Meal Planning when unemployed

[Tyness]

I have always been one to make a meal plan ahead of time. It saves time and money. I actually enjoy it and I enjoy grocery shopping and cooking.

My husband just lost his job (grrr economy!) and now we are living off on unemployment which isnt much. I need to plan my meals now more than ever. However, I just cant seem to plan cheaper meals. I always end up spending more than I though I would or I buy some things and something comes up so the fresh veggies go bad.

I need help with a very frugal, dirt poor, meal plan!

Oh yea, and I dont eat tofu!

[Hekaterine]

We're on a budget and have the same problem with fresh veggies going off too! I'm in the UK so things may be different here but even so...

I do a lot of my shopping at "cheap" shops which makes an amazing amount of difference. I only go to the branded supermarket for things I can't get at a cheaper place.

We've also stocked up on canned veg so that we can make quick and easy meals with that instead. I don't have a freezer but, if you do, you could buy veg, beans etc in larger quantities (often cheaper) and make up foods and freeze them in advance.

Good luck x

[MZCsmpsns]

Spaghetti is a great cheap meal IMO. Sometimes I'll get cheap sauce (for like $1!) and season it up. I'll bake it or make it w/different types of noodles just for a bit of a change. I also use the leftover sauce for pizza, you can even make the pizza on regular slices of bread. I've found a few canned vegetable soups that are vegan and inexpensive. We have the same problem w/fresh produce. We usually only buy it when it's gonna be used right away. Rice and beans are usually cheap, and you can do a variety of things w/them. Wish I had better advice, just a few thoughts though.

[cstadt]

If you're talented unlike me, you can buy dry beans, split peas, lentils (those are easy to cook)... etc. and make those instead of canned ones. It's cheaper that way.

with bbq sauce over a baked potato
cooked in a soup or stew and eaten with some bread
eaten plain with a fresh salad or cooked collards/kale.. etc.
added to tomato sauce and eaten over pasta
eaten plain with rice and spices

potatoes, apples, and 'peel' fruits last the longest. Bananas can be frozen if they get too brown. Peel them before you freeze them!
and save all your trimmings from cleaning and prepping the veggies to make vegetable stock

buy cheap-o bags of frozen veggie staples. These are different for everybody but for me it's corn, peas, broccoli, and spinach. sometimes black-eyed peas.

grab a handful or two for each person and sautee it up in a pan

-some kind of sauce + rice (teriyaki, curry... whatever you like)
-tomato sauce + noodles
-placed on a pizza or in a pita sandwich

make your own bread if you can! Corn bread is easy, no yeast!

Don't buy too much fresh produce at once if you can't have it eaten before it goes bad. I think that's a problem for most everyone!

[JessEpiphany]

I do beans and rice a lot. Bean burritos; spaghetti; baked potato with black beans and salsa. Yums.
Breakfast for dinner can be cheap and easy as well. Sometimes I like to have oatmeal and fruit for dinner.

I hate produce going bad so I find myself getting just a few things that I know I'll use within the next few days. That means I have to go back to the store when I need something else but I live 2 blocks from the grocery so going there a handful of times in a 2 weeks span isn't bad for me at all. But if you live further from the grocery I imagine it's a waste of time and gas.

[rosiem]

Dried beans and grains are dirt, dirt cheap. Same with most root crops.

Some dried lentils, some pearl barley, a few random old bits of carrot, onion, and potato, (cheapest veggies out there) and some veggie stock made from old vegetables trimmings...

Dump in a pot, simmer for a couple of hours, and you've got yourself a cheap meal!

Plus, don't forget that frozen fruits and veggies are often cheaper than fresh.

[MeatlessGourmet]

Pastas, rices, oatmeal, and cornmeal are your cheapest grains. Stay away from boxed varieties as they cost significantly more. Instead buy some dried spices to flavor them instead.

If you eat cheese, try to limit it as it's another costly product.

Dried beans and lentils are much cheaper than their canned counterparts and beans are easy to make.....just soak overnight in about 3 times as much water as beans. Rinse and drain well. Lentils don't require presoaking.

Frozen veggies are cheaper than fresh. Stick to store or generic brands....it's the same food for alot cheaper.

Drink more water. Juices, milk, milk-alternatives, and prepared drinks are costly....and water really is healthier for you.

Olive oil is healthy for you to cook with, but is more expensive than canola oil.

Baking bread is actually very easy....even with yeast. If you'd like to get into this, I'd be happy to offer some tips. Make sure you buy some "instant yeast" instead of the dry active. It makes the whole process much faster and easier, plus you can buy it in bulk so it's cheaper in the long run.

Watch for you local store ads and make sure you get one of their discount cards if they offer one.

Cleaners can be watered down (they're usually too concentrated anyway and they will clean just as well). You can use less laundry soap then what is usually suggested. Manufacturer's want you to use more so they sell more. There's even some recipes online to make your own cleaners and detergent.

Open windows and use fans to help keep your home cool. Be vigilant about shutting off un-necessary lights to save on electricity. A washing machine uses less water than you would hand washing. A shower uses less than a bath. All of these things can help save money so you have more to use in other areas. Good luck!

[Loulelou]

If you do end up buying a lot of fresh produce, if it's on offer, for example, cook in bulk. I just made a lasagne with lentils, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion and carrot, ate it for dinner, and made four more pasta dishes to put in the freezer. If you buy those foil take-away dishes this makes it even easier! And I still had lots of sauce left over to freeze and turn into more lasagnes at a later date. Whole thing probably cost me £3-£4.

[greensgood]

I always end up spending more than I though I would or I buy some things and something comes up so the fresh veggies go bad.

I need help with a very frugal, dirt poor, meal plan!

Oh yea, and I dont eat tofu!

green bags! green bags work super great, they are amazing and keep food fresh and mold free for much much much longer. i love them, they have saved me so much money and waste. https://www.greenbags.com/
i have used the generic ones too (found at Big Lots for under $5), and they work exactly the same. these bags are reusable and now they have some with little zip lock closures. you can keep fruit and veg fresh, bread lasts days longer, cut avocado even keeps for a few days. these are worth it, try them please you will save money!

i have found that living with no income (going on 4 months now) actually makes me cook healthier, so i embrace it. something that has helped us a lot is using ingredients for more than one meal, kinda like the marinara sauce suggestion of using it one night for pasta and another for pizza etc.
also if we have something as a main dish one night and there are leftovers i use them for a side the next day.
making bread is pretty easy, takes a little practice but is so worth it.

[Alicia Avocado]

I need help with a very frugal, dirt poor, meal plan!


My tips:


Buy grains in bulk, it's cheaper than buying them in packages, and they serve as a base for meals.
Canned fruit, although not as nice as the fresh, can be good to have on hand as, like you said, sometimes buying fresh you can't make it through it all.


I recommend looking up the following on you tube 'Green Granny' (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6359F636936E3F27&search_query=green+granny)and 'Depression Cooking with Clara' (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=depression+cooking+with+clara&aq=1&oq=depression+cooki) they are two elderly women who made you tube videos on tips on how to stretch a dollar based upon ideas that helped them through the depression etc. believe it or not, they do have good ideas and have become a hit.

Hope this helps! best of luck! xoxo

[Skylark]

Buy when it's on sale. Buy enough to get you through to the next sale on the same or similar items. Store stuff under beds and in other unused spaces when you don't have enough space in the kitchen. Keeping an ongoing list of what you have will help you not forget you have this or that.

Some fruits and veggies just aren't passable when canned or frozen. I definitely understand buying those fresh. If you notice it starting to go bad, clean it up and freeze the rest. Use it in soup or a casserole later.

Save all your breadcrumbs and unwanted parts of bread (like the heel) in the freezer to use when a recipe calls for breadcrumbs or when you want a Parmesan cheese substitute. Toast the breadcrumbs in a skillet with a little olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle on your spaghetti or whatever else you would top with Parmesan.


A washing machine uses less water than you would hand washing.

If someone's washing machine just went kaput and they're deciding between buying a new washer or buying the equipment needed to handwash, I know which is going to save a lot more money. There are many ways to reduce the amount of water used in handwashing, and the "gray water" can be used to flush toilets and water plants and such.

[hollywoodveg]

There might already be a few threads about this iirc.

[giselle]

Dirt cheap means cheap grains, cheap beans, cheap fats, few fruits and vegetables. The healthiest way to do this is to sneak in the cheap veggies, lots of them:

bulk oatmeal in the morning with "off" fruits--reduced priced due to bruising, etc. from your independent or Asian grocer

beans cooked from dried and rice (white is cheaper than brown and if you get plenty of fiber it doesn't matter if your rice is white or brown), tortilla, pasta, or homemade bread using bulk yeast and refined flour in those 5 lb/dollar paper containers on the shelf, you can add oats and other things to it to make it healthier.

use a lot of the cheapest things: bananas, apples, cabbage, carrots, onions

lots of sweet potatoes and "off" produce --reduced priced due to bruising, etc. from your independent or Asian grocer, my local inependent sells 10 lb bunches of collards for $2.50

homemade rice/oat milk

take a multi for your B12/D2.

[Tyness]

Thank you all for the great advice. I hate this being out of a job thing. Whats the worst is it took us totally by surprise, when we had just depleted the savings for something else. now we have a house payment, car payment and all other bills and get 1000 dollars a month. My mom is helping us, but she can only do so much. I am lucky if i get to spend $25 a week on food.

[rosiem]

Here's the blog of a couple that lived off $1 a day for food.

http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/

[oldiebutvegan]

There's a website www.cookforgood.com that may be very helpful to you.

Also, the USDA has this site:
http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/index.php?mode=ing_search&ing_term=show_all

The USDA includes meat dishes of course, but also has others, plus it details the nutritional content of each recipe, the number of servings, plus cost per recipe and cost per serving. Their baked tofu, for instance, is 57 cents per serving. The USDA site is useful for some things, and is worth surfing when/if anyone has time.

School lunch/cafeterias for instance! Oh, don't get me started!!!

[Tori~CL]

My tips:


Buy grains in bulk, it's cheaper than buying them in packages, and they serve as a base for meals.
Canned fruit, although not as nice as the fresh, can be good to have on hand as, like you said, sometimes buying fresh you can't make it through it all.


I recommend looking up the following on you tube 'Green Granny' (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6359F636936E3F27&search_query=green+granny)and 'Depression Cooking with Clara' (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=depression+cooking+with+clara&aq=1&oq=depression+cooki) they are two elderly women who made you tube videos on tips on how to stretch a dollar based upon ideas that helped them through the depression etc. believe it or not, they do have good ideas and have become a hit.

Hope this helps! best of luck! xoxo

I seriously just learned the "depression cooking" the other day and I have to say I love Clara!

[BarefootMama]

There's a website www.cookforgood.com that may be very helpful to you.

Also, the USDA has this site:
http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/index.php?mode=ing_search&ing_term=show_all

I was actually just about to post a similar topic when I found this one! DH and I arent in the same situation but we're living pay to pay so really, we're not that different from the OP. Frustrating times eh? :down:

Anywho, the CookforGood.com website looks fab! I'm always on the lookout for great meal ideas that are cheap yet delicious and this one seems to have lots of neat ideas! The USDA one is one that I use lots for ideas as well.

Thanks for posting these and the ideas that other posters gave!

[honolulu veggie]

Lots of good ideas already, so forgive me if I repeat any of them.

Buy in bulk or raw rather than individually packaged or canned, especially beans. Then cook and freeze portions or use them in several different recipes that freeze well. If you get sick of eating the same thing more than once, freeze some and keep a list on the freezer door, so you can use those instead of store-bought prepared food.

Can you go in with a neighbor/relative to buy things in bulk, to take advantage of cheaper prices on larger items, like pre-washed salad mix?

Make as much of your own food as you can: breads, desserts, mayonnaise, drinks, dressings.

Drink herbal tea from herbs you grow.

Grow your own herbs and use them to flavor foods.

Study prices and find the cheapest places to buy certain items. Saving 60 cents per pound on bulk items in the health food store can really add up. (of course, don't go out of your way to get to them.)

For example, we shop for produce in Chinatown a lot these days. We have to pay $1-2 for parking, but the price per pound of everything is considerably cheaper, and there are a lot of $1 bargain bags of older produce, which we can't get in regular stores any more.

With time, you'll know how much food you eat in the course of a week, so do not buy or cook more than that, or it will go to waste.

Similarly, you'll find out which fruits and vegetables last longest and are cheapest, so use those.

Buy in season, when the produce tastes best and is the cheapest. We freeze a lot of fruit to make our own smoothies year-round (it's hot here in Hawaii.)

Buy staples on sale before you run out, and make lists of things you will need soon, so you can look out for when they go on sale.

Store things properly so they don't spoil or get bugs and need to be thrown away.

Plan your cooking around what is for sale that week.

Every now and then, force yourself to not buy anything new and just be creative with what you already have in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

Look outside for neighbors with fruits they aren't eating, vegetable gardens that have more than is used, or weeds and herbs growing wild that you can harvest. Make a deal to help with weeding/yardwork, etc., if necessary, in exchange for some of their produce. Most times, if you just ask, people are more than happy to share, rather than see it go to waste.

One thing about having to be so aware, like you are being forced to be, is that you appreciate things so much more. Then go to freerice.com, and play to give free rice to people in need.