Cooking on a Dime: Being Frugal in the Kitchen

In the last couple of years my family has suffered some huge financial setbacks. My husband and my mother are both on Social Security disability and I get SSI payments for one of my children. We live on about 1800.00 a month. That is ten people who live on that. We get food stamps but because they count disability income against you, we only get 420.00 a month, and sadly that is ALL I can afford to spend on groceries. I am not a couponer because I only buy generic or store brand foods. I have struggled to work out a menu that feeds everyone three meals a day. I can only shop once a month because we don't have a car, and I have to have everything listed in exact amounts needed and how much I can spend for it.

Prices here seem to me to be a bit high compared to some places I read about on frugal forums...here if you can get chicken leg quarters for .79 a pound you are doing great. We can barely pay our bills and struggle each month just to keep our heads above water. .I wish that being frugal was a choice for me rather than a necessity. Every time I think I am getting ahead something happens...like the gas company re-evaluating budget amounts in January and sending me an expensive bill due immediately. Where I live there are just not many places to turn for help...most places want a bill to be in disconnect status before they will even talk to you. The food bank only allows you to come once every two months and they only give you what they call an emergency three day supply of food. There is also an occasional church pantry that allows you to pick up emergency food. In my neighborhood, every Thursday a ladies group delivers bread to all the houses on the block. You never know what they will bring but I have learned how to put most any of it to good use.