Put your glasses in the freezer about an hour before super. At the last minute put refrigerated water in the glasses and serve. I get lots of compliments from my family because I make water seem special with white frost on the glass. This is plain ordinary tap water.

That is great idea with the water glasses. I am not terribly excited when it is just plain glass of water. Thank you so much! This is fantastic!! And as a base set up for you to go on to feed your family, SPOT ON!!

I buy any meat on sale.. we at in the backwoods so we hunt and fish frequently so those meats are used prior to buying more. This has saved us a ton!! This is for real life! My friends keep encouraging me to try meal plans that will RAISE my food budget.

This looks doable and would LOWER the food budget! Thankyou for posting this. We are a family of 7 and find it really hard right now to feed our kids.

You can make it through! I signed up for the download a total of three times and no link appeared or did I receive anything in my email. Hi Diana! Send me an email here: tiffany at dontwastethecrumbs dot com and I can get it sorted out for you!

I literally cried when I read this. Thank you so much for posting! I had to quit my job because my Lupus was getting too bad to work, and then my husband had his hours cut. I knew I had to make some major cuts, and this article makes me feel much better and much more motivated.

I can do this! God bless you and thank you again xoxox. I have a family of 5. Stealing from another meal plan that I am combining to incorporate different ideas, hard boiled eggs for lunch is a good protein and also filling.

My two three year olds even peel them by themselves. Surprises me every time. You can pair this with a fruit and go to town.

I use some to make a quiche. It is a protein, great veggie, and a dairy with calcium. You can add toast if you can afford the extra bread. Adding eggs does not increase your budget a lot and they can go very far.

This is definitely a way I would add variety. For breakfast, consider cinnamon toast a little butter and some cinnamon.

Also, mine like to have yogurt and dip apples in it. To beef up the protein content in this, I use vanilla greek yogurt that I buy by the tub.

This lasts a long time. Lastly, a box of pancake mix and smash bananas up in your pancakes. This makes them include a little something extra and even oatmeal tastes good in these if you have it from your other breakfasts.

I have taught mine to like pancakes without syrup. I cut it up into strips so they eat it with their hands that way. It was something new and different and was an easy transition away from sugary syrup. Pancake mix will last a long time so if you get a decent, but cheap box you can use it for a few weeks.

Lastly, carrots are pretty cheap. I buy the petite ones, a few bags at aldis. I boil them or steam them. My kids still prefer their carrots soft. Your nine month old could probably eat them too. Mine will eat half a bag if they are soft and I am not watching them.

i live in NJ, not sure if the food price is lower here. i think the price of the foods play such a big role in this. i only buy the things that go on sale also or shop at walmart only. i usually get a little lost when it comes to lunch time lol so thank you so much for this post.

Also do you have downloadable recipes anywhere? My husband is in medical school and we just moved to a new state so I stay home with our three month old until I can find a job and someone to watch her.

We have a very low monthly grocery budget and I need help! Hi Alex! The link to download appears towards the end, a few seconds after the page loads.

Like a simple roasted chicken, that can be made into multiple meals like chicken salad, or chicken enchiladas and chicken stock! Freezing veggie cut offs from celery, onions, carrots etc and making stock. Using basic pantry ingredients to make sauces, soups, marinades, and dressings.

Also, much healthier! I can whip up smoothies, sorbets, ice creams, and most anything using up scraps. I agree with everything you said, including the blender.

I wish my family could live off of this much food. My husband is training for an ultra marathon and needs a lot of calories and protein. I personally eat gluten free and vegetarian I do eat seafood, fresh eggs and cheese.

My youngest has allergies to soy bean oil, corn syrup and oil and cooked tomatoes. My oldest has allergies to red Do you have any ideas? Please help? Hi Shelly — this is a bare bones, absolutely minimum meal plan.

The intention was to provide ideas for those who are truly struggling to make ends meat and still need to eat. I am on a limited budget also. We have a family of 5 regulars, every other week my grandson lives here, plus my older sons come over on the weekend with their wives for laundry and dinner total of 8.

I shop mainly Aldi. I need to try some of this at their prices. Hi Kimberly! Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Start Here Grocery Budget Bootcamp Blog About Search this website.

Put cream corn and condensed soups into a large pot. Add to pot along with chicken and frozen corn to make it as thick as you like.

Add paprika and caayenne to taste. Chicken Vegetable Noodle Soup also a little longer 7. Put all ingredients into a pie plate. Top with uncooked biscuit mix.

Cook at for 30 min. This is a great idea but I would need to triple it, i have two 14 year olds that eat me out of house and home! Love this post! I just started meal planning and at the end of the first week now.

Yay Lisa! Suddenly, Meals become fun and not a huge hassle. Do you mean, where do I buy and how much meat? It;s in the shopping list in the post. If you have some money saved up front, check with a butcher and get a quarter to half a cow. Pricey up front, but when you can eat a nice steak for a few bucks it is worth it!

Awesome idea Cayla! I can get boneless chicken at 1. After our mortgage the food bill is the next highest bill we have. I am excited to incorporate your stir fry recipes into our menu. That book gets used almost everyday in our house. broccoli and penne pasta last night. I do like the idea of a menu plan and some of your recipes as a base, but agree that the meal size is adequate for perhaps three adults with little or no left overs :- , but easy to just add more veggies.

I also live in an area that has considerably higher prices…butter 3. about 35 miles South of Seattle but have had some luck with Grocery Outlet. Thank you for the ideas!

Your so welcome Maridyth! Check to see if you have an Aldi grocery store within an hour. It would be worth the trip just to stock up on staples. Winco or Shop N Kart are also cheap stores. Thankfully walmart is.

I need to move where you are!! I always thought we would have higher grocery prices! Well, not higher than Cananda!

A little disappointing, but that honey sesame chicken was a huge hit last night. These are definitely great tips and well calculated. I cook daily, mainly because I find some of the meals I make cannot be frozen.

I do make pancakes ahead of time but trying to find a way to make it faster than pouring it in the skillet to make a dozen for the week. Have you tried Oven Baked pancakes? Use your favorite pancake recipe, pour into a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.

Bake in the oven, degrees for mins. But those of you who have higher prices, in general, make higher wages, also. I lived in DC for a year and prices were much higher than Ohio, but so were wages. Maybe I missed it in all the comments, but where did you get a great big griddle?

I live in Ontario, Canada. Although our prices are higher, I still really enjoyed this article and will be using ideas from it. I agree. I try to buy four pounds and freeze 3 to get it that low in price.

Orange marmalade here is closer to 4. The cheapy stores like 99 cent stores tastes awful. I rarely use coupons as I find that store brands are usually cheaper than the coupon price of name brands.

We get chicken for pretty cheap in south AL, because of alllllll the chicken farms and processing plants by us. My mom pays way more than we do! Yet each area has their lows and highs. Thanks so much for the recipes and breakdown I am definitely trying these this week!

My family only includes myself and my husband and 2 big furbabies, but I am constantly trying to find quick recipes that last us a day or two. That makes it easier on me and my husband who is in grad school. The prices are pretty much on the mark for me and I am in Georgia, actually with recent sales some are even lower!

I absolutely love Aldi, my farmers market and I use a local store depending on the sales. I just bought eggs from Aldi for. I agree that prices will change based on the location and thats to be expected but the foundation of larger meals and meal planning can help reduce excess spending anywhere.

I feel so bad for all of you having to pay so much for food. We might starve. I live in Southwest GA. And I thought our block cheese was expensive. We are in SW TN and our prices are pretty decent. We do have a neighbor that we buy eggs from building our own coop this spring. Already looking into buying half cow for the freezer.

We do meal planning and use ibotta and try to use sales to help. We have started freezer meals and that has helped a lot since my daughter I live with my daughter, her fiance and my granddaughter has just started working as a caretaker.

Her hours vary and we have to make sure that the meals are done early enough that my granddaughter has time to eat and get everything done before bed as she has to get up early for school. Your recipes are great, we just have to increase for the big guy and enough for lunch leftovers.

We are big on leftovers and extra for freezer. If your in the north west try shopping at cash and carry. You have to buy some items bulk. Especially the plan she has for bulk cooking breakfast with the homemade muffin and pancakes mix. Wow was that a budget saver.

I am having trouble finding the recipe for the orange chicken stir fry. I have made it before and it is the easiest and best orange chicken I have came across. Can you please email me the recipe!?

Yes, could you please post this recipe. The recipe link brings you to a site that wants you to have a membership, pay, etc. No thank you. I love this! Would love more examples just like this. I am always looking for ways to make life a little easier.

Cheap, easy, gentle on the budget, eat at home Yes, I am in the south, prices were higher here too. I thought possibly this post was a couple of years old, or I am buying in larger quantities due to my teens. Regardless, this was great meals and less than my usual trips to the grocery.

This is great, but all the dinners are chines cuisine. could you throw a similar list together using maybe some other options? I bet that would greatly change the price.

I tried your list its good but I shop at Wal-Mart or other grocery stores I hate aldis but I have to tell you we substituted a few items and they ran about the same cost a bit lower in fact.

No coupons used either just need to look for the deals. I look forward to your reply on how you use or change up the recipes you linked to….. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.

Learn how your comment data is processed. About Work With Me Contact Me Privacy Policy New? Start here! How To Budget Ways to Save Money Set Up A Budget Stick To A Budget Budget Printables Easy Meals 15 Minute Meals Easy Lunch Ideas Meal Planning Home Organization Home Management Save Time Home Routines Home Management Binder Make Money Work From Home Side Jobs Money Making Apps Hobbies That Make Money Shop.

How to Budget New? Home Organization Make Money Easy Meals 15 Minute Meals. Need help reducing your spending? Not a fan of stir fry but need super cheap quick and easy meals? Chocolate Waffles with Peanut Butter Syrup Scrambled Eggs, Banana Boats with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips.

To make banana boats, just scoop out an indentation in the top of the banana. Spread peanut butter in there and sprinkle with chocolate chips, crushed nuts or raisins. Lunch: Leftovers from dinner each night.

Dinner: Make a little extra of each for lunches the next day. FTC Disclosure of Material Connection: In order for us to maintain this website, some of the links in the post above may be affiliate links.

Comments Yep. Woah Heidi! It amazes me how different the prices are across the US! I shudder at the thought of what my grocery bill will be when these kids are teens! xoxo Lisa Fun Money Mom.