Just wondering if it is possible without eating mac-n-cheese and ramen noodles every day. i would love to try to make a two week menue of dinners undeer $5 each...we feed 5 people. When you make menues for a period of time do you do lunches and breakfasts too?

I think you can! If you can get good deal on spaghetti sauce (I can get a good price on it for the most part with coupons and if it is on sale!) breakfast for dinner also homemade macaroni is a nice supper to! I rely mostly on my stockpile right now (doing the December challenge), so it does not seem like I have been spending that much on suppers right now!

As for menus- I never figure lunch and breakfast. It's usually cereal or waffles (during the week) and lunch- I pack dh and the oldest lunch everyday. Me and the youngest just eat whatever I have (either left overs and fruits- she isn't much of a eater during the day, like me!). I mainly concentrate on our suppers (cause that is where we spend the most $)- that reminds me I have to figure out the next 2 weeks menus!

I can't b/c we use too many fruits and vegetables and nice meats. BUT f you ate alot of pasta you could.

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When I do my weekly menus - which I only do sporadically - I include lunches because that helps me use up leftovers instead of just throwing them out.

I think it's possible to come up with a bunch of meals for under $5 but as stated it would not include a lot of fresh veggies and fruits. I'm thinking especially this time of year if you bought a ham and a turkey at a good price and planned on at least 8-9 meals per meat - ham/mac n cheese, ham/scalloped potatoes, ham and beans, ham omelets or turkey soup, turkey and noodles, turkey tetrazinni, turkey with rice . . . I think the trick would be to not have the 'meat' part of the meal be the star. Of course there's always sandwiches and breakfast for supper which are all pretty frugal. I'm not sure I'd want every meal to be under $5 but it would be good to have some easy meals to turn to. I often buy Hamburger Helper on sale for $1, paired with ground meat on sale for $2/lb and 50 cents worth of a frozen veggie. That $3.50 feeds the 2 of us twice so it's possible.

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.

Make soup. Soups can be healthy and cheap to make. I love to make large batches and freeze them. On days when I don't feel like cooking, I pull out the soup, add a salad or garlic bread and we have a meal!

I like to buy a whole chicken and simmer it for hours on the stove (simmer with veggies or w/o and you have homemade chicken broth that's not so salty). Then I pull the chicken off and use it in soups, enchilladas, or anything that calls for chicken. I shred the chicken and freeze it on a cookie sheet. Once it's frozen transfer it to a freezer bag and you can grab a handful as you need it. This works for any kind of meat, veggie or whatever you want to freeze.

potaoes and rice each go a long way and are cheap. I don't do menus but use these two all the time.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

I think you could absolutely feed five for $5.00. I feed 9 for under $5.00 a lot of times. A good meal for us is when we have bacon for breakfast and using the grease in green beans (free for us, because we have a huge garden and can ever year) and potatoes from the garden as well. Or the green beans and potatoes and instead of the bacon grease, cut up sausage or keilbasa and let it slow cook on the back of the stove for a couple of hours. There's always homemade pizza, or lasagna. Homemade vegitable soup, add some noodles too!! Homemade chicken and noodle soup as well. Soup beans and cornbread. You can make a lot of good meals for not much money if you just use your imagination!!

Tonya
aka TSMcClaskie

yah, I have a family of five. Tonight we had bluberry pancakes with bacon. WAy less than $5 for that meal! Got the bacon on sale, as well as the frozen blueberries, and the pancake mix. Still have more blueberries and pancake mix for anotehr meal!

I try to buy in bulk. like I'll buy a full pork loin for around $18-$20, then I cut it into chops and freeze them. Pair it with some frozen veggies, and box potatoes, there ya go. Same goes fo chicken, I buy it on sale and just portion it out.

STir fry is a GREAT under $5 meal. I brown the meat, add the veggies, steam it all together, add sauce, then serve over rice. You only need about 2 chicken breasts, or 2 pork chops, so whatever you have left over, you can use for antoher stir fry. The jar of sauce itself is good for about 4 meals and only costs about $2.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan9.Samantha7,Cameron5

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you can do it when it comes to fruits and vegtables that are fresh the key is to buy only whats in season... thats what i do. like in the summer we eat alot of watermelon ect...

I'd really have to think out a menu to do this without using mac&cheese or hotdogs everyday!

Sounds like a good challenge though!