Your Cheapest, Reasonably Nutritious, Family-Friendly Recipes?

[Irishmom2]

Does anyone else remember Bisquick’s Impossible Pies, or am I the only oldie here? Pretty much any leftover vegetables and some grated cheese, or ground meat, shredded roast or ham, placed in a pie plate. Mix up Bisquick, eggs, milk, salt and pepper, pour over whatever you put in the pan and bake. I know they still gave recipes online because I just looked recently.

 

[Irishmom2]

Growing up, my mom made lots of tuna casseroles (use just 1 can for the whole casserole- very cheap!). Make it special by adding cream cheese and tarragon to the white sauce.

Oh! Now cream cheese would make that taste good! As it does so many other recipes!

 

[JennyAnne]

Quesadillas are cheap and easy. Fill them with beans, cheese, and some healthy veggies! Yum

 

[oldgraymare2]

Does anyone else remember Bisquick’s Impossible Pies, or am I the only oldie here? Pretty much any leftover vegetables and some grated cheese, or ground meat, shredded roast or ham, placed in a pie plate. Mix up Bisquick, eggs, milk, salt and pepper, pour over whatever you put in the pan and bake. I know they still gave recipes online because I just looked recently.

Yes, my Mom was really big on making these when they were really popular, and then I also made them too, when I was first married. We especially liked the “cheeseburger pie” recipe.

 

[Irishmom2]

Yes, my Mom was really big on making these when they were really popular, and then I also made them too, when I was first married. We especially liked the “cheeseburger pie” recipe.

They seemed to keep coming out with new ones, we used to make a game out of naming ones we thought were ridiculous combinations, such as Impossible hotdog pie.

 

[oldgraymare2]

They seemed to keep coming out with new ones, we used to make a game out of naming ones we thought were ridiculous combinations, such as Impossible hotdog pie.

LOL!!! That’s hilarious!

Yes, they were always coming out with new ones, including dessert pies, if I recall correctly, too!

 

[chevalier]

Can’t get much cheaper than grating some potatoes, adding one egg and a pinch of salt and making pancakes to serve with sour cream. Probably not really a wholesome dish but definitely a great dinner on its own (in a sufficiently large quantity) from time to time. They were a solid fixture in my childhood. Still make them sometimes. The taste can be quite different depending on the type of grater you use.

Another Polish potato classic, and you can’t get cheaper than this : potatoes boiled in skins, served with salt and butter, as a stand-alone dish (though they work as a side dish or salad ingredient too). Far from a balanced diet, but the taste is more delicious than most refined delicacies. It was always a special day when mum or grannie made them when I was a child.

I use a lot of noodles or rice with tomato paste and herbs and spices, too. Can throw in some chicken or other meat if needed, but it’s mostly all about trying something new with the herbs and spices. Chili and garlic is almost always in, but one day I’ll take curry and ginger and some cinnamon (plus cummin and paprika if I want it more Maghreb-style), the other day oregano and basil and thyme (perhaps also rosemary* and/or tarragon), though it’s not like I haven’t made pasta with curry or rice with typical pasta sauces. Bored minds…

• Rosemary is also great with potatoes.

One of my favourite breakfasts is scrambled eggs with sausage when I need energy for work, or just the easiest of all toasted bread with jam plus coffee on a warm and easy day.

Also love toasted sandwiches instead of regular ones, with plenty of different vegetables, possibly some herbs and spices, olive oil if I have some, or mayo, or ketchup or cocktail sauce (mayo + ketchup or mayo + ketchup + mustard) or some kind of improvised sauce. I just toast the bread, not the ingredients, as opposed to the folded kind.

For something closer to a proper but simple dinner, I love to use frozen veggies fried with some chicken (cat food style), with rice or somethimes something else. Frozen vegatable mixes are good for soup too, don’t have to fry them just because it says so on the bag. My father loves making those soups, often with bread crumbs (‘croutons’).

I wish I could make pizza, but the dough seems too difficult for me to get right. Have you ever had pizza with potatoes? It’s really great.

I also like based things similar to shepherd’s pie. My grannie loves making them.

 

[Irishmom2]

LOL!!! That’s hilarious!

Yes, they were always coming out with new ones, including dessert pies, if I recall correctly, too!

How about a savory sweet impossible corn and chocolate chip pie? it’s the best of both worlds! Dinner AND dessert!

 

[oldgraymare2]

How about a savory sweet impossible corn and chocolate chip pie? it’s the best of both worlds! Dinner AND dessert!

LOL!! At first I thought that you said, “Corn chips with chocolate chips!”

That would be more like something that I would think of in an “Impossible Pie,” to satisfy those strange sweet and salty cravings that I still get. Now that really would be an “Impossible Pie!” LOL!!

I think that my DH probably would NOT be surprised if I told him that we would be eating something like that! After all of the years that we have been married now, I doubt that anything that I would do would actually surprise him! LOL!!

 

[alphawoman]

Fish en papillote (cooked in parchment paper pouches in the oven) with tonnes of veggies , lemon wedges, and rice. You can buy frozen tilapia at Costco for about $1/fillet. It’s quick, easy, high in protein and vitamins, and reasonably priced. Toss in whatever you fancy in julienne strips–carrots, zucchini, peppers, onion–add cherry tomatoes, snap peas, corn, broccoli, or herbs if you like.

 

[NSFrame]

One super-cheap item I’ve found is corn tortillas. Around here you can get a pack of like 30 6 inch tortillas for 39 cents (at the regular grocery store). They are great for lots of types of dinners. I make a tortilla-black bean casserole that’s really good - layer the tortillas with beans, salsa, cheese, and whatever vegetables you have on hand (corn or onions would be good) and bake, covered. Make sure there’s enough moisture in the filling so that the tortillas soften as they cook, kind of like a lasagna. Oh yeah and add as much cheese as you like to the top.

 

[Xantippe]

One super-cheap item I’ve found is corn tortillas. Around here you can get a pack of like 30 6 inch tortillas for 39 cents (at the regular grocery store). They are great for lots of types of dinners. I make a tortilla-black bean casserole that’s really good - layer the tortillas with beans, salsa, cheese, and whatever vegetables you have on hand (corn or onions would be good) and bake, covered. Make sure there’s enough moisture in the filling so that the tortillas soften as they cook, kind of like a lasagna. Oh yeah and add as much cheese as you like to the top.

That sounds amazing!

Here is a commercial frozen version:

amys.com/products/product-detail/bowls/000168

I eat that all the time for lunch at home.

It never crossed my mind that you could make it for dinner. That sounds fabulous!

 

[KnitNut]

If you have a big freezer: Zaycon Foods, available in some areas of the country. Buying in bulk saves money, provided you keep your meal portions appropriately sized. Sales are arranged well in advance - buy online & bring your receipt the day of pickup. Right now in the Boston area, for example, 40lb cases of quality boneless/skinless chicken breasts are running $1.69/lb.

Make your owns:

Soup-or-Sauce dry mix - makes homemade cream soups, sauces, etc. extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_Cooking&Baking_2011-02pr.pdf

Bisquick (Utah Ready Mix), shelf stable, canola oil based - rivrdog.typepad.com/files/utah-quick-mix-cookbook.pdf (great cookbook containing the recipe & suggested uses)

Bisquick, shelf stable, shortening based - extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FNP_102.pdf (also contains recipes)

Various state Cooperative Extensions have downloads for storing/using food, canning, etc. Utah’s is great but many others offer freebies too.

Buy in bulk - For storage, many chain groceries with a bakery department will give you their empty 5-gallon buckets & lids. (This is how the bakery-use frosting comes.) Give them a good wash & you’ve got storage for the 25lb bags of flour, beans, rice, etc.

See if there’s a LDS cannery near you. Some will allow non-members to purchase the bulk food items (the one in Worcester, MA is great, and the people are VERY nice and have not once in 8 years attempted to convert any of us or even mentioned religion - you don’t wind up on their canvassing list, either). You can check out the order form online to get an idea of prices…print it out to use as a shopping guide.

Cannery locations: providentliving.org/self-reliance/food-storage/home-storage-center-locations?lang=eng
Cannery pricelist current as of date of this post: providentliving.org/self-reliance/food-storage/home-storage-center-order-form?lang=eng

I know you’re not in the Boston area, OP, but for anyone who IS…the Haymarket Open Air Produce Market runs every (and I mean EVERY) Friday & Saturday from 6a - 6p. Validated parking at the garage on New Sudbury is $1 for up to 2 hours, $3 for 2-3 hours. (In downtown Boston. You can’t beat it. And the garage opens onto the produce market!) Dozens of vendors, everything from citrus to fine mushrooms to yuca to carrots to greens…organic offerings are hit or miss, but when they’re available the prices are ridiculously good ($1 for a quart of organic strawberries?! Puhleeez!) There are also cases available at some stalls - a bushel of tomatoes for $10, for example. And if you can dehydrate (homemade fruit leather, anyone?), make jelly, can, or freeze, pick up the boxes of ripe stuff…40lb of bananas for $5, 16lb of apricots for $5, 25lb of peaches for $2…you never know what they’re unloading, and as long as you’re ready to process it that evening, you can fill the pantry and freezer with ridiculously cheap and tasty fruits/veggies. boston-discovery-guide.com/haymarket-boston.html

 

[Irishmom2]

KnitNut!! Great post! Full of goodness!

 

[lax16]

So, I’m going to be done with my babysitting jobs entirely at the end of May, and so we’re going to have to tighten our belts a little bit while my DH looks for a higher paying job and we welcome another baby in late summer.

One of the most flexible areas of our budget is food. Right now, our food and household goods (toiletries, cleaning products, etc) budget is $100/week for our family of four. I do the bulk of our grocery shopping at Aldi and Costco. Occasionally I buy food items at other grocery stores when I can use coupons to get things cheaper than I can get them at our normal stores, and I have gotten to a point where I basically refuse to buy toiletries unless I can get them free or “better-than-free” (e.g. at places like CVS that offer deals including store credit on a future purchase). I mostly cook from scratch and we are growing a garden this year which will hopefully get us some good produce for much less than even the best sales at the store. We eat vegetarian twice a week.

What I am looking for are recipes that have a low cost per serving. I feel like I’m good at the shopping part, but that if I can adjust a little bit what we’re actually eating, especially for dinner, I could reduce our food budget a bit more. I do know how to bake bread and once I am not working, that will be an easier task (the way I make it is about 50 cents a loaf, which is half what I pay at the store for wheat bread). I use websites like budgetbytes.com for recipes, but even there sometimes I feel like it’s just too much money (and she has really small serving portions - that works for the kids but not for my husband or pregnant/nursing me).

Ideas? Some of our staples right now include:

• Pasta with vegetable sauce (and I will make our own sauce once we start harvesting our tomatoes)
• Red beans and rice
• Oven chicken fajitas (heavy on the peppers, onions, and sometimes mushrooms)
• Quesadillas with black beans
• Turkey chili
• Sloppy joes with a lentil/ground turkey mix
• Baked egg dishes/quiches with whatever leftover vegetables we have at the moment

Hamburger soup - ground beef (or turkey) browned with onion, add tomato juice and favorite veggies. Serve with bread.

Goulash (I use Paula Dean’s recipe and change it slightly to fit my family’s taste)
It makes a lot, is very filling, and I always have lots of leftovers.

Tomato soup with cooked noodles added. Serve with tuna melts. Toasted bread with cheese added then add tuna salad.

Spaghetti casserole - cooked spaghetti, canned sauce, lots of cheese (I use a mix of cheeses). Serve with a side of meatballs, either homemade or frozen.

Chicken soup - leftover rotisserie chicken, chicken broth, carrots, celery, noodles and seasonings.

Egg salad sandwiches served with apples or other inexpensive fruit in season.

Congrats on the new baby!

 

[NSFrame]

That sounds amazing!

Here is a commercial frozen version:

amys.com/products/product-detail/bowls/000168

I eat that all the time for lunch at home.

It never crossed my mind that you could make it for dinner. That sounds fabulous!

This is the base recipe (I use the BHG cookbook) but you could easily adapt the sauce to whatever you have or what’s on sale. The fresh tomatoes/lettuce/scallions/etc listed are all sort of optional garnishes.

bhg.com/recipe/beans/tortilla-black-bean-casserole/

 

[Havard]

• Rosemary is also great with potatoes.

So true… my mouth is watering at the mere mention.

Long time no see, Chev, hope you all is well with you!

 

[EasterJoy]

Hamburger soup - ground beef (or turkey) browned with onion, add tomato juice and favorite veggies. Serve with bread.

Goulash (I use Paula Dean’s recipe and change it slightly to fit my family’s taste)
It makes a lot, is very filling, and I always have lots of leftovers.

Tomato soup with cooked noodles added. Serve with tuna melts. Toasted bread with cheese added then add tuna salad.

Spaghetti casserole - cooked spaghetti, canned sauce, lots of cheese (I use a mix of cheeses). Serve with a side of meatballs, either homemade or frozen.

Chicken soup - leftover rotisserie chicken, chicken broth, carrots, celery, noodles and seasonings.

Egg salad sandwiches served with apples or other inexpensive fruit in season.

Congrats on the new baby!

Be careful of the old “frugal” recipes that use ground beef. It used to be that ground beef was only a third more or maybe half again as expensive as poultry meat. That is no longer true. The drought caused many ranchers to sell off huge numbers of their herds and the feed for the remainder was more expensive. This has driven the price of beef through the roof. High corn prices had driven even poultry up, too, relative to beans and potatoes. Corn prices are falling, however, so it may be expected for meat prices to decline, too–good news there. The prices of dairy can be expected to go down even more this year, because of all the foreign markets that have been closed to US exports of powdered milk. (And who knows? If the dairy herds are reduced, the price of ground beef could dip.)

The take-home message is that one cannot just assume that this ingredient or that one is cheap. When an ingredient becomes very popular or the crop takes a hit, the price can skyrocket. (Oxtails used to be very cheap, practically given away–those days are long gone!) Likewise, when there is an unexpected glut, the attentive shopper can find it in the budget to have some foods that are a rare treat under normal circumstances.

Speaking of–one way to be frugal is to use powdered milk in place of fresh when there is no difference in the final product. There is a substantial price difference! Most frugal moms I know who go so far as to use powdered milk for drinking will mix it half and half with fresh, though. They say their kids tolerate that when they don’t want to drink 100% reconstituted milk.

 

[TypesAndShadows]

The only thing I can add that I don’t think I see here is:

Chicken livers are an amazingly cheap source of protein around here, and yet unlike other livers they are deliciously gourmet things. Excellent source of iron and vitamin A, too. Cut them up with scissors into bite-size chunks, fry them up, serve with warm green veg of any kind. Or fry them up with some softened onions, add a bit of butter/garlic/thyme/sherry if you have them, blend or mash into a puree, and you have cheat’s chicken liver pate to spread on anything or dip things into.

Perhaps not kid friendly, but you never know. And in any case, you yourself could probably use some cheap iron and protein, even if you don’t share!

 

[Sugabee43]

Speaking of–one way to be frugal is to use powdered milk in place of fresh when there is no difference in the final product. There is a substantial price difference! Most frugal moms I know who go so far as to use powdered milk for drinking will mix it half and half with fresh, though. They say their kids tolerate that when they don’t want to drink 100% reconstituted milk.

SO TRUE!! My mom used to mix the powdered with the fresh, and we didn’t care- until she got a little heavy-handed with the powdered at the end of the gallon! I still do that when cooking; I use powdered milk and my picky family never knows the difference!! Plus, if you are any type of “prepper”, powdered milk is a great thing to store.

Canned corned beef is good, too- dice it, fry it with diced potatoes and onions in a skillet and season to taste. Yummy! My mom used to slice it thinly and make sandwiches out of it, with mustard and lettuce. Oh- and good old SPAM! Thinly sliced fried Spam tastes just like crispy bacon!!