My grandmother, who I will miss dearly, passed away last week at the ripe old age of 87. She raised 5 kids on a working-class salary and knew every trick in the book to stretch out her money so that it would last until the next paycheck. One of her best tricks, according to my Mom, Alice, was how she would make a cooked meal inexpensively or make a cooked dish spread out over many meals. I hope you can incorporate some of these ideas and save money!
Tuna Noodle Casserole – Canned tuna was the cheapest meat-like protein that our Grandma could afford so she made Tuna Noodle Casserole a lot. I think it is probably still the cheapest protein to purchase. She also used broken or stale saltines on the top so that nothing went to waste when she made this dish. There are tons of great recipes for this dish on the internet.
Goulash – My grandma would make a big pot of chili and serve it for at least two weeknights. The first night she’s serve it with crackers and the second night, she’d boil some macaroni noodles and use it as a pasta topping, mixing it up and calling it Goulash. My Mom said no one minded the meal repeat at all.
Tuna Noodle Casserole – Canned tuna was the cheapest meat-like protein that our Grandma could afford so she made Tuna Noodle Casserole a lot. I think it is probably still the cheapest protein to purchase. She also used broken or stale saltines on the top so that nothing went to waste when she made this dish.
Potatoes and Eggs – Fried potatoes were a staple in my Grandma’s house. She’d fry them up with diced onions in Crisco (today, I’d use olive oil) and then when they were cooked, she’d add in a few eggs and cook them to add some protein to the dish. My Mom says that everyone loved this dish served with ketchup or hot sauce.
I hope this helps you “stretch” your grocery money.
Darcy Ratner and Julie Arnheim
Founders, Rubbingnickels.com
a friend
On occasion, especially when money is tight around payday, we’ll make breakfast for dinner. It breaks up the routine of normal “dinner” fare; making pancakes and eggs or french toast. Once in a while my mother used to let us kids have breakfast for dinner; we always loved it
Ed’s Pizza Eggs- my husband came up with a really great use for leftover pizza – he cuts it up in small 1/2″ pieces, add to skillet with small amount of butter, stir on low til cheese starts melting and then add beaten eggs and scramble. Now we always make sure we order enough pizza for leftovers
My mother had a friend that had a thrifty husband that taught her how to stretch a dollar. They’d roast a large chicken the first night, Leftovers were used in a chicken pot pie, and the 3rd night they made soup from the bones.
I have a family of four. 2 of them eat like it goes out of style, do you have any recommendations for that? Their ideas of snacks are considered 6 meals a day! It’s ruining my budget, when I buy either bi-weekly or for a month at a time!
I have a big family of 6 at home with two older kids 18 and 24 yo and younger kids 11 and 6 yo. So I have to definitely stretch my meals. I would cook a roast chicken one day with a theme. Like it may be Chinese flavored chicken(soy sauce and garlic powder) so one day roast chicken with chicken saved for next day sandwiches(or just a drumstick to take for lunch) with rice and veg.,but the next day it would be shredded for Thai peanut noodles or Chinese chicken salad and the next day after minced for lettuce wraps or corn egg drop soup.
If it is a Mexican roasted chicken (or stewed in taco seasoning),one day would be green chicken enchiladas,next day would be burritos and the third day since you need the least of the chicken would be quesadillas or tortilla soup. You would extend the meat by adding other ingredients like the burritos you would add beans,rice and cheese,tomatoes,avocado and onion/cilantro. I would take the sauce that the chicken was stwed in as the base for the soup and add lots of vegetables and also beans(garbanzo or pinto) and water. You can extend and sneak in zucchini and corn and beans for the enchiladas.
Since I did not have room on the other post I will continue here on the second post. For ground spaghetti meat sauce base-first day I may make spaghetti or use medium shells with meat sauce. The leftovers whatever it may be will be the base for my next day’s soup pasta fajioli-yum! Just add water and cabbage,carrots,beans,zucchini,grated cheese at the end (you can add whatever veg you want). Or add the meat sauce to lasagna as you don’t need as much but a smaller amount and you can add more sauce to this to extend it-add diced zucchini or spinach too if you want.
Another trick I use is to slice vegetables like carrots,celery,etc at a diagonal almost paper thin. It looks like you have LOTS of vegetables and vegetables make a bigger portion of a stirfry for instance. I do this with frozen meat like chicken for example or beef. Slice it at a diagonal paper thin and it give you lots of flavor and healthier for you when you use meat as a condiment.
Snacks: this is the best time to leave out the fruit and raw vegetables to dip in so they will get their fill of fresh produce and with the fiber it also fills them up more than the non-nutritious packaged stuff. Soups are also good,but I know,I know…with the kids they also want the junk. Banana breads and other breads are good as well to use up your older bananas-also leftover from breakfast.
Other than that I do succumb for their wants of “junk” food too and my kids are always eating, it seems!!! Dh too-like 6 meals a day(bodybuilder-but healthy at least).