I would like to find easy dinner ideas and be able to spend less than $100/week on groceries?

Question

There are four people in my family (two adults, two small children)

Answer 1

Meals.com is a great sight for dinner ideas
also just research the net you can fiund tons of stuff on line
I have two adults and one child in my house and i spend only around one hundred a week on food

Answer 2

Always check your local supermarket flyer's for specials. If it's something you use on a regular basis....buy it on sale....even if you don't plan on using it right away.

Stock your shelves or pantry with canned veggies, soup or soup mixes, some pasta, "helper" dinners....bake bread if you know how....a machine will tell you how if you don't know.

Meats should be bought in bulk....separated in dinner size portions....and frozen till ready to use.

Buy foods that are rich in fiber.

Stay away from "mac and cheese"....and other junk foods.

Warm weather is upon us....soups and salads and are better than slaving over a hot stove....and also nutritious.

Clip coupons....and shop where they give you double or triple off deals.

There are so many ways to live on a "food budget"....but you have to do some work. A family of 4 can eat well on $100.00 a week....if the shopper/chef makes a plan and sticks to it.

Answer 3

That's a great question. I am working on this myself, I only have a family of 2 to cook for right now though. The first thing that has saved me a TON of cash is to shop at Super WalMart for all of my main groceries and to really compare prices for the best deal. (Sam's club is great too) I'll never forget the first time I checked out at WalMart with a cart full of groceries that would have costed close to $300 at the other local store and it only ran about $150. Since then I have been hooked!
Check out the frozen veges for some stir fry mix, just add chicken, the sauce packets are in the bag, you can get 2 meals out of the large bags and they are only $5.
My parents have a great recipie for 'Taco Salad' that isn't too expensive. Just brown some ground beef, throw it in a very large bowl with a head of lettuce, 2 cans kidney beans, 1 12oz. bag of shredded cheddar, a few chopped tomatoes, 1 bottle thousand island dressing and 1 bottle of mild or medium taco sauce. Serve with some tortilla chips either crushed on top of your salad or scoop it out of the bowl with the chips, yummy! We all loved it growing up as kids and it's now incorporated into my own family favorites!
Good luck and happy shopping!

Answer 4

Your best bet would be to stick to pastas, and chicken.
Like spagehetti, pasta salad, chicken with penne, chicken and vegetables (frozen are cheaper), and salad. Chicken you can buy in a bag usually $8 for 3 pounds which should last you 2-3 days, depending on how much chicken you make each night. I have a family of four, and we can usually stay under $100 a week in groceries, sometimes a little higher if we want steak or a higher priced meat item.

Answer 5

I am a horrible cook so I am always looking for simple quick recipes. I just google quick and easy recipes. I know that many places have grocery stores called Save A lot or other names where you can save about half on grocery expenses. They save money by having the customers bag their own groceries, etc. You would have more than enough money to last a week if you went to a grocery outlet like that.

Answer 6

i have a lot of ideas but limited space in this little box....i love to cook for families

okay....

1)chicken pasta bake

really simple.really easy!

take some boneless skinless chicken breasts and marinate them in italian dressing(the oily kind! NOT the creamy kind) for at least 15mins. bake chicken for 1 hour uncovered then covered with aluminum foil for 30mins. be sure to keep the chicken marinated w/ the italian dressing/

cook the pasta according to the box instructions(you can use anykind of pasta except spaghetti or angle hair! bowties,elbows,and zitti are the best kind. mix them if u want!)
put the pasta in a big bowl.

cut up the chicken into slices or cubes(u want it to be sliced enough so that the pieces of chiken can be put on a fork easily for the kids)

add the chiken to the pasta and mix very well. add italian dressing to the mix (by the end of this recipe you should have used up 1 or 2 bottles of italian dressing)

put the pasta/chicken mix into a oiled casserole dish(so the food doesnt stick to the bottom). heavily layer the top of the casserole w/ cheese.

stick in the oven for 30min(minimum). take out and sprinkle more cheese.

serve!!!

(the cheese can always be added right before serving...i just like to do it before hand....shape american cheese is the best choice)

Answer 7

Here are a few dinners I fix when money is short. Take a family size box or 2 of macaroni & cheese, Fix mac & cheese according to directions. Add a can of peas, a large can of tuna and a can of mushroom soup. Also I fry up a couple pounds of ground beef at one time. I separate it and make spaghetti sauce out of some and freeze if I don't need it right away. I also take some of the hamburger and add a can of tomatoes, rice, cut up green pepper and onion. There are a lot of one pan dishes that you can make up with just several pounds of ground beef.

Answer 8

Pasta is very affordable. A couple boxes of pasta and 2 jars of sauce can easily feed 4 people and even a bit of leftover for under $10. Jars of sauce, even name brands, you can get at most supermarkets for under $3 each and the pasta should be under $2 per package/box.

Another inexpensive meal is grilled cheese sandwiches and soup...great in the winter. A loaf of bread, package of cheese, maybe a tomato, and a couple cans of Campbell's condensed chicken noodle or even tomato soup.

Beef Stew is inexpensive as well. The vegetables and a package of meat should be under $10 as well.

I also like:
Shepherds Pie
Couscous & ground turkey

Hope these help...

Answer 9

for 50 bucks a week i think you can get KFC cuz they have a deal where its like 9 piece chicken for 6.99 and im sure thats enough for u 2 the kids wont eat that much and its a good source of neutrition though i would not eat this stuff for a straight week but its something to think about ^_^ good luck feeding

Answer 10

allrecipes.com is wonderful it is where i get loads of my stuff. I have a bunch of great cheap recipes. I cook for a family of 5 and spend about 100-150 a week. Email me if you want to [e-mail].