Give me a break, averaging $4.50 per person a day for a family of four is nearly extravagant.. Shopping and buying food 3 times a week and meal planning should be both healthy and relatively simple..
One needs to cook at least 4 days a week, for enough delicious home-cooked meals for 6 days, is about all that is necessary..
I feed an average of 6 people a day, 6 days a week, on less than $150.00, Spending less than a hour in the kitchen 4 nights a week.. I serve a home-cooked meal each evening, including a soup or fresh salad, main course, with two fresh or frozen vegetables, and a starch at every meal..
With a minor alteration, 2 of the main courses can be transformed into the other 2 meals, taking less than a half hour to prepare..
Last week as an example;
Monday, I made a mixed green salad, Pot Roast, with 5 vegs, including diced potatoes in the gravy, over brown rice.. Total cost, under $25.00..
Tuesday; Being chilly, I made Kosher, Chicken Noodle Soup, including 4 vegs, with Home-made egg noodles, and Matzo Balls, with Caesar Salad.. Cost less than $15.00
Wednesday; I made Meatloaf, Green Beans, Kernel Corn, and Double Baked, Sour Cream, Garlic, Potatoes.. Fresh Cole Slaw, with raisins.. Cost less than $15.00
Thursday: I thicken the Chicken Soup, and made Dumplings, and served it in Sour Dough Bread Bowls, with fresh green salad, tomatoes, cucumbers.. Cost less than $12.00..
Friday; Pasta, with meatless gravy, and garlic bread (the center of the bread I removed from the bread bowls).. Cole slaw, lime jello for a starter.. Cost, less than $10.00
Saturday; I diced up the rest of the Pot Roast and thickened the gravy and made it a stew, served in a mashed potato boat.. Vinegar, and oil Chicken (from the soup), salad, appetizer, in stuffed Tomatoes.. Cost, under $8.00
We eat out on Sunday..
I received a Thermal Cooker for Christmas. I have so far made spaghetti sauce, chili, and a pot roast. I only had to use a stove top for 15 minutes each for the spaghetti sauce and chili and 30 minutes for the pot roast, which had to be brought back to a boil before adding potatoes and carrots. I seared the roast first in a separate pan. Ditto for softening onions and garlic and browning meat for the sauce and the chili.
The 1 gallon main pot for the thermal cooker will hold a 3# beef roast. I think it will hold a 5#-6# chicken easily if the chicken is cut up first. There is a smaller pot that fits inside the main pot. It can be used for rice. I needed to fill space when doing the pot roast, so I filled the top pot with boiling water and fitted it in before adding a lid and closing the thermal case.
Besides cooking in about the same time as a crock pot (6 hrs), I can hold the food much longer (over 8 hours) without any change in flavor or texture, and it is still at a perfect serving temperature. All of this with no additional electricity needed after first searing, browning and bringing the fluids to boiling. The instructions call for holding at a boil on the stovetop for 10 minutes, but I found that just bringing to a rolling boil is sufficient. This is great for both not having to watch for burning of settled contents and for saving energy costs.
I still have 4 servings each of chili and spaghetti sauce in the freezer, as well as about a quart of the pot roast gravy, which goes well in further meals over biscuits or potatoes or rice. I use Ultra Gel to thicken the gravy and the spaghetti sauce, since there isn’t any reduction with thermal cooking and I dislike freezing and reheating anything thickened with flour or regular cornstarch. The frozen gravy is only medium thick and can be used as a soup base, if I so decide, or just thickened further, if necessary.
When I have freezer space/containers free, I am going to make a chicken soup with a whole chicken. However, right now, I have 1/2 gallon of carcass soup in the freezer, so that will wait.
Occasionally, I make a Mexican sauce using either chicken or beef. I always have left over sauce, which I freeze. I can take out the sauce, add in whatever leftovers I have on hand and in 15 minutes, we have either burrito or enchilada filling.
Another budget stretcher is homemade eggrolls. Small amounts of meat and a large amount of vegetables fill 20 wrappers. I fry them once and immediately put the extra hot eggrolls into foil and freeze. I then have 2 more meals of eggrolls that heat and serve in 20 minutes from freezer to plate. Any excess filling goes into either a hot & sour soup
or a fried rice dish.
I’m only feeding two people, but our large dog always gets a serving added to his dog food. Food lasts around here and there is little menu fatigue, since the frozen food can be cycled in weeks later.
I buy as much meat as possible from the markdown bin. I also use tougher cuts of bargain beef to grind for burger and I can grind venison to stretch to further. I save beef fat to add to these if the beef is really lean. Grinding 3-5 pounds of meat takes an hour from set up to finished cleanup. Some of these meals come out to .50/serving for the main course. Adding pasta, biscuits, cornbread and a salad results in meals at well under $2/person, even when my husband has seconds.
See you next Thursday ;)