Food Budget Help!

Maybe coupons, they help me out A bit .

 

Make crockpot meals... Cheap on electricity and most recipes make enough food to have for leftovers or to freeze for later. Unless your fiance has a bottomless pit like my DH.. He eats it all before I have a chance to freeze any.....

 

First,

It's actually easy to do a month for 2 on that amount or much less if you guys are able to cook a little bit. Do you have dollar stores in your area? Many here have decent produce sections with cheap potatoes & carrots & beans & rice & pasta, etc. Also shop store sales for inexpensive cuts of meat if you must have meat.

Some things right off the top of my head....beans, rice, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, onions, canned goods on sale like tomatoes and veggies, tuna,and fresh or frozen whole chicken (good for at least 5 meals per chicken), and family packs of chicken thighs/drums, roast or hamburger on sale, etc., to make soup, stews, chilli, stirfry's, casseroles, lunches, and all kinds of other delicious meals. Oats or hot rice make easy, good, inexpensive breakfasts. Eggs are a very cheap source of protein and like a lot of the other items, they can be stretched a long way...store purchased eggs can do in a pinch when trying to stretch a budget. Quick breads are delicious and easy to make with almost no effort and can be dressed up all kinds of ways for meals or sandwich breads. $30 a week should keep 2 of you eating well.

I hope everything works out good for you!

 

Go to farmer's market for your produce. Watch the grocery store promo's - I've gotten chicken quarters as low as $0.47/lb, produce that's marked down, etc. Cook a whole chicken, and use the leftovers for lunch (Chicken salad), buy meat that you can cook on sale and use 2 or 3 times in a salad or sandwich (london broil, etc). Frozen veggies often go on sale, especially store brands in our area. Grow a patio garden - cherry tomatoes, lettuce, etc. There's a lot you can grow in a small space/container that doesn't take forever to grow. I make my own pasta (really easy), bread, and I buy very few pre-prepared products, as they usually cost more than I can make it for. Dried beans are cheaper and taste better than canned, they just need a bit more prep. We've had to cut back on a lot, but we still eat really well.

 

Quote:Why do you say you are not a good cook? Maybe unseasoned cook, cook in training, but don't sell yourself short. Maybe you need to go to the recipes forum and holler for some help and list out what the problem areas are.

Home cooked meals can save you a bunch of money, as well as following sales, stocking up in bulk when something is on sale and using coupons. I am not an extreme couponer, however, when I see one for a product I use, I take it.

My grocery store, the 99cent store and Target are all on one corner. My laundry soap is $10.99 at the store, not carried at the 99cent store and target has it for $7.99 and I had a $1 off coupon. Crossing the street saved me $4.

I only buy produce on sale or in trade (eggs for produce) or at the 99cent store.

That being said, you may have to take money from next months budget to stock up on meat - something we do about 3 times a year, if the money is there. I had a little extra money this month and went to the store where top sirloin was on sale for $2.77/lb. Stocked up!!!!

 

It's funny how the alternative (starvation) makes peeps less picky.

Maybe you could find ways to prepare similar foods at home that she likes to have eating out, or give her the kitchen for half of the meals to make what she wants. It's always good to learn to cook simple things that are healthy and stick to the ribs. What does she like? It's like this is food challenge now, lol.

 

LOL - I cook - A LOT. Need a recipe? I have 300+ cookbooks. If you need a couple easy recipes, PM me and let me know what you both like and I can probably send you easy and cheap recipes. Adapt them to your tastes. I cook for picky people all the time, and somehow, everything disappears quickly.

 

COUPONS! we eat good enough on a budget of less than $100 per person/ per month. It is all in finding what you like and how to make it at home. We do eat out on occasion, but normaly we (wife and I) feel/ know we over paid for a meal that was not worth half of the cost. Home made food is not only better tasting (once you know how to cook) but also better for you!

What part of LA are you in that the cost is so high?