Stocking the fridge keeps making me broke!

I don't have teenagers yet but my sister has a couple of teenage boys who kill her food budget. It's astounding how much they can put away in an afternoon. What I do try to keep in the fridge at all times are: 2 gallons of milk, reusable bottles of water, cheese, eggs, bacon, spaghetti sauce, leftovers, lots of in season fruits and veggies and 2 packages of meat for the week. My freezer is full of frozen berries for cobblers and pies, pork tenderloins that I cut up into one pound packages, some veggies, and chicken breast. The pantry is packed full - mostly condiments and ingredients for making things from scratch including rice, beans, flour, oatmeal, pasta, tea, herbs/spices, etc. I try to stay away from juices - it's not cheap and it's more filling to eat an orange than drink a glass of orange juice. However, with teenage kids, juice is probably hard to avoid. The frozen concentrates seem to be less expensive than the refrigerated juices.

I used to cut on some costs by making giant breakfast burritos and freezing them to microwave when needed (sadly they are too calorie dense for me now but it may be a good option for growing teenagers). Pretty cheap and easy recipe to make a couple of dozen burritos. It's a rough estimate but you can tweak things.

1 pound (or 2) of crumbled sausage browned with a packet of taco seasoning
1 large onion chopped and sauteed
1 small bag of sweet corn kernels heated up
1 - 2 lbs bag of southern style hash browned or O'Brien potatoes fried up
1 dozen eggs scrambled and chopped up
1 can of rotel tomatoes drained
1 can of black beans rinsed and drained

Toss all this together lightly and use about 1/2 cup to fill a large flour tortilla - this should make enough for 20-25 burritos. Wrap up in foil or parchment paper and freeze. I estimated about $0.50 per burrito to make.

I have PLENTY of meats/proteins in my deep freeze, as well as rice in my pantry. The only thing I would think of adding right now is fish.

Yet every time I try to eat healthy and stock my refrigerator/counters with produce, my grocery budget seems to explode! I have teenagers that drink me out of house and home! Need ideas of produce/veggies to get on a budget. Also need ideas of making milk and juice last for longer than a day. (Milk comes in the house and they feel it their duty to binge on cereal. They also siphon the juice - as in 2 gallons worth of apple juice in a 48 hour period of time. Seriously considering buying the juice and dumping it into a pitcher and adding water.)

If you had to stock your refrigerator with MUST HAVE staples, what would it look like? Also, what would you do with those staples, as far as meal planning goes? (Example: I currently have two pounds of carrots in the refrigerator.)

Someone had posted this link some time ago where the blogger suggests buying milk @marked down prices or near its sell by date and freezing it for future use: http://www.livingonadime.com/saving-money-on-milk/

For milk and juice usage ideas: http://www.livingonadime.com/how-to-save-money-on-groceries/

Have you considered couponing?

Replacing the cereal (sugar bomb) with eggs and toast would probably help, too.

Quit buying juice. It's loaded with sugar. Kids are better off eating the fruit than drinking juice. They can drink water. Buy plain low-fat yogurt instead of milk. You'll see the dairy consumption go way down! Eat yogurt at breakfast with home-made granola and fresh fruit, maybe some toast, too, to fill up the kids.

It's incredibly easy to make bread instead of buying it. Google no-knead bread and you'll see lots of videos and recipes. At more than $4.00/loaf, bread is expensive.

Though I don't have the problem with kids, I do my best to eat on a budget. I recommend checking out the ads to see what fruits/vegetables are on sale, and planning around them

For juice, have you considered looking into making an Agua Fresca? It is healthier and can be customized...

do what my kid does - saves on my food bill.

have your kids hang out with their friends at their friends houses more often! lol! I jest as I totally miss my kid but he's on the football team and hangs out with his palls a LOT.

I have PLENTY of meats/proteins in my deep freeze, as well as rice in my pantry. The only thing I would think of adding right now is fish.

Yet every time I try to eat healthy and stock my refrigerator/counters with produce, my grocery budget seems to explode! I have teenagers that drink me out of house and home! Need ideas of produce/veggies to get on a budget. Also need ideas of making milk and juice last for longer than a day. (Milk comes in the house and they feel it their duty to binge on cereal. They also siphon the juice - as in 2 gallons worth of apple juice in a 48 hour period of time. Seriously considering buying the juice and dumping it into a pitcher and adding water.)

If you had to stock your refrigerator with MUST HAVE staples, what would it look like? Also, what would you do with those staples, as far as meal planning goes? (Example: I currently have two pounds of carrots in the refrigerator.)

Thank the lord I have dogs. No kids.
Do you shop wholesale? Coupons?

I don't know if they have it in your area but i love Bountiful baskets for produce! as far as juice I can't keep it in the house either.

I'm glad you quit buying so much juice. Drinking juice and milk isn't good when your body needs water. I keep a large container full of water in my fridge. It's more appealing to drink when I'm thirsty in the heat and feel hungry.

Are you saying that these other liquids won't help with hydration?

I don't know how big families do it personally. At my place it is just me and my fiancé and our fridge is always chock full and we have a chest freezer too.

Fridge normally has:
meat defrosting
various dairy (cottage cheese, yoghurt, ricotta, cream cheese, milk, shredded cheese)
eggs
various sauces and stuff
veggies
Then it's full

Freezer:
various meats
frozen veg
frozen berries
ice cream
egg whites