Recession Proof GLP...$35 dollars a week for groceries ideas? to feed 4 to 6 people

ramen noodles, some sort of macaroni product, small block of cheese (everything is better with cheese :), tomato sause, hamburger meat, spagetti sauces (the canned ones), canned vegetables,

recipies????

be inventive, ive have fed a family of four on those things for ever. every once in a while deviation occured, so as to have something good to enjoy or look forward to. and so that no one got bored with the regular diet.

50 dollars was enough to feed us easily 2 to 3 weeks. spices are important. and cheap snacks for the kids as well.
beans and tortillas(home made of course) and rice are your friend :)

it was rough, but we made it :)

Grow sprouts. Very easy to do, very cheap, a nice nutritious addition for vegs. Warning: if you grow a garden you'll be ruined forever. Tastes so much better than store-bought.

For dinners, you can make lentil and grain based soup with cheaper vegetables like carrots added. Or meatless casseroles made with rice and beans, or noodles and corn or peas, bound together with a homemade cream sauce and flavored with some sauteed veggies (fresh, frozen or canned). Serve with a loaf of homemade wheat bread and a salad.

Cheap and filling breakfasts can be made with hot cereals of all kinds, from brown rice to old fashioned oatmeal, with maybe a little raisins or other fruit added.

Good cheap lunches, mac and cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, tuna dishes. Sprouts are really cheap to grow yourself and add vitamins and crunch to sandwiches, soups and salads at minimal cost. You can make your own yogurt with cheap powdered milk.

Hi,

On 9/10/11, I bought three Citrus trees to grow indoors.

Cost was only $10 each, $30 total spent.

Go to your local plant place and see what they have in stock. Price was maybe $45 earlier in the Summer.

If things get bad, it is nice to have your own source of citrus.

Just saying....

And take a vitamin/mineral supplement. Everyone really needs this no matter how good they think they eat.

It comes to about a dollar a day per person... could maybe be survivable if a great cook gets on it.
Homemade food, with most of it vegetarian, would be #1.
You got your Oatmeal, Eggs, Potatoes, Toast, Cornbread, Biscuits, Coffee Cake, Pancakes, & French Toast for breakfast and "breakfast night" - then there's your Cakes, Pies, Brownies, and Desserts homemade from scratch unless it's cheaper out of a box with a coupon. All cooking is done with powdered milk. Buy generic cookies and crackers at The Dollar Store without reading ingredients or what country they come from - just put 'em in the cart and don't look back. Couponing like a bathoop nutz will get you your fancy stuff like your favorite tasty jams, jellies, ketchup, pickles, italian tomatoes and semolina pasta, cake mix, canned frosting, chocolate, coconut, jello, soups, chips, boxed mac & cheese, ice cream, syrup, 'n stuff. Haunt the markdown shelves and Ask The Man at the Farmers Market for a discount on some produce when you may notice it's starting to look tired. One orange goes far when it's sliced into thin circles with a razor-sharp knife and arranged like a smiley face with grapes and a banana slice beside the pancakes. Cook with corn oil. Actually FRY your own battered onion rings, sliced sweet potatoes, broccoli, peppers, and mushrooms in the corn oil... they taste great with your salad, rice, and homemade vegetarian chili special (remember to start soaking the beans the night before). Don't worry, its really ok now being that some other source of fat is needed without your steak on the immediate menu. Get that just-add-water pizza dough mix and make yer own (extra yummy at home when it's made in a glass pan). Speaking of pizza, that chili keeps on giving as it progresses to tex-mex pizza, chili dogs, and chili-cheese burritos. Make a big batch of homemade spaghetti sauce and stuff it into the freezer in baggies. Will it be spaghetti night, ravioli night, or is it time to slice, flour, fry an eggplant in slices to top off some baked ziti?! Homemade Macaroni & Cheese, and also Potatoes Au Gratin is a great main dish with vegetable sides "it's all about the presentation". Falafel, Teriyaki, Enchiladas, Stroganoff, Sub Sandwiches, Grilled Open-Face Sandwiches, Hot Dogs, Quesedillas, and Sloppy Joes are some more classics.
So now we got ... enchilada night, breakfast night, pizza night, chili night, mushroom/onion stroganoff night, macaroni and cheese night, potatoes au gratin night, hot dog night, falafel night; fear not we won't go on and on anymore we're done. While yer at it, might as well squeeze the buffalo hard enough to set aside a dollar for a lottery ticket every week and make it the focus of the evening's entertainment.

I don't know where you guys live, but where I live chicken and ground beef are alot more expensive then that.

A whole chicken costs $5.00 and up depending on the size, and ground beef is almost $3.00 a pound.

This is a good list!
But, I would get as many pounds of lentils as you can, not the meat.
More cornmeal and flour to make biscuits and dumplings.
Lots of rice, carrots and potatos. Bulk oatmeal.
We are assuming everyone has spices alreadY!

Thanks for popcorn, Handsome Mr. Kung Fu Sticks Survival Man!
(that was me a few posts back).
Had been hoping for years my salad-days experiences how to create some illusion of class and abundance at home while in a state of statistical poverty would be just a memory but - oh well - been back on that boat again awhile in some good company. Been rolling up my sleeves cooking from scratch again (every day not just for fun) along with it's attendant kitchen-sink drudgery. Been setting my mind to bother with coupons and calculating cheapskate price comparisons at the market instead of, well, thinking more interesting thoughts than that & eating in restaurants alot. I'm not complaining- very happy in my family life, glad to share *recipes & *tips.
It's all about SPENDING LESS TO EAT WELL...
It takes time, effort, work, and it's fun!
*Shopping before and after the midnight of the price changes to ask the same cashier twice to call for price checks and then meeting with the same store manager twice to get (often the same) items for free as per their advertised policy on errors, gets some attention. Now that's what I call fun.
*Do the coupon savings in the Sunday Paper for your favorites amount to several times the cost of the paper$ Especially if you shop somewhere with double coupon days = maybe go back and get more before they run out.

*TASTY MEAT SUBSTITUTES FOR VEGETARIANS

=Fried Eggplant (dice flour fry or slice fry crumble{

=Portobello Mushroom (sear in olive oil whole or thick slices)

=Canned Cannelini Beans (cook 30=60 minutes in its broth and some water, salt pepper onion mash beans make italian "meatless balls" with breadcrumbs, egg, milk, spices, minced onion, parmesan then fry in olive oil til golden brown
Then make PASTAFAZOOL SOUP from the cannelini bean broth add parsley onion spices celery rice pasta or potato to broth

-Falafel )Cook 2 15 oz cans garbanzo beans aka chick peas
in its broth and some water for 45 mins til tender. Save some broth for flavor,
Rinse beans, Mash Flat, Fluff with a sturdy fork, Mash again, Whip with fork til fluffy now.
Add 1 medium minced onion to fluffy beans, stir in well. Next add a half cup slightly cooked oatmeal,
a half cup flour,
a half cup cornmeal,
one small boiled white or sweet potato, mashed,
one cup of water,
spice to taste
refr5gerate, then fry

recipes (cont'd.)
*FALAFEL
after chilling, add more water to goo if necessary. Form into balls, splaps, or patties. Cover bottom of pan with corn oil, heat up, and fry. Place on paper towels and serve.
(Suggested spices added to mixture: salt and pepper, parsley, chives, cayenne or hot sauce, curry, chili powder)
Serve on split pita bread or flour tortillas with lettuce, cucumber, onion, tomato and
falafel dressing... chopped cucumber, minced onion, sour cream. Shake on some hot sauce if wanted.
*POTATO PUFFS
Add chopped onion and parsley to leftover mashed potato; fry in butter or margarine til brown.
*LO MEIN
Boil whole wheat linguine broken in thirds til al dente. Add fried onions, your favorite vegetables, and bite-size cooked meat or shrimp or meat substitute. Toss with a generous amount of SAUCE (soy sauce, honey, and hot sauce perhaps mixed into some minced ginger root sauteed gently in butter), serve
*BEST FRENCH TOAST
Toast stale bread first, before soaking in milk/egg mixture. Fry in butter til golden brown again, puffed, and done.
Serve with syrup made from butter, maple syrup, apple slices or other fresh fruits or berries.

Youll just have to go with rice, beans, potatos and making your own bread.

Tortillas and corn tortillas are very cheap. See if you can make your own refried beans

Buy a few ham hocks, or soup bones

$35

Tough but can be done. Especially if you educate yourself. You're not going to have gourmet meals but it will keep the hungries away. :)

Chances are you have on hand staples. (flour, sugar etc) make your own breads, you can even do unleavened (doesn't taste the best but saves money on yeast) drink water then there's no worry about fluids (after drinking water for a long time unsweetened tea is like heaven) Tortillas are super cheap and easy to make as well. Ramen noodles are cheap, very cheap, you can make a stir fry with that easily.

Someone suggested sprouts they are super easy and fast to grow.
Dandelion greens are very good (very much like a collard with a hint of Arugula) you can have them raw as a salad top a sandwich or cook them up, I prefer them cooked) check local farmers they will sell you bruised fruits and veggies very cheap, if you cut them up and cook or refrigerate them right away then your golden for the week.

Quinoa is a great protein supplement and a little goes a long way, I have made meatloaf with it and had it plain with garlic. Garlic is another easy to grow item. Huge bags of rice are your friend, they will fill you up and something as simple as rice stir fried with one veggie is good (if you have an egg throw that in there as well) depending on the time of year you can often find asparagus growing along the road, as well as a cactus called prickely pear and yucca plant. You can make amazing meals with those free items.

Nuts are a good source of protein and again depending on where you live you can find an abundance of nuts in the woods. Morel mushrooms as well but please be positive.

Learn to fish my husband feeds us well all year on fish. Even brim are edible and delicious! Learn to hunt Squirrel, deer, bear, rabbit all great meats. Turkey, dove, duck and even squab. Rattlesnake, turtle etc....

If hunting season is out purchase meats that are near their sell by date, go to a local fish monger and butcher and buy the throw away items such as fat and bones these items make great stock and you'll appreciate a little gravy over your rice.

If you don't have flour on hand jiffy mix is cheap!

Dried beans are cheap and great protein, they are great with a bone (from your butcher) and on rice.

I have a meat grinder so when I go to the grocery store and buy meat on "clearance" I grind a lot of it. Turkey, pork, red meats. When money is low it goes a lot further because I can add quinoa or rice as a filler.
I also buy cabbage because it's cheap I use the big outside leaves to make cabbage rolls I stuff the leaf with a meatloaf type mixture (of whichever meat I have) and bake them. It fills you up and is a stand alone dish. Depending on the time of year you can also use grape leaves for this (it's a Greek dish and though it's an acquired taste when you're hungry, you're hungry).

Bean sprouts and dandelion greens are a good base to a salad. Check your on hand goods you can add things like an egg, popcorn for croutons or buy old bread from your baker or make your own. You can add squash (including pumpkin) (that is sauteed) or wild mushrooms or asparagus you can dress it with a simple vinegar (that is super easy to make yourself) or even use packets of ketchup and mayo from fast food places ( to make thousand island is ketchup, mayo, sugar and relish)

I could go on and on but it can be done. You also don't have to give up good tasting food! Your palate will adjust and you'll love healthy food after that!

thank you all for the posts

I am the OP.....many things have happened....

the cost of money have changed...

if Trin always this post to go through....

I can update you on this..

P

$35 would only buy me a few loaves of bread, milk and noodles. lol

let us try this

lol

Recession Proof GLP...$35 dollars a week for groceries ideas? to feed 4 to 6 people

will not post on the front page..

good luck to you all

$35 is probably $17 bucks now. Let's see if this posts on the front page now.

test

Have a family meeting...Draw Lots...Or Roll Dice...

Whoever Wins/Loses...Gets eaten....

UDON NOODLES

rice and beans

pasta

veggie gardening and trading with other gardeners

hey all..


when I posted this....it was 2009

that same 35$ is now.

5% inflation is...44.67

8% inflation is...51.43

10% inflation is 56.37

so let take the middle ground.....8%


Recession Proof GLP...$51.43 dollars a week for groceries ideas? to feed 4 to 6 people


can you do it

paladin

I can give you the [link to www.shadowstats.com]

John Williams has said it to you all


so for 51.43

can you feed a family of 4-5 for a week

thank you Trinity for letting these post to go through

Ramen noodles?

I spend close to $35/DAY to feed 2

Ramen noodles?

I spend close to $35/DAY to feed 2


post it please

paladin

Well, let's see

breakfast - OJ - $7/gal
milk, organic - 7/gal

bacon - $6
eggs - 6/doz
bread - 6/loaf

lunch
lunch meat, veggies and cheese - gonna run around $10
chips - $4
potato salad - $4

and we haven't even got to dinner yet!

so you spend ......$1050.00 a month for 2

that is 35 X 30 days

can you tell me what insome you have to pay for this

paladin

That's like... a million things of Ramen.

For the main/only meal:

Fresh Potatoes
Make French Fries (save the oil in the refrigerator for further use)

Fresh Cabbage (boiled cabbage and potatoes. Mash up together, on the plate, sprinkle w/vinegar and slather with gobs of butter, season w/celery seed etc. )

Vit. “C”. Canned Tomatoes and fresh onions (make tomato soup)

Canned mustard etc. greens (side dish)

Canned or fresh pumpkin (cook w/butter and honey)

Pasta (use the canned tomatoes and olives on it)

Calcium: Evaporated milk.

Boiled/fried fresh carrots (buttered)

Coconut Oil

Cider Vinegar

Plain gelatin (make vegetable-gelatin salad w/bullion cubes)
You can cook the vegetables or leave them raw.

Olives (save the olives for the pasta only).

Honey

Beef/chicken bullion cubes

Spend the rest of the money on salt, pepper, spices, seeds, nuts, herbal teas, dried fruit (make prunes with cranberries).

There are dandelions in your lawn now, you can eat them raw; cut up small (flour and stem and leaf) with honey and vinegar or cooked in the potato oil.. If you make a salad of them you can grate carrot and onion for them. The canned tomatoes can be put on them and lots of seasoning and some of the potato oil.

If you poison your lawn donot eat anything out of it.

Must use real butter (that is your vitamin “A”)

If you leave out anything mentioned above, you will miss a needed vitamin etc.

oops
make that "flour" flower