Meal Advice

On a flush week, cook double recipes and freeze half, then on a short week use these and top up with vegetables, rice etc

Mumstrongbow wrote: »

On a flush week, cook double recipes and freeze half, then on a short week use these and top up with vegetables, rice etc

^^^^^^^^

Nothing wrong with spaghetti! Personally, I feel like you can get better tasting food than hamburger helper, but if that's what fits the budget, then go with it. For both of those meals, see if you can add in a bag of frozen broccoli (about 1 dollar/ bag). Then, eat a smaller portion of hamburger helper or spaghetti with a couple scrambled eggs for additional protein and nutrients.

Lots of good ideas here which I use weekly!

Here's another one for you that I made last night. Vegetarian chili: 2 cans beans, 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, 8 oz tomato sauce, 1 can of beer, 2 T chili seasoning. Add water to thin out. (The beer adds surprising deep flavor, but you can use broth instead). This is around $5 for 4-6 servings. It's even cheaper if you cook beans from dried, but I was lazy yesterday. I also made some cornbread muffins - I just buy cornmeal and make the recipe on the side, I always have the other ingredients on hand (flour, milk, etc).

i make a barley and sweet potato risotto for less than $6 which serves me for up to 6 meals

the blog budgetbytes has ideas for cooking on the cheap

Beans and rice.
Eggs
Things free after coupons. This week I got 10 potatoes, two yogurts, 5 boxes of special k bars, a small amount green onions , and 2lbs oranges.
Build pantry on cheap but good items use that to stretch other weeks

Look for sales on meat and stock up. Cooking some of the cheaper cuts of meat in a crock pot will usually make them tender and shreddable. Portion in individual servings and freeze them to serve over beans, rice, pasta, etc. Another item that is cheap is cornmeal. You can make polenta, which is very versatile.

anl90 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

I have no idea what your budget is, but I find things like oats, rice, potatoes, dried beans, frozen vegetables, and pasta, and canned tomatoes to be very affordable.

What are you eating now that you want to replace with other things?

I get things like stuff for spaghetti, hamburger helper, brats, etc. Just a lot of processed stuff, that I feel like is going to be packed with calories.

You can probably find something cheaper than the brats in terms of price per protein gram (those tend to be very high fat and sold in smaller packages). Pricerite/shop-rite, for instance, sells large packages of generic turkey franks for $4-ish. When chopped/sliced up (I usually cut up the whole package and then toss in freezer baggies to add to batches of stuff later), they work pretty well in rice & beans and soups, or just tossed on top of some frozen veggies and microwaved. Same store has some surprisingly lean boneless ham quarters for $2-something/lb that also works well for all of that. You'd have to check around and look at the packages at the stores near you to find out what options you have available. Rice & beans are very cheap and stretch far. Frozen and canned veggies can bulk it out to larger portions per calorie. Note: where I am the price for canned veggies varies quite a bit between the main supermarket chains versus the discount grocery chains - and it definitely adds up. Aldi generally has a 'weekly special' meat item that will be a very good price. I got a hunk of pork (pretty lean cut too) at less than $2/lb last week. This week, boneless, skinless chicken breasts were $1.89/lb. Definitely check to see what is available for any 'weekly specials'.

Hamburger helper is probably not worth the price tag unless an incredibly cheap store brand (if memory serves: it comprises some pasta, powdered cheese, spices - all stuff that is cheap to buy in full sizes and would last a long time). And ground beef has gotten fairly expensive (at least where I am) even for the high fat content stuff. Even ground turkey is pricier than a lot of the other available meat options at my local stores.

As someone else mentioned, a pressure cooker and/or crockpot are incredibly useful, especially for a lot of the cheapest meals to make. They'll both make cheap tough cuts of meat tender. Pressure cooker will make short work of dried beans. Batches of soups/stews/chili. Also having certain staple items always on hand that can be used with whatever meat is available. janejellyroll's list above is a pretty good one for that. I always have rice, dried beans, canned tomatoes, canned mushrooms, frozen vegetables, some canned vegetables on hand. If I had to be more frugal on the grocery bill, then oats, peanut butter, potatoes would definitely join that list (replacing the morning protein bar and some of the now protein calories later in the day).