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Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

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Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry

Topic: If you only had...

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Jess
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Posted: June 05 2008 at 8:18pm \| IP Logged

$50 to spend at the store to feed a family of 7 (one of whom is a 15mo old baby and mostly nurses still) for a week, what would be the absolute necessities you would get?

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Jess
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wife to dh('96)
mama to dd(13), dd(11), ds(9), dd(6), and dd (2), and baby girl born Sept 14!
star cottage

JodieLyn
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Posted: June 05 2008 at 9:06pm \| IP Logged

how empty is the pantry?

oatmeal, beans and rice are cheap and filling and have many many ways of being fixed..

I would also try and get veggies and fruits..

I would also shop the clearanced things first.. any discount stores etc.. like I've been able to get decent bananas at one store here for .19/lb because they were just past ripe.. still good and not soggy.. you'd be able to eat them fresh for a day or two and then mashed up in things..

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Jodie, wife to Dave
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-Sir Walter Scott

Bridget
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Posted: June 05 2008 at 9:11pm \| IP Logged

This hard times menu might give you a starting point to plan from.

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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus

Maddie
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Posted: June 05 2008 at 9:20pm \| IP Logged

This is something I'm familiar with!

I would buy 3 chickens, eat one chicken dinner, and make the rest soup. Soup should last you at least two meals. I'd also cook up veggies and puree them to enrich the broth, then put what ever veggies you can afford or they like in.

Buy oats and make a simple granola for breakfasts.

When things are really tight, we make flour tortillas for lunch and eat veggies/fruit with it. Maybe add hard-boiled eggs for protein.

For lunch yesterday we had my homemade bread, strawberries (they are in season here) and cheese. We drank water with it.

Soups are the best way for my family to stretch the meat. I also make a simple burger soup with left over burger. I wish my children liked beans but they don't, so I have to be creative otherwise. We are a very basic "meat and potato farmer's meal" type of family.

FWIW.

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~Maddie~
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Sparrow
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Posted: June 05 2008 at 10:34pm \| IP Logged

I like to buy a few whole chickens when money is tight. They're only a few dollars a piece and I can get many meals out of them. I put on on with water, salt, and some veggies (carrots, celery, onion) to simmer all day. That gives me some lovely broth. Then I can take all the meat off the chicken and get at least 3 or 4 meals out of it, depending on how "chickeny" i make the meal (chicken and dumplings, stew, pasta, pizza, casserole,etc).

I always make sure I have plenty of spices, flour, and rice on hand. The meals aren't always fancy but with basics you can stretch a lot.

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Katie, blessed wife to Tyson and mom to all girls! Bailey (7) Riley (3) and Rory (3/17)

Jess
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 8:32am \| IP Logged

Pantry is pretty empty

Thanks so much for the link Bridget, I will use some of those ideas.
We are so trying not to have to use a credit card anymore for anything but we also need to eat, so I am trying to get as much as I can for as little as I can so we don't have to use the credit card.

Thank you all for the ideas!

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God bless,
Jess
+JMJ+
wife to dh('96)
mama to dd(13), dd(11), ds(9), dd(6), and dd (2), and baby girl born Sept 14!
star cottage

Stephanie_Q
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 9:57am \| IP Logged

Here is another link to a Low Cost Emergency Menu.

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Stephanie

dh 6.01
dd 6.02, dd 8.03, ds 3.05, ds 12.06 at Catholic school.
dd 12.09 at home.
Baby boy due 10.13

amyable
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 10:34am \| IP Logged

We do the chicken/soup thing too. Adding some vinegar when the broth is cooking is supposed to help leach calcium out of the chicken bones -- that makes me feel better about skipping milk (allergies).

So I would get 1 whole chicken, lentils, rice, flour/yeast (to make bread), oats (breakfast), bulk potatoes, bulk apples, a nut butter, and whatever money left over would go to the cheapest healthy greens I could find, plus fruit, and maybe broccoli if I had money left over (trying to up the nutritional bang for my buck.

If it was easy enough I would go to the farmers market here - food is fresher, (healthier), in season, and prices are good. With more money, and less allergies, I'd buy eggs and cheese on sale.

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Amy
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The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler

Jess
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 11:47am \| IP Logged

Thank you all so much for the ideas! I am seeing this as a challenge! My dh said to just use the credit card, but I really really don't want to because we are trying to pay it off eventually. He says that the kids won't eat the stuff I would fix with an emergency time menu and I said that they will or they will be hungry

No good farmers markets here, sadly. Does anyone use powdered milk to make drinking milk, not just for cooking? Does it taste ok? The link you sent Stephanie uses only powdered milk so I was wondering how it tasted. We have really cut down on milk drinking so I could limit it to 1 gal probably.

I have my list and I will go tonight. I'll undate with what I get and how much I spent!

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God bless,
Jess
+JMJ+
wife to dh('96)
mama to dd(13), dd(11), ds(9), dd(6), and dd (2), and baby girl born Sept 14!
star cottage

jennthmg
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 11:53am \| IP Logged

If you drink the powdered milk really cold, and if you shake up the container (we pour ours into a used milk container) then it tastes ok. It tastes more "real" if you add half milk and half milk reconstituted.

Baked potatoes are pretty cheap and great for a main dish.

Jess
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 11:56am \| IP Logged

Sorry I meant update, not undate in my last post!

Baked potatoes are a good idea, thanks!

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God bless,
Jess
+JMJ+
wife to dh('96)
mama to dd(13), dd(11), ds(9), dd(6), and dd (2), and baby girl born Sept 14!
star cottage

Bridget
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 1:31pm \| IP Logged

Jess wrote:

Does anyone use powdered milk to make drinking milk,

Powdered milk tastes better with a dash of vanilla in it.

I have a hard time keeping up with having a pitcher mixed and cold in the fridge. I just started watering down whole milk by about 1/4. It really doesn't taste much different and stretches it a little farther.

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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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jennthmg
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 1:49pm \| IP Logged

So, I've read both links (THANKS!!) and made a list of dinners I make that don't cost as much. This is my list. I know everyone has different tastes, but mine is mostly "midwest" type of meals. I'd be happy to share any recipes anyone would like :

*mac & cheese (I buy powdered cheese in bulk at a local Amish store)
*shepherd's pie
*sausage & rice bake (30-day gourmet recipe)
*S.O.S. (cream dried beef on toast)
*PBJ
*tuna salad
*egg salad
*baked potatoes (as a main course)
*tuna & noodles
*hamb. helper beef stew (homemade hamb. helper)
*oatmeal
*easy-over eggs
*egg-in-the-bread
*spaghetti
*chili

What are your cheapest meals?

Jess
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 1:57pm \| IP Logged

My cheapest meals are:
*beans and cornbread
*oatmeal
*spaghetti
*PBJ
*chicken soup
*soft tacos
*mac and cheese
*tuna salad
*chicken salad
*egg salad

What do you put in your egg and tuna salads?

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God bless,
Jess
+JMJ+
wife to dh('96)
mama to dd(13), dd(11), ds(9), dd(6), and dd (2), and baby girl born Sept 14!
star cottage

RamFam
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 2:21pm \| IP Logged

jennthmg wrote:

I'd be happy to share any recipes anyone would like :

*S.O.S. (cream dried beef on toast)

My mom used to make this. I'd love your recipe.

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Leah
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jennthmg
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 2:31pm \| IP Logged

S.O.S.                15 minutes

1 pkg     Dried Beef (or ham slices)     5 T     Butter
5 or more     Hard Boiled Eggs     5 T     Flour
2 C     Milk    & nbsp;     Salt & Pepper

Melt butter, add flour to saucepan & whip. Cook on low heat 30-60 seconds. Add 1 1/2 - 2 cups of milk a little at a time whisking so there's no lumps (once they're in, they're pretty hard to get out). NO LUMPS. Stir constantly cooling on medium high until thick (anywhere between 7 and 15 minutes), you don't want it gloppety thick. Cut up dried beef and eggs & mix in. Salt & Pepper to taste. Serve on toast.   ~~ Use more butter & flour to make it rich.
     This is really cheap to make when you haven't gone to the grocery in a while.

******
Egg, tuna or chicken salad :
chopped celery & mir. whip. - for fancy meals add small amount of chopped walnuts or pecans or water chestnuts

Jenn

MrsM
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 2:39pm \| IP Logged

We love this--it doesn't hurt that it just happens to be really cheap:

Tomato Soup

2 28oz cans whole pealed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 quart chicken broth
2 small onion
4 small carrots
2 rib celery
whatever spices you like, plus salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, carrots, and celery till soft, add tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken broth. Simmer for about an hour. Cool and then puree (either in blender, or in pot if you have an immersion blender).

This, with a salad or loaf of bread, makes two meals for my family of seven. The cost is around $6.00 total for the soup.

missionfamily
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 3:50pm \| IP Logged

I have been buying one large turkey (about a $15 investment), cooking it on Saturday evening or Sundady morning and getting 4 meals from it...I slice one side of the breast for Sunday dinner, shred the other side into BBQ sauce and serve it on hamburger buns, use the dark meat in red or white beans, and boil the carcass to make a soup stock...I strain it, put whatever small bits of meat are left back in the pot, then add black beans and veggies to make a southwest style soup.

We have been really impressed by how far we can stretch it when we go into it with that plan and divide it up before serving.

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dh Greg
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folklaur
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 4:53pm \| IP Logged

missionfamily wrote:

I have been buying one large turkey

I love this idea.

Now - I have to ask...

How do you go about cleaning a raw turkey or chicken, without totally being grossed out?

(confession: I love the IQF chicken pieces. I am a germ-a-phobic when it comes to raw meats. plus, the "ick" factor gets to me.)

So - how do you do it? Do you use gloves? Do you need to scrub down your sink afterwards?

(feeling silly, but still....)

Maddie
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Posted: June 06 2008 at 4:54pm \| IP Logged

Mayo and shredded mozzarella cheese are SOOO good in tuna!

Egg salad is just the usual mayo and mustard.

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~Maddie~
Wife to my dh and Momma of 9 dear ones

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