Tuesday, September 25, 2012

7 Days of Super Cheap Meals

Over at r/frugal, people are always trying to come up with ways to stretch their food dollars.  Off the top of my head, here is a week's worth of super cheap meals:

Breakfast:

  1. Oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon, and milk.
  2. Eggs and toast.
  3. Tortilla with scrambled eggs and jam (is tastes better than it sounds!)
  4. Homemade granola with milk.
  5. Sandwich (egg salad or fried egg or meat from the night before, etc).
  6. French toast and eggs.
  7. Homemade biscuits with meaty gravy (sausage and gravy, chicken and gravy, beef and gravy, etc).  

Lunch:

  1. Sandwich with meat left over from last night's dinner.
  2. Homemade chili over rice.
  3. Homemade pizza (it's easier to make than it sounds).
  4. Gyro (any kind of meat, vegies, homemade yogurt dip, on a pita which can also be made at home).
  5. Soup and salad.
  6. Leftovers from the night before.
  7. Big salad with tuna or chicken and lots of vegies.

Snack:

  1. Popcorn.
  2. Fruit (apple, pear, watermelon, etc)
  3. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
  4. Piece of cake (making a sheet cake from a mix at home costs less than a $1).
  5. Tortilla chips and homemade salsa.
  6. Cheese and crackers.
  7. Fruit smoothie.

Dinner:

  1. Curried vegetables with a bit of meat (beef, chicken, shrimp) over rice.
  2. Tacos or burritos (home made of course).
  3. Stir fried vegies with a bit of meat over rice.
  4. Rotisserie chicken from the store with vegies made at home (mash sweet potato, beans, corn, etc).
  5. Chicken pot pie (homemade of course).
  6. Meat/pasta/vegies put together in a casserole. 
  7. Home made stew with biscuits or dumplings.  
Note that one rotisserie chicken from the store is usually cheaper than buying a whole chicken in the meat department and this one chicken can be used for a half dozen meals.  Eggs are also a great cheap source of protein.  Grains are often used to stretch meals (anything over rice looks like a feast) and meat can be served in small pieces (diced, etc) to make it stretch.  Finally, cooking from scratch can save A LOT of money and it will probably be healthier for you (there aren't any added chemicals and preservatives) plus once you get in the habit of cooking from scratch it really does become easier and faster (the first few times you try this it may be more difficult and slower but that's the learning curve!).

2 comments:

  1. I try to buy the rotisserie chicken when they are reduced the next day for half price. It's good to have a cooked chicken on hand.

    Gill

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  2. Costco has huge, delicious & juicy rotisserie chickens for $4.99 each! I can't buy them raw at that price!

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