Quick, easy and inexpensive meals for a large family?

I am in a similar situation to you, in that we are on a very limited budget for food buying. I know you didn't ask this, but I tell everyone I can about shopping at the cheaper stores such as Price Rite or Save-a-Lot, depending on where you live in the country, that are cheaper than the "chain" supermarkets. You can look at www.priceritesupermarkets.com or www.save-a-lot.com to see if there are any near you. If there are not any of these near you, do some research, there may be other stores similar to this near you. If you don't have these stores, always buy generic or look for sales or stuff you can buy with coupons. Also, many of the bigger stores often have a rack for discontinued or damaged items at half price, and also "Yesterday Bake/Produce" at half prices, or meat with coupons on it that say something like "Reduced for quick sale" and take a good amount off. Just make sure you use these right away, or freeze it.

At Price Rite, I buy stuff like 1 pound of ground turkey meat, which is just like hamburger meat when cooked, but healthier, for $1.49. Stuff like hamburger helper at stores like this are cheaper (they even have their own brand for like .89). I buy buillion cubes and try to make a lot of soups where I can combine many of the frozen vegetables I buy for dinners in the week and mix it with 1/2 pound of the turkey meat, beef buillion cubes, water, potatoes or rice and veggies (put whatever kind you like in there.) Or, if I've made a whole chicken (which you can get at these stores pretty cheaply), and I have leftover chicken that I cut off after we're done (try to get all the chicken off), then I use that leftover chicken for soup the next night with chicken buillion cubes, water, chicken, rice or noodles and whatever veggies you like. You can use canned instead of the frozen veggies in both of these soups, and I'm sure it would still be good. Of course, you can add regular white bread (.69 at Price Rite), buttered, to the meal to dip in the soup and it helps fill everyone up. As for the frozen veggies I'm referring to, they sell 1 pound bags of frozen veggies for like .89 to $1.19, and I can get several meals out of each bag.

You can buy potatoes, cut them up, put either melted butter, or oil on them and sprinkle them with spices such as garlic salt, onion powder, pepper, (really whatever you like), and bake them in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes, until tender. They can go with just about any "meat" meal to help fill everyone up.

I also make a dinner where I take pizza dough, spread it out on the pan, put on bologna, or salami, or both, (or any other type of pre-packaged lunch meat you have and/or like) with some cheese, roll it up, put butter and garlic salt on the top, and bake it in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top, and not doughy inside anymore. Slice it up, and it feeds several people. The potatoes I described earlier go good with this meal.

Also, when I'm going to have certain types of dinners, like say tacos where I have to buy the soft fahita shells, cheddar cheese and salsa, I'll make similar meals that will make buying those items more cost efficient. For example, nachos (turkey meat, and salsa over nacho chips with cheese/olives/onions, etc. on top.) As for the tacos, you can add canned corn, tomatoes and beans (white, pinto, etc.) to the meat and it will bulk it up.

You can also make shephard's pie with ground turkey meat, cooked, mixed with 1-2 cans of creamed corn. Put that in the bottom of a baking pan and spread mashed potatoes on top. I usually put american cheese on top, but you don't have to. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. Make gravy for people to put on top, if they want it. (By the way, gravy and taco mixes are .29 to .39 at these stores.)

Pasta dishes are also a cheap option, mixing cooked ground turkey meat with tomato sauce (cheaper than pasta sauce in the jar) mixed with whatever spices you like, then mixed with spaghetti, elbows, ziti, or whatever pasta you like/have. And of course, the pasta can be left plain to be served with butter and garlic or garlic salt. Serve some frozen veggies and buttered bread on the side, and there's a meal.

Cheap hot dogs with a can or two of baked beans makes a good meal, added with mac & cheese and/or those potatoes I mentioned earlier.

Price Rite sells the boxes of Banquet Fried Chicken for $4 (with about 6-8 pieces of chicken in each.) Serve it with potatoes, rice or pasta and a veggie, and there's another meal.

I also make what I call "little pizza's". I take the buttermilk bisquits that come in the blue can in the refridgerated section. I cook up 1/2 pound of turkey meat (but you can do it without the meat) and mix it with tomato sauce that I make myself. Put a little bit of the meat/sauce mixture, or the sauce, on each one with a little bit of velveeta, mozzarella, or american cheese on top. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes (keep an eye on it so they don't burn.) Two cans of biscuits, which you can get pretty cheap, make 20 little pizza's, served with potatoes and a veggie. Yum!

One other idea of something to help you get more food is to go to food banks. You can start at your local Salvation Army, and while there ask if there's a list of the food banks in the area. You can go to a different food banks,just don't let them know you've gone to other ones. (Desperate times call for desperate measures.) Usually you'll get free bread/bakery items, and they also give out cheese and/or milk, canned fruits and veggies, cereals, sometimes soups, tuna, and rice and/or pasta and/or instant mashed potatoes. This all can help your food to go a bit further.

These are just some ideas of what I do, I hope this helps. Good luck!!

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Cheap Meals For Large Families

I have a wonderful recipe for baked corn. We don't have a family gathering without it !!!

2 Cans of cream style corn

1 Can whole kernel corn

1 6 1/2 oz.,or 8 oz. Corn muffin mix

4 eggs beaten

1 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted or soft butter or marg.

1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar,or monterey jack cheese

Mix together all ingredients,pour into a 9x13 greased cake pan. Bake for 1 hour, @ 350 degrees, check corn by sticking a knife in center,if comes out clean,it is done,otherwise bake another 10 mins.

Cut into squares and enjoy the best baked corn you will ever eat !!

My mom gave this to friends that have a restaurant,and this is always on the Sunday special,never any left over.

We got this recipe from an aunt in Missouri, and we sure are enjoying it in North Dakota !!!

quick easy inexpensive meals large family

If you want to eat truly healthy, lose body fat consistently, normalize your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, prevent cancer, and even boost your brain health and energy levels, you may have heard all over the news that the Paleo Diet has been found to be one of the best methods of achieving all of these benefits compared to any other popular "fad" diets out there. Go here https://bitly.im/aOh2s

The truth is that the Paleo Diet will never be considered a fad because it's just simply the way that humans evolved to eat over approximately 2 million years. And eating in a similar fashion to our ancestors has been proven time and time again to offer amazing health benefits, including prevention of most diseases of civilization such as cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, and other chronic conditions that are mostly caused by poor diet and lifestyle. One of the biggest misunderstandings about the Paleo Diet is that it's a meat-eating diet, or a super low-carb diet. This is not true

I come from a family of 8, so needless to say, we have big dinners here! :)

Broccoli Alfredo... my favorite meal EVER!!!

2 jars of Cheesy Ragu Alfredo sauce... heat in pan, with 2 bags of frozen broccoli. Add 3 cups of cheddar cheese (shreaded) until cheese is melted & broccoli is thawed.

Stir in pepper & salt to taste.

Serve over linguine or fettichini noodles... while warm.

MMMMmmmmm!!!!!!! :)

Chili in crockpot

Lasagna

Steak & Potatoes

Spaghetti & Meatsauce

Pasta salad & burgers

Hope this helps a little :)

Pasta Con Broccoli

Ingredients-

4 ounces dry fettuccine pasta

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons butter

1 ounce tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup broccoli florets

1/4 cup fresh sliced mushrooms

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation-

Cook fettuccini in a large pot of boiling salted water until "almost" done. Drain, and return noodles to pot.

Stir cream, butter or margarine, tomato sauce, garlic, and broccoli into the noodles. Simmer until noodles are done. Stir in sliced mushrooms, and remove from heat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

pasta and a homemade sauce...for 2 i use tin of chopped tomatoes, clove of garlic, half a chopped onion, half a red or yellow pepper, a dollop of creme fraiche then plenty seasoning....black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, chilli flakes, spicy bbq seasoning, italian spicy herbs and whatever else i fancy. I top with grated cheese and sometime put chicken or hot dogs in it too.

make your own potato wedges by cutting potatoes into wedges then putting in a plastic bag, add some olive oil then any of the above seasonings you fancy. cook on a baking tray for about 20-30mins depending on size. turn once and make sure they dont burn

spaghetti bolognese, chilli, curry. If you make your own sauces then it's so much cheaper and you can have it as spicy as you like....just remember to take the kids out first!

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