I could have written ServingforJoy’s ideas, so I won’t repost them all.
We have 6 children and are on a very tight budget for food. I no longer buy processed foods, but DH will bring home boxed cereal. He likes it as do a couple of our children. However, I have made the switch to plain oats for oatmeal rather easily. It does taste so much better with adding your own sweets like honey, 100% maple syrup, br. sugar, etc.
We have our own chidkens so always have eggs. One other suggestion in that vein is to make a super easy dish with eggs and spinach. I buy a HUGE container of organic spinach at Sam’s Wholesale for $3. It lasts and lasts and lasts. We put it in smoothies, use as a base for salads, on sandwiches, scramble with eggs. That is the recipe I’m getting too: it works even when the spinach is starting to look a little less fresh. Bag up the bulk of it and freeze for baking, smoothies, etc., but put some with eggs and scramble. You can add cheese or not, garlic if you have it, whatever you like really. It is delicious, makes the eggs go twice and far and adds some more nutrition. All of my kids, even the picky eaters, like it.
I make soup at least once a week. Rice and/or beans as the main dish another night. For meat, I buy whole stuff and cook it all. I don’t buy from a local meat seller yet, but we’re getting to that point hopefully soon.
I follow the list Lindsey mentioned for buying organic produce, though I have to say our local Sam’s has a TON of it and it is very affordable. Our local Wal*mart has a lot of it as well. Wal*Mart btw will match Aldi’s prices on produce, even for their organic variety. They don’t care. This helps a lot.
I don’t throw anything away if it isn’t spoiled. I either use it the next day for leftovers, use it the next day in another dish (thinking leftover meat) or I freeze it for later.
Spaghettic can be made very healthy, and my kids like it just as well with my homemade sauce and no meat. Add a spinach salad on the side with eggs for protein.
My goal is always to feed our family of 8 for $25 a day or less. I shop once every 10 days and spend around $230. We also switched to cash only. This really has greatly impacted our food spending. If we don’t need it, we don’t buy it. We don’t buy a lot of stock up, though we do keep some things (yes in a can) on hand in the event of a major event.
I do still use one type of canned beans–and that is green! Sorry but we like them. 🙂 I make every other bean from dried, and they are pennies on the dollar. We just can’t afford canned, and the dried are so much better! I also save any leftover beans for a soup the next day or two, or I freeze them.
When I make pancakes, we mix up a large batch of batter and I save the leftovers in the frig for a few days. If they aren’t eaten, then we freeze them for later (though often with 2 teenage boys and 1 tweenage boy and a 7YO boy who can almost keep up with them), we don’t often put those in the freezer.
If they like pizza, make sure they are making their own from scratch. SO MUCH cheaper and better.
This is all I can think of at the moment. Hope it goes well for them!
Oh one more thought on the formula, if it is an allergy and/or medical issue (@Tristan, maybe you could check on this or maybe you already have), but sometimes ins. will pay for it if it can be ordered through a pharmacy, and many of the speciailty ones can. Our oldest DS was on supplemental formula for a while and ins. paid for it for a time. They could also contact the manufacturer and just ask if they would help them with price reduction. Some do this as well.
