Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Challenge: 2 weeks under $100

This week I was presented this challenge by a good friend - feed a family of six 14 meals for under $100 (bonus points for going closer to $60). Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the meals also needed to be low in fat, toddler appealing and could not be cooked in an oven. Stove top,  slow cooker and grill were my available cooking methods. So, it was time to get creative.

I ended up coming up with 2 plans. One was more expensive, but had more variety while the other plan was less and had a couple meatless nights.

Plan 1= Cost Approximately $90
Bulk buying was the way to get through both of these plans! The large tubes 10 pound tubes of ground beef are available at Sam's Club for about $21 each. This was supplemented by one whole boneless pork loin for $1.97 a pound and 2 twin packs of whole chicken for 88 cents a pound.  The large pack of spaghetti noodles from Sam's will cover several meals as well as the giant can of diced tomatoes. The giant tubs of salad will also cover several meals and work as a side dish for a few. Leftover chicken and taco meat will be used in the quesadillas.

The meals looked like this:
1. Spaghetti and meat sauce – and tossed salad -
2. Crock pot chili-
3. Beef noodle bake
4. Taco salad
5. Tacos with black beans and corn
6. Beefy bean soup
7. Chicken with black bean salsa
8. Italian slow cooker chicken with salad
9. Chicken noodle soup
10. Chicken noodle toss
11. Sweet Mustard Grilled Pork Loin
12. Quesadillas
13. Cranberry pork loin
14. Garlic and Soy Chops

 
 
 
Plan 2- cost around $70
 
This plan was very similar to Plan one, but eliminates the pork so there are a few more meatless dishes.
 
1. Spaghetti and meat sauce – and tossed salad -
2. Crock pot chili
3. Beef noodle bake
4. Taco salad
5. Tacos with black beans and corn
6. Beefy bean soup
7. Chicken with black bean salsa
8. Italian slow cooker chicken with salad
9. Chicken noodle soup
10. Chicken noodle toss
11. Spaghetti with oil and garlic
12. Quesadillas
13. Chicken salad wraps
14. Veggie noodle toss

This is the rough grocery list for this plan:
Sam's Club - $36 on meat

Giant 10 pound tube of beef - around $21
2 2-pack of whole chickens - around $7-8 each
Giant tub of salad mix or washed romaine hearts 2.5
Diced tomatoes giant can 2.88
Giant bag of spaghetti noodle -2.88

WalMart or other store stuff

4 Onion
2 cans kidney beans
Green pepper
2cups mozzarella
Shredded cheese for tacos and quesadillas
Salsa
4 cans black beans
Bag frozen corn
Bag frozen peas and carrot
Bag frozen stir fry veggies
lime
bag dried pinto beans
flour tortillas-2 meals taco size and wrap size
Italian dressing
ziti or other short pasta

Things you probably have on hand
Soy sauce
Chicken bouillon
Italian seasoning
Taco seasoning
Garlic
chili powder
cumin
olive oil



So I met the challenge! I had hoped to get down to $50 but that is hard without adding more meatless dinners or having hamburger helper for every meal!   I have to admit that I am feeling pretty proud of myself.

ANYONE ELSE HAVE A CHALLENGE!!

5 comments:

Big Fat Gini said...

Oh crap! I forgot to tell you how it went! I actually ended up spending about $60 on Plan 2, mostly because I already had some of the ingredients. I was so excited, you did great!

Elizabeth said...

Glad it worked out! Now I need another challenge!!

Krista said...

wow, I am impressed! do you have the recipes for those?

I have a challenge for you: "Dinner Club" "Batch Cooking" "Once a Month" type dishes that are not casseroles.

My husband loves the idea of a freezer filled with made-ahead meals but hates food that touches other food. This limits my ability to participate in batch cooking parties. your cranberry pork roast is a great example of food that meets his standard.

We love italian and mexican, indian and asian flavors, as well as vegetarian style.

Elizabeth said...

Krista, we actually try not to do many casseroles. Most of the world seems to be watching their weight these days and casseroles tend to be pretty fatty. The Cranberry Pork loin is actually pretty good example of what I do for batch cooking.

Anonymous said...

Also, the Cranberry pork loin is FRACKING DELICIOUS!!!

HoJo