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Omg I will be watching this thread!! We are commited to only eating out once every 3 weeks in order to save money. Our grocery bill has been insane lately.
We go to Aldi's their stuff is cheap, it's all German imported and they don't accept credit cards... debit, checks, or cash only. We get a cart of groceries for about $50.
@firsttimemom: we go to Aldi too! Haha and our bill is around $50 a week for myself, my husband, and his dad! We do occassionally get stuff from shaws...like lunch meat but for 3 grown people it isn't that much. I recommend seeing if there is one near you...we love it!
our grocery budget is $40 a week. it takes a lot of getting used to, but it's really not that bad.
the key is to plan your menus around the weekly sales. only buy the essentials, and never buy non-staples that aren't on sale (especially things like meat and cheese) and stock up when you can. the most frustrating thing for me and fi is not getting enough fresh fruit. we buy when the price is low enough and we eat lots of bananas. we'll get a few cans of fruit when they're on sale too, because fresh fruit is high at certain times of year. we also had to cut out things like milk and cereal -- oatmeal or english muffins are SO much more cost-effective.
Here are some good and healthy! budget-friendly meals I make all the time (this makes me realize we eat a lot of beans!):
Carnitas soft tacos - carnitas (slow-cook a pork shoulder roast with garlic, onions, oregano, juice and zest of one lime until it falls apart), black beans, fresh cilantro, tomatillo salsa (tomatillos - super cheap! - blended with garlic, lime juice, cumin, a bit of cilantro, a dash of cayenne), and diced red onion.
Grilled chicken and bean salad - grill chicken thighs (marinate in lemon juice, oil, red wine vinegar, and herbs/spices you like), serve with chickpea, chopped parsley, and feta salad (dress with olive oil, lemon juice, lots of salt and pepper).
Spaghetti al limon with spinach salad - cook spaghetti and remove from pot, reserving a bit of cooking water. Whisk together cooking water, olive oil, and a little milk. Simmer until slightly thickened, then add zest and juice of one lemon, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Remove from heat, put pasta back in, stir, and then cover and let sit about 5 minutes (to absorb sauce). Serve with a simple spinach salad.
Bean soup - render fat from 4-5 pieces of bacon or a piece of ham, add chopped onion, garlic, carrot, and celery and saute about 5 minutes, add pre-soaked beans (I like any kind of white beans the best) and cover with cold water. Bring to a hard boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook "slow and low" until beans are tender (about 2 hours). Add whatever other vegetables you want (spinach, kale, tomatoes are favorites in my house) until just cooked, and serve with good bread or a simple salad.
Homemade pizza with a variety of toppings - Friday favorite in my house! I love the pre-made 99 cents pizza dough from Trader Joe's - or PM me if you want an excellent make-at-home, super easy pizza dough recipe.
We've been eating bean burritos:
2 16 oz cans black beans, drained & rinsed (but reserve about 2T liquid)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, undrained
1 t Chili Powder
1 t ground cumin
1 heaping t minced garlic
1/4 t dried oregano leaves
1/8 t ground cayanne peppper
salt to taste
1. Mix beans, reserved liquid, chili powder, cumin, garlic , oregano and red pepper in blender or food processor; cover. Process until beans are coarsely chopped. Transfer mixture to small saucepan.
2. Cook on medium-low heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Wrap in tortillas with some cheese.
Yummy & low fat!
I would love that pizza dough recipe. We don't have the .99 pizza dough, and we have been craving to make homemade pizza, but the dough here is like almost $4 a roll and we usually make 2.
Thanks.
This is one of my faves:
Sliced potatoes (I peal them, but my mom doesn't), can of cream of onion and can of cream of cerery, pound of hamburger fried, and a can of french cut green beans. Layer the potatoes, hamburger, green beans, potatoes, soup then hamburger, green beans potatoes soup, etc. In a casserole dish. Bake at 350 for about 45 min to an hour until potatoes are soft. It is sooooo yummy. It has become one of my future step sons favorite foods.
@MaxToRoss: Not sure if you have it in the stores where you are but there is a boxed brand called "Jiffy Mix", I see it most for cornbread but they have a pizza dough mix you just add water to anf it is between $0.50 and $0.75 usually! Pretty tasty too!
Ditto to planning your meals around weekly sales.
My BFF is allrecipes.com
You can type any ingredient in the search engine and it will pull up any recipe including that ingredient.
1 lb. link of smoked sausage, diced
1 onion, diced
2 stalks diced celery, optional
2-3 diced carrots, optional
1 large can tomatoes, chopped but not drained
1 lb. bag of mixed beans (17-bean is best)
Set beans to soak overnight (or boil them for two minutes, turn off heat, and let sit, covered, for one hour). Drain.
To beans, add two quarts water or stock and rest of ingredients. Simmer til tender. Add water as needed.
Makes a ton of delicious soup and only costs a couple of bucks. If you have a ham bone, throw it in, too. Makes it even better!
@MaxToRoss: I use this dough recipe although the directions say you can use it right away. It's better if you let it rise once before using it.
I love allrecipes.com and also skinnytaste.com. I find skinnytaste has a lot of quick and simple ingredient meals that always taste amazing and don't need a lot of random one-time-use ingredients. Tonight I'm making penne a la vodka and garlic cheddar biscuits from there :)
To cut costs at the grocery store I buy things when they're on sale, especially meat. Chicken breasts go on sale for half price every 3-4 weeks here, so I stock up and freeze them. It's a hit on the grocery bill at the time, but really saves a lot in the long run. We don't get a lot of coupons here, but I think if we had crazy couponing available here like they do in the States I would be a coupon queen!!!
Last week I whipped up a fairly budget friendly meal. I saw pork sirloin roasts on sale for $.99/lb, the 2 1/2lb roast was enough meat for two dinners easily! If you like pulled pork, or carnitas for tacos, look up some crockpot meals on allrecipes.com.
I have a similar recipe:
1 lb. ground hamburg
Coined carrots
thinly sliced potatoes
1 can of Cream of Tomato Soup
Layer hamburg on the bottom of a casserole dish, add sliced carrots, and sliced potatoes, empty can of tomato soup on top. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until veggies are soft. Mmm.
Another simple casserole or hot dish: My husband's mother used to make-he loves it:
Slice (any type favorite) sausage links into coins, add kernel and/or creamed corn add 1 egg per can of corn, some type of starch-bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, oatmeal or cornflake type cereal. Bake in casserole dish til firm.
The way we save money is making everything..it saves overpriced marked up of a prepared meal and home cooking is so much healthier for us. If i get home early, I scope out the 50% section at Fresh n Easy, they usually have pretty good stuff that I can just cook for that night..but other than that, we try not to skim on food. We like to eat, so we shop for the healthy stuff. We'd cut out shopping and other stuff to save money though.
Thanks, ladies!! I'm loving this thread!! Some of those recipes look delicous! And since I'll be commuting and hour and won't be home until around 6 in the evenings, they sounds simple enough to toss in the oven and chillax!
We do have an Aldi's, and shop there!! I've only been a handful of times, but each time I go, I find myself coming out with more and more. I guess I'm kind of dabbling in the products right now just to see what's good and what's not. So far, we haven't found one single item we're NOT pleased with!!
I need to kick the habit of shopping every night for groceries after work. I hate keeping fresh stuff in the fridge for too long though! My all time favorite cooking blog is www.thepioneerwoman.com she has the best food ever! I can't say that it's figure friendly, but I usually have most of the ingredients on hand.
do a plan of all your meals - write a list of ingredients out for them and buy what you need - dont divert from your list and buy extra!
also take packed lunch to work
and do stock takes at home of cupboard food - and try to make meals plans using as much stuff that you already have and only buy what else you need
mmmm I make this thing my daughter calls Ketchup Chicken but it sounds better to call it sweet and sour chicken.
Cook up some boneless skinless chix breast and cut into small pieces.
Mix together ketchup, soy sauce, apple juice (although other juices work), and some honey. I tend to do about equal parts ketchup, soy sauce and juice.
Throw the chicken in. Cook at 350 for 30 min. Serve over rice.
It is to die for and super easy and cheap.
ooh another good meal is Italian Dressing Fajitas
You can use either chicken or strip steak (pork might even work too!)
Cook up frozen peppers and onions (or fresh if you're not lazy like me). Set aside.
Cook chicken or steak thoroughly (I use a Wok.)
Throw peppers and onions back in. Stir for a few minutes. Shut off Wok. Add cut tomatoes and Italian dressing.
It does not sound good but it is absolutely amazing.
We plan out our meals every week. We make a list--if we buy chicken breasts, then we know that there are 3 pieces of chicken in each package. That can make two meals between the two of us. If they are large pieces, we can make three meals.
Something easy is grilling the chicken and putting in on some cooked pizza dough. You can use bbq sauce or pizza sauce as your sauce. We throw on veggies: onion, feta cheese, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, olives, jalapenos, etc. You can pick up a package of pizza dough for 99 cents.
We pick out all 7 meals before we go to the grocery store. We look at the sales papers first. Then I put a list of all of our meals on our fridge in the order that the meat goes bad. It works for us!
I have become an avid coupon user. Unfortunetly in Canada we don't get double coupon days like in the States, but even still, I manage to get tons of stuff for free or almost free. The main things that coupons help with is toiletries and cleaning supplies. So far this year I have saved over $500 in coupons and my husband and I have enough deodorant, razors, soap, and ziplock bags to last well over a year. For groceries, we always watch prices and plan meals. Being able to reutlilze leftovers helps a lot. Bulk cooking also helps. Making a huge pot of spagetti sauce means I have three or four meals worth in the freezer at all times. Same thing with chilli. Having some quick meals in the freezer cuts down on eating out for nights when I don't feel like cooking.
Easy Salisbury Steak (I got it from the Kraft magazine that goes out sometimes)
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 pkg. stuffing (like stouffer's)
• 1 C bbq sauce
• 1/4 C water
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together and shape into patties on a foil-lined pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until browned through. Top with extra bbq sauce. Goes great with mashed potatoes or mac and cheese, or even canned beans and veggies. Super cheap and easy!
Party Chicken
• Chicken breasts
• 1 12oz carton Sour Cream
• 1 can cream of mushroom
Preheat oven to 350. Mix sour cream and cream of mushroom. Put chicken breasts in a pan (or crockpot, high for 3 hours, low for 6) and top with soup mix. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
I love both of these recipes, they're on my constant recipe rotation. They're cheap, quick, and super easy!
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Hi, Bee's! I'm looking for some budget friendly, yet yummy meal options! FI and I are trying to keep food costs at roughly $50 per week once we're married (I do some minor couponing and toiletries and other home items aren't included in this budget). I will share this recipe because it is very cost friendly and FI says it's delish! Do ya'll have any to share?
http://www.food.com/recipe/paneras-cream-cheese-potato-soup-150863