Need Ideas - Bonsall,CA

Have you ever used the crock-pot? I am not a good cook AT ALL and I am in the same boat you are but lately I have been using the crock-pot for cooking and I LOVE it. You could do chicken tacos, a roast of some sort, vegetable soup. Just cook it on low setting and leave it all day and it does the work for you! also, Kraft.com has a lot of easy recipes to follow. Hope this helps!

I'm sorry this is so long. But I'm trying to help and I'm very good at this.

Buying on a budget: The more you do for yourself the cheaper it will be. Example: Hamburger Helper runs $1 to $3 per box depending on what kind of sale its on. The hamburger helper box I looked at at the store yesterday had 5.3 oz of noodles and spices inside. That's $3 to $9 per pound for noodles and spices.
The Rice-a-Roni box said 7.2 oz. That's over $3 per pound for rice.

They had to pay a chef to make up the recipe. They paid an artist to color and paint the design on the boxes. They paid the CEO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. They pay an advertising company millions of dollars to advertise those products so you'll buy them.

I just paid $0.20 lb for rice. I paid $0.38 lb for noodles last week. If you go to Sam's or Costco and pay their HIGH prices, you'll pay $0.50 lb for rice and $0.60 lb for noodles.

The government says to save the most money on your food bill, make out your menu, got to the store and only buy those items on your menu. wrong, Wrong, WRONG!!! To save the most money on your food budget, look at the local grocery ads and see what's on sale. Make out your menu for the week based on what's on sale. Make out a list of what is on sale at each grocery store. Go to the stores first that have "bargain bins". (A bargain bin is where the grocery store puts its markdown stuff, like day old bread, dented cans, discontinued merchandise.) Look in the bargain bin for anything you have on your menu for this week and anything you might have on your menu for next week or next month. Buy all you can of what you use if its at a lower price than what's on sale or might be on sale.

Example: I use 100 lbs to 150 lbs of charcoal for my BBQ grill each year. I know that in May, just before Memorial Day, some store will put BBQ briquets on sale for around $0.25 lb. So, throughout the year I look for BBQ briquets selling in bargain bins for less than $0.25 lb. When I find them I buy them.

I know canned tuna goes on sale for $0.60 to $0.75 per can once or twice per year. I know I use about 15 cans per year. When I see tuna on sale for less than $0.60 can, I buy it. I bought 8 cans I found in the bargain bin for $0.35 per can.

I follow those money saving techniques every week of the year. I spend about $25 per person per week for groceries, including things like toilet paper, dogfood, and soda. My son is in medical school and his wife follows the ideas I've mentioned (very strict budgeting), except she doesn't buy dogfood or soda and some of the comfort foods I do, but she does buy diapers which I don't and she told me she has fed her family of 5 on $200 per month on average over the last 5 months.

There is another myth about grocery shopping. "You save more money by doing all your shopping at one grocery store." No store has a monopoly on the lowest prices. To see if this is in effect for you. Drive to your closest grocery store. Then write down your odometer reading. Then drive to each of the other stores you might shop at. If you add up the mileages you'll probably find you'll spend less than one gallon of gas to go to all of the grocery stores in your area. I won't drive 10 miles to save one cent per pound on chicken breasts. But I will drive that 10 miles to save 1 cent per pound on chicken breasts, if I also save $1 on potatoes, $2 on salad makings, $4 on canned goods on sale, etc.

Careful shopping can save enough money on groceries to make up for what you might earn on a part time job.

If I find a bag of fruit that has one that has spoiled, I'll ask the produce manager for a discount if I buy the whole bag. Most of the time I buy the bag for half price or less, usually less.

This question (Saving money) has been asked many times on mamapedia. There is a lot of suggestions on those questions. You can learn a lot by reading them. The same can be said for your question about economical meals.

One last thing . . . boneless skinless chicken breasts are a horrible waste of money. You are paying a butcher $30+ an hour to cut the meat away from the bone. The bone and skin can be boiled to make soup. Discard the skin, after cooking, if you must. Remove the meat from the bones, add spaghetti noodles and vegetables for chicken noodle soup.

Good luck to you and yours.

I love America's Test Kitchen cookbook because as long as you follow the recipe, it is hard to screw it up. For the budget, you need to plan out your meals at LEAST a week ahead of time, but a month if possible. Have one big shopping trip where you buy all the staple items, and then the rest of the month you are only buying the fresh stuff.

Checkout YNAB (you need a budget). It is great software and seeing where everything goes can be really helpful. Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover goes nicely with this software.

*Grilled ham & Cheese
*Pizza (Homemade)
*Spagetti
*chic parm- Bread the chic, and fry it in a pan then throw cheese on it and spagetti sauce
* fried Bologna
*Chicken cassarol- Take a chic breast cut into cubs, a can of cream of whatever soup and stovetop stuffing(generic is fine) Put chic and soup in corning ware and make stuffing per box sprinkle ontop and back until stuffing is crisp & soup has boiled long enough to cook chic completely
* Mac & Cheese
*Turkey Burgers
*Chicken , Vegi's & noodles
Cut Chic into cubes
heat up olive oil in frying pan
put in onions, peppers garlic (which over you like)
now mix in chic , a can of diced tomatoes and juice from can, vegis of your choice, and throw in some oragano & basil to taste. add water & noodles and simmer until noodles are ready, water should have been all absorbed or evaporated but if you need to thicken the sauce add a little cornstarch.
* sloppy Joes with ground turkey or chic.
* meat loaf/ Turkey loaf

Allrecipes.com is one of my favorite websites ever. I have found so many awesome recipes there!
I am a vegetarian, but no one else in my family is, so I like to make stuff we can all eat. I love making some cheddar cheese soup (I use Campbells soup - it's easy! I add brocolli to the soup and grill chicken breasts, which my family can cut up and add to their soup. I serve it over noodles or rice. It's fantastic on a cold day, and so easy.
Also - try shopping at the "other" grocery stores. Not sure what they have out in California, but I save sooo much money shopping at Aldi's or Save A Lot, as opposed to shopping at Giant Eagle, or a big chain store.
Good luck!

Hey Momma-
I feel you there. For my husband and I, we are limited to less than $200 a month for food, both eating in and out. Craziness.
So here are my shopping trade secrets, lol.

1. Trader Joe's. Seriously, their peanut butter is SO cheap. The veggies aren't bad as far as pricing goes, especially in the little bags. Fruit- bananas are cheap and solidly priced, but the apples and grapes, etc., are a little on the pricey side. If you are a tea drinker, you can purchase tea by the case and it is SO GOOD! Also, fish is decently priced in the freezer section.

2. Food Maxx. Talk about cheap! I buy all my meat there. I also don't eat red meat unless it is provided at someone else's home. It just never sits well with my body. So I get chicken in the maxx family pack for around or less than $2 a lb. Fresh fruits are good to get there, anything canned, etc.

3. Wal Mart super center. I know, everyone says Wal-Mart is the devil. However, I can't afford NOT to shop there for some things. You can try foodmaxx for some of the frozen goods, like ground turkey, the microzap bags of veggies, and sometimes they are cheaper. Check walmart for things like cheese, butter, milk, chicken, and dry goods. Sometimes they also have really good prices on produce, but it seems pretty selective.

4. Costco or Smart N Final. You do not have to have a membership at Smart N Final, but you do have to have one at Costco. If you have a medium to large family and decent storage, I would suggest buying certain things in bulk. Granola, nuts, milk, coffee, cheese, eggs, butter, fruit, veggies, paper towels, ground turkey, etc.

Recipes: These are quick, simple, and can feed alot with good leftovers
1. Tacos
For a change up, instead of the same old meat and cheese routine, cook sweet potatoes (yams work too...Sweets are white, yams are orange) in a pan with some olive oil. COver with salsa once mostly cooked and let simmer. Add your favorites, like garlic, onion, mrs dash. For an added zip, cut up one anaheim chile and cook with potatoes. Serve on fried or plain corn or flour tortillas with salsa, and if you want -- cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes.

2. Chicken parmesan.
boneless skinless chicken breasts: dip in egg, coat with contadina italian bread crumbs (and parmesan if you want to add it). Bake for 20 minutes at 350. Flip, bake for another 15 minutes. Open oven, spoon tomato sauce over the chicken and lay a slice of your favorite cheese on it. I like white cheddar or jack. The mozzarella doesn't seem to melt the way I like. Serve with pasta, veggies, sourdough garlic bread...whatever sounds good.

3. Crock pot Mix
Overnight, soak some dry beans.
In the morning, (prepare it all the night before) add fresh water, beans, a layer of barley, some dry lentils (or any other beans you might like), some frozen veggies like corn niblets, fresh carrots, a couple of chopped potatoes, herbs, spices, etc. I also like to add some white vinegar for extra zing (1-1.5 cups). If you add veggie stock and make it soupy, you can serve this as soup. If you add less liquid, it can be more of a stew. Feel free to add a can of stewed tomatoes, chopped onion, garlic, etc. Place on low and let simmer all day. When you get home in the afternoon, check it. The house should smell delicious! It probably won't be fully ready until dinner time, but this will give you some free time to do extra stuff like make a salad or vacuum the house. =)

3. The above crock pot but in a quick, pan version.
You'll need: 1 can each of pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans (or at least 3 beans of your choice..white, navey, etc.). You also need quick (10 minute) brown rice, a few different vegetables (zucchini, carrots, corn, green beans, cauliflower, etc), a can of stewed tomatoes.... Last items: cheese, slivered almonds
Layer the rice, then beans, then veggies in a pan on top of the stove. Add 1-1.5 cups of water (slightly more than the rice calls for). Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes.
Veggies will be cooked but not too squishy, rice should be plump, and beans should be hot. All the water should be gone. If it's still a little juicy, cook uncovered for a few minutes to get the water off. Sprinkle with almonds and cheese. Let the cheese melt over the skillet meal.
Serve on tortillas of choice.

4. Zucchini soup
3.5 cups zucchini's, 1 can consomme ( I use veggie stock because I don't like beef consomme...plus veggie stock is msg free). garlic salt, chopped garlic, onion, mrs dash original (or lemon pepper is really good too), basil, black pepper.
In large microwavable dish, add all ingredients. cook on high until zucchini is tender (you can also do this on the stove top with a little olive oil ). Once cooked, blend a little at a time until soup is smooth. Pour back into pot. Stir in black pepper to taste. If you like your soup thicker, add less water. If you like it thinner, add more.
When serving, sprinkle with cheese and if you want, turkey bacon crumbles.
I like to serve in baked bread bowls (they can toast while you are blending soup). Also good alone, as a main meal. Try with avocado slices and sour cream dollop on top.

5. 7 layer dip. (choose as many as you want and layer it up!)
In a large, shallow dish, layer refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, black olives, chopped tomatoes, spanish rice (on the bottom), green onions cheese, etc. Get out a bowl of chips and dip away!

Keep fresh veggies and nuts and dried fruit available in snack packs. If you buy in bulk, then buy snack baggies (ziplock...generic brand). Fill them to the brim with things like carrots and grape tomatoes, fresh cauliflower, sugar snap peas (in pods), soy beans, etc. Another good one is dried cranberries and almonds. combine one serving of each into a snack bag, sprinkle with some sea salt, and leave them in your fridge. Have things like bananas out for pb and banana sandwiches, granola with apples and bananas, covered in yo baby yogurt (good for all ages!), single serve no sugar added apple sauces, low fat string cheese, etc. I think that you will find if you make a meal planner, at least for dinners, and then have a set list of rotating lunch foods and snacks, that you will not only have all the food you need, but you will eat less, you will eat healthier, and you will start to see ingredients fly together for home made, ad libbed recipes. I have even started making my own pasta sauce: 1 can stewed tomatoes drained, one can tomato sauce, a dash of olive oil, some herbs, some spices, simmered while I boil some pasta. You can use it as pasta sauce (big pot of spaghetti, with or without ground turkey), lasagna layering sauce, chicken parm sauce, etc.
Good luck- sorry for the long winded reply. Hope you are hit with some really great ideas!
-E. M

First of all, I do not cook and I'm home every night! I would think you could plan for 3-4 'hearty' (ie: full) meals and then the other nights can be something easy like soup/sandwiches, breakfast, pizza or spoil yourself and go out (or fast food).

If you cut meat out of one meal a week, you will save money. A lot of people suggest beans but no one other than me will eat it so it doesn't make sense for me to make a lot of beans or bean recipes!

I have cut our budget down from around $700 a month to about $450 in the last few months but clipping coupons (Sunday paper - I do not get one by my parents do and they save me their coupons, look at grocery stores at the entrance, websites). I will go through them each week (throwing out any expired) and then see if there is anything I want to make meals out of. If not, I put them in the bag for next week. The next thing I do is look at the ads I get in the mail from local grocery stores. It is more expensive to shop in town than Wal-mart or the AFB commissary, but it's five minutes away instead of 25 so it saves me an hour in drive time so I have been shopping there more, but shopping smarter. If meat is on sale, I buy it and make whatever I want out of that. If it's ground turkey, we made spaghetti and something else.

I also ONLY buy for one week. I ask my husband what stuff he wants for meals / snacks for work and then get what I think we need. Occasionallly if there is a good deal on toliet paper or something I'll buy it even if we do not need it.

I also buy diapers and wipes each month but do so through amazon.com (subscribe & save) and get a large box (usually around $40 at Wal-Mart) for $28 a month and 6 containers of wipes for $9...so I save a lot that way and it's delivered to my front door.

I agree with other posters, but have not followed through with not buying Hamburger Helper, Rice a Roni, etc. I know it's cheaper to buy it in bulk and spice it up, but haven't tried it yet. I do want to start making my own bread, but have yet to do that so far!

Good luck and congrats on being home more :)

Check out the recipes on Cooking Light's website and consider a subscription. They have a ton of recipes designed for weeknights and the options are not just healthy, but really, really tasty. I have yet to have a recipe go in the "never again" trip to the garbage can. They have a variety of recipes, so you're bound to find something that works for your family.

Also, consider getting a crock pot. There are a lot of easy and healthy recipes out there that don't involve red meat. A crock pot is so helpful on busy weekdays.

My other tip is to plan your meals for the week and do one shopping trip to the market/week, using a clearly planned out list. This will help you avoid impulse buys that waste your money and don't fit what you really need for the week. Also collect coupons and go through them after you've prepared your list.

Good luck!

You can substitute chicken or turkey in loads of recipes. Like turkey chili, turkey burgers, chicken tacos, turkey meatloaf, turkey spaghetti. Chicken enchiladas are popular at my house.
Make a weekly menu then make a list. It helps if you have your grocery store flyer to do this. You can then pick things that are on sale.
Coupons come in the sunday paper or in the mail box and in the store flyer. Also there are many websites for this too. PG saver. Also look up crazy coupon mommy... she is great!
Crockpot/slow cooker!

Baked potatoes, a big pot of veggie stew or chicken soup(we just ate the last of the soup my husband made on Sunday- 3 dinners for a family of 7! not bad! - I just made biscuits or cornbread to go along with it every night) spaghetti- you don't have to have meat sauce, and a salad- Potato soup, Mac'n'cheese with veggies, Beans and cornbread(you can cook your own or my family likes the ranch style beans)pancakes for dinner. Those are a few that we do.
As for a budget- make a menu before you go to the store, then make a list from that menu and set an amount that you can spend at the store. Get the cash and only spend that amount at the store- don't spend it on anything else and don't use any other money for that week.
I don't do coupons because they are usually for things I don't buy for my family. Don't buy things just because they are on sale- stick to your list! And add up your money as you go- I always round up, that way I am always at least a few dollars under my budget when I am done.
Sit down with your husband and both of you go over a monthly budget- don't spend anything unless you have both agreed to it first. If something comes up that you or he needs money for- sit down and have an emergency budget meeting so you both agree on this.
This is mainly Dave Ramsey's plan- get his book and read it go to his web-site. It will help so much!
Good luck!
~C.

I'll second Cooking Light, awesome recipes!! You can check out back issue magazines from the library and read them at home to try the recipes. The subscription is cheap and worth it, but before committing, read a few issues. I got a lot of new tips from them :)

Regarding the budget I picked this tip up on web site not sure which one when going to the supermarkets pick up their gift card. If you budget is say $500.00 a month than buy a $500.00 gift card or (2) $250.00 cards once the cards are used up than you have hit your budget. This will stop you from going over your budget.
My girlfriend gave me a really good recipe for Salsbury Turkey Steak. Purchase turkey patties season them and fry them up. Purchase the lipton onion dip mix mix that with turkey gravy pour that mixture over the turkey patties put the pot on low, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes and you have turkey salsibury steak you can eat that with mashed potatoes, white rice, etc. Good luck you received alot of ideas thanks for asking the question I am certainly going to use some of these suggestions my family doesn't eat red meat either.