Family of 4 < $25 a meal? (LA or OC)

you buy we fry type places, buy a couple of whole fishes, fry that up, and serve with your desired sauce + desired carb.

We do this on a regular basis.

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Yeah, for my family of four I typically cook during the week for <$10 a meal (30-45 minutes to cook) to keep expenses down.

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Pho 45 in Garden Grove. Even their small size is large enough for a filling meal, and with the ages you specified for the children, you could be quite well-fed having the kids split either a small ($6.75) or large ($7.75) size. They also have other entrees, most of which are $7.50.

Are these mostly by the water - Redondo Pier, Ports o Call, San Pedro, etc…? This sounds like an interesting option.

[quote=“js76wisco, post:19, topic:4179”]
Trying to stay away from fast food. I think the bottom line is that its very hard to feed a family of four these days for < $25 unless you want a steady rotation of fast food/pizza type options.
[/quote]True. You can fall into the fast food trap at those prices. But @Plumeria’s suggestion about the Groupons and Livingsocial are very good.

P.S. I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud. And you probably already know this. But the cheapest and healthiest way to eat is at home. Most restaurant food is loaded with salt, bad fats, preservatives and germs. Even the so called healthy places like Souplantation use chemical solutions on their produce to perk it up and keep it fresh looking. Plus cooking at home teaches kids what’s in their food and helps them make better eating choices. Feel free to tell me to hush.

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Yes, but for more accessible options look at asian supermarkets or other fishmongers - seafood city (various locations), this particular newport seafood (https://www.yelp.com/biz/tan-cang-newport-seafood-restaurant-garden-grove-3), fish king (glendale). etc. I’m not a particularly good resource for where to find these, but if you plug in “you buy we fry” into yelp you should get a decent amount of hits.

as a kid, the easy/cheap VN style is to buy a whole fish that the store would fry, pour ginger fish sauce on it, and then eat with rice.

Sorry. Didn’t catch the “they fry” part. Good idea.

Totally agree. During the week we mostly eat at home but on the weekends we try to take a break from cooking. We buy most of our produce from the farmers market, meat from Whole Foods and cooking at home is definitely healthier. Definitely cheaper than eating out but more expensive that if we shopped at Ranch 99, Stater Bros, etc… Balancing between eating healthier and trying to save money is a challenge. I try to live vicariously through all of Aesthete, Pork Belly, Chowseeker, etc… posts but sometimes I need the real thing.

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You mean 99 Ranch right?

:sweat_smile:

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Okay. My bad. You might want to change that post from 5-7 times a week. Sounds like a you have healthy balance going. I know how hard it is to work, then cook w/little kids.

P. S. I live vicariously thru those 3 too :wink:.

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shows you how old i’ve become.
i was thinking of the old days. . . . .

We just paid $24.xx for 2 adults and 2 kids at Souplantation the other day. Water to drink (which is what we have with meals at home too). I had a 20% off adult meals coupon (via email).

ETA: Sorry, just remembered it was $26.xx, not $24.xx, But still very close to $25.

by chance do you remember how that broke down? Variations of this coupon are floating around the internet.

Here’s another w/o drinks:

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This was not the coupon I got via email. The one I got was 20% off purchase of adult meals. No beverages. We usually don’t get the beverages anyway – we get water.

ah that’s probably the difference - no beverages.

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Haha yes 99 Ranch.

Costco Rotisserie Chicken Still $4.99
http://time.com/money/3901655/costco-rotisserie-chickens-hot-dogs/

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We had 10% off coupon for adults and adding beverages was probably the difference.

We actually found that if we go to Whole Foods salad bar on Wednesday when it’s $8.49 pound we can get out for less than Souplantation. The pizza at WF is 2 for $6 -those slices are gargantuan. 2 slices and ~2 lbs of Saks bar food gets you out right at $25. The Brea location has lots of good indoor and outdoor seating.

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$2 off Gelson’s salad bar on Tuesdays = $7.99/lb

What about indian places in Artesia? I imagine a family of 4 could get out of Surati Farsan Mart for ~$25?

Depending on how much your kids eat, you may be able to get out of various Com Tam places for < $25 - 2 full entrees decked with toppings should equal about $25, and there’s enough carbs and proteins for 2 adults + 2 kids that don’t eat too much.

I love this thread - this is my everyday struggle.

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