Maximize your food budget...here are some tips!

Are you feeling the pinch on your family's budget? Let's face it, money is tight for everyone. They say recovery is on it's way, but what do you do in the mean time? Buying groceries when you have to consider food restrictions can be an expensive investment, but one that we all must make.

For most of my adult life, I've been a stay at home mom. Our family lives on a tight budget even in good times. Lean times call for an even tighter budget. Feeding a family can be stressful at times, but it's not impossible. There are several money stretching tips that I have learned over the years.

Can you make one pound of ground beef stretch to feed your family for two meals? Sure you can! You just have to get creative. Many of us have grown up with meat being the main focus of the meal. In a perfect world, for those of us that eat meat, this would be wonderful! Let's face it, we don't live in a perfect world most of the time.

Last night, my family had soft tacos for dinner. Right now, I'm cooking for five of us, but there are times that I have six or more around the dining room table. I will also add that two of my kids are teenagers and the fourth is close behind them.

So, how did I do it? I added pinto beans and corn to my taco meat. You can cook dry beans easily (this is a good time to use that crock pot), or use canned beans. They are so good for you and really help to stretch your meat. Sometimes I'll add a can or two of refried beans if I have them on hand, but I typically don't. I prefer to cook dry beans, but that is just me.

Another great ingredient to use to stretch the ground beef for soft tacos is to add rice. I had considered that last night, but decided that I had added enough. I had plenty of my taco meat mixture to feed my family for last nights dinner and have enough leftover to make enchiladas, taco soup or nachos another night.

This meal idea can easily be made with cooked chicken as well. Sometimes that is just as good, if not better than ground beef to me. It's nice for a change once in a while and I can often get whole chickens cheaper than ground beef. It takes a bit more planning ahead, however. Using boneless chicken can be a time saver here as well.

We ate our tacos on homemade flour tortillas last night, but I have also used both homemade and store bought corn tortillas. Don't let the "homemade" part of that scare you. Making these tortillas is quick and easy, I was done with a double batch in about 25 minutes. You could easily make them ahead of time, or make them while your meat is cooking.

In addition to the meat and tortillas we also had a lot of lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa. Everyone left the table satisfied, if not too full. When the leftovers were put away, I had enough of my meat mixture to make another meal. If I make enchiladas we typically have enough leftovers to feed us for lunch the next day as well. Talk about a budget stretcher!

Over the years, I've been forced to find ways to stretch my meals just to fill everyone up. In years past, that would have been accomplished with bread, rolls or biscuits as a large part of our meals. That isn't an option these days, but we don't go hungry, trust me....even on a tight budget!