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maryjk
Guest
A nice change and they are cheap.Why not have breakfast for dinner sometimes? Bacon/sausage/ham and eggs, or an omelette, or pancakes or waffles make a nice change!
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Guernica
Guest
Barley or pease porridge.
Check out the āhumble grainsā part of your supermarket, with dried kernels in simple plastic bags. Find some dried pearled barley, which is stupid cheap, like less than a dollar for a big bag, and very tasty and nutritious. Three cups of water to a cup of barley simmered for an hour makes several cups of cooked barley, and like rice or quinoa, barley is a very versatile, tasty, slow-burning, high-fiber starch that can be used to fill up all manner of dishes. It tastes like a cross between brown rice and white potatoes.
I like to make barley beef stew by dicing and browning some beef stew meat with chopped onions, then adding cooked barley, frozen peas 'n carrots, some beef broth, soy sauce, and black pepper. You can also use any leftover meat, like chicken or lamb, to make barley stew as well. I also make a breakfast porridge of cooked barley sweetened with agave nectar, topped with chopped green apples, sliced bananas, or fresh berries, maybe with a dollop of heavy cream.
Pease porridge is easy-peasy. Get a bag of dried split peas and soak them for several hours, then start to slowly boil them with chopped carrot, onion, and potato. (Add some dried rosemary too ā it adds a wonderful flavor to starchy vegetables.) Once the veg is all very soft, drain the water, and then puree it in small batches in the blender, but you donāt want it TOO smooth ā a chunky texture is what makes the dish. Add some salt and pepper to taste, flavor it with a few slices of crumbled bacon and the bacon drippings, maybe some heavy cream for a nice silky texture, and then add black pepper and salt to taste.
Check out the āhumble grainsā part of your supermarket, with dried kernels in simple plastic bags. Find some dried pearled barley, which is stupid cheap, like less than a dollar for a big bag, and very tasty and nutritious. Three cups of water to a cup of barley simmered for an hour makes several cups of cooked barley, and like rice or quinoa, barley is a very versatile, tasty, slow-burning, high-fiber starch that can be used to fill up all manner of dishes. It tastes like a cross between brown rice and white potatoes.
I like to make barley beef stew by dicing and browning some beef stew meat with chopped onions, then adding cooked barley, frozen peas 'n carrots, some beef broth, soy sauce, and black pepper. You can also use any leftover meat, like chicken or lamb, to make barley stew as well. I also make a breakfast porridge of cooked barley sweetened with agave nectar, topped with chopped green apples, sliced bananas, or fresh berries, maybe with a dollop of heavy cream.
Pease porridge is easy-peasy. Get a bag of dried split peas and soak them for several hours, then start to slowly boil them with chopped carrot, onion, and potato. (Add some dried rosemary too ā it adds a wonderful flavor to starchy vegetables.) Once the veg is all very soft, drain the water, and then puree it in small batches in the blender, but you donāt want it TOO smooth ā a chunky texture is what makes the dish. Add some salt and pepper to taste, flavor it with a few slices of crumbled bacon and the bacon drippings, maybe some heavy cream for a nice silky texture, and then add black pepper and salt to taste.
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twk001
Guest
ooooh YUMM-O!!! these ALL sound really good. iām going to print the thread and make a list this weekend of meal plans. i would love to cook soups over labor day weekend and put up in the freezer. this makes lunch planning even easier! itās great so many of you are awesome cooks!!
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louisak
Guest
My mom loves the book āSaving Dinnerā by Leanne Ely. Hereās from the publisherās blurb:
āFull of practical tips on simple, healthy meal planning, Saving Dinner is the ideal solution for todayās busy parents who would love to have their family sitting around the dinner table once againāsharing stories along with a nutritious meal. Efficiently divided by season, each section features six weeks of menus with delicious recipes, side dish suggestions, and an itemized grocery list that is organized by product (dairy, meat, produce) to make one-stop shopping a snap. Plus the book is packed with helpful hints and short cuts in the kitchen that make cooking easier and more fun.ā
āFull of practical tips on simple, healthy meal planning, Saving Dinner is the ideal solution for todayās busy parents who would love to have their family sitting around the dinner table once againāsharing stories along with a nutritious meal. Efficiently divided by season, each section features six weeks of menus with delicious recipes, side dish suggestions, and an itemized grocery list that is organized by product (dairy, meat, produce) to make one-stop shopping a snap. Plus the book is packed with helpful hints and short cuts in the kitchen that make cooking easier and more fun.ā
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Guernica
Guest
This isnāt a cheap dinner suggestion per se, but Iāve also made my favorite pease porridge (see above) as an after-Thanksgiving meal, and flavored it with duck fat, and duck cracklings.
This takes a bit of 'splaining ā my husband and I both find turkey kind of bland, and itās our tradition to cook a duckling in orange sauce for Thanksgiving (itās just the two of us, and we both enjoy a lazy day cooking the occasional gourmet dish on holidays.) Duck being waterfowl, itās a very rich, well-marbled meat, like what youād get if you crossed a chicken with a side of bacon.
So if you roast a three-pound duck, you can then deglaze the pan with cognac, bourbon, or Grand Marnier (read, remove the roasted bird from the pan, pour some liquor into the pan, scrape the duck fat drippings into the liquor with a spatula, pour the whole yummy mess into a small saucepan with more liquor, flour, chicken stock, etc.) and end up with some EXCELLENT rich gravy. Skim off the fat and save it, because you can fry eggs or potatoes in it later. After youāve nommed your duckling, put the carcass in a stock pot and boil the heck out of it for hours (removing the bones and gristle) and youāll end up with quarts of delicious duck broth. This makes the tastiest soup imaginable (add some cooked barley as described above to soak up the broth and fatten up the dish.)
But then, you donāt need gourmet waterfowl like duck in order to make your own soup! You can first feast on a roast chicken or turkey, then throw the still-meaty carcass into a stock pot and boil the bones clean into consumme (remove the bones and gristle!), then add some vegetables, and rice, or barley, or potatoes, and make a delicious big pot of soup. Homemade soup kicks canned soupās booty any day of the week, no kiddinā.
This takes a bit of 'splaining ā my husband and I both find turkey kind of bland, and itās our tradition to cook a duckling in orange sauce for Thanksgiving (itās just the two of us, and we both enjoy a lazy day cooking the occasional gourmet dish on holidays.) Duck being waterfowl, itās a very rich, well-marbled meat, like what youād get if you crossed a chicken with a side of bacon.
So if you roast a three-pound duck, you can then deglaze the pan with cognac, bourbon, or Grand Marnier (read, remove the roasted bird from the pan, pour some liquor into the pan, scrape the duck fat drippings into the liquor with a spatula, pour the whole yummy mess into a small saucepan with more liquor, flour, chicken stock, etc.) and end up with some EXCELLENT rich gravy. Skim off the fat and save it, because you can fry eggs or potatoes in it later. After youāve nommed your duckling, put the carcass in a stock pot and boil the heck out of it for hours (removing the bones and gristle) and youāll end up with quarts of delicious duck broth. This makes the tastiest soup imaginable (add some cooked barley as described above to soak up the broth and fatten up the dish.)
But then, you donāt need gourmet waterfowl like duck in order to make your own soup! You can first feast on a roast chicken or turkey, then throw the still-meaty carcass into a stock pot and boil the bones clean into consumme (remove the bones and gristle!), then add some vegetables, and rice, or barley, or potatoes, and make a delicious big pot of soup. Homemade soup kicks canned soupās booty any day of the week, no kiddinā.
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TBenedicta
Guest
I havenāt read through everyone elseās suggestions, but here are the meals my husband and I eat FREQUENTLY. (Our grocery budget rides somewhere around $50/week for the two of us.)
~Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, potatoes, dutch babies, waffles. whatever you have on hand.)
~Enchilada casserole (layered corn tortillas, pinto beans, homemade enchilada sauce, corn, olives, bell peppers, green onions, cheese, and beef/turkey if you have it)
~Quinoa casserole (1.5 cups of quinoa simmered in 3 cups stock. Toss with 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup milk, 1.5 cups cheese, whatever veggies you have. Throw into oven at 350 for 25 min.)
~Simple bean and cheese burritos! Simmer a pot of pinto beans with a ham hock and season with cumin/chili powder.
~Shepherdās/Cottage pie (made with whatever ground meat is cheapest and whatever veggies you have on hand)
Another tip to keep your grocery bill down is to forgo cereal as breakfast. Instead, make your own! Itās cheaper and more filling. (Ideas: baked oatmeal, muffins, eggs/toast/bacon, fried egg sandwiches, smoothies)
For lunch, bring your lunch to work and donāt be too proud to eat leftovers or simple PB&J.
~Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, potatoes, dutch babies, waffles. whatever you have on hand.)
~Enchilada casserole (layered corn tortillas, pinto beans, homemade enchilada sauce, corn, olives, bell peppers, green onions, cheese, and beef/turkey if you have it)
~Quinoa casserole (1.5 cups of quinoa simmered in 3 cups stock. Toss with 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup milk, 1.5 cups cheese, whatever veggies you have. Throw into oven at 350 for 25 min.)
~Simple bean and cheese burritos! Simmer a pot of pinto beans with a ham hock and season with cumin/chili powder.
~Shepherdās/Cottage pie (made with whatever ground meat is cheapest and whatever veggies you have on hand)
Another tip to keep your grocery bill down is to forgo cereal as breakfast. Instead, make your own! Itās cheaper and more filling. (Ideas: baked oatmeal, muffins, eggs/toast/bacon, fried egg sandwiches, smoothies)
For lunch, bring your lunch to work and donāt be too proud to eat leftovers or simple PB&J.
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twk001
Guest
really great ideas- thanks to all!!! many simple recipes too, very much appreciated!
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Dlam88
Guest
Oh My Goodnessā¦ stuffed cabbage and pierogies are so good and cheap. Allrecipes.com has a few good recipes for the cabbages, just sort by rating, but if you buy the Mrs Ts pierogies ( so much easier than making) and boil them ā¦ then fry with some butter onions until they get a little crisp to them, thenput some sour cream to topā¦Your husband will forget your name and kiss the dog!! I grew up with Polish grandparents and family friends, our neighbor Sonja used to make em from scratch and then fry them in oil, shed hand em to us in a brown bag and we would all burn our mouths trying to eat them before we got to the carā¦Ha!! sooo good!If you want to try something different, go for some Eastern European dishes. They are filling and inexpensive: stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes, savory crepes, halushki, pirogi, etc. They may be more labor intensive, but worth it.
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LaMusicaSenior
Guest
E-meals! Supported by Dave Ramsey, they send you a menu (using sale items from your fave store) and make it so that your meals donāt become repetitive. We love it!
www.emeals.com
www.emeals.com
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