I am looking for any recipes or tips to feed two on $200.00 a month
By Lynda from Kearny, NJ
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Wow! $200/month for 2 people. That's not bad. I spend about $240 for 4 people. Shop the sales. I never buy meat unless it is on sale. I only buy chicken with bones for under $1.00/lb...boneless at under $2.00/lb. I use up all my leftovers. When I make a whole chicken, I take all the leftover meat off the bone and make pot pie, chicken with tomato sauce, BBQ Chicken Pizza, etc. The bones, I would boil with veggies for a soup stock. I make bean and veggie soup with the stock. I would then eat that for lunch.
Cook from scratch. Make muffins, pancakes, french toast, eggs, oatmeal for breakfast. I had some homemade oatmeal bread that was a few days old, so I made a breakfast strata with the bread, a few apples, maple syrup, eggs and milk. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.
For lunches, I pack them for my kids and husband. My husband usually has a sandwich or leftovers. My kids will have soup, pb and crackers, sandwiches, fruit, popcorn, etc.
For snacks, we have popcorn, fruit, crackers, homemade cookies, muffins, etc.
In summary, shop sales, make food from scratch, use up all your leftovers. Hope this helps.
Breakfast foods for supper once or twice a week are good budget stretchers and are easy to make. Buttermilk pancakes made with half water are the most tender things in the world.
For Salsa Egg Wraps:
I like to scramble 1-2 eggs with onion or garlic pepper with a Tablespoon or 2 of Salsa per serving. For each serving place eggs down the center of flour tortilla and add a bit of grated cheese, green onion, or a dab of sour cream. Extra salsa. Wrap up and enjoy. Filling and tasty.
Augratin Stuffed Omelets. Another favorite for a quick filling meal is to cook a box of Augratin potatos (Very inexpensive) in the microwave. In a bowl, Stir up with a fork one egg per person to be fed. In sprayed nonstick nedium pan, pour just enough egg to cover bottom of pan. Cook until top of egg seems fairly dry, and bottom is lightly browned.
Slide onto plate, and open flat. Fill in middle strip with au gratins and fold each side over middle. Serve with fork. MMMMMM
Blessings!
They say pea dahl, beans, lentils, butter beans, and other legumes are poor man's food, but now when you want to live a healthy life its still the best source of protein.
Canned fish and boiled eggs curried makes a good meal.
Baked potatoes with corn and mayonnaise.
Sandwiches with canned fish a little chopped onion and green chilli [optional]
Egg toast.
Boil your pasta and add some white sauce and pour some beaten eggs and bake.
Cheese sandwiches with only sliced tomato.
There's many other simple recipes
Lynda,
Keep good nutrition in mind even if still on a tight budget. 13 y/o kids still need more calcium than adults is one issue. If you can tolerate it, you can mix powdered milk with a qt. of regular milk for a savings, as well as eliminating or at least restricting meat from the diet for even more savings. Buy "staples" (rice, flour, cornmeal,pastas of all sorts, including Ramen and don't forget beans and legumes for good meat substitutes) to really stretch those $saving meals. Buy canned or fresh in season veggies for added vitamins and minerals. Drink water before and after meals because most people do not drink enough good ole"Adam's Ale". Cut out all empty calories like chips, candy, sugar,or what is known as junk food including colas. Limit tea and coffee.
Water will quench your thirst and you will soon learn to crave it instead of colas, etc. Plus your kidneys will love you and probably be your lifelong friends!For snacks, try a handful of mixed nuts (I buy them minus the peanuts) or even a handful of cereal(most are fortified with added vitamins and minerals)as well as fresh or dried fruits. Celery and peanut butter is a nutritious and good snack. Try to get a citrus fruit every day. Cut white potatoes out and sub sweet potatoes instead. These are not a true potato but related to a flower and does not contain starch. Much healthier and will keep you from craving white potatoes plus they are filling. Try sweet potatoes sliced in "coins" and microwave for about 4 mins on high then brown in a little olive oil in your frying pan. Yummy!
Eat two or three servings of fish every week either canned or fresh (or how do you feel about a week-end of fishing with the teen for some quality time and some low cost meals if you catch some fish?) You don't care for fish? how about shrimp,crab,scallops,mussels, etc? Eggs are low cost and filling and can be used in a zillion ways. Hope you can glean something useful from this post and good luck with your new found time with your teen. Hamnurse
It would be helpful if you would both post the sorts of foods you prefer to eat, especially with a 13 year old! Kids can suddenly become picky even if they weren't before. Do you guys like veggies, gravies, types of meat, bread, tortilla, etc.?
There are tons of recipes available but it would be easier on us to give you recipes using food that you enjoy, no waste then!
Checkout www.hillbillyhousewife.com/
Here are a couple more websites to check out for frugal recipes:
www.frugalvillage.com/
I have a lot of recipes that cost no more than $2 a serving! Let me know and I can share them with you!
Try going to www.5dollardinners.com the who site is devoted to making dinner (and other meals) for at least four for five dollars and under for the whole meal (not just per person!) you could halve the recipes or freeze half once it's made.
Also, if you have a Save A Lot store near you go to www.Savealot.com and look through their recipes. Very cheap and really tasty!
Also there's www.thehillbillyhousewife.com who has a $90 and a $70 week menu for emergencies.... also very good, I've used them myself. Lots of recipes. same with www.livingonadime.com All fantastic sites! Good luck!
Lots of good posted ideas here! I became disabled in April and receive a very, very, very small amount of food stamp help. I use that for fresh fruits, fresh veggies, butter, milk and eggs. I get basic staples, soups, etc from my local food bank. At first I was ashamed to have to receive the stamps and go to the food bank but those things exist to help people so, depending on what and how much you need to eat to remain 'healthy', don't rule out the food bank if need be.
And as other posters mentioned if you could tell us what kind of foods you like it would be easier for us to share low cost recipes with you ;-)
I raised a houseful of kids,so I know plenty AND cheap!
Here's a few of my kids' favorites:
Sheperd's Pie
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1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced
Salt & Pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1can whole kernel corn,drained
1 can early green peas,drained
1 pouch instant mashed potatoes
milk and butter for potatoes
A few slices of sliced sandwich cheese,
----------------------------------------------------
1)Brown the ground beef,onions,salt and pepper
2)make the mashed potatoes according to package directions
3) Empty soup,peas and corn into ground beef mixture,stir and put in oven-proof dish.
4) Top with mashed potatoes,lay a few slices of cheese on top,and place in 350 degree oven until hot throughout.
Supper's ready,with a protein,3 dairy,a starch,a green and a yellow vegetable.If you need to make more,just multiply each ingredient the same.
By the way, this is so easy my kids could make it at 13!
Hamburger Stew
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Ground beef,diced onions,salt and pepper,all browned
Canned diced tomatoes
Mixed vegetables
Macaroni if you like it
Combine and simmer
Again,protein,veggies and a starch
Macaroni, Tomatoes and Milk
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1 lb.box macaroni
2 or 3 cans diced tomatoes,or tomato sauce or puree,whichever is on sale
1/2 stick butter
about 4 cups of milk, more or less
salt and pepper
-----------------------------
Boil macaroni in salted water until about half done;drain
Add tomato, butter, milk, salt and pepper
Boil until macaroni is tender
You can serve this with bacon and a romaine lettuce salad on the side
Again, protein,starch, dairy and veggies
Hope this helps.
I have 2 kids . This recipe is cheap and tastes really good. Its about 5 bucks from the dollar store, using their brand of foods . Still good though!
*Tuna Casserole*
2 bags of plain potato chips
2 cans of cream of chicken soup 2 cans of water
2 cans of tuna
1 cup cheddar cheese
Crush the chips in the bag, then in a bowl mix together the tuna, soup and water, add the chips mix well, put in a casserole dish, top with cheese, (You can add sauteed onions for more flavor) also don't forget salt and black pepper to your liking. Bake this at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. To cut cooking time heat the soup and water up first then mix everything. It doesn't have the strong tuna taste like you would think, my kids love this dish I was raised on this dish LOL! Hope you like it.
If you live within driving distance from Aldi, try shopping there. You should be able to feed two people very comfortably on $200 a month by doing the majority of your shopping at Aldi.
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I am looking for yummy recipes on a fairly tight budget. My brother recently gave up working to be a stay-at-home dad for his 13 year old daughter. Money is now tighter than before and I would like to pass on some cheap, nutritional, tasty dinner recipes for them both. Can anybody help please? Thank you.
Monique x UK
Vegetable Soup Casserole
Mix all together in a 9x13 dish. Add a touch of milk if soup doesn't coat everything. Top with a sprinkle of cheddar. Bake covered 45 min at 350. This is a forgiving casserole. You can add extra potatoes to stretch it or another can of soup to make it creamier. (06/14/2005)
By Ann
I buy chickens at about 50 cents a pound on sale, bake one and take off all the meat. For about 60 cents of meat, 10 cents of rice, and whatever vegetable or two is on sale, I can make a stir fry or using flour tortillas instead of rice, a sandwich wrap that is nutritious and inexpensive.
Another inexpensive meal is tuna casserole. I buy tuna at 50 cents a can, mushroom soup at 44 cents, 2 pounds of noodles at 89 cents, and a small head of broccoli. To make enough for two nights, I use 2 cans of tuna, 2 cans of soup mixed with the cooked noodles. Add chopped broccoli. Mix together and put in a large casserole dish that has a bit of oil on the bottom. You can grate a little cheese on top or just top with crushed potato chips (less than half a bag at $1.49 per bag). Drizzle a bit of melted margarine over chips and you have 2 meals for about $4.
I only buy meat on sale and then usually for the month, so if chickens are on sale, I buy 4 to make 2 - 3 meals per week out of. I think of the month as 28 meals so those chickens have just knocked off 8 - 12 meals for the month, along with a bit of rice and vegetables. The tuna casserole is 8 more. Now I only have to figure out 8-12 meals more.
If I buy ground beef instead of chickens, I get about 8 pounds for $16 or less. Then each week we'll have burgers and another meal like BBQ beef sandwiches, just sloppy joe-like on buns which are only about $1 per package. Baked potatoes round the meal off and are very inexpensive.
I only buy one type of meat per month. We don't eat much meat anyway. We never buy chips, except for the tuna casserole, and I never buy cookies. I bake 5 dozen cookies made out of cake mix which I buy at $1 or less per box on sale. And when brownie mix is on sale for about $1, I buy some of those and make 6 dozen mini-cupcake brownies per box.
Our budget for food is about $50-$75 per week depending on what I feel like splurging on. We are 2 adults and one teenager. I do not like to cook and freeze for the month. Too much money gets tied up all at once and then I can't take advantage of sales. I found that stocking up for more than the month I'm planning for (except the meat for the month) fills my pantry and doesn't actually get used. So I may buy one extra mayonnaise to have on hand when it's on sale, but I don't stock up on 4 just because it's on sale.
Good luck. (06/14/2005)
By Allison Dey
I add onions, peppers, and celery to all my ground beef recipes. Shredded carrots add vitamins and can't really taste the difference. All of the above in spaghetti sauce, too. (06/15/2005)
By cau
www.SavingDinner.com Try this website print out the sample menu and see if it would be helpful to your brother. I find lots of good ideas, menus and recipes there. (06/18/2005)
By pm omoth
Buy or get from the library a wonderful little book "The Pauper's Cookbook" by Jocasta Innes. I still have mine form the 1960's and it has been a marvel. I brought up a big family on very low pay and now feed myself and partner as thriftily as I can. My current favorite tightwad recipes are chicken liver pate and home made bread. (06/20/2005)
By Sara B.
I'm a student. One of my favourite recipes is an Egyptian-style tomato and chicken dish. These are rough measurements for making it for myself. You need a 1/4 tube tomato puree and a can of chopped tomatoes, oil, garlic, green peppers. Add puree to chicken wings or thighs (if I make 8 thighs I can have this tomorrow, too) in a deep saucepan with some oil and fry them for a moment. Then transfer to a pot and add about 1/2 a mug of water and the canned chopped tomatoes over it.
By Peadraigin
I like to use fried ramen style noodles with some vegetables that are on sale to make a very tasty, but cheap meal. I start by boiling 2 packages of ramen noodles per the directions on the bag, and then heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in an electric skillet or fry-pan and add chopped veggies (zucchini squash is especially good, as are carrots, and I always have some frozen peas on hand as well to throw in the mix).
Once the veggies have softened some and started to caramelize slightly I add the now cooked and drained noodles and stir fry the whole lot. After a minute of frying I add oyster sauce or other Asian style sauce for flavor and cook for another minute or so. Other nice additions are chicken or cashew nuts if you have some money to spare. Really tasty and low cost. (07/01/2005)
I make chicken pot pie with mixed veggies or whatever is on sale and I use the cheap canned biscuits for the crust. You can also make the crust from scratch, but I don't have time for that. I start by thickening the bouillon cubes I keep on hand with cornstarch. I brown the chicken with onion, bellpepper (if I have them) and I throw in thawed mixed veggies. You can either make the biscuits from scratch and drop them on top or you can use the canned biscuits and place them on top for the crust. (10/24/2005)
By Shi
I make a chicken spaghetti, boil spaghetti, drain, mix with two cans cream of chicken, some diced up leftover chicken, and top with some shredded cheese. My boys actually prefer it without the leftover chicken. (06/11/2008)
By Rhonda
Something we do is make wet burritos. Take 6 frozen burritos, (I get them at Aldi's for .35 cents each) and remove the wrappers and put them in a greased cake pan.
Then we make our own sauce.
Combine everything in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over the burritos in the cake pan.
Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and top with 2-4 cups shredded cheese (depends on how cheesy you like it). Return to oven until cheese is melted 7-10 minutes. (08/25/2008)
By Terri
I too am on a tight budget this is one even my kids love. Take biscuit dough spread into greased muffin cups. Brown 1 pound hamburger with 1 onion diced drain off grease add BBQ sauce. Fill the prepared muffin cups with meat mixture top with cheese of your choosing bake 15-20 minutes in oven. yummo (08/25/2008)
By Bonnie
Wanted to share as it is only right.
Crock-pot recipe: 9 qt. 6 potatoes, 1 onion cut, bacon, 1 cream of mushroom soup, (add milk not water) salt and pepper to taste. Let cook 8 hours and eat. Awesome leftovers as well.
Meatballs in a crock-pot: pre-made or home-made meatballs, one jar of grape jelly, one thing of mild salsa, let cook 6 to 8 hours on low. Makes good meatball sandwiches the next day.
Velveeta Cheese in microwave: One thing of velveeta cheese, salsa, ground turkey, brown the turkey, throw all together in a safe bowl and melt. Good as a dip, and many uses. (09/03/2008)
By Kati
