If You Had to Be VERY Careful Money-wise….

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  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    This website 'poor girl eats well' has some great ideas...
    http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/
    Thanks, bookmarked to investigate later.

    I like to make a spaghetti sauce based on minced beef of good quality. The trick is to thin it out with both canned diced/chopped and puréed tomatoes as well as season it well. Reduce it long enough to create a thick-ish sauce. You'll be surprised how many portions come out of it and the beef gives oomph to it.

    Puréed tomatoes are a quick and super cheap tomato soup when combined with chicken broth. Sprinkle feta cheese on top.
  • PurpleDragon87
    PurpleDragon87 Posts: 17 Member
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    There's a good website for cheap meals called Budget Bytes!

    www.budgtbytes.com

    Don't forget about the zillion recipes on Pinterest!
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
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    This website 'poor girl eats well' has some great ideas...
    http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/

    Yay! thanks!
  • strassenkoenigin
    strassenkoenigin Posts: 259
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    You said you do not have a crock pot. I recently bought a cheap rice cooker and I find it ideal for a single person to turn out easy and healthy meals. I buy a big bag of brown rice. and then I buy frozen chicken breasts and turkey patties and use either frozen or fresh vegetables.
    All I do is cook some brown rice for ten minutes (brown rice takes long) in the rice cooker , then I add the chicken and the vegetables in the steamer dish on top of it. I season the chicken and the vegetables and after another ten minutes or so I have a fresh and healthy meal. Especially now in summer it is ideal because I do not have to watch anything over a hot stove. I just switch on the rice cooker and that is all. Easy clean up and you can refine it by adding some yogurt or tomato paste.
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
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    I did some some searching about energy use of ovens versus slow cookers and it seems there is no reliable answer as to which takes more energy: a slow cooker or an oven in a reasonably well insulated range. Some say one, some say the other, and very little actual research has been done. If you can comfortably touch your oven door when it's on, you probably have a reasonably well-insulated stove. So, in the end, I decided not to buy a slow cooker.

    That being said, I do try to take advantage of the space in the oven when I have it on. For example, tonight I will be cooking a breast of chicken in the oven. As long as I have the oven on, I will probably do both jasmine rice for tonight and brown rice for a rice salad later in the week. I also have a bunch of beets that need cooking and a large sweet potato. So the oven will be relatively full when I cook the chicken and I'll have lots of pre-cooked stuff for eating as the week progresses.

    Many foods are pretty flexible when it comes to oven temperature. The chicken will be mostly responsible for deciding the temperature today. Just adjust the time and perhaps up the liquid for the rice for a hot oven and you are set to go.

    In fact, it's getting time to start throwing things in the oven. Not the chicken yet but the brown rice and that huge monster sweet potato need a head start today.

    Doing multiple foods in the oven is a great idea. I don't know why I didn't think of that@ I can use Sunday as a good time to prep and freeze;So often II tend to look around in my office, notice that I don't have snacks , and go out to the market and go a little crazy buying food.
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
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    This website 'poor girl eats well' has some great ideas...
    http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/
    [/quoteL

    Looks perfect~
  • RachelSteeners
    RachelSteeners Posts: 249 Member
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    I make tacos regularly! I buy a pack of 100 tortillas from Costco for under $3 (but they are pretty from other places)... Fill them up with chicken (1oz per taco, so one breast goes a long way), tofu, beans or grilled zucchini/bell pepper... Then top with mixed lettuce and a few dashes of hot sauce. Super yummy, low calorie and economical :smile:
  • hhindsle
    hhindsle Posts: 43 Member
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    If you like or can at least stand tofu it is very cheap compared to meat. I cut hamburger and chorizo with tofu and my family doesn't even notice. It provides a lot of protein very cheaply and can stretch a meal.
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
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    75 bucks a week is tight, but doable if its just for one person, maybe one person and a child.

    I have access to one grocery store within thirty miles, so I cant devote myself to saving money like some others can. I am also not an amazing/creative cook with lots of free time. It has to quick to prepare, and inexpensive or I just dont have time or energy.

    I get dairy from- low fat milk (1%), and low fat yogurt/cottage cheese purchased on sale. Yogurt is on sale every 2 weeks here, as is cottage cheese, so I just wait, and buy 2 weeks worth at a go.

    meat- frozen bagged salmon fillets, frozen bagged tilapia fillets, canned tuna in water, frozen bagged boneless skinless chicken breasts, and eggs. I buy lunch meat for my husband's work meal, always a lean variety, typically oscar meyer. I also buy oscar meyer 95 percent fat free hotdogs, for quick dinners. They taste better than the cheaper, fattier hot dogs.

    other protein- dry roasted peanuts (generic), peanut butter, beans canned for a quick lunch, or dry bagged for a long cooking soup. I soak overnight, and then crockpot them all day.

    grains- minute rice (it only takes 5 minutes to cook and fills me up), cheap white bread, cheap white pasta. ramen noodles sometimes.

    whole grains- graham crackers, popcorn kernels cooked on the stove, generic quaker chewy bars (the kids love these), Quick oats in the big tub, and generic whole grain cereals (Im partial to knockoff total.)

    Produce- cheap vegetables, like iceberg, carrots, cabbage, onions, and potatoes. Cucumbers and tomatoes are a good price right now where I live, as is corn on the cob.

    produce-cheap fruit, bagged apples, bunch bananas, bagged oranges. Grapes on sale, but I sub grapes with raisins, or oranges with( from concentrate) OJ too.

    Treats- I like butterscotch hard candy, and wine. I buy wine in a box, and it lasts FOREVER. My favorite is franzia crisp white.

    snacks- pretzels, popcorn, or a granola bar, around here.

    Drinks- cheap coffee,classic lipton tea for making iced tea, WATER, occasional glass of OJ. Wine a few times a week, measured 5oz.

    cooking oil- I use very little oil to cook. mostly bake or poach... however I do use PAM cooking spray, and light margarine for certain things, and vegetable oil for popcorn.

    healthy fats- salad dressings, olive oil mayo, salmon fillet, and light margarine. I also buy hummus and guacamole to use as sandwhich spreads.

    You are so thoughtful to write this out. It is super,concretely helpful. i live it, I'm going to pin it up my fridge! Thanks so much.
  • christullos
    christullos Posts: 89
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    Frozen veggies are just as nutritious as fresh and a lot cheaper so I recommend getting those.

    I also recommend checking out this blog which is specifically for cheap/low effort foods http://no-more-ramen.tumblr.com/

    Oh this excellent, thank you.

    I agree about frozen veggies. Their cost remains constant as fresh produce prices fluctuate greatly during peak and off peak seasonally.

    I also buy 5lb bag of chicken breasts as Sam's. 32 pieces $23 breaks down to 72¢ each. I have oodles and oodles of chicken recipes
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    I'm not much of a frozen-veggie person, but what I try very hard to do is stick to seasonal produce. Blueberries in the middle of the winter are flown in from god knows where and the price tag shows it, as an example. I also follow sales quite closely and go as few times as posdible to the grocery store, in order to avoid buying something I don't truly need.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    When we were young and my mother and father had the monthly "which bills can we pay this time" conversations, my parents took up canning. We had access to applesauce, peaches, tomatoes, pickles, etc. from the shelves in the basement year round.

    Now is a great time of year to try it. It's harvest season! The equipment and supplies are not very expensive and you'll find a good amount of them on Craigslist, at thrift stores, and similar places. There's nothing bad about a used canning pot and no need to upgrade to pressure canning unless you want to do low acid things like wild meats.

    Here's a site with another way to get canning equipment cheaply: http://authenticsimplicity.net/2012/04/how-to-get-canning-supplies-for-cheap-or-free/

    Canning is not difficult. Happily, there are lots of free, well-written sources of information about canning online from local university Extension Services. Just google whatever you want to can, preserve, or freeze and the words "canning extension" and you'll hit lots of valid info. For example, googling "peaches canning extension" pulled up http://www.clemson.edu/extension/food_nutrition/canning/tips/28preserving_peaches.html
  • bigtummymommy
    bigtummymommy Posts: 19
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    Hi O_M,
    Just a thought with the ED and empty cupboards - would it be helpful to buy a big, cheap bag of brown rice, then fill up jam jars and fill the cupboards with them? With some cheap cans of beans? Maybe it is a silly idea, but I too panic when food supplies run low so I understand that desperate feeling when seeing bare shelves!
    Hope it goes well.
  • heronh
    heronh Posts: 529 Member
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    Costco. They have Soooo many healthy organic stuff for CHEAP especially the ones in the bay area. There is a meetup group in SF (I don't know if its still active) that pools together resources. Not everybody in SF have cars or costco membership or the space the buy in bulk so someone might drive and somebody might have the membership and they can split up bulk goods however they want.
  • mtruitt01
    mtruitt01 Posts: 370 Member
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    [img][/img][img]]http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/melanieamostruitt/IMG_0831_zps3a928725.jpg[/img]

    I tried to post a pic of whats in my cupboard, but I guess message boards won't accept them. I post on:
    what's for breakfast?
    What's for lunch?
    What's for dinner??
    Those sites accept pix for some reason...
    You might get ideas for eatables from them.

    --These are just backups in my cupboard, for when I'm too tired to prepare food. I also used to have no food, and now I cruise various markets looking for things on sale that I know I will eat or use. Mostly soups: lentil, black bean, split pea. I check calories and protein for the whole can, since I usually eat the whole thing which is 2 servings. I also pick up almond milk from the 99c store. I shop where the poor folks and retired people shop. Cruising markets for cheap and wholesome food is now one of my hobbies.
    I also pick up veggies, chop them and put them in containers. It's easier to make a salad when you do the prep on a day off.
  • derrickyoung
    derrickyoung Posts: 136 Member
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    Brown Rice Chili

    Basicly follow your favorite chili recipe or idea but use brown rice instead of Ground Beef.

    4 or 5 dollars worth of stuff makes enough to last 4 or more meals
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    I would be buying lots of bulk black beans and brown rice.

    A few (or just one pre combined) spices, add a protein of choice, and you're off to the races.

    Splurge and add jalapeños and sour cream or Greek yogurt on top.

    I used to make cheap chili all the time too, and shephards pie. Those are two that always amaze me how cheap they are to make.

    Chili: ground beef, lean, drained. Onions, can of black beans, can of tomatoes taco seasoning, whatever else you feel like adding.

    Shephards pie is like $10 tops to make and will feed you at least five times. I like to add tomato paste to the beef or ground turkey mixture for added flavor.

    These are excellent ideas. I live near a really cheap butcher in the Chinatown part of the city; their ground meat is dirt cheap. Thanks!

    Ok, so, avoid the market on clement, I forget the name but it's the big one near the fish monger. I got so sick from pork there. I'd head to the mission for pork.

    I'd cut the CSA, and just do my vegetable buying at the farmer's market at Civic Center. It's the same vendors as the embarcadero one for the most part, and majorly lower prices.

    I could get out of that market for $15 and have at least a week and a half of vege handled, including some splurges like mushrooms.
  • heronh
    heronh Posts: 529 Member
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    Oh and if you need meds you can get it Costco even if you are not a memberv because its a pharmacy and their prices are so cheap. They even have pet meds as well as frontline and heargard cheaper than any online place.
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
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    This website 'poor girl eats well' has some great ideas...
    http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/

    Thank you!
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
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    8
    I'm not much of a frozen-veggie person, but what I try very hard to do is stick to seasonal produce. Blueberries in the middle of the winter are flown in from god knows where and the price tag shows it, as an example. I also follow sales quite closely and go as few times as posdible to the grocery store, in order to avoid buying something I don't truly need.

    I should take more notice of sales and such. What a good idea.

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