Low Cost Meal Options

yager said:
Once DSL is hooked up, Ill down grade my TW Internet to basic and If i can find a good decient TV antenna I may have it turned off all together... either way $9.99 basic package here I come...
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Don't forget come June (well at least that is what is now) you will need a digital converter box to go with that antenna.
 
If you have a Aldi grocery store, you can save loads. Sams club too.
I will post more when I have more time Mike. Great thinking getting a head start!
 
home-made lasagna. Its a little pricey initially, but it freezes really well and can make up to 4-5 meals for a couple. If you can stand to go meatless, it's even cheaper.

also, a cheap favorite of mine is gouloush type stuff that my mom made growing up. about 1 pound of ground meet, browned, a couple cans of whole peeled tomatoes, cut up in bite sized pieces, and about 1 pound of macaronni. mix all cooked ingredients together, add spices (oreagno, basil, salt, pepper, garlic, thyme) to taste, simmer for about 10 minutes, serve.

I try to buy and cook in bulk and use my Food Saver at least twice a week to freeze food.

Salads with grilled chicken is fairly affordable and healthy. Check out Lowes Grocery on a bi-daily basis as they usually have discounted meats that are nearing the expiration date and are at least 50% off. I usually clean out that section every time I go in there and freeze what I don't use right away.

Beef brisket is fairly cheap and can make a great Texas style BBQ and will last a while.

I also use "country style" pork ribs often. Cheap and zero bones. I marinate it in lemon juice, red whine vinegar and water with salt free Cavendars for about a day and slow grill on indirect heat or in the oven and broiler lastly for a little brown. Slow and long, the more tender.
 
MichaelT said:
Macaroni Cheese and Tuna is good. Sloppy joes can be done cheap too. Spam?
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mbalbritton said:
That reminds me of another. Personally I think Kraft Mac&cheese tastes like puke, so I use the Lipton Cheddar Broccoli Pasta bag with Tuna.
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oh, ya'll already beat me to it. damn that's what i get for skipping over page 2, lol.
 
so Tusk, you have anything else useless to add to the thread?

In terms of bread...buy it in bulk somewhere and freeze it if you dont use it often.

Tuna can be adapted to just about anything really.
 
Mix up some cheap mac-n-cheese with some fried spam and use some cheap cajun seasoning.
 
If you had been eating right all along and storing it up like me / you could quit eating for 6-12 months and live off your "reserves" !!!

Teach ya to be a skinny dude!!

(Yeah that is my story and I am sticking to it / I am just saving up in case of hard times!!)
:popcorn:

Oh..and cheap frozen pizzas are under $1. Slice up some American cheese to put over them and then cook..tis some GOOD eatin!!
 
Mac is right on the bread. I usually find it on sale when its close to the end of the shelf life and freeze it. Store bought is way cheaper than making your own. I usually make plain and specialty loafs and give them away at Christmas to local friends and neighbors and it ends up being way more than just buying plain white bread.

Find a local Merita Bakery store. Most are distribution warehouses for local grocery stores, but in the front they sell the 2-day old bread and other Merita distributed items that don't sell on the grocery shelves. Its at least 50% off of retail.
 
Nothing is cheaper than raman noodles....
I am a ways away, but I have a deep freeze full of deer meat, fish and quail I would share.

As for meal deals, many have already been hit on, one more option is to look for restaraunt supply stores. There used to be one in Charlotte that the wife and I used a lot, you had to buy bulk but the prices were un real. We bought 25/lbs of chicken (one piece only all breasts, thighs wings etc.) for $20.
 
Sorry about the job loss, Mike. You'll rebound quickly, I'm sure. At least as quickly as you want to!

I know it's been posted, but let me reiterate...ALDI ALDI ALDI! You'll be amazed how much food you can get for your money coming out of that place. Be careful, some of their stuff is about the same price as the other stores, but most of it is significantly cheaper. Example: milk is much cheaper at Sam's. They sell chubbs of ground turkey, though, that are less than $1/lb, and work great in chilis and spaghetti sauce. I usually get five or six when I'm there. Their fresh meats are good and cheaper, but not by much. Hot dogs are ridiculously cheap, and their bottom-shelf dogs taste pretty darn good, too. I've gotten tons of compliments on them. And we get almost all of our canned veggies and beans there. They're as good as anywhere else, if you ask me, and I think I've got pretty discerning taste. I make a chili out of Aldi's components that always works, and I've never heard a bad word about it.

Advice: Crock pot is your friend. Roasts and stews in the pot strech easily and last a while. My wife has an excellent potato soup recipie I'll try to find for you. Whole chickens or dark meat is the best bang for the buck, of course. Breast meat is overpriced and overrated. Save giblets and scraps and make broth. Cook your rice in it and throw in some frozen peas and butter at the last minute for a great side. You can still eat well and healthy for cheap. Don't skimp on the important things, though. Real butter is better for you. Sea salt has better flavor and you'll use less of it. Good herbs are a sure thing, but Aldi's herb selection isn't bad, and their flavor is on par, too.
 
Cyd and I only spend about $40/wk on food for the both of us, it's not too tough. We'll stock up on stuff when it's on sale, throw it in the freezer. Some weeks are $45-50, some are $35, but it averages around $40. That's all. Dinner tonight was pork loin and veggies on the grill. We shop at Teeter, buy name brand soda... it's really just a question of steering clear of overpriced prepared stuff and paying attention to what's on sale.

Somebody mentioned potato soup... this shit is awesome:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=739072

We'll make a half recipe of that and eat it for a couple of days.
 
"I make a chili out of Aldi's components that always works, and I've never heard a bad word about it. "

i have nothing to add to this post, other than this is a bad word about marks chili!!
 
1 can of cream of chicken soup - dump into pot
fill that empty can with rice - dump into pot
fill that empty can with milk - dump into pot
2 cans chunk chicken - dump into pot
1 brick of frozen brocoli frolets - thaw and dump into pot
simmer until thick

Chicken and rice casserole Its really good. My sister made it one time with Chicken of the sea aka tuna and it wasnt bad.
 
This is an awesome soup.
http://www.recipezaar.com/Autumn-in-New-England-Soup-351396
We have been eating chicken and ground beef, which defiantely gets old, so it is great to find something differnt.

I also make shepherds pie
which is
ground beef, mashed taters, packet of gravy and cheddar cheese and butter
Brown meat, and add gravy packet to it. make mashed taters. put meat in a baking dish. layer mashed taters on top, i like to add cheddar cheese on top of the taters and then cover it with more taters. put a few dabs of butter on top with some parmeasan cheese and bake for 10 mintues.
 
Some good stuff on here but I will push one thing, Get everything for free and from the ground that you can.
Hunting is over or I would take you out to see if you could kill a deer. I do have some you can try if you want for free. Fishing is doing good and it is a way to kill time. Your not to far from the lake and you could get 2-3 meals a week from just one trip to the lake. Grow what you can and eat that. Also if you have a small grill you can do a lot of cooking on it. If you can cook it all at one time no reason to have a few burners on and the oven. No heat up time on the stove and oven. Turn the flame on and cook.
Cook with wood outside, you can get it for free for the most part and it could be fun. Never get small packs of meat, like breast packs and pre made burger packs. Get the 5lb or 10 lb bulk and get whole birds, use it all and make soup out of the stuff you don't want to use. Now would be the time to get a small hog or parts and BBQ them and pack them for the freezer. Do you have a place that you have been eating out? Ask them if you can get stuff from them at cost. When we had a place we would give out all types of food and or sell stuff cheep when we had some but not enough to sell for the day or night.
More later and PM me if you need.
 
Hey Mike, I dont know if you can find a program near you or not, but my wife usually buys a package through the 'Angel Food' deal. For around 30 bucks(some packages differ) we usualy get several great,complete meals that will feed an entire family. We usually break/divide these meals up and make them last longer. Like I said, there are different packages to choose from and often times one package may include..4 ribeyes,4 boneless chicken breasts, a pack of hotdogs,4 burger patties,a pork loin,4 chops,a bag or 2 of frozen veggies,Pasta noodles,eggs,chicken fingers,chicken patties...the list is usually pretty long and always seems to be a lot cheaper than if you bought it all at grociery store. Lots of differant packages to choose from. And our package is ordered once a month and my wife picks it up at her church. Maybe check into something like that, it is worth it IMO.

Good luck with the job search.
 
Hey Mike- Jeff's gf Jess here...
I disagree about the bread. Make it yourself. A bag of whole wheat flour, dry yeast and some flax seed or wheat germ will only run you about $10. And with that you'll get approx 20 loafs of high quality food. To mitigate the cost of the electric while you're are baking, put a casserole in there too.
Easy/cheep cooking-can of tuna, cooked pasta, can of cream of whatever soup, cheese and frozen veggies of your choice. Should net you a meal for at least 4, or two days of eating. Freeze what you don't eat and have a quick meal for another day.
www.couponmom.com has a great system that shows the local deals on groceries in your area and keeps track of past coupons for reference. Get the Sunday paper and watch all the store ads closely. Don't get sucked into the bogo on meats that BiLo often has. The price is usually inflated to cover the cost of the "free" items. If you like chicken, go for the boneless/skinless breast frozen in the bags. The best price I have seen is about $1.59/lb. Also look for the whole firers on sale, should be about $.59-.79/lb and will be good for a couple of meals and soup stock as well.
If you have the option, buy in bulk. Places like Sam's and BJ's have consistent prices on meat and they don't skimp on quality. Try finding a whole pork loin. The last one we got was about $17 and got cut up and we ended up with 5 meals (for a family of 4) out of it. Beautiful chops and tenderloin. As you cut it up, use whatever marinade you like in the zip lock bag and freeze. When it thaws your ready to go.
The other thing I will suggest is taking inventory of what you have in the pantry right now. Its easy to stock up when stuff is on sale, but if you already have mass amounts or you don't use it, it's just a waste. Good housekeeping will have some good home economizing tips as well.
Good luck to you.
 
Thanks Guys ! for the great tips and recipes. The PBB potato soup will be on my list of items to pickup when I can. But, just to be clear we do have $ saved up and the wife is working some (+unemployment) We're not bread line candidates yet. That said I know it will take some time to adjust the buying/cooking/eating habits and I'd like to get a start on that so if(when) things do get a bit rougher we'll be ready...

From my trip to the store I was able to get some marked down items. $1 /14oz of smoke sausage things. 3 packs. I figured $1/~lb for meat is pretty good. Plus I like the sausages because I think they go good in almost any stew/soup.

I flat of Ramon noodles. Wife look at me like I was crazy.. I may have to take here debit card away. I fear her going on a McDonald's binge. Anyway.. Oatmeal on sale for $1
5# potatos.

Is there a place to buy larger sacks of taters? I can see tater soup being served once a week or more. I just think I'd get a better price w/ 20# or more. I paid $5 for 10# for 'store brand'

Anymore of the 'can' recipes ? I like the 1 can of this, 1 of that stuff...

I did get some split peas ($1) to make a soup with maybe Thursday and some 15 bean mix ($2) for a later date..

I did get a call from a recruiter, was for a contract position at Cisco.. not sure if I'm a good fit or not, but I told him to submit me if he thought I was..

Here is the funny part... NetApp layed of 500 people globally (6% of their workforce) and I've yet to see any mention of it.. WTF...
 
My husband and I are in the same boat since he was laid off from Freightliner last month. Aldi & Wal-mart have been great for saving money (we try to limit our food budget to $50.00/week since its just the 2 of us). Even with the budget cuts, we've still been able to eat yummy healthy meals. As mentioned before, Angel Food Ministries is a great option if its available in your area. For those in the Rowan County area, here's some more info/locations (sorry I don't know have the info for other areas):

Agency offers box of about $65 worth of food for $30. Different menus each month include fresh, frozen and packaged food. No purchase limit for boxes. No applications or qualifications to purchase. Food stamps accepted. Order must be placed with local Angel Food host site. Orders can be placed online. One box generally feeds family of four for one week or single senior citizen for about a month. Orders taken by phone or some sites take Internet orders. 5,000 host sites nationwide.

Rowan County locations:
- Salisbury: Word of Power Church, 1440 N Long St., Salisbury, 704-636-1310
- China Grove: Community Enrichment Charities of the Carolinas, Sloan Lake Community Church, 140 Glory Road, China Grove. 704-857-3311 www.sloanlakecommunitychurch.com
- Cleveland: Cornerstone Baptist Church, 200 Clearview Road, Cleveland, 704-245-4005, www.cornerstone.org
- Kannapolis: Kannapolis Church of God, 2211 West A St., Kannapolis, 704-932-6582 www.kannapoliscog.com
 
8 chicken breasts
one can cream of mushroom soup
one can cream of celery soup
1 cup shreeded cheddar

Mix the soups and cheese together
lay chicken in a casserole dish and cover them with the sauce

bake at 350 for about 45 mins

put it over some rice and you are good to go.
 
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