I'm pretty good at cooking cheap meals such as stir frys, sheperd's pie, hot dogs, pasta, salads and things like that but it gets kind of boring eating the same thing over and over. Anyone have any different ideas? I have $50 budgeted for groceries this week and already on the list of things I need are: cat food, milk, bread, eggs, cooking oil, fruit, and lunch meat. I do, however, have free coupons for a frozen pizza and ritz crackerfulls! Plus I have plenty of frozen chicken in my freezer.
cheap meals?
June 1st, 2012 at 07:02 pm
June 1st, 2012 at 07:20 pm 1338574827
Here's an idea I do with iceberg lettuce as the base: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/asian-lettuce-wraps-2/ If you don't have these particular seasonings, improvise with whatever you have in the pantry for your stirfrys!
Hoppin John is a great, cheap idea. I make a vegan version, with brown rice, and soak & cook the blackeye peas from scratch. There are many recipes online.
Quesadillas are cheap and easy, and you can serve with a side of beans n rice, or rice pilaf, or refried beans to make it a complete meal.
Gnocchi is a twist on pasta, and all you need to make your own are potatoes, flour, oil and salt. Serve w/ tomato sauce, with a side salad or on a bed of fresh spinach.
June 1st, 2012 at 07:45 pm 1338576321
smoothies w/fruit, yogurt, tablespoon of pnut butter
pizza bagels (toast the bagel first, then create a little pizza on it and pop in a toaster over broiler for 6 minutes or so)
soup in the slow cooker (really easy to make vegetable stock and add rice or noodles or leftover chicken, you name it)
June 1st, 2012 at 08:25 pm 1338578720
June 1st, 2012 at 10:27 pm 1338586064
Spinach salad with whatever veggies and dressing you have around.
June 1st, 2012 at 11:11 pm 1338588697
June 2nd, 2012 at 12:27 am 1338593252
June 2nd, 2012 at 06:15 am 1338614106
June 3rd, 2012 at 03:14 pm 1338732868
Jerry
June 3rd, 2012 at 06:20 pm 1338744013
June 4th, 2012 at 08:14 pm 1338837242
It is incredibly cost efficient to write-up a meal plan. It's not written in stone but using loss leaders from flyers/ads, and the items already in your cupboard, you avoid that horrid 'what-to-do-for-dnner' stress. Pasta is exceptionally versatile with more than 70 shapes/types so it can be a hot dish, cold dish, soup, salad or side dish. Rice also cooks in 18 minutes and absorbs whatever flavor or color you want. Try www.cooks.com for mealtime suggestions. Just type chicken breasts in 'Search' and you get lots of suggestions with details you need.
If you have time, it's fun and inexpensive to make buns and bread. Best of all you avoid all those chemicals that aren't really good for you.
June 5th, 2012 at 10:10 pm 1338930632
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-quiche/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grams-irish-stew/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cucumber-tomato-salad/detail.as...
http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/63177375/barbecue-chick...
I like to make a really cheap chicken salad. I use a 12 ounce can of chicken, 1/2 cup of green onion, and a couple of sprinkles of cayenne pepper.
June 9th, 2012 at 02:33 am 1339205619
I love tuna, so I make tuna salad and eat it on a bed of lettuce with shredded cheese. I get most of my groceries from Aldi, where i help the food bank. This morning, I made sausage and biscuit and gravy.
You can get strawberries at Aldi for.99 right now. Buy one extra container and make them into freezer jam. My Mennonite aunt has taught me a whole lot about saving money. You can whip up a lot of foods with four, butter, milk, and spices. I love lentils and make burritos. I also fix Haystacks, which is corn chips with pinto beans, chopped onion, chopped tomato, finely chopped cilantro, and ranch dressing. I make my own ranch dressing at times. You could do one meal of pinto beans and cilantro corn muffins and then another meal of haystacks.
June 9th, 2012 at 10:35 pm 1339277721
Frittattas are super easy. Add beaten eggs and whatever veggies you like; i add sun dried tomato, mushroom, onion, broccoli and cheese, then bake for 10 minutes.