Super Low-Cost Menu Plan: $10 for 24 Meals
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- Опубліковано 13 гру 2023
- It's time for some tight-budget menu planning tips! Buying Kroger 99¢ red mesh bags can help you significantly lower your food bills! In this video I show you how to make three meals, which will serve a family of four for at least six nights. The base of this menu plan is $7 of produce from Kroger to which I added $3 of ingredients from home. You'll be amazed at how far a few, simple ingredients will go in feeding a hungry family!
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We're Hope and Larry and we love practical frugality. We raised our four sons, debt-free, including paying cash for our home when our income was well under the national average. For tips on saving money, budgeting, paying off debt, and setting goals (while living with a spirit of joy and abundance), subscribe to us here on UA-cam and visit us at our website and on social media.
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Please, please, please, Hope, please continue doing these cooking videos, showing us how you cook, in your kitchen. This was awesome. Thank you.
Ditto. I'm new to vegan and this video was a great help
Please 😮
Please do more videos like this one! So very helpful!! Thanks so much!! ❤
Hope, gracias por ensenar a ahorrar y aprender Ingles🙏
Yes!
The amount of produce you got for $7 was eye popping! WOW!
Yes in NC that's hard to find
Believe it or not, "bean juice" is actually a thing in the culinary world and it's called aquafaba. It freezes well and it gives lovely richness to soups.
Aquafina..so literally " bean water" makes perfect sense to me!!!
@@dortek882 If you soak the raw beans before cooking, then toss the soaking water, which will be full of lectins. But boiling also inactivates lectins, so cooked bean water is ok.
Can for freeze them in cubes to add to soup or other dishes later?
@@user-hj5tl2fo7u Sure, why not.
It's my favourite ingredient that also sounds like a mermaid's name!
We used up leftover chicken tonight. Didn't have a clue what to do with it, because there wasn't much of it. Had a little cream cheese, a small chunk of colby jack cheese, milk, flour, milk, butter, and a little bit of broth from cooking the chicken, and made a white sauce. Threw in some spaghetti noodles. It' was so good. Never made a white sauce. Saw it on youtube Mindy mom. Getting down to the nitty gritty of using every little piece of food and eating less.
Way to go!
I love watching your videos. That moment when you wait anxiously for your son's verdict on the bean and rice bowl was so touching. Amongst all the fakery on UA-cam, it's always good to watch genuine people.
If you have cabbage, make cabbage rolls. Easy as can be.
Yes, it can be entirely vegan. Use lentils or beans as filling, instead of meat. Same with pepper. Make stuffed peppers. Soup.
Salads
Etc.
Do u have a good cabbage roll recipe? I've never made it.
Thank you for teaching another generation ❤
Loved this video! Please do more like it! Kroger red bag fruits and veggies are always a treasure hunt. Never know what you'll find. Got green beans, potatoes and onions. Cooked them with a bit of ham and we ate for days off of $3!
Any time you get cheap onions, chill well , dice, and pop them into a Ziploc in the freezer. They freeze well, and no more crying!
I live for these videos! Please keep 'em coming! I feel so poor right now ❤
Your not alone in this feeling.
You're not poor, just temporarily broke! 😊
Little tip on the avocado. If they still have their "stem", pry off with your fingernail. If its all dried out, no good!
If you ever do want to try a little oil to the stir fry, try sesame oil - gives you that Oriental flavor. With it, I use garlic, soy sauce, ginger and a tad of cumin. I measure the same way! Another way to save vegetables for stir fry is to pickle them with the Oriental spices in about 1 part water and 2 parts vinegar. Put into glass jars and they will last for a couple of months in the refrigerator. Makes for a very fast stir fry meal.
Or a little sesame paste!
You need your own cooking channel Hope. I am not a big fruit person but I love vegetables. Your dishes make me realize I could live without meat😄
If you don't like rice you could use lentils
I cook like you do. Recipes are, at best, a suggestion. I use what i have on hand and season to my liking. I think cooking like this is a blessing. God bless you for sharing this. More people need to learn this skill. I was taught to cook like this by my late mother in law who was an amzing cook.
Yes please continue with these cooking videos. I'm vegan and there is only 1 other budget vegan cooking show on youtube that I know of!
And bonus that the meals are healthy
Yes I dont use oil either!
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There are some on Raising Wildflowers. She has plant based cooking on budget videos.
The liquid left after cooking the beans is called pot liquor. Thanks for a great video! Lots of good ideas!😊
Never heard it called pot liquor. I also asked a red seal Chef and he’s never heardit called that either.
@@azzzonline It's of southern origin and is detailed on Wikipedia, just an fyi.
Love these healthy recipes on a budget videos. Inflation and shrinkflation have really taken a toll on many bank accounts. I love how you portion out your meals! That's one thing many of us are not used to doing anymore! If we portion out it will be great for the bank account and for the waistline! Please post more frugal recipes, I love them!
Never seen “red bags” at my Kroger. Am going to have to do a double check next visit.
Hope, your tip about not following the recipe perfectly to save money is so true. I do this regularly. For example, if a recipe calls for a can of diced tomatoes, but I have a pint of fresh grape tomatoes that are on the verge of spoiling, I will use those instead. After you cook for a while, you learn that most recipes follow a basic formula with which similar ingredients can be substituted. It’s a huge money saver to cook this way, and prevents waste too.
Seeing your Daniel in this cooking/kitchen/budgeting video really makes it feel like a family cooking video… love this! Feels just a little more “home-y” than the usual content.
I wish all the people who eat in the food deserts could learn to eat this way. So healthy, so cheap. Would be great if food banks were able to give more fruit and veg - who cares if they're ugly or have a dent? So much waste in our country and so many people who think a bag of chips is food for the kids. Lack of knowledge of food is killing our brains and driving the obesity epidemic. I live in a community where poverty and poor eating is rampant. It would be great if agencies would send people out to a community location and show people how to stretch those foods available . I'll get off my soapboxnow. 😊. Good job!
In Germany, there's much food waste too but there are people willing to deal with it, like the Munich "community kitchen" project, they pick up waste food 'big style' and sell menus from it so they can pay their bills and personnel. 👍👍
Wish Walmart would have a ‘red bag’ section!
I just invented Mongolian Broccoli Stirfry. Yum.
I have made present bags in different sizes. Just pop the present in and pull the draw string. They can either give the bag back or keep it. Buying wrapping paper is a waste to me
Years ago we used to go to a particular produce store to buy what they had in thier boxes of culls. You got a whole banana or apple box of produce for between $1 and $5 each; typically each box had a lot of one to three things. It was during this time I transitioned from a pre-made meal plan to one that was created after a trip to the store. Granted food preservation commenced as soon as we got home because not every thing was in ideal shape and had to be removed for transport to the compost pile. Although we werent canning but rather short term freezing, it sure was worth it.
Very challenging for me because I have food intolerances. Concerning all the ingredients you just used, all I can eat is the cabbage and carrots. 😆
I just made some acorn squash and purple cabbage. I fried a few eggs and that was my dinner. I kid you not lol
Just bought a bag of mung beans because I read that people who are sensitive to beans can handle these if prepared properly by soaking and using a pressure cooker.
I've been praying- Lord Jesus, please help me eat beans lol 😆
I wish our stores did a red bag type of deal and a 1% grocery tax! Great recipes❤
Right!! Ours is 9.58% 🤯
I think the good thing to live in New Jersey, where everything is really really expensive is that we don’t pay tax in groceries
Wow. I'm hungry now. What a GREAT use of food.
Thank you so much for your videos. I can tell that you truly have experience on what you are teaching us. You put a lot of time and energy into your videos and we all appreciate it out here. It is needed more than ever with the cost of inflation. Back in the '80s I used to get a newsletter from Amy Dyciszm (?), her newsletter was titled the Tightwad Gazette. She is a genius! One thing that she shared was that she saves little bits of leftover whatever into a freezer bowl in her freezer. When it's full she adds bouillon cubes and makes a soup out of it. They're large family would enjoy a cup of homemade soup first before they ate their meal. So they got some good nutrition and they started filling up and not overeating so much. I did that too and it was very helpful in many ways. Thought I'd share that tip here.
Love that tip! Thanks for sharing.
I keep vegetable scraps and make broth
I love these videos and hope you will do more. Maybe once a week when you are cooking your family meals???? Also love when your son joins you. This was very informative and useful for these crazy financial times. Thank you
More, please! No Krogers here in MN but love the frugal deals you got. Love these frugal meal planning videos!
I’m from MN too!
The Kroger family includes many brands of grocery chains such as Ralphs, King Sooper, Fred Meyer, etc. There are about a dozen in all. Most do the 'red bag' thing, but selection on any given day varies wildly. My local Ralphs often has nothing left, or just mouldy lettuce.
Just wanted to say I love Kroger’s red bag produce. I buy it all the time and cook from what they have for that day. Kroger also discounts their bagged vegetables 2 days before the expiration date and you can get great deals on them also. As a vegan it’s the best way to shop! Thank you for your videos.
Thank you for this helpful video! I am a single 38 year old woman, no kids, or pets. I make pretty decent money, but as a single income earner, my salary just isn't keeping up with inflation, so I've been searching for frugal living and retiring early content. On top of reducing my grocery expenses, I'm in community college getting a cert for a part-time healthcare job. Every little thing helps!
You do a great job eating cheaper than me. With snacks and food I am at no more than $5 a day. I try to eat many of my meals organic. Some of the more expensive foods like organic grass fed beef, shrimp, salmon, nuts and wild rice are added into my diet. The cost per serving is low when used with other ingredients. I focus on eating nutrient dense foods and limit the exposure to artificial colors and flavors. Trying new types of foods like the ones you make are on the list.
I will be back to new food preparation after the kitchen project of cutting down on plastic storage and reducing the freezing of food and unthawing the food.
(1)This is being done with vacuum sealed glass containers in the refrigerator. The hope is to increase the time it can stay in the refrigerator. Samples seem to last around 30% longer.
(2) Impulse sealing the original chip bags, vegetable bags and other plastic bags. This works great but the hot wire needs replacement and should be back running in a few days when the parts come in. This really cuts down on plastic waste.
Great food ideas but I need to scale it down for a single person.
I'm loving these ideas❤
Me too!!!
Thank you for this cooking video!! I would love more videos like this. I don’t have a Kroger to get these deals but the menu planning and cooking information still helps a lot. 💚🌱
We always called the liquid left over from cooking veggies or beans "pot liquor". Aquafaba is either French or Italian for bean water.
These videos are awesome. For the soup it would be good to sauteed the onion a bit in whatever oil you have for a bit of flavor boosting. I love how you used similar ingredients to make multiple meals.
I think we all feel pretty poor right now with no end in sight.
It is hard for me to make soup, because my son will hardly eat soup…he will not eat black beans either. So I have to make red beans instead! Lol. I make red beans & smoked sausage and serve over rice with Mexican cornbread. Then I use some of the red beans and sausage to make chili with half ground sausage and beef. Then I use some of those seasoned beans to make bean burritos and refried beans that I turn into a Mexican Pizza. So, my one pot of cooked beans are used many different ways. If I have any leftover I freeze them for another day. I also, cut up my carrots and freeze them in ziplock bags. I have a soup container I keep in my freezer. Any vegetable that is leftover and not enough to be served as a serving for someone is put into the soup container and kept frozen until the end of the month to make homemade vegetable soup. If I have leftover roast in gravy it goes into the container too. Any little bits of pork, sausage, beef, bacon, etc is kept in individual tiny containers. Which I turned into a wonderful pizza one night when I had no idea what to fix! We were low on groceries and had about 2 days to go until payday. I had a frozen cauliflower pizza with just sauce and cheese on it, a container with a tiny bit of sautéed mushrooms and few pickled jalapeño peppers. This all went on the frozen pizza sprinkled with couple packets of parmigiana cheese and red pepper flakes…that turned into clean out the freezer pizza! 😂 my son hates cauliflower and yet he gobbled down the whole thing! He said was one of the best frozen pizzas he had ever had. 😅
Although I eat meat, your style & techniques are similar to mine. I eat for about $ 2.00 a meal. Great video.
Oh, how excited I am for every one of your videos! Can't wait for this one as well! It's a beautiful time of the year now. Ideas for the special dinners of Christmas and New Year as well? Would love to see some recipe ideas! Sending love and blessings to you and your family!
I show how to make the three recipes on this video. Can't wait to see what you think. (Hope)
@@UndertheMedian Definitely loved the recipes and how everything came out! Such hearty delicious meals for this weather and cold!
It’s called “pot liquor”. It’s the basis of many southern suppers.
Tight- budget meal planning is this week for us so your program tonight was spot on. Thanks for sharing.
Either my Krogers' red bag area has moved, has been emptied by the time I look or they don't have one any more. I don't even see the special shelves they used! Thank goodness they did have it during this summer - canned a lot of stuff.
I just love how easy and delicious you make frugal cooking to be! You always inspire and motivate me to make better choices with the recipes I make and price I pay for my food. Thank you for your knowledge!
Granny called the bean juice ,"pot liquor ".
I have canned black beans, now I had ideas what can be done. Thank you 😊👍🏾
Daniel is so handsome. Cute cute cute
Its the season for soup here in Scotland -tattie soup, lentil soup, split pea soup, Scottish broth, and Cullen Skink ( which has fish in it ) soup is so good and so easy to do plus a nice homemade bread too or shop bought one makes a great lunch & dinner ( I make mine in my slow cooker) ❤
i really like watching you because your so down to earth and real it's like watching a friend
Thank you! I haven’t watched a video for awhile, but I am so glad I clicked on this one! I have been really struggling with food waste lately and it’s doing my head in. I am privileged to earn a very good living, for me trying to be frugal is for environmental reasons, so very conscious of my carbon footprint. I am grateful you took the time to share your knowledge.
I loved this 😃 Daniel is such a sweetheart and looks at you with such love, Hope ❤️ And the food looked amazing. And as an added bonus we had Larry's voice from behind the camera 😃 xx
I would love to cook like this, however the fam is so picky!!!!! Also, I was vegetarian for 3 years but I was never satisfied… like I was full but never satisfied until I started to eat meat again but it does make me smile to see that your family is so open to not eating meat in most meals or limiting meat!
We do not have a Kroger in our small town but I will keep an eye out for red bags if I go to a Kroger in a different town. Thank you!!! And I agree with the others; please continue to post cooking/food meals because I run out of ideas and it’s sooo amazing to see minimal food waste!!!! ❤
This is the time of year to look for clearance bags of pomegranates.
I agree with you about not always following a recipe. I'm teaching my daughter to cook and I've told her that often you follow a recipe the first couple of times you make a new dish--just to get the feel of it. Then, you can go rogue and make it how you like. Being a good cook--and a frugal cook, often means practice and getting a "feel" for dishes.
Please keep doing these videos because it helps people.
I would love more walk you through it type of videos since I’m a very visual learner.
As I am watching you I am preparing my apple cinnamon oatmeal in my crockpot... When I wake up tomorrow it's going to smell like apple pie in my house😊
Yum!
I had to take a chicken back to the store cause in stead of chirping. It said, cheap, cheap, cheap. 😅 ......hey, great ideas!
It all looked yummy. Okay I have never seen anyone use green chile raw/uncooked. Anaheim is what you have and they are one of the most mildest chiles. To get the best flavor out of your green chile I suggest you grilling it to give it a nice char, then pelling the skin off. You can do it stove top or in the oven although it does permeate your entire home. We "roast them on the outside grill. But then again we roast New Mexico green chile @ 40 pounds every year. Pell then freeze !
Was thinking the same! Albuquerque girl here ;)
If you haven't tried enfrioladas, you should! You make the sauce from refried beans (pintos or black), instead of using enchilada sauce. I just use the immersion blender to make the black beans into a smooth sauce with taco seasonings. I make cheese and onion foldover enchiladas in a skillet with a small amount of oil. Cover with sauce, and sprinkle with cheese. Add sliced green onions on top.
If you eat meat, try a fried egg or some chorizo on top.
I appreciate your honesty with this. So many others on YT are not honest about all of the additions they make.
You could have also made a cole slaw with the cabbage and apples. Apples can also be used for an easy baked apples. Core the apple put the apples in a baking dish, sitting up, fill the ‘ hole’ with a mix of sugar and cinnamon ( or brown sugar and cinnamon) bake at 350 for about half hour to 45 minutes. Yummy. Bananas, slice them up on your oatmeal, or banana bread or muffins. The soup looked really good! The one lone pepper?. Fry up some chopped up potatoes with the chopped up pepper and a bit of onions for a side dish or for like hash browns for breakfast. Or chop it up and mix it in an omelette, or just mix it in scrambled eggs.
Sorry, add a little water in the bottom of the dish before baking the baked apples.
My mother stuffed the apples with cooked rice and poured golden syrup over before baking. Yum.
@@angieprice7206 my mom made a rice pudding that was good. I don’t remember the exact recipe. But it had rice, cinnamon, milk and raisins. ( no apples in that one)
My mom makes the " baked " apples one at a time in the microwave. She says they aren't quite as good as in the oven but at her age she doesn't like to deal with the oven anymore. They're pretty good.
That sounds yummy. I have made a similar cooked version. Now that I live on my own I sometimes make a version of that just to use up some already cooked rice. I put it into a bowl, pour some cream over, put brown sugar on top and then nuke it. Not perfect but certainly passable.@@sallyprzybil2404
"Thank you!" ❤ I love polite teens!
I do like this video. You got a LOT of eating for very few dollars in large part due to the red bag sale. But even if you selectively bought at regular or regular-sale prices, these meals wouldn't break the bank.
I don't have a Kroger so those deals are not offered at stores around me
Made with love ❤best part of this is y’all are eating real food with real vitamins nutrients and minerals. I can not love this enough.
Glad to know you enjoyed the video. And thank you for your kind words.
Peppers freeze really well. If you have leftover peppers, just wash and chop up and freeze in a ziplock bag.
Great to sprinkle those peppers onto homemade pizza.
Imagine having a kid like that who just eats the food! I want to send my two over to Hope for retraining.
For visual people like me, a glug and a shake is easier to remember than how many cups you use. Really enjoyed this video!
I love the red bags. I look for them first and the value is most certainly there. I especially like finding lemons and limes.
Thank you very much for walking us through your whole process, from your grocery haul to portioning out the meals. I have no idea how to plan meals (yet!) so this was extremely helpful. ❤🎉
Yes more cooking please especially with Dan he's great im starting a new diet this is giving me ideas ❤❤❤
You make the best menu planning videos, because you plan your meals around using healthy ingredients on sale and not crap! Thank you 🎉
Ok, I love your last comment about the dishes. Love your sense of humour. Great video.
The good part is you will only have the eating dishes the rest of the week.
I had no idea about the red bag food. What a game-changer! Please do more of these videos.
Loved that area, when I lived in AZ.
Yes, hit the 👍 button
I am getting more creative! I cook my beans instead of getting canned, I freeze and reuse my bbq or salsa chicken for a second meal, etc. 2024 is the year for me to be healthy and save money
These videos are my favorites. And you cook like I do. I love getting more ideas though on how you do your week with a certain ingredient. It’s really creative
Loved your video!!! You make everything so great to look at and I get ideas from you also. More please. I also want to see the carrot dogs again...
Your children are so thoughtful and polite. Your meals looked delicious. You are very intentional with your spending and meal planning. Excellent job Hope ❤
more cooking videos please!
Your budget cooking videos are the best, and in TN we call it “bean liquor”😊
It is amazing how far those $7 vegetables made with the beans and rice !! Wow this would be great for someone on a super tight budget-- I love this please keep making cooking videos
This is great especially with how much groceries cost these days! I wish my husband would eat beans! We grew up very poor and beans were a staple.
I love the creativity!! I've been doing this more for us too. My hubby loves it!
Hey, Hope, you're my kind of cook, flexible about what goes into meals. An old friend used to say that what went into the soup was nobody's business except the cook. I need to do an audit of what I have in and make me some nutritious soups and stews, all good comfort food and so healthy.
Maybe tomorrow I will have the energy, having had surgery on Wednesday, so not at my best right now. Home cooked, and usually meatless is my preference, but right now my church are being fantastic in looking after me. Might manage to make Christmas coleslaw today, red cabbage and onion feels kind of festive to me.
Thanks for another great and inspiring video.
Thank you! I love your frugal vegan videos!!!!
You need a bench scraper! If you haven’t used one , I bet you would like it!
We don't have Kroger but Aldi has bagged veggies for lower than the regular store.
As a vegan, I approve this video!
And the liquid formed after cooking beans is called bean liquor 😂
My mother, who never wasted a crust, used cook like you, Hope. Nothing measured or weighed. She used say if you put in the ingredients something good will turn out, whether cooking or baking. The only thing she never tried was vegetarian meals, unfortunately. I have been a vegetarian for over 30 years, never missed meat.
$7 for all that was a steal!
Thank you, so much for sharing this! My mom passed away a year ago and she always cooked beans and various dishes that we would share and enjoy. I'm in my 60's but my mom was always wanting to cook and provide. I really miss how she'd share her makes and helpful advice. I still haven't cooked any beans since she passed but your giving me hope to get to it. Also, these ideas are wonderful at helping to organize meals. I always feel at a loss for knowing what to make or put together. So appreciate all you guys do 🤗
You are fantastic! First time watching your channel. I love your style of cooking. Someone else called it "seasoning from the heart" so I think that's what you do. I love that your whole family is involved. Your husband and son are so nice. You are so engaging and fun to watch. Thank you for sharing hope in these times when a grocery budget has to.stretch!
Love these ideas on cooking without spending a fortune😊. Especially the Kroger red bag savings.Thank you Love it.