My family, DH DD, DS and me are staying at our store with no kitchen. We like to get out because it's not safe for the kids to be in here all day. THe only problem is we have beening eating out alot. we spent like $30-40 yesterday and i can't keep doing that. any suggestions on where to go or what to eat. oh and my dh isn't a sandwich type guy. he's more into authentic mexican. we do have a mini fridge (holds milk for the kids) and a microwave. the kids and i eat fruit for breakfast it's main lunch and dinner that's killing our budget. We are in Kalamazoo MI so if anyone knows of a good place to eat for cheap and not all fried let me know please!!!!

Can you not pack foods? Or use healthy frozen meals, like Mexican options? I know you can find those Healthy Choice "healthy" frozen meals for like $2 each on sale. Maybe those, in different varieties, add some fruit...?

Otherwise, sandwiches, etc. Eating out on a low budget is, imo, hard...

Find out which restaurants have free kids nights and limit their choices. No soda, dessert, etc...

Ugh...ate my post!!!! Darn - I don't know if I can remember everything....well, here goes...

Okay, you didn't say in your post if this is a long term situation or not...sooo...if this is ongoing my suggestion is to spend $30-40 on a 2 burner propane camping stove. You could prepare a variety of dinners inexpensively and simply - esp. with a small regrigerator. If you are worried about using it inside (don't have a safe place) go outside - it's summer!

My meal suggestions:

If you aren't veg - buy a roasted chicken and serve with a salad (buy the bagged ready to eat kind) and a rice pilaf, prepared on the stove.

the next day...heat some canned garbanzo beans (or other) with some olive oil, salt, pepper... add to any leftover pilaf and add fresh bagged baby spinach once the other is warm. Add some of the leftover chicken, too. This can be a one dish meal - I have it often esp. for lunch!

Then with the rest of the chicken, make black bean, cheese, and chicken quesadillas and serve with baby salad greens (bagged ready to eat) and chips and salsa.

You can make eggs easily in a variety of ways for a meal - have scrambled or fried eggs for dinner!

Make burritos with canned refried beans or instant black beans (you can get these at whole foods or other places in the bulk section) and rice and cheese with greens, sour cream, cilantro and salsa. Tortillas of course. Serve with pan fried potatoes or salad or both!

Have canned soup and grilled cheese.

Hmmnn.....seems like I had some others but since this is my second go I'll just end now. I hope you have found some solutions or can use some of these ideas!!

Great ideas Stacy! I think that a cook stove would really work well for this type of situation as well. I saw one that was BETTER than mine for $45 at a OutDoor Imporium the other day. I nearly bought it as my second burner no longer works. lol...

More things to pack and bring:

Sushi rolls... Kids LOVE helping make these, and most really like California rolls (cucumber, Avacado, and crab meat with gomasio (seseme seeds with a bit of sea salt)). They are easy and everything that they come with comes cold. I can give you more info if you are interested.

Carrots and dip, Apples and dip, salads, perhaps getting a toaster oven if you don't think a stove would work and making grilled sandwiches? I bet your dh would even go for those. My fav is Ham, provalone cheese, and salami with hot canned peppers on good italian bread. Takes 5 minutes to grill and with a salad that can be a KILLER meal.

The one thing I would start doing is going to the grocery store more often and sit down/eat out places less often. It will NOT always save you money, BUT nearly everything that you buy at the grocery you can do easily at home, or with a few simple items (Such as a stove and a toaster oven). So the ideas aboundith and if you give it some thought you can find a way to make it work.

Set yourself a daily budget. Perhaps $30 a day for the first week, and cut back by $5 each week until you are comfortable. Then don't go over that. Taco Bell is a good place to go, and if you get water, you can get a meal for 4 people for under $10. (This is one fast food place we still go to.) Don't buy kids meals unless the WHOLE thing will be eaten, and don't get sucked in by meal gimicks... the 'super size'd whatever' is great if you are splitting, but if you AND dh both need a supersized coke AND a super sized fry, you are spending too much and not eating well to boot. You know? Always split drinks. My kids are so used to this that when we go out they talk about what they want before we get there... "Hey Alex, can we get Lemonade this time?" "No I really want Rootbeer... is that ok?" "I guess so." etc. lol... Don and I also split drinks very often. We also often just both get water.

Mexican resturants are great for large cheap meals from my experience. Don and I split one most of the time and the kids ALWAYS split one... Don doesn't like beans, so Alex gets his beans, and I dont like the rice so Alex gets my rice (he IS 10... he needs more food than Cyan by a long shot). They split one entre' and they both have a good meal for $4 or so. Also the killer huge natchos (with everything on the side) is a great meal for me AND both the kids when Don is gaming or working etc, and can't be with us and it is 100* and I don't want to cook. $7.50 for all of us to eat out in the a/c and it comes with avacado? Who can beat that??? lol....

There are many more ideas if you want japanese recipes... most american food is going to be #1 greesy, and #2 only good eaten hot. Start looking into options like Japanese foods, and even Chinese... Perhaps get a large pizza and have that for lunch and dinner one day? Things that are good with very little cooking can be hard when people are picky. Good luck!

OK. I lived with just a mini fridge & micro the first 7 months after we moved while re-doing the kitchen. Not something I'd ever expect to do, but it wasn't so bad.

lots of rice dinners can be made in the micro. We do yellow spanish style rice with a can of vegies or red beans & rice with purchased corn bread.

lasagna can be made in the micro. layer uncooked pasta, sauce, cottage cheese & ricotta mixed together & some minced spinach topped with shreaded cheese. micorwave on high 20 minutes while covered (I use a dish towel held up with short chopsticks)

salad, salad & more salad. You can get individual cups of dressing that don't need refrigeration till opened. not envionmentally friendsly, but useful with limited space.

The only other piece of equiptment I had was the electric skillet. grilled cheese, pancakes, stir fry, ground meat if you eat it.

Good luck.

Chole

broccoli rice cheese cups

1 cup minute rice
1 cup broth (you know i use veggie broth, but you can use chicken)
1 cup broccoli (steamed and chopped)
1/4 ranch dressing
2 eggs
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

steam broccoli and prepare rice. let rice cool and add rest of ingredients. oil muffin tins (be careful not to oil all of the cups. you don't always get 12 of them) and scoop in and bake for 25 min. @ 350.

these you can make at your mom's and reheat for lunch. you can also add chicken.

i agree with making rice dishes. call me. i need your veggie ranch pizza recipe again and i have a recipe for barbecue chicken rice.