Ok, I've got a family of four to feed (including two children of varying degrees of pickiness depending on the alignment of the stars and planets on any given day), 9 days worth of dinners to shop for until pay day, and $100 to do it with. I live in a high cost of living area, so most meats aside from chicken thighs is probably undoable.
Please share your least depressing, cheapest, most family-friendly budget meals! I definitely need some inspiration, what google seems to think is "cheap" is not aligning with what I think is cheap, haha.
$100 to my name for 9 days worth of dinners, need some inspiration
byu/ohno_not_another_one inFrugal
Posted by ohno_not_another_one
25 Comments
First stop – Food Bank.
Inventory what you have between the food bank & stock on hand.
I would look at Dollar Tree Dinners on Youtube. Also, Budget Bytes has a SNAP challenge for inspiration.
My SNAP Challenge (Fun Cooking Ideas!) – Budget Bytes https://share.google/ERqlrf2Qbw9VdYRZs
This is where pasta, jarred marinara, and ground beef shines. Cheap, filling, and nutritionally balanced. Buying pasta and ground beef in bulk will help. Swapping canned tomato puree and salt for sauce will drop the price even more, depending on your family’s tolerance to unseasoned foods.
I’ve been eating spaghetti for 3 days lunch and dinner. For me it never gets old. Crazy cheap per meal if you don’t want to add meat.
savoury baked oats (use cheapo shredded veggies like carrots, canned diced tomatoes, or frozen mixed veggies) you can add a couple of eggs. it’s easy cheap and delicious
dhal for all ages! + rice
beet salad (canned beets are cheap) or beet soup
chickpea salad
chickpea curry
soups: curried carrots, bjorjsht , minestrone, tomato soup, potato and radish greens
potato and mixed veggies (frozen) salad
okonomiyaki (japanese cabbage pancake)
egg fried rice
risotto
Cut up weenies and scrambled eggs is one of my struggle meals. You’re probably going to get the usual “Costco chicken, lentils, rice and beans” but that gets really old after a while.
[https://foodfinder.us/](https://foodfinder.us/) please use the info to hit up some food banks.
Do you have basic spices, sugar, etc. in the pantry or is the larder completely bare?
Do you have access to a kitchen with stove, oven, etc? Do you have an Instant Pot?
Do you have lots of time for meal prep or do you barely have enough time to throw something together when you get home from work?
Try making a chipotle bowl at home! rice and beans, and sometimes with chicken and sometimes with different veggies. use avocadoes for making home-made guacamole.
It is easy to make and could come down to around 3-4 dollars per bowl.
You could also make stir fry some eggs and rice together and top it with soy sauce to make some classic chinese home made food.
$11 bucks a day is a lot if you make things that can be saved for leftovers like spaghetti, tacos/burritos (homemade), sandwiches and soup. Pretty much any dinner that will have leftovers or leftover ingredients
if you have a costco, sams club, or bjs membership. i would buy yourself 4 rotisserie chickens ($20) then check out Dollar Tree Dinners on youtube or tiktok. she has 2 different series where she turns a single rotisserie chicken into 4 meals for 2. If i remember correctly she made chicken and gravy with mashed potatoes, bbq chicken pizza, chicken salad sandwiches, buffalo chicken mac and cheese, chicken pesto paninis, chicken enchiladas, and 2 different types of chicken soup.
alternatively, she’s got loads of series where makes a weeks worth of food for $20-25 using only dollar tree ingredients. she’s literally such a gem for frugal cooking recipes
I would focus on a combination of starch (potatoes, rice, flour to make bread or pasta if you are up for it) + protein (beans, lentils, minced meat is relatively cheap where I live) + vegetables (no shame in using frozen and buy on offer).
Ground Beef + Pasta + Taco Seasoning + canned corn is my go to for cheap and makes a ton of food. If ground beef is really expensive you could do chicken, or even shred up a rotesserie chicken.
I have small kids as well so here are some of our more affordable meals: Tuna casserole is pretty cheap and always leaves leftovers for us. I know beef is expensive- lentils can make a great replacement for ground beef in spaghetti or a shepherd’s pie, you could even get one bag of frozen peas and put half in the tuna casserole and half in the shepherd’s pie. A bag of red or gold potatoes is a few dollars and you could use a couple in the shepherd’s pie and then have enough left over for mashed potatoes and then roasted potatoes. Also, I know not everyone is comfortable with tofu, but it’s heckin cheap and my kids LOVE it. It takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you put in it.
Get a rotisserie chicken or two and break those down for meat – meat goes into dishes, no one gets a whole piece. Use some to make chicken salad (even if it’s just chicken and mayo), chicken soup, chicken and rice. Frozen veggies and rice to bulk up and extend meals. Oats and frozen fruit, or yogurt for breakfast. Look for discount bread at the bakery. Look for discounted produce. Canned soup can be extended with some milk and added veggies. Cereal can be cheap too if you actually stick to serving sizes. Tortillas are cheap and some shredded cheese with little cream cheese and spices make decent quesadillas. Dense bean salads are good and can be made in a large batch and eaten over the week for <$10. Plan your meals out and look for cheap snacks if your family are snackers. Straight up tell the family too ‘we’re on a budget and this is what we have to eat, so keep the complaints to a minimum’ – manage the expectations.
Maybe roast a really big chicken, I could make an oven stuffer last the three of us a week. Hot chicken dinner night one with potatoes and cheap veg like carrots, next night casserole with frozen veg, noodles leftover gravy and crumb topping. Third night chicken salad sandwiches, fourth night chicken fried rice, fifth night ramen noodles, shredded chicken,,frozen veg and Asian seasonings then a pot of soup using the carcass.
I really wish people who post with these extreme budget food situations would go to a food bank. You are the person food banks exist for! Please use them. My partner and I are probably lower middle class for our HCOL area, but he’s also a student at the university where he works, so he has access to the student food bank and he’s allowed to go there once a week. We have zero qualms about him using the food bank. He’s a student, it’s for students. He doesn’t get a lot, just some beans, pasta, cereal, milk. At most it probably saves $40 a month, but that $40 matters.
My family is eastern European, stews and hearty soups were big to get people through tough times foodwise. I love a bean chili or potato soup. I never ate rice and beans as a kid, but I started making them for my partner when I’m out of ideas, and it’s great. He loves bringing it work. Cook up dried beans, make a bunch of rice, throw it together with salsa or canned tomatoes. You could probably get all of the components at the food bank.
Depending on the age of your kids, sandwich night at the park. Ex. pB&J, water, carrot sticks. Eat quick because it’s cleaning night – Eggs, toast, apples slices. Try pairing the meal with an activity to take the focus away from dinner time. You can totally do it!
Bag of potatoes: Baked potatoes, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes.
Bag of Rice.
Eggs (i know they expensive, but sams or costco will be cheaper)
Mexican rice…..cook rice per instruction, but sub salsa for water.
Corn tortillas, cheese and enchilada sauce – enchiladas w/ mexican rice.
Fry the corn tortillas w/ hotdogs, eggs and cabbage (migas)
Chicken breasts. shredded bbq chicken sammies, chicken salad
Pinto beans – soak overnight, cook w/ onions and make burritos or mash them up for refried beans on corn tortillas w/ cheese. Of course mexican rice as a side dish.
Curry paste w/ potatoes and chicken and what every veggies you have w/ rice. Make extra rice to make……
Fried rice. Look up Uncle Roger on youtube for some tips.
Kelbasa sausage, cook in bbq sauce w/ white rice or potatoes.
Pasta—cook any pasta, add sauce, top w/ cheese and bake.
This is bringing back some war flashbacks trying to feed the fam during the 2009 great depression.
I make pizza from scratch a lot and it’s one of my favorite dinners that’s both cheap and loved by my kids. They don’t know when we’re low on money – it’s just “yay pizza night!”
It costs about $3 for a 14-inch cheese pizza when I make the dough myself (although buying any ingredients you don’t have in the pantry will add to the cost). Buying the dough adds another ~$3 to that. If you make your own dough, you do need to plan ahead and I usually make it at least the night before to let it cold ferment for long enough. For the sauce, I use a few tbsp of ground peeled tomatoes (Pastene is my go-to), some salt and oregano (optional, I’ve skipped it when I don’t have it on hand). Sprinkle shredded cheese (or even better, grate a block of whole milk mozz). Have the oven preheated to 550 and ~8 minutes later, it’s ready.
I even make them with my kids and it turns into a fun family activity.
Cook with the formula of carbs, protein and fibre. Use rice, one of the cheapest form of carbs, beans/lentils for protein. Veges just choose the cheapest ones you can find, carrots/peas for example cost very little for a big bag. Skip the fruits for 9days until payday.
Simple answer – breakfast for dinner. The kids will get a kick out of it, and it’s easy.
More complex answer – bust out a crock pot and make some chili. Use it in tacos, just as chili, and to make a baked potato bar. You can make chicken chili, so don’t sleep on this option.
Buy (dry, black) beans and rice. Add whatever meat you can find cheap. Easily three out of nine days.
You’ll be investing some extra time in shopping and prep, but you can actually have better nutrition.
If you can do a little research, find out what specials are available at your local stores. Near me, Harris Teeter does a different $5 meal special each weekday, one is rotisserie chicken, another is baked chicken. Find out when your local stores mark down meat, produce, and bakery items that are nearing their sell-by date.
Become a pro at searching for recipes online. Pinterest has dozens for leftover rotisserie chicken, ground beef, vegetarian main dishes, crock-pot recipes, etc.
Sodas and chips are too expensive for their nutritional value. Make your own lemonade and get a big bag of popcorn kernels to pop yourself. It’s hard to get out of the habit of always having chips with a sandwich but carrot sticks or a piece of fruit are better for you and your kids.
Good luck!
Lentils. There are so many things you can do with Lentils, and they taste meaty enough if mixed with minced meat. I’m vegetarian so I eat them as God intended, meat free 😋
I didn’t read this entire thread but Aldi is your answer.
Walmart. 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters. $7.72.
Get some flour tortillas and taco shells and some rice. Get some potatoes and some onions. That stuff will stretch far. Fairly easy to stretch it 9 days. Just don’t buy junk food or highly processed food. That’s expensive not to mention unhealthy.