I have to admit I’m a bit of an over spender on groceries, food insecurity as a kid led to a bit of hoarding food as an adult. You’re videos really help me put into perspective all the things I can do without spending enormous amounts. It’s so realistic and creative. Thanks!!
I totally understand what you mean!! I had quite a rough childhood growing up so I overstock my kitchen for my two girls. I want them to smile everytime I open the cabinets lol.
Also, you can make yogurt by buying a single serve plain yogurt package and a gallon of milk and cook the milk to 180 degrees then let it cool to 115-120 degrees then temper the single serve (add it to a little of the warm milk before adding the mixture into the warm milk). then keep the milk warm to culture. If you have an instant pot just use the yogurt setting. If you have a crock pot, wrap the warm unplugged crock pot machine in a few layers of towels and let sit overnight. I then strain with a cheesecloth and colander and a bowl underneath to catch the whey to make it more like Greek yogurt which is more of the sour cream consistency. This makes 2-3 of the big yogurt containers you can get in the store for the price of one gallon of milk and a single serve plain yogurt. You can use 1/4 cup of the yogurt you make for the next batch.
Hey a quick suggestion. Save the chickpea water after you cook them. It is called auqafaba, it whips up like egg whites. A lot of people add sugar and make marange type cookies or vegan whipped topping for deserts. Edit: a grits topping suggestion is soy sauce and green onions.
I know it's a year after this video was posted, but just in time for the holidays.. the Aquafaba makes awesome royal icing. So easy and cheap! And it tastes better than regular royal icing in my opinion!
When I'm budgeting instead of cake mix, we make peanut butter banana muffins. We use the bananas that start to brown, a scoop of peanut butter and pancake mix (I usually sprinkle chocolate chips on the top too) I usually have pancake mix and peanut butter so it doesn't hurt the budget and still gives us a treat.
Another delicious and cheap treat with bananas that may be starting to brown, is banana fritters! They are so good! If you have ice cream I like to eat them with ice cream. Otherwise they are a great treat just by themselves!
I love the ethnic food aisle! I found bags of alphabet noodles for $.28 a bag! I grabbed 6 bags and throw them into chicken noodle soup to stretch a can to serve 3 of us instead of 1 person lol I add water and a little knorr chicken bullion. It’s a great meal stretch!
Stop with the can. Dice a carrot, throw in the pasta bag, add the Knorr. Done. Next time you serve meat, hold back a little and dice it. Freeze it. Now you have a bit of meat to add to your soup. Big savings!
Finally an extreme budget food video with normal meals. So many of these types of videos are made by people who let’s face it cannot cook. Their food isn’t appetizing at all. Except for the rice salad (I don’t like cold rice I’d substitute quinoa) these meals were realistic. I’m already planning to made those confetti cookies. 😋
I love how you approach these meals really practically while still making the dishes yummy and flavorful. I especially appreciate that you added in the cookies/cake mix - when you’re in a tough spot, that treat can add a bit of “normal.”
You ate really well for $70. Spaghetti is a weekly meal in our house some weeks we use sausage and some weeks we use ground beef it's a crowd pleaser and I use a clearance French loaf from Walmart and make some garlic cheese bread I loved this vlog Mindy.
Just for fun, I added everything you bought into the Walmart app I use every week to buy groceries here in California. If the item wasn't in stock, I made a note of the price and added it to my total. Mine came out to be $87.38 😂
I am in Georgia and decided to do the math on my Walmart app as well. Almost all exact products, except I had to put in Great Value brand for noodles, and they were out of stock on the cake mix... $86.96! Still not bad though for a week of food for 4 people! We don't drink milk or eat cottage cheese so taking those 2 things out would at least get us to $81.02. Also my app said they were out of dried chickpeas so I only added 1 can of chickpeas. That would of course change the price as well.
Food prices are also going up so radically (at least in my area) that I fully believe some of the price difference could be inflation-- from the time she made the video to the time we tallied our own totals.
TIP on extending your taco meat, rice and extra taco seasoning! I use a 2:1 meat/rice ratio, and add extra water to the seasoning pack, let simmer until rice is fully cooked! My kids and their friends had no idea they were eating chicken and rice tacos! Works well with ground beef, chicken and Turkey too!
You can stretch ground beef by adding cooked lentils (anything but red, basically). I do a 4:1 meat to lentil ratio. I use this for taco meat and pasta sauce with meat.
I love your meal plans. I will say they inspired me a lot. My kids are older, 10-23. While the “0ver 18 crew”. Usually eats at work I still have 5 to feed regularly. That’s two 14 yr olds , a 15, 17 and 10 yr old. One box of Mac and cheese won’t work BUT you did give me a LOT of inexpensive ideas! THANK YOU!
I’m so glad I found this channel. I am so into living on a shoestring budget, especially during the mega-inflation we’re experiencing but also because I like to challenge myself and prove that I can get by just fine on the cheap.
Even though I am gluten free, dairy free, soy free and vegetarian, this video was helpful as I can use it as a jumping off point, as you suggested. I love this type of video.
Thanks, Michelle! I am always leery of giving suggestions for other dietary needs because I am not as knowledgeable as someone living that lifestyle. I figure it's better to leave the adjustments up to the person living it! :)
I am low carb/low sugar, so wherever a recipe calls for rice, I substitute riced cauliflower. Still working on a good noodle substitution, but well seasoned spiral zucchini seems to do the trick for now
@@MissTXTee Spaghetti squash? It's not my favorite substitution, but my spouse really likes it. Depending on the sauce going on top, I sometimes use sauteed coleslaw mix in place of noodles, but cabbage isn't always the best vegetable flavor to pair with marinara. :)
Lol what is left for you to eat ?, I was vegatarian and later vegan. My health suffered from the vegan diet after a period of time. Low potassium. B12 , high carb and my hair started falling out dramatically. I am diabetic due to pancreatic cancer and my doctor demanded I increase protein immediately and I decided to eat meat. A low carb diet and adding meat helped me immensely. When you have any diet that omits a food group you have to be diligent in getting the proper nutrition
As part of a 5 member family thank you sooo much . I'm always seeing these videos for one person and never families or it'll be family of 4 😢 I appreciate this 😊
Thank you for saying that Merry. I know a lot of people are worried and stressed now, so I’m just trying to give some realistic ideas and be a “calm non-anxious presence” over on my channel. 😊
Quick lo mien goes quick in our house. 4 packs of ramen, your favorite frozen veggies, 5 tbsp soy sauce, 5 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp sesame oil and sugar, 1/2 tap ginger and 2 cloves of garlic. It won’t disappoint 👌 Figured I’d share since I have to give that spicy ramen a shot. I do love a good bowl of ramen ❤
@@AZURRTIME I admit I spoil my family. Last night I spent 390 & that's lasting a few days. I mean I guess I didn't need the scallops, but hey. Food is one of the ways I show my love. My husband would thank me for the snack if I brought him ramen 🤣😂
@@Rose-zf1jw thats true love, and thats how life should be, i'm happy for your family to have you. I say that as a venezuelan who eats only once a day and pretty much nothing, i think not everybody should have kids. Just responsible and smart people.
Absolutely see where you’re coming from. But if we ate everything we wanted to eat, we wouldn’t be very healthy people. I think people who don’t have kids, really don’t know much about what it takes to raise them.
@@chelsiemilstead7329 when i say everything i dont realy mean to eat junk, i would like to eat a lot of things that are healthy, I think people who arent emotionally stable, financially stable, as i wrote up there, shouldn't have kids. People who are poor eats even less healthier cos they dont have access to proper nutrition food, thats what i mean with "be able to eat everything you want to"
I like adding a can of black beans and a can of petite diced tomatoes to my tacos. I have a LARGE family & this stretches the meat while adding extra nutrients. And it's super affordable. A few cheap meals i like to do are chicken pot pie casserole, chicken spaghetti, eggs, potato & ground sausage (can be eaten in a bowl or in a tortilla) home made tostadas, home made crepes. Pinto beans and cornbread are good, too. Steam veggies or carrots/celery, peas, corn, greenbeans are easy, affordable, healthy sides. We do mashed potatoes or Mac n cheese, also. My kiddos love everything I make. We are a family of 7 so I cook up large amounts and usually have leftovers for the next day. Love what you're doing on your channel! Inflation has ALL of us pinching while still trying to afford some healthy fresh fruits and veggies along the way
Tiny tip When I make tacos (one pound of ground beef or turkey) with 2 -3 potatoes-cut into cubes season by preference With a side of rice (Spanish/Mexican) For the next day With taco/rice -left overs-I add it all to one pot, add a can of tomato sauce add the random veggies that are left over -the one sad carrot (chopped) , a can of green bean or corn whatever is left. Top it with water just to cover -add any seasoning (I use knor chicken powder) and you got a pot of soup we call it Poor man’s soup. Thank you for all the tips this was an awesome video 🥰
Amazing! Some other low budget but nutritional tricks: mash chick peas into a tuna salad substitute, blend dry oats into flour, blend dry red lentils with water into a high protein pancake mix
My cousin Vinny is what I think of with grits every time! Amazing menu and I think lots of families can use realistic meal plans. It turns cheaper foods into real meals. You are so creative to get the most out of every food and penny.
Love your ideas! I recently realized that at my Walmart the Moderna brand is $.48 for 7 oz of macaroni noodles but the great value brand of macaroni and cheese is $.43 for 7.25 oz! You can still use the noodles however you plan and toss the cheese powder aside for something else. One of your previous videos inspired me to try a taco mac & cheese which is how I figured this out. Lol😊
I'm 19 years old. And medically disabled. I can get around and take care of myself. But I can only work via my work from home buisness. My Fiance and I live with my mother because she is a nurse and helped my fiance get a good office job. I feel bad that they work so hard and I can't make my own money right now. So I've been making lunches for my mom and fiance to eat at work! I do all the shopping and cooking and this has got me so excited!! Thank you for all the tips!!
I appreciate how you provide resources right at the beginning of your video and discuss things like food insecurity, gricery store accessability, diet restrictions, among other things! I rarely see this much forrthought in videos like this and it made me so happy!! Thank you!!!
Whaaat?? I cannot believe your children do not like biscuits and gravy! Proves my point that children go against what we parents love to eat! I absolutely love this video!! TFS and I'll keep watching!
Love these videos that you make. This really is such a good time for these as so many people are struggling and need these ideas. You really are doing Gods work by sharing your ideas and skills with people who may need them. ❤️
I do the ramen with chicken, a couple of eggs and a handful of frozen mixed veggies. It is a huge hit and feeds everyone and costs under 5.00 to feed 5.
Yes! A little food repetition can go a long way toward protecting or reducing your food budget. Planning around what's on sale for the week, plus leaving a little room for clearance items, is so important to keeping costs low. Terrific video, thanks!
My Cousin Vinny is a classic favorite in our family! I can't have grits, Chinese food, or talk about mud without throwing in quotes from the movie! "I'm a fast cook, I guess." "Tell me something, how do you get mud into the tires?" Great ideas, as usual! Versatility is a must! We all have different needs, budgets, and store options so these ideas can go a long way! I hope people who need help seek it. Everyone deserves to eat!
I love ❤️ how down to Earth this is! As a vegetarian I'd just sub lentils or beans for the meat😀 also I was looking for a DIY taco seasoning, thank you!⭐️
My budget is 150$ for 2 weeks for a family of 4. Which isn’t so bad I make really nice meals but with inflation is getting tough. I’m trying to learn how to stretch our money a little more. Last few times I went grocery shopping was $270 to $300! It’s a one income household so I feel so and wasting so much at once! So thank you 🙏 I really apréciate this videos!
“Grit? What is a grit?” Oh I love that movie!! My Northern dad had a similar experience when my Southern mother took him home to meet her family and he saw grits for the first time. Thanks for the reminder of a memory!
I would love to see an gluten free and/or dairy free budget challenge! I'm strictly gluten free and mostly dairy free which makes it so hard to keep the grocery budget down😰
If you like Mexican food, you can eat SO well for pretty inexpensive by following authentic Mexican food recipes. Tomatoes, onions, garlic, corn tortillas, different types of dried and fresh chiles and preferred protein and you can have amazing meals. I live in the PNW so the Mexican ingredients are pretty common in stores. You can even make tortillas from scratch with masa to stretch your money further. Enchiladas, tacos, tostadas etc etc.
Really good tips! Especially the one about the kids. A tip: when making tomato sauce for spaghetti, use chicken stock instead of the water with the canned tomatoes 🥫 😊
Good video of your kids love marshmallows my mom used to put peanut butter on the saltines top with a marshmallow and put it in the oven for a few minutes til the tops was brown oh those were the best for a snack after dinner we often has spaghetti their was 8 of us and often we had vegetable soup she saved all of her leftover veggies in ice cream bucket in the freezer when it was full we had soup that was a favorite of ours along side canned ham she would cook on Sunday dinner and a big bowl of mashed potatoes . Those are some of my best memories as a child.
Onigiri, overnight oats, Japanese curry are my go-to's for cheap and easy meals. Also pasta noodles are soooo versatile. Butter, parmesan, salt, pepper and a veggies is also a really good combo that's cheap as well (with the pasta noodles). I will have to try the pasta salad, it looks really good and is definitely something my toddler would eat!!
100% agree! Onigiri with a bowl of simple soup, and Japanese curry are huge favorites during the cold months! Japanese curry is easy to stretch by adding more carrots and potatoes, resulting in an enormous amount of leftovers for lunches and dinners. And it's even better the 2nd day, since the flavors have a chance to meld. My kids inhale it. I have to hide my lunch dish or I'd never get to eat it! 🤣
It would be nice to see a budget haul while needing to eat clean food. I have health issues and need to eat clean, but that doesn't work well with budgeting for food! Fam of 5 here as well
Savory grits are my favorite too. Really indulgent garlic cheese grits are a regular side dish at Christmas in my family. I thought of you, Mindy, the other day. We're trying to eat down our pantry in preparation of moving in August. I had an open container of grits, so I made myself a serving for breakfast, and I used the leftover cheesy beschamel-Rotel sauce, which I had made for another meal that week, to flavor the grits. They were really good!
I do know the reference to My Cousin Vinny. Haha. Our family of 6 has transitioned to shopping mainly at Aldi. You are right. Buying too much food can turn into wasteful when you don’t plan meals. I need to get better at that. For tacos, I use “filler”, 2 lbs of bulk ground turkey (2.50/lb) with 1-2 onions and 1 whole pepper. They don’t know any other way of eating taco meat. Flavorful and really stretches a couple days for 6 people.
Tip: For the instant ramen like you have used, "the bricks" - it's enough to put them in a bowl or a pan, pour boiling water to cover and then cover with lid and leave for a few minutes, instead of actually boiling them. It might save you time and electricity bill as well! Lovely video, I really look up to you for the effort you're putting in for these challenges, keep it up!
I run a pot full of water through the coffee pot, pour it over the noodles, and cover the bowl. It takes a few minutes longer but it's so much easier! A little cheaper than running the stove, and keeps the kitchen cooler. Not to mention not having an extra pan to wash!
I can say as a vegan I don’t & can’t follow most of your meal plans, BUT your channel is VERY inspirational and it reminds me to keep it simple and that meals can be made out of almost anything you have in your pantry & fridge.
I absolutely LOVED this video! There were so many great ideas in here. Im not overly adventurous with my cooking, but some of these chickpea salads and taco bowls looked REALLY GOOD! My husband and son are boring eaters and probably wouldn't eat it, but I could work around that because this looks like food I would really like and that fits my budget also. Make more videos like this PLEASE!!!
Thank you for being realistic. Most cheap meal recipe videos say that you can feed an entire family for $5 and they use chicken breast. In my area, chicken breast alone is $15 and up..and I'm talking about the local Walmart, Krogers and Aldi's. After a while, I just gave up and started spending alot of money on groceries. Thanks for helping us out and be truthful. I just subscribed to your channel. ❤️❤️❤️😊😊😊😊😊
Thank you for these. I had to reevaluate what we eat every day as prices continue to rise. 400$ every two weeks is not something I can do. I think everything you do is s great jumping off place.
I love the ground turkey instead of beef! And I love using the ramen as an inexpensive starch with lots of veggies and an egg or two it’s pretty healthy!
I am so glad that you choose Walmart for these videos because of the great value brand. Most of the other hauls I see are all name brand products, but great values stuff is normally the exact same thing (with a few exceptions of course).
taco casserole. it's easy,filling,can stretch several days,is very cheap to make. a big pan of it runs about $30,and it's a huge aluminum pan full.easily feeds 10-15. with leftovers. reinventing leftovers into entirely new meals.
Going to have fun with this -- I just ordered my groceries from Walmart pick up (less the bread and ramen, as I already have them, and plus chili garlic sauce & upgrading the turkey to ground beef), to a grad total of $70.18. This is the first time my total has been anywhere near other creators budget menus! Thanks in part of egg prices plummeting, of course. :~)
Mindy, thank you so much for this video! I think it is one of your best videos ever!! It is so refreshing to see a budget meals video that isn't just rice and beans 15 different ways. I know sometimes that is what is necessary but these meals were all very palatable and look delicious! I really appreciate the tip about shopping in the ethnic food aisle. I wasn't familiar with that so I will definitely have to check it out on my next Walmart online shopping trip. I also appreciate that you shopped at Walmart as it is very likely available to most people in the US for their grocery shopping. You really show how if you do some advanced planning you can stick to your budget. I even appreciated how you use the cake mix to make cookies. I forgot you can do that and it's an affordable way to get some treats for your family. From Walmart I really appreciate the Great Value brand of pecan shortbread cookies. A pretty good size package is only $1.40 in my area which is Nebraska. I think that is a pretty good price for a package of a couple dozen cookies that are quite tasty. Thanks again for this amazing video! You really showed that you can feed a good size family on a budget while still giving them many items that they like and will eat. There isn't much point in buying food if your kids and family won't eat it. I hope you have a blessed week.
The price of food has gone up here in Britain but more so if you live in the far North on an island 240 miles from the Scotish Mainland , thank the Lord that we have superstores even if we do pay more for our food than on the Mainland. Thank you Mindy that you have given me some good ideas.
I'm adoring the discount produce right now I found a huge 4 pound bag of bananas for 2 dollars. I froze all of it after I processed them so now I can use them in oatmeal, smoothies and as a frozen snack for many days to come
Walmart looks VERY pricey to me. One of my local grocery stores has cukes 0n special 3/$1. Aldi beats many of the prices I;ve seen in this video. That local grocery store of mine also has dozen eggs for $1.88 this week.
My favorite breakfasts right now are canned corn beef hash with a poached egg on top or a turkey sandwich on a toasted double cheese bagel! We have made that Plain Chicken Spicy Pork Ramen too. So good!! Great ideas.❤️
I like to add a can of sliced mushrooms, frozen peas, and a whisked egg or two to my ramen soup. It makes a very filling soup, and one pack of ramen feeds two very nicely with the add-in ingredients.
Love this! We are a family of 5 also. Thank you for including all 3 meals of the day, doesn’t always happen in budget videos. Meals looked great, definitely will be trying some.
This is fantastic. Sadly, I put the same items in my cart and it came to $132.04 but I do think these videos help people think about meal planning differently!
I did the same because I’ve always wanted to figure out the “conversion “ when JP or other American moms who have cheap options, compares to me when they say “$100 per person per month” etc, yet I could always tell our prices were way more . For example 4L milk here is about $8,40. I plugged all items into my Walmart app and chose the cheapest option in all cases. My total was $146.05 CAD for what she paid $70.02 for
Great ideas! Good timing for budget meals now that school is out. I splurge on single-serving cereal boxes because that is the only way I can get it to last a week, haha. If the budget get tighter I know I can save by giving that up.
You hit it out of the park again Mindy. Glad I saw this just before I went shopping. I followed your link and got my first Thrive box. Really liked what I got. Between them and Imperfect Foods I can get things I sometimes can’t find at the store, and the prices are great. Thanks again.
That Moderna pasta is a staple in our home. Fry the pasta with 1 tablespoon a oil and a little piece of onion, once the pasta changes color you can add the water, a can of tomato sauce, 1 spoon of buillon, chopped celery and carrots. Kids love it. Sometimes I need to cook chicken and shred it to use it for enchiladas or tostadas so I use the left over broth to add to the soup instead of the water. It's delicious.
I absolutely love these videos. We don’t have much money but groceries are the one expense that I splurge on only because of the nutrition that comes with organic/grass fed items. You definitely inspire me to cut my costs though! Thank you for sharing this is super helpful!
That ground turkey seems like a great value. Unfortunately nobody in my house will eat it. This really did give me some good ideas though! I've also been trying to make enough for two meals or recycle part of a previous meal into something on another night. I just made a pickup order from Walmart yesterday and it was $120 for about a week of meals for a family of three - which I'm going to try to stretch further than that if I can. The prices are insane and you have to get creative to save a little.
If your family prefers ground beef, try the Worcestershire and/or beef bouillon trick. That made a big difference for us, because we also prefer ground beef!
@@SeeMindyMom I think I actually have 10oz of ground turkey from a HelloFresh meal from a few months ago where they sent the wrong protein. That'll be perfect to try this out! Thank you!
@@SeeMindyMom that is an excellent trick, I am going to try that. I don't live in the USA so this budget doesn't apply to me, but it's still super helpful for inspiration.
@@MdnightWnd You can also mix ground turkey into the ground beef and it will all taste like beef - esp if you also use the beef bouillon and Worcestershire trick.
I have never experienced food insecurity. I will definitely use this video to reduce my spend and donate to a food pantry. What a great idea and an amazing way to really give yourself to the service of others in a really satisfying way. TYFS! ❤
Tuna noodle casserole....large can tuna...1/2 c onion and green pepper....1 can cheddar cheese soup 1/2 can milk... 1 c frozen peas...2 c elbow mac...start the pasta...saute veggies...drain the tuna... when pasta is done...in large bowl. Toss it all together ...pour in casserole dish. 1./2 shredded cheddar on top (optional)...bake till hot and bubbly...salad or fruit on the h e side....great budget meal
My family moved into a house about a year ago and with a mix of that, soaring gas and grocery prices, and some bad luck with job finding we've been tight on money😅 It's been a struggle trying to balance bills and grocery and trying to find meals that are cheap and easy to make. This video gave me a lot of meal ideas and helped me learn a lot of money saving tips so thankyou!!! Oh and if muffin mix is cheaper to buy at the moment you can make really good pancakes by just adding milk and cookies by adding the eggs like you did with the cake mix!
Just a tip i wanted to share. Put some cling wrap around your spoon and then put the cookie dough in. THENjust pop it out with the plastic ont9 the pan and repeat. Its soo much easier if you dint have that kind of an ice cream scooper. I seen a lady do this the other day when measuring crisco..and i HATE washing measuring cups with crisco in them!
Wow. This was a great video … my mouth was ajar with shock on your creativity and smart spending!! First video of yours I’ve watched … after watching this about ten more times and writing notes, I’ll be binge watching your channel!!
I love your channel 😊 a tip I always do is trying to make meals that we can have leftovers the next night. Example..spaghetti then the next night we have baked spaghetti with mozzarella cheese on top. There are actually alot of meals you can do this with 😊 thank you for the tips ❤ from Michigan
New here and our food cost so much more. Eggs, whole milk and mozzarella cheese are things that I also buy. I use to buy macaroni and green beans I buy frozen. Wholly moly $70.02 that was a lot of items you got. Wow, I like that vinaigrette that you made for the salad. Biscuits and gravy totally good!
I just found you this week Andover your ideas. I don't know how these meals feed your family of 5. My family of 5 eat a ton. Very high metabolism here. Still your ideas and tips are amazing.
If anyone is curious what this costs now substituting white bread, great value elbow and spaghetti noodles (that’s what my store had) came to $79.88. With tax $85.07 and that’s with eggs now being .98¢/dozen 6/30/23. I’m in the southeast. In her area before tax it came out to $80.66. So up about $10-$15.
My husband does our shopping. I keep a list posted. One side for priority and one for stock. I've taught him if it's an actual sale and not hype get 2 or 3 for stock if it's able to store. The list made as I cook...it is easier that trying to remember before he leaves. Sending him with a list doesn't give him time to forget on the 50 mile drive. Greetings from idaho
I haven’t tried ground turkey, but i will now. It looks quite good. With two young adult boys in the house, nothing to lose as everything and anything gets eaten.
