# "Emergency Menu" Ideas



## MissQueenie

I've been looking at the $45 emergency menu plan at Hillbilly Housewife http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

I'm taking my aunt's two young children (7 & 12) for several weeks this summer, and our budget is already stretched tight. Do any of you have your own "emergency" menu? Would anyone be interested in working together to create additional or alternative menus similar to the $45 HH menu?

I was wondering if any of you have tips to share for feeding a family on less money...ideas on lowering grocery bills or inexpensive but nutritious recipes would be deeply appreciated.


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## beaglebiz

Do you have a garden? We eat almost for free in the summer. If not, its not too late to put in lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, and lots of other stuff


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## Merit

Bone up on Mexican Cuisine!!! Cheap, simple and suitable to feed large families. Lived there. Watched it in action. Not difficult, in fact it's 'backwoods' cooking. Healthy, simple and delicious.


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## sewsilly

We too, eat much, much 'cheaper' from the garden, which grows here well for about 10 months a year. Two meals a day contain no meat, but I do make meat for most evening meals, which I think puts me over the "housewife' menu a bit. I use a lot of dried beans and rice and homemade bread. Once a week, I make dessert. We have our own chickens for eggs and sometimes for meat and my menfolk hunt.

i consider this the 'normal' budget, not an emergency one... using this sort of plan, even in times of emergency, we're fine and nothing is different!

dawn


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## jennytw

My tips are to use evaporated milk for cooking (if you can find it at a good price). Buy rice and use it for fillers and snacks (cinnamon and sugar is yummy). Look for deals at your local store and stock up. Buy jello when it is on sale (and use a coupon if you can). I ate jello a lot as a kid and now I know why, it's cheap on sale. Treats/desserts now a days are thought of as elaborate and expensive, but you can do cheap easily. 
I coupon a majority of the time and the other day We ate a meal that cost less than 3.00 for a family of six (actually, I think it was less than 2.00):

Steamed potatoes (seasoned to each person's preference)
sausage patties
broccoli

I am always looking for cheap meals and ideas. I will be watching this thread for more.


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## Mid Tn Mama

Read the tightwad tips thread and the archives of tightwad tips in the countryside families forum. You will get tons of ideas.

I shop several stores each week that are on my way to and from places. I only buy loss leaders. Stretch meats by:

*making ethnic meals: stir fries, curries, fajitas
*using oatmeal or bread ends to make meatloaf, swiss steak

It sounds like you don't have a garden, but you can let everyone you know that you will take care of their garden this summer or help them harvest. They wil want their garden picked while they are gone to keep up the production.

Oatmeal for breakfast costs very little. When the bread gets dry or to use up the bread ends, plan for a breakfast strata or french toast once a week to use up the bread and help everyone not get sick of oatmeal. 
If you can keep breakfast and lunch costs down, it should help in buying meat for the dinners.

Learn to make beans from scratch from dried beans. The cost per serving is very little.

Save your bacon or sausage drippings in a jar in the frig and use instead of oil for cooking. Adds a nice flavor and is free. Oil isn't cheap these days. Also, save your bones and make broth--use this to saute and fry things instead of oil.

How old are the kids?

Learn to make Indian fry bread instead of buying tacos or tortillas. see tightwad tips thread this month for the recipe. Learn which weeds are edible to add to salads or other dishes.

Don't buy juices or flavored drinks. Everyone drinks water or milk with dinner. You get more nutrition and also fiber from eating fresh fruit. If there is a good sale on fruit, get a little more and freeze some.

Make your own desserts using fruit that is getting mushy or bruised. Use less than the amount of sugar asked for.

Bake your own bread and a nice treat is cinnamon toast. Better for them than cookies.


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## Kringees Mom

I buy ground beef when it is on sale in large quantities and then fry it up with onions, then I bag it up (2 cups per bag) and freeze, I stretch with beans, shredded carrots or zuchinni when I use it in a main dish. It's easier to cook up a whole bunch of meat than to cook it as needed. I also make up meatloaf an freeze raw, then thaw and bake.


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## wanda1950

Most kids love spaghetti & you don't need much meat in the sauce. I get the 88cent canned sauce if I don't have homemade & it's just as good as the high priced jar brands. Or use some textured soy protein with or instead of meat if you don't object to using it. It's good in any highly flavored dish.

I know it's summer but kids usually love mild chili anytime & it can be made cheaply with lots of beans & tomatoes also TVP if you like.

Tuna--one can will make them lunch--chop up a boiled egg in it & it will go farther. I wait & Kroger here will eventually have it for $.50 per can.

If you have a Mennonite store close, you can get excellent flour in a large size bag for quite a bit less than the groceries. A loaf hot from the oven with some butter & jelly makes a great lunch especially with a glass of milk. It's really not hard to do--I have a $4.00 goodwill bread machine that I use to do all the mixing & rise. I do put it in a loaf pan for final rise & baking. You'll soon learn how to slice it for sandwiches, etc. 

My kids love homemade cinammon rolls--just use the dough for a loaf of bread. After the first rise roll it out into a rectangle & sprinkle with cinammon & sugar. Roll it up & cut it into slices. My loaf recipe will make 12 big rolls. For the kids you might want to make them smaller. Let rise & bake at about 400 till done & brown. If you have powdered sugar on hand make a glaze with a little milk or water & put it on the still warm rolls. Sneak in at least part whole wheat flour.

Meat loaf--try it in little balls--it'll cook faster & kids like anything little usually. Put some ketchup on during last part of baking so it'll be red. Or I make it sometimes in muffin pans with the catsup.

Eggs are cheap here usually & have a lot of good protein. My niece will eat as many as someone will scramble for her. I don't even worry about the cholesterol when no meat is served with the eggs.

Walmart has link turkey sausages in the freezer for $.99 for I think about 12 sausages. They are mild flavored & I bet your kids would like them. With pancakes they would make an economical meal anytime.

Spaghettios--I bought the store brand & I've never known a kid to turn them down. They are a little expensive but a few cans on hand would give you an emergency meal. 

Hope it goes well for you. I'll bet you all have a great time.

My son loved chicken & dumplings so it might be worth a try.


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## NEfarmgirl

We spend about $50 a week normally. I smash red beans or pintos and mix with hamburger to stretch it farther. I also add oatmeal to hamburger when making burgers or meatloaf so it is more filling and we usually get a second meal with the meatloaf--sandwiches. We do bean and corn burritos and DS loves them--on homemade tortillas and make lentil tacos once and a while. I make bread, corn and flour tortillas and since I have the corn masa I make tamales filled with cheese or leftover meat. We have chickens and plenty of eggs so I make a lot of egg dishes like stratas and quiches--DS loves those too! The garden is saving us money already just by having lettuce, spinach, chard and onions ready--they grow fast. We do plant a lot but it isn't ready yet and we use what we have.


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## viggie

I found this blog yesterday that posts most of the food storage recipes she's making: http://eatingfoodstorage.blogspot.com/ And I just ordered a bunch of useful books to add to my library: Dinner is in the Jar, The Amazing Wheat Book, Natural Meals in Minutes, Country Beans, and Cookin' with Home Storage. Check your library, mine didn't have these but browsing through the cooking section I saw a bunch of pantry cooking, 5 ingredient, and frugal type cookbooks to borrow later.

Another thing that helps is using a site like recipezaar. I just filter by a cheap ingredient I want to cook with and it returns tons of good recipes. I've had great luck there, and that's even narrowing it even further looking for vegetarian recipes for me.


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## used2bcool13

Look for Hamburger and Chicken recipes and go meatless 2 days a week, soup is a great stretcher and very filling. I think one of the basic ways of stretching your food budget is making sure nothing goes to waste, plan your menus so that if there are leftovers you have another recipe that will use those ingredients.

I have a vegetarian recipe for chili that is meatless but uses bulgar wheat to act as if it is ground beef, same consistency - you cannot tell the difference. 

Check all of the store circulars for sales before you shop, collect your coupons, and make the rounds. My local supermarket also has meat and cheese ends they sell cheaply, which are great in soups, chopped into "chicken salad type" of foods, or in a quiche or au gratin potatoes.

I make a cheesy mushroom bake, which has protein and is a meatless meal. It is also has a mac and cheese type sauce which kids like and is homemade and only uses a cup of cheese, which you can skimp on or combine to use whatever you have.

The tightwad gazette has some great cheap recipes and that book is in almost every library.

If you would like any recipes I would be happy to supply them.


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