Cheap meals/money saving advice

[kleigh926]

So, last night DH and I traded in the car that we just bought last year. It was having engine problems for the second year in a row and we decided it wasn't worth fixing. This has thrown us for a loop though, because now we have two car payments and it was somewhat unexpected, not to mention increased car insurance since our new car is in better shape. We are going to have to be super careful about our spending now. I am creating a spending log where we'll write down everything we buy that isn't budgeted for. 

One thing I need to do is cut down our grocery bill. The only idea I have for this is buying less meat, since a lot of meat is so expensive. I already buy at least half my groceries at Aldi (if you're not familiar with it, it's a store that sells mostly their own generic brands, making everything cheaper), and buy the rest generic or store brands as well. I rarely buy name-brand items. Does anyone have good, cheap recipes? Not necessarily meat-free, but not requiring $15 cuts of meat either, obviously.... 

I'm kind of at a loss here... I keep trying to think of other ways to save money but I can't come up with much except canceling our cable, which could be an option but we LOVE the On-Demand feature. We really do not spend much unnecessarily in the first place, so there's not much that I'm coming up with to cut out. This sucks. 

[draeray]

We have the same problem. If you have a King Soopers or a Kroger, I always try and stock up on their buy one get one free items. They seem to have them regularly (I recently got boneless pork chops and a pork roast on a BOGO).

[wolfpack]

Make your freezer your friend. I but mean when it's on sale and freeze it.

[kleigh926]

Yeah, I definitely need to start looking at sales.

[cinnasugar]

Only thing I can say is that if you don't already, make sure that you meal plan. This has made us so much more economical and going to the store with a list helps keep me from buying unnecessary things. Also, things like raisins, yogurt, etc are so much cheaper if you buy the big containers and divvy them up yourself vs. buying the small one serving packets.

[fignewt]

I use a lot of recipes that call for ground beef, but cut the amount of beef in half (just for health reasons.)
I also buy elbow macaroni in bulk (or at least the biggest box I can find), and that is what I use for all of the recipes that call for pasta (ie. we don't do "spaghetti" but we do elbow macaroni with spaghetti sauce.)
I also buy rice in bulk.
Make sure you are not buying organic if you don't have to. I only buy organic for the Dirty Dozen, or if its for the kids. For DH and I, we can eat the pesticides
As far as recipes go (since that's what your actual question was), I am the least gourmet cook out there. Most of my recipes are from Campbell's soup cookbooks/website. So I always have a stockpile of campbells soup in my pantry, frozen veggies in the fridge and rice or pasta (see above.) With those ingredients, I can always find something on the Campbell's website that is cheap, quick, easy and tastes yummy.
Good luck!
Edit - and I always have a box of Bisquick on hand (its prob cheaper if you make it yourself), Bisquick recipes (ie Impossible Pie) are also cheap, quick, easy and yummy too!

[sagen]

We don't eat nice meals every night, some nights are pancakes and eggs, sandwiches, easy things like that. Freeze extra meat when it goes on sale. Double a recipe then freeze the extra so you aren't tempted to go out if you don't have anything. If you aren't opposed to Walmart, go through the adds then price match at Walmart. They might have a list for you on price matcherz (google it). GL

[kleigh926]

sagen, anything I don't buy at Aldi I buy at Walmart, so I'm definitely not opposed
cinnasugar, I do meal plan, I agree it is a money-saver.
fignewt, looking at the Campbell's soup recipes is a great idea! I've thought about doing that but always forget.

[laketide]

Since you shop at Wal mart have you downloaded the app and used savings catcher? I've gotten back over $50 in walmart gift cards since October.

[wineandcake]

I only buy meat if it's on a really good sale - and then I stock up. Our deep freeze is full with meat so if I can't find good deals at the store we pull from the freezer or go meatless. I shop later in the day or first thing in the morning and our store puts out the 30% off meat so I buy that and just freeze ASAP. Same with produce, I buy a huge pack if spinach and if we aren't going to finish it I cook it up and throw in the freezer to add to pasta dishes and pizzas, etc.

[seadragon2013]

I'll just echo meal planning and freezing things (especially meat). Any meal that you can eat on pasta or rice is a winner. Soups are great too, especially to use up old veggies. Cooking double or triple batches of meals and freezing half can also save you money in the long run through the economies of scale. Good luck!

[expatmama]

I'm vegetarian, so this may not be the advice you are looking for, but back when DH & I were grad students, we lived incredibly cheaply but with super good food, using some great recipes with beans and lentils. We have managed to get the kids to eat a lot of our favorite dishes, and while I don't always have the energy to soak and prepare all of my beans in advance, things are still pretty cheap.

Three bean chili
Daal with red lentils
Black bean soup
Chick pea & peppers
Bean burritos on homemade flour tortillas

Most of these dishes don't set us back more than about 5 dollars to feed the entire family (and food is EXPENSIVE here). Also, I imagine you can add some meaty broth or a bit of meat and not up the price too much (but honestly, I have been veggie since I was about 15 and have no idea how much that costs).

Most of these dishes are also quick and freeze well. I make a ton of flour tortillas at once and then chuck them in the freezer. If you are soaking beans, you will want to freeze them as it is best to do large batches at once.

[auntiemaimee]

We've been getting the family/value pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Then we cut them in half lenghtwise and season them. Then my husband grills it all up for the week. We use it for salads, snacks, sandwiches and mix it in with pasta or rice. This way we aren't wasting it and we don't have to freeze it.

Also there are meal plans that call for cooking a whole chicken/turkey and using that all week as well. Don't know if that's helpful.

Eta: Tonight we'll make tacos. The leftover chicken taco meat will end up in salad, on pizza and in little burritos. He'll use different flavors on the rest on the chicken and just grill it on the foreman.

[wineandcake]

I have a problem when it comes to buying turkey's. I have at least 3 in the freezer at all times. It can easily feed the three of us for a week.
Night1- turkey dinner
Night2- hot turkey sandwiches
Night3- turkey fajitas
Night4- homemade pizza with turkey
Night5- turkey pot pie
Night6- turkey soup
Night7- finish everything up.

I do freeze some the first night because I don't like to keep food for a full week. It's the easiest meal planning because it's all cooked and ready to go. Bonus is everything to go with it is cheap and uses up foods from the fridge/freezer/pantry.

[puck1182]

DH is vegetarian, so all our meals at home are vegetarian and it's a great money saver. I substitute lentils for ground meat in regular recipes (shepherds pie and such), which saves a decent amount of money. I've got a couple of boards on Pinterest that have a decent amount of vegetarian recipes that are relatively cheap to make, if you want to check them out here.

The crockpot is your friend. I make a big batch of soup (you get veggies, beans, and rice/pasta that way for a well-rounded meal) and we freeze some of it for a quick meal in the future.

Also, if you buy meat, consider buying, say, a whole chicken. You can roast it for dinner, save leftovers for sandwiches, and then use the carcass to make stock. Way cheaper than buying breasts, lunchmeat, AND stock separately!

[aydee]

I try to stock up on items we buy regularly when they're on sale so I don't have to buy them at full price. For things like cereal where I would be willing to eat many different types, I will only buy what's on sale. I also try to buy chicken when it's on sale and then I buy a bunch and put it in the freezer, defrost as needed. Vegetarian meals using beans or pasta are pretty economical too.

As much as I try to save money on groceries, I feel like our grocery bill is always astronomical! I don't know how it happens.

[cinnasugar]

Couple of our easy and cheap recipes -
Quiche - sounds fancy, but really, some eggs/milk/cream/cheese and whatever veggies or meat you have, mix it all up and throw it in a pre-made pie crust. Easy dinner and not too costly.
Beans and rice - Can of red beans, can of diced tomatoes, sliced kielbasa or smoked sausage, and serve it over rice.
Really anything you can serve over rice or noodles stretches the budget

[lbonga1]

I use an app called Favado. It shows what is on sale at various stores, and it will show you if there's coupons available to use on items. It also allows you to search for specific items. I also check krazycouponlady.com, and stock up on stuff that's a really good deal. I don't pay for toothpaste, shampoo, or most toiletries now because of that website.
As for recipes, check out the website budget bytes. The blogger breaks down her recipes with about how much it costs to make. I made this unstuffed bell peppers recipe I found there that was really good, but I used ground turkey because in my area it's actually cheaper than ground beef.

[Meghanfelldown]

We don't eat a lot of meat because it's so expensive, even though DS and DH LOOOOOOOOVE meat. Cheaper cuts like stewing beef are great when you use the slow cooker. We don't buy chicken unless it's on sale, then we buy a big pack and freeze it. We tend to eat pork more often because it's cheaper than chicken, too.

I also agree that meal planning helps a lot I buy our perishables at Safeway (it's the only store within walking distance) and then once a week DH makes a late-night run to Walmart for diapers, and pantry staples.