My Pantry Food Struggle Meals | Stretch A Meal To Feed A Family


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Today I went in to my pantry to show you how to make a meal stretch or use the food that you have to feed a family when you can’t make it to the grocery store.

40 replies
  1. Water Sniper
    Water Sniper says:

    It was me who asked, thank you ❤.Question/Suggestion; Would you ever start a "Simply Mamá: Once A Week Pantry Meal" series for your subscribers that may need pantry food tip or are in a position were they have to prepare their meals this way ?

    Reply
  2. Ron Dison
    Ron Dison says:

    I love tuna Mac..I make mine out of mac and cheese..lol..virus or not I buy it..money be tight..I luv the chicken one..I ND try that..much luv from nashville, katie

    Reply
  3. A dime & a Nickel
    A dime & a Nickel says:

    I think growing up poor can be a blessing in a way. I’ve always worried what my kids would do as adults since they’ve never had to struggle. Now they’ll learn what to do in hard times for when they have their own families.

    Reply
  4. Heidi Springer
    Heidi Springer says:

    I grew up poor too. I remember my dad fixing us white rice topped with (we called it can milk) Coronation pet milk And sugar and was so good and if we had left over can milk we ate it with canned peaches. I love it to this day. Some of the best meals is when you have to cook what you have and make it work
    🙂

    Reply
  5. Scattered Sheep
    Scattered Sheep says:

    wow hey awesome dinner we CAJUNS ate lots of COUSH COUSH is the Cajun breakfast of champions. made from cornmeal bacon drippings or veggy oil. FRIED untill golden brown add sugar syrups MILK or bacon bits..

    Reply
  6. Lola Ron
    Lola Ron says:

    Thank you for sharing this video. I grew up on powered milk and evaporated milk and with times like these I thankful for that. Keeping it real! 👏🏼

    Reply
  7. delores mendoza
    delores mendoza says:

    YES ma'am I also was raise fairly poor, ugh yeah, rice and beans shoot to this day I love'em aint nothing wrong with eating diff. or mix for survival!!! And yes I am stocked up for the mexican pasta love it, I can eat that alone with out meat on the side! Thanks so much for sharing "struggle meals". Stay bless and safe y'all.

    Reply
  8. Say What?
    Say What? says:

    Box Mac and cheese can be made with water instead of milk and it's fine. We make it that way because we have a family member that can't tolerate milk and we don't always have almond milk (or any other substitute) on hand.

    Reply
  9. Linda Wright
    Linda Wright says:

    Use up the fresh food in your refrigerator first before it spoils. Alternatively, put small portions of sliced bread, deli meats or sliced/shredded cheese into plastic food bags and freeze them until needed. If you know those bags of potatoes, onions and carrots that you have in your pantry or refrigerator will start sprouting or shriveling or going moldy before you can use them, cook them and freeze small portions in plastic food bags for use in soups, stews and chunky sauces. You can cut up and freeze ripe bananas too and later puree them in a blender to make smoothies or to add to cake batter.

    When deciding on what cans and jars of food to use from your pantry first, look at the "best use by" dates and choose to use the oldest items first. You might be surprised at the age of some of the items in the pack of your pantry.

    When making meals for your household, aim for 2000 calories per day per adult. That is 667 calories per meal per adult. Children will need fewer calories and how much they need varies with their age. Look for nutrition charts on a state government or federal government website to find out how many calories per day someone your child's age should have. Take care not to over-feed anyone when food supplies are uncertain. Measure carefully and exercise portion control so everyone gets the amount of calories they need each day to stay healthy but no one is over-fed.

    Universal recipe for dinner: Cook enough rice, Ramen or other pasta or potatoes to give each adult 400-500 calories. Now make a chunky topping sauce (condensed soup, or pasta sauce, or alfredo sauce, or melted Velveeta cheese, or canned gravy…) to which you add canned or leftover cooked meat, beans or other vegetables so you can give each person 200-300 calories of the chunky topping. If you still do not have enough calories per serving, drizzle some olive oil or sprinkle grated cheese over each plate of food or serve with a slice of bread/biscuit/tortilla/wedge of cornbread.

    One or two slices of bacon, cooked until crisp then crumbled and added to a meatless topping will give good flavor when you do not have frozen or canned meat. And save those bacon drippings to use for pan-frying when you run out of cooking oil. The liquid in canned meat and canned veggies (except for beans) makes a good stock for homemade soup — store the liquid in your refrigerator for a few days until you have enough to use to make soup.

    Reply
  10. DeadBarbieDoll13
    DeadBarbieDoll13 says:

    Maria cookies and coffee!!! 🤤 I’m Puerto Rican, buttered Saltines and coffee are my jam in the morning. Most of the things you mentioned were my childhood and are now a part of my kids childhood. I work at a grocery store here in LA and I’ve been working so much over time. I haven’t been shopping at all for my house. I’m really not that worried about. I know how to make something out of nothing. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Thanks for this video girl!

    Reply
  11. Heather Wolfers
    Heather Wolfers says:

    It was very kind of you to post this! Yes, I did find it very helpful. I also have an autistic child, so I'm constantly trying to learn new recipes and new things to combine from the pantry to expand the 5 or so meals that my picky eater will try.

    Reply
  12. Lucia Velasquez
    Lucia Velasquez says:

    I have some SPAM in my pantry but don’t know quite what to make with it besides spam fried rice or making it with eggs. Any ideas would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  13. Lucia Velasquez
    Lucia Velasquez says:

    I have some SPAM in my pantry but don’t know quite what to make with it besides spam fried rice or making it with eggs. Any ideas would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  14. Betty Pruitt
    Betty Pruitt says:

    You go girl! Just what we all needed! Please think of doing a regular frugal pantry series for a while. Ask viewers for ideas to share and make that one show. One of my favorite things is plain pinto beans. Just water and beans and salt at the end. So very much you can do with it. Add in or on. Soup. My Maw Maw didn’t eat much meat but ate a lot of red beans mashed with cornbread. I still eat it 65 years later…..with some pickled pepper vinegar. Thanks for all you do. Stay safe. Stay well.

    Reply

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