Suddenly on a very tight budget

Morgandobes

Hi Y'all
Looks like this group has been pretty quiet. I am looking for ideas on dieting on a budget.
I was doing MFP with Fitbit last fall with decent results, but then I suddenly found
myself and my family on a very, very tight budget. Hamburger helper is certainly
cheaper than healthy foods!! :-)
Anyway, looking for ideas on feeding a family of three and keeping my calories
in check on a budget.

Lisa

Cdn_Dot

Add frozen veggies to everything. Or add them on the side to fill out a meal quickly. Watch the portion sizes on the Kraft dinner/hamburger helper meals, you probably already do this though.
I get frozen pizzas when they are on sale or make my own crust and add left over chicken and peppers, onions, and celery to it. We get the big bag of pepperoni slices and portion them out for pizzas and for our girl's school lunches. We also stock up on cheese when there is a good sale.

I need a bit of help in this area too, but luckily my freezer is full of food that will last me a bit.

Goldenbast

Hi! Sorry for the late response but I just haven't been around lately but that is about to change. I have also found myself suddenly on a VERY tight budget due to my getting permanently hurt at work and suddenly being back on a one person paycheck for a family of 7!! To top that off my 14 year old was in an accident and just got out of the hospital and it wiped out our money...so this next week is going to be very interesting as I try to do an even lower budget....and so far I was budgeting about $150 a month for 7....this includes for the hubby who is on restricted sodium, so everything has to be done by scratch!

I used to go the hamburger helper and top ramen rout until I started really reading labels.....wow the stuff is truly not healthy! I have been researching cheap cooking and have started to try my hand at recreating homemade versions of store-bought items (such as frozen burritos, those skillet meals, hamburger helper, etc.

Justacoffeenut

Alot of packaged stuff you can make your own verison at home. Also do the tricks to fool your mind. Use smaller plates. Shread chicken instead of leaving it in whole pieces. Dried beans, shop bulk stores for things that are non perishable. Also stock up when you can on sale items and freeze. Takes a bit planning sometimes but I am finding it a challenge and I love a good challenge. I use coupons if I have to use the big name stores for something and always price match. Why drive so far away if my local Walmart will price match for the same item. Check out skinnytaste and like sites for ideas then adapt as you need to.

Elliehmltn

Hi! Sorry for the late response but I just haven't been around lately but that is about to change. I have also found myself suddenly on a VERY tight budget due to my getting permanently hurt at work and suddenly being back on a one person paycheck for a family of 7!! To top that off my 14 year old was in an accident and just got out of the hospital and it wiped out our money...so this next week is going to be very interesting as I try to do an even lower budget....and so far I was budgeting about $150 a month for 7....this includes for the hubby who is on restricted sodium, so everything has to be done by scratch!

This was while ago, so I hope your teen recovered completely and that your own injury healed as well. And I hope your financial situation is better now.

Am I reading that you budgeted $150 a month for a family of 7? Can you remember how you did that? =-O I would be very interested if you could remember a list of the provisions you bought!

Goldenbast

Heh! Yes, I did manage a $150 a week for 7 but it was a TON OF WORK.

My family LOVES those frozen burritos. I made a HUGE batch of refried beans, bought a large pack of shred cheese, packs of tortillas, seran wrap, and gallon baggies. I just rolled up a TON of burritos, flash froze them on a cookie sheet then wrapped them in plastic and put them in the gallon baggie. MUCH cheaper than the premade.

I would cook up whatever meats were on sale..if they were on deep sale I would buy extra for later in the week and freeze it.

We would make stir fry top ramen......by itself ramen is not very healthy and horribly salty, but you can cook up the ramen, add some frozen mixed veggies (I buy bags ans bags of the basic mixed veggies). Once cooked I drain the water then add the season packet (half for sodium minded hubby, then a dash of soy sauce or some other sauce and stir fry the concoction. Will also add matching meat....if I had some chuck on sale I will usually crock pot it then shred it up.....takje some shredded beef and add to the beef ramen, or shredded or cubed chicken to the chicken ramen, etc.

These were the staples usually bought:

Rice
Beans
Sale Meats
Bread (if on sale otherwise homemade)
Cubes of low sodium beef broth (just until I can make a decent batch of homemade beef broth)
Frozen fruits and veggies (especially when on sale and with coupons)
Fresh fruit and veggies (especially when on sale and with coupons)
Milk
Butter
Penut Butter
Jelly or Jam (would like to learn to make my own)
Pasta (Im not a big pasta person, but everyone else likes it so I get it to make homemade mac and cheese, hamburger/chicken/tuna helper)

It just really heavily depended on what I could get on sale and cheap then I would plan meals accordingly.