Laid off...need food ideas...

[Izzy0906]

Ok, I'm a single mom and just got laid off on the 14th. I had to cut back on my grocery budget. My boyfriend is helping with making sure that each of my minimum monthly bills are paid (along with my unemployement) so I'll be fine there for awhile... but I need new meal ideas. I found out last night that my boyfriend (and it only took me 4 years to find this out) loves breakfast for dinner. So we agreed on 3 nights/week of breakfast for dinner. I'm going to stock up on Aldi's eggs and bacon on sale for $1.25/package. BUT I have about 8 packages of ground chicken frozen. We are tired of sloppy joes, meatloaves and stuffed peppers and tacos. Any other ideas? Please keep in mind we need to keep this healthy. We are trying to eat as healthy as possible on the limited budget. Thanks!

[TigerGirl1226]

Ground chicken can also be made into meatball and used in spaghetti.

[TheRootedNomad]

How about
~ just stir-frying it with veggies
~ cooking it with pasta or rice like hamburger helper
~ make a white chili
~ chicken noodle soup with carrots and peas
~ chicken salad with no fat mayo, lots of celery, and maybe apples to streatch it

[Momto2Boyz]

Soups can be kept super healthy and can be really cheaply done! You just need a stock (which can be water & bullion or boiled meat stock) a protein and veggies. You can even skip the meat, if you need to, to keep it inexpensive and add noodles for filler.

Meatless spaghetti and meatless chili were big here when DH was laid off. With dried beans, the chili was really cheap and they were still good and hearty and no one missed the meat.

Casseroles go along way too. Noodles, protein & veggies with a cream based soup.

As far as breakfasts go, I've found that oatmeal is the cheapest way to go, but home baked quick breads are good too for a treat.

Lunches can be easily done as salads or sandwiches (PB&J goes along way for a budget).

For our kids, they had mac n cheese, ramen and things like that from Aldi's.

Last year when Dh was laid off, we ate on $20/week on groceries from Aldi's. Things are a bit more expensive there now, but not horribly so.

I had to cut things like milk to drink (I didn't cut it completely, but I severely limited how much they drank), I cut eggs down to twice a week. Used half as much ground meat as a recipe called for. If you make spagetti, use 1/4 to a 1/2 pound and you won't notice it, same goes for hamburger helper, sausage gravy, etc. You won't notice that it is missing.

Good luck to you! I hope you find something new soon!

[3tomboys]

How about chili or lasagna? We don't eat beef anymore due to husbands health so I use ground turkey or chicken in everything that calls for ground beef. We don't notice a difference (probably because we have be doing this for some time). Another thing I found to help the food budget was baking as much as I could. Bread, cookies, soft pretzels (for the dd's lunches), etc.

[Debbie-cat]

Sorry to hear you are laid off. I was going to suggest everything that momto2boyz did so I don't have anything to add, just wanted to wish you luck in trying to find work!

[Izzy0906]

Thanks everyone. those are some good ideas!

[Michelle]

Sorry you got laid off

Here is a blog with a bunch of ground chicken recipes (I found this through Google...I am in no way affiliated with the author )

http://cookbookjunkie.blogspot.com/2...n-recipes.html

More:

http://www.geocities.com/alta_mom3bo...d_chicken.html

HTH

[Persimmon Lace]

Izzy! Sounds like you've got a good plan started!

[mommy4ever]

Things to consider for food.

Having some basic baking ingredients at home can really cut the bill. A 20lb bag of flour, yeast salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder can create a TON of items. Bread, rolls, buns, pancakes, biscuits, cookies, waffles.To name a few. Go back to basics. Simple foods cost less to make and are as a rule, better for you.

[fuzzybunny]

Don't forget scratch pancakes. They are super cheap and you can add stuff to make them different, applesauce, pumpkin, blueberries... my mom even put corn in them and it was tasty.

[sunshine]

I'm just going to suggest some other ideas for low cost meals. . . . Save every scrap ---

did you buy celery and clean the ends/leaves off it, before cutting into celery sticks or slicing for a recipe? Save the ends, clean well and dehydrate -- then, grind to a powder and add to soups/stews/recipes for added flavor and nutrition.

Same with carrots -- save the tops, dry, grind and add to recipes.

Potatoes -- save the peels,in water. Drain, pat dry, spritz with oil and bake, then add grated cheese and bake just until the cheese melts.

Just a spoonful of leftover veggies? Save and add to soup, make pizza topping, wraps, etc.

Cut meat in all recipes by 1/3 to 1/2 -- I used to use one chicken breast in fried rice to feed 5 of us - 2 of them teen boys.

Homemade biscuits are cheap, tasty and make you feel less deprived when on a budget. Hard to feel deprived when you're eating homemade bread. . . same with simple desserts with cheap ingredients. I have posted a recipe on this site for carmel dumplings that are cheap and delicious, and quick.

Have you ever tried sprouts? Bean sprouts, maybe -- but other seeds sprout and are tasty and nutritious -- we love radish sprouts here, on sandwiches and in soups. . Right now, many places have seeds on sale for very little money -- but if you sprout them, they pack a lot of nutrition for just pennies.

What about growing a few things in a window box ? I know it's winter in NJ. But a few herbs, some bib lettuce or baby spinach will grow easily, quickly and be a nice addition to the table for just a little cash.

[Gardengal18]

Sorry to hear about you being laid off.

I was going to suggest growing veggies too. If you have a garden great get digging. There are some website that will actually send you FREE seeds! Growing a veggie garden helps a lot when it comes to the food bill and you also have the added benefit of knowing exactly where you veggies came from and what they were NOT sprayed with.

You can get free seeds from different places. Google Free Seeds and some sites will come up that will send you free seeds.

Also you can get Free Seeds even from your Grocery Store.

see below link.

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/...ee-seeds.shtml

[LastDragonfly]

I agree, rice meals and casseroles are cheap. Pigs in a blanket (hot dog with canned biscuits wrapped around them)

Fried rice
pigs in a blanket (if you want to dress it up, use crescent rolls)
tater tot casserole
pizza pasta casserole

Sorry to hear about the lay off.

[IntlMom]

lets not forget about beans and rice folks!
yummy and filling.....and oh so cheap!!