Yep, both people and money. We are on a pretty tight budget around here and try to eat for about $1 per person per meal. Well, even though Jonathan is not eating solids, I use his dollar for my meal since my appetite is a little bigger while nursing (at least that is what I tell myself!) So we are always looking for creative, cheap dinner meals! Anyway, we tried a new one yesterday and I thought I would share. Our favorite is still the $5.99 Papa Murphy's pizza, but this was really close...
We bought a Chipolte Rotisserie Chicken from Walmart for $4.97, took off the chicken and made spicy chicken tacos (shells - $1.00). It sure was yummy and quite the change from our normal beef taco meal. Best news, total prep/cook time was about 10 minutes. We even had left over chicken today for soft tacos for lunch. Now we have the dollar to justify renting Spiderman 3 today from the Red Box - Yah!! If you have any other cheap meal ideas, please send them our way (we are getting tired of hamburgers, spaghetti, and pizza!).
We bought a Chipolte Rotisserie Chicken from Walmart for $4.97, took off the chicken and made spicy chicken tacos (shells - $1.00). It sure was yummy and quite the change from our normal beef taco meal. Best news, total prep/cook time was about 10 minutes. We even had left over chicken today for soft tacos for lunch. Now we have the dollar to justify renting Spiderman 3 today from the Red Box - Yah!! If you have any other cheap meal ideas, please send them our way (we are getting tired of hamburgers, spaghetti, and pizza!).
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Grocery shopping on the cheap is not my forte. We are willing to spend more so we can have food we like to eat. But we do have some inexpensive favorites - some you probably already eat:
Beef stroganoff (our kids are picky too so they just eat the noodles plain), grilled cheese & tomato soup (kids don't like soup, so they just eat the sand. and some fruit), club quesadillas (a club sandwich made with a tortilla instead of bread and made like a quesadilla), monte cristo sandwiches (ham, swiss cheese on slices of french bread dipped in egg/milk mixture and cooked in oil), sloppy joe's (our kids aren't huge fans of this, but they're learning to like it), and breakfast for dinner is always a favorite. We also like the 'Pick 3' bucket you can get at Wal-mart at the deli counter for $8.50. They have some good choices and it usually lasts our family dinner and lunch the next day. Add a salad and fruit or whatever and you got a pretty good meal. And we like the $5 pizza at Little Caesars. We get the breadsticks, marinara sauce and 2 liter of root beer and all that is less than $10. And we usually have leftovers for lunch the next day. Much cheaper than any other fast food restaurant for our family. If your kids like tater tots, maybe they'd like tater tot casserole. Or shephards pie ( 1 lb. hamburger mixed with a can of green beans and tomato sauce with mashed potato and cheese on top). But maybe not if they don't like mixed types of things. But they are pretty cheap and we always have leftovers. Our kids are getting better at liking these as I make them more. Yea!
I have a few websites you can check out for some ideas: orgjunkie.com has a 'Menu Plan Monday' where people link up and share what they are planning for the week. You can get some good, inexpensive meal ideas and recipes. You can check it out every Monday (obviously!). Also, kraftfoods.com has a 'five meals in a bag' with recipes and shopping lists for 5 meals that fit in one bag - supposedly. I just found out about this one and haven't tried it out yet but am excited to. They have some good ideas and it is nice just to get some new meals, since we get sick of the same old things. Just click on the 'dinners' tab and you'll find it there. The nice thing is that they use extra food from last nights meal for another meal later in the week. I've never tried that, but I guess that makes cooking a little easier too.
Sorry this was so long. Anyway, hope something I said might help.
Also, shepherds pie is yummy, so you should get that recipe, Deanna -- unless layered casseroles count as "mixed." AND -- Alicia, if you're listening -- I want that chimichanga recipe too!
SOUPS: corn chowder, taco soup (esp. if you start with dried beans instead of canned), lentil soup, wild rice soup, chicken noodle, etc.
BEANS: beans & rice (probably cheaper if you make your own but we like Vigo brand rice mixes), black bean quesadillas or taco salads, bean soup, bean burgers, chili, etc.
CHEAP STARCHES: fried rice, cold rice salads, green bell peppers stuffed with rice mixture, baked potatoes w/ toppings, pasta salad, warm pasta tossed w/ garlic oil and roasted veggies, baked chicken w/ cornbread stuffing, lasagna bake (pasta/tomato sauce/cottage cheese/parmesan/mushrooms)
EGGS: hash brown quiche, huevos rancheros, omelettes
Let me know if you want a recipe for anything.