Simplifying Meals for Budget & Time

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  • December 1, 2016 at 4:00 pm
    Alysee123
    Participant

    The reason we homeschool is because of health conditions – Celiac Disease(autoimmune disease brought on by consumption of gluten) in 2 of my kids, and 2 of my kids also have milk and sesame allergies, so basically I make everything from scratch but that takes a LOT of time and also money because of the special ingredients that are needed.

    I think we need to start some sort of meal plan because prices are getting insane because I haven’t planned ahead and they are having a PB&B sandwich or soup yet again.

    All that being said, I have a few questions.

    1. Do you meal plan? Give me some tips and strategies.

    2. I’m hoping to eat the same thing for Breakfast and lunch(M-F) and have more variety on weekends. Is that nutritiously okay in growing kids?

    3. What are some quick and frugal recipes to make? I need some ideas that are gluten, dairy and sesame free.

    Thanks,

     

    December 1, 2016 at 5:12 pm
    totheskydear
    Participant

    We eat a lot o’ potatoes.  There are currently 5 of us.  I’ll usually make 15 or more baked potatoes and then refrigerate what wasn’t eaten warm.  Those can be diced up and fried up with eggs quickly in the morning for a quick breakfast.

    We do a lot of simple breakfasts and lunches.  Usually for breakfast we have oatmeal (can be purchased certified gluten-free) with peanut butter and raisins mixed in, a little drizzle of maple syrup, and either sliced apples, a banana, or apple sauce on the side.

    Lunches are usually a green smoothie (spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, or collard greens with bananas and either mango/pineapple or berries and a couple scoops of flax seeds) with either a sandwich or crackers, a slice of cheese (you could do nuts or hard-boiled eggs for protien instead), and things like sliced apples, carrot sticks, and/or cherry tomatoes.  That sort of lunch takes less than 15 minutes from start to finish so we have it quite a bit.  I usually prepare a big platter of these finger foods on Saturday so on Sunday we can actually have a day of rest, and all I have to do it take the platter out of the fridge.  Another way to go about this is just chop up a TON of finger-foods and boil 1-2 dozen (depending on your family size) eggs and sort them into food storage containers.  Set them all out at lunch time and let the kids decide what they want to eat.

    Nothin’ wrong with soup!  Minestrone is a good cheap way to get lots of nutrients in.  Just use gluten-free noodles or rice instead of regular pasta… or just leave it out and use extra potatoes.  Make up a huge pot of it and freeze leftovers in quart jars.

    Nachos are always a hit.  Gluten free chips spread out on cookie sheets + beans, diced tomatoes, diced avocado, sliced olives, and green onions are delicious.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes.  Sprinkle on fresh cilantro and lime juice after baking.

    We do a lot of freezer meals.  We’ll make up a huge batch of pancakes and freeze them.  Freeze them in a single layer on cookie sheets for about an hour then stack them up in gallon freezer bags.  This keeps them from sticking.  Then when you want pancakes you can take out however many you need and just microwave them.

    December 2, 2016 at 9:09 am
    Tristan
    Participant

    We deal with food allergies too. The most helpful thing I’ve found is to sit and brainstorm breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Write each option on an index card. When you are ready to meal plan each week pull out the cards, flip through, and choose that week’s meals. Write them down and put away the cards for next week.

    I would suggest choosing at least 2 different breakfasts and lunches to rotate in a week. Or different sides for them, such as different veggies or fruits each day. Or make enough extras from dinner for the next day’s lunch.

    December 2, 2016 at 10:50 am
    CrystalN
    Participant

    We have allergies as well and a very tight budget. We do a lot of beans and rice in various configurations. Beans and chips, bean and rice bowls, beans on tortillas, chili, beans in soups. I make a big pot of beans every week and then I use them for chili, burritos, etc. I plan the weeks meals around whatever protein is on sale at the supermarket. We also eat a lot of oatmeal with various toppings, always nuts and fat added in. Lots of smoothies to fill in any gaps our bean diet leaves…. My boys have different allergies so we tend to do a lot of cafeteria style build your own whatever. Baked potato night is great fun, we top them with whatever leftover proteins I have as well as veggies and cheese.

    December 2, 2016 at 4:08 pm
    Wings2fly
    Participant

    There have been many posts on this topic in the past.  Click on the tagged “Meal Planning” at the top of this page to read more.

    I typically use Better Homes and Gardens cookbook or Vicky Bentley’s Everyday Cooking cookbook.  I also get recipes from food blogs and cooking shows on television.  To save time and money, I buy meat in bulk on sale and cook it all up and freeze, ready to go in a recipe like a casserole, pasta, soup, etc.  Once a week I soak and cook a pound of beans to use that week, typically in a big pot of soup.  So soup is a good, healthy option for low-budget.  You can buy many vegetables pre-cut frozen to save on time.  For cutting up vegetables like celery and onions, you can cut up most of them ahead of time all at once to use that week.

    Some leftovers can be used for a new dish.  Spaghetti is made with sauce separately.  Use leftover noodles to make a crust for spaghetti pie using egg and parmesan and top with the leftover sauce and then mozerella.  Make a pot roast and save a pound of it back after cooked to cut up and use in beef and noodles recipe.  Any kind of chili or thick soup can be used to make a chili pie with cornbread on the bottom.  Leftever meatloaf sandwiches or use as the protein in a soup.  I cook about 12 roasted chicken breasts in the oven at one time.  We eat 4 at one meal and I turn the oven down to keep warm.  After dinner, I de-bone and freeze in 2-cup servings to make lots of chicken recipes later.  Chicken costs less than beef, pork, fish.  Or you could roast a whole chicken or turkey and de-bone and freeze the extra meat ready to go in your poultry recipes.

    My days and weeks go so much smoother when I have a plan for our meals.  But I don’t always have one going because I have a hard time keeping up.  It helps to have a full freezer and pantry though.  I keep a master list of recipes of each type of food in a notebook, allowing one page per category: chicken, sweet potatoes/other potatoes, soups, beans, eggs, cheese, beef, ground turkey/beef, etc.  I either look at the sale ad and plan around that or check what is in the freezers, refrigerator, and cupboards and plan around that.

    But I also like to plan out the meals and then see what ingredients I need and make a shopping list based on that.  I can plan certain categories per day each week of the month if I do this.  I pull out an old, unmarked calendar and start writing meals on it for 28 days of food.  I might do eggs on Mondays, fish on Tuesdays, chicken Wed. and Fri, beans on Thursdays, etc.  Then I can also plan which meals I need to be easier or from a crockpot and can plan to use the leftovers accordingly.  Sometimes I wait 2 days to re-use the leftover so we aren’t tired of it by having it the next day.  I can glance a day or two ahead and see if I need to pull something from the freezer or soak beans or cut up vegetables.  I like to prep. food early – the night before or in the morning.

    I don’t really cook breakfast food unless it is breakfast-for-lunch eggs and toast.  We have cold cereal and fruit most days.  But I like to make a baked oatmeal I prepare the night before in a 9 X 13 pan and it sets overnight in refrigerator to cook next morning in oven for 45 min.  It takes me 20 minutes now to put one tegether, but took longer the first couple times I made it.  I guess you can substitute a non-dairy milk:

    http://www.onceuponachef.com/2014/03/amish-style-baked-oatmeal-with-apples-raisins-walnuts.html

    http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/09/12/baked-oatmeal-with-fruit/

    Also, love this soup:

    http://minimalistbaker.com/5-ingredient-sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/

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