So, what do you do to make ends meet? Well, I've gone back to cooking the way I did when my children were little and I relied on my ex-husband's income for supporting 7 of us (yes, 7!).
So, I asked DH what he'd like for dinner today. "How about hamburgers and french fries?" No problem.
You see, I know that everyone feels an economic crunch. But we don't try to live up to the "Jones's" standard. Never have. So, before I go into how I made dinner for only $1.20 a person tonight, let me give you a little background on what I do.
First of all, go through your cupboards and freezer and start using up what's in there. (The hamburger buns have been in the freezer a while, so I didn't count them in the cost. It was something already on hand. Condiments, I already had on hand as well.)
Make an inventory of what you have. Yes, you can do this! I don't ever want to see someone who can't make food from scratch again! You see, during the last three years of going into homes of the elderly and disabled, I saw people twice who were eating cat food, and one who was eating dog food. That should never happen in this country! But it does. And it was happening right here in my own neighborhood! It broke my heart! So let Mama teach you a little about how to get by on a dime here!
Beans and lentils are excellent when cooked almost dry paired with rice. Or a little wetter and you can pair with cornbread. Add potatoes, onions and other veggies for a soup. And left overs make for an excellent lunch!
Canned vegetables can also make extra side dishes and soups and stews.
Macaroni and spaghetti noodles can be paired with sauce and a vegetable. Make up your own sauce! Use pesto instead of spaghetti sauce. Or toss a handful of pasta into your soup! Great filler for pennies.
I catch flour on sale and make my own breads and rolls now. If I'm making bread, I let my bread machine do all the work. But if I'm making yeast rolls, I simply let it do all the kneading until the last knead, then pull it out of the machine. Set it in a bowl, oil it, and begin tearing it apart for the rolls. I set them on a cookie sheet and cover with a clean towel for final rise before baking. OMG! So good!
But I digress. Once you have your inventory, start getting creative. How many meals can you put together before you absolutely HAVE to go to the grocery store? Except for milk, eggs and butter, we went a whole month before needing to buy groceries!
Now, make your menu up. Post it on your kitchen's bulletin board, or the front of your fridge. Each time you make a meal, draw a line through it. That way you know you've used that meal up. Once you've exhausted what you already have on hand, time to come up with a new menu. An economical menu.
Depending upon your budget, you may not have much to spend. But if you're careful, you should be able to stay inside a budget. One thing I'm going to tell you is to stay away from coupons! Yes, stay away from coupons, unless it's for something you already have on your menu or toiletries list. Nobody NEEDS Charmin toilet paper when it's twice as expensive as another brand! And those $3.99 Doritos where you buy 2 and get one free deals, are not a deal! You don't NEED Doritos! You don't NEED soda/pop. Learn to make your own snacks. You can make enough for a week for just pennies a serving! Get yourself on Google and start searching cost saving recipes! Even Pinterest or Instagram! And Facebook as well!
Splurge once a week on a good cut of meat. I mean something nice. Get those thick pork chops. Or get two chicken breasts. Yes, once a week eat quality meats. ONCE a week. Otherwise, learn to eat less meat, and when you do eat it, eat a cheaper cut.
Don't waste your time on canned veggies. You heard that. Don't waste your time on canned veggies. Buy frozen if you can't afford fresh. Don't get the microwaveable bags with cheese sauce either! You'll pay for those! But for peas, corn, stir fry, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc., buy frozen. (Buy green beans fresh. Frozen always turn out like rubber. Yeck!) Get yourself either some freezer containers, or start saving jars. Yes, I use jars in my freezer. There's just the two of us, so I don't use a whole bag of veggies, unless there's company. And I always have plenty for company! Cook just what you need. Uh, yeah! Stop cooking for an army! If there aren't seconds on the table, you won't be tempted to eat them! (You are eating at the table aren't you?) Put whatever you don't cook into the glass jars and seal them and freeze. Make sure to leave a little space at the top for anything liquid. And forget about "supersizing" your dinner! It's time for the gravel to meet the road here. Normal portions guys! Your wallet will appreciate it. And so will your waistline!
As you make your menu, try to come up with 14 different dinners that you enjoy eating. Yes, 14. Even if you'll only be purchasing for a week at a time, come up with 14 different dinners. Now, from that 14, you can rotate meals around and come up with 6 weeks of menus without repeating a single week twice in that time! That gives you a variety. If you can think of MORE than 14 meals, by all means incorporate those as well!
I use Excel on my computer and make a spreadsheet. This allows me to make up my menu for 6 weeks. I print it off. Then I draw a line through each meal as it is prepared. Occasionally I take them out of order, or don't use an order. This will give me 7 days to eat in any way I want. There are always those days when you simply don't feel like cooking a big meal, so you go for the simple stuff. Just don't let that become a habit!
Making your own bread can be fun! I make regular white or whole wheat bread, and rolls. But I also have an artisan bread cookbook where I make specialty breads now and then. I keep a sourdough starter in the fridge all the time. Instead of $4-$7 for artisan bread, I can make it for about 30-cents a loaf!
I do splurge on real butter and real milk (whole milk). However, when I am making up a mix, I use powdered milk in my mixes (I make my own cornbread and pancake mixes, and my own baking mixes for things you would normally purchase Bisquick for.) I purchase all purpose flour and buy things like baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar and some other baking supplies in bulk from local Mennonites.
I've stopped buying paper towels and paper napkins. Paper towels have been replaced with shop cloths (the absorbent kind). I roll them up like paper towels and you can pull one off at a time. There's just DH and I, so there aren't a lot of messes to clean up. We use cloth napkins.
I make my own dish soap, laundry soap, and laundry softener to replace soaps and dryer sheets. I am learning to make my own body soap and lotions. And I want to play with making my own scents.
We purchase coffee, sugar and tea in bulk. I use a permanent filter basket on my coffee maker, so I don't need filters. I make my own all purpose cleaner, and window cleaner. I've learned that salt is much better to clean stubborn pots and pans than anything I've ever used before! Seriously! My cast iron is amazing!
Hydrogen peroxide will take out most any stain! And if it doesn't, add it to my laundry detergent , scrub it in with an old toothbrush, and I guarantee the stain comes out!
I am experimenting with candle making as well. And this past winter we discovered that a terra cotta flower pot can heat a room about 14' x 22' with 4 tea lights. Yes. You've seen those pictures on Pinterest! It really does work! And with a large terra cotta pot, a cooling rack, and a drainage tray, you can make yourself a cooker as well. So, if the power goes out, you can always cook and stay warm. Yes, we really are prepared!
I still need my Fixadent for my dentures. Cheaper brands have not worked near as well. So, there are still some things I cannot compromise on. However, Polident has been replaced with baking soda. Yes, I soak my dentures in a teaspoon of baking soda added to my denture cup. They come out clean. However, I also give them a bit of a brushing with a baking soda paste to keep them from getting yellow. (They weren't with the soak, but I am a little OCD, so....)
So, what did we have tonight for dinner? It was a lazy night. The meal itself took about 40 minutes to prepare and cook. And satisfied that "fast food" craving we sometimes get. (Ya know sometimes you just want a hamburger and fries!)
So, I pad $3.99 for a 10 pound bag of potatoes (about 20 in the bag, or .20-cents each). And I paid $3.99 for a pound of 80/20 ground beef. The buns I had in the freezer, I simply had to thaw them. I did cook the burgers in the skillet. You'd be surprised when you cook beef slowly on top of the stove how much is "grease" and how much is simply water that has been added to make the package heavier! Oh yes! I made 4 quarter pound (pre-cook) hamburgers. These were very satisfyingly sized even after cooking. (These then were about $1 each). I peeled 4 potatoes. These I then rinse and cut into homemade fries. No, I don't use a cutter. Just a knife. There are a lot of YouTube videos if you don't know how this is done. My fries are not fried, yet come out crispy. I bake them using baking spray. Yes, and it works perfect every time!
I always use foil and wipe it off and reuse it if I can for the same food item. (Yes, you CAN reuse aluminum foil!)
Spray the foil, or the pan. Spread your fries out on the pan. Then spray the fries. I use an all natural EVOO spray. Bake at 425-F for 20-minutes. Then flip over. Spray the other side and bake an additional 10-12 minutes.
Crispy golden brown fries!
4 quarter pound hamburgers from one pound of beef.
Sesame seed hamburger buns I had in the freezer for a while. If you keep bread in a bag in the freezer, you might notice that it gets hard in places. This is easily remedied to make it nice and soft, just like fresh baked: simply open the buns up, lightly sprinkle with water from your fingertips, and place in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. The buns will be soft and warm!
And there you have our $1.20 per person dinner. And this can be cut even more if needed! We have dinner this evening with this meal, and enough left over for another meal! But there are meals that are even more cost effective!
We have had to go back to thinking in the ways our grandparents thought. The cheapest way to make a filling meal.
Instead of cold cereal, think of farina, Cream of Wheat, oatmeal, grits, even cornmeal mush (polenta). Use left over or stale bread to make French toast. Also use left over stale bread for bread crumbs.
Make simpler lunches: boiled eggs and toast; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; bologna (yes, bologna!)
As we age, if we find ourselves in a financial bind, it isn't a given that we will be eligible for Food Stamp assistance. So, we have to start thinking the way our ancestors did.
I have many other ways that we cut our costs as well. Such as using the dryer less. Using cold water instead of hot or warm to do laundry. Turning the AC off at night once the temperature cools down and using fans instead. Keeping the thermostat down on 68 in the winter and wearing boot socks and a sweater. Believe me, it makes the difference between a $150 electric bill and a $600 one!
Use a water filter instead of buying bottled water.
Stop drinking sodas and drink coffee, tea, or iced tea. Even Kool Aid!
Jello really does make a great dessert!
Get rid of your car payment. Pay cash for an older car. You may end up putting some repairs in it as time and miles stack up, but its cheaper in the long run than a car payment! And your car insurance is cheaper as well!
If you are retired, you don't NEED an expensive cell phone. Use a pre-paid phone and only buy minutes you need! If you can get rid of your landline, get rid of it!
If you have Internet, get rid of your cable bill! Watch your favorite shows on your computer, or if you have a Smart TV buy a ROKU or other Internet device for it! One fee and you have THOUSANDS of shows to choose from! Only purchase channels if its something you are really going to watch a lot. We watch Netflix, so it's a no brainer. We've kept that. And there's a regular antennae for local channels (all 16 of them!).
Learn to sew if you don't already know. You can save a fortune with just a few good patterns that you can mix and match. I watch Walmart and online for $1.99 sale material. Or purchase from Salvation Army or Goodwill!
Instead of a new couch and chair, purchase inexpensive slipcovers instead. Or check out Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or your local Habitat for Humanity Resale Store.
Grow a vegetable garden if you have room! You only need a small amount of space to grow ALOT of vegetables in! Think vertical!
Learn to change your oil yourself! You'll save $25-$40!
Make gifts yourself! Don't purchase expensive gifts that you can make yourself! Remember it's the thought that counts. And I'd much rather get a homemade gift from someone than a purchased one! You can make your own gift bags and tags too! Make your own greeting cards!
Stop purchasing books! You can read them for free on your Kindle, (there are dozens of places to get free Kindle books!) or at your library!
And yes, I can go on and on!
Eventually we will go in depth on all of these subjects, and as always, if you have any comments please let us hear!
I know you won't be able to do all of the things I do. And perhaps you won't want to do any of them. But my point is that there are ways to get by. Even without assistance. And my mission is to never see another elderly person eating cat or dog food again. Never again.
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