DH lost his job! I need help with extending the meats we have.

[momee]

I guess it's our turn, you always read about someone else going through stuff like this...

anyway, my inlaws have been incredibly generous and supplied our meats and diapers for the month (they're awesome). I need some help, though.

 

How can I best extend some of these things to last a while? I could use suggestions for dishes that don't use much meat but still will meet the needs of a big family (6 of us including a teen boy and preteen girl).

 

I have a multi pack of chicken breasts (all these are from Costco), a big pack of kielbasa (7 links or so) , pack of 16 italian sausages, large pack of hamburger and two whole chickens. I have two big cans of chickpeas and two big cans of tomatos and one big can of sauce.

 

I have three pounds of pinto beans soaking and we have black beans and lentils in the cabinet so we'll be okay for sure, I just was hoping you all might feel energetic and post some budget meals. I'm checking out hillbilly housewife's site (that's where I got the pinto bean idea) but would love to hear family tried and true ones.

 

I guess what I'm asking is ideas for meals that don't use a ton of meat that I can make with this stuff. I have ideas but things like meatloaf meatballs or cookout burgers use a lot of the meat. Something like spaghetti sauce with some meat might be a better choice.

 

We don't do cream of whatever soups and I don't really have a big budget for tons of veggies. We do have some rice too and a multi box of whole wheat pasta. My guys won't go for pasta and sauce everyday though.

 

Thanks for helping brainstorm. I realize I've asked quite a general question but this is quite a general thinking group of ladies, lol. Thanks for any input.

Stephanie

Edited April 10, 2009 by momee

[TraceyS/FL]

I take the sausages and remove them from teh casing, brown them and put them in my tomatoes for spag sauce. The package of them (what is it, 6 links in the costco pack?) is honestly too much meat in a normal batch. I've been buying the HUGE can of crushed tomatoes from Sam's club and making a triple batch of sauce at once.

 

Otherwise, i'd just start putting some meat in things and cutting back that way.

 

A family fav here is the Humble Helper at Hillbillyhousewife. I can do that with less than a pound of meat and increase the pasta. STBXH and DD also made it last week with chicken!

 

:grouphug: hopefully someone will have some great ideas.

[Audrey]

I guess it's our turn, you always read about someone else going through stuff like this...

anyway, my inlaws have been incredibly generous and supplied our meats and diapers for the month (they're awesome). I need some help, though.

 

How can I best extend some of these things to last a while? I could use suggestions for dishes that don't use much meat but still will meet the needs of a big family (6 of us including a teen boy and preteen girl).

 

I have a multi pack of chicken breasts (all these are from Costco), a big pack of kielbasa (7 links or so) , pack of 16 italian sausages, large pack of hamburger and two whole chickens. I have two big cans of chickpeas and two big cans of tomatos and one big can of sauce.

 

I have three pounds of pinto beans soaking and we have black beans and lentils in the cabinet so we'll be okay for sure, I just was hoping you all might feel energetic and post some budget meals. I'm checking out hillbilly housewife's site (that's where I got the pinto bean idea) but would love to hear family tried and true ones.

 

I guess what I'm asking is ideas for meals that don't use a ton of meat that I can make with this stuff. I have ideas but things like meatloaf meatballs or cookout burgers use a lot of the meat. Something like spaghetti sauce with some meat might be a better choice.

 

We don't do cream of whatever soups and I don't really have a big budget for tons of veggies. We do have some rice too and a multi box of whole wheat pasta. My guys won't go for pasta and sauce everyday though.

 

Thanks for helping brainstorm. I realize I've asked quite a general question but this is quite a general thinking group of ladies, lol. Thanks for any input.

Stephanie

 

Not recipes (I don't have much time), but some ideas...

 

Spanish rice can go a long way. Lots of the rice and tomatoes makes the meat go far.

 

Cut up those sausages to flavour the beans. A couple of ounces per person will seem like a lot when you've got the bulk of the beans.

 

Try taco salad. Very little meat needed, especially if you throw some beans on there, too.

 

Tacos themselves use very little meat per person, especially if you mix some pintos in with the meat. It's really yummy.

 

Or, just go with bean burritos.

 

Chicken rice, or chicken noodle casseroles will stretch the chicken far. Half a breast per person is plenty then, maybe even less.

 

Try making homemade strip dumplings with chicken. Oh my! That's a fave, here. Flour, egg, milk, salt. Boil in chicken broth with chicken until everything is thick.

 

Baked pasta dishes are marvelous and use little meat. Take the casings off a 2 or 3 of those Italian sausages, fry it up, add to spaghetti sauce. Mix the sauce and any shape of pasta. Sprinkle with a small handfull of cheese and bake. You can change up the meat (sometimes I even use a bit of leftover pepperoni), change the cheese, and change the pasta. It's tasty and kind of fun.

Edited April 10, 2009 by Audrey

[Nestof3]

:grouphug:

 

We don't usually eat a lot of meat in our dinners, so that would actually be more than a month's supply of meat for our family of five. I'm sorry I cannot help you with sausages, as I've never bought them, but I do have some ideas for the ground beef and chicken.

 

We eat a lot of casseroles and soups. Soups have either rice/lentils/barley or potatoes as a base. Leftover mashed potatoes are frozen to add to soups to thicken them. All leftover veggies and grains are saved for soups.

 

Whole chickens are great to boil for your broth, then you can pick the meat off to add to soups and casseroles. We rarely eat chicken only by itself.

 

The chicken breasts would be great for making Mexican casserole. Add leftover tortilla chips (save the small pieces at the ends of bags -- these are not needed, I only try not to throw anything away), black beans, frozen corn, diced chilis or peppers, a jar of cheap salsa and some Mexican cheese. Serve with rice.

 

The next night, I add the leftovers (I purposely make a little more than we'll eat) to a carton of chicken broth. This makes a tasty Mexican soup.

 

Chili is also a great way to go. We serve ours on rice.

 

Potatoes are cheap and can be great with leftover chili on top

 

For spahetti sauce, I find if I run the ground beef through the food processor, it goes farther by distributing the meat flavor through more of the sauce.

 

If you roast one of the chickens, you can also make a gravy to add to chicken pieces and a bag of frozen veggies for a chicken pot pie.

[whitestavern]

Here are a couple of quick things I can think of off the top of my head:

 

ground beef - stuffed peppers (meat, rice, sauce basically), chili (extend w/beans, tomatoes, etc.), extend w/ oatmeal and veggies (about 1 cup oatmeal per lb of meat) for meatloaf (they'll never know!)

 

chicken - soups (add to chili, mix w/veggies, or with pasta or rice) mexican (combine w/beans, cheese, tortillas, veggies), stir fry w/lots of rice and veggies, mix w/creamy sauce & mushrooms over pasta for a stroganoff, pot pie

 

sausage & kielbasa - soups (w/beans, spinach or a tomato based?), sausage, peppers, onions and potatoes on rolls or in oven as casserole, mix kielbasa w/sauerkraut and potatoes and bake

 

sausage - add to sauce for pasta/lasagne, make a sausage egg bake

 

with all those beans you can also do black bean soup, enchiladas, refried beans in tortillas w/some cheese or beans & rice, minestrone soup

 

Hope this helps. And I hope your husband is able to find work soon.

[CalicoKat]

I guess it's our turn, you always read about someone else going through stuff like this...

anyway, my inlaws have been incredibly generous and supplied our meats and diapers for the month (they're awesome). I need some help, though.

 

How can I best extend some of these things to last a while? I could use suggestions for dishes that don't use much meat but still will meet the needs of a big family (6 of us including a teen boy and preteen girl).

 

I have a multi pack of chicken breasts (all these are from Costco), a big pack of kielbasa (7 links or so) , pack of 16 italian sausages, large pack of hamburger and two whole chickens. I have two big cans of chickpeas and two big cans of tomatos and one big can of sauce.

 

I have three pounds of pinto beans soaking and we have black beans and lentils in the cabinet so we'll be okay for sure, I just was hoping you all might feel energetic and post some budget meals. I'm checking out hillbilly housewife's site (that's where I got the pinto bean idea) but would love to hear family tried and true ones.

 

I guess what I'm asking is ideas for meals that don't use a ton of meat that I can make with this stuff. I have ideas but things like meatloaf meatballs or cookout burgers use a lot of the meat. Something like spaghetti sauce with some meat might be a better choice.

 

We don't do cream of whatever soups and I don't really have a big budget for tons of veggies. We do have some rice too and a multi box of whole wheat pasta. My guys won't go for pasta and sauce everyday though.

 

Thanks for helping brainstorm. I realize I've asked quite a general question but this is quite a general thinking group of ladies, lol. Thanks for any input.

Stephanie

Her Plain Muffin recipe is really good too. We put a teaspoon of jelly in the middle to stretch the jelly for all. Got a batch in the oven right now.

[3littlekeets]

I guess it's our turn, you always read about someone else going through stuff like this...

anyway, my inlaws have been incredibly generous and supplied our meats and diapers for the month (they're awesome). I need some help, though.

 

How can I best extend some of these things to last a while? I could use suggestions for dishes that don't use much meat but still will meet the needs of a big family (6 of us including a teen boy and preteen girl).

 

I have a multi pack of chicken breasts (all these are from Costco), a big pack of kielbasa (7 links or so) , pack of 16 italian sausages, large pack of hamburger and two whole chickens. I have two big cans of chickpeas and two big cans of tomatos and one big can of sauce.

 

I have three pounds of pinto beans soaking and we have black beans and lentils in the cabinet so we'll be okay for sure, I just was hoping you all might feel energetic and post some budget meals. I'm checking out hillbilly housewife's site (that's where I got the pinto bean idea) but would love to hear family tried and true ones.

 

I guess what I'm asking is ideas for meals that don't use a ton of meat that I can make with this stuff. I have ideas but things like meatloaf meatballs or cookout burgers use a lot of the meat. Something like spaghetti sauce with some meat might be a better choice.

 

We don't do cream of whatever soups and I don't really have a big budget for tons of veggies. We do have some rice too and a multi box of whole wheat pasta. My guys won't go for pasta and sauce everyday though.

 

Thanks for helping brainstorm. I realize I've asked quite a general question but this is quite a general thinking group of ladies, lol. Thanks for any input.

Stephanie

 

 

I'm so sorry... this has got to be rough on your whole family. And, given that, I'd explain to my kids that they need to deal with past and sauce and suck it up for a few weeks, even months... sometimes kids need to learn how to roll with the punches.

 

As for meals,

 

White chicken chili will extend the chicken

 

Homemade tortillas are cheap and YUMMY and you could make soft tacos filled with beans and any meat -- or burritos.

 

Pancakes are uber filling! Serve with some meat on the side if necessary.

 

Red Beans and Rice with the sausage.

 

Porcupine balls (hamburger rolled with rice) are always a huge hit with my kids.

 

Pizza bread (heavy on the bread dough, with just enough filling for taste)

 

Again, Huge Hugs and I hope your DH finds a great job soon. :grouphug:

[RoughCollie]

I'm in the same boat, and I stretch meat this way:

 

I make a tomato sauce for pasta, add in 1/2 what I usually would of sliced Italian sausage.

 

I use 1/2 of the usual amount of meat in spaghetti sauces, chili, and stir fry. I will "beef" up the spaghetti sauce by adding diced tomatoes to it, the chili by adding 2x the usual amount of beans, and the stir fry by putting in lots of cabbage and serving it over brown rice.

 

I make soups and stews that are heavy on the veggies, light on the meat.

 

I do get complaints from my boys about not having enough meat in the dishes I cook, but I tell them "too bad, so sad" -- unless they want to get jobs to buy meat, they are stuck with eating what their personal chef makes for them.

 

You didn't ask, but the two ways I save a lot of money are by making bread (which is $3.60 -$4 a loaf here) and by making housecleaning supplies and laundry detergent. If you want recipes for the supplies and laundry soap, I'll be glad to give you mine. Let me know.

 

Take care,

RC

Edited April 10, 2009 by RoughCollie

[Blueridge]

When my dh lost his job, I made lots of soup. I used a little bit of meat and then added whatever vegetables I had, and chicken or beef bouillon. I bulked it up with adding noodles, rice or potatoes near the end of cooking time. I made large pans of rolls or cornbread to serve with them. I gave them names like *garden vegetable soup (meatless), Italian minestrone (with a little bacon, white beans, Italian veggies and spices), Southwestern taco soup (with a little hamburger, pintos, tomatoes, corn, cumin and chili powder, and a handful of torn corn tortillas thrown in at the end), cream of potato (made with dry or canned milk and chicken broth, tons of potatoes and onion), golden chicken noodle, etc. We felt plenty satisfied and thankful. I took what boneless chicken I had, cooked it all up, put it in meal size portions in the freezer, and made chicken soup with the broth. I am praying for your family today. Blessings~

Ginger

[littlebug42]

I baked a chicken last night and then put the leftovers overnight in the crock pot to cook it down for broth. Then, I made chicken and dumplings today off of the broth and the chicken picked out after it all cooked it down. Of course, in our family, the dumplings aren't complete without throwing some boiled eggs in the broth too which does add extra protein and make up for the meat somewhat if you can get an egg too. When we were kids, we always fought over who got the eggs.

[stripe]

I cook a lot of what might be considered Indian style food. We don't eat meat daily, and I rarely cook meat on its own; it's usually in a sauce. One pound of chicken feeds us for several meals.

 

I am in line at the library for this book: Eat Cheap but Eat Well.

 

A suggestion for not spending a lot of money on vegetables (I probably don't have a lot of suggestions since I sort of never have had this experience) - try an ethnic market for some things, and buy frozen vegetables on sale (1 lb of peas, corn, cauliflower, whatever, for $1 or less). Buy rice in bulk. White rice is not expensive at all.

 

Shop sales. Find bakery outlets in your town.

 

I am curious to know what you're planning to do with the three pounds of dried beans you've got soaking....that's a lot of beans!

[AuntPol]

We use sausage quite a bit. I cut up half in my spaghetti sauce. I use the leftover spaghetti sauce on eggs and top with mozarella for breakfast for dinner. You can do a night where you make omelets, etc with various leftovers. One might have the spaghetti, another leftover stirfry, etc.

 

I also fry potatoes w/peppers and onions and add a little of the sausage. Use it more as flavor the main course.

 

Salad toppings

Chinese Stirfries

Spaghetti Sauces

Casseroles

Fajitas and Burritos

Nachos

Omelets

Make meatloaf and use binder to extend.

Chili (w/beans or white chili for the chicken)

Soups

Potato bar toppings

 

Make sure you boil the bones of the whole chicken to make a broth -you

can then make soup with whatever you have leftover for the week.

You can also boil you ground beef to brown it an then use the water as a beef broth.

Make gravy from any drippings and use that in casseroles instead of cream of whatever soups

[Obi-Mom Kenobi]

I made lots of soup. I used a little bit of meat and then added whatever vegetables I had, and chicken or beef bouillon. I bulked it up with adding noodles, rice or potatoes near the end of cooking time. I made large pans of rolls or cornbread to serve with them.

 

:iagree: That was exactly what I was thinking. We're kind of in the same boat (waiting for the lay-off notice). I'll be thinking about you all.

[Cherrie]

Chicken breasts -

1) Make cutlets, I slice the chicken breast very thin getting about 3 pieces per breasts. To really stretch it serve with pasta and a marinara sauce.

2) Use one or two breast and make fettuccini

3) Bake and use for grilled sands

4) Fajitas

Whole chicken

1) Roast or BQ use for BQ pizza with this type of pizza less is best

Use a flat bread or pizza shell add Little BQ sauce, very little diced chicken, onion and parsley. This is the best idea for stretching the chicken I have ever come across one breast has fed my family of 4 big eaters.

2) Again use for grilled sands, soups. Salad with chicken, Caesar chicken salad

With two chickens you can get pizza, sands and soup or stew for a large family easily

For the Italian sausage.

Use half for a pasta sauce the other half , cook in a tomatoes sauce add onions and peppers if desired and cook in a slow cooker when done cut in half length wise and put in bun with sauce.

Ground beef - meat balls go a long way, add bread crumbs, and parsley. You can serve in a gravy or tomatoe sauce, or meatball subs

Sheppard pie adding veggies to stretch the meat.

 

Having so much meat on hand at the same time, I would suggest cooking a head and freezing some, to help with planing. My biggest problem is being to tired to bother streching some times and do what is quicker and easier and that can be a waste.

[Nestof3]

I am curious to know what you're planning to do with the three pounds of dried beans you've got soaking....that's a lot of beans!

 

She could freeze them. This saves having to soak/cook the beans everytime you want to use them.

[wulfbourne]

With the chicken breasts cut them up into small cubes before you cook them up. One chicken breast can feed the whole family as long as it's small portions, and if it's cut up people tend to eat less.

 

For another cookbook recommendation if your library has it is Dine on a Dime.

 

Beans and rice is a great staple, and there are several ways to prepare it. If you want you can add little bits of sausage for flavor.

[Kathleen in VA]

I always mix about 3 or 4 cups of cooked rice with a pound of ground beef when I make tacos.

[Jane in NC]

You have already received some good advice in this thread so let me just say that I am so sorry that this has happened to your family. I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Jane

[Closeacademy]

chicken breasts:

dice chicken into small pieces, add some salsa, stir fry until chicken is done. put a scoop of chicken mix on 1/2 of a tortilla with a little cheese and make quessadillas. (1 breast will make 4)

 

can of tomatos, some carrots, onion, celery, paprika, can of broth and a chicken breast cut into pieces. Saute the veggies, add the juice, spices and meat. Serve over rice. (serves 4)

 

kielbasa:

cut up into slices and cook with sour kraut and serve with bread.

 

Cut up into slices, make rice seasoned with creole seasoning and beans.

 

italian sausages:

add to pasta sauce for spaghetti or use on homemade pizzas (make some crust from scratch, add pasta sauce and cheese).

 

hamburger:

There are a ton of great ideas for casseroles out there.

 

Pinto Beans:

Just make them with a soupy broth and a little bit of meat (usually pork or bacon) and serve it with cheap Jiffy Mix Corn bread.

 

Also a website for you to check out that may have some ideas:

 

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

 

and for eating on a tight budget:

 

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/ She feeds a family of 4 on a grocery budget of $800 a year.

 

I also have couponing tip on my blog if you need them as you adjust. With coupons I save about $600 a month from what I used to spend and eat just as well.

 

Good luck.:001_smile:

[cjzimmer1]

We like this recipe

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Lentil-Stew

 

I make a double batch since my hamburger is in 1 pound chunks and then serve it over rice (I use brown) or egg noodles. I can feed my entire family of 6 eaters at least 3-4 times from this. I also just used canned tomatoes since I seldom have tomato juice on hand.

 

I have also used celery seed for fresh celery or dehydrated onions or garlic for fresh if that's all I have on hand.

[Wildiris]

Well first, you're certainly not alone. My Dear Loved One has been out

 

of work, and applying for two or three jobs a week in the construction

 

field, since last August. No one calls him back to reject him. He just gets

 

ignored. Me, for the few jobs I've applied for I get letters of rejection.

 

He doesn't like getting ignored.

 

 

Our savings are getting real thin. I have two teenage sons, a preteen

 

daughter, and a six-year-old daughter. They eat a lot! What works for

 

us is eating the same thing without much variation. Tortillas with rice,

 

beans, cheese, and salsa, chili with a chuck roast, pasta with tamari and

 

yeast, PB&J sandwiches, bean soup with sausage and as many organic

 

vegetable that I can afford. Milk is cheaper than meat. Popcorn. We

 

shoot wild pigs and butcher them ourselves; the meat lasts a little

 

while. We're eating all of the fruit I froze and canned last summer from

 

our garden and fruit trees, and I'm working hard on making my garden

 

as productive as possible this summer. We're getting chickens and

 

goats too just have the meat and eggs at a lower cost than the store. I

 

know feed is getting hit by inflation just like the food on the grocery

 

store shelves, but it will still be cheaper to feed us all if we become

 

more self-sufficient.

 

Good Luck! I hope your DH finds employment soon.

[Kathy in MD]

Generally most basic American (read non-ethnic) recipes contain too much meat. I generally can cut the meat by at least 50% and have a healthier recipe.

 

To stretch chili, you can add macaroni to it in the last 30 min or so of cooking. Or serve it over rice.

 

To use the sausage, try a potato/cabbage/sausage cassarole. I generally use a Kelbassa style sausage, but try it with the Italian.

 

There are a lot of soups that don't need meat or very little. If meat is called for, I often use bullion or broth for flavor and substitute beans for the protein.

 

I'd also start planning for a vegetable garden now.

[Brilliant]

Beg, borrow, or buy a copy of The More With Less Cookbook. It's $11.55 at Amazon, and you can save that much on your grocery bill in a week if you follow its recipes.

 

We have really enjoyed the dishes we've tried. All of them are low-meat or no-meat. I've made a tasty lentil casserole, an unlikely but yummy tomato-sauce w/rice topped with eggs combo, a stir-fry dish that used 1/2# of meat for a family of 4 (thin spaghetti and veggies were the other ingredients).

 

I have always tried to be a frugal shopper. But if I suddenly *had* to stretch our grocery dollars even further, I'd immediately start cooking exclusively from that book.

[mamaof2andtwins]

My friend Crystal has some great recipes on her website. They might be helpful to you.

 

The Family Homestead Kitchen

 

Jennie

[Audrey]

Beg, borrow, or buy a copy of The More With Less Cookbook. It's $11.55 at Amazon, and you can save that much on your grocery bill in a week if you follow its recipes.

 

.

 

 

OH MY GOSH!! Is that the best cookbook ever! I'd never heard of it until I moved here and our lovely Hutterite neighbours (well, kind of neighbours -- our farms abut) gave us a copy as a welcome.

 

They also gave us a bunch of food at the same time and flagged the recipes they came from in the book. You wouldn't believe how good frugal tastes. I use it more than any other cookbook I've ever owned.

 

Best welcome EVER!

[Deb in NZ]

I like to put a whole chicken in the crockpot at bedtime on low. In the morning the chicken is falling-apart done & moist. I debone the chicken & put the bigger pieces in a casserole in the fridge to use later in the week. The broth & little bits of meat get returned to the crockpot. To this I add a couple of chopped onions & a few thinly sliced carrots. About an hour before I want to serve dinner I add in a couple handfuls of frozen peas & mix up some dumplings to put on ~20 minutes before dinner.

Out of 1 whole chicken I get 3+ meals for my family of 5 (including 2 teenagers & 1 preteen ds).

 

day 1 = chicken & dumplings

day 2 = chicken pot pie (add more veggies to the left-over chicken & dumplings & top with pastry)

day 3 = chicken stirfry or pizza(use ~ 1/3 of cooked meat)

day 4 = chicken taco salad or burritos (use ~ 1/3 of cooked meat)

 

Other ideas:

 

1. Brown up all the ground beef & freeze in bags of 2 cups meat (~3c. = 1 #)
   
2. Cook up the saugages & cut in half lengthwise & in half again lengthwise, then cut into little pieces. Cut this way 1-2 sausages will flavor a potato or rice based meal for a family.
   
3. Cut the boneless chicken breasts into small cubes. Cut small makes a little seem a lot in a stirfry or soup.
   
4. Plan 1-2 meatless meals a week (either pasta or bean) + 1 weekly soup made from left-overs.
   
5. Use water for drinks, allowing milk as a drink only at dinner.
   
6. Use powdered milk in all baking.
   
7. Oatmeal is great for breakfasts & snacks as well for hungry teens.
   
8. Airpopped popcorn is cheaper & more filling than chips for snacks.
   
9. Plant a garden or at least a few tomatoes in pots to supplement your diet.
   

 

 

JMHO,

Edited April 11, 2009 by Deb in NZ

[stripe]

 

1. Plan 1-2 meatless meals a week (either pasta or bean) + 1 weekly soup made from left-overs.

 

 

I don't know how to phrase this so it sounds non-confrontational. This is a serious question, but picture me asking it in a nice way.... -- One or two meatless meals a week? Is this considered being frugal to most of you? (I must really be out of touch with mainstream American -- or New Zealander! -- cooking.)

[momee]

THANK you all for the great!!! ideas.

There is more than enough here to go with for quite a while.

 

DH is in our school room - desk computer - happy face! It's a change but it's dramatically cut down on my saying get back to work :)

 

I will be coming back to this thread once I recover from the expolosion of pinto beans coming from my kitchen. I have never seen so many beans! DH is thrilled as he's very much into them, but the rest of us, we'll have to see.

I'm going to do some cornbread today and a friend from church brought us a ham (Happy Easter!!!!) AND a turkey breast because she had a dream about us. God is good and I know we'll be fine. THanks for all of your prayers and well wishes. It's actually a good ex

ercise in frugality and has brought our family a bit closer.

We're planning on selling bread and such at the farmer's market and that's helping keep us busy and our minds on things above! Again, I really have more than enough to draw from here for ideas of extending these foods and feel really great about trying them all (well, the pinto beans will have to do but the rest sounds great!).

 

My prayers to those of you going through the same thing. It's scary.

[stripe]

I will be coming back to this thread once I recover from the expolosion of pinto beans coming from my kitchen. I have never seen so many beans!

 

As someone else said, they do handle being frozen/thawed well. Get small plastic containers and put, say, 2 cups of beans in each, and cover with the cooking liquid or water, and freeze. When you're ready to use, they'll be almost as handy as canned.

[momee]

For Stripe -

 

I looked at the hillbilly housewife site and saw the recipe for My Best Pinto Beans and I had quite a few so I cooked them up. Like another poster said, I'll just freeze them. Some rice and tomatoes and beans and cornbread and salad will be a great lunch - very filling.

 

DH and DDs will eat them in wraps with onions. I'm looking for other ideas though. It's alot of beans but I know from experience having them in the freezer is the key to using them. Making them all at once took no effort really, one batch in the pot and one in the crock. I did add two sausages to them so they taste good actually. I'm hopeful but would like to find something where they're hidden a bit more.

 

I'm with you on the whole chicken breast feeding a family. I can't believe how much less meat we've been eating since I've been pounding the chicken breasts with a huge knife I have. I cook it, slice it up and serve it in pieces. They don't seem to eat nearly as much that way - as long as I have roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes or some substantial side.

 

I'd love to hear some of the dishes you serve without meat - but my thing with that is the recipes always call for exotic stuff. I have quinoa, bulghar wheat and TVP but that did require a trip to Whole Foods. TVP is amazingly cheap and in the enchiladas the kids didn't even notice it wasn't meat. The whole bag cost 1.90 or so and I got 15 enchiladas from one batch. I'm planning on making hummus for sandwich fillings with the big can of garbanzos I have. Stuff like that isn't how I was taught to cook so there's a definite learning curve, but the kids are the better for it I think.

 

TVP, two cups water, two Tbsp soy sauce, reconsitute, add taco seasoning and use as meat. YUM.

Here's the recipe site in case anyone wants it. With a bit of cheese and my own sauce and tortillas bought in bulk, this was very! filling and cheap.

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/maindishentreerecipes/r/tvptacos.htm

 

found this chilli recipe from Audrey

Best chili. EVER.

 

1 lb. dried pinto beans

3 T chili powder

2 T dehydrated onions

1 T granulated garlic

1 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Wash beans. Put into pot with spices. Cook until done, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, brown 1 lb. ground beef (if desired), and drain. Add meat to the beans with an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and two 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes. Simmer to blend flavors. ENJOY!!

 

and found this thread

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90234&highlight=pinto+beans

 

that should keep me busy for a while

Edited April 11, 2009 by momee

[3littlekeets]

I don't know how to phrase this so it sounds non-confrontational. This is a serious question, but picture me asking it in a nice way.... -- One or two meatless meals a week? Is this considered being frugal to most of you? (I must really be out of touch with mainstream American -- or New Zealander! -- cooking.)

 

 

Truly, Americans eat way too much meat. Kathy Frestone of the Huffington Post just had this to say:

 

 

I've written extensively on the consequences of eating meat -- on our health, our sense of "right living", and on the environment. It is one of those daily practices that has such a broad and deep effect that I think it merits looking at over and over again, from all the different perspectives. Sometimes, solutions to the world's biggest problems are right in front of us. The following statistics are eye-opening, to say the least.

 

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

 

● 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;

 

● 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;

 

● 70 million gallons of gas -- enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;

 

● 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;

 

● 33 tons of antibiotics.

 

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

 

● Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;

 

● 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;

 

● 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;

 

● Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

 

My favorite statistic is this: According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. See how easy it is to make an impact?

 

Interesting eh? The link is http://www.alternet.org/water/134650/the_startling_effects_of_going_vegetarian_for_just_one_day/

[Jenny in Florida]

I'd love to hear some of the dishes you serve without meat - but my thing with that is the recipes always call for exotic stuff.

 

Okay, I'm not Stripe, but I noticed this comment and had to jump in.

 

We're a vegan/vegetarian family, and rarely use anything that might be considered "exotic." We eat lots of Mexican-inspired dishes (like the casserole I made Wednesday with black beans, rice, tomato paste, jarred salsa, frozen corn and corn tortillas). I don't think of pasta as being "exotic." We make meals on baked potatoes with toppings and sides.

 

The most exotic meals we make regularly are Indian inspired, but even then, it's mostly lentils or chickpeas with seasonings and basmati rice.

 

You totally don't have to spend a lot of money or go too far out of your comfort zone to eat veg. And it's less expensive and (probably) healthier, too.

[momee]

Edited - heyyyyy!!! What's that red thumbs down thing mean? I didn't do it, is someone mad at me???

 

 

Okay Jenny in Florida :)

post some more recipes like that and you'll be my new friend.

 

Trouble is, when I go looking for recipes, the websites or cookbooks assume I always cook like this. I didn't even know what cumin was a few years ago. Or a lentil. Betty Crocker didn't teach my mom to cook with lentils.

 

I know what you mean, but the inability of those of us from the 70's with moms who worked and threw a can of ravioli on the table at 630 to just jump into cooking from scratch is a real mountain sometimes! More information on how you do it really would be appreciated. And no offense taken, just remember where some of us might come from. AND one more thing that might surprise you - until our local Food Lion was remodeled, we didn't have lentils!! Now they have a mexican food section and we can find them out here in the boonies.

[Loupelou]

:grouphug:

 

We don't usually eat a lot of meat in our dinners, so that would actually be more than a month's supply of meat for our family of five. I'm sorry I cannot help you with sausages, as I've never bought them, but I do have some ideas for the ground beef and chicken.

 

We eat a lot of casseroles and soups. Soups have either rice/lentils/barley or potatoes as a base. Leftover mashed potatoes are frozen to add to soups to thicken them. All leftover veggies and grains are saved for soups.

 

Whole chickens are great to boil for your broth, then you can pick the meat off to add to soups and casseroles. We rarely eat chicken only by itself.

 

The chicken breasts would be great for making Mexican casserole. Add leftover tortilla chips (save the small pieces at the ends of bags -- these are not needed, I only try not to throw anything away), black beans, frozen corn, diced chilis or peppers, a jar of cheap salsa and some Mexican cheese. Serve with rice.

 

The next night, I add the leftovers (I purposely make a little more than we'll eat) to a carton of chicken broth. This makes a tasty Mexican soup.

 

Chili is also a great way to go. We serve ours on rice.

 

Potatoes are cheap and can be great with leftover chili on top

 

For spahetti sauce, I find if I run the ground beef through the food processor, it goes farther by distributing the meat flavor through more of the sauce.

 

If you roast one of the chickens, you can also make a gravy to add to chicken pieces and a bag of frozen veggies for a chicken pot pie.

 

:iagree:

 

Boil your chicken, all of it, season it the way you like it and save the broth for soup. Package up the meat and freeze. You can use the broth for soup with potatoes, pasta, veggies,beans etc. We really like it with a can of evaporated milk thickened with cornstarch or a roux.

 

If you buy potatoes in bulk and can't eat them right away, you can peel, cut up, blanch and store in freezer bags for later use, we did it this past winter and it's been great!

 

Also you can brown the hamburger and use for spaghetti sauce or add taco seasoning. The taco meat can be used for a variety of things, taco salad, layered enchiladas, taco soup.

 

There are a lot of great websites with freezer meal type recipes that use a lot of ingredients you usually have on hand.

 

I hope your DH is able to find a job swiftly:grouphug:

[Nestof3]

If you buy potatoes in bulk and can't eat them right away, you can peel, cut up, blanch and store in freezer bags for later use, we did it this past winter and it's been great!

 

 

Really? I didn't know this. My potatoes always turn soft on me too soon.

[stripe]

I'd love to hear some of the dishes you serve without meat - but my thing with that is the recipes always call for exotic stuff. I have quinoa, bulghar wheat and TVP but that did require a trip to Whole Foods.

You've got me beat on "exotic" -- I've never tried TVP or quinoa, but I might have some bulgar in the house...somewhere (I bought it for my parents' visit and never finished it....)

 

I just had quesadillas (made with cheese I bought on sale), tortillas, and refried beans (made with ....frozen pinto beans! Ha). That was a fast meal.

 

I make vegetable stew type stuff a lot, with whatever vegetables I have around. Usually some combination of eggplants, potatoes, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, zucchini (especially last year because I had a plant that took over the yard). Eggplants are semi-meaty, too, don't forget. They have very little flavor on their own, so you can play around with them. I've made pasta sauce with tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, zucchini, and bell peppers (plus onions and garlic); you can blend it all together and you won't even notice (it's not quite so dark) and I figure it has to be more nutritious. You can add a small amount of meat (either cubes or ground) to something like that.

 

I also sometimes make rice (sort of pilaf-ish, for lack of a better description) and put chickpeas on top. That adds some protein. Fry some onions in the pan first and then add the washed rice, water, and salt, and that adds flavor without expense, to go with whatever vegetable.

 

I'm not into chili so much, but some members of my family are (you can put beans in that! you can even mash them instead of leaving them whole), and my grandma always likes a good stir-fry (she usually gives it a pseudo-Chinese twist by adding soy sauce).

 

I make various sorts of chicken stew/curry type things. I rarely make chicken on its own. I go through tons of onions and garlic in nearly everything I cook; well-cooked onion is a great flavor.

 

Stay away from those casseroles people are always suggesting! All that cheese and sour cream and whatever are not very cheap.

But the number one way to cut your meat consumption is to stop giving each family member a discrete piece of meat. Cut the meat into small pieces or use ground meat, and then serve it mixed in with other things. But chicken legs are incredibly cheap and yummy.

 

Other random thoughts:

I also think to be thrifty, plan on no breakfasts with meat. I'm not a meaty breakfast kind of gal, so I think you can safely have six meals a week without meat by....having toast or eggs or oatmeal or cereal or whatever, instead of a bunch of sausage.

 

And a tip I saw from a doctor on TV is that canned salmon is cheap and nutritious. I am afraid of canned meat products, but just passing that one on to you....

[Jennifer in MI]

A few things we do to stretch meals:

 

Add rice to your taco meat. You won't notice much of a difference, I promise! I use 1/2 pound of meat for our family of 6. We have that over chips or with tortillas, cheese, and veggies one night. I take the leftovers (yes - leftovers) and serve them mixed with pasta and cheese the next day for lunch.

 

Take an entire chicken and put it in a pot of water. Cook it for a couple hours. You'll have broth for soup for one night. Serve it with fresh bread. The next night use a bit of the chicken in a stir fry. Serve over rice. The next night take the rest of the chicken and make a chicken salad. Put apples and grapes and rice in it to stretch it. Serve it in sandwiches or over lettuce.

 

Tonight we had a vegetarian meal - I cooked up a pot of rice and set out a bunch of things that could be mixed with it - salsa, cheese, tomato sauce, black beans, veggies. The kids made their own. We have this often at the end of a week made entirely of leftovers.

 

One of the soups that our family loves is broth (that you cooked iwth the chicken). Cook califlower with it (I use two pounds of it). Cook it until the califlower is basically mush. Transfer the broth to the blender and blend it up. It will taste like a cream of _________ soup without all the chemicals! Spice it as you like - salt, pepper, garlic, etc. I usually add veggies and pasta to the soup because we like a chunky soup rather than a smooth one. I serve this with corn bread and a salad.

 

Someone here posted a link once to an 80 something year old grandmother on YouTube teaching depression era cooking. There were some things there that looked really good! Cut up potatoes and fry them up. Add onions and sausage. There's your meal!

 

Good luck to you and your family!

[momee]

Just wanted to bump this thread as it's such a great one and a big help to those looking to cook for a larger family on a budget.

 

HTH - not tooting my own horn for starting it, just thought with all the newbies, someone out there might find it helpful :)

[*Inna*]

Some great ideas here. I have nothing to add except a big :grouphug:

[Classical Country Mama]

Just wanted to bump this thread as it's such a great one and a big help to those looking to cook for a larger family on a budget.

 

HTH - not tooting my own horn for starting it, just thought with all the newbies, someone out there might find it helpful :)

 

Thank you!! I've been devouring this thread and scribbling notes like crazy. My dh has been out of consistent work for AGES, and I haven't had a dime to spend on groceries for over three weeks now. Thankfully he does have work at the moment and is traveling, and the rest of us don't need meat (he's a big carnivore and would never consider soup a meal). So it's cheap and easy while he's gone. But when he comes home, I plan to implement some of the meat-stretching tips and recipes.

 

Love it all. Thanks for the bump.

[Classical Country Mama]

Oh, and I meant to ask--did your husband find work?

[shannatheshedevil]

Burritos with refried beans can go a looooooooong way.

[Ohdanigirl]

Dh has been out of work since March of 09. I always have potatoes in the house and add chopped potatoes to the meat dishes. Also I always make 2 sides (rice and beans or veggies), we also try to have a starter like salad or soup when it is cool out. If we have no starter I will cut up fruit either before or after our meal. My children eat a lot and my just turned 20 brother in-law lives a block away, so he show up often with friends. You would be surprised how far I can stretch our meat, in fact I was surprised.

 

I know it is hard and a bit scary, you'll get through it though.

:grouphug:

Danielle

[Ohdanigirl]

Really? I didn't know this. My potatoes always turn soft on me too soon.

 

I keep them in a dark place and they last longer. I'll have to try that last tip though.

 

Danielle

[LibraryLover]

Old thread? How is everything, OP?

[DaffodilDreams]

I'm sorry for the reason this thread began, but I'm so grateful for all the advice contained within these posts. I will check back here often. Wonderful ideas, ladies! Thank you!!!

 

I have one meal idea to add to the thread:

 

Lentil and Wild Rice Soup

 

1# bag of lentils

2 boxes of seasoned wild rice (store brand is usually cheap)

at least 32 oz of broth (any kind will work)

3/4 lb gr. browned gr. beef is optional

 

Put all ingredients in a crock pot on low heat. Check every now and then to add water if needed. I add the meat towards the end of the cooking time. Sometimes I'll throw in frozen corn or chopped spinach or fresh chopped kale from our garden when the dish is almost done, too. The flavors from the broth and rice seasoning packets make this a very tasty dish w/o a lot of effort or ingredients. You could easily leave the meat out and have a hearty, yummy vegetarian meal.

[momee]

Thanks for asking.

 

He's at home doing what he was doing for others, now for us :)

 

It's a bit of an up and down roller coaster ride and I'm doing Dave Ramsey's financial peace to try to get some practical tools for handling our budget fluctuations.

 

I'm really happy with it and one side note.

With a teenage boy in the house having daddy here is worth more than paying off any debt, any retirement fund, anything we could be trying to attain right now :lol:.

So, it's good. Not ALL good, but very, very good.

To others in this spot, look for the hidden miracle. It's there somewhere...

 

And I have multiple posts about finding cheap food, meal plans, and making burritos correctly on these threads to prove it's not easy. But good, kwim?