help.....Cheap Meals Needed.

I buy chicken in the bulk packs and use it for zillions of recipes. Another meat that goes really far is a ham... roast one up and you have meat for every meal for an entire week.

Make things the use staples/basic ingredients.
I also find, that recipes that use lots of ingredients, costs more. Especially if it means having to buy ingredients that I don't usually have. Then use it once, then it all gets wasted.

Buy in bulk items you cook with a lot
ie: chicken, beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, bread, pasta, pasta sauce, etc.

Pot roast
BBQ chicken on grill
Soups
Spaghetti
Casseroles (look online for recipes)
Meat Loaf

www.marthastewart.com also has great easy quick recipes.

Couponing!!!! Frys mega sales... matching coupons with sales ...
follow great blogs like : http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/ ,
http://www.supersavingsense.com , http://www.GoodDealGal.com , and so many more. They all have Facebook Fan pages too. I have one too showcasing my fabulous finds: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plaid-Punch/174522122593178

I also buy 4-5 extra Sunday papers at The Dollar Tree (only $1 each there) so I can get more coupons. I usually save an average of 60% with my Fry's trips.

The less packaged foods you buy the cheaper and healthier. I make this, it's pretty cheap and so good. Add a side of veggies and you've got a meal.

http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2011/01/smoky-corn-and...

Potatoes, beans, rice are all good and add to a meal. No need to buy soda or expensive juices, they aren't good for you anyways so do ice water and milk. cut down or eliminate teas/coffees/alcohol.

Also, buy a large turkey, especially if it's on sale. Cook it, immediately cut it and freeze over half of it. Use the meat for dinner, then the next day for sandwiches. Then, over the next few weeks, pull out turkey for use in pastas/casseroles/soups.

For breakfast, do eggs or oatmeal topped with fresh (or thawed frozen) fruit.

I do a lot of easy stews too. Potatoes, carrots, celery and onion and the stew meat. Add in some tomato sauce and beef stock and that's it. Hearty and good.

My husband lost his job 7 months ago or so and I asked this very same question and got lots of good responses here:

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/13247004279220273153

Also, check out http://www.angelfoodministries.com for inexpensive monthly food packages.

I cannot remember for the life of me who posted this recipe a month or two back, but I made it for my hubby last night and he loved it!! It's inexpensive and makes quite a bit.
1 lb. hamburger ~ brown and drain.
Mix into hamburger 1 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz. sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
pour mixture over white rice (or any kind of rice).
Thank you to whoever it was who first posted it ~ we enjoyed it immensely and I so hope you are ok with me re-sharing your recipe!! :)

My guess is that you can do most of the "cutting" in the breakfast/lunch/snack area more than dinner.

Snacks are a killer in terms of expense. If your kids like crackers and such, try getting a bjs membership. Cheese sticks cost way more than just buying a block of cheese and cutting it into cubes. Individual yogurts are much more than a big tub. Try instead making your own (not microwave) popcorn. Make homemade rice crispy treats if they want something sweet.

Breakfast - cereal is soooo expensive for what you get. Try oatmeal instead, and not the individual packets. Make homemade muffins and breads. Bagels, even not the frozen kind, freeze very well and you can reheat individually.

Lunch - lunchmeat really adds up. So does tuna. Mac n cheese is a good one for the little kids. Leftovers are good. PB and J can be good, but sometimes store bought bread can be expensive too. Make sandwiches for the whole family and you've gone through a whole loaf! Try roll-ups, as tortillas tend to be cheaper. Look into bean salads - healthy and cheap, and the kids might be willing to eat them too!

Finally, look at what you're spending on fruits and veggies. The prices on those change dramatically depending on what's in season. Canned fruit isn't as healthy, but if you can get it in unsweetened juice, it's not so bad. Frozen veggies are much cheaper.

Good luck!

I have a family of 7 so I am very conscience of our food budget!

Beef enchiladas made with plain tomato sauce and taco seasoning are really actually very tasty, think Taco Bell flavored! Just add a packet to the sauce and the meat add in some cheese are your done.

Whole chickens have become my best friends, I cook two at a time and save the leftovers for fajitas or something...

I buy the bags if frozen chicken breasts and make tons of stuff with them, from tortilla soup, to chicken chili, to chicken and green sauce enchiladas to chicken noodle soup.

Corn beef and cabbage is a good one, I use the Paula Dean recipe and our family loves it, it has bacon in it, who doesn't love bacon right?

Breakfast for dinner is always cheap and easy. Strawberry French toast is a monthly must at our house!

Kilbasa and beans is another cheap one.

Chili dogs are also cheap.

Pot roast, when on sale can also be super cheap.

Hope this helps some.

A friend of mine just got me into Super Couponing. I was aware that there were people who were really into coupons, but I wasn't aware of how it all worked! Now that I'm getting the hang of it, it's really great!

The gist of it is you save all your coupons from the paper. Then there are websites that tell you what coupons to use to match up with the lowest prices or sale prices. In many instances you can get products for just a few dollars or even free! You can also print out coupons from the internet. I hear it's the best for large families, so I think your family of 5 would really benefit. By stacking coupons and buying things when they are on sale you can cut your grocery bill down considerably.

Try these websites to start:

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://jillcataldo.com/

You'll want to start research for the coupon sites for your area because they will have the local deals. I recently got 7 bags of frozen vegetables for $1 at Target. Wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't just happened! I thought Super Couponers were crazy. Now I'm crazy too! LOL!

here is an easy one that has gone over quite well ... looks bad but people love it
hamburger meat seasoned to taste (lawry's garlic salt, peper, warstechire sauce)
macaroni noodles
stewed tomatoes
green beans (canned drained)
american cheese
cook the ground beef once cooked melt the american cheese into the beef
cook noodles as normal, drain do not rinse add meat, canned veggies and serve. this is a meal you can eye the ingrdients with, I like more veggies than noodles and meat my mom likes more noodles and meat it is a great easy fix and you can freeze it too!

Stay away from the pre packaged stuff and you will be way ahead of the game. Pasta is healthy, comes in whole wheat and is very versatile-great with sauted veggies and a big salad-make your own dressings-Buy a small turkey breast and roast it for sandwhiches. Roast a whole chicken-use bread ends to make stuffing. Buy a chuck roast on sale and have it ground for burgers, sauce, and meatloaf. Shop the sales, cook on the weekends and wrap and freeze meals-that cuts down on convenience shopping which is generally a little closer to home and often pricey. Make hearty soups(use that leftover chicken to make broth)-and serve them with crusty bread and salad. Eat leftovers-we use to have what we called "food frenzy"-at the end of the week-all the leftovers came out were reheated and put on platters-family style. Serving family style gives the appearance that there is more food-and less jumping up from the table-and meals take longer and are more fun.

Chicken and hamburger are usually less expensive. You can do any number of things with them - fajitas, baked chicken, stir fry for the chicken or hamburgers, meatballs, stroganoff, tacos for the hamburger.

I also find that if I compare the per unit price, I can figure out if 2 little boxes or 1 big box or the one that's one sale is REALLY the best deal.

One of our favorites is Pace chicken:

Pace (or any jar salsa)
3 medium chicken breast
Onion

Place all in crock pot for the day

We serve on tostada shells, in taco shells or as soft tacos.

i think this will be the most interesting answer you get. when i was in high school i worked a full time job, and went to school full time while trying to maintain a social life, this obviously doesnt leave much room for cooking, sleeping or much else, so i thought of something that sounded tasty and apparently was because now at almost 20 my friends constantly beg me to make it.
its totally simple. pick your favorite kind of sausage or hot dog, cut it up into slices, mix up some cheesey potatoes, toss in the sausage, stir for a few minutes to warm up the meat, and done. i suggest using a sausage, and making the potatoes slightly thicker because like oatmeal and all that when its a little thicker its keeps you fuller longer, and instant potatoes can be pretty cheap. it takes about 20 minutes all together.

My cheapest meal is homemade spaghetti. Just brown up some ground meat (add spices as you like) on high heat and mix in 1 can of tomato paste and one large can of tomato puree or crushed tomatoes. (When tomatoes are in season I will use the tomato paste and about 5 or 6 tomatoes.) Add anywhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water. When the mixture comes to a boil, lower heat to down to "low" and let simmer for about 1/2 an hour. Make noodles and mix together.

I do crock pot and casserole recipes to save on money and time. We can usually eat them for 2 dinners plus maybe a lunch or two in between. My kids don't eat much! ;) Also if you buy whole chickens instead of pieces it is much cheaper. Usually the innards are in a little bag inside the chicken so you don't have to do too much yucky touching. I throw the entire chicken, season it, and put some veggies inside the crock pot and it works great! The meat is falling off the bone! I also do a pork roast, pour in one can of root beer and cook for 8 hours. Then I shred it with two forks, mix one jar of BBQ sauce in with the meat and have on for extra. Get some buns, a veg and a side salad and that's dinner! Baked potatoes are also cheap and good. You can pour soup or chili over them to make them heartier and pair that with a salad too. You can usually find pasta pretty cheap and as someone else suggested make your own sauce. Buy just plain tomato sauce in a can and then season it with salt, pepper, oregano, basil, etc. Mix it together! Hope some of these ideas help!

Super cheap, good, easy recipe

I do this for my family, which is just myself, husband and 3 year old, so you may want to double it.

2-3 chicken breast
1 can cream of mushroom (any cream soup will work)
1 package seasoned long grain rice

Mix the rice, seasoning packet, soup and 1 can of water together in a glass backing dish. Add chicken (rice mixture should almost cover chicken)
Cover and Bake at 375 for 30 min
Uncover and bake for another 5-10 until chicken is cooked through and rice mixture isn't too watery.

We have this all the time. it takes 2 seconds to prep and is really good. I usually serve it with a veggie.

There are several Sunflower Market locations in Arizona. On Wednesday, they have all their sale prices from the previous week and all the sale prices for the current week -- double the items on sale. I've found their prices to be fairly reasonable even on the produce which, I believe, is mostly locally grown. Here's the website:

http://www.sfmarkets.com/

Beans. We eat them about twice a week. Pinto beans, in very large bags, are really cheap. You can do these two ways. You need to sort them to get the rocks out, and rinse them. You can put them in the crock pot and cook them all day, just cover with about an inch of water, and season how you like them, watch the water and add more if you need to. I season with garlic, bacon drippings (only a tablespoon or so for a full pot of beans) and salt. You can also soak the beans over night, and then rinse them and cook them on the stove in a pot. I also use my pressure cooker.

To make the appealing to kids, we make burritos with cheese. I serve beans with a mexican spaghetti (my husband is Mexican, it is his families recipie) or you could serve beans with rice too, they go nicely in burritos (think Chipoltle) you can add meat (and you can be sparing, since you will want to use more beans than meat) and any extras like salsa that you like. I usually serve fruit and a salad with this meal to be more healthy.

I like just beans over rice, with chopped onions, green chilis, and cheese.

Eggs are good too, serving breakfast for dinner when eggs are on sale is a great way to save.

This spring, I plan to try and grow more tomoatos to can. I usually have some, but hope to put up a years worth to save some money.

I saw a crock pot mac and cheese recepie on TV this morning that looked cheap. It was pre cooked elbow macarroni, which you can get generic and really cheap in bulk, cook about enough to fill your crock pot 3/4 of the way (I have not tried this yet- the measurements were not so exact!) two cups of milk, a can of evaporated milk, two cups of shredded yellow cheese, two beaten eggs, and three table spoons of butter. Mix, put in your crock pot, sprinkle a little yellow cheese and some parmasan on top, cook for 4 hours. Sounds like you could feed an army with that, and if you found most of these things on sale, it would be fairly inexpensive.

I try not to buy anything that someone else has to make for me...if I can chop it, peel it, grate it, or bake it myself, it is usually cheaper in the long run. In short, make it from scratch, bake cookies instead of buying, buy cheese in blocks, buy potatos instead of the boxed kind.

M.

There have been several posts that suggest ways to cut down on your grocery bill..
coupons
shop at more than one store to take advantage of weekly sales
stock up during sales

For inexpensive meals..

theres always pasta
l
oaded baked potato

stir fry - use what you have (onions, carrots, broccoli, green beans, left over chicken, beef or pork)

boneless chicken breasts - it's always on sale in our area for $1.89 to $1.99, since there's no waste it goes far, there's so much you can do with it.

oven stuffer roaster - bake for dinner one night, you should have some leftover that you can cut up and make a sandwich, chicken salad, etc - use the bones to make homemade chicken soup

carrots - an inexpensive staple, add shredded carrots to a stir fry, salad or pasta salad - keep cut up carrot sticks on hand for a snack

A few weeks ago, we bought a ham on sale. We had the main meal, sandwiches the next day for lunch, 2 days later we made ham and cheese quesadillas for lunch, and I still had some left to put into a quiche

Tortilla pizzas with soup or salad: Line baking sheets with foil, spray foil with nonstick spray, lay out tortillas, spread ketchup (I know it sounds gross, but it really is good!), layer toppings and cheese. Bake at 350 until lightly browned.

Biscuit sandwiches with soup/salad/chips/fruit: Line baking sheet with foil, spray foil with nonstick spray, flatten 1 pkg of refrig. biscuits and lay out on pan, layer lunch meat and cheese, flatten another pkg. of biscuits and lay on top. Bake per biscuit instructions until brown.

chili dogs/chips/fruit
grilled lunch meat/cheese sandwiches
Spaghetti is pretty inexpensive!

I can't wait to hear the ideas you get. We need to cut in that area also. One idea I do is cook dry pinto beans. I get them to a boil first on the stove then put them in the crock pot. You can season them with salt, garlic powder and pepper or whatever you want. I also make spanish rice. Cook 1 cup of white rice in a little bit of oil until golden or toasted. Then I salt, pepper and garlic powder it. I add chopped green onions. Then I add a can of diced tomatoes. I add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then I stir it, turn the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. You can serve the beans over the rice, add fritos or corn chips, top with lettuce and/or salsa.

My mom always made what we called Poor Man's Spaghetti:

Cooked pasta
large can of stewed tomatoes
bacon cooked and cut into small bite size pieces. Mix together, warm over a low heat and serve.

Check out thetreasurebox.org
They have boxes of food for $32... and they have different boxes too... the web site shows what is exactly comes in each box.

Have you heard about Bountiful Baskets? You might want to check them out on the web. For only $15 you get an assortment of fresh fruits and veggies. They deliver on Saturdays to many places in the valley. Although you don't get to choose your fruits and veggies and you just get whatever the co-op can get for cheap that week, I have never been disappointed. In fact, I now have some new favorite fruits/veggies! For the $15, you get 6 different fruits and 6 veggies. For example, today I picked up 4 tomatoes, 2 heads of broccoli, 2 coconuts, 9 bananas, 2 mangoes, 8 pears, a cantalope, a clamshell of strawberries, a bag of potatoes, napa cabbage, asparagus, and one other veggie (sorry, I forget which one). They also have a variety of other foods in bulk available when in season, that can be canned or frozen or just used.