Thrifty Homemaking on a Middle Class Budget: Dinners #1

I have browsed the internet for YEARS looking for meal ideas to fit our rather low-end budget, and have come up with mostly naught. I've came across GREAT websites with AWESOME ideas, don't get me wrong, but these websites showcased "budgets" of over $150-$200 per week for these great menu plans. That is, unfortunately, unfeasible for us.

SO, in light of this, I have developed and discovered a few good tips over the years and want to share them with you. :-)

We are a single income family of eight with a grocery budget of approximately $80 weekly.

Yes, I said $80.00 per week to feed all seven of us (one is a baby) breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

One way that I have found to do this is by cutting the meat budget.

(Disclaimer: These meals are not specifically gluten free and not specifically SUPER healthy. We do what we have to do within our budget in order to not go hungry, and that does not include organic foods and grass-fed meats at the present time.)

I spend about $25.00 per week on meat for 7 or 8 dinners. To do this, I buy 4 of the 10# bags of chicken quarters from my local grocery store at .59 per pound, and divvy it between meals.

This one is frozen but they are sold thawed.

We have just recently begun to do all of our chicken cooking at the same time, on Fridays, along with all the work of deboning and chopping to save time and energy. 

When we can grill them, we do, but when we can't, I bake them skin on and skin-side up at 375* for 45 minutes to an hour depending on the thickness of the quarters. When juices run clear they are done. 

After they are cooked, we let them cool for a bit and then strip the skin off  and start taking the meat off of the bones, being careful of the little sharp bugger in the leg. 

Once the chicken is off of the bone, we chop it to casserole-sized pieces and bag it for the fridge/freezer in meal appropriate portions:

I label the bags with the date cooked. 

 They are usually good in the fridge for 4-5 days, and in the freezer indefinitely! All that needs to be done is a little sauteing in a pan with some oil or nuke it if you have a microwave. :-)

 Recipes for this method coming in my next post!

And this photo is just because she's a cutie!

See you next time on
Homemaking on a Middle Class Budget: Dinners #2