Filling Meals for Lean Times

We all know times can be tough.  Sometimes it's all we can do to make it to the next payday.  So what do you do when you are low on groceries, have a large family to feed, and its a week til payday?

YOU GET CREATIVE!

Hopefully you have some basics on hand to make things from.  It may not be the most exciting food you'll ever eat, but you will eat.

Here are a few things you can make.

Soup

Soups can be very good and very filling depending on the type you make.  If you have a few basics on hand you can make several different kinds for very little money.

• Vegetable barley (with meat if you have it)
• potato soup (keep powdered milk on hand so you can have cream soup.  You could also use powdered plain coffee creamer in a pinch ;) )
• Bean soup (keep you ham hocks from ham dinners for added flavor and bits of meat in your bean soup)
• Chili (with or without meat)
• Vegetable rice soup
• noodle soup (with or without meat)

There are many other soups you could try.  You could even turn leftovers into a hearty delicious soup with a little imagination.

Casserole

Casseroles are another way to stretch meals to feed a lot of people.  You don't need to use as much meat because its going to be chopped up and everyone will get a little.  Just the other day I used one chicken breast to make an entire chicken and rice casserole that will easily feed my whole family!

• Chicken and rice
• Chicken noodle
• Tuna noodle
• Asian beef noodle
• vegetable rice

Just use whatever you have on hand.  I like to add a meat, vegetable, and starch.  I will often times add a can of cream soup and cheese if I have it. 

Stir Fry

Stir fry is a really easy option.  Just take whatever vegetables you have on hand, add some leftover meat sliced this, add a couple of bags of cooked and drained ramen, and add soy sauce.  It may not be authentic but it will taste good and you will have supper for your whole crew that won't cost hardly anything!!!

Well there you go.  A few ideas to get you started.  I will be posting some recipes for these kinds of dinners in future posts.  

Keep coming back for more money saving ideas!!

Amanda

Why I Love My Pressure Cooker!!

Did I mention that I  LOVE my pressure cooker?

  I think this thing is one of the best investments I've even made. I have the Elite Platinum 8qt pressure cooker, and it was worth every penny! It saves me so much time!  I have 4 children.  I forget to take things out of the freezer.  Or I get a late start on supper.  Or, or, or.  It seems like there is always something going on.  Plus, I'm impatient.  I know its not the best attribute to have, but I'm being honest.  We all have those times where we just want to open a can of beans instead of making them from dry just for the convenience of it.  

But now, since I have my pressure cooker I can make homemade beans in about an hour from dry!!  It makes me happy cause now we can have homemade meals that would normally take me all day to make in just a fraction of the time. 

Aaaand it saves me money!! 

I would much rather spend a dollar on a pound of dry beans and have enough for several meals than spend almost that much on just one can of prepared beans.

This is just one of the many things that you can save time and money on using a pressure cooker.  I promise you won't be disappointed if you buy one for yourself.  I definitely wasn't!!

This post contains affiliate links.  This is the product that I use and I added the link in case you were wanting to check it out.  Thank you for checking.  Your helping me to be able to continue posting all of my random knowledge and advice for your reading pleasure. ;)

How To Feed A Crowd For Less

Lets face it.  It's tough to feed a lot of people in today's economy.  Grocery prices have gotten WAY expensive.

I have a family of six and a very low budget for groceries.

Today I am going to share what I do to feed my family good filling meals without having to spend TONS of hard earned money.

We are not on food stamps.  We could be.  We definitely qualify.  I think the only reason we are not on food stamps is because I have learned ways to save money at the grocery store.

Here is the basics.  I will go into more detail in future posts.

1. Your going to have to get over buying what you want.  All you need to buy is what you need.  If that means hamburger and pork chops cause that's whats on sale then so be it.  You can't stay on a low budget and eat steak all the time.  I'm not saying you can't ever eat steak.  I do eat steak, but I don't buy it when its $4 a pound or more.

I know what your thinking.  Steak for less than $4 a pound!!  I know that's not feasible in a lot of places, but I live in Montana and we have a great grocery store in my town that has really great sales all the time.  I can pretty regularly get petite sirloin steaks for $2.99#. :)

2.  Don't get hung up on brand names. Often times the store brand is just as good or better than brand names.  And many many times it is the same thing in a different package.

3.  If there is something that you use a lot of track the sales and find out when it usually goes on sale and stock up on it then.  I hardly ever pay full price for something that I use often.  If it's a fresh product and can be stored for long period for future use then do it.  It's worth the saving!!
Today at my local grocery store I scored a dozen large eggs for 69 cents!!  That's a really cheap healthy breakfast! :)

4. Cook at home!!
I can't stress this enough.  It is always more expensive to buy premade items, boxed items, and to eat out.  If you don't know how to cook then find someone who does and learn.  Watch YouTube videos.  Anything.  Just stop buying premade food and eating out so much!



These are some very basic things to start implementing.  Please feel free to leave a comment if you have questions.  I will be posting more detailed posts in the near future.

Amanda