Heh heh. That's the Angel Food Ministries menu for December. I should know, I'm the director of Angel Food for our church.
My answer is no. I do buy Angel Food and it has helped tremendously with our grocery bill, BUT I purchase each box with the knowledge that I am still going to have to buy lunch and breakfast items.
Yes that is the Angel food regular box for December. I take the orders at our church on the first order day. For two years now. I posted this just before leaving to do so.
This months menu said "Balanced nutrition and variety with enough food to feed a family of four for a week."
I have always supplemented the box we buy and added things for recipie. Like most of you said you do. Doing so I can normally get 7 to 10 meals out of the box ( with leftovers for lunch)
But the quote this time made me think I was missing something.
Tonight we are having noodle stuff almost made out of stuff from our box a while ago. The brats ( cooked and cut up), spaghetti sauce, and the broccoli/carrot mix and spiral noodles. So only think extra I needed to buy was the pound of noodles.
I generally make a Quiche with the eggs and shelf stable milk (especially if they have spinach or broccoli in the box) only thing I need to buy ( or make) is a pie shell. Got the original recipe from the magazine in the box. so that make two pies so a few meals. Plus my family thinks I amazing now. I made a quiche.
You came up with a very nice list. I usually can get 7 to 10 dinners form the box (some with leftovers)
Your paper plate dinner is what we call a dipping dinner. Dip the chicken nuggets dip some baby carrots, kids dip tater tots. We usually have this on Friday Family Fun Nights.
Yep that is the December Angel food menu..I am also an Angel Food worker at my church!
Lets see..
1.make stew out of the roast some of the carrots and green beans
2.make chicken and rice soup out of the chicken breasts some of the rice and broth
3.pork chops , mac and cheese and the rest of the carrots
4.salisbury steaks, the rest of the rice and the rest of the green beans
5. beef patties and some of the fries
I'd stretch the hotdogs and chicken tenders for lunch, plus any leftovers from above meals and make corn muffins or mush for breakfast and stretch the eggs and milk out for breakfast
I have been getting the Angel Food regular box for a few months now. There are just us 2 adults, and it supplies a lot of our meat meals throughout the month. Since we have been getting it, we eat a better quality of food as far as meat dishes go, than we did before. We hadn't had steak or pork chops for several years - our only red meat was hamburger. I for one am grateful for this service, I would rather have it this way, they provide the expensive meat, and then I can shop for side dishes to fill things out.
I also find it an enjoyable challenge to come up with ways to use what they provide. There have been some things that we might not usually eat, but most of the time I can find a good recipe and we have a new dining experience!
I have been getting the Angel Food regular box for a few months now. There are just us 2 adults, and it supplies a lot of our meat meals throughout the month. Since we have been getting it, we eat a better quality of food as far as meat dishes go, than we did before. We hadn't had steak or pork chops for several years - our only red meat was hamburger. I for one am grateful for this service, I would rather have it this way, they provide the expensive meat, and then I can shop for side dishes to fill things out.
I also find it an enjoyable challenge to come up with ways to use what they provide. There have been some things that we might not usually eat, but most of the time I can find a good recipe and we have a new dining experience!
I agree we are eating more of a variety since we started buying the angel food boxes. Also expanding our cooking abilities as there are some thing I have never cooked. ( I had never cooked a pork tenderloin before as an example) and I made a quiche for the first time. The family thought I was amazing. It is now a cheap meal I keep making. Definitly new dining experience I think that is what hubby enjoys the most. And now I can catch some of these new to us things when they are "reduced for quick sale" at our local market,as I now know what to do with them.
I don't know what some of the food items are on the list, but a few things jump out at me. There is no fruit, so I would buy that extra. Plus it seems short on vegetables, so I'd put money there -- particularly onions and potatoes.
As for meals...how about...
~ mac and cheese with a couple hot dogs and a cup of veggies in it.
~ cut the roast up into stew beef, add vegetables and serve with hm bread or dumplings (assuming there is flour somewhere!)
~ what are breaded chicken tenders? Something that might go with veggies and fries? or rice?
~ chicken, rice and veggies. Maybe cook the rice in a bit of chicken broth for extra flavour.
~ pork chops, rice and veggies. By this time you're running out of veggies though. When my girls were home we needed 1 lb. of veggies per supper meal.
~ hamburgers and fries. If you have potatoes, you have a new source for fries.
~ salisbury steak, baked potatoes and veggies.
The only time we use cornbread here is when we have jambalaya, and I don't see the ingredients for that on the list anywhere.
Anyway, that's my attempt. I'd do pretty lousy if all I had to eat was Angel Food Ministries food!
That would cover a lot, but what about breakfast and lunch? A dozen eggs isn't going to cover breakfast for a week. I would buy rice, bananas, baking supplies like flour and sugar if you don't have them, and some more dairy. Cheese or yogurt. Good luck!
That would cover a lot, but what about breakfast and lunch? A dozen eggs isn't going to cover breakfast for a week. I would buy rice, bananas, baking supplies like flour and sugar if you don't have them, and some more dairy. Cheese or yogurt. Good luck!
Our local schools provide free breakfast for all students and a free/reduced lunch program.
I guiltily sometimes only drink coffee or tea for breakfast and forego the standard "real" breakfast.
When I do eat breakfast, I find myself eating more non traditional breakfast foods. A pork chop left over might be yummy or rice with butter/sugar sounds good too. Our schools serve rice for breakfast often.
You'll need to call the number and ask them when they take their orders. Then go visit them, pay for the order and they will give you a receipt that you'll use to pick up your box. You have to provide a box for an exchange with them so they have boxes. You have to pick up on that scheduled day. It's super simple.
You call the number for the church and leave a message(usually). Then you meet the person in charge and pay them. In about 2 weeks your box comes and you pick it up at the drop spot, usually the church, but mine is at a convenience store because the lady in charge of Angelfood has a convenience store and I don't have to worry about any frozen food thawing.
A better challenge would be to give a price, and then ask would you feed a family of four for a week, and them present the foods utilized for one day for a period of seven days..
Most of the food choices presented, I would not even consider in my diet, except possibly for a treat now and then. Nobody needs all that meat, unless there is no other choice. My view.
A better challenge would be to give a price, and then ask would you feed a family of four for a week, and them present the foods utilized for one day for a period of seven days..
Most of the food choices presented, I would not even consider in my diet, except possibly for a treat now and then. Nobody needs all that meat, unless there is no other choice. My view.
When I look carefully at the list of items I realize that most of them will only feed 4 with no leftovers. Example is 16 oz or 1lb = 1 can of vegetables. This would be my dinner menu based on the items and I would need to purchase the items in brackets -
Day 1: Roast beef and carrots (mashed potatoes, gravy, beverage)
Day 2: Chicken tenders and steak fries (vegetable and drink)
Day 3: Chicken noodle soup/stew with corn muffins (onion, celery, noodles, carrots,drink)
Day 4: Baked Pork chops over rice with green beans (mushroom soup and drink)
Day 5: Salisbury steaks (mashed potatoes and vegetable)
Day 6: Hamburgers and fries (buns)
Day 7: Hot dogs and mac `n cheese (buns)
Lunch or breakfast for 1-2 days: scrambled egg sandwiches (bread)
Could use milk for some of the beverages but 32 oz is not much.
That's what my menu would look like for dinner only and even for just making dinners, I would still need to buy groceries unless you eat only what I listed without the food in the brackets. My additional grocery list would include:
10lb bag of potatoes
1lb onions
hamburg and hot dog buns
loaf of bread
beverages
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
celery
1 lb egg noodles
carrots
canned vegetables
This would easily add another $10 - $20 to the week's grocery budget
Additionally, I would need to buy food for breakfast and lunch, snacks and dessert. The school won't feed parents nor do they feed kids on the weekend. Personally, I don't care for the menu I made but that was what was given to work with.
We have been doing Angel food for several months. Each month I find at least one meat item that is surprisingly larger than I expected. It is often the chicken item, like the popcorn chicken or the chicken breasts or strips in a big bag. I feed a family of 5 (one is in preschool and doesn't eat much.) There are some meals where the meat is exactly portioned to four, but not all. What I also like is the variety in meat. Before we did this we tended to eat a lot of the same types of meat all the time and now we get some different things which is nice.
But, I agree that I couldn't only use the items in the box for one week. The milk is definitely not enough for five of us! It is a very small shelf box. There isn't any bread included and my kids would want -not necessarily need-but want cereal. It usually has a few frozen or canned veggies, but nothing raw. I think in all the months we have done it we only got a can of fruit cocktail one month. Nothing in the fruit department for the other 4 or 5 months.
I am a pretty frugal shopper and with the increases in groceries, I really do think it is getting a lot harder for me to get the same thing myself for $30 at my local stores. Honestly, I wouldn't buy the same things anyway. I would buy what was on sale. One think I like best about this program is that we are getting some different things than what I usually buy. The thing I like least is that you are sometimes stuck with something that nobody in your family would eat in the box -we have gotten frozen spinach twice and it is just not something that anybody here will eat so we gave it away.
I use the shelf stable milk as a pantry supply. I use it when we run out of milk before we go to the store again. My son loves the milk in the box. So he loves it when we run out. If I find out we have run out before he does I pour the milk into the jug so the others don't fingure out we are drinking the box milk.
I could do it if I had some stuff already in stockpile to make it a reality. I could take the roast, add some creme of mushroom soup and onion soup mix to it, and put it in the crockpot to make beef stroganoff. The next meal would be chicken tenders, french fries and deviled eggs (using two of the deviled eggs). Then make some hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for the third meal. You could probably make four other really good meals with it, but that's not usually on my meal list anyways. Well, I could eat salisbury steak and rice with green beans for the fourth meal. Beyond that, I'm still too tired to think straight to come up with three more meals.
I could probably stretch out the meat for a week of meals but I would have to add extra vegetables and breakfast/lunch items. My DH and 2 children take lunches each day and my son has to have a cold lunch as he does not have a place to heat up leftovers.
I don't use Angel Food as the only food source, although I did order a fruit and veggie box for December in addition to the basic food box.
But what I've found is that AF boxes complement very well what I can do with the coupon / freebie / loss leader sales at the grocery and drug stores. It seems it's the same stuff over and over on those grocery sales ... but mix those up with AF supplies, and one can do pretty well.
If you could post back about how well you liked the fruit box, I would like to know. I have thought about a couple of the extra boxes but haven't done it yet. Produce is getting so expensive, though. A poster on another board say she got the fruit and veggies once and hers wasn't very fresh which is one reason I haven't done it. Plus, if I choose my own I can get exactly what we like/want and make sure it is fresh.
WOW This sounds like a lot of meat!!!!! I guess because I eat on $100-$125 a month for one person, I usually use 2lbs of extra lean hamburger and 2 cooked rotisserie chickens (thigh and drum for one meal a week, 1 breast for some kind of soup a week, freeze the other half for the same thing the next week) for the month, salmon once a week (10 for $10 sales are FANTASTIC!!!!! Especially when the salmon is prepackaged into 10 real sized portions - that's $1 a serving) and tuna 1-2 times a week (can can sales and triple coupon days). But this box totally looks doable if you use appropriate portion sizes, and if the other 2-3 in the family are still small enough to be "halves" or less, than could probably stretch even further. When you eat healthy on the cheap it can get very repetitious (lotsa fruit/veggies, lotsa beans and soups and stir fries) so this sounds like a great deal to add variety, especially if you have kids. I would think you would need staples like oil, butter, vinegar and spices...but 1 gallon of milk for a fam of 4 for the week sounds a bit low to me. I go through a gallon by myself a week, plus 3 large containers of plain yogurt (make up for animal based protein of NOT having meat at every dinner or meal - dairy's the most expensive part of my monthly grocery bill at $40 a month it's almost half my monthly budget, but still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than meat as a main protein source for meals). And I would want more fruits...but that's just me
I don't think I could feed a family of 4 healthy meals with that list but I could supplement it and come up with some healthier meals using those ingredients.
2 mealschicken&noodles, mashed potatoes(pantry), green beans
2-3 meals use roast for vegetable soup using carrots, other veg from pantry chicken tenders, fries
baked pork chops, dressing from bread and chicken broth,veg from pantry
2 mealsbeef patties become hamburger stroganoff with pantry noodles and veg hot dogs, macaroni&cheese, pantry fruit
Breakfasts rice w/milk&sugar corn muffins
scrambled eggs, toast or potatoes
1.5 lb. Choice Cut Beef Roast--cut in thirds. Make beef and noodles, beef soup using some of the vegetables and rice, and beef and gravy and serve over potatoes, rice or noodles
2 lb. Breaded Chicken Tenders--oven fry along with the steak fries, thaw, dice and have chicken nuggets
2 lb. IQF Chicken Breast--use 1/2 along with the chicken broth and 1/2 the vegetables and some rice to make a soup, dice 1/2 and add to a basic white sauce along with vegetables for a casserole
1.5 lb. Pork Chops (4 x 6 oz.)-- meal one would be slivered pork in mushroom gravy served over rice, noodles, or potatoes, second could be a soup
1 lb. 80/20 Lean Beef Patties (4 x 4 oz.)--honestly I'd probably divide this into two different meals.
Last night I used lb. of hamburger and made meatloaf patties using oatmeal and bread crumbs and two eggs. It made 15 patties, I diced 5 leftover patties into spaghetti sauce today.
Another thing you can do is fry and use to make hamburger gravy
28 oz. Salisbury Steak Entreé--cooked and served with whatever I had
1 lb. All Meat Hot Dogs--dice 1/2 and put in mac and cheese, dice other half and add to the corn muffin mix
1 lb. Carrots--use in soups
1 lb. Green Beans--use in soups
1 lb. Rice--use in soups, as a side
24 oz. Steak-Cut Fries--an idea for these is to allow some to thaw or use leftover ones, dice them up, fry like hashbrowns and add scrambled eggs to them.
32 oz. 2% Reduced Fat Shelf Stable Milk
7.5 oz. Mac and Cheese--add either hamburger or hot dogs to this
14 oz. Chicken Broth--use in soup
7 oz. Corn Muffin Mix--add hot dogs to
Dozen Eggs--scramble or hardboil and fix egg salad
I'd probably buy a few things. I could just use these items but it would be tight.
Just something that I've learned from school... an average serving of meat for one person per meal should only be 2 - 3 oz, with no more than 9oz per active person per day. I try to balance my menu by using the food pyramid but DH is a meat eater and swears he can't.
A meat serving is generally smaller than most people think it is. It is a lesson many have to learn. They would think a restaurant was stingy if it served proper sized meat servings
Here is what I came up with ( i needed to add some ingredients and in good conscience needed to buy more veggies and extra milk)
So family for four for a week. for the sake of this experiment we will assume everyone is present for every meal so we need 21 meals for 4 people. ( 7 of which are breakfast)
Here are the meals
Breakfast
1-4) Quiches ( uses four eggs and half of the self milk) buy cheese, pie crust, and broccoli
5) french toast two each ( uses two eggs and the other half of the self milk) buy bread
6) egg sandwiches one each ( uses 4 eggs) buy cheese and bread
7) rice and fruit ( uses rice) and can peaches I like protien at breakfast so some peanuts to store bought
Lunch and dinners
8) Roast ( uses Roast and some carrots) buy potatoes
9) Pot pie ( use leftover roast and veggies, the corn muffin mix and an egg)buy cream of soup
10) Chicken and rice ( uses some of the chicken breast and rice) buy cream of soup
11) chicken soup ( uses some if chicken breast some carrots and chicken broth and left over rice if available) but some peas
12-13) Noddle stuff ( family recipe)with hot dogs ( uses the hot dogs) buy spiral noodles l pound veggies and a can of spaghetti sauce
14) mac and cheese (use box of mac and cheese) buy another box of mac and cheese and butter and apples
15) potato and beef fry up ( uses half of the beef patties) buy potatoes
16) spaghetti with "meat balls" ( use other half of beef patties) buy noddles and sauce
17) Chicken tenders and fires
18) chicken tender salad ( use chicken tenders) buy spinach and cheese dressing
19) Fried rice ( uses rice and last egg) buy veggies mix
20) Salisbury steak these then to be thin so we make "sandies" toast, mashed potatoes and the steak topped with gravy ( uses the Salisbury steak) buy bread, and potatoes
21) Pork chops ( uses pork chops) finish off meal with and veggies still left and potatoes
In reality my family is content with malt of meal, oatmeal, and peanut butter toast for breakfast and the children at a school some days and pack their lunch some days.
So if I added two more loaves of bread $4
and another gallon of milk $3.50
Oatmeal $2.50
malt o meal $5
more cheese $3.76
peanut butter $2.00
jelly 1.50
more eggs 1.47
More veggies and/or spinach 4.00
and had flour and baking supplies on
If I moved planned breakfast items to lunch and dinner .Planned some meal less meals like grilled cheese, pizza, pancake night ,stuffed potatoes a few pb and j sandwiches for lunch. Had some leftover pick your choice nights. I could easily do two weeks. Maybe a little longer if I absolutely needed to but it wouldn't be pleasant.
Total just a little over $100 dollars for two weeks
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