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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
katie_cj
member
What do you eat when the budget is tight?
katie_cj
member
We miscalculated our February budget, so we are on a pretty tight food budget for March.
What meals to do you eat when your on a strict budget?
I've managed to meal plan this week around what we had in our pantry and our freezer, but I'll have about 30$ to make 4 meals with next week.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking a lot of pasta?
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Re: What do you eat when the budget is tight?
Do you have a link to your supermarket circular? I can build you meals from the sales...
pasta. but we eat a lot of pasta anyway.
I try to make it different, spahgetti, baked ziti, alfredo, chicken parmesean, manicotti.
We get free beef though at DH's job so we eat a TON of hamburgers when money is tight.
pasta
rice and beans
ground beef...we can stretch a pound of ground beef into 3 meals
The O'Baby Blog
You're right on the pasta. Also, make homemade soup. You can make a huge pot o f chicken noodle soup or vegetable beef soup for under $10.....and you'll get a few meals out of it.
ETA: You can do old school meals too like hot dogs and mac & cheese. Cheap and tasty!
Canned chicken and ground beef are pretty inexpensive. Also, I make sure that we're eating normal sized portions.
$30 for 4 meals is a pretty decent budget though. You could even do 4 skillet meals for that price.
-pasta
-sandwhiches
-salad
-homemade pizza (you can make the dough yourself for cheap or make mini pizzas on english muffins or bagels)
-grilled cheese
-tuna sandwhiches or casserole
https://iga.net/circulaire/index.php?lang=en&s=10
https://superc.ca/en/circulaire.html?idFlyer=156
Have you checked the flyers to see what is on sale at your grocery store? I'd probably base my meals off that first.
Here are a couple of things that pop in my mind as "cheap"...
Tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Mac n cheese. (I toss in a can of mixed veggies for nutrition).
Make a big pot of chili and you can eat on it for a few days and do chili dogs for one leftover night.
Breakfast for dinner is a great idea. Pancakes and eggs are super cheap, and bacon isnt bad either.
White Chili (chicken broth, northern beans, and green chilies)
Pasta
Rice
Potatoes
Those are our budget foods.
My blog: Midwest Chaos
Ground turkey is cheaper than beef. Also, if you make something like taco meat with it, add beans, it will help stretch the meat. Buy dry beans and cook them - cheaper and healthier than canned beans.
Pasta - buy some chicken. Diced and saute, grill, bake, bread and fry/bake and any of that can go with some pasta and spaghetti sauce or pesto.
GL - You can do it! Look at what's on sale this week and start there!
Natalie Kate - October 4, 2011
Blighted ovum, d&c at 9w, July 2012
Blighted ovum, d&c at 10w, September 2013
BFP May 28, EDD February 4, 2015
chicken - we buy large whole chix breast and make kabobs with some peppers and onions. potatoes as sides. then we use the rest of the chix cut in strips with pasta.
frozen pizza (use coupons and get a pizza to share for $1)
Ok...bear with me because some of this is french and your $$ are different so I'm no quite sure what's a good deal. If you eat pork get the ham plus a split pea soup mix, cheese and eggs. Also do the salsa chicken again, it's cheap. Plus you really can use any kind of chicken on sale also get chicken broth and cheap canned veggies.
Meal one... ham, broccoli and cheese omelettes.
Meal two equal split pea soup with leftover ham.
Meal three: salsa chicken
Meal four: leftover salsa chicken made into mexican soup with veggies.
Definitely have pasta one night.
Thanks. Those are all great ideas.
I'll double check all the flyers and try to stretch the rest of my pantry. It's actually 4 days, not 4 meals. I need to count lunches and breakfast too.
This will be good for us. We've been overspending on food anyways.
These are in French! I was really confused, couldn't figure out what I was reading, then I realized that it's not in a language that I speak! ::blonde moment::
Natalie Kate - October 4, 2011
Blighted ovum, d&c at 9w, July 2012
Blighted ovum, d&c at 10w, September 2013
BFP May 28, EDD February 4, 2015
LOL. Sorry, we don't get them in english.
There's English there, it's just fine print. I will say it is interesting to see the differences in prices between provinces.
Great idea! Salsa chicken is a hit and we have cheese already. And we haven't done ham in awhile. We can stretch that. Thanks!
LOL. I've never even noticed the english before. I've just always read it in french. And I went to Food Basics with my sister in Ottawa and everything seemed much cheaper.
We do a big pot of gumbo, chili, or red beans & rice when money's really tight. Pretty cheap to pull together, and then we can make it last for several days.
The SuperC is basically the equivalent. We don't have anything else. I buy all veggies and fruit at a market and some some staples at Walmart.
This! I also make it with canned Ham, but I mix the soup with milk to make it nice and creamy.
Beans are inexpensive and a great source of protein.
Lentil soup. One bag of dry lentis are under $1. Use 1/3 bag for two people.
Sautee onion in EVOO, add fresh or minced garlic if you have it, add lentils and brown for a few minutes. Add enough liquid to cover the beans....chicken stock if you have it, water is fine if not. Add dry seasoning to taste: salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, etc... cook covered for 1 hour but check and stir about every 15 min b/c you might have to keep adding liquid. Can also add 1 can of diced tomatoes, or a couple of spoonfuls of jarred tomatoe sauce for more flavor. I also add either frozen chopped spinach or frozen broccoli and/or cauliflower.
You can add as much as you have in the house or keep it to just lentils and seasoning if that's all you have.
Also, canned beans are less then $.50 and you could get 1 lb of ground chicken, turkey or beef and then add 2 cans of beans and a packet of taco or chili seasoning and it really stretches the meat into at least two meals for two adults. Again, you can add diced tomatoes, onions, other veggies and seasoning to taste and serve with corn chips, pasta, or rice.
I love most of these meals at any time, not just to save money! I think it's because they are comforting, remind me of home cooked meals from my mom, etc.
One thing my mom used to make a lot of when we were growing up (which my brother and I used to hate, but really it did taste pretty decent) was ground beef mixed with a can of mushroom soup, poured on top of mashed potatoes.
I imagine you can mix up the meat and soup for variety and to suit your tastes. Campbells soup has a recipe website, and you can even put an ingredient in to see what they suggest.
Pasta is cheap but very high in sugars and very fattening. Watch Ramon Noodles too as they are high in salts. You should still watch what you are eating too while trying to eat inexpensive. You don't want to spend what you are saving on medical bills.
Not sure where you live but there are tons of discount grocery stores that will save you a ton if you shop there. I am a coupon clipper also. Most foods have a website and they usually have coupons on their website.
Chicken is usually really inexpensive. A big bag at walmart is from 7-8 dollars.
Another good idea is to write out menu for the month using what you already have first. It saves us alot that way. I did an entire grocery shopping for a family of four for 1 month and 1 week for $250 and that included TP, napkins, etc. We are eating full meals too for that like baked chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes, roast, noodles, peas, etc.