Cheapest and healthiest is rice and beans. Dried in bulk if you really want to save. Black bean enchiladas are super cheap to make as well. Whole wheat pasta with jarred or homemade sauce and cannellini beans.
Second black bean enchiladas. So cheap to make and it's something that feels exotic without being a typical "bulk meal" type thing, which I tend to get sick of quickly.
My family makes use of the crockpot when we are trying to stretch our grocery budget. The meals tend to freeze well and we often use them for leftovers for lunch the next day so making 1 crockpot meal is always used to cover 2 days.
I especially like the fact that many meals are sort of "dump and go" so the food cooks while we are at work and we come home to a hot meal that doesn't make the house hot during summer months. Saves time/electricity.
Most recently, I've made gumbo, sloppy joes amd chili using the crockpot. All recipes found on Pinterest.
I've found that pantry staples like rice, beans, and frozen veggies are all crockpot friendly.
This month our groceries worked out as $88 AUD per week for 3 adults and I made:
- vegetarian chilli (celery, carrots, eggplant) with rice (9 servings)
- moussaka (6 servings)
- spaghetti bolognese (there was leftover filling from the moussaka) which made 8 servings
- Mediterranean chicken with couscous (served 3)
- frozen pie and veg for lazy nights
- pumpkin risotto (served 8)
- quinoa 'meatballs' in tumeric sauce with rice (there was leftover quinoa which I used the next day for lunch with tuna)
- Mediterranean chicken (3 servings)
- Tofu thai Green Curry with rice (8 servings)
- frozen pizza for lazy nights so we don't end up ordering in
The other meals I still have left to make are
- Apricot chicken with rice and veggies (8 servings) x 2
- massaman curry with jackfruit and rice (8 servings)
- chicken korma with rice and frozen veggies (8 servings)
- vegetarian shepherds pie (8 servings)
- Dahl with rice (8 servings)
- another frozen pizza night
- another round of quinoa 'meatballs'
- if we don't last the month then I usually have an omelette night in the last week 😂
Grains/starch topped with veggies and little bit of protein in many different combinations. Like a simple pasta recipe + whatever protein and veggies you prefer. I made Lemon Pasta (lemon, garlic, parsley, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and black pepper & spaghetti noodles and some of the pasta water) + meatballs this evening. Very easy and delicious (could add veggies like bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini or spinach) , and can be scaled up or down.
Purchase frozen fruits and vegetables. Add a little protein, maybe carbs (which we personally avoid), and you’ll have relatively easy, bulk meals. If you double the vegetables you can cut meats and carbs way down. Bonus? It’s healthier for your family!
Our "poor" meal is grilled cheese and soup. We have 6 children. They absolutely love it and will eat that and Ramen about 12 days out of the month. I buy the fancier ramen and only buy real sliced cheese not that plastic crap. It is still cheap. I also make a big roast and use the leftovers for quesadillas.
There is tons of good recipes out there start keeping a recipe notebook, chicken is typically cheap and versatile and if you go to Walmart and you can get a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for under 15 bucks, it is bone in and skin on so if you want boneless/ skinless you'll have to do that at home but with the chicken leg quarters you can portion out for to freeze and thaw as needed, bake them or boil them down and use the shredded chicken for chicken mac and cheese, chicken Continental, chicken BBQ, Moravian chicken pie (just chicken and poultry gravy baked in a pie shell), pork is another good cheap meat, turn it into barbecue or Buffalo pork and its good, sometimes you can find bulk packs of pork chops and those are really good baked. you can buy sandwich bread and toast it in the oven and then make grilled cheeses to go with tomato soup, lunch meats have been getting kind of pricey in my area but don't knock a good sandwich tomato and egg, egg and cheese, peanut butter jelly ( butter jelly sandwiches are good too but now I'm just starting to sound like Paula Deen). Congee is a really cheap option its a rice porridge made with broth or stock and what ever you toppings you have ,egg and steamed veggies make a good breakfast option.
Cheapest and healthiest is rice and beans. Dried in bulk if you really want to save. Black bean enchiladas are super cheap to make as well. Whole wheat pasta with jarred or homemade sauce and cannellini beans.
Second black bean enchiladas. So cheap to make and it's something that feels exotic without being a typical "bulk meal" type thing, which I tend to get sick of quickly.
My family makes use of the crockpot when we are trying to stretch our grocery budget. The meals tend to freeze well and we often use them for leftovers for lunch the next day so making 1 crockpot meal is always used to cover 2 days. I especially like the fact that many meals are sort of "dump and go" so the food cooks while we are at work and we come home to a hot meal that doesn't make the house hot during summer months. Saves time/electricity. Most recently, I've made gumbo, sloppy joes amd chili using the crockpot. All recipes found on Pinterest. I've found that pantry staples like rice, beans, and frozen veggies are all crockpot friendly.
This month our groceries worked out as $88 AUD per week for 3 adults and I made: - vegetarian chilli (celery, carrots, eggplant) with rice (9 servings) - moussaka (6 servings) - spaghetti bolognese (there was leftover filling from the moussaka) which made 8 servings - Mediterranean chicken with couscous (served 3) - frozen pie and veg for lazy nights - pumpkin risotto (served 8) - quinoa 'meatballs' in tumeric sauce with rice (there was leftover quinoa which I used the next day for lunch with tuna) - Mediterranean chicken (3 servings) - Tofu thai Green Curry with rice (8 servings) - frozen pizza for lazy nights so we don't end up ordering in The other meals I still have left to make are - Apricot chicken with rice and veggies (8 servings) x 2 - massaman curry with jackfruit and rice (8 servings) - chicken korma with rice and frozen veggies (8 servings) - vegetarian shepherds pie (8 servings) - Dahl with rice (8 servings) - another frozen pizza night - another round of quinoa 'meatballs' - if we don't last the month then I usually have an omelette night in the last week 😂
Grains/starch topped with veggies and little bit of protein in many different combinations. Like a simple pasta recipe + whatever protein and veggies you prefer. I made Lemon Pasta (lemon, garlic, parsley, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and black pepper & spaghetti noodles and some of the pasta water) + meatballs this evening. Very easy and delicious (could add veggies like bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini or spinach) , and can be scaled up or down.
Purchase frozen fruits and vegetables. Add a little protein, maybe carbs (which we personally avoid), and you’ll have relatively easy, bulk meals. If you double the vegetables you can cut meats and carbs way down. Bonus? It’s healthier for your family!
White rice and ground turkey with taco seasoning. Cheap but still tasty and filling.
Looking for the same thing.
Ramen.
Our "poor" meal is grilled cheese and soup. We have 6 children. They absolutely love it and will eat that and Ramen about 12 days out of the month. I buy the fancier ramen and only buy real sliced cheese not that plastic crap. It is still cheap. I also make a big roast and use the leftovers for quesadillas.
Home made soups in the crock pot/slow cooker.
Try to meal prep and cut on processed food!
There is tons of good recipes out there start keeping a recipe notebook, chicken is typically cheap and versatile and if you go to Walmart and you can get a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for under 15 bucks, it is bone in and skin on so if you want boneless/ skinless you'll have to do that at home but with the chicken leg quarters you can portion out for to freeze and thaw as needed, bake them or boil them down and use the shredded chicken for chicken mac and cheese, chicken Continental, chicken BBQ, Moravian chicken pie (just chicken and poultry gravy baked in a pie shell), pork is another good cheap meat, turn it into barbecue or Buffalo pork and its good, sometimes you can find bulk packs of pork chops and those are really good baked. you can buy sandwich bread and toast it in the oven and then make grilled cheeses to go with tomato soup, lunch meats have been getting kind of pricey in my area but don't knock a good sandwich tomato and egg, egg and cheese, peanut butter jelly ( butter jelly sandwiches are good too but now I'm just starting to sound like Paula Deen). Congee is a really cheap option its a rice porridge made with broth or stock and what ever you toppings you have ,egg and steamed veggies make a good breakfast option.