Imagine you have only $25 a week to feed your family (it doesn’t matter the size), what meals would you make for your them?
I’ll use all of your suggestions along with the ones I already know to compile a comprehensive list of ideas. My hope is to provide a useful resources that will help you diversify your meals and relieve some of the stress of having to think of new ideas week after week. Once the list is compiled, you will be able to print it and add it to your homemaking or recipe binder.
Leave your suggestions below in the comments or email them to me using my contact form.
Here are some of the suggestions I’ve gotten so far.
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Thanks in advance for your help with this.
I’d but oatmeal, not the instant kind for breakfast. I’d also buy beans, eggs tortillas, rice, potatoes, cheese, and. milk. I would make bean burritos, potato soup, rice and beans, egg fried rice or veggie fried rice with cheap veggies. If I have it in the budget, I’d buy chicken leg quarters and have that with baked potatoes. I lived on that budget last year, but I used coupons to stretch my budget and I had WIC which paid for milk, eggs, cheese and some grains. I also plan to smart a container garden of green beans, tomatoes and peppers for the summer. Growing your own veggies can stretch a food budget and it can be done cheaply.
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Access to local Angel Food Ministries ordering service will stretch your food budget tremendously. Find you local Angel Food program by googling. Serve lots of beans, rice and pasta. We enjoy having breakfast for dinner once in a while. Omelets using leftovers for the fillings. Eggs are cheap and packed with protein. Buying meat on Manager Special and LOTS of matching sales with couponing. I did this while my husband was out of work due to a work related injury that disabled him.
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I’m really anxious to see all the responses so I can do a $25 week challenge. black eyed peas and corn bread? Maybe tortilla soup if I could get things on sale. It fed our family for a couple days.
tortilla soup
1 T olive oil, 1 T minced garlic, 1 t chili powder)
2 -14oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 bag black beans
1 bag white beans
15 oz can chicken broth
16 oz pkg frozen corn
(Salt, pepper, 2 ½ c water)
1 c crushed baked tortilla chips
1 T fresh lime juice
Oh. Whatever beef roast is on sale, put in crockpot with family sized can of cream of mushroom soup. Cook 8 hours or until done. Serve over rice. Also good for a few days.
Pancakes for breakfast.
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Ack! I know I keep commenting but this is an important subject many people starve that don’t have to. Pork is also a very cheap meat and bought as roasts can be stretched very far I have a few people I am teaching to shop smart that never thought of pork as a possibility they always buy beef roast. They found out that for the price of 3 lbs of beef they could get as much as 10 lbs of pork. I always tell them Shop prices first then groceries nothing will ruin your week like coming up short for lack of planning.
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Dried beans and peas of every kind are cheap and easy
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Celery carrots and onion are very cheap and add lots of flavor to each dish they are called the holy Trinity of cooking for a reason.
For the next few weeks fish will bee very cheap stock up while you can.
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Pinto beans($2.86 for a large bag cheaper on sale) and rice($$2.10 large bag) these two are often cheaper and on sale
Fideo pasta ($.39 a bag) tomato sauce (often 3/$1 or 4/$1) and leg quarters ($.69 lbs in a 10lbs bag I can usually find a sale for $.49lbs) but make it 6.90 no food tax in Tx.
The chicken will yeild 6-8 quarters i make a stew with 2quarters in fideo and tomato sauce/ really good with mac boiled and rinsed add water 2cans tomato sauce cheese pack and chicken shredded to boil. Chicken will be used in
rice 2quarters) and add.($.69) can cream mushroom soup
Baked together for casserole leftovers add water and more soup 1 more quarter and you have another meal
The pinto beans can be changed using 2 cans of tomato sauce and chili powder if I foung a good deal hamburger I would add it. I can feed 3-4 people pretty well on $25
Those basics come out to about $16 stock up on rice when you can it is cheap and versitle pinto beans are a cheap food but a powerhouse of nutrition also look for cabbage on sale u can find it a lot for $.33 lb. This is something I have personally worked on for a long time if you get to most grocery stores they will have their meats marked down I watch for super sales and stock up on the meat it is so expensive. I found pork chops for $.97 a lb last week.
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When we were kids we ate a lot of navy (brown) beans from cans with Worcestershire sauce. We also ate lots of pancakes, you can make them with water to save money or even leave out the egg.I personally could not eat fried onion sandwiches but some people can handle it and they are very inexpensive to make. Vegetarian chili would round out my list.
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Lentil soup: lentils, beef soup base, potatos, carrots, parm cheese- served with bread.
Vegetarian tamale pie: lentils, homemade taco seasoning, corn, cheese, cornbread topping made with self rising cornmeal, milk and egg
1 Chicken would turn into:
-chicken and dumplings: chicken, mixed veggies, chicken stock and dumplings
-chicken ala king
-chicken and rice casserole with mixed vegtables
-chicken and noodle soup-chicken, chicken stock and mixed veggies
Crustless quiche-eggs, milk, cheese, veggies
biscuits and gravy (a lb of suasage divided into 4 or 6 portions. use each portion to make one meal)
spaghetti:chopped veggies like carrots, mushrooms, peppers etc. Lentils for protein and then serve it over cheapest pasta.
Beans, greens and pasta. One link of italian sausage-cooked, quartered lengthwise and sliced paper thin. 2 cups cooked white beans, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes and 1 lb of kale, chopped. 6 servings of pasta cooked al dente. Chicken stock. put the sausage,garlic, onion, kale and about a cup of chicken stock. cook the kale till it’s almost done. Add the pasta in and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Serve with some parm if you have it.
Red beans and rice
Breakfast scrambles-cubed potatos fried with onions, peppers etc. If you have a bit of sausage or ham add it. Scramble eggs into this. Sprinkle with a bit of cheddar. Serve this for dinner or as a filling for breakfast tacos.
Bean burritos. Very cheap if you make your own refried beans.
Hamburger Barley soup. 5 cups water, 4-6 ozs cooked hamburger, can of tomato sauce, packet of onion soup mix, 1-lb mixed veggies, barley, garlic, onion and a pinch of italian seasoning. Cook everything together except for barley. Cook barley and add to bowl before serving. I figure a 1/2 of a serving for the soup. If you cook the barley with your soup the leftovers will be super thick because the barely will suck up all the juice.
Buy oatmeal in the canisters or bulk and cook that for breakfast.
Cinnamon toast.
Breakfast burritos
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I would look through all the vegetarian recipes. There are all kinds of things you can make with beans, rice, pasta, oats. All of which are pretty reasonably priced. And drink milk, water, and maybe tea. No sodas. I can’t wait to see your list, it will come in very handy.
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Like Karen, my huuby was in a MVA right before christmas, and is on short term disability.. how they think we can live on 66% is sad. Anyway, I am learning to be more frugal. Winco bulk is my friend, 1 pound of hamburger split in half.. half for spaghetti with meatsauce, the other with chili with 3 beans and white rice. I get 4 pack chicken breast, and split that in have for 2 dinners, and get a large pack of drumsticks for 3 bucks and make oven bbq drummies 🙂 Lots to learn, thats for sure 🙂
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There would be a lot of hamburger helper, canned veggies & fruits, chicken and pasta on the table. Those things seem to be the cheapest on average and can feed a family and you can easily make it stretch to 25 a week.
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