Budget Meals for Family w/ 5 kids.?

Question

There are 5 growing children in my house.
Two are 16 almost 17 (twins)
One is 15
One is 11
One is turning 7 this friday
As you can see, they're growin children. I have a budget for food shopping because my husband is out of a job. I need to know what I can get from Pathmark or Thriftway that cost no more then 20 dollars and will feed a family w/ 5 kids.

Answer 1

Anything with hamburger, such as spaghetti or casseroles, tacos, are inexpensive and easy to make. Look up an online recipe source and you can find alot of great ideas. Good luck!

Answer 2

My kids love these 2 dishes. meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top. After I add the potatoes I rebake it for a few minutes. Also I bake them in a muffin tin and sometimes use a cake bag to add the potatoes so it can be fun. Meatloaf is easy 1lb ground beef 1 egg crackers or oatmeal 1 cup ketchup or ketchup BBQ mix onion and garlic Mix in a large bowel and bake in a bread pan or shape it into a loaf Bake at 350 for about 1 hr Quiche Bake a regular crust for 10 min at 350 In a large bowel Add filling all that is a must 1 2 cups cheese. You can add spinach, chicken, bacon, onion, tomato's that is what we use or you can add ham. 1 small bowel 1 egg 3/4 mayo 3/4 milk... Mix Pour large bowel ingredients into pie crust and then pour liquid mix over top. bake 350 till golden brown. I almost forgot this one..... I make up some taco meat and or chicken and set up a buffett line in the kitchen with tomatos, cheese, sour cream, sauces, cheese dip ect.... I heat a large pan with olive oil and let them walk down the line filling up 1/2 a flour tortilla shell then I fry it in olive oil. They love these. Pineapple and chesse ones are really yummy as well. Although they didnt sound nearly as well as they taste. Good Luck my kids love these and I most of the time have to make enough for lunch the next day.

Answer 3

Red Beans and rice.

If you use Dried Beans they go even farther. Beans are a excellent source of protein and you can make a large amount for little money.

Here is my Red Beans and Rice recipe.

3 cups of cooked Red Bean (kidney, pinto, Pink bean or Red bean will do too) If you use dried follow the directions on the bag get them ready to cook. If you use canned, drain them first.

clove or 2 of garlic powder
2 sm onions or 1 large onion
1 tablespoon of cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 tablespoon of oil
If you have Italian seasoning, you can use a tablespoon of that instead of the thyme, rosemary and sage.
water to cover the beans

Cooked Rice


Chop the onion and garlic and put in a large saucepan with the oil on low heat. When the onions are translucent - slightly cooked.
If you have a ham bone or smoked pork or couple a slices of bacon, that will be good for flavor. Add that to the onions and garlic.

Add the beans to the onion mixture. Add water to cover the beans. Bring it to a boil and turn the heat down immediately to med-low. Let simmer for 30 minutes until beans are tender (squish against a spoon). Add the spices, simmer a minute and taste for seasoning.

If you don't like spicy food, add the pepper flakes a little at a time. Giving it a couple of minutes to cook in before adding more.

When its done. Serve over the rice. I like to add a little vinegar to mine. My sister adds hot sauce and my nephew adds salsa and sour cream.

Answer 4

I would suggest a pot roast in a crockpot, served over rice or vegetable soup.

You can also get bulk frozen veggies like corn and mixed at a decent price to serve with it.

If you like to cook, manicotti is good to make and is good for leftovers for about a week. Time consuming at first, but reheats very well.

Pasta salads with steamed artichokes - filling, nutricious and easy

MAnwich - canned or homemade can last a while:
hamburger, when almost fully cooked add a can of diced tomatos and diced onion with a can of tomato sauce. and simmer for about 20 mins.

Answer 5

ok i might not have kids yet but since i am one and my mom is on a tight budget, i make thinks out of my food. when we have left over mashed potatos and fried chicken i make this concoction called (what i call it) Cotato. So when you have dinner do it the inexpensive way ang have left overs for your kids to make anything they want. It is really fun when ur parrents let you be creative at the dinner table.
or you can buy hamberger helper or just make grilled cheese and cottege chesse (sometimes even soup.). Oh and with the grilled cheese let the kids get cookie cutters and cut what ever shape they want, even though they are 17,15,11,and 7. Let them "play" with their food! :) :o)

Answer 6

mine like this dish, though i am not sure what it is called. I cook some rice and heat up some canned beef stew, after both are cooked i put the rice on a plate (kind of shaped like mashed potatoes ready for the gravy with the scoop in it only bigger) and i put the stew in the scoop. It is really easy, cheap and everyone loves it.
Good Luck!!!

Answer 7

Casseroles will be your best friend. I grew up with lots of cousins basically living at my house, and we did lots of casseroles and lots of "build your own" like taco bars or pasta bars.

Lasagna, chicken and rice, tuna noodle--all those are cheap and easy casseroles, and you can easily make double-batches to freeze for later.

If you have picky kids cook a big pot of pasta and make a couple different sauces--even if it's just 2 red sauces, one with meat and one without. Also, don't forget stews like chili and beef stew--they can stretch really easily with a little bread and maybe a salad.

Answer 8

Earlier someone was asking about Shepard's pie. You could look that up on food network I would think. It goes a long way and has several ways to change it.
Good luck w/your budget. I had one kid and when he was 15 yrs old I thought he would eat us out of house and home.

Answer 9

You can check out http://www.pathmark.com or http://www.thriftwaystores.com if you don't like the meals I came up with... but here's my selection of food.

Breakstone Butter -$2.99
Pathmark Cheese singles- 0.99 (they're on sale)
Dietz & Watson Hotdogs- 1.99 (they're on sale)
Nissin Cup Noodles- 0.55 cents eaach
Nissin Top Ramen- 0.23 cents each
Pathmark Soda Punch- 0.25 cents each
Ocean Spray Grapefruit 48oz- $1.19
Turkey Hill Iced Tea 128oz- $2.99
Pathmark White Bread- 0.99
½ Ib of Ham- $3.53

Answer 10

Red beans (dry from a bag are about $1.50) and rice (dry in bag, also about $1.50) and cornbread (box is about .75c).

Season with 1 chopped onion, 1 garlic clove, 2 tsp tabasco, 1 tsp ceyanne pepper, 1 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp salt, and thyme and/or bay leaves to taste.