Cheap recipes??
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I think I will just come to some of ya'lls houses for supper..
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I love this!!! I needed a step by step thank you so much. Could you explain how to make the spinach and cheese shells? I didnt grow up with people teachiing me to cook so now I am 38 and needing to eat healthy and no idea how to make it taste good
I will leave you to research the recipes on skinnytaste, but here is a break down of what your grocery bill could be if you plan right.
Monday: Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells (serves 9 with three shells each) $15.70 initial buy
- 1 pack frozen chopped spinach ($1)
- 1 large onion ($0.70)
- 2 cloves of garlic (one head of garlic $0.50)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 28 oz cruched tomatoes ($1)
- 1 Tbsp chopped basil ($2 for a pack)
- 1 15 oz container of ricotta ($3)
- 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, part skim ($3 for a pack)
-1 egg ($1.50 for a cartoon of medium eggs)
- 1/4 cup parmesan grated parm ($3 a container)
Tuesday: Turkey "Parm" Burgers (serves 4) $11
- 1 4 pack of Turkey patties or 1 lb of ground turkey ($6)
- 4 oz shredded mozzarella (Have some left over from last night $0)
- 4 tbsp spaghetti sauce ($2)
- 4 Whole Wheat hamburger buns ($3)
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes $13.50
- 1 lb Italian sausage ($4)
- 1/2 cup onion (left over from Monday)
- 3 garlic cloves (left over from head of garlic)
- 2 green peppers ($1.50)
- 1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes ($1)
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary ($3 for jar)
- 4 hamburger buns (left over)
- 4 slices cheese ($2)
- 1 cup baby spinach ($2 for a salad pack)
Thursday: Left over night! What ever left overs you have you eat up tonight! If there are no left overs then Breakfast nightt! $8.50
- 8 eggs (already bought the cartoon)
- Bacon or sausage ($5 assuming bacon)
- Sliced bread ($2)
- Strawberries ($1.50 for a carton at Krogers right now)
Friday: Pizza night! $5
- 4 whole wheat tortillas ($3 for a pack)
- left over Shredded Mozzarella
- left over spaghetti sauce
- Mini pepperonis ($2)
Saturday: Italian grilled chicken with grilled marinated veggies! $23.40
- 8 4 oz chicken breasts (4 being saved for tomorrow after gilled) ($12)
- 1 bottle italian dressing ($2)
- 1 pack mini peppers ($5)
- 2 onions ($1.40)
- prepackages lower sodium marinade of your choice (usually about $3)
Sunday: Salad night! $9.00
- Left over grilled chicken
- Baby Spring Salad Mix ($4 for a huge tub)
- Salad dressing
-Carrots ($1)
- Radishes ($1)
- Salad dressing ($3)
That comes to about $86 for the dinners, assuming that you need to buy everything already. But if you already have the herbs, or the spaghetti sauce or the salad dressings then it makes it even cheaper. For breakfasts do cereals (get the bagged ones, they are cheaper), oatmeal, etc... And lunches can peanut butter sandwiches, or lunch meat sandwiches, with fruit and a cookie or two.
All the prices are based on Kroger prices, so depending on where you shop it could end up being even cheaper.
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I don't have any recipes to add but was looking for similar suggestions. The budgetbytes website is very helpful, as is the posts with recipes. Can't wait to try it, I'm not a great cook but they look simple enough!!0
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Great ideas. Bump to read later.0
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I love this!!! I needed a step by step thank you so much. Could you explain how to make the spinach and cheese shells? I didnt grow up with people teachiing me to cook so now I am 38 and needing to eat healthy and no idea how to make it taste good
Hey LuckyBWI - Skinnytaste.co is the website. Its really good for instructions and pictures. The specific spinach and cheese shell recipe is here http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/01/spinach-stuffed-shells-with-meat-sauce.html0 -
I work with quite a limited food budget and I find that planning the month in advance is useful.
So I plan meals for just about every day of the month, and then I write down how much of everything I'll need for the month, it reduces waste because if I know I'm having mushrooms one night, then I'll make sure to plan a meal with the rest of them in the next few days before they get too old, the same for bacon etc.
It helps me to know what I'm spending, and I go into the supermarket with a list and come out only with what I need. Me and my partner (there's just the two of us) spend approximately $30 a week on food (I'm in the UK so I've just converted, should be right! We spend £20 a week on food) and we eat well, but if I don't plan, then I end up buying random bits and bobs all over the place. I try to only shop once a week and buy everything I need- I freeze anything I need to and/or plan to use things that need eating faster nearer the day I shop.
Cooking from scratch is also HUGE. One it's great for weight loss and health, and two, a jar of tomato pasta sauce costs about 4 times as much as making one with passata, herbs, and an onion yourself at home. Batch cook and freeze in advance if time is an issue.
Also bear in mind that frozen food has just as much nutritional value as fresh, we buy all our chicken frozen as it's less than half the price of fresh, frozen veg.. I freeze bread if it's not going to get eaten before it starts to go stale and that half a loaf might do my lunch for another 4 days.
Meat free meals can also help to bring costs down, there is no reason that we NEED meat in every meal, and it can be pricey, beans, in season veg etc.
But, for me, planning is the key! I've watched January be a terrible month where I've spent probably twice what I normally do on food because I've made unscheduled trips and bought what I fancy not what I've planned...0 -
@fairypies, this is spectacular advice. Plan, plan, plan!0
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I love reading about new healthy recipies!0
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It's hard to eat "healthy" on a tight budget :-/ so portion control might help some.
My "end of the month" recipies -
Chili: ( approx $12 for a pot, and usually have left overs)
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 onion
1 large can tomato sauce
1 can mushrooms
3 cans beans (what you like/or is on sale)
1 packet chili seasoning mix
Additional seasoning to taste
Brown ground beef, drain. add onion and cook until onions are transparent. In a large pan or crock pot mix everything else, add beef. Cook for at least an hour on low- the longer the better!!
I usually serve with either buttered bread slices or quick biscuits depending on what I have on hand.
Tater tot casserole: (less than $10)
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 bag tater tots
1 onion
1 cup frozen peas
1 large can cream of mushroom soup
(To cut sodium and fat I make my own gravy and nix the soup)
Brown beef, drain. Add onion, cook until onion is transparent. Add frozen peas and soup (add water to thin if needed) or make your own gravy
Season beef mixture with salt/pepper
In a baking dish (I use glass casserole dish, but any type would work) layer bottom of pan with beef mixture. Using tater tots cover top of meat completely. Place in a 375 oven 45 mins. or until meat mixture is bubbling around the edges and tots are at least soft. Turn temp up to 420 for an additional 10- 15 mins to get a nice crust.
Not super healthy, but they work in a pinch.0 -
Not sure if they have it in your area, but we get a lot of our produce and bread from bountifulbaskets.org. You can get a good sized amount of produce for only $15. They also have great add-ons and wonderful bread.0
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Im pretty much in same boat, smaller scale. And I am watching carbs, trans fat and sodium; makes even harder. I feed only myself usually, unless my man is in town, then its whole other story (he buys-I cook, or we go out-he still buys). but my budget is around $100 to $120 a mth. Im a pro at leftovers. Cook large amounts to eat later, even freeze, and then turning them into whole new meals. Taco meat becomes a hamburger/vegetable soup. Soups are great...Healthy, cheap, versatile, and can feed a lot. And you can make soup out of about anything. Add some veggies, broth or stock (cheaper and less sodium to make your own), some herbs and seasoning, and you've got tastiness in a bowl. Also, I love to use fillers...used to use potatoes for that taco meat, but now I use beans instead, but also carrots make that ground meat yummier and last longer.0
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try checking your local grocer for after holiday clearance. When the holidays come the grocers over buy anticipating big sales. Then they are stuck with items getting ready to expire. I was able to purchase 7 gallons of milk at .99 each. And 5 gallons of OJ for .99 each after Thanksgiving. All having a week before expiration. I bought them and put them in the freezer. We didn't buy any milk or oj for the month of December. I always check the clearance mark downs first. I have a picture of my purchase that day, but I don't see a photo icon to post it.
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https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf
This link is for Good and Cheap recipes by Leanne Brown who was working on her Masters Degree in Food Studies at New York University.
You might not like all of the foods in this recipe book but they are healthy.
Here is her website leannebrown.com/0 -
The most amazing site I've ever used is www.budget101.com they have meal plans for every week of they year going back to 2008 I think. check it out. and bump.
www.budget101.com
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Thanks for all the info!
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I have a family of 7 and spend way too much on groceries sometimes. It's usually when I deviate from my grocery list or if I take the kiddos with me and they take turns trying to sneak things into the cart.
I plan out my meals a week ahead using the free app and website called Pepper Plate. (https://www.pepperplate.com) I am able to save all of my recipes to one place and access them through my laptop, smartphone, or tablet. You can import recipes from a bunch of different websites (they have 36 sites with links) and if you have a recipe that is not on one of those websites you can enter it manually. I love being able to sit at my desk to plan out the week, send a grocery list to my phone to shop, and pull the recipe up on my tablet when I'm cooking.
I shop at Krogers and try to buy based on what is on sale each week, the coupons I have, and what is marked down for sale. Krogers breaks down the cost of the item and I use that to find the best price on what I need to buy. Sometimes buying in bulk is more expensive than buying a smaller package, especially when it comes to tuna. When Krogers has food that is approaching the expiration date, they mark the food down by up to half. If I find something that isn't marked down but expires the next day, I will find someone working in the area and they will mark it down for me on the spot.
I use ground turkey in place of hamburger because it's about half the price. When the meat is marked down I stock up and fill my freezer. I end up paying around $1.29 per pound for turkey. Same goes for chicken, pork, etc. Knowing the price of meat is also important because sometimes even when an item is marked down it might not be the best price. Sometimes there will be pork chops marked down for sale and the price is still higher than another cut of pork.
Buying a whole chicken and roasting it in your oven is cheaper than buying packages of breasts or thighs. A whole chicken runs about .99 a pound whereas chicken breasts can range from $2 to $4 a pound and thighs $1.50 to $3. I save the skin and carcass in my freezer to make stock.
I'm sure there's all kinds of things I can do to save more money and keep my grocery bill down and thanks to all of the great posts from everyone here, I'm going to check out the links and slash my bill some more.
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I loved the websites that were included here. I checked out a few of them and they had some great ideas. Variety really helps.
I wanted to add that main dish salads are easy, inexpensive, and usually healthy. At our house we have a main dish salad once a week. Easy to do a salad with chicken cubes, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, celery, and some nuts sprinkles on top of greens. A taco salad is a hit at our house, too. Just go easy on the taco meat and cheese, but use plenty of lettuce and tomatoes.
At this time of the year, soups are also great. Good recipes for soups are also easy to find. Check out the Good and Cheap recipes that in on the post of anewstart22 (above). I have several others I love including a Pasta Fagioli (knock-off recipe similar to Olive Garden's soup) and a Minestrone. They are hearty without using meat and are low calorie.
Happy cooking everyone!
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anewstart22 wrote: »https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf
This link is for Good and Cheap recipes by Leanne Brown who was working on her Masters Degree in Food Studies at New York University.
You might not like all of the foods in this recipe book but they are healthy.
Here is her website leannebrown.com/
Nice file of tips and recipes ..Thanks 0 -
kenmiller75 wrote: I end up paying around $1.29 per pound for turkey.
Wow what a difference... I'm in Ontario, Canada. Ground Turkey is 4.99/lb regular and 3.99/lb on sale. Extra lean ground beef I would be looking at similar prices. I just can not afford to buy meat, and get it from local charitable sources. My food budget is only about $100 per month on my disability income and I have a specialized diet which takes most of that. Gluten free and dairy free.
Whenever I have friends or family visiting the USA I have them bring me Gluten Free Food. The cereal I eat is about $5 in the States and it is $9.49 here in the grocery store.
Milk and cereal costs me just under $20 for a week. milk $8.99 (4 Litres lactose free) and $9.49 for 750 grams of Nature Path gluten free cereal.0 -
MrsYoungIII wrote: »Thanks! I use my crock pot a lot too. I just wish all the meals in my crock pot recipe book told me calories and stuff.
I've found the recipe builder here on MFP is FABULOUS when I'm not using a recipe. Just be careful about the servings.0 -
I work with quite a limited food budget and I find that planning the month in advance is useful.
So I plan meals for just about every day of the month, and then I write down how much of everything I'll need for the month, it reduces waste because if I know I'm having mushrooms one night, then I'll make sure to plan a meal with the rest of them in the next few days before they get too old, the same for bacon etc.
It helps me to know what I'm spending, and I go into the supermarket with a list and come out only with what I need. Me and my partner (there's just the two of us) spend approximately $30 a week on food (I'm in the UK so I've just converted, should be right! We spend £20 a week on food) and we eat well, but if I don't plan, then I end up buying random bits and bobs all over the place. I try to only shop once a week and buy everything I need- I freeze anything I need to and/or plan to use things that need eating faster nearer the day I shop.
Cooking from scratch is also HUGE. One it's great for weight loss and health, and two, a jar of tomato pasta sauce costs about 4 times as much as making one with passata, herbs, and an onion yourself at home. Batch cook and freeze in advance if time is an issue.
Also bear in mind that frozen food has just as much nutritional value as fresh, we buy all our chicken frozen as it's less than half the price of fresh, frozen veg.. I freeze bread if it's not going to get eaten before it starts to go stale and that half a loaf might do my lunch for another 4 days.
Meat free meals can also help to bring costs down, there is no reason that we NEED meat in every meal, and it can be pricey, beans, in season veg etc.
But, for me, planning is the key! I've watched January be a terrible month where I've spent probably twice what I normally do on food because I've made unscheduled trips and bought what I fancy not what I've planned...
@fairypies Some great tips, thanks 0 -
My ideas ( and I had 5 little ones to feed at one time as well);
tomato soup and grilled cheese
lentil soup in the crockpot
buy ground turkey in a bulk package and make (and freeze if needed) turkey burgers, meatballs, sloppy joe filling, taco filling and spaghetti sauce
a ham can be used in a billion ways: ham and bean soup, ham slices, ham and mac and cheese, ham and cheese grilled sandwiches, ham added to pre-canned soup or ham eaten with breakfast for dinner night!
breakfast for dinner! yum-pancakes and bacon ( or leftover ham)!0
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