Meals Under $10 That Will Keep Your Family Fed If The World Goes Crazy Again

It can be challenging to feed your family for less than $10 during normal times, let alone a crisis. My grandmother, who lived through both World War II and the Great Depression, used to make me learn how to cook with very basic ingredients when I was little. Using ingredients from the garden and bits of cheap meat, I was cooking with elbow grease.

Bones in a potPhoto byRichelleg

I often asked her why she was teaching me to cook this way when we could just buy everything already made at the store. "Because someday the world's gonna go crazy again, and you gotta know how to feed yourself," is what she'd say.

Below, you'll find a few ideas for meals that make good, hearty portions for cheap.

Marrow & Rice Soup

When my grandmother worked in the kitchen of a dinner club, the proprietor was gracious enough to allow her to carry home leftover chunks of meat and scrap bones that would have otherwise ended up in the trash. She used to bring leftover beef bones and joints, with bits of meat still attached to them, home every night.

She would place them on top of the wood stove in her Dutch oven and let them simmer for hours on end. To make a rich stock, all the collagen and bone marrow would render out into denatured proteins rich in nutrients and gelatin.

Marrow stockPhoto byRichelleg

After removing the bones, generous portions of inexpensive rice or chopped red potatoes would be added to the liquid to simmer. For her five hungry children, this was heaven.

You can nonetheless do a similar meal with butcher bones, beef shanks, swine hocks, or pork neck bones. You can serve it with rice, potatoes, garden veggies, cabbage, or over stale bread.

Poor Mans Meal

This 1930's classic kept a lot of people alive, let alone fed. It has only a few ingredients, makes a lot of food, and can be dressed up easily with sauce or cheese.

Poor mans mealPhoto byRichelleg

Take some potatoes and onions, brown them in a pan with a little oil. Throw in a few chopped hot dogs or sausage and a few tablespoons of tomato sauce. Stir it well, add a little water and simmer for a few minutes. That's all there is to it!

Macaroni and Tuna

To make ends meet during 2020, my daughter and I consumed a lot of tuna mac. It's still one of her all-time favorites that she requested. It's an inexpensive, moderately protein-rich midweek supper. When they go on sale, I buy cans of tuna packed in water and the generic blue box mac in bulk.

A family of four can be easily fed with a double recipe. Simply follow the instructions on the packaging. After the macaroni has boiled, drain. If necessary, you can omit the milk by doubling the butter.

Tuna macPhoto byRichelleg

Just before mixing everything together, add a handful of frozen peas to provide color and added vitamins. Just be careful not to overmix it into a single, uniform mass.

American Goulash

A cheap midwestern classic, American goulash is made with ground beef, onions, macaroni, and tomato sauce. To add some sweetness, some folks will even go so far as to add a small can of corn. To add more fiber, flavor, and nutrients, I like to add some sliced carrots.

Cook beef with onions. If desired, you can add sliced raw carrot. Once browned, add a small can of crushed tomatoes to the beef.

GoulashPhoto byRichelleg

Boil the macaroni while the meat sauce is simmering. Although I like to use large elbow macaroni, you may use any tiny tube-style pasta. Drain the macaroni and toss it into the beef sauce once it's soft. This is something you can make in large quantities, and it tastes even better the next day. To enhance the deep taste, a small amount of beef stock can be added.

Stir-fried Chicken with Vegetables

You can just as easily use canned chicken or any chicken on sale that you can throw in a crock pot or roast easily. You can substitute store-bought frozen peas and veggies like peppers, onions, and tiny carrots with garden-fresh produce.

You have two options for serving the stir fry: either cook some spaghetti until it's tender and then add it to the stir fry right before serving, or serve it over white rice. The addition of chopped green onions and a small amount of soy sauce at the end gives the stir-fried chicken an amazing taste.

Stir fry chicken and veggiesPhoto byRichelleg

Bean and Rice Burritos

Beans and rice alone are delicious and nutritious, as well as being cheap. Adding inexpensive chicken and ground beef, or even shredded pork from a pulled pork sandwich, to a tortilla is a simple way to boost its protein content. Add some cheese, and you're in business.

Garlic, salsa, onions, and peppers are some examples of foods that add taste and heat. Some of these may already be in your garden, or you can get them in the produce department for almost nothing.

Hotdog Roll Up

Also called pigs in a blanket, this is made by wrapping hotdogs in crescent roll dough and baking them. Sometimes we get fancy and put some cheese in there.

Pork Shoulder

Pork picnic shoulders, which often cost less than $10, make excellent substitutes for classic Boston butts. You can use it for almost anything you would do with a regular pork shoulder. All it is is a picnic shoulder from the ball joint and a Boston Butt from the scapula region of a pig.

Pork ShoulderPhoto byRichelleg

A great holiday meal, best enjoyed with handmade biscuits, a generous helping of corn, and a simple baked potato. This meat could easily be used to make carnitas for a burrito or sliced up and put on a bun for a delicious pulled pork sandwich!

Gnocchi

You can easily feed a family of four with gnocchi—a hearty, Italian-style potato dumpling—for less than $10. To create the gnocchi, all you need is four roasted potatoes, one cup flour, and one or two eggs.

Before removing the skins and mashing the cooked potatoes with a fork or ricer, you want to let them steam out as much as possible. Next, add a large egg, a tiny bit of flour, and some salt.

Using your fingers, gently knead the gnocchi dough, adding flour in little amounts until it comes together. It should be just hard enough to spread out onto a floured cutting board like a "snake." Then cut the rolled dough into pieces the size of your thumbs. Next, use a fork to roll it so that the gnocchi have enough texture to hold onto sauce.

GnocchiPhoto byRichelleg

Beanie Weenies

This one is a classic in my home... A can of baked beans, warmed on the stove, with cut-up hotdogs in it. Sometimes we get fancy and add a sliced onion.

You can feed your family a lot of tasty and nourishing meals for $10 or less if you shop wisely. Working with low-cost protein sources is key to surviving a crisis.

You can tenderize pork picnic shoulders, shanks, and chicken leg quarters by slow-cooking them. It also provides you with a large amount of rendered fat, readily digested protein, and gelatin, all of which can be combined with rice to make a satisfying meal in a pinch.

Citations:

Yoder, R. (2024, June 24). Just 9 Really Easy “Emergency Meals” I Rely On When My Stomach Is As Empty As My Wallet. BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/rossyoder/best-emergency-meals-low-effort-cheap

Beuning, E. (2024, August 9). $10 Recipes That Will Keep Your Family Well Fed During Crisis. Ask a Prepper. https://www.askaprepper.com/10-recipes-that-will-keep-your-family-well-fed-during-crisis/