Cheap meal ideas for a family of four?

Question

My Sister has three children and recently her groceries have been topping $500.00 + a week! The children are 8 - 15.

Christmas is coming and she realizes she needs to cut back!

What are cheap meals and school snacks to make?

Is there an online site that will give you a list of groceries and recipes for meals for a week?
Or do you have any tips or tricks?

Thank you so much

Answer 1

Chicken Spaghetti

1 chicken boiled and de-boned
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can rotel
1 10 oz package spaghetti noodles
10 oz velveeta cheese

Biol and debone chicken. Use chicken broth to boil spaghetti. Cut velveeta into small chunks and mix with margarine. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Mix chicken soup and rotel, add chicken and spaghetti. Mix cheese last. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. If mixture is dry add 1/2 cup milk or 1/2 cup chicken broth.

Crock Pot chicken breasts


6 slices bacon
1 onion chopped
1 can cream chicken soup
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 8 oz carton sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Wrap bacon around chicken and secure with toothpick. In bowl, stir together soup, sour cream, onion, and salt and pepper. Place chicken in bottom of cooker. Pour soup mix on top of chicken and cook on low for 8 hours or high fir 4 hours. Can serve over rice.

Easy Chicken Fahita Skillet

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 small onion finely chopped
1 can rotel
1/2 lb (8oz) velveeta cheese

Cook chicken and seasonings in non-stick skillet on medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is done stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 1/4 cups water, bring to boil. Stir in macaroni; cover. Add Rotel and onion and simmer 5 minutes more. Add velveeta; cook until melted stirring frequently. Makes 6-1 cup servings.

IMPOSSIBLY EASY TACO PIE

1pound lean ground beef
1medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1envelope (1.25 ounces) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
1can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles, drained
1cup milk
2eggs
1/2cup Original Bisquick® mix
3/4cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese (3 ounces)
Old El Paso® salsa (any variety)
Sour cream, if desired

1.Heat oven to 400ºF. Grease 9-inch pie plate. Cook ground beef and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in seasoning mix (dry). Spoon into pie plate; top with chilies.
2.Stir milk, eggs and Bisquick mix until blended. Pour into pie plate.
3.Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 8 to 10 minutes longer. Cool 5 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

YOU COULD BUY HOT DOGS OR PRE-PACKAGED LUNCH MEAT FOR SNACKS
YOU COULD ALSO BUY RITZ TOWNHOUSE OR REGULAR SALTINE CRACKERS FOR SNACKING
THESE ARE JUST A FEW MEAL IDEAS

IF U HAVE ANY LEFTOVERS, SEND THEM IN THE LUNCHBOXES FOR THE NEXT DAYS LUNCH. FOR THE KIDS

Answer 2

Chika's advice to buy frozen Stouffers meals is bizarre. Any time you buy prepackaged, prepared meals you will pay a huge mark-up. I could make 3 dinners for my family for what you'd pay for a $12 'family dinner' out of the freezer case. Mine will taste better too. Anything based on beans (dried) will be inexpensive. You can add a little meat for flavor, and perk it up with all sorts of seasonings. Beyond that, I'd recommend just sensible shopping. Look at the sale ads. Buy things that are on sale this week. (i.e., while hamburger is 'cheap,' if pork chops are on sale for $1.19 a pound, and hamburger is $1.49, you're obviously better off with the pork. (Never mind that cheap hamburg is usually very fatty.) Pasta also makes a small amount of meat go a long way. Buy a whole chicken and poach it. That will give you a couple of meals of chicken, and a pot of stock to cook those beans in. Try the public library for 'budget-saving' cookbooks. But please don't be afraid to apply for food stamps and other types of assistance. That's what they are THERE for -- and once you apply it may be a few weeks before you start getting help, so you don't want to find yourself with an empty bank account, and empty fridge and a 3 week wait for food stamps.

Answer 3

She needs to come up with a weekly menu before making a grocery list. Look for meals that produce leftovers. For example, a large meatloaf is relatively inexpensive to make and the leftovers can be tomorrows sandwiches. A roast chicken dinner is economical and the leftover carcass can be used to make a good soup for tomorrows lunch. As far as snacks go, that prepackaged stuff will kill you. Get the kids to learn the difference between a snack and a treat. A snack is a little something to tide you over to meal time, a piece of fruit, veggie sticks, crackers and cheese, a pretzel. A treat is one of those cupcakes, candy bars or cookies that you get occassionaly to satify a craving.

Answer 4

1. Sounds like she's never made anything from scratch.

2. Sounds like she doesn't prepare a food budget/ meal plan beforehand

3. Sounds like she's a spontaneous shopper.


She could start by preparing her meals around a cheap staple like rice or pasta, and adding vegetables (fresh), meat (stay away from the red stuff), and fruit.

As far as sandwiches are concerned, stay away from pre-packaged meats, cold-cuts. Buy fresh from a deli. Or even better yet, give them jam and cheese or peanut butter sandwiches.

You can always find bargains on cereal, saving up to 75% sometimes. Just don't let the kids dictate what they eat.

Answer 5

if she is buying any of those quick and easy meals in a box that is what drives up the cost of groceries; also stop buying junk foods. If the kids need cookies make them from scratch, and limit the amount each of them get. I have a family of 4 and we only spend $150 a week. I cook every night though, and we take our lunches-every thing from scratch.

Answer 6

There's absolutely no reason that her grocery bill should be that high. My first thought is that she's buying all name-brand foods!! Generic brands are just as good, and she's going to get a lot more food for the same price is she chooses generic. Also, like someone mentioned, she's probably getting pre-made meals. That's another thing to stay away from. I only get those to keep in the freezer for desperate times when we're out of everything else.

She can also buy lunch meat, cheeses, lettuce , tomatoes, and other sandwich toppings. They work great for lunches. Get some generic cheese and cracker combos or some a big jar of peanut butter and some crackers and make them yourself. They're even better than store bought because she will know when they are made! Get full size bags of chips instead of little bit snack-sized bags. Then she can fill up some sanwich bags for lunches!

Buy some hamburger, cook it all up, seperate into 1 pound portions and freeze for later use. You can use it for anything; spaghetti sauce, goulash, hamburger helper (make it yourself with pasta, milk, and velvetta), hamburger soup, etc. Generic pastas are just as good as named brand. I've noticed they take a couple extra minutes to cook, but a couple minutes are cheaper than name-brand.

Keep boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the freezer. They can be used for tons of recipes. And for most recipes, you don't need to thaw the chicken. Cooks faster if you do, but it's not a necessity. Mix 1 cup mustard, 1 cup honey, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano, & 1 tsp parsley. In sprayed 9x13 pan, pour half over chicken and bake for 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, pour rest of honey mustard mix on chicken, bake another 10 - 15 minutes. Serve over rice with some steamed veggies.

Get tuna, keeps in the cupboard and doesn't need to be cooked. Use it for tuna sandwiches or tuna noodle casserole (cooked egg noodles, tuna, cream of mushroom soup, milk, and we always add peas).

Like I said, I rarely buy pre-made meals. Things get boring some times, but add your own ingredients and change things around. Get creative!! Make them your own. Use what the kids like and have Mom make things that she likes that will keep in the fridge.

My favorite recipe website is AllRecipes.com. They have real recipes from real people. Try it out. It's very user friendly and of course, it's free!!

Answer 7

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Have a lot of seeds left over after carving pumpkins? Use them up in this simple recipe. Make sweet and savory versions of this healthy treat and store them in an airtight container for a quick snack.

2 cups pumpkin seeds
1 qt. water
2 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. Earth Balance margarine, melted
1 tsp. cracked pepper

• Preheat the oven to 250°F.
• Discard any cut seeds, then remove the stringy fibers from the remaining seeds.
• In a medium pot, combine the water and the salt. Bring to a boil.
• Add the seeds and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and dry.
• Place in a bowl and combine with the melted Earth Balance and the pepper.
• Spread the seeds on a baking sheet. Stirring every 10 minutes, bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

Variation: For spicier seeds, add 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, 2 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce, and 1 Tbsp. salt to the melted Earth Balance margarine.

Answer 8

"Go to the website below. I use it all the time for different recipes and ideas and actually have signed up for the free cookbook magazines they send out month. It's a great book with so many more recipes in it. Did I mention they were free?

Source(s):
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf "

Answer 9

My wife and I raised 7 girls and 3 boys. We always tried to buy everything on sale and in bulk. Have always had deep freezers, had many gardens, and canned the food the garden. We always have fresh vegetables from the only garden that we have left. And still can our vegetables to this day. And we still have plenty for the kids when they come to eat.

Answer 10

anything pasta. Add cut up meat, little goes far!

baggie the snacks rather than buying pre packaged will save you a bundle.

Pancakes can be made and then frozen too!