Low cost yummy meals!

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Looking for ideas here until we get a paycheck in the house again. 🙂

What are some low cost meals that you like? I’m looking for healthy, not hamburger helper meals if possible!

We do well with a whole chicken and a bag of shrimp and pasta (from scratch or dried).

Anything else?

We spent $144 at the grocery store last week, didn’t waste a single thing, and still have nothing to eat tonight. 😦 Well, we do have dried pasta but we’re plum out of proteins.

Anyone have a good red beans & rice that’s not too 'spensive?
 
For dinner tonight DH made pasta al forno - pasta, cheese, peas, some canned 'shrooms, and proscuitto, which you can either a) sub for bacon, or b) cut out.

Breakfast for dinner can be a cheap option!
 
pentecostbaby said:
Breakfast for dinner can be a cheap option!
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DH and I have a breakfast night every week where I make pancakes or waffles. Of course we are brekkie maniacs (that’s what we served at our wedding! 🙂 )

I can’t think of much off the top of my head but there have been lots of threads on low-cost meals if you do a search. Have fun cooking!
 
mizznicole said:
Looking for ideas here until we get a paycheck in the house again. 🙂

What are some low cost meals that you like? I’m looking for healthy, not hamburger helper meals if possible!

We do well with a whole chicken and a bag of shrimp and pasta (from scratch or dried).

Anything else?

We spent $144 at the grocery store last week, didn’t waste a single thing, and still have nothing to eat tonight. 😦 Well, we do have dried pasta but we’re plum out of proteins.

Anyone have a good red beans & rice that’s not too 'spensive?
Click to expand...
You know, if you get tomato puree, some cheddar cheese, and wafer thin ham, you can make a simple ‘pizza’ with normal bread? Just spread a spoonful of tomato puree on the bread, place a little ham on top, and then finish it with some cheese.

3-4 mins under the grill, and its done.

Amazingly enough, it does taste really great 👍, and you can add Oregano, spices, chili sauce etc…
 
one of our favorite end-of-paycheck meals was chicken pot pie (or ala king, depending on the starch used) in a pan with a pie crust or biscuit crust (jiffy mix) it was pot pie, with rice or noodles it was ala king, and with mashed potato top or bottom, it was just chicken bake.

whatever leftover chicken pieces (used to buy a bag of necks, backs and wings for about 50 cents, boiled with old limp veggies, leftovers and veggie trimmings kept in freezer, and a bay leaf, got a quart of broth, plus some bits of meat–toss the veggies the goodness is in the broth)
shake a cup of the cold broth in a jar with a tablespoon of flour, add it to another cup of broth in the pan and stir until it becomes gravy (add a boilon cube or salt and pepper to taste, sage if you have it and like it).

bag or can of mixed veggies, or whatever mix of veggies is in the freezer, or cut up what is in the veggie drawer.
heat in the gravy, add the chicken–if there is too much liquid, reserve some for another meal, but in a 9x13 pan 1 & 1/2 to 2 cups is okay, depending on how much starch you need to stretch the contents. Mashed potatoes soak up a lot, noodles not as much.

bake it–we used to cut the pie crust (also jiffy mix) in cat shapes with a cookie cutter for some reason.

back then (80s) chicken was 50 cents to a dollar, bag or can of veggies less than that, instant mashed potatoes 30 cents, or jiffy mix, 50 cents, or rice, even cheaper, could feed a family of 5 or 6 on $3–but have lost track of costs today.
 
I’m famous for my crockpot bean soup… add what rice you need.

I prefer navy beans or black beans, but use whatever you’ve got. Soak them overnight.

For flavoring, use either hamhocks or the boxes of bacon ends and pieces, whichever’s cheapest. You need to fry the bacon first to get some fat out.

If all you’ve got is bacon grease, that works, too.

My secret ingredients are lots of garlic, and a hefty dose of yellow mustard (like French’s), about 3 tbs. And an onion, chopped & fried till it’s translucent and the edges are brown. This is for a BIG crockpot. Sometimes I add a can of diced tomatoes.

Let that cook for a while, then cook with your nose. That means, take a good sniff of what’s in the 'pot, then sniff a spice that seems good; if it smells right, in it goes.

For some reason 😉 it never turns out the same way twice, but it’s always good!

Ruthie
 
mizznicole said:
We do well with a whole chicken and a bag of shrimp and pasta (from scratch or dried).

?
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two ideas for the shrimp, I actually use canned crabmeat (less than tuna in our market), or the fake crabmeat that is actually fish, and eke it out with a flaked fish filet if I have to.
chowder or bisque (first is a creamy potato soup base with onions or leeks, add the seafood, and canned corn if you need to extend, or even a can of white beans, rinsed).

bisque is the same but with a can of tomato soup, sauce or puree to the cream base. good with snips of fresh or frozen chopped spinach added just before serving just enough to wilt, call it “florentine”

any creamy soup can be made less starchy by boiling or steaming cauliflower and putting it through the food processor, insteat of potatoes. you can even make it non dairy that way, and no one will know if you don’t tell them.

serve with salad or slaw, bread, oyster crackers, however you usually serve soup. come with with a snazzy name for it.

the other thing I used to do with canned or frozen crabmeat, and for a long time it was my pot-luck or bring-something dish, was a box of Uncle Ben’s long grain & wild rice, according to package directions, plus the crabmeat and a box of frozen petit peas, can be cooked altogether, or you can add the fish and peas after rice is done. sprinkle w/chopped parsely and that is a company-worthy dish, also a good Lenten meal. as always, when I need to eke out the crabmeat, I add an equal amount of flaked white fish of some kind. the frozen filets are surprizingly reasonable, and boy does walmart have a good frozen fish dept., I noticed tonite.
 
Two frugal recipe sites that I like are www.hillbillyhousewife.com and thefamilyhomestead.com/. Both of these sites have plenty of beans and rice type recipes. I especially like the Taco Style Lentils and Rice from HBHW. I frequently make a modified version of Crystal’s Italian Pinto Beans during Lent. I take the sausage out and serve it over a bowl of white rice. Then I melt mozzerella cheese on the top. I find these sites helpful when money is tight and the kids don’t argue too much over it because the food is good.
 
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