Need cheap recipes for large family

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apedeb09
apedeb09 Posts: 805 Member
We are on a tighter than usual budget for the next 2 weeks and I have to figure out a grocery list to feed a family of 6.. Please give me the cheapest (and obviously healthy) meals you can think of. I'd appreciate any ideas you can throw at me.. and go! :)
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  • KaraLee69
    KaraLee69 Posts: 57 Member
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    Chicken breasts, salsa, taco seasoning. Put it in a crockpot and let go all day. Make as much as you want. I have a family of four. I use 2 jars of store brand salsa (2 for $3), one or two packs of taco seasoning, depending on your tastes. Can add black beans as well. The ratio of all of the above really just depends on what your personal preference is. Sometimes I take (99 cents) flour tortillas, use a pizza cutter and cut in triangles, spray with a little pam, sprinkle with some of the taco seasoning and pop in oven to crisp up to go with it. Hope this helps!
  • gonnamakeanewaccount
    gonnamakeanewaccount Posts: 642 Member
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    Rice and beans is typically a really cheap meal to make. You can add some protein to it as well; maybe even some vegetables.
  • She_Hulk
    She_Hulk Posts: 277
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    5 lbs. of chicken breasts
    28 oz. can diced tomatoes (I drain mine-recipe calls not to-too runny for me)
    Jar of salsa (I use mild)

    Put all ingredients together in crock pot and cook on high for about 3-4 hours. Shred chicken before serving. Put over a bed of spinach leaves or place in tortilla wraps. My family loves this. I make it every weekend. Quick, easy, inexpensive, healthy, and delicious.

    Thanks for starting this thread. We're a family of 5 and I can't wait to get more ideas!
  • melimama2
    melimama2 Posts: 40 Member
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    I cook for a family of 5 and we are tight this week too! I have chili, stuffed peppers (loaded with beans, rice and some sausage I had in the freezer) enchiladas (I buy bone in chicken thighs and throw them in the crockpot with salsa and taco seasoning. the meat will just fall off the bones. roll it up in some flour tortillas and we top with an avocado cream sauce) Breakfast for dinner is always a hit with my kids and can be cheap.
  • 1longroad
    1longroad Posts: 642 Member
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    Had 4 teens with extra friends over and this was always a hit.

    Boil one to two pounds of elbow macaroni (depending upon how many people/meals)

    In a skillet brown I onion diced, one bell pepper diced, garlic if you like and 1 pound of hills hire farms or jenni-o sausage that is diced, in some olive oil to taste. Add any seasonings, salt, pepper, parsley etc., that you like.

    Drain the pasta, add the vegie/sausage mixture, stir and serve.

    Cheap, tasty and filling. You can make it with white pasta, whole wheat pasta, full fat sausage or turkey sausage. It filled up a lot of hungry teenagers at my house many a time.
  • She_Hulk
    She_Hulk Posts: 277
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    Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

    1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
    12 oz. can or bottled root beer (I know, not healthy but it really makes the difference! You can use the Zeevia brand-made with steevia but pricey)
    18 oz. of your favorite BBQ sauce

    Place tenderloin in crock pot. Pour root beer over the meat. Cover, cook on low about 6-7 hours. Pork should shred easily. Drain well! Stir in BBQ sauce. My husband loves this over a hamburger bun. The kids and I eat it by itself with a nice salad. Very tasty!
  • She_Hulk
    She_Hulk Posts: 277
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    Daughter LOVES this one:
    Mush

    2 cups dry lentils (cook these separately for just a little bit - otherwise they take too long)
    2 cups brown rice (I use white)
    8 cups chicken broth
    2 (8 oz each) cans of tomato sauce
    1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

    Combine lentils, rice and broth in a saucepan. Boil. Stir briefly. Cover pot and simmer until rice and lentils are tender and broth is absorbed. Add tomato sauce and salt to taste. Pour mixture into a 9x13 pan, smoothing out. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350' until cheese is melted (about 5-10 minutes). Serve with a nice veggie or any side. Cheap and tasty!!!!
  • lpina2mi
    lpina2mi Posts: 425 Member
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    Been there before!

    Buy a roasting hen and roast it. Set the neck and offals aside.

    Take the meat off the carcass and submerge the carcass, neck, offals and drippings from the roasting pan in a deep pot. Simmer for 18-24 hours. You are making stock for a soup and skimming off a little for an enriched broth for a casserole.

    The nice large pieces of breast meat, thighs, and drumsticks with roasted skin in-tack put on a platter with roasted vegetables. Prepare your family's favorite grain on the side. Make fat & flavor rich condiment for the veggies. Think of adding to...mayonaisse or sour cream or greek yogurt and combo thereof things like a pinch of salt + garlic + tumeric + cumin + ancho chili + pinch mint + .....

    Package the lesser pieces of meat for a chicken pot pie wth top crust only. This top crust can be mashed yukon or sweet potatoes drizzled with melted butter and sprinkled with salt. Inside the pot pie might some leftover veggies with some fresh corn, peas or another legume, plus the usual celery, carrot, onion, mushrooms. For the broth combine leftover conditment with a cup of stock plus some powdered tapioca or cornstarch to thicken, then stir in tsp salt and 1/2 tsp ground pepper. Pour over the casserole dish before topping with your mashed vegetable mixture. In the autumn I combine mashed rutabaga with my mashed tubers. Don't forget the drizzle of butter and sprinkle of salt ontop of the mashed toppping!

    For the Italian pasta fagioli soup: strain bones etc from the stock. Return the stock to stove and reduce by 1/3 to 1/2. Flavor your stock with garlic, bay leaf, oregano, savory, tumeric and a bit of salt. Add a can of rinsed & drained cannelli beans or fava beans. Add chopped celery, carrots, onions, a fair amount of diced tomatoes. Shortly before serving add chopped kale. To serve put some leftover grains into bowls and ladle soup on top and float a bruised basil leaf. Make garlic bread with a little melted mozzarella ontop.

    No one will know that you are cooking on a shoestring!
  • lexiek47
    lexiek47 Posts: 18 Member
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    If you're looking for healthy lunches try doing pasta salads with vegetables bought in bulk. More veggies mean that you need less pasta and less meat to fill you up. Basically always try to squeeze in as many veggies as you can so that you can save more on meat.

    I like making a batch of rice at the beginning of the week and adding eggs and veggies in a wok to make a healthy fried rice. Omelets are also great for the end of the week because you can throw in leftover veggies and meat. If all else fails, everyone loves spaghetti . Go for whole wheat pasta with reduced sodium sauces :)
  • jaimeteague
    jaimeteague Posts: 95 Member
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    I've been using beans and vegetables lately to bulk out the meat. 3 bean and beef chilli uses 500g pack of mince and 3 different tins of beans. Macaroni cheese using strong cheeses so you'll need less with butternut squash purée as the base of the sauce (both Ellie Krieger recipes). Also I've been using a large joint of meat to make 2 sometimes 3 meals - very economical. Check out the recipes online from Economy Gastromony' they're really good. Good luck!
  • Brummig
    Brummig Posts: 94
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    Ragu style sauce -

    load of cheap tomatoes
    couple of cloves of garlic
    couple of onions
    mixed herbs

    chop, stick in a big pot and bring slowly to boil, then simmer for about and hour. You can add red wine if you have some, and I throw in any veggies at the end of their life I have in the fridge, or that they are selling off cheap in the supermarket - almost anything goes!
    I make a big batch every few weeks and freeze it (freezes great). Serve it with pasta for a simple meal, add mince if you want. Add chilli flakes or spices and call it chilli -serve with rice, or tacos - my boys love it! Add beans to make it go further.

    I've also used it as a base for sausage casserole which I do in the slow cooker - sauce, sausages (obviously!), some spicy beans or cheap baked beans and some tabasco sauce, potatoes and carrots.
  • BeccaBollons
    BeccaBollons Posts: 652 Member
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    I second buying a whole chicken for roasting- honestly the meat goes MUCH farther than a packet of chicken breasts. A large packet of minced beef can do 2 meals for 6 people, cook half the mince to use as a base for cottage pie, and the other half as spaghetti bolognese. Easy and cheap!
  • thinlizzy608
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    HI!! We have a family of 7 here!! Crockpots are my best friend....I own and use all 3 of them lol I will agree 100% with purchasing a whole roasting chicken because you get a great amount of chicken off of it! If not, then this is what I do:

    boneless/skinless chicken breast- I throw about 5lbs in my crockpot with a can of low sodium chicken broth, a chopped onion for flavor and some seasoning like paprika, cumin, garlic powder,etc. I leave it on for like 6 hours on low and drain it and then shred it up. You can always let it cool down, put it in freezer bags and toss in the freezer for later use.

    pork loin- same as above and I use a 5lb pork loin (expensive here if not on sale). Or when drained, shred it and add BBQ sauce.

    Wheat pasta, brown rice, lots of veggies, "Salad Night" (lots of lettuce and salad fixins), whole wheat tortillas for wraps, baked potatoes, "Breafast" for dinner. That's just off the top of my head lol

    My teens love English muffin pizzas: I use Thomas' Whole Wheat English muffins, pasta sauce (low sodium if possible) otherwise I use salsa and of course low fat cheese.
  • Dgadd17
    Dgadd17 Posts: 49 Member
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    Another couple good web sites. Not all the recipes are healthy, but there are a lot of recipes on each that are.

    http://www.keyingredient.com/

    http://www.myrecipemagic.com/home/recipes

    I've tried a number of recipes from both sites and have been pleased with all of t hem so far.
  • ritaraygosa1000
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    Just started this on my iphone and now found it the web: here are two sites someone else recommended
    http://www.thegraciouspantry.com
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com
    I hope this helps and I am new to this also, but understand that 80% nutrition and 20% exercise.
    Good luck
  • I_Will_Be_The_Swan
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    One bag of Light 'n' Fluffy Egg Noodles(about five bucks for a pound), four cans of Condensed Campbell's Cream Of Mushroom Soup(between four and six dollars), and some mushrooms(four bucks). Boil pasta, sautee mushrooms, heat soup with two cans of water for thich, creamy sauce. Mix the mushrooms in with the sauce and mix into drained pasta. For a side, 1lb of tomatoes, a package of spinach, and any other salad toppings that your family will like. Toss into a salad. This should be enough for one maybe even leftovers.
  • Ajaay
    Ajaay Posts: 70 Member
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    Baked lentils with cheese is my favorite. I also eat it with rice sometimes to stretch it out. You can switch out the veggies to ones you prefer. http://www.cooks.com/recipe/ka46c498/baked-lentils-with-cheese.html

    I also use bones from roasting chicken or w/e other meat I've cooked to make stock for soups. It adds flavor for no extra money.
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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    turkey goulash
    turkey franks
    turkey dinner sausage
    turkey burgers
    turkey sloppy joes
    turkey spaghetti
  • matyoung125
    matyoung125 Posts: 72 Member
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    I agree with buying a whole chicken. Check the web for video on how to cut it up. 8 portions easily. Any of the tougher bits of meat that require slow cooking are cheap and you can make loads of good things like stew. Veggie soup with any old veggies, just cook 'em, and wizz them up with veggie stock.. Try padding out meals with beans and lentils.

    Easy cheap meal: Mix 2 cans of Cannellini beans, halfed fresh cherry tomatoes, basil, whole garlic cloves and chilli flakes and a tbsp of olive oil in a shallow dish. Cover the top with Chicken legs (skin on, rub with oil and salt if you are going to eat the skins) and cook in the oven at about 350F for an hour and a half Remove the skin after cooking. 4 good sized adult portions. I always have it with broccoli

    Someone posted a recipe for Ragu that's real versatile so make a batch and use your imagination.

    Simple chilli = brown some minced beef with an onion, add a tin of tomatoes, kidney beans and baked beans and some chilli powder and a beef stock cube (and maybe some water). Simmer for 15 minutes and serve with rice. The beans really fill it out and aren't expensive.