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My sis and I were reminiscing about what our Mom used to make us for dinner the night before Dad’s payday, and food was scarce: she would break up a thick piece of homemade bread into a bowl and pour milk over it. Each of us 7 kids got one bowl. That was dinner!
My husband’s family used to have vienna sausages (2 per slice of bread), fold the bread in half and eat. That was dinner.
Nowadays, for our family, when budget gets tight, we have baked potatoes with butter or margarine, and salt/pepper…..it will fill you right up…..the guys can have 2 or 3 potatoes, or whatever it takes to fill them up. And a glass of milk to go with it if we have some.
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / mwookieOne thing my Mom does that has stuck to my family for an occasional emergency/lazy meal is pasta, cheese whiz and tomato sauce….she eyeballs amounts so…
2-3 servings of pasta {elbow noodles, shells, etc}
1-2 small hunts tomato sauce cans
three big spoonfuls of cheese whiz1. Heat up a pot of pasta…typically enough for two maybe three people
2. drain pasta, leave in the pot
3.dump a small can of tomato sauce…we use hunts usually. You can add another small can or do one regular can instead for a large pot
4. add cheese whiz and mix well.around three big spoonfuls…sauce is orange-red
flavor to taste, my mother never flavored but I use garlic and pepper
I was lucky that I never had to worry about that growing up. even if we had problems feeding ourselves, we would have eaten well. I grew up in an amazing neighborhood (as some of you know) and everyone took care of each other.
ever so often someone would make too much soup or stew or spaghetti or something or other
and would have to take it to one of the neighbors so it wouldn’t go bad;-) now when I went out on my own and had to fend for myself, I made kechup soup. could be why tomato soup is not my favorite! LOL! @mos 121665 wrote:
I was lucky that I never had to worry about that growing up. even if we had problems feeding ourselves, we would have eaten well. I grew up in an amazing neighborhood (as some of you know) and everyone took care of each other.
ever so often someone would make too much soup or stew or spaghetti or something or other
and would have to take it to one of the neighbors so it wouldn’t go bad;-) now when I went out on my own and had to fend for myself, I made kechup soup. could be why tomato soup is not my favorite! lol! i wish neighbors did this more these days. we would have less hungry families.
When I was growing up we had lots of beans in the lean times! We regularly bartered with our neighbors for different food items and could make things go farther. We’d trade dry beans and eggs for fresh butter and mutton or beef.
Later my Mom got into baking and making cakes and the bartering got to be much more interesting in our little corner of the world!
We’ve had some very tough times and have scavenged off our local country side. We’ve gleaned miles of fields after they were harvested to feed us and our animals through the winter. this is where I got my education in learning about hard and spring wheat!
Spring wheat makes crappy bread but ok for cracked mush or flour for cakes and pastry. That’s what we had gleaned one year when everyone in our area was out of work and just barely hanging on. For the last several years we’ve had a years supply of food stored so we can easily make it at the end of the month should be run out of fresh foods.
I replace what we use each month so it stays at a years supply most of the time. I’ve taught my children to find wild eatables in the areas they live in and to store food for emergency use after they leave home. right now they store a 3month supply.
We figure if they needed more than that they’d probably need to give up their apartment and move home. Anyway, I’ve known true hunger and I pray my children never do!
We have end of the month dinners as I get my disability check once a month!
Our lean dinners are some of the kids favorite meals that they ask for, go figure!
We have had baked beans on toast, ( made from leftover pinto beans with any sweetner, I have used pancake syrup)
Fried potatoes with canned vegies, or whatever we have in the cupboard.
sometimes with eggs.
French toast ( one egg, powdered milk and stale bread and my kids beg for this!)
Fried bologna and baked potatoes
Potato skins ( one or two pieces of bacon crumbled, whatever little bit of cheese we have, broil in the oven) Can use ham too. Bake or microwave the potatoes, cool, scoop out a little potatoe out of each half then fill. ( I warm up the scooped out potatoe for breakfast the next day)
I make pancakes out of those cheap little Jiffy muffin mixes, they have all different flavors.
Iced tea, fried hotdogs, and fried ramen noodles.
I fry up onion or celery if I have it, or tomatoes, green peppers, whatever fresh vegie you have will work.Cook the ramen like the directions say, drain off the soup, then saute in a skillet with the vegies. The kids love this.
Any leftover meat, fried in a skillet with onion and celery then add hot cooked rice.
You can buy a package of popcorn shrimp at Wal-mart for $1.99 and generic shells and cheese for $1.50 a box. This is a nice cheap meal.
For $7 ( I get 2 of each) I feed a bunch of hungry teenagers.
I buy a couple of chickens at the beginning of the month and boil it and freeze it and the broth.
I make chicken and dumplings, chicken and rice, and chicken and egg noodles.It is so much cheaper if you buy the whole chickens and do this with it.
MonikMonika
- Quote:i’d like to know if i somehow wrote something that is unapproved or if i simply need to be patient.
nope you didn’t write anything that was unapproved-you would have received a personal message if you had. all new posts are moderated for awhile is all. keep posting, before you know it you will not need to be moderated 🙂
i remember when my sister and i were just starting out on our own and didn’t know how to budget. we would find ourselves having mac and cheese tossed with a can of tuna and peas. it was filling and quite tasty believe it or not.
another that we did was we would fix rice and toss with eggs, kielbasa, onion (and whatever struck our fancy that day).
When we were kids my mom used to make corn fritters using a simple batter and drained canned corn with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. We’d eat them with maple syrup if we had it. It was a meal that fed 4 for around $1. total for the entire family. At the time we looked at it like it was a treat, it was unusual to have fried foods while we were growing up.
She would also make tuna noodle casserole with crushed potato chips over the top (in hindsite, I’m sure it was because the chips had been shoved in the back of the cupboard with the bag half open by us kids – and she was forced to find a way to salvage them!)
The one I remember the most though was liver and onions. Liver, being an organ meat, was absolutely dirt cheap (quite frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t have to GIVE it away!). It would make me gag, literally, even smothered in onions.
I was Lucky Growing up we always had lots of food in the house..My Mom was a stockpiler..And My dad loved to Fish..So we ate a lot of Fried Bass we also had chickens and ducks in the yard…. when My mom didn’t wanna cook Dad did…At my house now with My kids..I keep alot of Hamburger helper and tuna helper for emergencies(I don’t really care for them tho}also I keep Alot of Dry Beans and rice..And I try to always have Hamburger or chicken in the freezer..I don’t Stockpile like my mom did..But I am quilty of buying lots of Boxes of whatever is on sell…One time I bought all the mac-cheese on the shelf{every brand} not because it was on sell..I was prego..and having a craving lol
I remember eating a lot of spaghetti with stewed tomatoes and margarine. My Memere (grandma) used to crush potato chips over it. I still like to eat it without the chips.
Now that my dh gets paid monthly I really have to use what I have on hand until we have enough money to do a real good shopping trip. I can run low on meats and some pantry items but I write out a menu a week at a time and that helps with any scrambling I might have to do.
A really cheap meal is to quarter or slice up some hard-cooked eggs. Thin out a can of cream of mushroom soup, or make up a medium white sauce, and add the eggs to the sauce. Heat till bubbly.
Serve over toast or biscuits. We used to eat this for breakfast too and my Dad would add some veggies to the mix. Usually cooked frozen mixed veggies.
I still love to eat this although my kids don’t.
I always try to write up menus. I may not always eat the planned food for that day but I do manage to serve the meals scheduled for that week. I try to cook up something like a roast on Sunday and than have planned overs for a couple days.
I find when I stick to a menu I tend to waste less food.
Another cheapie…gravy and biscuits or sh…Uh…stuff 🙂 on a shingle. (SOS~Gravy over toast)
It’s not just for breakfast…it’s a great comfort dinner.Homemade cheese burger helper
1 box mac and cheese (generic is fine)
1 onion-diced
1/2 lb ground meat
1-2 slices sliced cheese *optionalBrown meat and onion. Drain fat.
Meanwhile, cook mac and cheese. Drain when done.
Add it all together; let simmer for a couple minutes then serve.
Can add a can of tomatoes if desired.Voila-A frugal dinner is done.
The day before payday dinners are always some type of bean with rice, cornbread, or biscuit. For some reason, this got started years ago in our family and now, it is just common knowledge that we will have beans every Thursday night. Over the years, I am sure I have missed a Thursday or two, but not very often.
I’ve had 2 very lean times in my life. The first was when I was around 21. I bought packages of chipped beef in gravy for about 89 cents.
I cooked a potato and poured this over the potato. And, now I’m in my second very lean time at 57. Since moving to the south, I’ve learned the benefits of buying a large package of dried beans and cooking them in the crockpot.
Make up a batch of cornbread, then freeze the extra beans and cornbread for the next day(s). There is always our Wednesday night potlucks at church, too!
@MrsPaws 245137 wrote:
Another cheapie…gravy and biscuits or sh…Uh…stuff 🙂 on a shingle. (sos~gravy over toast)
it’s not just for breakfast…it’s a great comfort dinner.this is one of my favorite meals, give me a starch w/gravy (no meat or veggies needed, but mushrooms are a plus) and i am a happy camper! some mfg use to make little “boil in bags”, they used to be about $.50, they no longer sell them here in mn, i would stock my freezer with them and that is what i lived on in my twenties (no complaints here, loved the stuff).
I have no idea how this got started but the night before payday is bean night in our household. Every Thursday morning, you will find me in the kitchen with my trusty crock pot, a bag of dry beans, and whatever else I can find to go in them to make a meal. We usually eat them with rice or cornbread, which ever I happen to have on hand.
I always have beans in the house, they are cheap and good for you, and very filling. It has become a standard joke in our church that if you get invited to our house on Thursday night, you know what dinner will be!
We’ve lived off our garden and food storage for the last 4 month’s due to too many things happening at the same time on our fixed income. My husband has let me know that we are living much better off our food storage then we ever did when we bought fresh groceries each month. I have several food storage cookbooks but one has shone much better that the others.
Jan Jackson’s 100 Day Pantry. Her recipes has everything you need listed in them. No surprises and everything we’ve tried has been awesome!
Last night I tried her African Chicken that sounded really weird as it had 1/2 cup of peanut butter in it also but everyone loved it! So now I have 100 recipes I know I can use without even thinking! It sure is better than just living on beans and cornbread!
@brchbell 246176 wrote:
We’ve lived off our garden and food storage for the last 4 month’s due to too many things happening at the same time on our fixed income. My husband has let me know that we are living much better off our food storage then we ever did when we bought fresh groceries each month. I have several food storage cookbooks but one has shone much better that the others.
Jan Jackson’s 100 Day Pantry. Her recipes has everything you need listed in them. No surprises and everything we’ve tried has been awesome!
Last night I tried her African Chicken that sounded really weird as it had 1/2 cup of peanut butter in it also but everyone loved it! So now I have 100 recipes I know I can use without even thinking! It sure is better than just living on beans and cornbread!
I looked up the book on Amazon.
It sounds like a real keeper. I’ll definitely buy it when I get some extra cash.
The 100 Day Pantry is a very good book. We’ve started a small food storage program and I’ve found we do save some money when doing this. I like mushrooms, but we never finished the whole package, so having a can of dried mushrooms in food storage means no waste.
Other books I like include It’s In the Bag and Simple Recipes Using Food Storage. I’ve cooked from both books and have found the recipes helpful.
I really, really like making up a bag of goodies for a recipe with recipe included. I print out the recipe and place it in a labeled envelope. I put the envelope in the bag with all the goodies.
The nice thing is you don’t have to spend time searching for the ingredients or the recipe.
Over the weekend this method really paid off. I’ve been having allergy problems and I tried a new medication. Unfortunately the new medication made me very sleepy and I couldn’t concentrate well.
Having a dinner in the bag meant I didn’t have to think too hard when it came to cooking.
@brchbell 246176 wrote:
We’ve lived off our garden and food storage for the last 4 month’s due to too many things happening at the same time on our fixed income. My husband has let me know that we are living much better off our food storage then we ever did when we bought fresh groceries each month. I have several food storage cookbooks but one has shone much better that the others.
Jan Jackson’s 100 Day Pantry. Her recipes has everything you need listed in them. No surprises and everything we’ve tried has been awesome!
Last night I tried her African Chicken that sounded really weird as it had 1/2 cup of peanut butter in it also but everyone loved it! So now I have 100 recipes I know I can use without even thinking! It sure is better than just living on beans and cornbread!
@Frugal Mom 245003 wrote:
A really cheap meal is to quarter or slice up some hard-cooked eggs. Thin out a can of cream of mushroom soup, or make up a medium white sauce, and add the eggs to the sauce.
That sounds like really great comfort food, served over some hot biscuits I could really see me making this for dinner tonight!!
Another thing I’ve noticed throughout this thread is that alot of moms used to crush potato chips and put them on top of casseroles. You don’t really see much of this anymore these days.
Does anyone remember/have the recipe for the “Campbells Soups” that used the “Shoestring Potatoes”, I think it used Cream of Potatoe soup & Cream of Chicken. Reading about the crushed chips made me think of how much I loved the Shoestring recipe. yummy, great stuff in the fall/winter.
in mn we love our casseroles.
@Frugal Mom 247064 wrote:
BaconEater I’ve never been a great fan of crumb topped casseroles but I will admit those potato chips taste real good. Last night I dumped the potato chip crumbs into a container for later use as a casserole topping. Tastes mighty fine with tuna casserole.
I like to save the last few palm fulls of crushed Cheeze it crackers, or equivalent, and use that instead.
I have used saltine cracker crumbs and melted butter and topped with shredded cheese…pretty tasty.
Loving this thread!
Have to agree on the beans and rice.
Refried beans and shredded cheese burritos.
Breakfast for dinner-eggs, pancakes, grits.
Shredded bbq chicken sandwiches. a chicken breast or two, leftover bbq sauce, buns…boom!
pasta is pretty cheap. box of pasta for a buck, a jar of chunky sauce for 2
And potatoes cooked a million different ways hahaGrowing up my dad was self employed so many times there was no set pay day. Sometimes he had no work and we went long times with no pay. My grandfather used to go to food auctions (farmers auction as well as dented cans etc) and bring home who knows what.
One time is was a case of eggs, so with an uncle that had a bakery we had lots of day old bread… so french toast it was.
When my kids were growing up I shopped with a list and for the week. I bought to have food for one day beyond payday and basically stick to that now that it is just hubby and I. This way should I not be able to shop for a day or so after he gets paid there is food.
My kids like a dish that we call “Chicks and Worms”. All it is is Ramen noodles and eggs. Cook the ramen noodles on a stovetop, I use one or two packs.
When they start boiling, crack an egg into the noodles. The egg (or eggs, depending on preference) will thicken the noodles. When I make this,there are no leftovers.
It is filling and yummy.
@naturalmommy 121671 wrote:
I wish neighbors did this more these days. We would have less hungry families.
Since no one in our house of 6 eats left overs we often send it home with my brother in law who lives off disability and doesn’t have much money to buy food. Sometimes I empty what is left on our plates into a bowl and send it to my moms and she will feed it to her dogs so as long as it doesn’t get thrown away in happy.
I don’t like to waste anything! Always reminding my children to eat their food cause so many kids out there would love to have it. We don’t struggle much with food and our kids have plenty but I didn’t grow up that way.
We actually have a food bill to make sure we are able to stock up incase we fall on hard times. A friend was broke and also has 4 kids to feed, I gave her a ham that was just sitting in our freezer.
Well my supper last night I think falls into this category!
1/2 bag of no yolk egg noodles
1 jar of classico 4 cheese alfredo sauce
1/2 peeled and cubed zucchini (like everyone else, this is one ingredient we won’t be short on for awhile!)
1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
Parmesan for sprinkling after cookingI simply boiled the zucchini with the noodles, then added the milk and alfredo to the drained noodles and stirred until the milk blended into the alfredo sauce.
My 2 year old at 2.5 bowls of it and my almost 4 year old even ate hers!
If you use 1/2 – 1 lb of ground beef, venison, turkey or chicken (costs around $3.49 a pound) and a couple boxes of cheap mac-n-cheese ($.25 a box) you have a really cheap ( $3.99 for 2 boxes mac and 1 lb ground beef) and tasty dinner, my children consider it a treat. Cook mac-n-cheese according to instruction, brown the meat and drain fat off then mix the meat in the mac-n-cheese. Mix a can of sweet peas and whole kernal corn ($.33 A can with a little black pepper and butter warm them up.
I keep the pea ‘water’ and drain the corn. Total cost for dinner $4.65 it would be even cheaper using a half pound of meat.
I have eaten mac and cheese alone for dinner a lot in the past. That stated, I have a stocked cupboard now and times, even when lean, don’t get so lean that I can’t figure out something. Part of this is due to a book I read years ago that was about cooking from the cupboard and the premise was pretty simple. Make sure you have the basics in there and you can figure out something for dinner without trying too hard.
Between that book and budget101.com, I am happy to state that even today, the day before payday- we are having Pesto Tilapia over pasta with mixed veggies on the side.
My Mom always made a big pot of pinto beans (with lots of water) and a skillet of corn bread. If there was any ham or bacon she would add that to the pot also. Mom also would make soup from the leftovers.
Using canned tomatoes and corn, any frozen veggies, canned corned beef, potatoes, any pasta would be thrown in and we loved it. When we wanted something sweet she would make up crispy treats using bits of cereal, marshmallows and peanut butter. Nothing went to waste in Mom’s kitchen.
Oatmeal is always a stand-by in our house. If we have any fresh fruit, we’ll add that to the hot oatmeal.
Another favorite is quiche (no crust) and cornbread. I usually have fresh frozen spinach leaves in the freezer and wrinkled mushrooms in the back of the fridge :). Whatever cheese we have laying around goes in it, and some kind of dairy – milk, sour cream, 1/2 and 1/2, cream cheese, whatever.
I usually get about 6 doz eggs a month, so there are usually enough for a few meals at the end. If we’ve had a good month, or if there are only a couple eggs left, we’ll make cookies!
I saw a guy do this at the homeless shelter I was volunteering at:
Hot Dog Soup
a big pot of water
a big bag of pasta
cut up hot dogs
He may have also used tomato sauce, chicken boullion, and/or canned veggies, I don’t remember now. Go ahead and throw them in if it sounds good to you. A chopped up onion would be good too.Simmer until the pasta is done, then serve.
You’re gonna want to scale this down to suit your family size, since the homeless shelter guy was cooking for about 150 people.
@brchbell 246176 wrote:
We’ve lived off our garden and food storage for the last 4 month’s due to too many things happening at the same time on our fixed income. My husband has let me know that we are living much better off our food storage then we ever did when we bought fresh groceries each month. I have several food storage cookbooks but one has shone much better that the others.
Jan Jackson’s 100 Day Pantry. Her recipes has everything you need listed in them. No surprises and everything we’ve tried has been awesome!
Last night I tried her African Chicken that sounded really weird as it had 1/2 cup of peanut butter in it also but everyone loved it! So now I have 100 recipes I know I can use without even thinking! It sure is better than just living on beans and cornbread!
being from the south i know alot of words/phrases we use, as well as names we give certain things, are very unique to the region, so forgive me if this sounds like a stupid question. i’m interpreting #1 as dry goods, etc. you store in the pantry vs #2 being fresh fruits, veggies, & meat from a fridge.
Is this what you consider the difference between “food storage” and “fresh groceries”? I’ve never heard the term “food storage” used the way you did in the sentence about “living better off of” so I’m just trying to figure out exactly what you consider to be “food storage”. I’m ALWAYS looking for new ways to shave $$ off of my very particular family’s grocery bill so I’m wondering if this is possibly a trick of sorts I have yet to hear of or if it’s just a different way to say non-perishable/dry food from the pantry.
Also, is this the formal name for this cookbook bc I’d very much like to try & find a copy of it to check out! I’m sorry again if this comment makes me seem like I’m an idiot, I’m really just trying to understand what the definition of food storage is the way you as used it above. Thanks for any clarification 😊
My mom used to make corn fritters too. She used a can of creamed corn and added enough flour to make a thick paste, then dropped it by spoonfulls into hot oil. She also made her own ‘maple’ syrup for them.
She added a few drops of maple extract to Karo syrup.
One of my fav meals was 2 boxes of Mac n cheese made as directed, with a can of mushroom soup and a can of tuna added. I still make it for all of my grandkids – even my picky hubby likes it.
Once I thought my mom was giving me a big treat but now I realize it was all she had when she made popcorn for me for dinner & even let me eat in the living room and watch TV!
My grandma used to make milk toast which I remember being actually good. Butter a piece of dark toast and sprinkle it with a tinsy bit of sugar.Put in a plate with a high lip or a shallow bowl and pour hot milk just to cover. (toasting the bread until its a dark golden gives it a great flavor).
She would also make what she called ‘tea kettle’ tea if she didn’t have any sassafras or Constant Comment. It was hot water with milk and sugar.Left overs don’t have to mean reheated bo-o-oring. When raising my boys I remember I cooked a huge pot of beans with a ham hock. After 2 nights of that I turned what was left into chili by adding hamburger, tomatoes and spices.
After two nights of that, we had chili hot dogs, and finally I used the little bit left to make pizzas on a bun – spread spoonful chili on left over hotdog bun halves, sprinkled with ital. seasoning and a slice of cheese. Almost a whole week with one pot of beans.
But that was when they were little. It would have only lasted 2 nights when they were teens.
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