What's Your Favorite Frugal Meals?

[NoMoreJuice!]

I was just going to add that I shop for most produce at Sprouts! I live in the Kansas City area, and we have excellent farmers markets everywhere, as well as tons of different grocery stores that are always competing against each other. Aldi usually has the cheapest bananas, Sprouts is great for apples.

[CraftyMom]

I make a lot of one pot dishes each with different noodles, 2 veges, and meat. In the following examples, I cook the meat and then cut it into small bite sizes and add it to the pot with everything else.

elbow macaroni noodles
chicken
peas
carrots
Campbell's cream of chicken


egg noodles
thin steak
broccoli
red peppers
Worcestershire sauce
steak sauce

spaghetti noodles
ground beef
onions
green peppers
spaghetti sauce

Basically, pick a type of noodles and some meat and throw in 2 different vegetables with the proper seasoning/sauce for the meat. You can make enough for one meal or a couple of meals if you like left overs or if you want to freeze some.

One big plus (and the reason I started making one pot meals for daycare) is that since the different foods are all cooked and served together as one dish, most children will eat all sorts of vegetables and meats that, if served separately, they would refuse to eat.

I do also serve regular meals where everything is served separately, but I really like the one pot meals best.

I LOVE one pot meals, only problem is I can't claim it all on the food program. For combined meals I can only claim 2 components. So even thought the meal has every component in it, I still have to serve another 2 For example I could claim the meat and the noodles, but I'd have to serve 2 ADDITIONAL veggies or fruit to make it count

[bananas]

Wow! I'm jealous how cheap food is in other parts of the nation. Apples here are about $2.49/pound, milk is $4/gallon, blueberries are about $4 for a container the size of one child serving….(and that's if the store even has any in stock) same with blackberries or raspberries...I live in Alaska…a 1500sq ft. ranch style house averages $325 - 350k and utilities can sometimes cost the same as your mortgage!

I feel bad for not being able to cook these elaborate meals you guys can… I'd go broke in an instant!

[Crystal]

Went to sprout's today. In addition to apples at 69 cents a pound, I got peaches and nectarines for 88 cents a pound, whole cantaloupes for 88 cents EACH, kiwi's 3 for $1, tomatoes for 69 cents a pound, cucumbers and bell peppers for 2 for $1 and red potatoes for 69 cents a pound. I LOVE Sprout's!

[Josiegirl]

Wow, what a difference in price for some of this stuff. Green peppers were 1.99# and cantaloupes were 3.49 each this a.m. Only thing cheaper from your list, for me, was kiwi 4/1.00. But waddya know, they didn't have any.

For me,
we eat a lot of chicken, paired with noodles or rice. Pizza on Fridays usually.
I should be more careful with buying groceries but I'm not. I try to shop sales. I use our local bread outlet, which makes the bread, bagels, english muffins, buns, much cheaper.
I try to feed the kids fish once a week but that can be costly. I hardly ever serve ground beef anymore because of the price, unless I make something like spaghetti, extending the hamburg by adding smashed kidney beans.

[Leigh]

Wow! I'm jealous how cheap food is in other parts of the nation. Apples here are about $2.49/pound, milk is $4/gallon, blueberries are about $4 for a container the size of one child serving….(and that's if the store even has any in stock) same with blackberries or raspberries...I live in Alaska…a 1500sq ft. ranch style house averages $325 - 350k and utilities can sometimes cost the same as your mortgage!

I feel bad for not being able to cook these elaborate meals you guys can… I'd go broke in an instant!

Food costs are the same for me in the Midwest. My kids will only eat Honeycrisp apples (the most expensive) and Cuties brand oranges (they won't touch anything else other than canned Mandarins). My own kids and my daycare kids eat tons of expensive berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries) every week. I'd love to avoid buying so much of them, but I WANT my kids to eat those kinds of things.

[LK5kids]

Breakfast skillet served at lunch

Baked or microwaved potatoes-sliced or cut up
Shredded cheese
Eggs
Sauté potatoes in a skillet, add beaten eggs, cook and stir, add cheese..serve.

Homemade chicken rice soup with carrots

Shredded BBQ chicken on a bun

Apricot chicken over rice

PB & jelly

Picnic lunch - yogurt, cuke slices & peppers with homemade dip, cheese &
Crackers, fruit

Spaghetti, sauce, grated cheese served on top. I add a bit of cooked quinoa to the sauce...though it's not cheap!

Scrambled eggs

French toast bake-bread and beaten eggs poured over top. Heavier breads like Brownberry Oatnut or it get too soggy

Fried Egg & cheese on a English muffin

[bananas]

Food costs are the same for me in the Midwest. My kids will only eat Honeycrisp apples (the most expensive) and Cuties brand oranges (they won't touch anything else other than canned Mandarins). My own kids and my daycare kids eat tons of expensive berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries) every week. I'd love to avoid buying so much of them, but I WANT my kids to eat those kinds of things.

Oh believe me, I would love for these kids to eat that way too…but it comes down to would I rather have the money to pay for rent or have the money to pay for such "fanciful" meals (fancy for where I live!). The other day I splurged and bought kiwis which are $2 EACH at the store. 1 of the 5 kids even touched them. I made a quinoa edamame salad with sliced almonds, raisins, peppers, etc. the other day (cost about $45 in ingredients) and ONE kid touched it…my own :P. I'm not on the food program so I pay for this out of pocket. We have one grocery store and also have to pay 7% sales tax on all items I do a lot of sandwiches, scrambled egg/omelets, soups….I think I feed them Mac & Cheese about once a month and chicken nuggets about once a year….not terribly unhealthy, but not super healthy. Sigh..

For veggies I do mainly carrots, broccoli, peas, and green beans…occasionally edamame beans.
For fruits I stick to mainly grapes, strawberries, bananas, apples, and Cuties. Sometimes the store doesn't even have fruit in stock :-/ Depends on what day you go and when the barge last came in.

[Josiegirl]

Omigosh Bananas, 2 bucks each for a kiwi? Yikes. And to put all that $$$ into something so yummy and good for you and no one eats it?? I think I'd feed them only the stuff you know they'll eat. Usually I try to get them to broaden their horizons, but egads, not at those prices.

[CraftyMom]

Oh believe me, I would love for these kids to eat that way too…but it comes down to would I rather have the money to pay for rent or have the money to pay for such "fanciful" meals (fancy for where I live!). The other day I splurged and bought kiwis which are $2 EACH at the store. 1 of the 5 kids even touched them. I made a quinoa edamame salad with sliced almonds, raisins, peppers, etc. the other day (cost about $45 in ingredients) and ONE kid touched it…my own :P. I'm not on the food program so I pay for this out of pocket. We have one grocery store and also have to pay 7% sales tax on all items I do a lot of sandwiches, scrambled egg/omelets, soups….I think I feed them Mac & Cheese about once a month and chicken nuggets about once a year….not terribly unhealthy, but not super healthy. Sigh..

For veggies I do mainly carrots, broccoli, peas, and green beans…occasionally edamame beans.
For fruits I stick to mainly grapes, strawberries, bananas, apples, and Cuties. Sometimes the store doesn't even have fruit in stock :-/ Depends on what day you go and when the barge last came in.

With food costs so high you should join the food program! Is there a reason you do not want to? Just wondering because you could get some of your money back!

[Pepperth]

I decided this week I am using my pantry as much as possible, except for the obvious milk, eggs & fresh fruit. Today, I pulled out my bread maker for homemade cinnamon bread at snack time (huge hit with the kids), and I am making chicken pot pie for lunch. I have to figure out the rest of the week still, but I think I can pull it off.

[bananas]

With food costs so high you should join the food program! Is there a reason you do not want to? Just wondering because you could get some of your money back!

I'm unlicensed! I just watch a few friends' until they're all school age (when they're all in school, I'll turn my second evening job into a full-time day job), so I'm not sure it's worth getting licensed at this point. It definitely does sound like an incentive though!