We've recently fallen into a very tight budget. I can barely buy enough to hold up our eating. I am sure I am not alone. I thought this thread could help those of us struggling financially to share cheap finds, coupon ideas, money saving ideas of any kind, please share it!

I am using bargain shopping, couponing, and cooking at home to make it right now. Couponing is time consuming, and doesn't really work like the TV show - at least not usually. But I have had a 40-60% savings with it. Tomorrow I"m going out to shop, and I've planned a list of must gets, then I will do my best to coupon or bargain shop for those items. Any remaining budget I will get extras or buy ahead on something else that's a bargain - as long as it won't expire before used.

Also, I menu plan at least a day or two ahead - not a week. I look at what should be eaten next, and plan it on scrap paper. Easy. Afterall, I believe throwing out food is like throwing out money.

For convenience when you cook, cook a little ahead. I throw an extra chicken breast (or other meat) in foil in oven while other things cook. Then next night - chicken meat for whatever is all set to go, and cheaper by using oven already on and cheaper by not using precooked convenience meat.

What kinds of tips do ya'll have?

The Shoestring Meals forum has a lot of dieting on a budget tips, many of the tips and recipes are low-carb.

I use tvp (soy protein granules that are reconstituted with broth or water) to extend ground meat. I brown them together with onion, celery and/or green pepper), and then add broth (in the same volume as the tvp - so cup for cup).

Then I freeze it in ziploc freezer bags and every 20-30 minutes I shake and squish the bag so that the meat mixture freezes in crumbles. Then I can scoop what I use.

Even though the meat mixutre is low carb, I used to use it in high carb recipes (like spaghetti sauce, tacos and sloppy joes). Now I use it in low-carb recipes. For example a low-carb sloppy joe by simmering some of the meat mixture with diced tomatoes with green chiles, hot sauce, and a bit of Splenda.

I want to start by saying, thank you Arkansas Kel!!! I love the idea of this thread!

We are struggling financially. I don't work, so my contribution is clipping coupons & saving as much money on groceries as I can. It's a very time consuming process and like you said, I don't get my groceries for free...but I DO save quite a bit. It's definitely worth it!

Since we can't share links on this site, google "hillbilly housewife emergency menu" you will find a wealth of info for living on a super frugal budget. This would work well for the family, but not for those of us on a specific diet, like Atkins. But I find that as long as I have salad stuff, some kind of meat (hamburger patties, chicken breast) & cheese, I'm usually ok. (I don't branch out much when cooking for myself)

The thing that helps me the most is planning ahead, meal planning, clipping coupons and sticking to a list at the grocery store. I try not to bring the kids with me when I shop because they like to find things NOT on my list that they can't live without.

Also, I've found there's a wealth of printable coupons & freebie offers on facebook. I have a seperate FB account just for my coupons.

If I think of anything else, I will post later. I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting!

~Deblynn
(Currently on the Atkins..have lost 12lbs so far)
*Mom to 2 teenage boys & a 5 yo girl*

How many carbs are TVP and how much does it usually cost?

I'm cooking for two usually (sometimes 4 if our friends come over) - 3 out of 4 of us are low carb and the 4th is agreeable as long as the food's tasty. I have a hillbilly housewife account - but find too many recipes to be too high carb for us.

Right now I'm planning my shopping tomorrow. I have a lot of meat and veg in the freezer - so long as we don't wear out on chicken LOL. I have a budget of $40, to get a list I estimated at $40 to last us two weeks. So if I can coupon it down, I can afford a little extra something this trip!

One of my biggest hurdles is pet food - we got too many furry dependents around. Pet food - even going cheaper - is expensive. I tried a BARF diet conversion - which benefited my old dog's health significantly, but wasn't maintainable at this budget level either. I don't have that resource of the butcher who wants to give it away or the local slaughterhouse freebies. Any pet feeding ideas?

I've tried a few other diets in between Atkins, and I've found atkins to be the most friendly on a budget. I have a lot of egg salad, tuna and chicken salad, and canned veggies. I eat a lot of chicken legs, they are super cheap! I'll get the family packs of ground beef, make a big pot of chili or spaghetti for the family, and put aside some plain beef for me to put in quiches and omelettes, low carb pizza, etc.

well, I went over a bit on my shopping, but with coupons I saved 47% overall on the trip. I went over less than the extra cash dh snagged today on a quick job. So, good until next payday so long as we like chicken!!

It's true, any cheap meat fits in. I did grab a tiny pkg of cheap mini sirloin steaks - makes me think I have a steak anyway. One of my LC things is to get to have a steak.

Best money savers this week: Complete saline for my contacts free after reward and free trial sized hand lotion x 2 at Walgreens, got some cole slaw style cabbage for 69 cents/bag, lunchmeat 2 lb pkgs $4.41 at kroger mgr specials. Got a good deal on pet fd at kroger using coupons they mailed me for store brand pet supplies.

OH, and DH is going to put up a clothesline - at least some of our laundry can go on it. Electricity saver ;0

The cost depends where you buy it. When I can find it in bulk bins at a healthfood or bulk food store, I've paid between $2.50 and $3.00 per pound, while prepackaged it's usally somewhere between $3.50- $5 (in our area Bob's Redmill brand tvp at Walmart is just under $4 for a 10 ounce bag, but the same bag is $6 in the local healthfood store).


If you buy it in 25 lb bags, many health food stores will give you a substantial discount over the bin price.


A pound of hamburger will yield 3 to 4 half cup servings, but a pound of dry tvp will yield 18 half cup servings.

A half cup of ground beef contains 150 - 300 calories depending on how lean it is.

While 1/3 to 1/2 a half cup of tvp (made with 1/4 cup dry tvp and 1/4 cup water) has only 80 calories.




TVP Granules

Nutrient Facts
Serving Size: 1/4 cup dry granules (24g)

Calories 80
Calories from Fat 0
Total Carbohydrate 7.00 g
Dietary Fiber 4.00 g
Protein 12.00 g



Dry tvp is far, far cheaper than ground beef. The price per pound can be misleading, because you have to take into account that with ground beef you lose weight to the fat and water that comes out of the meat, and the tvp is a dehydrated product, and after you add the hot water to reconstitute it, a pound of dry tvp is equivalent to roughly 4 lbs of ground beef.

Ready-to-eat tvp products such as the soy "crumbles" in the freezer case often are more expensive than beef per serving. The stuff I mean (the dry stuff that looks sort of like grape nuts cereal or beige aquarium gravel) is a lot cheaper than tvp even if you have to pay $5 per pound (because that's equivalent to $1.25 to $1.50 per pound ground beef.

I usually pay $3 or less per pound, so that would be like paying 75 cents per pound for ground beef.

I don't mind plain tvp (which would be the cheapest), but hubby doesn't care for it. We both like tvp when it's mixed with ground beef, pork or sausage (or a mixture). I also can use cheaper (and therefore fattier) ground beef because the tvp has no fat - so when I combine the tvp and the meat, I can get the equivalent of super lean beef at a price per serving that is lower than the cheapest 70% lean ground beef.

Very lean ground beef runs 75 cents to a dollar per serving. My TVP mixture averages 25 cents or less per serving (Plain tvp would be only 17 cents per serving if you paid $3 per pound).

When I started, every time I made it, I added more tvp, to bring down the price. My husband starts to notice and object if I use much more than 1 lb of tvp for each 1 pound of ground beef (1 lb of ground beef, about 1/2 cup of seasoning veggies like onion, bell pepper, mushroom and celery, 1 lb of dry tvp, and 3-4 cups of water makes the equivalent of 5 lbs of ground beef - all for under $5).

Has anyone tried using boneless chicken thighs instead of boneless chicken breasts? I'm thinking of using the boneless thighs to make Kel's Sophia Loren Chicken fingers. I have a friend who's a professional cook; he uses them at home instead of breasts because thighs are less expensive and more flavorful.

Also, he had to TELL me the chicken marsala was made with thighs; I had no clue from the color, texture or taste. Try it on your "I like white meat only" family members.

We usually buy thighs. There's only one bone in a chicken thigh, so unless there's a tremendous sale on bonleless thighs, I just buy regular thighs and cook them as-is, or debone them myself.

I like that thighs are harder to ruin than breast meat. If you overcook a chicken breast, you've got dry, rubbery meat. If you overcook a thigh, the meat falls off the bone.

I make chicken "wings" or fingers by cutting a thigh in three pieces, paralel to the bone. Two pieces are boneless, and one has a bone in the center. I can keep the skin on or take it off.

I make pulled chicken by cooking thighs in a crochpot with a seasoned sauce. Some of my sauces ketchup and diet soda - diced tomatoes and green chiles and/or hot sauce and garlic (sweetened with a little Splenda when the cooking is done, if the hot sauce is extra vinagery) - teriyaki sauce...

I started cooking with thighs because they were cheap, but when I realized how versatile and fool-proof they are, I was sorry that I ever thought that breast meat was "better."

White meat is a little leaner I know, but the calorie difference is much smaller than most people realize.

I've used what was called "thigh tenders," they were cheaper, just as easy, and tasty.

I'm interested in the TVP. We especially like a few "hamburger helper" recipes - as we call them - not really HH that use ground beef. I might could stretch it some. It doesn't sound like it adds a lot of carbs for the TVP.

Using coupons I get dry dog food (not what I'd prefer to feed them) for about $1/lb and sometimes less. I find chicken leg qtrs for 69 cents/lb up to a dollar/lb sometimes. That grind sounds like they would like it, but $2/lb for 3 dogs - one who should get 2 lbs raw (BIG boy), sounds pricey.

I don't know how permanent this will be. At minimum a few paychecks. And I know if I can find frugal ways, when things are better we will have more stability. We are at a check to check point nearly. It's not bad decisions, buying an overpriced house, or expensive car payments - it's a nearly disabled husband with a failing business. All our options on the business right now mean lawsuits, so we are trying to hold it together long enough to get things to a better place. So frugal is the way for me, probably beyond a few paychecks.

Hey he is building a clothes line!! There's a frugal step.

Thanks for the good ideas, Atkins Chicks. You're way ahead of me! Have a great day!

This week's money saver - took leftovers home from low carb meal at friends house at her insistence. Gotta love her.

Clothesline is coming along, just needs paint and put up. DH is still "working on it." Good thing it's not life or death to have a clothes line.

He did manage to trade some stuff he had and didn't use for the last payment on a car he's reselling. Now, the reselling part. Cross your fingers.

Didn't do very budgety today. Work had my favorite day - taco salad day. Went to take care of car deal after work, was STARVING, had no back up snacks on me, drove through Hardees and had low carb burger - budget buster.

I got English Roasts at Kroger 2.47/lb and they had ground chuck 2.27 lb. I got all I could afford for this week. We might get a little extra money before the sale expires - so maybe can get some more. That's a pretty good price for some good meat! I'd love to lay a little extra in the freezer besides all this CHICKEN! Texas cattlemen are slaughtering early so the beef prices should be low for a bit.

Also grabbed some store brand diet soda, g2 gatorade for DH who works in the heat .79/bottle, 1 pkg carrots .65, shredded cheese 1.89/pkg kroger brand, and a carton cream (4.55 - not so cheap). I came in $2 under my budget for the trip - didn't coupon any this time - I just had a sales item targeted trip.

I also picked up a shirt at JCP for interviews - very slimming, very cute. I wasn't going to try it on, my BFF talked me into trying it. I got a new bag, shirt and necklace for around $40. The bag is quite professional, and was reg $70. I needed a new one pretty bad. My old favorite broke a few weeks ago. It was a good retail therapy kind of trip.

For this week I have put back in the fridge some chicken I precooked in foil while the oven was on for something else, a couple tiny steaks, 2 lbs precooked ground beef, and 2 english roasts to deal with. I'm planning a roast in crock pot with carrots and some frozen veg, our Hamburger helper (slaw mix I got on the cheap, ground beef, soy sauce, spices, onion if any left), Steak and cauliflower puree, maybe chicken alfredo with my precooked chicken, joe with the rest of the ground beef. It all sounds good so far and I'm in budget!

Wow, lots of great ideas here; I'm newly unemployed and looking for ways to save and diet at the same time.