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How frugally can you live? Need meal ideas, etc.
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Mrsmccardell–
We have a few favorites. I usually add a few carrots, celery, and some garlic as a base, then from there…
1) Broccoli or cauliflower (with or without cheddar), with thyme/parsley/whatever green herbs
2) Lots of carrots, some fresh ginger, and a turnip (really good with diced smoked sausage as a garnish)
3) Butternut squash and a couple apples or pears, with a little marjoram/thyme/nutmeg
Honestly, I often just add whatever I have bits and pieces of leftover in the fridge or garden! My hubby eats low-carb so my variations are more limited–you could do potato or sweet potato, too, I’m sure. Fresh herbs are really nice when available. And for the dairy, I add anywhere from none to a few cups–really, these are good with or without, the dairy just adds some protein and makes them a little richer and more filling. Oh and I should have added–of course use butter or olive oil for sautéing the onions! 😀
Oh, ladies, thank you so much for all the replies! I am going to be reading through these and your links for some time. Some good reminders, instruction (especially on the beans!), and things I hadn’t thought of (like the dollar store and the turnips). We don’t eat much meat in general, but I need to trim down even that which we do. I haven’t been to the dollar store in our new area, but our last one that had groceries had the food, oddly, rather overpriced, I felt. So it hadn’t occured to me to give it a try again, but I will.
Right now I’m focusing on using up some of what we currently have and buying as little as possible. Tonight we had some penne pasta with some tuna — I actually thought it was really good…might have been because it was albacore tuna which I never buy, but I’ve had two free cans from a recent shopping trip. My dh didn’t care for it, and I know the kids didn’t like it but they ate it. lol The kids and I will have leftovers of it tomorrow. 🙂
The kids and I also started on a spreadsheet of all of the things we normally buy with prices, quantity for the month, which store — that was actually kind of fun to do. 🙂 Made me realize how much we spend on fruit. lol Still have quite a bit of work to do on that list, but it was a good start, and a positive experience getting the kids involved and more aware.
The spreadsheet idea reminded me of a few other helpful resources:
Anna’s blog posts: http://wheremytreasureis.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/once-a-month-shopping/
and http://wheremytreasureis.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/cutting-the-grocery-bill/
Tristan’s blog: http://ourbusyhomeschool.com/groceries-and-a-pantry-peek-10-28-13/
Recently I purchased Vicki Bentley’s Everyday Cooking. I have only skimmed through it so far, but it looked good. I saw her speak at a homeschool convention a few years back. She also had a talk about homeschooling on a shoestring budget, so you might look for the audios. It was ICHE.
We are a family of 8 (and my kids have their Dad’s always hungry 6’4″ skinny metabolism). I scrolled through the posts, sorry if this was said, but beans and rice stretch anything! For example, I use one lb of ground turkey, then rice and beans, and crushed chips for our taco salad, the kids don’t even really notice the beans and rice anymore. Sloppy Joes, same thing, 1 lb of ground turkey, pinto beans and rice. With spaghetti, only 1 lb of meat, then two jars of sauce (or double your recipe). Mine love fried rice like someone else mentioned, rice with peppers/green beans, eggs, liquid aminos or soy sauce if you can do that. Baked oatmeal for dinner too! Chicken and rice, I only use about 3 chicken breasts (but using a whole chicken cooked/chopped is even cheaper) and lots of rice with garlic, olive oil and non-dairy margarine or butter or ghee if you use those. Another meal we love is chunks of potatoes (sweet and white), peppers, eggs and sausage in a little olive oil and seasonings, it makes a lot and is really cheap.
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