What relatively healthy meals coul you plan

[lilles]

with a budget of $150 a week for all groceries for a family of four. Two adults and a five and a three year old.

[redheadbaker]

I'd do at least one meatless dish each week, either a veggie-filled pasta dish, or something with beans.

Stick with in-season fruits/veggies.

Is there a Trader Joe's near you? They seem to have better prices on most produce, and some meat/poultry/fish than my local grocery stores.

Also, go to Cooking Light's site, and type "budget" into their site search. They have lots of articles and healthy recipes.

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[stever]

We're not vegetarians but are largely meat free. If meat's important to you I'd recommend a good sized roasting chicken and spread it out over three meals - roast chicken, veg and potatoes on Sunday followed by chicken pot pie, chicken soup, chicken burritos or whatever.

We do that sometimes but mostly make pastas, bean and rice burritos, veggie curries and, now that it's hot, lots of salads, wraps and sandwiches. All with lots of veg that DS will  eat.

[doughseedough]

Buy lean meats/proteins that are on sale that week. I can usually find cheap boneless, skinless chicken breast on sale. Eggs are great, too. Fish is another great choice, plus it's super easy to prepare. 

Use in-season fruits and veg or whatever is on sale that week. 

Whole grains are healthier than processed and are about the same price. 

We don't drink any flavored beverages at our house and that saves a ton of money (no juice, soda, etc.). 

Do you have an ALDI near you? I buy a lot of my groceries from there and the farmer's market. 

[magdala]

We are vegetarian so that helps.
Vegetarian chili. Chili with cornbread one night and chili topped sweet potatoes later in the week.
Spinach and Black bean enchiladas
Pasta jardinera (saute onions, peppers, garlic, carrots and celery and add to your basic marinara). The jardinera sauce also works as an omelet filling when you add cheeses like mozzerella or provolone.
Dragon noodles from Budget bytes. I add sauteed mushrooms and steamed snap peas into the noodles. Budget bytes is a good blog because it breaks down the individual cost of everything.

Another way to save big is to make everything yourself--no premade anything. The ingredients for a loaf of good bread are about $! when buying premade good bread is about $4.

[dorothyinAus]

Jul 11, 2013 7:46:34 GMT -5 magdala said:

We are vegetarian so that helps.
Vegetarian chili. Chili with cornbread one night and chili topped sweet potatoes later in the week.
Spinach and Black bean enchiladas
Pasta jardinera (saute onions, peppers, garlic, carrots and celery and add to your basic marinara). The jardinera sauce also works as an omelet filling when you add cheeses like mozzerella or provolone.
Dragon noodles from Budget bytes. I add sauteed mushrooms and steamed snap peas into the noodles. Budget bytes is a good blog because it breaks down the individual cost of everything.

Another way to save big is to make everything yourself--no premade anything. The ingredients for a loaf of good bread are about $! when buying premade good bread is about $4.

You need to do the math on this one.  It actually came out cheaper for me to buy bread than to make it when I calculated the gas cost for baking.  Likewise with rotisserie chickens, there is no financial advantage to roasting my own chicken -- buying the whole chicken, the seasonings and gas cost as much as buying a rotisserie on that is already done for me.

It takes a bit of math to figure out what's actually cheaper.  And in the summer, you need to add in the extra cost of cooling the heated kitchen.  There is more to it than just the cost of the ingredients.

[6fsn]

That's almost 3 times my weekly budget and we eat at home/pack all but 1 dinner a month. I buy meat on sale and stock the freezer. Look for meats that need to be sold soon and toss them in the freezer. For every day meals I like to precut the meat and fill out with extra veg or starch to get an extra portion. I also meal plan so every last bit of food is consumed. Right now we do have some garden veggies free.
This week we had beef tips with peas, carrots, and mushrooms and noodles (my 5 yo request)
Chicken stir fry with squash, edamame, broccoli, carrots
pork chops with grilled squash
Whole wheat spaghetti with squash and mushrooms in the sauce and salad

Aldi is a godsend on my budget. They have clamshells of lettuce for 99cents right now. The exact same one is $5 at Costco. I picked up mushrooms, radish, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, 3 containers of lettuce, 4 gallons of milk, broccoli, ice cream and cones, brownie mix, noodles, pasta, and a few other things for $44. I used the veg in a bunch of recipes and used raw veggies and lettuce with some baked chicken for lunches.