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Something I started making about a month ago that I had never made before is chili. It's a very simple recipe that I found online (that will eventually be improved upon), but it's a fairly cheap dinner. It takes a lot less ground beef than making tacos so I'm able to get several meals out of one 3.5 lb. package of ground beef. The other ingredients I've been using are cheap, like diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce, kidney or pinto beans, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and I haven't bothered to buy onions or garlic for it like the recipe calls for. Like I said, the recipe needs improving on, but it's a fairly cheap meal that fills me up, in fact I always end up with more than I really need. It's definitely more filling and better tasting than pot pies which I can barely stomach eating, or even the chicken nuggets which are barely edible.
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I make all sorts of chilis. I add corn and carrots to mine, and squash if I have it. Just a thought if you want to stretch it. I go meatless too, three kinds of beans and the vegetables.
I think people are surprised when they discover how good corn (and carrots) are in chili. I lived in a city where corn in chili was required LOL, and it was so good I kept it up.
I'm not broke, I can afford to buy food, but today I was tired. Too tired to cook. Too tired to even make the prepared food in the fridge that required heating and warming and adding to. Instead I just made some pantry food: Drained tuna and mayo with a bit of fresh chopped onion, jalapeno, and cilantro and hot sauce with a bag of tortilla chips. I would consider this good "make it through the week" food. Turns out, it's also good, quick, nutritious, I can't move and I'm hungry food. Stuff on hand.
You have the flu and you are eating pizza? Yuck, I can barely keep water down and it is not pleasant coming back up when I have the flu, there is no way I could or would eat pizza.
Agree.
I realized how truly nasty the flu is when I got it in 2004 (the vaccine shortage year) and couldn't eat a thing (purely devoid of appetite). Even my mother's awesome food (I was visiting her). Normally being sick makes me ravenous (on top of my already healthy appetite). But geez...this thing knocked me down and made me just want to die.
To answer the question, payday has been irrelevant for many years now.
We have kids who won't stop eating, and two fridges and a garage freezer.
Interesting question. We'd just continue as normal, cooking and eating out as planned. I usually have a week's worth of groceries at a time in fridge and pantry, maybe a couple of days more. Frugality does not necessarily go hand in hand with living paycheck to paycheck.
ding ding ding! I never worry about having enough money for food because of being frugal in general. I might have to think about some type of splurge and whether I wanted to use my discretionary spending money for that, but as far as day to day eating, it's based on what's in the house, whether I want to go shopping and then I'd prepare a list as usual, looking at this week's sales and planning around those.
It doesn't matter when payday is, I cook whatever it is I feel like cooking. Right now, I am working my way through a gigantic bag of bean sprouts, so we have been eating Asian dishes this week, pad thai, stir fry, egg foo young....
Way back when I first got married and money was tight, we did not eat well for three weeks and then have to scratch together something cheap for the last week before payday. We ate at the same level all month because I budgeted the grocery money and planned meals so that the money would last and we would still eat well every day. Meat servings we small and we filled in with cheaper food. I grew some of our fruit and vegetables.
Now, with money not so tight, I try to limit the carbohydrates and fill bellies with fresh vegetables and fruit. Meat servings are more generous, but size is still kept under control. There will be a large serving of salad, which is actually rather expensive to put together because fresh veggies are high priced. That would have been difficult when times were tight and it used to be that a green salad was just a small serving of chopped lettuce.
Well, isn't that why this kind of thread belongs in the frugal forum?
I suppose, though I think you should try to cut your food costs on all weeks, not just the ones before payday, if you are living paycheck to paycheck. If you spend more money after being paid, you are unwittingly keeping yourself broke.
That said, no one can, of course, literally eat only beans and rice without eventually suffering from nutrient deficits. The key is not to eat too much prepared food and when you do, get it in bulk when possible and freeze the rest. The difference does add up.
I suppose, though I think you should try to cut your food costs on all weeks, not just the ones before payday, if you are living paycheck to paycheck. If you spend more money after being paid, you are unwittingly keeping yourself broke.
That said, no one can, of course, literally eat only beans and rice without eventually suffering from nutrient deficits. The key is not to eat too much prepared food and when you do, get it in bulk when possible and freeze the rest. The difference does add up.
Well, I guess my initial thought in the OP hearkened back to the the days when I actually didn't have enough money to make it through the month period. It wasn't a question of unwise spending, it was just a question of making it on what I had. I was just talking to a friend yesterday, visiting her at hospital after her surgery, who works full time and has to support her family. The day she went to the hospital for surgery she received a turn off notice for power and gas. Sometimes it's just hard to make it, and it's paycheck to paycheck and frugal ideas can be helpful. A lot of folks in this thread seem to not have experienced that or something, not sure. I know that it's different now for me, because I don't have others relying on me. When I was a single mother of 4 trying to make ends meet, I appreciated frugal ideas, because making it to the next payday was a question mark so all frugal ideas were welcome.
Lucky for me, I am now a single empty nester. Friday is payday for me, and tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch is Hungarian Goulash with ground beef instead of stew meat. The cost of all the ingredients plus a package of frozen yeast rolls to go with it...about $10.00. For that I get about two dinners and two lunches. I also have another pound of burger meat, about 4 chicken leg/thigh sections, some canned veggies, bagged baby carrots, celery, oranges, eggs, lunch meat, cheese, cottage cheese, peanut butter, a bunch of canned apple and cherry pie filling ( I work for a trucking company, so we occasionally get what's called rejected loads..nothing wrong with, just rejected by the customer for some reason) bread, canned ravioli and chili, top ramen, Mac and cheese, and some tortillas.
Another good way to get a few meals out of a nearly empty wallet, is to buy some refried beans, tortillas, rice, and a,small block of cheese. You can usually get a bean burrito and rice dinner, and two lunches. Not real exciting, but it's semi healthy and filling.
I wil also make egg salad sandwiches, and cheap casseroles.
Lucky for me, I am now a single empty nester. Friday is payday for me, and tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch is Hungarian Goulash with ground beef instead of stew meat. The cost of all the ingredients plus a package of frozen yeast rolls to go with it...about $10.00. For that I get about two dinners and two lunches. I also have another pound of burger meat, about 4 chicken leg/thigh sections, some canned veggies, bagged baby carrots, celery, oranges, eggs, lunch meat, cheese, cottage cheese, peanut butter, a bunch of canned apple and cherry pie filling ( I work for a trucking company, so we occasionally get what's called rejected loads..nothing wrong with, just rejected by the customer for some reason) bread, canned ravioli and chili, top ramen, Mac and cheese, and some tortillas.
Another good way to get a few meals out of a nearly empty wallet, is to buy some refried beans, tortillas, rice, and a,small block of cheese. You can usually get a bean burrito and rice dinner, and two lunches. Not real exciting, but it's semi healthy and filling.
I wil also make egg salad sandwiches, and cheap casseroles.
I like homemade beans and rice. That was Saturday's dinner, and it wasn't because I had to...I like it! So, I always have those around.
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I like homemade beans and rice. That was Saturday's dinner, and it wasn't because I had to...I like it! So, I always have those around.
