amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

Suefrog36 · 02-07-2003, 08:14 AM

Wow i'm really impressed by these!

My first thought was "can't be done" but i guess i was wrong!
Sue

mamabear · 02-07-2003, 09:01 AM

Wow, I have gotten some great tips! I am going to hit Big Lots and Dollar General tonight while dh is at work.

We make our own bread, very cheap, about 60 cents a loaf and it's sooooo good.

We make our own yogurt. Even plain yogurt in a quart container will cost around $2. If you make it yourself it is 70 cents. You buy a big container of Dannon plain yogurt for starter...freeze what you don't use in 5 days in an ice cube tray then put the cubes in a Ziploc for starter later, because apparently the organism freeze ok but lose potency in the fridge after 5 days. I have a yogurt maker, you can probably find one at a thrift store or garage sale cheaply, but it's not needed. You just have to keep the container of milk and yogurt starter warm for 4 hrs. You can use a crockpot with a heating pad under it. Just use a thermometer to make sure it is at 108-112 F the whole time.

Here are the basic directions. First you take either 1 or 2 qt of milk and scald it -- bring it up to 180 F. Then allow it to cool to 108-112 F. Pour about 6 tbsp of it through a strainer (so any hard parts or skin is kept out) into the container you're incubating it in. Add 2-3 tbsp Dannon plain yogurt for 1 qt, 4-6 for 2 qt and stir really really well until all is dissolved and mixed. Then pour the rest of the milk through the strainer into the incubating container.

Keep covered at 108-112 F for 4 hrs. Then put in the fridge to set for 8 hrs. That's it!

You can sweeten with maple syrup, honey, sugar (if you are on a budget a little white sugar will be the cheapest option). And put in the blender with frozen fruit and a splash of juice for delicious smoothies!

Here's some more info:

http://www.americaninsurancedepot.com/help/21.htm

If you google for "make yogurt" or "homemade yogurt" you'll find tons more sites with ideas for incubating, instructions, etc.

We make ours with whole milk (kids need to pack on the weight in this house, LOL). I have it for dessert with maple syrup and a little vanilla extract. It is better than ice cream!

My other tips echo others' replies: beans, rice, homemade pizza, buy in bulk, WIC is excellent, we just got on it, I'm so sorry you make too much.

Ramen noodles are good, you can also go to an Asian market and get rice noodles very cheaply, just for variety from eating rice or wheat pasta. Look at your library for Cooking More With Less, it is an excellent resource.

Good luck...I'm sorry you are in such a tight spot, Missy.

Wiggles12 · 02-07-2003, 09:51 AM

OK......

Boil 1 whole chicken in the largest pot you have (mine is 6qt) fill a little past 1/2 with water. While chicken is boiling add boulion cubes 2-6 depending upon brand and strength. Add 1 whole onion chopped up. Add celery and carrotts. I usually add a couple of each depending upon what I have on hand. Add salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, tyme, rosemary (probably 1/4-1/2 tsp each) and garlic (i use a LOT OF GARLIC) all to taste, DON'T TASTE TILL THE CHICKEN IS FULLY COOKED!!!!! After chicken has boiled remove and cool. Add anywhere from a handful - 2c of the following.... corn, peas, green beans, and about 3 HUGE potatoes cut up. Basically you are adding whatever you have and there is no science to this. If you have lots of carrots but no or little beans then that is what you add. Break chicken up into pieces and return to pot. You could actually save the legs for a lunch for the kids. While everything is simmering put 1 pie crust in a pie pan and cook for about 6 mins. at 350. This will keep the bottom crust from getting soggy. Now get out your corn starch. Mix cs/h20 until you have about 1/2 a coffee cup full of a thick mixture. Slowly start adding this to your mix. When the mix is super thick stop adding. Remove pie crust from oven. Laddle the mixture into the pie crust and put 2nd crust on top, pinch and seal sides of crust, add air slits to the top and bake till crust is golden brown. Serve and be happy! Now using my half arss recipe this should provide 2-3 very well filled pies. I would then half out the remaining mixture into containers and freeze. Then all you have to do is thaw mixture (which will need a good amount of stiring to recongeal) and repeat the pie crust part. I believe even buying the pie crusts (generic for $1.50 this whole meal for 3 pies is less than $8.00) and it is a VERY filling and healthly meal. I hope I didn't make this seem to overwhelming.

Mama2miracles · 02-07-2003, 03:47 PM

Everyone has given you great advice - I couldn't myself feed our family of 5 of that - but we have a daughter with multiple food allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, beef, soy, seasme seeds, citrus) and we have two children who are intolerant to dairy - one who can't have any dairy at all. So we have to spend a lot more to accomodate those and for special vitamin supplements to make sure she's getting what she needs nutritionally. I'm sure you could do it as long as you don't have to deal with allergies. (we can't have mac N cheese, PB & jelly, use margarine or butter - only olive oil, read all labels for hidden soy lethicin, whey or foods processed in facilities that have nuts and rice milk is quadruple the price of milk and double the price of soy milk and she drinks a litre a day!).

Mamax4 · 02-07-2003, 04:14 PM

Which little one of yours drinks a whole litre a day? Do you make it yourself, or do you buy it from the hfs? I ask because rice milk contains a ton of sugar, and a liter for a teeny one seems a lot...

Laurie, just wondering

Candace · 02-07-2003, 04:30 PM

OK today I bought 25 lbs of Jasmin rice for $9.95.

Sarahd · 02-07-2003, 04:34 PM

About allergies in kids, although my kids don't suffer the extent of your child's allergies, we can't do peanuts or dairy here. We make homemade pizza and top with sauce and veggies...no cheese and it tastes great, you can also order it this way takeout, but with cross contamination this can be deadly. We don't have the tree nut or soy problems, but do use the grain milks as often as we use soy milks, we do typically buy what I find on sale that week, since I don't drink any of them....yuck!! I find reading labels, as I am sure other allergic kids' moms find, to be a life or death need(there is just sooooo much peanut and milk stuff out there hiding). I have just gotten as used to it as I have to comparing prices. That being said, I like being able to NOT read lables when I make things from scratch...I KNOW they are safe if the ingreds are safe. I use olive oil(for nutritional reasons, or sunflower oil...not sure if that is a seed or nut) even in cakes and cookies made from scratch...buy the non-virgin and it doesn't have that olivey taste

Just wanted to let you know that I understand it is hard to be on the look out for the dreaded allergens, but it is possible to buy inexpensively and eat inexpensively even with SOME dangerous allergies. Maybe not at $30 a week

but maybe cut your bill a bit so it isn't so frustratingly high. Some good vegan recipes abound out there and have been a godsend for us....especially for me since I won't touch soy products....blech. And if you can add things to them, if you do meats of some kinds, then that is cool, but they are a great base for the allergic

A_Furry_Thing · 02-07-2003, 04:35 PM

I forgot one of my other cheapy recipes. I made this a lot when dh was out of work. It is a mock stir fry.

1 package of smoked sausage-usually 1 lb
1-2 packs of frozen mixed veges
cooked rice

cut up the sausage into bite size pieces and cook until nearly done. Add the veges on top and cover with lid. Cook until the veges are done. Serve over rice.

It is really good. and really cheap!
Mindi

~Meeshi~ · 02-07-2003, 05:25 PM

When we're tight on money (which is usually) we cut out:

~juice (we're not big juice drinkers anyway, but water is fine by us)
~premade sweet snacks (we make our own banana or carrot muffins, or oatmeal cookies)
~premade other snacks, like crackers or tortilla chips (we make lots of air-popped popcorn with nutritional yeast)
~boxed cereals (we'll eat oatmeal and pancakes for breakfast instead)

Cheapy meal ideas:

~Sweet potato burritoes (recipe can be found at www.allrecipes.com)
~Fried brown rice with veggies (fresh broccoli, carrots, zucchini or whatever is on hand)
~Banana pancakes (we buy buckwheat pancake mix in the BIG bag)
~Potatoes, carrots, tofu, zucchini and other veggies, cooked in a skillet with spices, sprinkled with parmesan cheese.
~Pasta tossed with olive oil and garlic, sauteed veggies on the side

bwylde · 02-07-2003, 06:57 PM

We spend a bit more than this a week for three of us, but I put most of it away for our food storage since my maternity is running out and I'm going to be a permanant SAHM after that

.

No one mentioned cabbage. It's usually pretty cheap and very versatile. For some it's an aquired taste, but for the price, worth it. Onions, carrots and sometimes other root veggies (as already mentioned) are usually pretty cheap too.

Soup is a major budget stretcher. You can make a little go a long long way when in a pot with water and veggies. I read somewhere to save all your little bits of leftovers in a container in the freezer and at the end of the week, use those bits of veggies, meat, rice, ect... to make a soup. When preparing/peeling your veggies, dont' throw away the scaps, use them for soup stock (bones too. Well, some veggies may not work, but most are pretty good).

Stock up on sales. I buy a fair amount of canned stuff only because of it's long shelf life and so it's there if we need it.

I agree with making from scratch. Bulk baking supplies are so much cheaper (even though it's easier to buy already made things). Here's a tortillia recipe that I like to use because it's so versalite and cheap to make:

2c. flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1 tsp (i use less) salt, 1/4 c. oil, 2/3c. water. Mix dry ingredients then cut in oil until crumbly. Add water and stir until it forms a ball. Add flour or water if too wet or dry. Knead on a floured surface 6 to 8 times. Cover with an inverted bowl for 20 minutes. Roll out a portion as thin as you can and cut in 7 to 8 inch rounds. Place on a med-hot ungreased frying pan until dark spots appear, about 15-20 seconds. Turn and cook until same on other side. Keep warm in a tea towel. Use with any filling.

There's lot of good help here. We don't have any warehouse shopping places here, so we don't get things as cheap, but we make do with what we have

Carla V.

Barb · 02-07-2003, 08:01 PM

i've gotten our food bill for a family of four (me pregnant and picky, dh , 13 yr old who counts as an adult and a toddler) down to usually $60/week and thought i was doing great. lol. When we're REALLy tight, i can get it down to $40/week.

you've gotten great ideas. heres a few more ideas for snacks and beverages.

lemons are cheap. We get ours free off friends trees cuz we're in Arizona, but generally they're pretty cheap. Chelsey takes out the citrus juicer and we make gallons of homemade lemonade and keep it in our cleaned out milk jugs. that is a nice change from water. sometimes when oranges are on sale, or again...off someones tree, we'll do orange juice . or even just a slice of orange squeezed into our water for a nice 'twist". lol

i also invested in a 99cent store set of popsicle maker/tupperware thingy and we make lemonade popsicles - a nice treat for snack time

apples with peanut butter is a great cheap snack. so is popcorn if you pop it yourself. we also buy cheap graham crackers and dip in applesauce...tastes kinda like apple pie. LOL. and another is apple pie filling in homemade tortillas. i bake them with a bit of cinnamon. nice desert. one can of apple pie filling (or make your own from apples to keep it even cheaper) lasts thru two dessert nights unless chelsey pigs out.

you can make your own pancake batter, and syrup. tho i find syrup at the 99cent store better then the junk i've tried to make, my pancakes are good. and they are filling ! sometimes we do those as a snack even . tho eggs and pancakes is a meal almost every sunday night.

you can also make your own tortillas... put rice and beans in there, with a bit of whatever you have, cheese, onion etc and you've got cheap cheap burritos. make your own pizza dough, use leftover spaghetti sauce and some cheese (wic helps us there) for homemade pizza. I try to make two and then we eat the rest as snack/lunches.

you can make your own jam, especially orange marmalade. i bake my own bread now, and with some homemade jam its a lovely snack. (specially when still warm). i've been lazy tho and getting 99cent store strawberry preserves lately. LOL

I buy pickles at the 99cent store. when tehy're gone i buy a cucumber, slice it and put it in the leftover brine so we have pickles again for 59cents. (every, every few pennies counts).chels loves pickles for snack time. and well, these days i'm liking pickles too. lol - and i like half-sours so this works for us.

will try to think of more snacky food stuff that we eat thats cheap. it can be done. i'm sure of it!

wic really does help with juice, milk, cheese, cereal and peanut butter. sometimes i'll get beans instead of pb, and make a lentil soup or beans and freeze for other meals. Beans+rice=protein.

ok. i'm sure other mamas have more/better ideas so i'll shut up and get back to reading.