Cooking anything from scratch will save you big time. Right now at Aldi I can get a 20 lb bag of potatoes for $3.99. That will cover a lot of meals of mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, french fries, baked potatoes, potatoe soup. Any meals with dried beans or rice will do the same.
Bread is high (at least around here), my local store wants around $4 a loaf, but I can make it from scratch or if time is an issue, but frozen bread dough loaves, are $3.68 for a package of 5 loaves. (You just put in a bread pan let thaw, rise and bake at 325 for 20 minutes). You can also use the dough for making garlic bread or rolls.
My family loves home made bread and potato soup. In my potato soup I add diced potatoes, any left over cheese, bits of onion, carrots, bacon, some salt and pepper.
Bake a potato and add some veggies to the top. Its filling. I use our frozen garden veggies, but you can do the same with a bag of store bought frozen veggies. Just use what you need and put the bag back in the freezer.
Make and drink tea or water with your meals. A lot of people raise the price of their meals by adding soda or koolaide or juice as their beverage.
Ham and beans soup is very inexpensive. Plus, the bags of beans store well and contain enough beans to make several meals. This one makes soup for 6, so you may want to cut it in half.
Cook Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
8 cups water
1 pound Great Northern beans or navy beans
2 cups cubed ham
1 ham bone or ham hock, optional
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped or sliced thinly
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
Preparation:
Bring water and beans to a boil; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour.
Stir in ham, ham bone or hock, pepper, bay leaf, carrot and celery. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are tender (skim foam from top), about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If soup is too thick, add a little water.
Remove ham bone or ham hock (if used) and trim meat from bone. Return meat to soup with tomato sauce and salt; simmer for about 15 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf.
Ham and bean soup serves 6.
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