Meal ideas?

Hi, do you have any meal ideas? Specifically looking for cheap, easy, & able to stretch to feed a large family? Yes? Great, please share! No? oh, me either...

I have a slight dilemma. I have $100 to feed a family of 7 for 9 days. I've never been great at budgeting, so this isn't going to be easy for me. Add to it, it seems I don't even have adequate food basics/staples in the house. Wait, I do have a 5 pound bag of rice. I figure if I add rice to almost any meal, it'll help stretch the meal further.

No, I'm not asking anybody for a handout. I'm asking for meal ideas only. Well, any other helpful suggestions to make the meals stretch would be welcome, too.  If it were just me & dh, no problem. But I have 5 munchkins who think they need 3 squares plus 2 mini snacks a day or they'll simply wither up & blow away like dust. LOL  Sure they'll be craving pizza by next Friday.

Hope you're having a good week -it's half over already! woohoo!

Best wishes!

Pizza

My favorite light meal ever is english muffin pizza.  Id imagine its pretty cheap.  I mean cans of pizza sauce are like 50 cents or something, english muffins are pretty cheap if you get a generic brand which I think is just as good.  Cheese can be expensive but since your feeding so many you can buy the big bulk bag.  Thats all I do and pop them in the oven.  You can add whatever other toppings but that also adds to the cost.  Sorry I dont have any better suggestions but I remember that was my favorite cheapy that my mom made when I was a kid and still is today     and its a great substitution for ordering pizza!  Not to mention I can split open 2 muffins for 4 mini cheese pizzas for under 450 calories!

Pasta and beef!

You can make all kinds of things with pasta and ground beef.  Spaghetti is a cheap meal, hamburger helper...you can buy a bag of frozen hamburger patties and get buns and have chips, breakfast foods are good at any time of day, for the kids lunches you can get cans of spaghettios (1/2 or1 serving of veggies per serving of spaghettios).  One of my favorite inexpensive meals is just soup and lunchmeat sandwiches.  Hope some of these help, they may not be very lowfat but you can make it stretch!  Sit down and plan out what you will have at each meal and stick to that. 

Pot Pie

A bulk bag of mixed vegetables, some 99 cent cream soup (potato, mushroom, chicken) and a ready made pie crust. Mix the soup, vegetables, and a little milk together, throw in some pepper and thyme and bake on 375 F for 40 minutes. I'd make two of them (with a side of rice!) and you're good to go.

Good luck!

Reccomendations

I would shop at costco and buy in bulk or shop at aldi's where it really cheap. I make casseroles which are fulling and cheap to make and can feed a large family. I get healthy recipes from www.aimeesadventures.com Try her lazy day lasagna, it's so healthy, tastes like real lasagna, feeds 9 people and you can make it for like $10.00. Her mexican casserole and buffalo chicken lasagna are also awesome. Good luck!!!! Hope things get better!