$75-$100 Budget for 2 weeks of meals! D:
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Breakfast:
Cereals, cereal bars, eggs (hard, over easy with cooking spray)
Dinner:
Homemade chicken and dumplings *use for lunch for a day
Homemade vegetable soup * use for lunch for a day
baked chicken with egg noodles *use for lunch one day
Snacks:
100 calorie snacks
raw veggies with no fat dressings (or no dressing)0 -
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Spicey food- buy a can of jalapenos and add a little to food, if you dont like the flavor just use a little for the spiciness.
White rice- I buy a 2 pound bag for $1.75. I use it as a side filler and the 2 pounds lasts the 5 of us about a week.
White rice- I will buy on sale chicken breast and cook it in a skillet with a little pepper. Next I mix together peanutbutter, salt and a little water (1 TBL peanutbutter, 1/2 tsp salt,2 TBL water or however much youd like) and pour it over the chicken. Then put the chicken over some white rice with some mixed frozen veggies on the side (chicken $4.00, 1 cup rice 45¢($1.75/bag) 2 cups frozen veggies $1.00($4/bag))
White rice- brown 1 pound ground turkey (or beef) in skillet adding any spices (oregano, peprika, sage, even just salt and pepper). Add in cheese in amount desired (i also add in tomato, onion and bell pepper but it tastes fine without those). Add in a little tomato sauce, if desired. Spoon onto white rice.
If you can, buy flour. I make a weeks worth of pancakes (google "vegan pancake recipe" for recipes that use less ingredients but generally you'll use an egg, oil, baking powder, sugar (optional) and water) and biscuits (google "biscuit recipe" and click first link. Generally you'll use butter, salt and milk (or water)) and pizza dough (2 c flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tbl sugar, mix dry ingredients, add in 3/4 c water abd 1 TBL oil. Dough should be soft, not sticky. Roll out and bake at 400f for 15 - 20 mins) to which iadd tomato sauce and cheese.
Buying flour saves soooo must money. I also bake bread (3 1/2 c flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt. Mix dry ingeefuents. In a small bowl mix together 1 1/2 c water she 1/4 c oil. Mix wet ingredients into dry until mixed well. Form into 7 - 8 inch oval. Bake at 350f for 30 - 40 minutes)
So, for the baking youll need oil, flour, baking powder, butter, eggs.
Seriously, my bill went down $40 when I began baking
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Love all the suggestions!0 -
Of course you don't have to do vegetarian meals, but I found this article awhile ago: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1ufqqX
I also heard that pb&j costs $0.27 per sandwich.
Cheap meals we make:
Breakfast:
Oatmeal- put dry oats with craisins and nuts in a bowl, add hot water or microwave at work later
apples, peanut butter on pita bread
OJ with protein powder (but only if protein powder is something you already buy because it is really spendy)
hard boiled eggs
muffins are great too - just make a batch and once cool wrap them and throw them in the fridge or freezer! They will thaw out by lunch time or you can just zap them in the micro.
Lunch:
veggies and dip
quick salad
soup! soup is super cheap to make!
your standard sandwiches
Dinner:
Stir fry
beans and spiced rice
jerk chicken (or mock meat) with spanish risotto
We really eat a lot of soup, so my dinner ideas are lacking.
It is really helpful and not as bland as I think you were expecting. If you add a bottle of hot sauce to the mix, you can make it as spicy as you want. My husband and I spend about $40 a week. We stray from prepackaged foods and stick to fresh foods with the exception of frozen vegetables. They are as close to fresh as possible, nutrient wise, and super cost friendly. The prepackaged items are usually not worth the cost. If it is on the shelf I am certain there is a cheaper way to make it at home. I certainly feel you on the tight budget. Husband and I actually bond when we spend our evenings making the next days meals. It is so quick, especially once you get a plan and you learn all of your recipes. Sometimes I can just throw the next days entire meal together in that 30 mins. Hope some of these ideas help.
***Forgot to mention- I am not sure of your location or area, but if you have mercados or asian markets, try them out! The prices on things like noodles or snacks are usually really cheap and absolutely delicious.0 -
My best suggestion is shopping in the bulk foods section. This way you can buy whatever quantity you need, whether its a little or a lot! I always stoock up on necessities like sugar, flour, spices, pasta, rice, etc. Hot and cold cereals are also sold in bulk, as are mixes for muffins, pancakes, pizza crust, etc. It's my favorite part of any store
Also, whole foods in general are less expensive than packaged and processed foods. Buy fresh produce, and I've read others already say that in season produce is less expensive - so true! Making your own foods is cheaper too. If you eat a lot of peanut butter, try making it yourself! It's so easy, and much healthier. The initial purchase of peanut oil is a big one, but I've had mine for over a year and still haven't used half of the bottle. Just put peanut stock (from your bulk foods section!) and a little peanut oil in the food processor and turn it on. Eventually it starts turning into butter! Add oil as desired to make a smoother texture. I also add a bit of sugar, becuase I like it a little sweeter.
Unfortunately, that's where my advice ends as far as aligning with your goals. I'm terrible at meal planning and shopping for more than a few days at a time [thanks, mom!]. Also, I'm assuming you're not vegan So I don't have advice on recipes/meals unless you're open to cutting out all animal products! 0 -
forgot to mention - to jazz up your rice, try cooking it in vegetable broth (or any other broth, if you're so inclined. I stick to veggies). It adds a ton of flavor, because it's all soaked up during cooking. I always cook potatoes in broth too. Boullion cubes are really inexpensive, and I think chicken and beef boullion can be found in the bulk section.
I also add frozen veggies to the rice - just throw them in the rice cooker with everything else! I think frozen veggies are the way to go for out of season veggies, or ones that you don't use very often (i.e. won't use before they spoil).0 -
Looks like you've been doing this a couple weeks. How's it going?
I make my own granola - adjust to my favorite ingredients and use more oats to the amount of oil and sweetner called for. A half cup is 239 cal and very low sodium! The problem with packaged foods and lots of prepared broths is that they are high in sodium.
We save a lot of money on food by making large batches with fresh ingredients and then I freeze extras to take for my lunches at work.0 -
I'm a single mom living on a student's budget while going to university so I'm on around the same budget ($50ish a week). I just spent 4 days making slow cooker meals of stuff I had laying around in various stews and soups and freezing them in individual portions for lunches once the new semester starts.
Some examples
- beef chili
- used dried beans (pretty cheap), bit of hamburger, canned tomatoes, various spices
- bean rice soup
- again dried beans, various veggies in the fridge, and a rice mixture (from bulk), spices
- chicken noodle soup
- cooked chicken drumsticks and got the meat from that with some leftover noodles I had, and again various veggies, chicken broth
- beef stew
- cheap cuts of beef cut up with various veggies
I shop at the bulk store a lot and fill up on stuff I need which usually lasts the month (bran, granola, oats, tea, etc.). My weekly trips to the store are usually just for vegetables and eggs/milk. I have a bread machine and make my own bread a couple loaves at a time and freeze them. I do a meat shop about once every 2 months buying big slabs on sale and then freezing.
Take a look in your cupboard and look at the stuff that hasn't been used yet. I love just throwing various stuff in the slow cooker and making up 6 servings of a soup! Mentioned earlier, just trying out different variations of the stuff you have laying around can be helpful. I try to use up everything since we tend to have cupboards of stuff we just keep not using. The cheap cuts of beef are also great in the slow cooker too and makes them super tender!
I also definitely buy fruits/vegetables that are in season, as they are much cheaper.0 -
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I am not good about a tight budget these days, but have had many times in my life that I have been on one. Here are some of my budget stretching go-to's:
Taco salad- I often skip the chips to save the calories and the money. I buy the 3 pack of romaine lettuce which will get you a lot of healthy salad greens for not a lot of money. I buy roma tomatoes because they are cheap. I buy a block of cheese and shred it myself... I get the full-fat real stuff. It tastes better, is cheaper than the pre-shred, and because it has the fat it has more flavor and I end up using less. I buy "Fiesta" brand "Quick Chili" seasoning. It is cheap and can be used for chili, tacos, etc. I can get it at Kroger or Wal-Mart around here. A pound of extra lean ground beef should yield at least 4 servings and possibly 6, so leftovers can be used for lunch or another dinner. I don't like the monotony of leftovers, so I will often freeze something like that and serve it a week later rather than risk it going bad in the fridge.
Savory Sloppy-Joes- This is a recipe I made up because we do not like the sweetness of traditional sloppy joes. I use one package of diced frozen onions and bell peppers (usually $0.99 at Kroger, so cheaper than buying and chopping my own). Sautee that and add in a pound of lean ground beef, brown it, and drain off grease. Add 3/4 cup ketchup, 2 Tablespoons yellow mustard, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and 3 Tablespoons Fiesta Quick Chili mix. You can add salt and/or a little more chili seasoning to taste if needed. Serve on store brand buns. We get at least 6 big sandwiches out of this.
Black beans are cheap and go well with rice you have on hand. I'm from Texas, so of course I'd throw a can of Ro-Tel in there. :-)
I buy the big bag of frozen chicken breasts. Frozen stir fry veggies are cheap and you can get by with less meat if you do more veggies. I often use two big breasts for 4 of us so you may be able to do one large or two small. Again you can use your rice with this.
Eggs are a cheap protein source. Scramble them and top with a bit of the cheese left from the taco salad and top with some diced tomato. Serve with toast and you have an inexpensive breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If you don't eat a lot of bread and want to skip buying a loaf, you may have a left-over hamburger bun you can use.
Using that big bag of chicken breasts and you bought for stir fry, cook up one and serve over a salad from the romaine and Roma tomatoes. You can use one breast for the two of you if you supplement it with a couple of boiled eggs and some cheese... chef salad.
The pillow packs of cereal are always cheaper than the regular boxes IF you will eat it before it goes stale. The cheerios knock-offs are not bad.
Bananas are generally cheap. They are also dense in calories so generally speaking you should think of a banana as two servings of fruit. Split one between the two of you over your pseudo-cheerios.
Beans are cheap. Cook some and make chili. Freeze the extras or it will go bad before two people can eat it.
Spaghetti. Go easy on the pasta to control calories and balance it with more salad (remember you bought the 3-pack!). You will have left-overs for lunch.
Buy whatever fruit is on sale rather than always buying the same thing. Off-season fruits can blow your budget in a hurry.
Compare the price of store brand frozen vegetables to the fresh ones. Often the frozen ones are less expensive. Since you are watching sodium, I'd say go with frozen over canned vegetables because the price difference is not going to be that much but the sodium load can be huge with canned veggies.
Hopefully this gets the ideas rolling! It can be done with some creativity. Good luck!0 -
Don't know if this has been posted or not, don' feel like reading through 5 pages!
http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/0 -
My fiance does all the grocery shopping and unfortunately he is horrible at sticking to a budget....but I do have some ideas for you none the less!
Our "Western" diet says we should eat meat 3x a day. Don't! Eat other sources of protein as well...beans, eggs, peanut butter, etc (I saw your comment about your husband hating tofu -- I don't blame him! lol). Not only is it less expensive, it's also healthier. I eat a lot of hummus which I make myself (much cheaper than buying prepared plus it's easy). You can get a can of chick peas for under $1. Put it in a food processor, add about 2TBLS olive oil, about 1TBLS lemon juice and a couple TBLS garlic. Then you can add any other items you may want -- sometimes I will roast a pepper and add half the pepper or 4-5 sundried tomato halves and blend it all together. I will buy a bag of pita bread and bake them into chips myself to eat with it or cut up veggies.
Tortillas can be a bit of a nutritional void, but I love them nonetheless and they are quite cheap and last forever! I will make breakfast burritos with a bunch of fresh veggies, eggs and add some avacado or a smear of guacamole. Or smear some refried beans, a little of that white rice you have a bunch of :bigsmile: and add some veggies to make a bean burrito. I also make homemade tortilla chips and serve with some salsa and/or guacamole for a snack.
A great homemade butternut squash soup: In a lg pot add 14oz chix or veg broth, 1 medium chopped onion, 2 diced carrots, 1/2 tsp baking soda, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tsp cinnamon. Simmer uncovered until veggies are soft (10-15mins). Optional: Put in food processor and blend till smooth and return to pot. Add 15oz canned butternut squash and 2 cups half & half (although I use 1% milk instead). Simmer uncovered 10 mins. Absolutely delicious!
A bean chili with a ton of veggies is great and awesome leftover. Of course there's always a good old fashion chicken stir fry -- those bags of frozen veggie mixes are great for that.
Hope I've been useful!0 -
If you're just doing it for two weeks, it's tough, because you're best buying in bulk. That means a lot of money up front and savings a few weeks in. I'd hit the ethnic groceries (Indian, East Asian, Hispanic, etc) and look for big bags of rice and legumes. (Beans, lentils, pulse, dal, various names). Also see if there is a bulk produce place near you where you can get a large bag of fresh veggies for the same price as a small package at the supermarket. Eggs, skim milk, root vegetables, vegetable oils. Make your own bread/soda bread/muffins/cakes. Make stews heavily spiced and mix a little of that seasoned mix over your potatoes, rice or bread for flavor.0
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oatmeal... lots and lots of oatmeal. And ramen.0
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- How much you spend on 2 weeks of meals:
I'd say about 100 dollars sounds about right. Its just me my my boyfriend, and we both prefer to eat at home, because we both like to cook.
- Your shopping list for 2 weeks :
Meats-> Ground Turkey, Chicken Breast, Spicy Turkey Sausage.
Dairy-> Eggs, Almond Milk, Greek Yogurt, 50 soft swiss cheese wedges.
Carbs-> 1-2 box of pasta, loaf of multi grain bread, whole grain cereal.
Fruit & veggies-> mostly frozen stuff, because it doesn't last long. i usually get whatever fresh veggie or fruit are on sale and work my meals around that.
Ect. -> Tomato Sauce, peanut/almond butter.
- Breakfast ideas:
2 poached eggs on toast with some soft swiss spread. (add some spinach and make your own Eggs Florentine).
2 fried Eggs and Turkey Sausage. (add bread and make it a breakfast sandwich)
Cereal with Almond Milk.
Fruit and veggie smoothie.
*** I will answer more later***
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My husband and I make almost all of our meals at home, and he packs his lunch for work most days. I, too, have a Walmart, Target, Sam's and a Cash Wise Foods in our area. I'm trying to watch my sodium as well, so I hear you on that. It's hard to lower it at first and gets easier the more meals you cook with lower sodium.
I find a LOT of sale meats at our Walmart. We buy as many as we can afford and eat from the freezer a lot of times. I saw you mention that you live in an apartment, but you may want to look into a small chest freezer to tuck in a closet somewhere. I would be lost without my two deep freezers. It's just my husband and I and we outgrew our one and had to get an additional one. I found one on Craigslist for a good deal.
If you have access to a printer and can go with coupons, they help tremendously. Cash Wise double them up to a dollar, and I get a lot of things for free there. On FaceBook, I would recommend "liking" FM Cheapskate. She lives in my area and does coupon match-ups (meaning what is on sale with what there are coupons out for) for Cash Wise.
One of my favorite things I made lately was turkey brown rice soup. I roasted a turkey we had gotten on sale, made my own broth, and made a double batch of soup. You could modify the ingredients to better fit your budget if you want.
I have found the easiest way to store soups, chilis, and the like is this: freeze in portion-size containers and then pop them out. Double wrap in plastic wrap and store in gallon baggies. If you use all the same-ish containers, they stack in bags really well and only take about 6 minutes to cook in the microwave from frozen (unwrapped, of course). Just be sure to LABEL the bags, I found that out the hard way when I had a few things in the freezer that looked alike. We call it our "puck shelf" with all of our ready-to-go meals on it.
My husband has been taking egg bake to work most days lately for breakfast. I made a batch and we had some leftovers, so I plastic wrapped them and froze. They thaw nicely overnight in the fridge, and you don't have to worry about it going bad before you get to eating it. You could make a few different varieties one day and have a lot of breakfast options.
Sometimes we make a whole roast just to make shredded beef sandwiches. It doesn't have to be a cut that shreds well (and is fattier), I just put chunks in the food processor, bbq it and freeze it in portions. He really loves taking these sandwiches to mix things up from cold cuts. Beef stew is another good option. We save the juices from our roasts and freeze them. The keep nicely until you have enough for stew, and the fat skims off easily when they are thawing.
I buy containers of cottage cheese and put them into smaller, portion containers right away. I can grab one as a snack, send one with the hubby for lunch, and don't have to worry about measuring except the one time for them all. Snack-size bags are also nice to have snacks portioned out for him to add to his lunches.
As far as a grocery list, I just buy a lot of what is on sale and go from there. I go with an idea of what meals I would like to make, but follow the sales and make changes as needed.
Light laughing cow cheeses and inexpensive at Sam's and go well on celery or crackers. You can get a three-pack for less than what two packs cost at the grocery store. We also like to put these wedges in our scrambled eggs for some variety.
I hope this helps. If you would like any recipes mentioned, just message me.0 -
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