Family Eats: Cheap, Fast, & Nutritious

  • Thread starter Thread starter BLB_Oregon
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

BLB_Oregon

Guest
Here at the Catholic website we have some big families with stay-at-home moms stretching those budgets so they can send their kids to Catholic schools, save for the rainy-day fund, etc.

What are your best cheap nutritious meals? Yes, we are setting the bar high… we need:
  1. Cheap
  2. Will bear repetition to an audience of children & adults
  3. Includes a serving’s worth of a dark green or orange vegetable (with extra points if it isn’t just carrots).
  4. Includes a serving of protein
  5. Fast or easy enough to teach to an eight-year-old to cook
Also extra points for
Isn’t too high in fat, salt, or sugar
Sneaking in fiber and other nutritional pluses
Most of the ingredients have a long shelf life OR
Can be prepared ahead and put into the freezer for at least a month, preferably three or more.

If you have a cookbook you like that is devoted to just such recipes, that would be a great post, too. I like to recommend “The Freezer Cooking Manual” from 30 Day Gourment, A Month of Meals Made Easy. by Tara Wohlenhaus and Nanci Slagle. Their book makes the great suggestion that you find a friend that shares your family’s situation and eating habits and that you get together and cook a month of meals together (while the spouses watch the kids!!!) They also have a website with more recipes, www.30daygourmet.com. (Instructions for password and username are in the book. $14.95 US… and the authors deserve every penny.)
 
Minnesota Hot Dish:

1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey (or beef) - browned.
8 pealed potatoes cut into big diced size pieces
lots of cut up carrots
1 Family Size can of Cambell’s Chicken & Rice Soup
1 cup water

combine all in a big baking dish with a lid. Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours at 375. I serve it with warm rolls & butter - kids & husband very happy. 🙂
(don’t cut potatoes & carrots too small or they will mush!)
 
Minnesota Hot dish: Forgot the chopped up onion - that goes in too 🙂
 
We love Quick Cooking (www.quickcooking.com) magazine, as well as Light and Tasty & Taste of Home. These magazines are FULL of real recipes, cover to cover - no ads. They recently published a special Budget Suppers issue - everything we tried was MMMMMMM good. Pick one up, you’ll NOT be disappointed!
 
Minnesota Hot Dish:

1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey (or beef) - browned.
8 pealed potatoes cut into big diced size pieces
lots of cut up carrots
1 Family Size can of Cambell’s Chicken & Rice Soup
1 cup water
Click to expand...
Or, to save an extra penny still, leave out the chicken & rice soup and you’ve got some amazing beef stew.
 
I had to cook for a family of five growing up from the time I was 9. Including doing the grocery shopping :o . Here’s what we lived on:

Clams and Spaghetti - I start with this because this was our “special meal” we LOVED it. But we didn’t get to have it all that often. High in iron and loaded with nutrients, if you use whole wheat spaghtti you also get 3-5 g of fiber, all for about $6.00, less for regular spaghetti. The clams will stay on the shelf pretty much forever so you just wait til they go on sale. The remaining ingredients are olive oil, garlic and parsley. I don’t know if an 8 year old could do it, but I could at 9. Total cost per person ~$1

Dad would serve soup over rice. Use the condensed stuff and heat it without watering it down much. Split pea, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, tomato. The split pea and the tomato were pretty good in my opinion, and probably not all that bad for you. I don’t know about the cream soups though. But I think he fed all of us for like a buck 😛 . And definitely an 8 year old could manage that.

Good old spaghetti with meat of choice… chicken, lean beef, mushrooms, ground soy. Depending on the additive, depends on the price. But if you use about four cans tomatoes plus some puree, a whole large onion, a whole green pepper, you’ve got three types of veggies, add some garlic, a hot pepper if the kids are older, olive oil and spices and for about $9 you have an awful lot of sauce and two pounds of pasta. That will serve a family of six for two days plus leftover sauce. Anywhere from $.50 to $1.00 per serving depending on how much and what kind of protein you add (and the mushrooms don’t count as protein, we just couldn’t always add meat and they added some texture).

Pot roast of course when you get the rump roast on sale and cut it into pieces and freeze it. A crock pot, kitchen bouquet (that browning stuff) a lot of chopped up onion, half a chopped up potato per person, season salt and a large bag of miniature carrots. Put it all in the crock pot in the morning, out of reach of the little ones. Dinner. It’s been a while since I’ve made this, but I think you can get a roast for around $9, which would make two meals. A bag of carrots is about $1.50, potatoes are about $2, and the onions are about $1. So that’s $8 for a more “meaty” meal.

When chicken was on sale for half price we would have rosemary chicken. Flour, season salt, rosemary. cook it on both sides, serve with whatever frozen vegetable was in the freezer. Mom was always incredibly proud of me when I would make this for some reason. I think I was around 12 by then though. I honestly don’t know the going rate of chicken now, I don’t cook it at home. But the kids CAN cook it. Just have them put the flour and seasonings in a big ziploc bag and put the chicken in there. Then put it on the stove in oil and cover it. That’s all I did.

Good old tuna noodle casserole. My brother loved this. I don’t actually have a recipe, but maybe someone else does. I know it involved egg noodles, tuna fish, cream of something (probably mushroom)soup and peas.
 
40.png
BLB_Oregon:
If you have a cookbook you like that is devoted to just such recipes, that would be a great post, too. I like to recommend “The Freezer Cooking Manual” from 30 Day Gourment, A Month of Meals Made Easy. by Tara Wohlenhaus and Nanci Slagle. Their book makes the great suggestion that you find a friend that shares your family’s situation and eating habits and that you get together and cook a month of meals together (while the spouses watch the kids!!!) They also have a website with more recipes, www.30daygourmet.com. (Instructions for password and username are in the book. $14.95 US… and the authors deserve every penny.)
Click to expand...
Just another recommendation for freezer cooking. I just made my first set of meals and we have loved them all. Normally, at this time of year with back to school (I’m a teacher and a grad student) and with all of the sports practices starting back up, we would have fast fooded it or “helpee selfee” (means Mom isn’t cooking, find something own your own) a lot by now. With a full freezer, we haven’t grabbed something fast in quite a while.

Kris
 
Well, not a recipe, but still addressing the theme of economy.

Thank goodness for Costco! Thank goodness for Sam’s Club!

We used to live near a Costco and it was terrific. Now we have moved where there is no Costco and have had to settle for Sam’s Club. Not as impressed with Sam’s Club, but it is still slightly better than the regular supermarket.

Here is a meat buying trick for Sam’s Club. Let’s say you want to buy chuck roast. This week it is $2.68/lb at our local Sams. However, if you ask him for the “Cry-Vac” chuck roast, the price drops to about $1.45/lb.

“Cry-Vac” is that sealed, vacuum freezer packaging that Sams Club uses for the meat as they receive it. The butcher department then cuts it into pieces and individually package the cuts for the store. For example, you might get a regular store package with a 2-3 lb chuck roast. The Cry-Vac package will be about 20-22 lbs. For the $20 savings, I have no problem cutting it into 6 or 7 pieces, putting them into baggies and freezing them.

You can get “Cry-Vac” quantities on most cuts of meat at large cost savings at Sams Club.

That leads to the second tip for economizing. But a stand-alone freezer and buy everything you can in bulk.
 
Irish Meat Pie (a variation of Shephard’s Pie)

from DH’s beloved grandmother, Rita (Ouilette) Burnett

1 double pie crust (refrigerator or home made)

1 12 ounce can whole white potos, sliced and quartered, drained

1 12 ounce can of peas and carrots, drained

1 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 lb. ground beef (I prefer ground beef and pork mixture)

1 can beef gravy with mushrooms or 3/4 can of beef stock

Salt and pepper (optional)

oil for browning

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Put bottom of pie crust in 8 or 9" pie plate. Make the edges fancy. Poke some holes along the sides. Bake for 12 minutes until just golden.

Meanwhile, put sliced and quartered potatoes and peas and carrots in a large bowl. Mix together.

Saute onion until translucent. Add meat and brown until done. Add to vegetables. Mix thoroughly.

Add gravy and mix through. Salt to taste if desired. Ditto pepper.

Pour into baked pie crust. Cover with top crust. Make the edges fancy using the back of a spoon. Use a knife to put some slits in it to let the steam escape so it doesn’t get soggy.

Bake for 25 minutes.

My husband made this for me when we were first dating. Its delicious.
 
First, my favorite frugal cookbook is “What to Cook – when you think there is nothing in the house to eat.” By Arthur Schwartz – an excellent and friendly writer.

My favorite inexpenisve but nutritious meals are:

Green Beans (Shelly beans to some) and Ham

I buy the big bags of frozen green beans and save lots of time. (Two bags of cut green beans is my standard)

New potatoes – but you can use larger potatoes just quarter them. Use about three pounds of potatoes.

Some onion, chopped – I usually use two onions, but it is flexible.

A small smoked cottage ham – smoked shoulder is another name for it.

Saute the onions in a bit of oil in a large pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and enough water to cover all.

Set the pot to simmering. Let the liquid reduce to the top of the beans. Then add more water and let it simmer and reduce again. The simmering and reducing are the keys to getting this dish tasty.

I usually make 8 quarts for less than $10.00. I freeze a good portion of it to use on a day when I am in need of a quick meal. I defrost and it is good to go.

I usually make corn bread to go with this meal.

Frugal Meal # 2

15 bean soup
a diced onion
A bag of 15 bean soup mix. (I toss the flavor packet because MSG gives my hubby migraines)

A smoked shoulder ham

sliced carrots – 1 or 2 large ones they add sweetness and aren’t real obvious later on.

Ketchup - a cup or more, to taste

A large can of crushed, concentrated tomatoes.

Lots of water.

Sort, wash and soak the beans. (You can put them in cold water, cover and simmer for a couple of hours if you forget to start them the night before)

Let the beans cook until soft (don’t add salt before this or they won’t soften) Drain and rinse the beans. Return them to the pot and add the rest of the ingredients and enough water to cover.

Simmer until it is thickened. Serve with a whole wheat bread or corn bread.

This is another inexpensive dish that makes plenty. So freeze some of it for another day, if you would like.

This is a dish that we have survived on during lean times. Sometimes I make it just because we like it, too.

Pax et bonum,
Mamamull
 
One of our family favorites: Cottage Pie.

This is very similar to the Irish Meat Pie, but there are no pie crusts. Leave out the potatoes, and instead make mashed potatoes.

Put meat, gravy, veggies in casserole and top with mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Easy and D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!

(Note: For those with British connections: I use Bisto gravy granules and an Oxo beef cube: available at www.britishdelights.com)
 
40.png
Mamamull:
15 bean soup
Click to expand...
I love to make 15 bean soup, too, according to the recipe on the bag, and, like you, tossing out the flavor packet. For me, the magic ingredients are lemon and garlic - they really give the flavor a kick.

Betsy
 
40.png
Sheen:
One of our family favorites: Cottage Pie.
Click to expand...
Is that what it’s called? I had no idea what to call it other than Shepards Pie and didn’t even think that was right. 🙂

When I’d brown the meat, I’d also put in corn and sometimes spinich and cheese. Never thought to put in gravy. Thanks.

Getting my son to eat anything that didn’t used to moo or cluck was hard too. Steam carrots or squash and sneak it in with the mashed potatoes. Sweet potato too.
 
TEXAS CAVIAR (Black-eyed Pea Salad)

I like to use black-eyed peas from the freezer aisle in this recipe, less mushy when cooked.
  • 2 1# bags frozen BE peas
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 orange pepper
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 large white onion
  • Newman’s Own Olive Oil & Vinegar salad dressing(the only bottled dressing I’ve ever seen without High Fructose Corn Syrup & the only one I’d even consider eating)
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Red Wine Vinegar
  • McCormick Mesquite Seasoning for Chicken
  • Plus you could add any raw or cooked veggie that you like, like maybe some lightly sauteed dark greens to add to the nutritional value!
#1 -Cook BEPeas according to instructions on bag (I usually cook about 10 min. LESS, cause I HATE MUSHY BEANS!), Drain, rinse & place in large serving bowl.

#2 -Dice peppers & onion, add to BE Peas. Peppers and onions are not cooked!

#3 -Add enough Newman’s Own to just moisten(don’t drown it!)

#4 -Add about 1/4 c. EV Olive Oil & a bit of RW Vinegar for a nicer taste

#5 -Add Mesquite seasoning to taste. Probably several Tablespoons for 2 lbs beans.

#6 - Mix well and let it sit an hour or more before serving.

It definitely fits the criteria: 👍
  1. Cheap
  2. Will bear repetition to an audience of children & adults (my kids asked me to make it again when I ran out a few days ago)
  3. Includes a serving’s worth of a dark green or orange vegetable (with extra points if it isn’t just carrots).
  4. Includes a serving of protein
  5. Fast or easy enough to teach to an eight-year-old to cook
 
40.png
AmandaPS:
Is that what it’s called? I had no idea what to call it other than Shepards Pie and didn’t even think that was right. 🙂

When I’d brown the meat, I’d also put in corn and sometimes spinich and cheese.
Click to expand...
The difference between cottage pie and shepherd’s pie is that cottage pie is made with beef, whereas shepherd’s pie is made with lamb.

Spinach and cheese sounds good. Do you put in fresh spinach or frozen/thawed? What kind of cheese do you use?
 
40.png
Sheen:
The difference between cottage pie and shepherd’s pie is that cottage pie is made with beef, whereas shepherd’s pie is made with lamb.

Spinach and cheese sounds good. Do you put in fresh spinach or frozen/thawed? What kind of cheese do you use?
Click to expand...
I’ve never tried it with fresh spinach. I used canned spinach and wrung it out in a cheesecloth. Thawed frozen spinach is probably better nutritionally. As for the cheese, it’s whatever is on hand. I’ve tried it with mozzerella, chedder and american.
 
40.png
rfk:
Well, not a recipe, but still addressing the theme of economy.

Thank goodness for Costco! Thank goodness for Sam’s Club!

We used to live near a Costco and it was terrific. Now we have moved where there is no Costco and have had to settle for Sam’s Club. Not as impressed with Sam’s Club, but it is still slightly better than the regular supermarket.

Here is a meat buying trick for Sam’s Club. Let’s say you want to buy chuck roast. This week it is $2.68/lb at our local Sams. However, if you ask him for the “Cry-Vac” chuck roast, the price drops to about $1.45/lb.

“Cry-Vac” is that sealed, vacuum freezer packaging that Sams Club uses for the meat as they receive it. The butcher department then cuts it into pieces and individually package the cuts for the store. For example, you might get a regular store package with a 2-3 lb chuck roast. The Cry-Vac package will be about 20-22 lbs. For the $20 savings, I have no problem cutting it into 6 or 7 pieces, putting them into baggies and freezing them.

You can get “Cry-Vac” quantities on most cuts of meat at large cost savings at Sams Club.

That leads to the second tip for economizing. But a stand-alone freezer and buy everything you can in bulk.
Click to expand...
A stand-alone freezer, though initially quite an expense, can add up to savings. You can buy extras of your staples when on sale and freeze them for future use. Things like milk, bread, eggs, butter, cheese, all these things freeze well (eggs taken out of the shell and into ziploc bags) and can be bargains when placed on sale especially if you can buy extra without worrying about freezer space.
 
How about banana/apples/eggs for breakfast …
pasta for lunch

and oatmeal for dinner ( when bored with oatmeal )
start adding condiments like raisins, jam, fruits …
thats what i eat most of the time.

i think i may have been a greek spartan in my past life …hehe
 
3 packs ramen (chicken flavor)
1-2 chicken breasts
2 cups cabbage (cut into inch squares)
1/3 box of frozen carrots

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Cut up the chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and brown. Add the ramen noodles (without the flavor packets), cabbage and carrots until cooked. Add the chicken and the flavor packets (2 is good, more or less to taste).

I made this a couple of days ago, and it fed 4 of us with enough for 2nds.

Different meats and flavors can probably be used, like pork or shrimp (if those bags of frozen precooked shrimp are on sale). Snow peas would probably work well too.
 
AmandaPS said:
3 packs ramen (chicken flavor)
1-2 chicken breasts
2 cups cabbage (cut into inch squares)
1/3 box of frozen carrots.
Click to expand...

I’m sure the recipe is probably quite good but my husband knows if he comes home and I’m serving ramen noodles and those little pot pies - we declared personal bankruptcy that day!! We both lived on those (hey they were cheap!!!) when we were in college and swore we’d never eat them again.

Kris
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top