Families: Dinners on budget?
- Thread starter JD7.62
- Start date
Thankfully, my wife has acquired the gift of coupons. We shop at Walmart as well as Dillon's, a local grocery store. Dillon's does double coupons, and my wife manages to find any and every coupon out there. She has figured out how to use some of them together to not only get some things free, but gets over 100% of the price off our bill. She also gets samples of stuff online every day. I don't know the last time we bought toothpaste, seriously. We just went to Dillon's Saturday, and she knocked the (food) bill from about $45, down to like $23. It's a gift lol. We do eat a lot of "Helpers", pastas, chicken, and the like. You just have to get creative and mix and match to keep a variety.
JD7.62;2407409; said:
Nah, we don't have Hamburger Helper but we have the Betty Crocker versions of it but the thing is you guys over there have a bigger variety of stuff what we import here is just 50% of what you have there.
Plus, your pizza's are HUGE
AquataHolic420;2407449; said:
finally someone just knows we don't live in tents in the middle of the desert with pet camels.
pretty good pay, no taxes, free education until university, free health care and if you work for a good place they'd buy you a car, pay for your kids education needs... etc etc etc AND if you're an American working in Kuwait you'd get even more.
they're Kuwaiti Dinars, highest currency... beat your dolla bills
I don't see how you guys are paying so much for food. I'm a large guy (6'1" over 200 lbs) and I eat maybe $3-5 of food per day. And it's not crap food either. Cheap meal? Walmart has 10 lb bags of chicken thighs for $6 so that's 60 cents a pound. Pasta is cheap- almost always under a dollar a pound, unless you go for the organic/whole wheat stuff. Vegetables aren't expensive either. I'm Chinese, so I'm more accustomed to eating leafy vegetables than fleshy stuff like broccoli or cauliflower. Either way, broccoli and cauliflower cost two bucks a head, tops. The asian greens are usually under a dollar a pound.
To save money, Aldi is supposed to have cheap food. Meijer (more of a midwest thing) also slashes prices on food to clear out stock fast. I picked up 6 packs of Green Giant frozen vegetables with stir fry sauce for 92 cents per pack. These are large packs- each one will least me 3 meals after counting the meat or tofu I add to it. (Served on rice or pasta.)
I'm may be saving more because I've stopped eating mammals a few months back. Poultry and seafood. Seafood ends up being the most expensive part of my meals. Key is eating a recommended serving. American diets tend to emphasize huge servings. The recommended serving for fish and meat is 3 oz. I usually go 4-8 oz, so even the delicious farmed salmon filets only cost $2 per meal if I eat a half pound.
To save money, Aldi is supposed to have cheap food. Meijer (more of a midwest thing) also slashes prices on food to clear out stock fast. I picked up 6 packs of Green Giant frozen vegetables with stir fry sauce for 92 cents per pack. These are large packs- each one will least me 3 meals after counting the meat or tofu I add to it. (Served on rice or pasta.)
I'm may be saving more because I've stopped eating mammals a few months back. Poultry and seafood. Seafood ends up being the most expensive part of my meals. Key is eating a recommended serving. American diets tend to emphasize huge servings. The recommended serving for fish and meat is 3 oz. I usually go 4-8 oz, so even the delicious farmed salmon filets only cost $2 per meal if I eat a half pound.
A good simple meal for me is Turkey Spaghetti
two boxes of angel hair pasta - 89 cent each
1.5lbs of Ground Turkey - $2.78
I Jar of Whatever kinda sauce - I use Italian Sausage and Peppers Marinara- $2.50
After the pasta and meat are cooked and put together, bake the spaghetti for 15-20 min with cheese on top.....
This makes enough to serve like a family of 5 depending on how greedy you are...LOL. It lasts me and my gurl 2-3days....Ground Turkey is actually cheaper than beef, I always figured since it was healthier and less fattening it would cost more....
two boxes of angel hair pasta - 89 cent each
1.5lbs of Ground Turkey - $2.78
I Jar of Whatever kinda sauce - I use Italian Sausage and Peppers Marinara- $2.50
After the pasta and meat are cooked and put together, bake the spaghetti for 15-20 min with cheese on top.....
This makes enough to serve like a family of 5 depending on how greedy you are...LOL. It lasts me and my gurl 2-3days....Ground Turkey is actually cheaper than beef, I always figured since it was healthier and less fattening it would cost more....
It's hard to beat a whole chicken for cheap protein. We bake a whole chicken and then make gravy from the juice. Eat the dark meat and gravy with some potatoes or noodles and a vegetable. Make sandwiches out of the breast the next day.
Hamburger gravy on a baked potato is cheap and delicious.
Hamburger gravy on a baked potato is cheap and delicious.
