What is the lowest cost meal you make for your family?

[buttrfli]

The cheapest thing I make also luckily happens to be one of my familys fav's :D

I make "curl-a-ronies" for about $2.00 and it feeds a family of 5 (3 kids 2 adults)

1 box of rotini $0.25
1 roll of ground turkey $0.60
1 can of tomoto soup $0.20
1 loaf of garlic bread $0.99

I just add a bit of italian season and some garlic salt and we are good to go!

I occasionally make a salad, so add $1.25 on those nights :)

[Njean31]

let's see, around 5.00

i call it country dinner night. my mom made it all the time and her mom made it even more (with a little variations i'm sure) because they had a farm.

bag of northern beans @ .50
bag of potatoes..for fried potatoes @ 1.99
head of cabbage..@ 1.49
pkg of fatback @ 1.29

throw in some onions, sliced cucumbers, sliced fresh tomatoes...FREE from the garden :)

[Willow]

Probably the cheapest meal I make would be ziti and sauce. The ziti is about 79 cents a box and I buy the Hunts sauce in a can. I like it better than most of the more expensive brands and it's only 99 cents. We get either the Pepperidge Farm garlic bread or the Texas Toast and that is only $1.99 a box. Sometimes I make my own but it just doesn't taste the same. lol

[sivohdarba]

Pancakes and eggs! Probably costs under $1.50 to feed the 4 of us :)

[kelly12569]

Pancakes and eggs! Probably costs under $1.50 to feed the 4 of us :)

:eek: Wow, thats cheap. I cant even get the eggs to feed us for that cheap! LOL But there are 7 of us.

[moogle]

Box of macaroni and cheese - store brand - usually on sale for 4 for $1.00,
so 25 cents for that.
Add a can of tuna fish, on sale for 2 for $1.00, so 50 cents.

Total of 75 cents.

[disneymom]

hmm well, our cheapest for a family of 5 is about 25 cents
it is breakfast night

Eggs-free
Milk=Free
Cheese-FREE
Pays that your hubby is a milk man LOL
1/4 loaf of bread about .25 cents!!

Kids love it and so do we!!

[bribella]

Hot dogs, beans & fried potatoes (yuk, but my dh loves it)

Hot dogs $1.25
baked beans $ 1.19
potatoes .99 cents/5lbs
corn .69 cents
milk- free

so $4.12 for a family of 5 thats pretty good huh?

[DreamWorld]

My husband and I love to eat homemade red chile with fried potatoes.

10lb bag of potatoes .99 (We don't eat the whole bag for this meal. We only use about 6-8 potatoes.)
Powdered New Mexico Red Chile $2.50.

Now I want some! :D

[llbriteyes]

I'm too lazy to figure it out, but probably store brand mac & cheese and a pound of burger.

Linda

[joni1269]

Wolf brand chili and grilled cheese - and they love it!!

[tljohn123]

oh great...now i'm hungry lol

[redrig]

The Curl-a-ronies sound good, I'll have to try that out! Buttrfli, do you just brown the turkey and then throw in the tomato soup and simmer,, then pour over the cooked pasta?

I make homemade sauce with ground beef, a TON of garlic, tomato sauce & paste and a few dashes of Red Hot sauce, in the biggest stockpot I have, so probably about 8 qts at a time. Put it in containers and freeze it and then whenever pasta's on sale I'm good to go!

[VenusA423]

hmm well, our cheapest for a family of 5 is about 25 centsit is breakfast night

Eggs-free
Milk=Free
Cheese-FREE
Pays that your hubby is a milk man LOL
1/4 loaf of bread about .25 cents!!

Kids love it and so do we!!

Or if you're on WIC! That or the mac & cheese with tuna would have to be the cheapest for us.

[NINK]

i make ham and cheesy potatoes for 2.83

conatins jenny-o ham,bag of frozen fires,sour cream,cheese,and cream soup. it is delicious and cheap if you have an aldies or save a lot where you can get the stuff cheap.

angel hair pasta with sauce is cheap, probably spend about $2.00 making the sauce but it lasts for more than one meal..so probably $1.00 for one meal,plus the pasta, which is less than .50 and it tastes gormet restaurant quality as i went to school to be a chef. i also top with cheese so there is a few moire cents, and hubby gets green olives around his plate..probably about .25-.50 worth. sometimes i'll make garlic bread which cost about 1.00

fetachinni alfreado costs about 2-3 dollars and feeds us twice, sometimes has mushrooms..i never pay more than 1.00 for them...sometimes has chicken or shrip...never more than 2-3 dollars worth...and if it contains meat it lasts one more meals worth so it's still just as cheap.

we have a family of five by the way.

chicken popercosh is like a weeks worth of food for $3-$4

i also reuse food instead of having left overs, like i 'll make a roast one night, than shread that up for shreaded beef sandwhiches and than the next night add the left over of that to make beef and noodles...so the first night may have cost $4.00 or so for the meal,but the next night only .33 for a pack of buns and may be 1.00 or less for a side dish, than the next night just .50 or less for a pack of noodles.

last night supper cost .99..it was left over goulosh, which contained left over shells and cheese,left over hamburger helper lasangna and a fresh can of mini ravioli. every one loved it.

[Shancopp]

Box of macaroni and cheese - store brand - usually on sale for 4 for $1.00,
so 25 cents for that.
Add a can of tuna fish, on sale for 2 for $1.00, so 50 cents.

Total of 75 cents.


Thats what I was gonna post, but then I add either a can of peas (.30) and/or a handful of crushed potato chips on top (.25??).

Soooo Yummy!!!!!

[MsLynn]

bag of pinto beans .59, 5 lbs potatos, .89 cents. jiffy cornbread mix .25 cents

that all equals out to $1.73 that will feed me and my 3 boys, sometimes for 2 nights, but add another .25 cents for the jiffy cornbread mix the 2nd night, but still so $1.98 for 2 nights meals, but i usually have something else the next night then the 3rd night well have the beans, fried potatos and cornbread again

[cleaningla]

I haven't made beans and weiners in a long time, but used to make it for my boys when things were tight. Think it's still pretty cheap, what, a dollar for hotdogs and maybe $.59 for the beans. I put some of the hot dogs on bread and the rest in the beans. It beat starving. :)

[Shann]

Oh my gosh! I don't really make anything that cheap, I'm embarressed to say that! But I also don't have a family, so I can splurge a little... I also am not a store brand person. :( My mac and cheese has to be Kraft or homemade, anything else, I won't eat. Of course, spaghetti and sauce is always cheap. :) Tonight I'm making manicotti and a dessert... don't want to know how much that added up to. :(

[queenangie]

Hot dogs - make a cut down the length wise, but not all the way through.
Heat in microwave.

Prepare instant mashed potatoes (cheap kind) - place down the center of the hot dogs.

Any kind of cheese - place on top of the mashed potatoes.

Place hotdogs with above in microwave long enough to melt the cheese.

Add a can of veggies or fresh from the garden.


Kids would always eat this and think it was a treat when they were little.

[cleaningla]

Oh my gosh! I don't really make anything that cheap, I'm embarressed to say that! But I also don't have a family, so I can splurge a little... I also am not a store brand person. :( My mac and cheese has to be Kraft or homemade, anything else, I won't eat. Of course, spaghetti and sauce is always cheap. :) Tonight I'm making manicotti and a dessert... don't want to know how much that added up to. :(

Not like people eat that cheap every day. I know there were times when we would eat dirt cheap the day before payday, but I would make up for it by calling for pizza or taking the boys out to eat on payday.

[MsLynn]

Not like people eat that cheap every day. I know there were times when we would eat dirt cheap the day before payday, but I would make up for it by calling for pizza or taking the boys out to eat on payday.

yeah i try to do that once a month too (i only get paid once a month). makes the happy and since we live so far out, my 2 oldest are really getting into fixing their own meals so i try to keep something they can microwave or throw in the oven for a bit

[buttrfli]

Yes, I know this is OLD (LOL) but I thought I'd bump it up since we are all scraping by and there were some great ideas :D

Please feel free to add on to the thread :)

[atprm]

Cheapest thing:

Pierogies

Potatoes, cottage cheese, flour, water and egg.




2nd cheapest thing:

Nalesniki (rolled pancakes with jelly and powder sugar)

milk, egg, flour, jelly, powder sugar




3rd cheapest thing:

Galumpki (Polish cabbage rolls)

cabbage, pound gr. beef, rice, tomato juice, red gold tomatoes
(not always cheap price wise, but 1 head of cabbage feeds 12-15 once or a family of 4, four or five times)

[JerseyMook]

Probably nachos with a can of chili on them and some shredded cheese.

Spaghetti & sauce with brown & serve sausage cut up in t

Tuna nooodle casserole - tuna, cream of mushroom soup, milk, mixed frozen veggies and rotini or shells.

[diana_circe]

Wow, I thought I was going good feeding a family of 6 for about $5.50!

[buttrfli]

Wow, I thought I was going good feeding a family of 6 for about $5.50!

So what do you feed them for that price? Thats pretty cheap!

[3lilpigs]

Yes, I know this is OLD (LOL) but I thought I'd bump it up since we are all scraping by and there were some great ideas :D


Yeah, but too bad all the previous $ amounts quoted have QUADRUPLED since then! lol

My fave quick, cheap, and easy meal is....

1 can corn 65 cents
1 can gravy 99 cents
bag of noodles 1.00
heat/ mix

salad and garlic bread $2

[atprm]

Cheapest thing:

Pierogies

Potatoes, cottage cheese, flour, water and egg.

total cost per serving: approximately 40 cents per person.




2nd cheapest thing:

Nalesniki (rolled pancakes with jelly and powder sugar)

milk, egg, flour, jelly, powder sugar

total cost per serving: approximately 45 cents per person




3rd cheapest thing:

Galumpki (Polish cabbage rolls)

cabbage, pound gr. beef, rice, tomato juice, red gold tomatoes
(not always cheap price wise, but 1 head of cabbage feeds 12-15 once or a family of 4, four or five times)

total cost per serving: approximately 60 cents per person



I edited with total cost per person, per serving -- very cheap, very hearty and very filling.

[JewRican]

My husband and I love to eat homemade red chile with fried potatoes.

10lb bag of potatoes .99 (We don't eat the whole bag for this meal. We only use about 6-8 potatoes.)
Powdered New Mexico Red Chile $2.50.

Now I want some! :D

My SIL made these with carrots. Very good! So good H was lunging for my plate!

[DrGrin]

Yes, I know this is OLD (LOL) but I thought I'd bump it up since we are all scraping by and there were some great ideas :D

Please feel free to add on to the thread :)

It's kind of heartbreaking to look back at the old posts that listed the price of potatoes at 89 cents for 5 lbs isn't it? 5 lbs of potatoes now costs around $3.00 where I live. A bag of dry pinto or white beans is about $1.50-$2.00. Tuna is 75 cents per can or $1.50 for a pouch. I usually get the pouch because it's a better deal since it's all tuna and no water. Mac & cheese is 75cents a box (used to get it 3 boxes for a dollar).

Even the cheap meals aren't that cheap anymore. :(

[buttrfli]

It's kind of heartbreaking to look back at the old posts that listed the price of potatoes at 89 cents for 5 lbs isn't it? 5 lbs of potatoes now costs around $3.00 where I live. A bag of dry pinto or white beans is about $1.50-$2.00. Tuna is 75 cents per can or $1.50 for a pouch. I usually get the pouch because it's a better deal since it's all tuna and no water. Mac & cheese is 75cents a box (used to get it 3 boxes for a dollar).

Even the cheap meals aren't that cheap anymore. :(

Girl I remember when generic mac n cheese was 8 for $1!

[msmom79]

i live by myself and my son is here for the weekends-i can feed both of us for about $5 - we can have alot of different hamburger helpers-i do geeric and add my own seasonings-during the week-i eat lunch at work and when i get home i eat pot-pies-banquet meals-i can have deviled ham with chips or crackers- a can of chili-soups-for one person you can eat cheap-even if you do fast food-i can get a cheeseburger,fries from mcds and it cost me something like $3.

[Mom2-3boys]

My kids fav. cheap thing to eat when my dh isn't home for supper is Octopus and seaweed( hot dogs and ramen noodles). Pkg. of hot dogs $.89 ramen $ .17. $1.40 total. I don't let them do it often cause it's loaded in sodium...but they love it and would eat it ever meal if they could!