This mom is pregnant, she has four children (one is still nursing) and a husband who is unable to work temporarily due to sickness. That's 6 hungry eaters!
She got great responses:
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Whenever we're low on groceries I make Somali Rice and boil some eggs to eat on the side and/or make an egg 'curry' using tomatoes or tomatoe sauce with whatever spices and then add sliced boiled eggs to it.
For somali rice: sorry no exact measurements it never makes a diff. really anyway
-sauate some onions
-then saute some garlic (or use onion and garlic powder)
add a tsp each of cumin powder, curry powder and cardamom and a cinnamon stick. saute for a min. then add the rice --we always make 3 cups at a time--and water and get it to a boil then simmer.
Very easy and yummy.
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Another mom said this:
Are there any food banks or food pantries in your area?
Does your state/county do "emergency" food stamps?
How many people are you feeding? Does anyone get a meal elsewhere (like at public school)??
Do you/can you get WIC or "Commodity Foods"?
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Another mom said this:
I'd get beans and split peas. A bag of cheap potatoes. Get some milk.
Then I'd check out what things are on sale at your grocery store. Canned pumpkin and green beans might be on sale right now.
Bananas are a cheap fruit and I think its good to have some fresh veggies if you can. Let each kid have half a banana each day or every other day or mash it up in the oatmeal. A couple cans of the cheapeast tomato sauce.
For meal ideas:
homemade bread with chili spiced beans
beans and rice with salsa and cheese or sour cream
pumpkin bread and fried eggs
rice cooked in tomato sauce and spices
Split pea soup
refried beans and spanish rice with homemade tortillas
Also don't forget to ask on freecycle. Perhaps someone has some extra items they will let you have.
Thankfully she got great ideas shared, and a family member came up with some money for them to buy some food. I wanted to share some ideas on how to stretch out her budget more. Since I have alot of experience at this, I wrote the following:
You've gotten some great ideas, and all I can say is that I have about $300 a month for food, which I turn into a $550 menu.
I have three kids, one is nearly a teenager, who eats ALOT of food. We eat tons of soups. A watched a friend of mine recently boil cabbage, and then take the water from that and pour into a glass container to put in the fridge. She does it with every single veggie that she cooks, she saves the water. The water has alot of the vitamens that are cooked off of the veggie.
I'm doing it now, and saving this veggie water for "broth". I start my soups with this broth now, and they are better. I don't need to buy veggie broth now, and because we make alot of soup, it saves money.
I think you have had great ideas for the short run, but I wanted to give you some long run ideas, so when you have money, you can make your food stretch out as far as possible.
1. First and foremost, the protein that we get is mostly legumes, seeds, and nuts. For beans, I buy them dry. I see no reason to pay for already cooked beans, unless I'm saving for my emergency pantry. My favorites are: White/Navy, Black Turtle Beans, Red Beans, Lentils (both green and yellow) and 15 bean soup is fun. Cooking beans is very easy. First soak for a night, then turn them on when you get up in the morning. Beans are cooked when you smoosh a bean, and the starchy looking part is not shiny, but dull and smooshy. I never leave the grocery store without 1 large package of peanuts with shells, popcorn, almonds and cashews. Buy it all plain, unroasted, unsalted. You can use these items to increase your protein, and it's a healthy way to snack. I also buy a 4 lb peanut butter that can last us for 2 months sometimes.
2. We eat two types of rice, and I mix them together to get the best benefit and flavor: Brown basmati, and plain white rice. If you have a rice cooker, it's easy to cook rice, and you can toss in lentils to the rice to cook. If you do that, you have to push the cook button twice (cook twice).
3. We buy our fresh veggies from a local store. Their prices are low because they buy the veggies directly from the farmer, instead of having them shipped in. This store has a grocery basket twice a week, which will be full of items that need to be cooked right away. They are usually selling for pennies on the dollars. Once we bought $20 worth of veggies from there, and spent $4.00 on rice, and we had soup all week long, the kids were full and it was a life saver.
4. We have a breakfast cereal rule here, which I am sure my kids don't like, but it has changed our ability to get by better. No sugary cereals except for "Honey Gone Nuts Granola" which I buy in bulk. I fill up the cereal container (big plastic thing that holds two boxes of regular cherios) and when it is all gone, I don't replace it till next month. When it's gone, we eat oatmeal, homemade muffins, homemade pancakes, homemade biscuits, eggs and toast (homemade bread)....get the point? We make everything by hand for breakfast after the granola is gone.
5. Milk: I buy 1 gallon of milk (whole milk) and 1 box of Kroger nonfat drymilk. The kids know the routine, and I did break them in SLOWLY. They can drink as much of the milk as they want, but when the gallon turns to a 1/2 gallon, I make up one packet of dry milk = quart of fluid milk, and I mix it into the half gallon left. I don't add vanilla like my mom did, I just mix. The kids are used to it now, and they still get their protein. When that gallon (1 1/2 gallon) is gone, I buy another gallon of milk, and we start the routine again. So for my two kids who drink milk, I end up buying around 3 gallons of milk a month, which isn't bad. I know this may sound gross, but I used spoiled milk (not curdled btw) to make baked goods. It works well, and uses the 2 - 4 day old milk that may be left over. WE NEVER DRINK SPOILED MILK.
6. We buy two special loafs of bread per month (Alvarado Street bread) and some onion buns and I make the rest of our bread. It has taken me about two years to be able to make most of our bread, but I'm glad I do, because I control what is in it, and I know when my kids eat it, they are eating healthy stuff. If you make your bread, try to find a friend who has a wheat berry grinder, which will increase the value of your bread.
You don't have to have a bread maker to make your own bread. I get alot of enjoyment out of making bread by hand. Get a good recipe, that describes how to make the dough, and TRY IT. Start with a simple recipe, like a white flour bread, and then work your way towards healthy.
Look at the thrift store for well made bread pans, large flat sheets ect. When you start making bread, you will need simple kitchen tools, but any pan or sheet will do. I like the newer "folded" bread pans from William Sonoma (I got one for a gift) and they are ample for a double loaf. You may want to make rolls, bread sticks, pizza dough or loaf bread, but this will seriously cut down on your consumption of regular bread, and allow you to increase the health of your bread.
7. Stop spending money on Fast Foods:
I know it seems impossible avoid spending money on fast foods, but it is the one thing that eats up most of my money, and we can never find healthy choices like we would at home. So, to avoid this, I found a pizza brand (I like Krogers Sourdough) which is excellent and cheap. We add extra cheese, mushrooms and olives to it, or feta cheese and greek olives to it. We can get it going fast, and the cost on my budget is so much less, that I know it is right.
Never waste any foods. If it is good and no one ate it (I'm not talking about on the plates, but I know people who do this), scrap all the leftover veggies even peices of veggies into a freezer storage container, and over time fill it up. When it is full, you have veggies for your next pot of soup. I never waste left over rice. We like to save it up in a container and make fried rice with it. Most families have plenty of plastic containers to save food, but if you don't, I save the yogurt containers we empty, and they are great for freezing leftover soup or a few peices of cornbread. Just take all the left overs you have, and use them. Avoid having veggie waste by cooking the veggies before they go bad. I used to have this problem, and I corrected it by keeping my eye on what I have, and going ahead and cooking (boiling, steaming) and freezing. I feel good knowing I always have some frozen veggies for a quick spot, and knowing that I have stopped wastage.
8. Another area of money waste is with the juice boxes, and juice in general. Our bodies need water more than any other liquid. If you can help your family to drink water before grabbing something else, you can save money, and prevent health problems. When giving young children fruit juice, make sure you dilute it. When my kids were little ones, I diluted it by %50. Now, if I get a chance to do so before they get their hands on it, I dilute it by 15%. Also, if you have left over (unsalted) veggie juices, you can mix them with your fruit juices, which is yummy and healthy.
Instead of drinking a ton of juice, we save our money and do smoothies.
My favorite recipe for four of us:
2 large banana's
2 cups of water
2 tablespoons of flax seed
2 cups of finely chopped up kale or spinach,mix this before putting any other fruit in. (looks like a shrek smoothy at this point, and quite tasty!)
1 cup of frozen (or fresh) blueberries
1/2 cup pineapple which naturally sweetens.
I use agave nectar to sweeten to taste.
When all said and done, it is purple.
We drink one of these a few times a week. This is an excellent choice for your use of fruit, and a great source of vitamens.
9. Cheese, egg and yogurt:
I buy 2 dozen eggs monthly, 3 pounds of cheese monthly and 2 - 3 yogurts monthly. I don't buy "American Cheese", but instead hard cheeses, which can be chopped, shredded or melted. We buy high quality yogurts like Sunny Field Farms, in plain and "Banilla". We use plain yogurt with our mexican dishes instead of sour cream, since it has more value. Since I use alot of spices while cooking, we use yogurt to cool off our tongues, to follow or end an Indian meal, or just to snack on.
I hope this helps you to STRETCH out your grocery money a bit more, which helps prevent not having enough food. Since rice, dry beans, nuts, seeds, oats, dry fruits and dry milk can last for a long time, there's alot you can do to survive when you only have a few dollars to buy the most needed items.
Take some time to Freecycle some glass jars (think large pickle glass jars) to put your bulk purchases. Having the large jars reminds you to keep extra on hand, just in case you run short in cash one month.
In todays burgeoning financial climate, families are tightening their spending and there is no doubt that food sometimes becomes an issue once all the bills are paid.
I hope that this blog post will help anyone reading, who may find themselves in the same tight spot.
May your belly's be full, and may your beds be warm!
Good luck!
Jyotsna
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