# Please help me plan meals based on strict budget



## okiemomof3 (Jan 11, 2010)

i am needing to cut our grocery budget down to hopefully stay at 75 per week for a family of 5 (17 girl, 15 girl 10 boy entering growth spurt and eating meat like crazy!), with me sending lunch to work with dh and myself eating at home. I have an "okay" pantry, better than lots, but not as good as some either as i have depleted some of my storage in the past few months without really being able to restock on sales  i cook breakfast for all of us every morning, after school snacks for the kids also. 

i did have "free" eggs from my chickens but my flock got attacked by a rogue bassett hound and i am down to two chickens and a call duck (from a flock of 14) and both of the hens aren't laying right now  so to get the best deal price wise i buy in large quantities. 

Here is what a ballpark of what i have already: 

Deep freeze: 
I have probably 15 pounds of deer burger
4-5 whole chickens
6-7 beef roasts
2-3 round steaks
2 skirt steaks
2 pkgs oxtails - never ever cooked, from last year's side of beef
2 ham shanks cut into 3 pieces each
2 pkgs ham hocks
1 Christmas ham bone waiting for soup or other recipe
couple of packages of smoked sausage
2-3 pkgs lil' smokies
2 lg pkgs frozen peas
beef soup bones for making stock eventually. 

Pantry: 
25 lbs each of red and white wheat berries
10 pounds of soft white wheat berries
5 lbs hulled (not pearled) barley
25 pounds rolled oats
10-15 pounds of different varieties of dried beans (navy, lima, pinto, black, kidney, black-eyed pea)
pasta varieties 
10 lg cans tuna
most all condiments
sugars
syrups
oils
home canned beans
home canned potatoes

i have depleted my stock of canned veggies and canned tomato products except for a few quarts home canned spaghetti sauce (my tomatoes and most of my garden burnt up this summer while dh was in the hospital for almost two weeks)

so basically, i have the esssentials and need to supplement with fresh fruits and veggies, but we are so stuck in a rut and dh likes variety which is hard on this type of budget. i need to stay on this type of budget for at least 2 1/2 months. 

I do have a some home canned meats, etc. but honestly, i am really trying to build up my home canned pantry and would like for all the foods i have canned already to stay there for an honest to goodness true emergency when i don't have ANY money for groceries and for those rare nights when i need supper QUICK. 

any meal suggestions is greatly appreciated!


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## okiemomof3 (Jan 11, 2010)

i also have about 5 lbs each of brown and white rices and 2 lbs of Wehani rice. 
i have 3 jars jelly
depleted my stock of pickles, sweet and dill, so don't have any of those
5 lbs of popping corn


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

There are lots of things to do with all of that!!

We are also on a seriously cut down budget and have been for several years now.

Some things that I have learned.. meat becomes a 'flavoring'. I am kidding, but that is what we say around here. We get our daily allottment of protein at breakfast for the most part, so we have cut out the 'meat as a main dish' meals except for when I roast a chicken.
Instead we focus on things like chicken pot pie, hot and spicy chicken over rice etc..
For lunches or snacks, chicken, black bean quesadillas. So yummy and filling and protein rich. Add some spinach in and some cheese. A great use of a little bit of leftover chicken. (or just the beans too)
Chicken salad melts and the stand by of chicken soup. So many ways to go..thick and creamy, thin with noodles, add an egg for egg drop, add soy and teriyaki for a light Asian soup with veggies..
A million different things.

And with the beef.. we do a lot of crock pot beef stew with potatoes, carrots, onions and green peas. Toss in some diced tomatoes at the end.. perfect.
Or a stronger flavored and denser stew beef over rice.. same thing, only no potatoes and more worchestershire and black pepper and some green peppers etc..

And you could use any of the beef that you have..from oxtails cooked down in the crockpot for the stew beef over rice to the steaks cubed up.
Beef barley soup is the bomb! Would be good with those bones. Cook them down on low overnight and add the veggies.
Or minestrone soup.


Ham/pork with any of the beans and some cornbread!
We like ham, lima bean bake.. (which isn't baked) Ham, limas, onions, carrots, potatoes cooked low and slow with some fennel seeds and black pepper. Warm filling and so good!
Ham and veggie mac and cheese.. loads of broccoli and other veggies.. add an egg or two and some milk and bake it up in the oven.

Split pea soup.
White bean soup. 
Potato soup.
All good with pork base.
Though I prefer my white bean with smoked sausage or kielbasa and throw in a can of Rotel at the end or dice up a red jalapeno. That'll put a fire in your belly.

With ground meat we do burgers maybe once a month, spaghetti (but with very little actual meat..mostly veg and mushrooms..I make it fresh with home canned or store canned diced or crushed tomatoes) or the goulas-y stuff with elbows.
Spanish rice.. meat, onions, peppers, taco seasoning, tomatoes etc.. and Rotel! Top with sour cream and a little cheese! Yum!
And sloppy joes.. I add grated carrots, onions and peppers to fill it out a bit.

Very rarely do I make meatloaf.. that's a lot of meat gone in one meal.
Oh.. and shepherd's pie is yummy too.. Hmmm. I forgot about that one. Haven't made it in years, but I top with cornbread.

And we like smoked sausage stews.. sausage, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, add some diced tomatoes at the end. Or make jambalaya.. yummmmmmy!

Oh.. chili!
I don't put any meat in my chili.. just beans, peppers, onions, carrots and corn.. black bean chile, southwestern style.

And you ahve the makings for a lot of good, warm bread to go with all of that.
With 100% whole wheat I let the wheat flour soak in the fridge over night with the water, then add the yeast etc.. and enough flour to knead it in the morning. Add a little powdered milk (wet milk is hard on the yeast) and it will be as soft and fluffy. Yummm.. rosemary bread, sandwich rolls, some cinnamon and sugar for breakfast breads or snacks, roll out for crackers, make flat breads on the stove top.. you can go all week and never make the same bread twice. Might be good to keep a ball of wheat dough (flour, water and a wee bit of salt) in the fridge at all times. Tortillas, flat breads, crackers. Soak the oats too for a wonderful sandwich roll or sandwich loaf for tuna melts. (add dill..oh wow)


You have a load of food to work with.
You would need the basics at the store.. carrots, onions etc...
and dairy and fruit.
Fill in with crackers, snack fods etc..
but making a lot of your own snacks will help.
I keep a fruit bread or a crumble of some sort always for eating with breakfast.
Whip up quick easy cookies like snickerdoodles whenever you are in the kitchen already watching a pot boil. Same for granola bars, crackers etc..
that is when I bake my fruit breads. I can have them mixed up (quick breads with baking powder etc..) in about a minute and in the oven and it is out by the time dinner is ready. And if I am going to make cookies.. I make 'bars' or cook them in muffin tins. I HATE parsing out cookie dough into little tabs on a pan. Smear it thin across the whole pan and then cut into bars when they come out of the oven. Huge time saver!

And homemade pudding is easy peasy and so much healthier and full of protein than store bought. Makes a great breakfast warm with rice and raisins and cinnamon or maple syrup. Great snack served cold. Mix with fruit and make popsicles.

You can do this.
I actually like it now.
I feel so awesome when I have hit super sales at the salvage store or Aldi's etc.. or have gotten Rotel for $.50 at Big Lots or Dollar General and can look at my stuffed full family adn know that I paid less than $3 for an entire meal for all of us.
And a healthy, from scratch (except for the Rotel or similar.. my peppers and tomatoes didn't come in at the same time last summer) veggie filled meal at that.


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

okiemomof3 said:


> Deep freeze:
> I have probably 15 pounds of deer burger
> 4-5 whole chickens
> 6-7 beef roasts
> ...


This is fun! This is fun! :banana:

Boil up some of your wheat berries to soften and strain and mix with some of that deer mince. Add all the flavours you can. My favourite would be juniper, thyme, and rosemary with some bay leaves stuck in. Cover with potatoes and any dairy you manage that week or some oil if you can't afford dairy that week and scratch all over with a fork. Bake at medium-high for forty five to an hour. Until the top is golden and the delicious insides have bubbled over the top.

Mix your favourite bean mix up with water and soak up overnight or put in boiling water for half an hour and let sit for an hour before cooking. Sear the meat of choice on all sides and stick it in the beans with cumin, coriander seed, chillies and paprika if you love them.. make a big pot of stew.

Mix up some boiling water and [corn or wheat if you have it] flour to make tortillas and serve some of the beans in it. Tortillas are fun and a good way to pad things out with pantry basics and seem interesting. Plus they don't actually take that long to make! Compared to bread, anyway haha.

Then the next morning fry up any eggs you do have and wrap them up with the leftover tortillas and beans. 

It's hot here so a cold bean and pasta salad with a little oil and vinegar sounds delicious to me right now, especially if my garden is herby and providing. It's so filling too!

Fry up those oxtails and then gently simmer in some alcohol, stock or water, whichever you have and/or you find cheapest. Add some potatoes near the end. Maybe some greens. Remove all the veggies and meat when cooked and cook that sauce down until it's thick and smells of heaven and use that to top the meat and veggies and whatever grain/pasta you decided you wanted that night. P:

Man that list looks like it needs a beef and barley stew in it with a big hunk of homemade bread. If you find a recipe you can can and make a biiiig batch, you can add to your stores, as well. :rock:

I have more ideas but my computer has already fritzed twice and I don't wanna lose what I have. :banana:


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Take a package of ham shanks or else the ham bone, one pound of beans from the pantry and make a pot of ham n beans. Need cornbread on the side. Some greens and fried potatoes will make it a feast. Take any leftover beans, add chicken broth and you have bean soup for lunches.

Cook off a couple of your roasts until really tender, shred the meat, portion it out. I would do this in the crockpot with red wine, onion, garlic, carrots. Save the juice for gravy base. Beef pot pie, beef in gravy, beef vegetable soup, all kinds of things you can use it in and control the portions to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it.


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## Booberry85 (Jun 5, 2011)

There's a lot of things you can make. Personally, I like to make a "big meat" meal (a pork roast, beef roast or chicken) on the weekends. Then with the leftovers, I can plan several more meals. So meals that I would make (aside from the ones mentioned):
Soup, Soup and more Soup! You have great makings for lots of soups!
Pasta primavera (use the peas and beans you already have, add some chicken leftovers)
Beef stew (with lesser cuts of beef or leftovers)
Shredded BBQ beef or pork (again with leftovers)
Oatmeal for breakfast (obvious?)
Beef, chicken or pork with gravy over pasta or rice
Enchiladas
Fried rice (with leftover chicken and or pork)

Hope this helps


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Homemade pasta --once a week make sheets of pasta and use up all your left overs by mincing the protein adding vegies and moisten. 

say you have scramble eggs --sounds hard right no-- think oriental or go for breakfast ravioles.

Oriental ionions, say pork--ham- sausage- or chicken, and broc --check out your salad bowl-- now do like an soy or soy ginger or such.--boil them maybe pan fry and server with sause.

So the breakfast ( breakfast is good at any time of the day)
white sause might add diced peppers from the salada bowl or cheese think what do you have

scamble eggs, ionions, mushrooms and maybe peppers just think what is there.

boil place in a baking dish cover with sause brown and serve.

Use the flavors your family already likes and use what you have.


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## ralph perrello (Mar 8, 2013)

Save all the liquid drained off of vegetables and use to make soup. It is full of vitamins and minerals. Make the soup from the left over vegetables and flavor with bullion.
Thicken with rice.


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