to me...i think that will also helps yoy alot.