I try to make my food last as long as possible
I always add a handful or two of oats to my mince - for the spaghetti - as with the extra pasta sauce I add it never gets noticed.
Are there other ways to stretch the meats to make it feed more people.

I cook rice with many meals. It might stretch the food and fill folks up, but it is also great as a leftover. It seldom goes to waste.

TVP is great added to meats too. I use it in taco meat (which my chldren also devour).

My husband loves to have bread at every meal. With the price of grains going up that might not be a cost saver, but we also buy day old bread or make home made.

I guess this reliance on starches isn't really good, but it does make dinner go a bit further and with two teenagers that is good.


Barb C.

For any type of casserole or hot dish or fried rice, I never put in as much meat as the recipe calls for. No one ever notices.

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~Happiness is a large family~

I add ground up oats to any ground beef dishes. I use my coffee grinder to make an oat powder and then add to the beef as I cook it. great for meatloaf, i only use 1/2 to 3/4 meat. tacos, chili, spaghetti(like kikisian said)
My family never notices the difference.

I don't make packaged mac&cheese or stovetop casseroles any more, but when I did, I used to add more noodles to the pan.

I add more veggies

make my own bread crumbs and add to meat

shread chicken it looks like more and will feed more

Serve smaller portions and add milk to dinner. The milk helps the kids fill up.

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I have cut back on meat and started adding more veggies to casseroles. When I make tacos or meat nachos, I have been adding beans to the hamburger. (I use dried beans because they are cheaper)

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Wendy~Self-proclaimed hippie momma to Bob and Jamie



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Just the other day for lunch I made the girls and I mac & chse. Cost me $0.33 then I added a can of chili beans $0.49 and then I added some toast with butter to the meal..pennies...Then I had a fresh pineapple cut for our dessert. The pineapple helpings we had came out to about $1. Then we had a large glass of sun tea.

CHEAP yummy meal!! SO my solution is to make a simple small meal look more appealing and adding in things with extra flavors.

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Happily married to my geek
Proud homeschooling, cloth diaperin, attached parenting, slinging, simplier, breastfeedin, sewing mama mades, christian and funky mama



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Just the other day for lunch I made the girls and I mac & chse. Cost me $0.33 then I added a can of chili beans $0.49 and then I added some toast with butter to the meal..pennies...Then I had a fresh pineapple cut for our dessert. The pineapple helpings we had came out to about $1. Then we had a large glass of sun tea. Oh and this was for 3...This meal fed my dh the next day for his lunch

CHEAP yummy meal!! SO my solution is to make a simple small meal look more appealing and adding in things with extra flavors.

__________________
Happily married to my geek
Proud homeschooling, cloth diaperin, attached parenting, slinging, simplier, breastfeedin, sewing mama mades, christian and funky mama



www.myspace.com/funkyfate

stretch your juice by adding extra water

make your own pizzas, or buy very cheap ones and add your own toppings